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Batton Lash (October 29, 1953 – January 12, 2019) was an American comics creator who came to prominence as part of the 1990s
self-publishing Self-publishing is the publication of media by its author at their own cost, without the involvement of a publisher. The term usually refers to written media, such as books and magazines, either as an ebook or as a physical copy using POD (pr ...
boom. He is best known for the series ''Wolff and Byrd, Counselors of the Macabre'' (a.k.a. ''
Supernatural Law ''Supernatural Law'', previously known as ''Wolff and Byrd, Counselors of the Macabre'', is a comic strip, comic book and web comic series written and illustrated by Batton Lash. The series features the law practice of Alanna Wolff and Jeff Byrd ...
''), a comedic series about law partners specializing in cases dealing with archetypes from the horror genre, which ran as a strip in '' The National Law Journal'', and as a stand-alone series of comic books and graphic novels. He received several awards for his work, including an Inkpot Award, an Independent Book Publishers Association's Benjamin Franklin Award, an
Eisner Award The Will Eisner Comic Industry Awards, commonly shortened to the Eisner Awards, are prizes given for creative achievement in American comic books, sometimes referred to as the comics industry's equivalent of the Academy Awards. They are named in ...
, and nominations for two Harvey Awards.


Career

Batton Lash was born Vito MarangiBatton Lash — RIP
by D. D. Degg, at ''Daily Cartoonist''; published January 12, 2019; retrieved January 29, 2019
in Brooklyn, New York, and studied cartooning and graphic arts at Manhattan's School of Visual Arts. In 1979, he began writing and drawing ''Wolff and Byrd, Counselors of the Macabre'', as a weekly newspaper strip which appeared in '' The Brooklyn Paper'' until 1996 and ''The National Law Journal'' from 1983 to 1997. In 1980 Lash was a courtroom sketch artist during the trial against
John Gotti John Joseph Gotti Jr.Capeci, Mustain (1996), pp. 25–26 (, ; October 27, 1940 – June 10, 2002) was an American gangster and boss of the Gambino crime family in New York City. He ordered and helped to orchestrate the murder of Gambino boss ...
. In 1994, he and his wife Jackie Estrada founded Exhibit A Press to publish the series as a full-length comic book stories, renaming it ''Supernatural Law.'' It was later made available as a digital download on the Comics+ and
Graphicly Graphicly (often stylized as Graphic.ly) was a platform for publishers which offered work flow integration, self-publishing, digital distribution, conversion, and promotion for digital content. Launched by Kevin Mann and Micah Baldwin, the website ...
apps. In 1994 he wrote '' Archie Meets the Punisher,'' a well-received crossover between the teen characters of
Archie Comics Archie Comic Publications, Inc., is an American comic book publisher headquartered in Pelham, New York.Punisher. He wrote eight issues of ''
Radioactive Man Radioactive Man may refer to: *Radioactive Man (comics), a fictional character in the Marvel Comics Universe *Radioactive Man (The Simpsons), a fictional comic book superhero in ''The Simpsons'' :*''List_of_The_Simpsons_comics#Radioactive_Man, Radio ...
'' for Bongo Comics, which received an
Eisner Award The Will Eisner Comic Industry Awards, commonly shortened to the Eisner Awards, are prizes given for creative achievement in American comic books, sometimes referred to as the comics industry's equivalent of the Academy Awards. They are named in ...
for Best Humor Publication in 2002. In 2009 he began working with writer James Hudnall on "Obama Nation", a conservative political comic strip on Andrew Breitbart's website
BigGovernment ''Breitbart News Network'' (known commonly as ''Breitbart News'', ''Breitbart'', or ''Breitbart.com'') is an American far-rightMultiple sources: * * * * * * * * * * * * syndicated news, opinion, and commentary website founded in mid-2007 b ...
. The series drew national attention in 2011, when MSNBC commentator Lawrence O'Donnell criticized one of the strips as racist, accusing it of caricaturing Barack and Michelle Obama using stereotypes of
African Americans African Americans (also referred to as Black Americans and Afro-Americans) are an ethnic group consisting of Americans with partial or total ancestry from sub-Saharan Africa. The term "African American" generally denotes descendants of ens ...
.


Death

He died at his home on January 12, 2019, from
brain cancer A brain tumor occurs when abnormal cells form within the brain. There are two main types of tumors: malignant tumors and benign (non-cancerous) tumors. These can be further classified as primary tumors, which start within the brain, and secondar ...
at the age of 65.


Awards and nominations

*1996: Don Thompson Award – Best Achievement by a Cartoonist (tie) *1997: Don Thompson Award – Best Achievement by a Writer & Artist *2002: ''Radioactive Man'' – Eisner Award for Best Humor Publication *2003: ''Mister Negativity and Other Tales of Supernatural Law'' – nominated for Harvey Special Award for Humor *2003: ''Supernatural Law'' #35 – nominated for Harvey Award for Best Single Issue *2004: Inkpot Award *2009: ''The Soddyssey, And Other Tales of Supernatural Law'' – Independent Book Publishers Association's Benjamin Franklin Award for Graphic Novel


Bibliography


Comics

* ''
Wolff and Byrd, Counselors of the Macabre ''Supernatural Law'', previously known as ''Wolff and Byrd, Counselors of the Macabre'', is a comic strip, comic book and web comic series written and illustrated by Batton Lash. The series features the law practice of Alanna Wolff and Jeff By ...
'' #1-23 * ''Mavis'' #1-3 (featuring Wolff and Byrd's secretary) * ''
Supernatural Law ''Supernatural Law'', previously known as ''Wolff and Byrd, Counselors of the Macabre'', is a comic strip, comic book and web comic series written and illustrated by Batton Lash. The series features the law practice of Alanna Wolff and Jeff Byrd ...
'' #24-45 * ''Radioactive Man'' volume 2 (eight issues) * ''Simpsons Super Spectacular'' #1-5 * '' Archie Meets the Punisher'', one-shot *