It is with sorrowful hearts that Scoop reports the passing of veteran Disney Comics story and cover artist Daniel Branca. Below is an obituary provided by Egmont Creative Director Byron Erickson:

It is with great sorrow that we have to inform you that Daniel Branca passed away from a heart attack Friday, January 28, at his home in Buenos Aires, Argentina. He was 53, and is survived by his mother and his sister Silvia.

Branca is well known amongst Disney enthusiasts as a highly-accomplished Donald Duck and Uncle Scrooge story artist and a cover artist without peer. But Branca as a person was much more than his artwork, but it is for that art he will be remembered by the world at large, both for his fine-art paintings and his marvelous and inimitable Disney comic book work. Every page he drew was simultaneously attractive and exciting; every character alive and infused with emotion, every layout carefully considered and composed, every line evidence of a master's studied hand. In short, he brought the same passion with which he lived his life to his artwork, but ruled that passion with an intellect honed through years of observation and carefully learned technique.

He will be missed as a man by those who knew and loved him. His wry smile and ironic comments on the passing parade of life and the entire history of comic art-sometimes enthusiastic, sometimes acidic, and yet somehow almost always gently delivered-were uniquely Branca. We can think of no greater praise than to have been judged worthy of his critique.

That he will be missed as an artist goes without saying-his pen is still and we are left only with a longing for “what might have been.”

That he will be missed as a teacher is not so apparent, but for those of us who had the pleasure to watch him patiently and surely impart his knowledge to the next generation of cartoonists-and came away in awe at the hitherto-undreamt-of possibilities he disclosed-the loss is enormous.

But there is no reason to miss him as an inspiration, for Daniel Branca's spirit lives in every page he ever drew. Whenever we have a need for that inspiration, we have only to open a comic containing a Branca story to feel his passion and his talent wash over us. That thrill will never fade away.

As a tribute to Branca's work and legacy, we have included a few of his stellar comic book covers to accompany this news.

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