What an awful, awful piece of news today: Batton Lash — cartoonist, writer, friend and usually the best-dressed guy at Comic-Con — died this morning at the age of 65. He's been battling brain cancer for a couple of years.

Bat was a charming, gracious man who was disliked by absolutely no one and our hearts ache for his beloved wife of a quarter-century, Jackie Estrada. Together, they produced and promoted some wonderful comics and creations, most notably Wolff & Byrd, Counselors of the Macabre and Supernatural Law. You never saw a more perfectly matched couple.

We knew he was sick but he was also one of those people you couldn't imagine not having in your world. It had a lot to do with a love of comics that extended to all the people around him in the comic book community, along with a laugh that made you want to hang around the guy, just to hear it. If anything could make that big hall at Comic-Con seem empty, it's this.