We’re sorry to report the passing of American comic creator Matt Howarth, best known as the creator of Savage Henry and Those Annoying Post Bros., aged 72. Here is our tribute to him, including a special tribute from British SF/Comics artist/writer Smuzz (SMS), who had been working on a new comic, The Flip, with Matt, which he has kindly given us permission to include, below…
“It may stop but it never ends…”
Matt Howarth’s death was announced by Cosmic Lion Productions publisher Eli Schwab, who had begun publishing some of Matt’s works, including The Terminal Mound. (Most of the material they are publishing was completed but never published material. Terminal Mound was completed in the early 1990s, but never saw print until CLP. The graphic novel Meat was pitched to and rejected by DC’s Helix imprint).
Writing on Instagram and Facebook, Eli noted Matt Howarth’s immense contribution to the field of comics “will forever be heralded as a singular and visionary chapter in comics history.”
“Matt and I only started working together in the last five years but he has been in the game since the early 70s. When I speak of his career to others I speak of how he was involved in the most legendary books with the most legendary creators of all time. In Heavy Metal in the 70’s alongside Moebius, Druillet and Bilial, some of his favorites of all time. In out last conversations we spent a lot of time talking about Bilal and the time he was introduced to Moebius. In the 80’s and 90’s some of his fans launched a small creator owned title, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, and Matt was the very first person to have a pin up printed in their pages. Matt also wrote the first ever review of the TMNT in the pages of Heavy Metal.
“He started self-publishing around 1969 with the founding of Howski Studios. He went on to work with Fantagraphics, Dark Horse, Heavy Metal, DC Comics, TMNT, Aeon, Rip Off Press and more. Matt was also a voracious music fan… [and] also reviewed music, and if you talked to him for even a second, he would have mentioned a new band or concert he was listening to, the newest on the platter was the wild Angine de Poitrine.
“Matt was able to fuse his worlds of music and comics most notably with his comic Savage Henry which ‘featured authorised guest appearances by real musicians, among them: the Residents, Hawkwind, Moby, Ash Ra Tempel, Klaus Schulze, Nash the Slash, Foetus, Yello, Wire, Steve Roach, Richard Pinhas, Ron Geesin, David Borden, and more. Conrad Schnitzler (an original member of Tangerine Dream and Kluster) was a regular guest in this series and several graphic novels.”
Here’s Smuzz’ tribute to an indie comics legend…
“There’s a new neutron star in the sky tonight”
British comic creator Smuzz (SMS), who worked with Matt Howarth, pays tribute to a singular talent…
Matt Howarth, US comics writer, artist, Muso and wild man of the drawing board, has just died due to complications following a triple bypass.
Matt would like it to be known that DOGE and ICE compromised his healthcare.
He’d also like a funnier and wilder write-up than this.
He’s worked in comics from 1976, including Heavy Metal, the multi-media Howski Studios (which brought out so many comics and music), for Vortex Comics, Rip Off Press, Fantagraphics and Cosmic Lion.
His massive amount of creations include, amongst hundreds, Those Annoying Post Brothers, Savage Henry, Bugtown, Particle Dreams and Kief Llama: Xeno-Tech. All of them, drawn in the high-energy, raw style that combines a fine graphic sense with dynamic and inventive storytelling.
One of his last projects has been for Cosmic Lion, a two-shot SF comic called ‘The Flip’, in which he and I alternated on drawing/writing.
Having been delayed by Matt’s illness, ‘Flip’ is anticipated to come out later this year.
In the meantime, Matt Howarth leaves behind a staggering amount of comics which, hopefully, can still be obtained through his site.
“There’s a new neutron star in the sky tonight…”
Further Tributes…
“I can recall back in the late 70s – 80s, when I was starting to read zines like The Comics Journal, The Comics Buyers Guide, Amazing Heroes, Comics Interview and the like and seeing these quirky little ads for Howarth’s comics,” noted publisher Bill Cunningham. “I asked, ‘What is this guy doing? Oh, he’s making and selling his own comics! How wonderful!’ It spurred an interest in me to seek all of the ads for indie comics and zines, and opened up my worldview as to how comics were made. For that I owe him a great debt of gratitude.”
“We used to talk on the phone a lot in the early 1990s,” noted comic creator Stephen Bissette. “Matt contributed to Taboo (“Baby’s on Fire” is still a personal favourite), he made sure in the bootleg VHS days I got to see all the HBO Tales From The Crypt via tapes he mailed me whenever one filled up with the latest episodes on cable (he knew I didn’t get cable, or even watch TV, save via VHS tapes). Epic conversations that wandered far afield, always fuelled by Matt’s encyclopedic knowledge & passion for damn near everything & impatience with the f***heads running every-other-thing. Miss you, Matt.”
“If there was ever a talent who deserved to cash in on some animated Netflix series (with music by all the expected suspects), but never did (it would have been a monumental worldwide hit – Rick & Morty, whether it knows it or not, owes tons to Howarth), it was Matt and his Bugtown work,” notes author and podcaster Shawn M. Garrett. “… This is a kick in the nuts.”
“This was an unwelcome surprise,” writes comic creator Phil Foglio. “Worked with Matt a couple of times, and found him cheerful and professional. I loved his writing, and he was the epitome of ‘independent comics artist’. A real shame. If there is any justice, his comics will endure.”
“Pouring one out on the passing of Matt Howarth, semi-underground cartoonist and fellow Vortex Comics Survivor,” wrote Ty Templeton. “I inherited his Annoying Post Bros in my brief tenure as Editor there, but there was little to do beyond production work and lettering a couple of issues, and laughing my ass off at Ron and Russ getting into trouble with larger and larger ordnance in every installment. The Posts was the only book we published routinely on time. Simply feeding off his own enthusiasm for comics, Matt became our accidentally seasoned professional. Those days were such grand fun. It sucks that you’re gone.”
“His understanding of comics as a medium cannot be overstated,” notes comic creator Caleb Collins, publisher of Dove Square Comix. “I remember having my mind low key blown when I read ‘buzzing neon light’ as more an ambience effect than an onomatopoeic sound effect, and very HIGH KEY blown when when he included “back in issue 19” in character dialog rather than in a little editorial caption, and that’s not even mentioning just how stylistically unique his work was. We say cartoonist’s cartoonist all the time, but he really was an inspiration.”
Head downthetubes for…
• Matt Howarth’s Official Site: matthowarth.com
• Electric Transit 2026 Interview with Matt Howarth
• Cosmic Lion Productions: Matt Howarth Comics and Merchandise
• Eli Schwab’s Full Tribute to Matt Howarth on Instagram
• Bleeding Cool: Rich Johnston’s Tribute to Matt Howarth
• Who’s Out There: Tentacle Tuesday Masters: Matt Howarth and His Keif Llama
Matt Howarth: Other Available Works
• Those Annoying Post Bros. #1 – 3 (Available Digitally)
The Post Brothers: Two funloving but extremely twisted bad boys hailing from the wrong side of Bugtown. They are very greedy, pathologically trigger-happy, completely corruptible, endlessly irritating, psychotically solipsistic, and – unfortunately for all – possessed of the ability to instantly shift between all possible reality levels. The universe is their oyster, and they like it raw.
• The Dune Encyclopedia is an authorised 1984 collection of essays written by Willis E. McNelly and multiple other contributors, including Matt Howarth, as a companion to Frank Herbert’s Dune series of science fiction novels.
• Graphic Classics Volume 1: Edgar Allan Poe | AmazonUK Affiliate Link
Includes “Fall of the House of Usher”, adapted by Matt
• Storms On the Homefront by Matt Howarth (2020) | AmazonUK Affiliate Link)
In his youth, Syrge Cassidy was a Federal Marshall on Earth; but once the Go-Tubes (mathematical wormholes) opened up the galaxy for mankind, Cassidy, his wife (Fehnri), and Jericho (his digital companion) retired to run a dinosaur ranch in a far-flung Decimal Point.A return-home vacation turns sour as Fehnri must deal with family problems, while Cassidy catches a drug smuggler, an innocent good deed that plunges him into danger as he scrambles to survive a crime-infested Earth. Further complicating things: some of these criminal lords might be people from his childhood who are not as friendly as he remembers.
• Discover Cold Fusion by Ruby Carat & Matt Howarth’s (2021) ISBN: 9781838128005 | Bookshop.org (Gosh Comics) | Available direct from publisher Curtis Books
It was a revolutionary new source of energy that could save the planet from mass extinction. But when two chemists shared their scientific discovery with the world, there was anything but jubilation. Critics said it defied the laws of physics and couldn’t be replicated. It was sheer luck that a small band of scientists were able to confirm the excess heat energy that Drs. Martin Fleischmann and Stanley Pons generated in tiny table-top cells. And there was more. Reports of unusual and anomalous effects. How did a small chemistry experiment turn into one of the greatest scientific mysteries ever encountered? And will ultra-clean power generators be ready to save the world before it’s too late?
For the first time ever in graphical form, an incredible story of scientific courage based on true events. Scripted by Ruby Carat and illustrated by Matt Howarth, this Limited Edition 32-page black and white comic delivers science like you’ve never seen it. Researchers Michael McKubre and Melvin Miles acted as consultants bringing the drama of Martin Fleischmann and Stanley Pons’ discovery succinctly to historical focus, showing how the globe came together to follow the truth, no matter where it would lead.
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John is the founder of downthetubes, launched in 1998. He is a comics and magazine editor, writer, and Press Officer for the Lakes International Comic Art Festival. He also runs Crucible Comic Press.
Working in British comics publishing since the 1980s, his credits include editor of titles such as Doctor Who Magazine and Overkill for Marvel UK, Babylon 5 Magazine, Star Trek Magazine, and its successor, Star Trek Explorer, and more. He also edited the comics anthology STRIP Magazine and edited several audio comics for ROK Comics; and has edited several comic collections and graphic novels, including volumes of “Charley’s War” and “Dan Dare”, and Hancock: The Lad Himself, by Stephen Walsh and Keith Page.
He’s the writer of comics such as Pilgrim: Secrets and Lies for B7 Comics; “Crucible”, a creator-owned project with 2000AD artist Smuzz; and “Death Duty” and “Skow Dogs”, with Dave Hailwood.
Categories: Comics, Creating Comics, downthetubes Comics News, downthetubes News, Features, Obituaries
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“In the meantime, Matt Howarth leaves behind a staggering amount of comics which, hopefully, can still be obtained through his site.”
hahaha if only, last I checked that involved sending a check to Matt and waiting for him to mail you your comics, or email you your e-comics (which would usually be delivered in the form of like six pdfs for a 14p story).
*looks at her shelf of Matt’s stuff and ponders acquiring a decent scanner so she can contribute to an archival torrent or something*
Thanks for this! There is SO much more for me to get in print. Matt has given me work to publish for years to come!
Look forward to seeing more of his work from you, Eli, thanks for dropping by.
Small correction here – none of the works Cosmic Lion printed were reprints – they were mostly completed but never published material. Termite Mound was completed in the early 90s but never saw print until CLP. Same story with the graphic novel Meat – which was pitched to and rejected by DC’s Helix imprint.
Thanks – I’ve updated the item. Appreciated.
I was lucky enough to have become friends with Matt during a chat on his Helix work for DC Comics. My daughter and I trekked down to Pennsylvania one FCBD and spent the day with Matt & Stasy and we’ve been chatting & calling back and forth every couple months since. Matt was one of those amazing artists who was just a channel and his muse flowed completely through him. He was able to manage to live life on his terms, on his schedule and at his pace. He was able to carve out some chunks of time to talk and always the undercurrent was the work, his work. The only thing that excited him more than what he was currently doing, was what was next. Godspeed to you sir.