So sad to note, in the wake of the passing of Roger Ebert, the death at age 87 of classic comic book artist and editor Carmine Infantino.

As an artist from the 1940s on, Infantino left an indelible mark on comic books.

If he did nothing else but create the Silver Age Flash in 1956 – the re-introduction of classic DC characters who would go on to spawn the modern age of comics – Infantino would be a legend.

He created, after all, that distinctive Barry Allen Flash outfit: Crimson with yellow boots and yellow lightning bolts. It is the uniform that survives, with small variations, to this day and is the Flash that several generations of comic book and animation – and maybe, one day, live-action movie – fans think of when they think of the character.

But Infantino also created or co-created other Silver Age characters like Barbara (Batgirl) Gordon and, for goodness’ sake, Flash’s Rogues Gallery, including Captain Cold and Gorilla Grodd.

He even helped revamp Batman and Robin to make them relevant for the mid-1960s.

And as one of DC Comics’ top editors in the 1960s, he oversaw a massive overhaul of that comic book house.

For a lot of us who grew up reading comic books in the 1960s – even for those of us who more often sought out the irreverent pleasures of Marvel Comics than the childlike pleasures of DC – Infantino’s images and his many, many covers are what we think of when we think of comics.

Carmine Infantino, you’ll be missed.