From Mark Evanier's blog...


Don Markstein, R.I.P.
Published
Sunday, March 11, 2012 at 1:20 PM
The family of Don Markstein is reporting
his death at age 65 due to respiratory failure following a prolonged illness.
Don was a mover ‘n’ shaker in science-fiction, animation and comic book fandom
in the sixties and after. I believe I first met him in person (as opposed to the
correspondence which preceded that moment) at the World Science-Fiction
Convention in Los Angeles in 1972 and even then, he had a lot of friends and a
lot of respect within the fan community.

Don and his wife Gigi founded
Apatoons, an amateur press publication that was reponsible for much scholarship
and research about the field of cartoons, and Don edited the magazine Comics
Revue as well as several books on comic history, including The Prince Valiant
Companion. He also wrote a number of comic books, including Disney comics that
were primarily published overseas.

His most lasting contribution on the
‘net is The Toonopedia, which he updated every day since he established it in
1999. Until recently when illness (I assume) caused him to miss dates, he would
post a listing each day tracing the history of some newspaper strip or comic
book feature. We engaged in some friendly e-mailed debates about some of his
facts but I never questioned Don’s devotion to getting things right. I hope his
family arranges for someone else to continue the project.