Prolific comic book creator and art director Frank McLaughlin, who had worked extensively with DC, Marvel Comics and Charlton Comics, has passed away from undisclosed reasons at the age of 84 in his home state of Connecticut.McLaughlin worked for a variety of comic book publishers, starting as an inker with Charlton in the early 1960s, paired with Dick Giordano. With inking initially not publicly credited at the time, McLaughlin's first confirmed comics work was a five-page short story in 1962's Reptisaurus #8, which he penciled and inked.

By 1962, McLaughlin had become Charlton's art director, working on titles including Captain Atom and Blue Beetle and revitalizing the latter superhero for Silver Age audiences in 1964 after Charlton acquired the license from Fox Feature Syndicate. With writer Joe Gill, McLaughlin created the martial arts superhero Judomaster for 1965's Special War Series #4, with McLaughlin drawing from his own ongoing practice of the Japanese martial arts style and eventually becoming the series' writer himself.

Later in his career, McLaughlin became an inker for both Marvel and DC, including work on Captain America, The Flash and Justice League of America before his eventual retirement in 1996. Following this, McLaughlin found a second career as a teacher at private art schools throughout Connecticut while co-authoring comic art style books with Mike Gold.

McLaughlin is survived by his two children, Erin and Terry.