Fantagraphics co-publisher Kim Thompson passed away today at 6:30 a.m.  He was 56.  Thompson had stepped back from his work earlier this year after being diagnosed with lung cancer (see "Fantagraphics Co-Founder Steps Back").  He is survived by his wife, Lynn Emmert: his parents, Aase and John; and his brother Mark. 

Thompson first became an owner of Fantagraphics and partner with co-founder Gary Groth in 1978, writing news, helping to assemble the Comics Journal, and interviewing professionals.  He was editor of Amazing Heroes for 204 issues from 1982 to 1992.  He also edited Critters, a funny-animal anthology that ran from 1985 to 1990 and introduced Stan Sakai’s Usagi Yojimbo; and Zero Zero, an alternative comics anthology that ran from 1995 to 2000 and published work by, among others, Kim Deitch, Dave Cooper, Al Columbia, Spain Rodriguez, Joe Sacco, David Mazzuchelli, and Joyce Farmer. 

Thompson, who was born and lived in Europe until 1977, had a lifelong passion for bandes dessinees, which he worked hard to introduce to American audiences.  His first effort was Herman Huppen’s The Survivors: Talons of Blood, which he selected and translated for U.S. publication in 1981.  More recently he worked on a line of U.S. editions of European graphic novels including seminal works by Jacques Tardi and Jason, as well as volumes by Ulli Lust, Lorenzo Mattoti, Gabriella Biandelli, and Guy Peelaert. 

We last spoke to Thompson last year while we were working on a project to research the opportunities for bandes dessinees in North America.  As always, we found him a font of knowledge, passionate about the material, opinionated, funny, and pleasant. 

His long-time partner and friend Gary Groth said of Thompson, "Kim leaves an enormous legacy behind him, not just all the European graphic novels that would never have been published here if not for his devotion, knowledge, and skills, but for all the American cartoonists he edited, ranging from Stan Sakai to Joe Sacco to Chris Ware, and his too infrequent critical writing about the medium. His love and devotion to comics was unmatched.  I can't truly convey how crushing this is for all of us who've known and loved and worked with him over the years."