Batton Lash (born Vito Marangi, 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 an author-driven publication of any media without the involvement of a third-party publisher. Since the advent of the internet, self-published usually depends upon digital platforms and print-on-demand technology, ranging fro ...

boom. He is best known for the series ''Wolff and Byrd, Counselors of the Macabre'' (a.k.a. '' Supernatural Law''), 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 ''The National Law Journal'' (NLJ) is an American legal periodical founded in 1978. The NLJ was created by Jerry Finkelstein, who envisioned it as a "sibling newspaper" of the ''New York Law Journal''. Originally a tabloid-sized weekly news ...

'', and as a stand-alone series of comic books and graphic novels. He received several awards for his work, including an

Inkpot Award The Inkpot Award is an honor bestowed annually since 1974 by Comic-Con International. It is given to professionals in the fields of comic books, comic strips, animation, science fiction, and related areas of popular culture, at Comic-Con Internati ...

, 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 awards for creative achievement in American comic books. They are regarded as the most prestigious and significant awards in the comic industry and often referred ...

, and nominations for two

Harvey Awards The Harvey Awards are given for achievement in comic books. Named for writer-artist Harvey Kurtzman, the Harvey Awards were founded by Gary Groth in 1988, president of the publisher Fantagraphics, to be a successor to the Kirby Awards, which wer ...

Career

Batton Lash was bornBatton Lash — RIP
by D. D. Degg, at ''Daily Cartoonist''; published January 12, 2019; retrieved January 29, 2019 in

Brooklyn, New York Brooklyn is a Boroughs of New York City, borough of New York City located at the westernmost end of Long Island in the New York (state), State of New York. Formerly an independent city, the borough is coextensive with Kings County, one of twelv ...

, and studied cartooning and graphic arts at Manhattan's

School of Visual Arts The School of Visual Arts New York City (SVA NYC) is a private for-profit art school in New York City. It was founded in 1947 and is a member of the Association of Independent Colleges of Art and Design. History This school was started by Silas ...

. 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 ''Brooklyn Paper'' is a weekly newspaper that covers news related exclusively to the New York City borough of Brooklyn. ''Brooklyn Paper'' covers news and cultural events throughout the borough, using different mastheads for neighborhoods such as ...

'' until 1996 and ''The National Law Journal'' from 1983 to 1997. In 1980 Lash was a

courtroom sketch A courtroom sketch is an artistic depiction of the proceedings in a court of law. In many jurisdictions, the use of cameras in courtrooms is generally prohibited in order to prevent distractions and preserve privacy. This requires news media t ...

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 '' mafioso'' and boss of the Gambino crime family in New York City. He ordered and helped to orchestrate the murder of Gambin ...

. In 1994, he and his wife

Jackie Estrada Jackie Estrada (born September 10, 1946) is an American comic-book convention organizer, book editor, co-publisher of Exhibit A Press, administrator of the Will Eisner Comic Industry Awards, and past president of Friends of Lulu. A San Diego r ...

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 web ...

apps. In 1994 he wrote ''

Archie Meets the Punisher ''Archie Meets the Punisher'' or ''The Punisher Meets Archie'' is a one-shot (comics), one-shot comic book and intercompany crossover written by Batton Lash with art by Stan Goldberg, John Buscema, and Tom Palmer (comics), Tom Palmer. It was pub ...

,'' a well-received crossover between the teen characters of

Archie Comics Archie Comic Publications, Inc. (often referred to simply as Archie Comics) is an American comic book publisher headquartered in the village of Pelham, New York. The company's many titles feature the fictional teenagers Archie Andrews, Jug ...

and Marvel Comics' grim antihero the

Punisher The Punisher (Francis "Frank" Castle, born Castiglione) is an antihero appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. The character was created by writer Gerry Conway and artists John Romita Sr. and Ross Andru. The Punisher ma ...

. He wrote eight issues of ''

Radioactive Man Radioactive Man may refer to: *Radioactive Man (comics) Radioactive Man is the name of several Supervillain, supervillains appearing in American comic book, American comic books published by Marvel Comics. The first incarnation of Radioactive Ma ...

'' for

Bongo Comics Bongo Comics Group was a comic book publishing company founded in 1993 by Matt Groening along with Steve & Cindy Vance and Bill Morrison. It published comics related to the animated television series ''The Simpsons'' and ''Futurama'', as well a ...

, which received an

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 Andrew James Breitbart (; February 1, 1969 – March 1, 2012) was an American conservative journalist and political commentator who was the founder of '' Breitbart News'' and a co-founder of ''HuffPost''. After helping in the early stages of '' ...

'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 MSNBC is an American cable news channel owned by the NBCUniversal News Group division of NBCUniversal, a subsidiary of Comcast. Launched on July 15, 1996, and headquartered at 30 Rockefeller Plaza in Manhattan, the channel primarily broadcasts r ...

commentator

Lawrence O'Donnell Lawrence Francis O'Donnell Jr. (born November 7, 1951) is an American television anchor, actor, author, screenwriter, liberal political commentator, and host of '' The Last Word with Lawrence O'Donnell'', an MSNBC opinion and news program that ...

criticized one of the strips as racist, accusing it of caricaturing Barack and Michelle Obama using stereotypes of

African Americans African Americans, also known as Black Americans and formerly also called Afro-Americans, are an American racial and ethnic group that consists of Americans who have total or partial ancestry from any of the Black racial groups of Africa ...

Death

He died at his home on January 12, 2019, from

brain cancer A brain tumor (sometimes referred to as brain cancer) occurs when a group of cells within the brain turn cancerous and grow out of control, creating a mass. There are two main types of tumors: malignant (cancerous) tumors and benign (non-cance ...

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'' #1–23 * ''Mavis'' #1–3 (featuring Wolff and Byrd's secretary) * '' Supernatural Law'' #24–45 * ''Radioactive Man'' volume 2 (eight issues) * ''Simpsons Super Spectacular'' #1–5 * ''

'', one-shot *

"The House of Riverdale" *

"Archie Freshman Year" *''The Big Book of Death'' (contributor) *''The Big Book of Weirdos'' (contributor) *''The Big Book of Urban Legends'' (contributor) *''The Big Book of Thugs'' (contributor)

Collections

* ''Wolff & Byrd, Counselors of the Macabre''—"The Red Book" (comic strips from the mid-80s) * ''Wolff & Byrd, Counselors of the Macabre: Supernatural Law'' (comic strips) * ''Wolff & Byrd, Counselors of the Macabre: Case Files'' Volumes I-IV (#1–16) * ''Tales of Supernatural Law'' (#1–8) * ''The Soddyssey, And Other Tales of Supernatural Law'' (#9–16) * ''Sonovawitch! and Other Tales of Supernatural Law'' (#17–22, ''Mavis'' #1) * ''The Vampire Brat, And Other Tales of Supernatural Law'' (#23–29, ''Mavis'' #2) * ''Mister Negativity, And Other Tales of Supernatural Law'' (#31–36, ''Mavis'' #3)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Lash, Batton 1953 births 2019 deaths Writers from Brooklyn American webcomic creators American magazine cartoonists American comics artists American comics writers American humorists American horror artists American satirical comics writers American satirical comics artists American political artists Courtroom sketch artists Deaths from brain cancer in California Inkpot Award winners