Everyone! How to choose here? They were all phenomenal creators making their mark in comics. Each one delivered amazing comics for us readers and it is saddening they were taken before giving us more.

Oh, and Breyfogle's first name was Norm, not More (although I would have loved to see more Breyfogle).

Some of these guys had already largely stepped out of comics when they passed. For example, I adore Norm Breyfogle (subconscious hint writing "More Breyfogle"? ), but he'd been largely out of the game since the 1990s. After that, I loved his brief stint on Life with Archie: The Married Life, and the GCD notes he did a small amount of work for DC after that on Batman Beyond and Phantom Stranger, but this was a very small and ever-dwindling body of work. He died too young, but I don't think we would have gotten all that much more from him had he lived.

Wally Wood is another like this. He'd moved into increasingly niche work that pleased him and only a small subset of fans. We weren't likely to get any more mainstream work from him.

Of course, a guy like Don Newton was really just getting started. I would have loved to have seen him have more time and likely would have bought up ANY run he worked on.

What about Kirby? He was getting up there in age, but I don't feel like he was done yet. Remember when Boom! hired Stan Lee to design three new characters for them in 2010? If they'd reached out to Jack instead, they would have ended up with an entire universe, whether or not he was still able to draw them!

And if we could have put Will Eisner's brain in a jar, he would have continued innovating and revolutionizing the art of sequential storytelling via a series of complicated blinks. The man had only begun to reach his apex in his 70s.

Heck, I'd have loved for Bill Finger to live up to the 1990s JUST so he could have finally gotten the acknowledgement he deserved.

I can't. It's all too sad. Too many went too young.

Ultimately I picked Don Newton, Mike Parobeck and Darwyn Cooke. But I'd be happy for all of them to have lived much longer. I'll admit that I was completely unfamiliar with Mike Turner and Dave Hoover.

To piggy-back on what shaxper had to say with regard to Wally Wood, while I love what Woody was doing at the time of his death it was decidedly non-mainstream. At the time Woody was suffering from kidney failure and was blind in one eye and completing any work was excruciatingly painful for him. So we can safely say that we would have gotten very little out of Woody even if he hadn't committed suicide.

In the context of bright "future," Mike Parobeck is the one that stood out, for me. he was really starting to get noticed by larger audiences, via Batman Adventures and I think that would have led to higher profile assignments. Those of thus who had followed his work in Justice Society already knew how good he was, but the more "cartoony" style wasn't mainstream enough, until stuff like BTAS and the comic started changing perceptions (along with a few other key artists, who had that kind of style).

On Similar lines, Gene Day was really starting to get US attention, after showing what he could do in the burgeoning indies. Master of Kung Fu and Star Wars turned some heads, when he suddenly died. I think he could have become a big name, in the 80s, with greater outlets for the material he had been doing on his own.

Jack Cole was my third, because, of all of the older artists, he was actually moving into higher profile work, with his Playboy stuff. It was sophisticated and funny and could have led to more work in slick magazines, which were still a dream market, for cartoonists. No one really is sure why he killed himself, though I suspect depression or bipolar is a likely factor.

Don Newton and Darwyn Cooke are favorites; but, I see their future more of a continuation, rather than necessarily bigger things on the horizon. Newton got into the professional game late, since he worked full time as a teacher and was mostly doing fanzines, before more regular assignments at Charlton. With DC, he was a full time artist, working on Batman, which is pretty much at the top of the ladder, there. He was just starting on Infinity, Inc, when he died, which was a struggling mid-range title. I think the one plum assignment that might have come his way, had he lived, was Shazam, The New Beginning, in 1987; but, I have trouble seeing other big titles. It would depend on where hi interests lay and DC editors. perhaps more Batman material, which might have meant big things, with the movie.

Cooke was already highly acclaimed and would have continued work like Parker; but, was there a higher place to go, other than more mainstream? He already worked in animation; so, other than feature animation or other projects like Parker or New Frontier, I see his future as more of a continuation of what he was doing, rather than newer potential heights.

Wally Wood was disintegrating, from alcoholism and related health issues. His best days were behind him, which was something he couldn't handle. If he sobered up, he might have had places to go; but, the health issues were there, including failing kidneys. I just don't think there was ever going to be a happy ending for Wally; just seemed like his demons were too big.

Stevens I doubt would have created more, but might have produced more prints and lithographs.

Re: Kirby. He was having vision and control issues, which largely led to him no longer doing art assignments, before his heart attack. He was pretty much completely retired. I just wish the retirement came with the compensation he deserved.