Darwyn Cooke was a DC comic book writer and artist best known for his work on the comic books The Spirit and DC: The New Frontier.

Cooke came to prominence in the comic book community in 1999, when working on Batman: Ego and a revival of Catwoman with writer Ed Brubaker. His big breakthrough came several years later, in 2004, while working on DC: The New Frontier. The reimagining of the Justice League won multiple Eisner, Harvey and Shuster Awards and was adapted into an animated movie on which Cooke worked as a consultant, titled Justice League: The New Frontier.

Following The New Frontier, Cooke took on the task of reviving Will Eisner’s 1940s hero The Spirit. He worked on the series for a year, and re-established The Spirit as a viable DC character.

He also contributed to television, as a title designer on Batman Beyond; a character designer for Superman; and a storyboard artist on The New Batman Adventures, Batman Beyond, Superman, Men in Black: The Series (for which he also served as the director), Buzz Lightyear of Star Command, and Batman: Black and White. Additionally, he contributed as a writer to the series Justice League and Cartoon Superheroes Abridged.

In 2008, he was nominated for an Emmy Award for Justice League: The New Frontier in the category of outstanding animated program, for programming one hour or more.

Cooke died May 14, 2016, in Florida. He was 53.