Darwyn Cooke (1962-2015) was an Eisner Award-winning cartoonist and animator. After spending several years as a magazine art director and graphic designer, Cooke switched careers and began working in animation, where he contributed to such shows as Batman: The Animated Series , Superman: The Animated Series , and Men in Black: The Series . DC Comics then approached Cooke to write and illustrate Batman: Ego , which Cooke had pitched unsuccessfully several years earlier. The critical success of the title led to the relaunch of the Catwoman series with writer Ed Brubaker. Cooke then spent several years writing and drawing the ambitious epic The New Frontier . He was also the writer/artist of Before Watchmen: Minutemen and co-writer of Before Watchmen: Silk Spectre . Cooke won multiple Eisner, Harvey, and Shuster awards, as well as the National Cartoonist Society's Best Series award. In 2008 Cooke was Emmy-nominated for the animated adaptation of his magnum opus, DC: The New Frontier .