Saturday, June 25, 2011

Gene Colan R.I.P.



The comics world lost a great legend yesterday with the passing of Gene Colan. Gene was one of the most innovative and unique artists of the Silver Age Of Comics. His distinctive sytle provided a nice contrast to the styles of the other artists at Marvel during that time. He was most known for his runs on Daredevil, Iron Man, and The Tomb Of Dracula but he could draw anything. Here are a few of my favorite covers he drew during this period courtesy of the Grand Comic Book Database.









I was lucky enough to meet Gene on two different occasions. The first time was in Kansas City in I believe 1996. He drew this incredible Captain America for me.



I remember him getting frustrated trying to draw the shield and he even scrapped an earlier attempt just because he wanted to get it exactly right. I thought it looked perfect but Gene wanted to make it just right. It's probably one of the top two or three sketches in my collection.

The second time I met was at the 2000 San Diego convention, where the picture at the top was taken. Both times he was incredibly nice and was very appreciative of his many fans. He will definitely be missed. For more info about his incredible career and lots of great art, check out his website.

Wednesday, June 15, 2011

Silver Age Green Lantern Goodness



With the new live action Green Lantern movie opening Friday, I thought it would be cool to take a look back at some of the better GL covers of the Silver Age. All of these beauties are by the great Gil Kane, who captured the outer space flavor of GL perfectly. While my expectations for the movie are not very high, hopefully they can capture some of the charm and energy of these comics of the 1960's.











A special thanks to the indispensible Grand Comic Book Database for the great scans.

Sunday, June 12, 2011

Our Army At War Trade Paperback



I just recently picked up the trade paperback reprinting the four one shot titles DC put out last year celebrating the war comics of the Silver and Bronze Ages. Featuring such great talents as Joe Kubert, Darwin Cooke, Mark Schultz, and Brian Bolland, they do a good job capturing the feel of the old books. The covers are reprinted as well and they feature some great art like the beautiful Kubert cover above. Here are a couple of others.

Star-Spangled War Stories by Brian Bolland.



Weird War Tales by Darwin Cooke.



Our Fighting Forces by Mark Schultz.



I really enjoyed reading these stories and if you're a fan of classic DC war stories, I heartily recommend this book.

Friday, June 3, 2011

InVision Comics' Genecy #1



Gerald Cooper, co-owner of indie company InVision Comics, wrote the first issue of a new sci-fi/sword and sorcery book called Genecy. With art by Eddy Barrows and coloring by Tim Ogul and Oren Kramek, it's a pretty good origin tale of this new hero, which Gerald describes as "Conan meets the Silver Surfer!" The second issue is due out soon and it promises to be a pretty good book. I usually don't pick up new comics but I'll have to check this one out. For more info on InVision and Genecy, check out their Facebook and Twitter pages.

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