As reported by Newsarama, legendary comics creator and editor Dick Giordano died today at the age of 77. After getting his start in the '60s as editor-in-chief of Charlton Comics—whose stable of superheroes would go on to partially inspire Watchmen—Giordano was hired by DC in 1967. Over the next few years he helped usher in the medium's Bronze Age, cultivating the careers of future giants like John Byrne, Jim Starlin, Walt Simonson, and Denny O'Neil. A prolific inker, Giordano also worked with Neal Adams on epochal runs on Batman and Green Lantern/Green Arrow in the '70s, a partnership that produced Continuity Studios; he also worked on various titles for Marvel as well as the budding independent publishers of the '70s.
In the '80s Giordano returned to DC, where he became Vice-President/Executive Editor and oversaw an influx of vital new talent that would result in groundbreaking works like Alan Moore's Swamp Thing and Frank Miller's The Dark Knight Returns. He stepped down from his post in 1993, but continued to work in the industry as an inker, a publisher, and the author of 2006's Drawing Comics With Dick Giordano. To most comics fans, his name is synonymous with the Bronze Age—but it's safe to say the world of comics today would be radically different (and much poorer) without the groundwork Giordano helped lay.