Steve Erwin

Steve Erwin, born Stephen Erwin on January 16, 1960, was an American comic book artist best known for co-creating the DC Comics titles *Checkmate!* and *Gunfire*. He passed away on October 25, 2023. Erwin entered the industry in the mid-1980s, building a steady career as an artist, inker, and writer across 92 issues from 1986 to 2019. His most frequent work appeared on *Deathstroke, the Terminator*, where he helped define the gritty, action-oriented visual style of the character's solo series. He also contributed to *Star Trek* and *Star Trek: The Next Generation* comics, including the graphic novel *Shadowheart*, and adapted Robert A. Heinlein’s *Citizen of the Galaxy* for the page. Erwin’s art was clean and dynamic, favoring muscular figure work and clear storytelling suited to superhero and sci-fi adventures. While he never received major industry awards, his co-creations *Checkmate!*—a spy-thriller series starring the chess-themed covert agency—and the short-lived *Gunfire* earned him a place among DC’s stable of late-80s and early-90s talent. His later career included work for smaller publishers and occasional returns to DC, leaving a body of work that remains a steady, reliable part of the era’s comic landscape.