Mike Parobeck

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Mike Parobeck was the working name of Michael J. Parobeck (born July 1965, died 2 July 1996), an American comics artist best known for his work on the Batman Adventures comic book. His artwork featured a fluid animation-inspired drawing style coupled with clear, clean layouts and was well suited to the book.

He made his professional debut for DC Comics in Secret Origins #37, illustrating a short story featuring Doctor Light. This was followed by his first regular series, El Diablo, with writer Gerard Jones, which lasted sixteen issues. Other important series on which he worked were the The Fly for DC's short lived Impact Comics imprint as well as the 1992 Justice Society of America series, on both of which he worked together with writer Len Strazewski, and the Elongated Man mini-series, also from 1992.

His big breakthrough toward both critical and commercial success came with his work on Batman Adventures, a comic book spinoff of Batman: The Animated Series, which he took over from Ty Templeton with issue seven and was the regular artist for up until his death. His artwork meshed well with the style established by Bruce Timm on the cartoon show and helped make the comic more popular than usual for a cartoon spinoff. His art helped establish Batman Adventures as a fun Batman comic, as opposed to the regular Batman comics of the time, which were thought by many to be excessively grim and gritty.

Halfway through his run on the comic he was diagnosed with Type one diabetes, which can be controlled by taking insulin. According to his friends, however, he was somewhat lackadaisical in this regimen, which ultimately led to his death.