Notable events of 2022 in comics. It includes any relevant comics-related events, deaths of notable comics-related people, conventions and first issues by title.
January 15: Original artwork of Spider-Man's first appearance in his black costume, by Mike Zeck, is auctioned at Heritage Auctions for a record-breaking US $3.36 million.[1]
January 27:
In Belgium new passports are distributed, featuring imagery from famous Belgian comics inside.[2][3]
A school board in Tennessee bans Art Spiegelman's Maus from its classrooms, which they claim is because it contains some nudity and eight curse words. The ban causes global outrage and sales of Maus rise.[4]
March
March 8: In the British comic magazine The Beano, the gag comic series Stevie Star, Mahira of the Match and Sketch Khad, by Andy Fanton, make their debut.[5] In June, the protagonists of these series, namely Stevie Star, Mahira and Khadija, join the cast of The Bash Street Kids too.[6]
March 17: A new album of Gaston Lagaffe (Gomer Goof) by the late André Franquin is announced for the fall of 2022, drawn by Canadian artist Marc Delaf.[7] However, by 16 May, the estate of Franquin, led by his daughter Isabelle, sues publishing company Dupuis over copyright infringement and plagiarism. As a direct result the potential release of the album is postponed.[8][9][10]
April
April 15: Former Studio Vandersteen artist Marc Verhaegen publishes his graphic novel Het Beest Is Los, a semi-autobiographical story in which he indirectly criticizes his former colleagues and bosses.[11]
June 16: In Amsterdam, The Netherlands, a sculpture depicting Argus the rat journalist from Marten Toonder's comic series Tom Poes, designed by Saske van der Eerden, is unveiled at the Nieuwezijds Voorburgwal.[13][14]
September 15: Zarya of the Dawn, a comic book written by Kris Kashtanova and illustrated with the artificial intelligence software Midjourney, receives copyright protection from the United States Copyright Office. Copyright for the artwork would later be revoked in February 2023.[22]
September 19 The newspaper comic Dilbert by Scott Adams is dropped from an estimated 77 newspapers after plotlines in the strip parodied environmental, social, and corporate governance (ESG) strategies. Part of the plotline involved an African-American character who "identifies as white", and the company management asking him if he could also identify as gay.[23]
September 28: Dutch cartoonist Jip van den Toorn is the first woman and the youngest cartoonist ever in general to win the Inktspot Award.[24][25]
October
October 26:
The long-running Belgian comic series Urbanus by Willy Linthout and Urbanus publishes their final album, also marks the end of the series after 40 years.[26][27] Linthout does launch a new comic series, De Familie Super.[28]
December 13: The website ARREST sur images reports that in 2017, on Facebook, French comic artist Bastien Vivès posted very personal and offensive verbal attacks and threats, directed at comic artist Emma. The revelation causes huge controversy.[30][31]
December 14: The International Comics Festival of Angoulême cancels an upcoming exhibition devoted to comic artist Bastien Vivès, after controversy over some of his remarks about colleague Emma, and the content of some of his graphic novels, which some critics consider child pornography. The organizers of the festival received too many death threats and claim they can't guarantee the safety of the festival goers if the expo about Vivès went on as planned.[32][33]
December 17: The long-running Belgian comic series Suske en Wiske, which ran in papers since 1945, publishes its final episode in the papers. It will no longer be serialized in De Standaard, De Gentenaar and Het Nieuwsblad. However, new albums will still be published in the future.[34]
December 27: The long-running Belgian comic series De Kiekeboes, which ran in papers since 1977, will publish its final episode in the papers. It will no longer be serialized in Gazet van Antwerpen and Het Belang van Limburg. However, new albums will still be published in the future.[34]
Guy Mouminoux, AKA Dimitri, Dimitri Lahache, Guy Sajer, French writer, comic writer (wrote scripts for Jean Valhardi) and artist (Goutatou et Dorochaux, Le Chevalier au Blason d'Argent, Les Familleurreux, Prémolaire, Krampon, Les Aventures de Rififi, Le Goulag, continued Blason d'Argent), dies at age 94.[41]
January 14: Ron Goulart, American comics writer (wrote scripts for Marvel Comics, Star Hawks and TekWar), author and historian (The Adventurous Decade: Comic Strips in the Thirties, Comic Book Culture: An Illustrated History, The Great Comic Book Artists, Focus on Jack Cole, Ron Goulart's Great History of Comic Books, The Encyclopedia of American Comics, The Comic Book Reader's Companion, Masked Marvels and Jungle Queens: Great Comic Book Covers of the '40s, The Funnies: 100 Years of American Comic Strips, Comic Book Encyclopedia: The Ultimate Guide to Characters, Graphic Novels, Writers and Artists in the Comic Book Universe, Alex Raymond: An Artistic Journey, Adventure, Intrigue and Romance), dies at age 90.[42]
February 8: Borivoj Dovniković, A.K.A. Bordo, Croatian animator and comic artist (Velika Utakmica, celebrity comics based on the TV bear Mendo Mendovic), dies at age 91. [51]
March 15: Fred de Wit, Belgian painter and comic artist (Marnix van Sanmarty), dies at age 75.[65]
March 22: Stan Mott, American cartoonist (known for drawing eccentric vehicles, The Absolute Alliance), dies at age 89.[66]
March 24: Erik Vandemeulebroucke, Belgian cartoonist and comic artist (Jim Lont, Dobberman en Van Geyt, worked for Karel Verschuere and later Rolf Kauka), dies at age 79.[67]
May 30: Jacques Nicolaou, French comic artist (continued Placid et Muzo), dies at age 91.[91]
June
June 1: Serge Diantantu, Congolese-French comic artist (Petite Djily), dies at age 62.[92]
June 5: Dick Vlottes, Dutch cartoonist and comic artist (Hinter en Minter, Senmoet de Egyptenaar, De Krek, worked for Marten Toonder), dies at age 89.[92]
July 23: Paul Coker, American illustrator, animator and comic artist (Mad Magazine, Horrifying Clichés, Lancelot, Horace and Buggy), dies at age 93.[103]
August 20: Patrick Nordmann, French journalist, comedian, radio presenter and comic writer (wrote two Lucky Luke stories), dies at age 73.[111]
August 21: Oliver Frey, AKA Clint, AKA Zack, Swiss-British illustrator and comic artist (Terminal Man, Rogue, The Street, continued The Trigan Empire and Dan Dare), dies at age 74.[112]
August 24: Lily Renée, Austrian-American children's book author, playwright and comic artist (Jane Martin, The Werewolf Hunter, The Lost World, Señorita Rio, Abbott & Costello comics, Elsie the Cow comics), dies at age 101.[113]
August 27: Francisco Martín Morales, AKA Martínmorales, Spanish comic artist (Polícleto, Casimiro el Caco, La Monocloaca), dies at age 76.[114]
September
September 1:
Jack Marchal, French activist, musician and comic artist (Les Rats Maudits), dies at age 75.[115]
Rob Harren, Dutch comic publisher (founder of comic publishing company De Boemerang) and chief editor of the comic magazines Kuifje and Suske en Wiske Weekblad), dies at age 78.[117]
September 22: François Corteggiani, French comics writer (wrote for Pif le chien, Peter O'Pencil, Capitan Rogers, Silas Finn, Bastos et Zakousky, Chafouin et Baluchon, La Jeunesse de Blueberry, Tatiana K., De Silence et de Sang, L'École Abracadabra, Disney comics, The Adventures of Alix, Lefranc, Les Pieds Nickelés, Sibylline, Marine, Smith & Wesson), dies at age 69.[119]
December 3: Tim Kennedy, American comic artist (worked on Archie Comics), dies at an unknown age.[133]
December 14: Han Peekel, Dutch comics scholar, singer and TV presenter (hosted the comics and cartoons-themed documentary TV show Wordt Vervolgd), dies at age 75.[134][135]
December 15: Calpurnio, Spanish poster artist, animator, illustrator, veejay and comics artist (Cuttlas), dies at age 63.[136][137]
December 30: Maurice Horn, French-American comics historian, writer, editor (Comics of the American West, The World Encyclopedia of Comics, The World Encyclopedia of Cartoons, Sex in the Comics, Contemporary Graphic Artists, 100 Years of American Newspaper Comics) and curator, dies at age 91. [138]
December 31: Heinrich Banemann, German illustrator and comics artist (Kreuzfahrt), dies at age 77. [139]
Exhibitions and shows
May 9–July 15: "[Re]Framing Graphic Medicine: Comics and the History of Medicine" (Special Collections Research Center Exhibition Gallery, University of Chicago) — featuring "serialized prints, illustrated newspapers and magazines, comic books, zines, digital comics and graphic memoirs," curated by Brian Callender and André G. Wenze[140]
September 19–December 17: "Drawing Us Together: Public Life and Public Health in Contemporary Comics" (Johnson-Kulukundis Family Gallery, Byerly Hall, Harvard Radcliffe Institute, Cambridge, Massachusetts) — curated by Meg Rotzel[143]
