NEW YORK, Oct 23 — Steve Dillon, the comic book artist and co-creator of Preacher, has died at the age of 54.

His younger brother, Glyn, confirmed via Twitter that he died in New York, although no other information has been released about the circumstances of his death.

Both peers and fans have paid tribute to Dillon, among them Sandman creator Neil Gaiman, who wrote: "Just heard about Steve Dillon’s passing. It’s been so long since we’ve talked, but he was kind to a young writer long ago, and a good guy.”

Born in Luton, England, Dillon’s career in comics stretches across five decades and two continents.

His first professional work came when he was just 16 years old, in the debut issue of Hulk Weekly for Marvel’s United Kingdom subsidiary.

Dillon moved to the US in the late 1980s, and it was at DC’s Vertigo imprint where he created the work that he’ll be most remembered for, working with writer Garth Ennis first on a critically acclaimed Hellblazer run from 1992 through 1994, and then on Preacher from 1995 through 2000.

That 66-issue run on the Vertigo comic is widely considered one of the greatest comics of all time.

Preacher is currently seeing success as an AMC series, where it has been picked up for a second season.