First of all, there was the news of Iain Banks' terminal cancer, which was a horrible shock, because he is a great talent and an all-round fine person.
Then, this morning, came the news of Roger Ebert's death - a great movie critic, a great journalist, who has been fighting cancer for so long we thought we might actually beat it. (Also the reason you would have heard myself and Ina chorus "Fruit cart!" a few minutes into Skyfall.)
Then I nip onto Comic Book Resources, and I find that Carmen Infantino has also left us at age 87. One of the great comic book artists, whose elegant style I first began to recognise in early DC Silver Age. He was also a huge influence as DC's editorial director, a post he held until 1975. The characters he helped 'design' are iconic including the Barry Allen Flash and Barbara Gordon's Batgirl.
It's only the 5th, damn it!
