Comic artist Steve Erwin, who was known for Checkmate and Deathstroke the Terminator, has died from a massive heart attack. He was 63 years old.

Erwin was born on January 16, 1960, in Tulsa, Oklahoma, and studied commercial art at Oklahoma State University Institute of Technology. His first published work appeared in a few issues of First Comics’ Grimjack and Shatter in ’86.

Erwin spent most of the late ‘80s and ‘90s working with DC, starting with a story in The Vigilante #48. He and writer Paul Kupperberg co-created Checkmate!, a title about a covert ops team that sprang out of Task Force X. Then he and Marv Wolfman launched Deathstroke the Terminator in ’91, and Erwin stayed on as the main artist until ’94. During that run, he and Len Wein created the character Gunfire in Deathstroke the Terminator Annual #3 in ’93, then did the art on a five-issue Gunfire series in ’94.

His DC work in the ‘90s also included issues of The New Titans, Hawk and Dove, New Gods, the comic adaptation of Batman Returns, and Superman: The Man of Steel. He drew comic adaptations of Star Trek: The Next Generation Shadowheart and an adaptation of William Shatner’s Star Trek novel, The Ashes of Eden, for DC, and Star Trek: Operation Assimilation #1 and ID4: Independence Day #0 and #2 for Marvel.

“I’ve long said that it’s the people that has kept me in the comics industry most of my life. For Steve Erwin to stand out in that company really says something. Steve seemed to have gotten a double helping of several things – talent, heart, compassion, ethics, and a pure love for the industry. A true ‘Good Guy,’ which seems to be a dying breed in the world today. I was lucky to call him friend. May his memory be a blessing on you all,” said longtime industry figure and Overstreet Advisor Weldon Adams. 

“When we were both customers at Heroes in North Richland Hills, Texas years ago, Steve illustrated one of their ceiling tiles located over the cash register. He made it Deathstroke pulling back the ceiling tile. It was so convincing that it repeatedly caught me by surprise when I went up to pay for my weekly purchases. The first page of comic art I purchased was a Deathstroke page by Steve. No superheroes, just regular people in gripping action. He was a master of his craft,” said J.C. Vaughn, President of Gemstone Publishing.