Legion World Forums LEGION COMPANION Dr. Gym'll's Cultural Rarities Gene Colan R.I.P.

Gene Colan passed away at 84. Another one of my favorites gone.


My first exposure to his work was IRON MAN ANNUAL #1, which reprinted the 3-part I.M.-Subby fight from SUSPENSE & ASTONISH. I'd never seen anything like it! Although he liked to describe his work as "photographs on paper", somehow it made me think of someone having illustrated a comic-book entirely with pictures from an art gallery. They were big, awesome, mind-blowing.


In the late 70's, when I first started buying back-issues from conventions, I managed to get Gene's entire run of IRON MAN in the original printing. That was just a side-effect of going after the entire Iron Man SUSPENSE run, but what the hey. I also got IRON MAN #1, not realizing it was his last issue on the series. Took me decades to get some of the earlier ones I was missing.


I first met him at the HOWARD THE DUCK con in Mt. Laurel, NJ. Somehow, of the various comics artists I met back then, HE was the one who made me nervous. I guess I felt star-struck. He put me at ease. I always remember him giving me advice, suggesting I try inking with a brush. It took longer than it should have, but some years later, after spending 2 years in art school learning to paint, cutting back to just B&W line art-- and using a BRUSH-- suddenly seemed "easy".


The last time I saw him in person, he was sitting at a table with his wife, Adrienne. I wondered why he was at the ARCHIE table, until she showed me a copy of LIFE WITH ARCHIE. Yeah-- Gene Colan was drawing ARCHIE. Wild! And although the characters fit the company mold, even a casual glance at the pages just screamed "COLAN!!" It makes me shake my head when I think back and remember, sitting right next to him was Dan DeCarlo-- and at the time, I had NO IDEA who the guy was!! The crazy thing is, in the long run, I think I have an affinity for BOTH their styles-- as different as they may be.


I suspect the low point in Gene's career may have been when Jim Shooter took over as EIC at Marvel. Jim just did not PERSONALLY like Gene's style, and made life hell for him, until Gene finally went to DC, where he was appreciated again. Of course, with changing regimes, that only lasted so long. On the other hand, I recall how it blew my mind to see Gene doing some of the BEST-looking work of his career in the 90's, including the BLACK PANTHER serial (inked by his best collaborator, Tom Palmer) or the PREDATOR mini (shot from pencils-- Dark Horse did a better job than DC had earlier).


In recent years he'd been doing commissions, and while I'd never been able to afford anything, I felt fortunate enough just to SEE what he was doing and download images online. God bless the internet! In the old days, NOBODY got to see commissions except the fans who paid for them.


It seemed to me Gene was having a rough time lately, between moving to Florida, moving BACK to New York in the wake of a hurricane, losing Adrienne, and failing health. Ah well. It's nice to hear he stayed busy as long as he could.


That black-light DR. STRANGE MEETS ETERNITY poster remains on my wall above my drafting table. I can't see EVER taking it down. Although most series he worked on, there was always someone else's work I liked better, Gene did SO MANY books on SO MANY series, the sheer bulk and scope of his work is staggering, and unforgettable. He'll be missed.


Henry

RIP, Great One.

His work PERSONIFIED moody perfection.

I just saw this on bleeding cool. comics and humanity has lost a legendary person, both as an artist and as a human being. I loved his horror stuff when I found it. To his friends and family, my condolences.

Oh God... poor Gene.

I met him once, paid for a couple of autographs.

RIP Gene - you've left an amazing legacy to be celebrated for decades to come!

I've always been a big fan of Colan's work since I was a kid, since his style is instantly recognizable by even the casual comic's fan. But I really truly began to appreciate his work as recently as last summer, when I read his entire run of Iron Man stories from the Silver Age and spent some real time sucking up all the energy and brilliance he put down on every page he worked on.

He was truly a magnificent artist, and like so many other greats, had a style all to his own that can't be replicated.

He did a 2nd (3rd?) run on Daredevil in the 90's which I thought was great, and he did a Captain America issue as recently as a few years ago which I loved. He was still cranking 'em out well into his 80's. What a carrer.

RIP "Gentleman Gene".

With so much fine work, it's hard to name highlights, but he was the definitive Doctor Strange artist as far as I'm concerned, and his Dracula run was phenomenal.

I feel fortunate to have met Gene and Adrienne once at a convention in the mid-90s. They were lovely people.

And is it just me, or has Mike Deodato's most recent work started looking more and more Colan-esque? Nice that the artistic legacy goes on.

RIP Gene.

Now that you point it out, I absolutely see it. His work from Dark Avengers to now definitely has some Gene-esque quality in terms of the moodiness; he's always had that, but his poses feel more fluid like Colan.

I see it too, now that I'm reading this-- All the Dark Avengers Deodato ads I've seen were VERY Colan-ish!

I treasure my HOWARD THE DUCK and TOMB OF DRACULA Essentials even more now.

By the time I started reading comics as a "serious" fan, most of Colan's work was over at Eclipse. He drew Dom McGregor's childhood memoir Ragamuffins, and it was published un-inked. Just the pencils, along with the subject matter, seemed radical as hell to me at the time. Maybe McGregor wasn't the greatest writer whoever lived but-- how could you NOT love Colan?

Can somebody tell me if Colan ever drew any Legion stuff? There's a couple of pages over at Major Spoilers Hero History that seem REALLY Colan-esque to me, but there's no name given. [shakes fist]

I'd have to look it up, but I'm PRETY SURE Gene drew at least one LEGION story, probably a back-up in the early 80's. George Tuska also did one around the same time. I think it spotlighted Dawnstar & Wildfire.

Someone (Lash?) posted a few panels of Colan Legion work over on the Legion World FB page... it's of Wildfire on Starhaven looking for Dawnstar. I remember thinking his pages out-of-place for a Legion story, but they were unmistakably Colan and well-drawn.

According to another poster on the FB page, Colan's story was a back-up in LSH #311. I need to pull this out and give it a sentimental rereading...

Thanks, Fellas.

(Wish I still had that Ragamuffins collection. Anyone who combs dollar bins at cons may stumble across it at some point.)

It is absolutely by Gene Colan and it is BEAUTIFUL.

What an incredible body of work! For me, his work on Howard will always be a sentimental favorite. Nobody has yet mentioned his Wonder Woman run which I also treasure. Rest well, Mr. Colan.

Rest in peace, and his family and friends are in our thoughts and prayers. And man, what a run he had! I was a little too young for his Daredevil, Dr. Strange and Howard the Duck. But I remember loving his work in the Marvel origins books. I ate up every issue of his Night Force. I can hardly remember anything of its stories, but the mood and images are fresh in my mind. And I've only recently come to appreciate how dynamic and perfect his super heroes were. Look at that Wildfire! He's arriving for a chat, but the energy and angle of that figure. The ancient Greeks would have hired Gene to do design sketches for the Parthenon Frieze.

"Dark Shadows meets Mission: Impossible"


(Gene would have done a great DARK SHADOWS, too...)

Gene was great and I remember his Daredevil images with fondness.
I loved a lot of his work, including Black Panther.
My prayers go out to his family and friends.
sigh

(Lovely eulogy,profh0011! )

Ask and ye shall receive.

From the s_d "Gene Colan Week." And just click that particular tag in the WW post to see more goodies.

Awesome !!

I just saw this under Today's Active Topics:

Re: Gene Colan R.I.P. by Jerry (20) July 03, 2011 10:19 PM
Awesome !!

and I just had to add a post so it didn't say that anymore.

Seems like a new game for Spaceopoly:
Unfortunate Out-of-Context Post Previews

Thank you.

Hard to believe Adrienne personally KICKED ME OFF the Gene Colan yahoo group (and without an explanation)...isn't it?


(There were 2 or 3 moderators there who were real A**H***S, and treated the group like their own "PERSONAL" domain, freely passing out THREATS to anyone who didn't follow their rules. Kinda reminded me of the "Omega" frat house.)

A Colan postcard from 2006: