The man who drew some of the greatest ever Harry Osborn stories (and some of the greatest stories in general) has died at the age of 89. He left one hell of a legacy.

I loved the way he drew Harry, and Peter, and especially Mary Jane. In my mind Buscema’s drawings are the default for what those characters look like. And he delivered Harry’s death in such a beautiful way. His art was so good that J.M DeMatteis opted against using the dialogue he’d written for that scene and let the art do the talking.

J.M. DeMatteis speaks about that scene very movingly in a blog post he’s just reposted:

I did everything I could to communicate the power of those last pages to Sal in the plot—along with my thoughts on how the sequence would be handled in the final script. My intention was to verbally milk the pages for all they were worth, wringing out every last drop of emotion; going big and melodramatic via captions, inner monologues from Peter or dialogue between the characters. (Another benefit of “Marvel style”: I didn’t have to decide then, I could make up my mind when the art was done.)

Then Sal’s pages came in: It was one of his finest hours. The panel to panel flow was cinematic and crystal clear, the characters dramatic and achingly human. And those final two pages? Perfection! At first—locked into my original vision—I began writing captions and dialogue for the end-sequence, but it quickly became clear that everything I wanted to say had already been said, and better, by Sal. It was all there in the pictures. He had translated my plot so expertly that words would have capsized the sequence and destroyed the emotional power of the moment. So I shut my big mouth and let Harry Osborn die in silence, with his best friend by his side.

Honestly I count Buscema as one of the people who contributed the most to the way Harry is seen today. The way he showed his descent in The Child Within is also incredible. Just LOOK at these panels.

RIP to, quite simply, one of the greatest to ever do it.