# AP article lede on death of Dave Cockrum - Fair or Foul? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [November 29, 2006, 2:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ap-article-lede-on-death-of-dave-cockrum-fair-or-foul/382190 "2006-11-29T14:12:34Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 14\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![audiobottle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/bc8723/32.png) [@audiobottle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/audiobottle)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2006, 10:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ap-article-lede-on-death-of-dave-cockrum-fair-or-foul/382190/21 "2006-11-29T22:13:56Z")
[QUOTE=stegon66] But it’s perfectly okay for adults to run around decked out to the nines in football jerseys and NASCAR jackets. :rolleyes: [/QUOTE] I disagree. There’s nothing acceptable about going out wearing a NASCAR jacket. 😛 ---
**Author:** ![DocCathode](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/doccathode/32/18773_2.png) [@DocCathode](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DocCathode)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2006, 10:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ap-article-lede-on-death-of-dave-cockrum-fair-or-foul/382190/22 "2006-11-29T22:19:23Z")
What if it has tails and shiny lapels? ---
**Author:** ![Draelin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ce73a5/32.png) [@Draelin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Draelin)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2006, 10:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ap-article-lede-on-death-of-dave-cockrum-fair-or-foul/382190/23 "2006-11-29T22:20:03Z")
[QUOTE=MGibson] I’m 30 years old and sleep on Batman pillows. [/QUOTE] I wanted to add here that I’m also 30 years old, and last night I watched _Superman Returns while wearing_ Superman pajamas, because I’m just that much of a geek. And if they sold queen-sized Superman sheets, I’d have slept on them immediately after. 🙂 And I’m a _girl_. I will agree that maybe it wasn’t necessary to mention the jammies in the headline of the obit, but as **middleman** said, the writer wouldn’t have known unless somebody told him. If I die in Superman pajamas, I want it included in _my_ obit. ---
**Author:** ![Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bosda_di_chi_of_tricor/32/16845_2.png) [@Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosda_Di_Chi_of_Tricor)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2006, 11:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ap-article-lede-on-death-of-dave-cockrum-fair-or-foul/382190/24 "2006-11-29T23:21:43Z")
I smell the stink of a journalist who thought the story was beneath him. ---
**Author:** ![MovieMogul](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f08c70/32.png) [@MovieMogul](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MovieMogul)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2006, 11:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ap-article-lede-on-death-of-dave-cockrum-fair-or-foul/382190/25 "2006-11-29T23:55:22Z")
[QUOTE=Draelin] I wanted to add here that I’m also 30 years old, and last night I watched _Superman Returns while wearing_ Superman pajamas, because I’m just that much of a geek. And if they sold queen-sized Superman sheets, I’d have slept on them immediately after. 🙂 And I’m a _girl_. [/QUOTE] See, but that makes all the difference. “30-year old chick in Superman PJs” ranges anywhere from “cute” to “hot”. “30-year old dude…”, well, not so much. 😛 I did think the tone of the obit was a bit condescending. It could be taken any number of ways (and I’m assuming it was simply a manifestation of his love for the medium), but any journalist is going to know the way it would be taken by any non-comic book fan (that is, a majority of the population). A bit of a low-blow, gratutious without being insightful. RIP, though. ☹ ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2006, 12:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ap-article-lede-on-death-of-dave-cockrum-fair-or-foul/382190/26 "2006-11-30T00:06:37Z")
[QUOTE=Wee Bairn] After re-reading the headline (yeah, I am spending too much time thinking about this, but I think its pretty cool), perhaps the writer was making an observation about a Marvel comic guy with two DC items in his possession? [/QUOTE] Reporters don’t generally do titles. It was probably done by someone at CNN. ---
**Author:** ![JRDelirious](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jrdelirious/32/9531_2.png) [@JRDelirious](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JRDelirious)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2006, 12:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ap-article-lede-on-death-of-dave-cockrum-fair-or-foul/382190/27 "2006-11-30T00:43:09Z")
I would have written the lede sort of like this: "Showing to the end his love for his life’s work, comic book illustrator Dave Cockrum was wearing his Superman pajamas and covered in his Batman blanket when he died Sunday. " Same factual piece of information, with a positive spin. The headline I probably would have reworked into something like “X-men illustrator passes away in superhero style”. ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2006, 2:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ap-article-lede-on-death-of-dave-cockrum-fair-or-foul/382190/28 "2006-11-30T02:14:57Z")
Not bad, and it does eliminate the condescension - but then again, “show, don’t tell”- and I think it’s a better lead with a little mystery to it. If my reporter gave me that sentences, I probably would have chopped off the beginning. I’d rather give the reader and picture with some mystery than start explaining the image in the first sentence. ---
**Author:** ![RikWriter](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/49beb7/32.png) [@RikWriter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RikWriter)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2006, 2:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ap-article-lede-on-death-of-dave-cockrum-fair-or-foul/382190/29 "2006-11-30T02:21:48Z")
Wow, that’s sad. I really liked his work on X Men. ---
**Author:** ![WordMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e8c25b/32.png) [@WordMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WordMan)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2006, 3:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ap-article-lede-on-death-of-dave-cockrum-fair-or-foul/382190/30 "2006-11-30T15:42:04Z")
[QUOTE=RikWriter] Wow, that’s sad. I really liked his work on X Men. [/QUOTE] +1 I will never forget finding issue #95 in the local store when I was around 12 ("Not a hoax! Not a dream! In this issue, an X-Man dies!!!). That started a love affair I had with the title for a few years - I went back and got many of the old issues - Neal Adams’ Sentinal run, for example - but always felt that Claremont/Cockrum were pretty much _it_. RIP, Dave and I hope you wore your jammies with pride - you done good. ---
**Author:** ![FriarTed](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/friarted/32/1052_2.png) [@FriarTed](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FriarTed)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2006, 4:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ap-article-lede-on-death-of-dave-cockrum-fair-or-foul/382190/31 "2006-11-30T16:25:28Z")
[QUOTE=Trunk] Would it have been wrong if they wrote, “when he died, he lost control of his bowels and oddly, soiled the face of Mytzlplk”? [/QUOTE] I’m not a BIG comics fan, I had no idea who Dave Cockrum was until just now, and I was really touched about his gesture of love for the artform at his death. And dammit, now you made me laugh. ---
**Author:** ![rockle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/73ab20/32.png) [@rockle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rockle)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2006, 5:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ap-article-lede-on-death-of-dave-cockrum-fair-or-foul/382190/32 "2006-11-30T17:17:31Z")
[QUOTE=Draelin] I will agree that maybe it wasn’t necessary to mention the jammies in the headline of the obit, but as **middleman** said, the writer wouldn’t have known unless somebody told him. If I die in Superman pajamas, I want it included in _my_ obit. [/QUOTE] How about if you’re wearing _someone else_’s Superman pajamas? And what if you were wearing, say, Wonder Woman underoos (as I occasionally have been known to do)? ---
**Author:** ![Draelin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ce73a5/32.png) [@Draelin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Draelin)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2006, 5:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ap-article-lede-on-death-of-dave-cockrum-fair-or-foul/382190/33 "2006-11-30T17:25:17Z")
[QUOTE=rockle] How about if you’re wearing _someone else_’s Superman pajamas? And what if you were wearing, say, Wonder Woman underoos (as I occasionally have been known to do)? [/QUOTE] I, um … I actually also have Wonder Woman jammies. If only they made underoos to fit my fat ass, I’d be ecstatic. ---
**Author:** ![rockle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/73ab20/32.png) [@rockle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rockle)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2006, 6:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ap-article-lede-on-death-of-dave-cockrum-fair-or-foul/382190/34 "2006-11-30T18:21:06Z")
[QUOTE=Draelin] If only they made underoos to fit my fat ass, I’d be ecstatic. [/QUOTE] I never said they _fit_ – I just wear 'em anyway. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ap-article-lede-on-death-of-dave-cockrum-fair-or-foul/382190.md?page=1)