Johnny Mac Cassaday (/ˈkæsədeɪ/;[1] December 14, 1971 – September 9, 2024) was an American comic book artist, writer, and television director.

[2] He was best known for his work on the critically acclaimed Planetary with writer Warren Ellis,[3] where his art style conveyed a sense of realism despite that book's fantastical settings.

[4] His later works included Astonishing X-Men with Joss Whedon, Captain America with John Ney Rieber, and Star Wars with Jason Aaron.

[4] A self-taught illustrator, Cassaday listed his influences as, among others, NC Wyeth,[5][6] classic pulp magazine-culture iconography, and popular music.

[8][9] In 1994 Cassaday broke into the comic book industry with a one-page illustration and a short story for Boneyard Press.

In late 1997 Cassaday was hired by DC and Marvel as artist on the Teen Titans and Flash annuals, X-Men/Alpha Flight, and Union Jack.

To this end, the stories revolved around concepts as diverse as Doc Savage analogues, an island of monsters reminiscent of Japanese kaiju films, the ghost of a murdered Chinese police officer, and a doppelgänger of Marilyn Monroe who was subjected to scientific experiments by the government.

In 1999, he provided black-and-white interior illustrations for the novel Gen13: Netherwar, by Christopher Golden and Jeff Mariotte, published by Ace Books.

From 2004 to 2008, Cassaday illustrated the graphic novel trilogy Je suis légion by Fabien Nury from Les Humanoïdes Associés.

[13] At the 2015 Cannes Film Festival, it was announced that the three picture series would be directed by Nacho Cerda with a screenplay by Richard Stanley.

[21] He worked as a concept artist on the film adaptation of Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons' classic graphic novel Watchmen.

As an actor, Cassaday appeared in small roles in the 2012 horror film House on the Hill[26] and ITV Playhouse.