Herb Trimpe Passes Away at 75
Comics legend Herb Trimpe has passed away at the age of 75. Mr. Trimpe’s contributions to the art, and especially to the world of Marvel Comics, cannot be overstated. Trimpe was a long-running and defining artist for The Incredible Hulk, where he drew the first published appearance of Wolverine. He also co-created Hulk characters Jim Wilson and Doc Samson with Roy Thomas, and Captain Britain and Psylocke with Chris Claremont. He drew the initial issues of G.I. Joe, and nearly all of Marvel’s Godzilla: King of the Monsters.
He was also a husband, a father of four, a member of the United States Air Force, and a deacon of the Episcopal Diocese of New York, who won the Bob Clampett Humanitarian Award for his work as a chaplain in the wake of the September 11 attacks.
I met Herb Trimpe twice. The first was at a convention in Baltimore. He seemed tired that weekend, a little gruff. A friend of mine had paid him to sketch a Hulk. When Trimpe handed my buddy a Wolverine sketch, he was so surprised that he didn’t quite know what to say or how to broach the subject. A few months later in Boston, my friend went to commission another sketch, determined to get a Hulk from Herb Trimpe. Over the course of the conversation, the reason for the second commission came out. Herb and his wife had a good long laugh about it. Apparently he drew so many Wolverines for people he’d just done it on autopilot. As he turned to do the sketch, he drew a single line – I think it was an eyebrow – and his wife immediately put her hand on his arm and said, “No, dear, that’s Wolverine again,” and chuckling, he started in a third time. He grinned every time he saw us after that.
His departure leaves a mark on the industry. Marvel EIC Axel Alonso “To me, no artist is as synonymous with the Incredible Hulk as Herb Trimpe, who gave the Jade Giant a sense of pathos and scale that set the bar for every artist that followed him. Like a Hulk-punch, Trimpe’s art truly exploded off the page. Comics lost a giant.”
The family has asked for privacy as they make arrangements, and has requested that in lieu of flowers, donations be made to the Hero Initiative or to the Kerhonkson Accord First Aid Squad.
