Dustin Gebel
Mark D. ‘M.D.’ Bright, seminal comic book artist of Armor Wars, and co-creator of Quantum and Woody with Christopher Priest, has died at 68.
Bright is best known for pencilling the essential Iron Man story Armor Wars, along with the Spider-Man versus Wolverine story. Armor Wars would mark an influential point in Iron Man’s history, going so far as to influence the story for Iron Man 2 in the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
Bright would get his start in comics illustrating on a short three-page story for DC’s House of Mystery #257. He would then begin to regularly work in the profession when paired with Christopher Priest on a Falcon limited series for Marvel, taking over for Paul Smith.
The duo would continue to work together over the next few years, working together on books like Power Man and Iron Fist before moving onto Quantum and Woody for at the time, Acclaim Comics. During this time, Bright would also work on a variety of titles like Solo Avengers, Milestone’s Icon, Green Lantern: Emerald Dawn, and G.I. Joe. His work would extend past comics at this time, providing illustrations for trading cards featuring Green Lantern and the G.I. Joe cast.
Bright would then go on to transition out of comics and into storyboarding for other visual mediums like live-action film and TV. He would work on projects like M. Night Shyamalan’s Avatar: The Last Airbender, 27 Dresses, and Step Up. Bright never fully left comics behind, illustrating the occasional one-shot or miniseries including a continuation of Quantum and Woody with Priest for the version of Valiant Comics in 2014.
Comics became a core component of Bright’s artistic interests in large part thanks to his grandmother, according to a recent obituary. She was a local hairdresser that kept in the salon for customer’s children. He would go on to study at the Pratt Institute before breaking into comics.
Survivors include three siblings: Stephen, Valerie, Brian, and their respective families.
