It is with a heavy heart that we are writing of the death of comic book artist Paul Ryan, who passed away over the weekend at the age of 66. The news was reported by his cousin, Chad Callanan, on his Facebook account:

It is with sad news I report the passing of my cousin Paul. Chances are you were touched by him in your life-time as he was the cartoonist for some of the most well known and beloved characters in the world. From Spider-Man, Thor, Iron Man, The Phantom to the Fantastic Four, most of which made it to the big screen and Hollywood. He was a true giant and artst, who achieved more success in his short life than any one of us would ever know in ten lifetimes. But he was also my friend and that was good enough.

Paul worked for Marvel and DC for decades, staring with work on Iron Man and Squadron Supreme. Most importantly for our Spider-Man oriented site, Paul drew the classic Amazing Spider-Man Annual #21 wherein Peter Parker and Mary Jane tied the knot. He also drew a backup story in Spider-Girl #1 and penciled the 1999 Annual story for that book. He also worked with the “legendary” Tom DeFalco on one of the longest runs of the Fantastic Four in the nineties.

On Tom DeFalco’s Facebook he had this to say about Paul:

Writer Howard Mackie had this to say:

To read a full list of Paul Ryan’s work that included Spider-Man, click here.