From the blog of Clifford Meth. The auction has begun.
Now on Ebay, Invincible Iron Man (Marvel Pocket Book) cover vol. 1 "The Tragedy and the Triumph'' published by Panini under license from Marvel Characters Inc. The cover has just been published in the U.K. Art is by Jon Haward.
The following are on Cliff's blog, you can bid by scooting on over and sending in your bid directly.
The Puppet, The Professor and the Prophet - hardcover signed by J.M. DeMatteis (only released in the U.K.)
Preacher Salvation trade paperback - signed by Garth Ennis
The Pro comic - signed by Garth Ennis
The Boys #16, 17 and 18 (3 comics) - signed by Garth Ennis
Streets of Glory #1-3 (3 comics) - signed by Garth Ennis
JLA Hitman #1-2 (2 comics) - signed by Garth Ennis
Dan Dare #1 - signed by Garth Ennis
Wormwood tbp - signed by Garth Ennis
The Uncanny Dave Cockrum hardcover (signed/numbered $40 value)
Stan Lee autographed photo
Excelsior: The Amazing Life of Stan Lee (autobiography) - signed by Stan Lee
Daredevil and Spiderman: A New Hero Rises (Scholastic) - signed by Stan Lee
The Last Fantastic Four Story (Romita art) - signed by Stan Lee
Fantastic Four: The Lost Adventure - signed by Stan Lee
Essential Iron Man (Gene Colan art) - signed by Stan Lee
Daredevil #1 (overall condition: Good) signed "To George" in 1992 by Stan Lee
Daredevil #53 (overall condition: Fine) signed by Stan Lee
BAMF! The Art of Dave Cockrum - signed by editor Clifford Meth
Hawkman #0 signed by Wm. Messner-Loebs
God's 15 Minutes - hardcover - signed by Clifford Meth
Balm in Gilead - signed/numbered hardcover (signed by Clifford Meth and Joe Kubert)
Cover reproduction of Daredevil #53 (B&W) signed by Stan Lee
Of Bitter Souls - TPB - signed by Norm Breyfogle
Norm Breyfogle Art Portfolio (B&W) - signed by Norm Breyfogle
Three-item package, all signed by Norm Breyfogle: Neophyte, Danger's Dozen and Danger's Dozen poster
Two-item package, both signed by Bill Gavlin: The Scrapyard Detectives & Daredevil original sketch
Iron Man: House of M - issues #1-3, all signed by Greg Pak
Hulk: World War Hulk #3 (variant edition) signed by Greg Pak and John Romita Jr.
Hulk: World War Hulk TPB - signed by Greg Pak
Hulk: Planet Hulk TPB - signed by Greg Pak
Daredevil limited edition bust (red costume) from Bowen Designs
Daredevil limited edition bust (yellow costume) from Bowen Designs
Daredevil limited edition bust (armored version) from Bowen Designs
You can bid using this email link. Bid high - it's a damn good cause.
In the meantime clap your eyeballs on this!!
Click it and enlarge it - you need to see the detail. That's Michael Netzer's contribution and shows again why he's one of my favourite people, not just artist, but people and why I'm honoured to be called his pal. Michael has has written about the piece on his site. Allow me to quote:
The art is produced digitally and the figures are all new inkings/renditions from well known covers that can be seen at Gene Colan's official web site.
Only 5 special prints, 11" X 17", signed and numbered with an additional small hand drawn image to round out the original art value, will be produced for the auction.
An inspiring coalition of the comics community is coming together, with an outpouring of awe and reverence for Gene Colan, the artist and the man who has bestowed much grace unto the comics form.
All I can say is thanks Michael, I'll be going broke soon. I keep missing the chance to own a Netzer original, ow I'll have a chance - five of them to be exact. I'll post more art as it arrives.
Friday, May 23, 2008
Original Art Stories: Gene Colan: The Auction Begins
Original Art Stories: Gene Colan, An Update II
This just in.
MARVEL AND HERO INITIATIVE SEND IRON MAN TO GENE COLAN'S AID
Print at Wizard World Philadelphia kicks off series of Colan-centric products
LOS ANGELES (May 22, 2008)-Artist Gene Colan has been one of comics' favorites for a staggering seven decades. Now, as Gene is suffering illness, some of the characters Gene worked on are coming to save the day.
The Hero Initiative in conjunction with Marvel Comics is launching a series of Gene Colan-themed products, starting with a limited edition print of Gene's cover art to Invincible Iron Man #1, available at Wizard World Philadelphia, May 30-June 1. Only 200 prints will be available at the show at a cost of $25 each. Net proceeds from sales of these prints by The Hero Initiative will benefit Gene Colan. Another 50 prints will be available at a later date, with plans to have them autographed by both Gene Colan and Stan Lee.
Also at Wizard World Philadelphia, guest writers and artists at the Marvel Comics booth will be signing and sketching two large poster-sized boards, which Hero will auction benefiting Gene at a later date.
And that's just the start. Wizard World Chicago, June 26-29, will see the release of a second print featuring the cover art to Daredevil #47, the legendary "Brother, Take My Hand" story by Stan Lee and Gene Colan. A third print will be available later in the year, along with other products.
For August, a Gene Colan Tomb of Dracula poster will be available for order via Marvel Previews with proceeds routed to Gene; and in September, a special book reprinting some of Gene's greatest stories will be made available. In addition to these items, The Hero Initiative will take additional steps to help Gene in his convalescence.
"Gene Colan," said Roy Thomas, longtime Marvel Comics writer and Hero Initiative Board member, "is one of the most amazingly talented comic book artists in the history of the field. When I was scripting one of his stories, there was no one-not even Neal Adams or John Buscema-whose pencils could make me feel more strongly as if I were looking into a real world. He combines often-photographic realism with dynamism worth of a Kirby.and that makes him unique."
"Speaking as an artist, in addition to his awe-inspiring renditions of classic comic book heroes, 'Gentleman' Gene Colan has been a tremendous inspiration to those of us who have drawn Daredevil," said Marvel Editor in Chief Joe Quesada. "I'm happy to say that Marvel is working along with The Hero Initiative to help one of the industry's greats and a member of the Marvel family. Our hearts and thoughts go out to Gene and his family during this tough time, and we hope the rest of this great community can do what they can to help support one its founding members."
This is excellent news. Clifford Meth has also posted a letter from the Colan's expressing their gratitude over the outpouring of assistance and affection - that's also heartening.
To Gene's fans and colleagues:
"I'm on my fourth attempt to find the words to express my gratitude to you. Our gratitude. Our current challenges are dwarfed by your generousity, love and respect for Gene. It means even more to be coming from men and women of great accomplishment in their own right. You've all enriched our life throughout Gene's six decades in Comics. Thank you all dear friends.
Adrienne for Gene
Mind you I suspect a lot of the Hero Inititive/Marvel Comics assistance came about due to Clifford and his excellent behind the scenes work. Clifford needs to take a large bow when this has all settled.
Just as an aside. On the tribute section of this blog some sicko posted a comment claiming to be John Byrne. I'm not going to waste time re-hashing the comments, suffice to say that at the time I thought the comment was a tad odd, and I've since discovered it wasn't the John Byrne, but some sick bastard trying to get a cheap chuckle. Hopefully that cretin has fallen under a bus somewhere. John has turned over a good five pages of his forum (and still growing) to Gene's plight, and has more than politely asked that I inform people that he doesn't leave comments on web-sites in general, so if you see something, somewhere, with his name attached then it's either a different John Byrne or someone posing as Byrne. Fair points. If anyone wants to leave a comment as Byrne then go right ahead - it won't be seeing the light of day here.
Keep the tributes coming in!
Looking Back With: James Kemsley
Allow me to set the stage for this one. I conducted it on a hot February afternoon in 2004 and it's remained in the archives since then. There's two reasons why this interview has taken this long to appear. They are, in order, because James Kemsley and myself were always going to do a follow-up to this covering his non-comic strip work, his work in movies and on television. Although we spoke a few times since the interview we never got around to locking in a time to finish it off. So this isn't quite as complete as it could have been.The second reason was that I recorded it on mini-disc and subsequently lost the disc. The same disc had conversations with Jim Mooney, Mike Netzer and Alex Saviuk on it as well. During our recent move I found the disc, charged up my barely working mini-disc player and copied it over. After having it transcribed I felt that it still held up as a good insight into how James was working at that time - hence I've left in a few references to events that were going on back in 2004, including the (then) upcoming Meggs XI game at the Tanunda Winery, which is where I first met James and got to hang out with a bunch of cartoonists, cricketers and at least one internationally famous rock star. It was a fine day and remains in my memory as being a shining ray of light during an otherwise dark time.
James isn't with us anymore, and we're all poorer for his passing. Jason Chatfield has taken the mantle of being the Ginger Meggs cartoonist now and he's doing pretty darn fine with it. James would be proud to see Jason's strips appearing everywhere and he'd even happier to know that Meggs is still going strong. As it should be.
So sit back, grab a cold, frosty drink, and enjoy!
DANIEL BEST: What is your background and how did you start cartooning?
JAMES KEMSLEY: I guess I was one of these kids who always enjoyed drawing and copying Disney cartoons and general animation type things, Popeye and whatever. I always found it very relaxing to draw, and it was the one thing that my parents thought that I could do at a very young age and so they encouraged me. I also wish they had encouraged me to sing or play cricket, but they didn’t encourage me as much, so I am not able to do those other two things. But just at a very young age I started drawing and then I got to a stage when I was about 15 or 16, it might have been as late as 18, I was living in a country town in Victoria and they had their local problems. I did a cartoon protesting against one of their local environmental problems and it was published in the local newspaper and this was back in about 1960, it must have been 1965 or 1966, and they approached me about doing a cartoon once a week for the paper after that, which I ended up doing for about two and a half years, so I guess that is how I got into it.
DB: What were some of your early influences back then?
JK: Well gosh, when you live in Victoria and you grow up and, I don’t know if you know much about the Victorian cartooning scene in the 1960s, but it was dominated by WEG and Jeff Hook in Melbourne and on a national scene, people like Bruce Petty and Paul Rigby – I was more along the lines of trying to forge WEG and Rigby and Hook more than anybody else and they were the cartoonists that I really enjoyed. At the same time reading comic strips, I had always been a Wizard of ID fan and that is the humour that I enjoyed. This is getting onto the stage where I actually started thinking about what I enjoyed, as opposed to when you are a kid and you pick up the paper. Like all kids, I used to read the Sunday comic veraciously, probably up until I moved to Victoria where there were no Sunday comics as such in those days. But I used to enjoy reading Ginger Meggs and Uncle Joe’s Horse Radish and Fatty Finn and mainly the Australian comics are the ones that appealed to me really.
DB: Did you have had a temptation to draw one of WEGs grand final pin ups?
JK: No, but he drew Ginger Meggs in a political cartoon once and sent it off to me and we are quite good friends, WEG and I. I am President of the Australian Cartoonist Association and last year it was quite a thrill and pleasure to present WEG with what we call our Jim Russell Award, which is an award for contribution to the art form shall we say and he was a recipient last year. It is not so much something that you win, but you are rewarded.
DB: I’ve never met him, and I have only ever seen WEG once on the Footy Show.
JK: Oh yes, he was on there, yes.
DB: He came on and he drew one of his banners, I can’t remember what it was, but it was one of the full size things that he does and did it in about an hour and it was perfectly detailed.
JK: Oh he could probably do it in about 15 minutes.
DB: Well I think for a lot of the time he was just sitting there and waiting for them to call him back on. I was stunned by how good he could do it so quickly as well. I have always been envious of people who can draw so well, so fast and it is always in the back of my mind thinking I wonder what would happen if this guy actually sat down and took his time?
JK: It is very hard to draw. Most of the things that people draw quickly are things that they have done a thousand times before, because what you need to do to is see it on the page and then do it. What people forget that artists do it with felt pens and there it is. There is no sketching out first or anything like that, generally it is the stuff that they have done a million times before that they do very quickly. When it comes to sitting down, drawing a cartoon or a comic strip, well you obviously take a lot more time, and you are far more careful in doing it.
DB: It was fast and quite interesting because he did do it with marker pens.
JK: Yeah, yeah.
DB: And as I was watching him start, I thought you are a brave man going into this with marker pens, because if you make a mistake...
JK: You have got to remember that WEG is nearly 80 and he has been drawing for 60 years. You don’t have to be brave; you just know what you are going to do.
DB: Auto pilot.
JK: Yeah, that is basically it. I am sure when he does the final one he will take a lot more time and probably pencil it in and go over it and make sure because they are the ones that people unfortunately hang onto for years and they come back to haunt you. I try not to do anything in public anymore, because every six months I hate what I did six months before so I like to keep it hidden. One of the reasons that I do very few collections of books, it’s only when I get my arm twisted or get a vast amount of money thrown in front of me that I do them, because I know within six months of having done it, I wish I hadn’t.
DB: How did it come about that you took over Ginger Meggs and what appealed to you about Ginger Meggs?
JK: I took it over in 1983, so that is quite a long while ago now. Jimmy Bancks was the creator of Meggs as you are probably aware.
DB: Yes.
JK: I have known his family for some 35 years now and in fact, I was very close with his daughter and her husband. Anyway, I was working in London in the early 80s and late 70s and we had a couple of businesses happening together and one which eventually lead to a Ginger Meggs movie being made in 1982. Now although I didn’t have a great deal to do with the movie, it was my idea to do it. I was working in New York when the movie was being filmed so they asked me to come back and work on the film and have some influence on it because as I said it had been my idea to do the movie. At the same time I had started drawing a comic strip on a weekly basis for an Australian and New Zealand newspaper in London. And so, while I came back here, I was busily doing my comic strip and sending it back to London, which was really convoluted because I was actually working out of New York, but that is a very long and dull story.
While I was drawing the comic strip one night, some of the kids that were in the movie asked if I could draw Ginger Meggs comic strips. So I took one of my gags that I was doing for London and instead of having my two characters in it, I think I put two of Bancks’ characters in it, Ginger and someone else, his mum from memory, and gave it to them. Anyway about 18 months after that, the artist who was drawing Ginger Meggs was killed when his car crashed into a pole and unbeknown to me, the kids had given the comic strip to the Bancks family as a thank you and they had it framed. So the Bancks family contacted me and said, “Listen, we have to submit a name for the takeover of doing the strip. We want to keep it going and we think you can do it, are you interested?” And at that stage I was at loose ends about what I was going to do with myself and I said, “Oh yeah, I’ll give it a bash,” because I knew the character fairly well because I had been involved with the movie fairly closely and knew what Meggs was about. The movie was actually based on a whole lot of old Bancks comic strips. So I could see where the character was coming and going and so the bottom line was that, they picked three people for the job. The guy that I think they really wanted to do it was already doing two comic strips for the paper already, so they said, “If you do this, you have got to finish your two strips.” And he didn’t want to do that because he didn’t want to be doing a strip for someone else, he wanted to do his own creativity
The other guy was about 70 and they thought well if they gave him the gig, he might not be around long and they might be looking for someone else in a year and they might have to go through the whole process again. So it fell in my lap. And they just said, “Look you have got the job, but we have got to tell you that we think the comic strip is past its use by date and we don’t know if it is getting any great reaction, but we will give you 16 weeks to make it work. And at the end of that period we will reassess where it stands in the marketplace and if we think it is having an impact, we will leave it.” And lucky for me, 16 weeks later they kept it going and that was about 21 years ago.
DB: Was it daunting taking on such an icon, because Ginger Meggs has been around...
JK: Since 1921.
DB: Yeah.
JK: You have got to remember that you are taking over something that is very well established. There is no other comic established as well in Australia as Ginger Meggs. It’s a little bit like taking over the Premiership Team; you are on a hiding to nothing. If someone has just won the Premiership and even if you win the Premiership next year, you know big deal.
DB: You're riding on the coat tails.
JK: Yeah. So I did that and I thought a lot about it and I went to them and I said, “Look, I have looked at this and I think the reason that it is failing is because it is not relevant to now.” And they said, “Well you take the punt and we will support you and update it.” I suddenly started bringing in contemporary settings and contemporary characters and contemporary language. I should have gone the whole hog but it took me years to make the drawings really contemporary and have the kids in very modern clothing, which I do now, but it took a while to get to that point. So with the paper behind me, I thought I have got nothing to lose because there is going to be a lot of people whinge and moan and there were a lot of readers that wrote in and said, “Oh we don’t like Ginger being modern.” They had been reading it for years and it should be like it was. What they didn’t realise is that Bancks very subtly in his tenure on the strip, actually updated it each week as he went with the language and the drawings and so on.
So yeah, taking over an icon strip, was daunting. I know where I stand on the pecking order of people who have done the strip and I don’t rate me any better than Jimmy Bancks. In fact, unfortunately for me, he was quite a genius when it comes to writing and in the later part of his life, his artwork, so I just like to settle in at the back there and do my own thing now.
DB: I wouldn’t under-rate yourself too much. The Bancks stuff is great and that is the stuff that I'm pretty sure I grew up reading.
JK: How old are you?
DB: 36.
JK: No you probably grew up on me.
DB: I can remember it back in the early 70s, the Sunday strips especially.
JK: In that case you grew up on Lloyd Piper. Lloyd Piper took over in 1973 when Ron Vivian died. It is like me, I read Ginger Meggs as a kid, but the Ginger Meggs I read was obviously Ron Vivian, because Jimmy Bancks had died in 1952. I didn’t start getting into comic strips until ’58 or ’59, so I would have been bought up on Ginger as Vivian saw it, but I still enjoyed it, you know.
DB: I loved it. I think it was still signed by Bancks or it was Ginger Meggs by Bancks.
JK: When Bancks died he wanted it to keep going, it was his wish. A good friend of his was Sir Frank Packer; Kerry’s dad, and he had expressed his wish that if anything ever happened to him, that he would keep it going; the paper would keep it going. So they found another artist, but Sir Frank apparently issued a memo saying, “Look the other artist can draw it, but it has got to have Bancks name on it,” so it was always known as Ginger Meggs by Bancks. It wasn’t until I took over that we discussed it and almost right from the beginning, I labelled it Bancks’ Ginger Meggs by Kemsley. See I thought that...
DB: As I said, the ones I grew up with, the ones that I can remember I always thought were Bancks and then I found out later on that they weren’t by Bancks.
JK: No.
DB: And the only way that I found out is that I had picked up The Golden Years of Ginger Meggs by Bancks.
JK: Although I got a lot of brick-bats, I got a lot of bouquets from people who started reading the strip and it obviously worked for them because it is still in the paper. They said, “Oh we can’t tell the difference between your work and Jimmy Bancks’ work,” and as I said a minute ago, that is probably where I made the big mistake that I tried to update everything in the strip, but I thought gee people really know Bancks’ work and I really should try and forge it. And for probably 10 years, I really went out of my way to make sure if I drew something, I drew it like he would draw it. I have got all the Ginger Meggs annuals and the Golden Years of Ginger Meggs and when you are doing something in your own way, you will lay it out in your perspective and everything that you do comes naturally. You can’t force a drawing; you just have to do it as it is in your head. And Bancks’ head is different to my head, so for that 10 years, I always referred to how would he do a layout and I really tried to make people think that they were still reading Bancks’ cartoon. Until one day I said this is silly, this is taking me too long to do and I started doing the daily strip about 10 or 12 years ago which took off fairly well for me, so I didn’t have time to keep referring to books and everything for every strip I did, so I just one day let my head draw and that is how it comes out.
It must be 10 years ago again, or even longer, there was a guy interested in doing a Ginger Meggs animation show. He went bankrupt eventually on a lot of projects, and it was one of them, but I did a lot of initial drawings for him and we decided that it was going to look better if Ginger had eyes instead of the streaky eyes that Bancks had given him, which was part of the 1920s or ‘30s style of drawing anyway. If you look at the early Blondie’s or Little Orphan Annie or Fatty Finn, that was the style of drawing and we just decided that it should look a little bit more modern than it is and so I suddenly took his shoes off and put gym boots on him and put a tee shirt underneath his vest and gave him eyes that could be animated really well if necessary. And now no one has ever come up to me and said, “Whatever happened to his eyes?” They just...
DB: Accepted it.
JK: Accepted it and of course I try and give the whole strip a modern look. I love comics and I love people’s artwork. I am very lucky to know a lot of the major cartoonists in the world and we often sit down once or twice a year wherever I am and I talk to them about their style and their technique and I think it is important with Meggs that the whole look of it is modern, you know. I don’t know, do you read it in The Advertiser over – The Mail over there?
DB: Yes I do.
JK: Well you will often see that I get away from panel by panel and just use the space to put drawings in and that is kind of a 2000 thing to do. You know, the ground that everyone thinks is broken by Calvin and Hobbes was actually broken by Windsor McKay about 100 years ago. Then people started conforming to little boxes and people like Watterson and now Jerry Scott and Jim Borgman who do Zits and Patrick MacDonald who does Mutts and all these people, to say well we have got that much space to fill, why do little boxes and do something that is intricate to the story.
DB: Do you find any resistance when you do go outside of the circle? I have the Watterson book, the Tenth Anniversary of Calvin and Hobbes, where he goes through the process of doing a strip and how he disregarded, as you said, the boxes, and he just went with whatever he wanted to and the syndicates would say, “No that is not what we want,” but he dug his heels in.
JK: I think that he broke the mould and said it was okay. I send my stuff across as it is published in a few papers in the States and on websites, and I have never had anybody complain about it, it just gives you more artistic freedom. Sometimes the strip lends it itself to being in boxes. It just says, this should be in boxes and you do it. Other times you think no, no, I want to take the whole background and put a couple of little squares on top of the background and continue the story. Also with the modern comic strip, people don’t want to sit down and read. I promise you if we put Bancks in the paper now, as wonderful and as funny as he is, no one will read it and no one would bother because it is incredibly wordy. There is a school of thought that if you have more than 26 words in a modern comic strip, particularly a daily strip, people won’t read it.
If you look at the popular strips like say Garfield for instance on a Sunday, if Garfield had got 26 words in it I would be very surprised. People want to have their fast food comics now, they want to look at it, literally scan it and look at the tag and then move on. You will get a chuckle or a belly laugh although these days a lot of cartoonists don’t specifically go for one, you don’t know if you are going to get a belly laugh. I have done some strips which I thought were very philosophical and I thought that people were going to grin at and I remember that they have ended up laughing out loud at them. Others I have done that I thought were very, very funny, that have fallen flat. So you just do it as you draw it and that is how you write it. Yu can’t write anything that isn’t in you to start with. I try every so often to redraw a Jimmy Bancks story line and they are the hardest ones for me to do, because they are very foreign to my way of writing. I would have more of a chance of drawing a Calvin and Hobbes or drawing a Mutts or drawing a Zitts, than I would have of going back and doing Bancks, but I still try and do it just to get me back to what was the basic character of Ginger Meggs. It was this basic character that Bancks created that has obviously lasted 50 years longer than Bancks did.
DB: It's interesting that you say that about Bancks because one things that stands out when you look at his artwork, is the use of blacks. Where he would have all panels that were black, which I don’t think you could do that now.
JK: Well see I did one Sunday strip where I did one, two, four black panels and one large coloured panel. I did it intentionally because I basically had half of the page with a very colourful deep, busy drawing. What it was was a pair of eyes and the first panel had one character saying to the other, “Huh.” And then he said, “Are you still there Meggsie?” And all it was in one panel was a pair of eyes with a balloon in it and the second panel was Meggsie saying, “Of course I am still here, when do you think I am going?” And then the third panel had both sets of eyes and one is saying, “Well what do you think Ginge?” And the eyes are saying, “What do I think, what do I think?” And then the last panel which took up 90% of the picture, was looking behind an audience, looking though their heads to a stage where there are two guys in a deer suit with a kids singing on stage and he is saying, “I don’t think show business is what it is cracked up to be.”
But there was a case, a reason why I had the dark panels and the black panels. I think in about 20 years I have done that two or three times because when you really want to have the last on jump off the page and be a very strong tag, it works very well. It is like colour now. When you use colour, you can really drown in colour and I find that if I am going to have a panel that is really busy and really colourful, I will make the others very plain and generally I will put a white background on them, because that just helps life up the colour that I want to be the strong panel.
DB: How long does it take you to do a strip, say a daily?
JK: If I have to, I can sit down, start one in the morning and do it and colour it and finish it and have it shipped off that afternoon. I have a really weird working life. But if I start at 10:30 and I haven’t got an idea, by the time I get the idea and physically do it, it takes me about 12 or 15 hours. Often I will start at about nine o’clock or ten o’clock and I will just go until two or three the next day and knock off at four in the morning, which is not unusual. That is the Sunday strip. The daily strip will take me two hours to do one, from getting an idea and going from the idea to the final version. I use a lot of electronic help these days like Photoshop and Illustrator but I still draw the strip with ink on paper. I save everything I draw and I have got 2000 or 3000 drawings that I have done over the years of individual characters and sometimes I can use those characters again. I say, well I have got Meggs running and I might have spent an hour getting it exactly as I like it and I think well I will use that again. So I might wait for a while and I will just use that one picture in a different strip. Like reversed or flipped or something with it, because that helps with the timing too. I find it quite a laborious thing to do seven strips a week as well as having a life.
DB: Cricket is predominant in your strip and from what you said earlier it sounds like you are a very frustrated cricketer.JK: I am totally frustrated and I blame it on my father for not telling me how good I was when I was eight. I have two boys whom I have told are good from the time they were four. One is the leading wicket taker with his club and the other is a natural athlete and last weekend took three for 18 in his first spell.
DB: Beautiful.
JK: The Ginger Meggs XI goes back to the fact that I like cricket and being, it is an awful word to use, being in the public eye, I don’t want to use the word celebrity or personality or anything, but being in the public eye you get invited to a lot of things. I always accept the things that I get invited to for cricket and over the years I have made a lot of friends who are test cricketers who enjoy comics. Steve Waugh is a big comic fan and I was also involved for about 17 years as a director on the Bradman Foundation, so that also helped.
But Jimmy Bancks and Arthur Mailey who were very close friends. Arthur Mailey was a leg spinner for Australia and he was an editorial cartoonist and a caricaturist for The Sydney Sun. He and Jimmy Bancks were very close friends and in the 1930s formed a cricket side called the Bohemians and one of the members of the Bohemians was Don Bradman. And they would play what they used to call second class games and play exhibition matches around New South Wales and where ever.
What happened one day, I was talking to Geoff Lawson about this and he said, “We should reform the Bohemians and go and play second class matches.” And I said, “Well yeah, except the Bohemians now have a different connotation to what it had in the ‘30s.” And I said, “If we want to get sponsorship or we want to get some sort of notoriety, let’s just call it the Meggs XI?” And for of the last 10 years, the Meggs XI has played a dozen or two dozen matches I suppose. I have never counted them up. I think we have played in Vanuatu, against Vanuatu and we have played over there in the Barossa Valley once. We play again in a month’s time and it is just when we can get everybody together and say, “Well if you have got the airfares to get us there, we will all come over for a couple of days break and play cricket.” Geoff Lawson is in it as I mentioned and Len Pascoe, I don’t know if you have seen the rundown of it at all?
DB: Yes I have. Len Pascoe, he is a bit of a cult figure.
JK: Oh he is. Len is great and Len is probably one of my closest cricketing friends to be honest. He is a mad computer buff and he is always ring me up and trying to sort things out for him on Photoshop and Premiere and mind you, as the years have gone on he phones up less because he probably now knows more than I know. But we see quite a bit of each other and our families are good friends. Merv Hughes is apparently playing with us, so I have been told. Merv came on a couple of games with us to Vanuatu and threatened to come back, but I was going to ring him to see if he wanted to play in this one, but someone got in first and he agreed to it.
DB: I am pretty sure you drew Merv Hughes in a couple strips.
JK: No, the only cricketers I have actually drawn into the strip – I drew Mike Whitney.
DB: That’s right.
JK: Years and years ago when Mike retired, that was a surprise for him because I had known him for a while and we had always been good friends and I thought I would surprise him. And I was going to his testimonial match so I drew him in. You are right, I drew Merv in, but I never actually said it was Merv. With Mike Whitney I said was Mike.
DB: The Mike Whitney strip was, “We’ve got this ring in bowler”.
JK: That’s it.
DB: And I am pretty sure that I saw Merv in at least one.
JK: I did one where I had Ginger metamorphing into a fast bowler. He started out running in as Meggs and then in the course into running in he turned into Merv. I never actually said it was Merv; I just made it look a lot like Merv and in the daily strip. Gee, it must be a long, long while ago. When Merv first got dropped from the Australian side, I did a daily with Ginge lamenting that Merv was no longer in the side.
DB: I think that is pretty much where I knew that there was a big change going on with Ginger Meggs because before that, I think the only other cricketer I had seen mentioned was Don Bradman and now suddenly you are sitting down and talking about Merv Hughes and I thought this is odd.
JK: Well I took the lead from that because Bancks used to put contemporary characters into his strip all the time. Apart from Don Bradman who made an appearance in the ‘30s, he also had Charles Kingsford Smith in it, he also had William Dobell in it and in fact I used to have a list of the real people and these were all friends of his by the way.
DB: Yes.
JK: Bill Dobell was a close mate, he had some dealings with Kingsford Smith and, of course, he played cricket and golf with Bradman. So I thought, well people love seeing that and relating to it. Strangely people have got this funny thing about cartoons that they get a real buzz out of seeing character A and character B’s strip cross over thing, but they also love seeing real people. I haven’t done it too much and again it has mainly been friends that I have done it with. Mike Whitney is one and Merv is another. I often use friends name in the strip and they get a buzz out of it, although the characters don’t look like them.Some years back when I first started doing the strip, I used to hang around with Mel Gibson quite a bit and so I drew Mel in it. I did him as Mel and as Mad Max in the same strip. Unfortunately in those days my caricatures weren’t what they are now, but none the less, he has the strip on his kid’s walls in Hollywood somewhere he tells me. I also did Molly Meldrum in one, because I had some dealings with Molly Meldrum. For a while there I was doing guest spots on Young Talent Time when I first started and I became very friendly with a young guy called Bevan who used to be on the show and Danni Minogue. They used to write to me and ring me quite often and so I drew both of them into the strip. I think I drew Danni in years ago when she was just a 14 or 13 year old or something.
DB: A little Minogue.
JK: Yeah.
DB: You have sent a whole lot of little Minogue collectors of their nut trying to find that now.
JK: Yeah, it will be there. In fact I think I did her in the first panel with Ginger writing her a love letter if I remember from memory. She used to ring me up all the time and chat away and it goes so far back. I mean she was talking to me on the phone one day and she said, “Oh my sister has just come home, do you want to say hello to her?” And I said, “Oh yeah.” And this voice came on and said, “Hello Mr Kemsley,” and I said, “Hello, what’s your name?” And she said, “Oh Kylie.” “Hello Kylie, how are you?” “I’m good; I’ll put you back to Danni now.” And that was it, you know, this predates Neighbours and all those shows and it must be 17 years ago I suppose.
DB: What do you do with the artwork when you have finished? Do you keep it, do you stock pile it do you auction it or sell it?
JK: Well I used to keep the artwork. I used to do a very traditional big piece of Bristol board and I’d start with the first panel and draw my way down to the bottom panel and do all that. Then I found myself having to scan it in and reduce it and send it off. And I thought how stupid is this? Why not just draw panel by panel, so I started out just on almost photocopy paper just drawing the panels and scanning those in, because they were easier to scan in, an A4 piece of paper and then I assembled it in Photoshop. And then I thought, how stupid is this, just do some rough drawings. So I would just grab a bit of paper and I map out where the strip is going and how it is going to look and I just have a great big bin which I empty every so often, when I can’t draw any more on a piece of paper and I just scan that section in and then I position it to the size and the shape that I want. So I longer have any comic strips. I get asked for them quite often and even from my colleagues. When I go to American in May for the Rubens again, I will be taking over three or four large laser prints of strips that I have mentioned them in or I have done something that they enjoy, so now when people phone up and want an original, the best I can offer them is a laser copy of the one they like. I just don’t have it. On the odd occasion I get people writing to me and wanting a particular daily strip and what I will generally do then is actually redraw that daily strip for them, but they are obviously not as complicated or as busy to do as it is to do you know, a Sunday strip. A daily strip is only about – I draw mine about 20 centimetres by 6 centimetres so you know, it is almost a case of printing it out and putting it on a light box and drawing over it and saying, “There it is.”
Ginger Meggs XI
Chateau Tanuda, Barossa Valley, April 3 - 6 2004
Back row, left to right: Tim Farris, Ron Harrivel, Warwick Adlam, Shane Lee, Wayne Holdsworth, Len Pascoe, Geoff Lawson, Lord Mayor Brian Hurn (umpire), Brian Taber (umpire)
Front Row, left to right: Brad Hughes, John Moses, James Machin, Grant Brown, James Kemsley
Same event, same place, same day, myself with James
-------------------------
GINGER MEGGS© is syndicated in Australia by Jimera Pty.Ltd and is published in over 120 newspapers and magazines in countries including Antigua, Australia, Barbados, Bolivia, Canada, Dominican Republic, Fiji, Guatemala, Honduras, India, Jamaica, Mexico, New Zealand, Panama, Papua New Guinea, Singapore, Sweden, Thailand, Trinidad & Tobago, UAE, USA, Vanuatu, Venezuela, Western Samoa
Previous interviews can be accessed here
Thursday, May 22, 2008
Original Art Stories: Gene Colan: The Auction
Clifford Meth has started to post information about the Gene Colan Benefit Auction, along with images. This is shaping up to be one of the biggest charity auctions of it's type with contributions from all walks of life. Norm Breyfogle has emailed me to tell me that he's contributed material from "The Danger's Dozen, Of Bitter Souls, and sketchbook stuff and a Batman sketch," so you know that'll be worthwhile. I've sent over a hardback edition of Andru & Esposito: Partners For Life, signed by both Mike Esposito and myself, along with the original art used for the front's piece, which you can see here.
Brian Postman has teamed up with Dave Simons and contributed the incredible piece of art that you see immediately above. Walt Simonson has sent over that amazing new piece that heads this post and as for the illustration below...one phrase: Neal Adams inking Gene Colan.
A list of people who've donated items for this auction includes the following: Neal Adams, Daniel Best, Doug Braithwaite, Norm Breyfogle, Randy Bowen, Ed Brubaker, Adam-Troy Castro, Paty Cockrum, Peter David, Rufus Dayglo, Tom DeFalco, J.M. deMatteis, Pat DiNizio, Harlan Ellison, Garth Ennis, Mark Evanier, Neil Gaiman, Sam Keith, Joe Kubert, Erik Larsen, Bob Layton, Jae Lee, Jim Lee, Stan Lee, David Lloyd, Tim Mandrake, Leah Moore, Albert Moy, Michael Netzer, Josh Olsen, James A. Owen, Tom Palmer, Greg Pak, Mike Pascale, Richard & Wendy Pini, Jim Salicrup, Bob Shreck, Dave Simons, Gail Simone, Walter and Louise Simonson, Joe Sinnott, J. David Spurlock, Jim Starlin, Roy Thomas, Juan Torres, Andrew Wildman, Marv Wolfman and Ash Wood.
Now if that doesn't whet your appetite then nothing will. Further details can be found here. Start saving those dollars, you'll need 'em and remember, it all goes to a very worthy cause - Gene Colan's health.
And remember, it's never too late to send Gene a card. Just drop him a line at:
Gene Colan
2 Sea Cliff Avenue
Sea Cliff, NY 11579
USA
Monday, May 19, 2008
Original Art Stories: Gene Colan, An Update
Just posting an update on Gene, which hopefully will quash some rumours.
First off - he isn't in hospital, nearly dead. He's resting at home with his family. He's still in a bad way, but the reports of his death, and near death, are very much exaggerated. If anyone wants to contribute a tribute to Gene then email or post a comment. Gene is seeing them all and they've really lifted his spirits. I'd also like to point out that, despite the general mis-information and assumptions of a few people Adrienne asked me to post my initial message of support to Gene, with his postal address for letters. So, to the all too few people who think I've done something wrong, get over it. It's not a 'scoop', it's all about helping Gene (plus, sad to say, some people only want to write eulogies). Now that's all I'm gonna say on that.
Second - Marvel have agreed to assist Gene. No amount has been settled on as yet and understandable any such settlement/offer will be subject to confidentiality. Fair enough. Marvel insisting on the final amount being kept secret doesn't make them the bad guys - any help is good help, and full credit to Marvel for stepping up to the plate for this, disclosure or non-disclosure. However, despite Marvel agreeing to assist Gene is still in need. Unless Marvel fork over a very large sum (which they probably won't) then Gene is still going to need to pay the bills for his medical services. So if you want to help then by all means help. The auction will still be going ahead, so if you're thinking of sending something in the form of a donation then by all means do it.
Third - this is straight from Clifford Meth: Aardwolf Publishing is releasing METH, COLAN & OTHER THEOLOGIANS, which will include everything that was in our PERVERTS, PEDOPHILES & OTHER THEOLOGIANS (a Barnes & Noble "Horror Pick of the Week" from 1997 that saw multiple printings) as well as several new stories by Gene Colan and Clifford Meth, along with introductions by several of the comic industry's noted luminaries. People can order the signed/numbered limited edition now by sending $20 + $3 shipping to sales@aardwolfpublishing.com -- proceeds directly and immediately benefit Gene.
Fourth - we're looking for a list of characters that Gene drew for the first time. Those ones that he helped design. Marvel is keen to see such a list, so if anyone out there can throw some character names into the hat, by all means go for it.
Sunday, May 18, 2008
Original Art Stories: Gene Colan, Part VI, A Living Tribute, Part VI
First up, excellent news about Marvel, via Clifford Meth.
"I am delighted beyond delighted to announce that Marvel Entertainment has made clear its intentions to help Gene and Adrienne Colan.
"In a warm conversation this morning, executives at Marvel offered Adrienne and I some of the many things that they plan to do for the Colans to provide immediate and long-term relief. I will provide the details soon."
Keep checking Clifford's blog as he has all the details about the auctions and how to help Gene in a financial manner. So far Cliff has noted the following as offering support for Gene, in the way of a donation, or something more substantial:
Neal Adams, Doug Braithwaite, Norm Breyfogle, Randy Bowen, Ed Brubaker, Adam-Troy Castro, Paty Cockrum, Peter David, Rufus Dayglo, Tom DeFalco, J.M. deMatteis, Pat DiNizio, Harlan Ellison, Mark Evanier, Neil Gaiman, Sam Keith, Joe Kubert, Erik Larsen, Bob Layton, Jae Lee, Jim Lee, Stan Lee, David Lloyd, Leah Moore, Albert Moy, Michael Netzer, Josh Olsen, James A. Owen, Tom Palmer, Greg Pak, Mike Pascale, Jim Salicrup, Bob Shreck, Dave Simons, Gail Simone, Walter and Louise Simonson, Joe Sinnott, David Spurlock, Jim Starlin, Roy Thomas, Juan Torres, Andrew Wildman, Marv Wolfman and Ash Wood.
Aardwolf Publishing, Harris Publishing, IDW Publishing, Marvel Comics, NY ComicCon, PaperCutz and Vanguard Productions have also stepped up.
I've sent my contribution off. I'm donating a copy of the Andru & Esposito book Partners For Life, signed by Mike Esposito and also by myself (yep, I've recanted on my earlier decision not to sign any copies of the book - hey good cause and all) and I've also thrown in Mike's original ink art to the Ross Andru/Mike Epsosito Spider-Man illo that was used for the limited edition. And yes, that's the actual art shown to the left here. That's a one-off in anyone's books. Someone will have something I don't even have. So visit Cliff's blog, follow his prompts and help Gene.
You can also send Gene something directly. At the moment you can send him a get well card - Gene's family is swamped in them, and that's not a bad thing, by using the address here:
Gene Colan
2 Sea Cliff Avenue
Sea Cliff, NY 11579
USA
And you can send a PayPal donation to this email address. Send a card, send some cash. From small things big things grow, or so someone once sang.
One thing to clear up. Despite the hype from other blogs Gene is not in hospital at the moment. He is at home and as comfortable as can be in his situation. So be careful when you report this stuff (and nope, I never said he was in hospital, someone else made that one up).
Today's tributes!
Last week, before I headed off to NYC to help chaperone my son's 8th grade class trip (and caught a hellish cold), the lovely Liana K forwarded me a link to an online discussion of the rapidly deteriorating health of Gene Colan. As Liana knew from our conversation at Ad Astra in Toronto earlier this year, Gene has been a hero of mine since I was nine or ten years old.
We are all the sum of our parts, and it is no exaggeration to say that without TOMB OF DRACULA and the art of Gene Colan, I might well never have become a writer. (So, yes, you have Gene to blame, along with the creators of Kolchak, Stephen King, and Charlie Grant.)
Back up. When I was a kid, whenever I was sick enough to need medicine, my mom would come home from the pharmacy with a small stack of comic books. She knew nothing about them, of course, except that I liked them, so in addition to Justice League and Avengers, I would get Richie Rich and even the occasional Jughead. One summer--when, as I said, I was either nine or ten--my parents rented a house on Cape Cod and my brother and I walked down to the country store with some loose change. It was the first time I had ever picked out a comic book for myself, and it was TOMB OF DRACULA #15, written by Marv Wolfman and drawn by Gene Colan, who had already had legendary runs on a number of series, including Daredevil.
It altered me. The story was always entertaining, of course, with the great Marv Wolfman at the top of his game. But Gene's art drew me into the world of that series in a way that no comic book before or since has ever managed. It was like watching Christopher Lee in Hammer films, only better, a sexy, textured, ominous world in which Dracula was both the ultimate evil and the ultimate tragic hero. He was written that way, of course, but Gene *made it work.*
The only piece of original comic book artwork I've ever bought is a page from TOMB OF DRACULA #15, which I bought from Gene himself at a convention, the very first time I met him. It hangs, signed and framed, in my home.
My good friend Tom Sniegoski can (and apparently could, back then) tell you who wrote and drew every issue of every comic book he read throughout his youth. Not me. Truth is, at that age, I didn't even know who Jack Kirby was. I paid no attention to the names of artists, except for one: Gene Colan. While the rest of the industry was trying to learn to draw like Kirby, Colan was just being Colan.
Fast forward. I don't have the dates in front of me, but let's call it mid-nineties. Marvel had drastically altered the characters of Blade (who first debuted in the pages of TOMB OF DRACULA of course) and Hannibal King (ditto) for a series called Nightstalkers...but the Blade movie was in the offing and Marvel wanted to hit the restart button, to get back to the character's origins. Editor Ralph Macchio asked me to do a one-shot that would be its own story, but that would also retell the origin of Blade and reintroduce some of the characters from his past. I was thrilled, but worried. As a novelist, I was always being told my comics writing was too wordy (it was) and what Ralph wanted--in a 40 page comic--would be pretty text heavy. He assured me he wanted it that way. With meat on its bones.
The pitch was called BLADE: CRESCENT CITY BLUES. I turned in the breakdowns for the plot, and a couple of days later, Ralph called. "It looks like we're going to have Gene Colan draw it."
I thought he was joking. Gene hadn't done anything for Marvel in a while at that point. When I realized he was serious, I was so overwhelmed that I nearly wept. Mock if you will, but *that's* how much it meant to me. Working with Gene was a dream come true. He was a consummate gentleman, a blast to brainstorm with, a pleasure to talk to, and every page came in just as beautiful as any he had done on TOMB.
When we were done...after the comic book had come out...I called Gene one day to thank him again. I asked him if, once he got the artwork back, he'd be willing to sell me a page or two of the comic we'd done together. Gene had gotten 22 of the 40 pages. The inker, Mark Pennington, received 18. Gene refused to let me pay him. He said that he'd had such a good time and liked the one-shot so much that he wanted to send me a couple of pages, and he wouldn't let me talk him out of it.
The next day, a FedEx box arrived containing NINETEEN pages of Crescent City Blues. Gene had kept the three he liked best, and sent me the rest. It was an extraordinary gift, and I'll never forget it.
In the time since then, I've only spoken to Gene once or twice, and not for years. He remains my favorite comic book artist of all time.
- Christopher Golden
I know Gene and I share a love of the film, 'To Kill A Mockingbird' and as I sit here writing this I can't help but think how much Gene parallels Atticus Finch.
They are both men of honesty, honor and compassion. Their keen intellect let them see things below the surface and to bring out the best in those around them. They lead by example and do their best everyday to make the world a better place. They carry themselves with dignity and grace and their body of work leaves a deep and indelible mark on the world... - and let's not forget that they are both characters in the truest sense of the word.
While Atticus fought injustice, segregation and prejudice in a courtroom residing in Harper Lee's imagination, Gene did it in comics. From his artistic approach and vision in bringing characters like the Falcon, Brother Voodoo and Blade to life, to his iconic images in Daredevil #47's, 'Brother, Take My Hand', Gene Colan transcended the world of comic books to a much higher socially aware place.
Thank you Gene for not only so many wonderful years of sharing your gift with us but for making us all better people in the process. You have touched so many lives on so many levels - we can never all start to repay you for your kindness. Atticus would truly be very proud of you.
With Much Love & Respect,
- Jim Cardillo
To the GREAT Gene:
First of all, sorry for my bad English.
I am an Argentinian artist of comic books and through this letter I wanted to leave my absolute support to Gene. Gene: you are one of the really BIG authors of the North American comic. And, mainly with a strong character, absolutely unique graphics. Your work, so much in the Tomb of Dracula, in Daredevil and in the infinity of productions that you have carried out throughout your extensive career, they are a continuous source of inspiration. The work of the light and the shade is unique in the field of the comics books. The atmosphere achieved with the light and the shade makes that "common" scenes (dialogue scene) transform into something memorable. And the action scenes, simply superb.
The other factor that impressed myself of youth was the incredible fluency of your narration, to read a comic drawn by you was to have the feeling of a to flow continuous of movements and action. Very personal and always different to all your great friends artists in the '70s.
With the years and with my intention of beginning career in the art of the comic, I have appreciated every time more your incredible work and I come back every time to your work, an irreplaceable reference. Your magnificent work has accompanied in all stages, of adolescent reader until mature professional. Always for different reasons, you are an irreplaceable author.
From here I sends you, with all respect, my biggest hug and all my support to you and your family. I hope it can overcome this moment positively. I love your work and I respect it a lot you. One of the really BIG authors and artist of the industry of the North American comic.
Luis Guaragna
Keep 'em coming. You send, I'll post and Gene reads! Remember that all of the tributes are gathered here.
Friday, May 16, 2008
Original Art Stories: Gene Colan, Part V, A Living Tribute, Part V
Each hour of each day brings more and more tributes to Gene Colan. Keep 'em coming, Gene loves them and according to all accounts they're really lifting his spirits.
Help support Gene by checking out what my good pal Clifford Meth is doing.
Remember - you can send Gene a card to lift his spirits, the address is here.
Clifford Meth also has this information on his blog:
We're getting lots of email saying, "How can I help?" If you're a writer or artist or TV/film professional, please contact me --Or just mail a drawing or signed book or whatever it is you're contributing to:
COLAN c/o Clifford Meth
179-9 Rt. 46 West
Box 252
Rockaway,
NJ 07866
Items will be auctioned off at ComicLink.com
All of the comments are now up on my main site, in a single page, hopefully they'll be a bit easier to read there, and as more come in then I'll add them in there. Gene will be able to have it printed out a lot easier and will be able to read them all - and read them he has. Remember, you can either send a tribute and I'll put it up there, or you can post a comment. It's that easy. Send a link of a forum where Gene is being mentioned if you want. For now, on with the show!
GENE COLAN
I first encountered Gene Colan’s unique work in 1962 via one of those delicious 5-pagers Stan Lee was running in Journey into Mystery. He stood out from the pack almost as if he had parachuted in from other comic house. (In a way, he did!) To my innocent 8-year old eyes, “I Was a Prisoner of the Voodoo King!” was genuinely frightening. Colan’s work, realistic in a creepy and crepuscular way, was nothing like that of Kirby, Ditko, Ayers or Heck.
I didn’t encounter him again for years. And when I did, I didn’t recognize him on the new Sub-Mariner strip in Tales to Astonish. Obscured by Vince Colletta inks, he was hiding behind the pen name Adam Austin. I liked this new guy very much. Unreservedly.
Soon enough he unmasked. From Sub-Mariner he went to Iron Man, and then on to his tremendous run on Daredevil. I’m not sure I immediately connected Gene Colan’s name with “I was a Prisoner of the Voodoo King!” but I found his style, as it evolved, sometimes unsettling. Was I subliminally reacting to burned-in-my-brain memories of that old horror story? Could be. But that’s how powerful Colan’s work was.
One of the things I most admire about Gene Colan and his work is that while other artists mutated over time, some simplifying their stylistics, others becoming parodies of themselves, Gene Colan stayed eternally Gene Colan.
And now, his health faltering, he is working on a Captain America story. I admire his professionalism, and I hope he finds the strength to finish that story. But a part of me feels that Gene Colan has earned his days. Ultimately, that single story won’t add very much to his towering body of work. How he spends this precious time does matter. Good luck, Gene. Use these days wisely and well.
5/15/08
- Will Murray
Thursday, May 15, 2008
The Amazing Spider-Skrull
Just wanted to share this one. Drawn by Norm Breyfogle at the recent New York Convention, this just makes me wonder even more...why isn't Norm drawing at either Marvel or DC? I mean, I think I know why, but when I see some of the low grade art that's coming out of Marvel right now it's almost criminal that Norm is still on the sidelines. . Hey - I love David Lapham, both as an artist and a writer, but his new Wolverine project is virtually unreadable - sorry Dave, but Johnny Timmons has turned in a God-awful job and it just doesn't do your story justice.
On the bright side Norm is still out there drawing away and creating some of the most vibrant comics in the marketplace, in the form of Dangers Dozen. So that's a bonus. Perhaps someone at Marvel or DC will come to their senses soon enough and either give us some new Norm or at least collect those Alan Grant/Norm Breyfogle Batmans. Hey - DC reprint everything else...
Tuesday, May 13, 2008
Original Art Stories: Gene Colan, Part IV, A Living Tribute, Part IV
Each hour of each day brings more and more tributes to Gene Colan. Keep 'em coming. And by all means help support Gene by checking out what my good pal Clifford Meth is doing. Put aside any personal feelings you might have towards anyone and just do the right thing. It's that simple. Remember - you can send Gene a card to lift his spirits, the address is here.
Clifford Meth also has this information on his blog:
We're getting lots of email saying, "How can I help?" If you're a writer or artist or TV/film professional, please contact me --
Or just mail a drawing or signed book or whatever it is you're contributing to:
COLAN c/o Clifford Meth
179-9 Rt. 46 West
Box 252
Rockaway,NJ 07866
Items will be auctioned off at ComicLink.com
In the meantime I've also put all of the comments into a single page on the main site, hopefully they'll be a bit easier to read there, and as more come in then I'll add them in there. Gene will be able to have it printed out a lot easier and will be able to read them all - and read them he has. This has also put a few old pals back in touch with Gene, so even better.
Now to today's tributes. As they arrive I'll post them up.
I’ve written about Gene’s stuff (and its impact on me and my own work) more than once but I’d like to tell a quick tale of when I first met him. I was at a San Diego con several years ago and saw him at a table by himself (Adrienne must’ve been away for a bit). I was both elated and immensely disappointed, as I had no idea he was going to be there. If I did, I would have brought something for him to sign (most likely my treasured copy of CAP #116, one of my earliest and most fondly-remembered Colan stories).
After a quick beeline to the nearest dealer’s table with Silver Age comics on sale (I’d spent most of my dough, as usual), I returned with a “generic” Gene issue of DAREDEVIL (of course, a generic Colan-drawn issue was the same as a “standout” issue by nearly anyone else) in hand. I told him how much I adored his work and of course, he was gracious and generous. Feebly reaching for a topic with which to open a dialog (other than, “What’s a great artist like you doing in a place like this?”), I asked him who his influences were. I’d always wondered this, as, unlike most other artists I could not see anyone else I recognized in his work.
Almost immediately he said “MIlton Caniff and Hal Foster.”
And almost immediately my jaw hit the floor. Because frankly, I couldn’t see ANY evidence of either guy in Gene’s stuff. While I respect the first and love the latter, I think Colan’s figures and faces are yards better than Caniff’s, and his storytelling and action are yards more dynamic than Foster’s. I just didn’t see it.
Then it hit me—DUH!! THAT’S ANOTHER REASON WHY GENE IS SO INCREDIBLE! Not just what he draws, but the fact that he could synthesize two incredibly diverse greats into a completely unique style all his own. Like a Kirby or a Ditko, you can spot his stuff a mile away, despite his influences being the same as most of his generation.
It took me awhile to realize that, but when I did, it helped inspire me even more...as well as grow my appreciation for all things Colan...just when I thought it couldn’t grow any more.
I thank God I was able to tell Gene how much his work meant to me that day, and that I’d get the chance several more times in the future. And I thank Gene for everything he’s done for my work, my life, and my soul from childhood to the rest of my days. God bless him now and forever.
I love you, Gene.
Best,
Mike
I thought Gene Colan was brilliant. I did a couple of stories with him on Daredevil but I never understood him the way Tom Palmer does. There are certain guys for certain guys. A guy like Gene sees everything in shades of black and white. He doesn’t see line. Gene was the most difficult guy to ink because he doesn’t use lines he uses shading. Light and dark, light to dark and the lines are created by the separation between light to dark. He doesn’t use a contour like Frank Giacoia, like me, like Ross and I wanted. We’d outline our stuff. Gene was a painter, but you needed an inker who knows how to do it.
Gene was a very creative guy. The two of us, when we were young fellows, about 21 worked at the Timely Comics Bullpen. He used to sit right behind me and we’d joke about who was the youngest guy in the business. He was a good looking little kid, and I was a good looking guy, so we were both good looking kids. He had a great desire to do sound effects and things like that. He had a tape machine, which wasn’t common in those days, and he’d record things. I’d say, “How do you record that ‘smack’ sound?” and he’d say, “You take a beefsteak and slap it on the table." This was back in about 1949. Quite a while ago. I’m very sorry to hear about his current problems.
-Mike Esposito
Gene-
I can't begin to tell you what your work has meant to me for so many years, and today. You're an inspiration at all times!
Best,
Al Bigley
Original Art Stories: Gene Colan, Part III, A Living Tribute, Part III
More tributes are coming in thick and fast. Remember - you can send Gene a card to lift his spirits, the address is here. Clifford Meth also has this information on his blog:
We're getting lots of email saying, "How can I help?" If you're a writer or artist or TV/film professional, please contact me -- Or just mail a drawing or signed book or whatever it is you're contributing to:
COLAN c/o Clifford Meth
179-9 Rt. 46 West
Box 252
Rockaway,
NJ 07866
Items will be auctioned off at ComicLink.com (details, dates, etc. TBA)
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If you're thinking of making a more substantial contribution then by all means send something in. Cliff has done these kinds of auctions more than once, notably for Dave Cockrum and Gene himself when he was struck down with eye problems, so it will be incredible. So far the list of contributors includes: Neal Adams, Steven Bove, Norm Breyfogle, Adam-Troy Castro, Peter David, Tom DeFalco, Pat DiNizio, Harlan Ellison, Mark Evanier, Neil Gaiman, Joe Kubert, Jim Lee, Stan Lee, Leah Moore, Tom Palmer, Mike Pascale, Dave Simons, Marv Wolfman and Ash Wood. It's growing each and every day, so chip in.
Now to the tributes. Remember, Gene sees all of these, so if you can't send a card then spread some cheer this way. As emails arrive they get posted up, and there's plenty of additional comments. Let's do what we can for Gene!
I have never had the honor to meet Gene, but he is one of my icons. His moody and distorted work on such titles as Doctor Strange and Howard the Duck was such an integral part of my life. I look back to those times and remember the great times along with Gene's phenomenal work.
Gene, thanks for the memories.
Peace and health,
-Bill Banick, RYT
Of course I remember Gene Colan’s epic work on Daredevil, Captain America, Iron Man, Sub-Mariner and Doctor Strange, who doesn’t? But Gene also was also one of the few Marvel Comics artists that took risks with his work in both layout and design. Daredevil #44 - #46 was truly groundbreaking in its use of angled panels and cinematic flow. Gene’s experimentation didn’t end there. It was the variety filled pages of Marvel Super-Heroes where Gene created his most bizarre and captivating works.
One in particular was The Guardians of the Galaxy in MSH #18. The work was so far out-there and different from the other Marvel books at the time that to look at it was to expand your horizons and realize that the comics’ art form was incredibly panoramic and vast. As great as these characters were they were never captured with the same artistic intent that Gene had given them.
I’d had the privilege of meeting Gene Colan a few times through the years but one time really stood out for me. I was walking with him in the DC corridors and I expressed how much I admired his run on Daredevil. Gene had a look of both pride and a touch of sadness when he said, “Those days with Stan were the best”.
Be well Gene. Along with Jack Kirby you were the heart of Marvel Comics.
-Steven Bove
I met Gene, like many others, only once.
Only two years ago, at the height of my love affair with Tomb of Dracula, Gene was part of a panel at HeroesCon regarding said title… I hung around briefly after the panel when, as I started to leave, a nice old man, asked me where the artists’ tables were. This nice old man, of course, turned out to be none other than The Dean himself. I was such a little kid at 28… completely starstruck and at a total loss for words. “Sure, I said, it’s around 15 corners and down 8 halls…” oh, wait… My girlfriend had her wits about her… Just walk with him! I was the worst possible choice with my long nervous strides covering far too much ground at once as I tried to not completely geek out and talk about something, anything, other than “omg I luv your comix!” It was an everyday occurrence… nothing out of the ordinary. But I was, and still am, completely blown away by the fact that *I*, a total nobody, was walking through the convention hall side-by-side with one of my true idols. Gene and Adrienne were some of the kindest and most generous people I’ve ever met. And still capable of instilling within me a complete sense of dread. It’s a tiny but wonderful memory that I’m sure exists nowhere but in my mind. All of my best to him and his family. Thank you for the years and years of wonderful stories; I’m looking forward to even more! Good luck and God Bless J
-Jim Rice
I met Gene Colan and his lovely wife, Adrianne, at Comicon International, San Diego around 2002 or 2003. Sorry the memory isn't what it used to be and it wasn't too good back then. I was attending the Con with my wife, Linda, and working away in Artists Alley. A long time friend of ours, Dr. Ron Zodkevitch, stopped by our table to chat and invite us to dinner after the show that day. He mentioned that he had also invited Comics Legend Gene Colan and his wife, Adrienne, to the same dinner. How could I refuse.
As a teenager I had seen Gene's work on Daredevil, Doctor Strange, Captain America, Tomb of Dracula and IronMan. I still have a copy of IronMan #1 illustrated by Gene "the Dean" Colan in my collection. I must add that he drew THE best Wonder Woman and Supergirl I ever saw in "The Phantom Zone" mini series for DC. I knew way back then that this artist was special. I learned at that dinner in San Diego just how special he really is.
Gene was so easy going and humble. He immediately made everyone at the table feel comfortable. He was as interested in us as we were in him. I sat across from Gene at the dinner table. In my mind I was fan boy (okay a very old fan boy) meeting one of his comics heroes. Within minutes he and I were talking like a couple of old Bullpen Buddies grousing about editors, writers, payscale and credit. Adrienne and Linda talked about the real world, family and stuff. Gene and I were on a roll about really important stuff. Comics!
Linda and I went to that San Diego dinner to meet my boyhood hero. We left with two new friends, Gene and Adrienne Colan.
With apologies to the late Bob Hope...Gene, thanks for the memories!
With deepest respect, admiration and affection,
-Paul and Linda Ryan
