Gene Colan's style is both highly realistic and cinematic. His heavy use of shadow has caused problems for the inkers who have to interpret his work but the quality of his work was so high that this has always been tolerated and later in his career accommodated.

Colan is of a slightly later generation than Jack Kirby. He was old enough join up to fight in the war but young enough for it to end before he did any fighting. He got his first work before he joined the air force, at Fiction House. After the war he tried to work to work for DC. They were impressed with his portfolio but suggested he go to art school. This he did. Afterwards he went to work for Timely (Marvel) comics during the fifties but the work was precarious as Marvel were in financial difficulties. Eventually, like a number of others he moved from being a staffer to being a freelance. During this time he also worked for DC doing Hopalong Cassidy, Our Army at War and romance comics for DC.

Around about 1957 most of this work dried up so he went to work for an advertising agency, which he hated. Then he got work with Foster Publications doing a Ben Casey strip (and later "Burke's Law").

So far so mundane. Just the typical story of a struggling comic book artist. But it was always recognised that Colan's work was good and when Marvel's situation improved, following the success of the Fantastic Four and the rest of their superhero line Stan Lee asked him to work on Doctor Strange and Iron Man, as well as the character he was most associated with - Daredevil.

Daredevil was a bit of a second string character at the time but Marvel put several good artists on him, including Bill Everett, Wallace Wood and John Romita. Colan was given the job from issue 20 and the difference in approach was immediately obvious. Colan's work was looser. He boldly experimented with panel layouts and introduced his customary light and shade.

Colan was also better at drawing people. They were more believable, less cartoony or stereotyped. Take Karen Page for example. She started as just another beehived nonentity, like the Fantastic Four's Sue Storm, the obligatory soap opera love interest that all Marvel titles seemed to require. Wallace Wood and Romita improved her looks but it was Colan who made her look like a believable and beautiful woman. One who would be used more when she became a movie star in the later issues.

Colan stayed with Daredevil till issue 100. By then he was tired of thinking up new ways to draw DD in action.

Colan was never at his best with superhero comics, though at his best there was no one better on Daredevil. He was more effective with other subjects. Luckily in the 70's a relaxing of the comics code led to a number of horror titles being printed including those involving Man Thing, Swamp Thing, Frankenstein and the Werewolf. Colan worked on the best of these - "Tomb of Dracula" for the whole of its 70 issue run.

Colan also worked on another popular title of the 70's, Steve Gerber's Howard the Duck. This didn't entirely eschew the super hero format. Instead it took the piss out of it and just about every other comic book form as well as politics, philosophy, theology and life in general (if that's not too heavy a load to place on a comic). He illustrated most of its 31 issues as well as the later magazines.

Then Colan fell out of favour with Marvel. His style was considered old fashioned. Like Kirby before him he migrated to DC (so did Tomb of Dracula's Marv Wolfman, Roy Thomas and Steve Gerber) and had just about as much success. When Kirby moved DC printed "Kirby is coming" in the pages of its titles. Conan wasn't given that treatment but he was given a few "prestige" projects.

He got a chance to draw a number of Justice League characters in the four part "Phantom Zone" written by Steve Gerber. The art was good but the storyline, concerning a bunch of psychopaths freed from the Phantom Zone was undistinguished and a long way from Howard the Duck.

He also was given Batman (with Wolfman among others) and Wonder Woman (with Roy Thomas and Dan Mishkin - it was Colan who premiered the copyright protecting Wonder Woman W costume in DC comics presents issue 41).

Despite this he was not happy at DC. He found their approach restrictive and eventually he was taken off all these titles.

Again the most interesting work he did was not connected with superheroes at all. He collaborated with Marv Wolfman on "Night Force", premiered in The New Teen Titans 21. Night Force ran for 14 issues before being cancelled before the series had a chance to get going.

Colan also worked on an unusual noirish depression set detective series called Nathaniel Dusk (with Don McGregor). This was the first time that someone suggested that Colan's work be printed without inking. The results on series one (four issues) were mixed but on series two (also four issues) were impressive. This trend for printing Colan's pencils was to increase on his later work.

Then, just as at Marvel, Colan was no longer wanted. So he went freelance and the work rolled in. He did another detective series with Don McGregor (Detectives Inc) as well as a comic called Ragamuffins. He did some work for Marvel (including a brief return to Daredevil) and Dark Horse (including one of their Predator series - Hell and Hot Water - set in the ocean and uninked. He even worked for Archie comics and did some art teaching.

Latterly Colan's health has declined. He has had heart and eye problems but has continued to do commissioned work. Now possessed of sight in only one eye and tunnel vision in the other he continues to outdraw most of the comic book artists in the industry.

Colan's collaborators

It's pretty true to say, though some may disagree, that a comic with a good story can stand indifferent art but the best art in the world cannot save a terrible story. Colan is a true pro. He doesn't/didn't care who scripted his work as long as he had work to do. In fact he was famous for not reading the stories through to the end when he started to draw them, which at times led him to squander drawings on certain scenes and finish a story hurriedly.

That said he would be the first to acknowledge that some of the writers he has worked with are better than others and that much of his fame rests on the stories created by those writers.

Stan Lee

Stan Lee's method of working with artists was dictated by the pressure of work that he had at Marvel. He was scripting so many titles that it would have been impossible for him to write complete storylines for them all. Instead he would allow the artist to write the script based on a brief synopsis of the 'action' for that month's issue. He would then fine tune what they had written at the end (anyone who thinks this doesn't sound like script writing should try and read Jack Kirby's stuff when he wasn't working with Lee). This working method was not only practical but also very staisfying for the artists involved as it gave them more freedom.

Lee worked with Colan on the early Daredevil titles as well as acting as overall editor. Little more needs to be said about Lee and Marvel comics. His method of working produced a phenomenon in comics publishing - one that is still being felt today. Lee has known Colan since the fifties and rates his work highly. The only problem he ever found was due to Conan's habit of not reading the plots fully. He would tend to "waste" pages on action then hurriedly wind up the storyline.

Marv Wolfman

Marv Wolfman got his big break on "Tomb of Dracula". The comic had several writers at the beginning. He began scripting it from issue 7 and by issue 12 had begun to make it his own. Like Colan, Wolfman was not so happy with superhero comics. He rightly felt that they were predictable and formulaic (this didn't stop him scripting quite a few superhero titles and having success with many of them). He took to the horror genre, partly because he had more freedom. In superhero comics very few people die - and major characters never. In "Tomb of Dracula" things were different. For a start the good count had to kill quite a few people just to get enough blood to last 70 issues (as well as the later black and white "Tomb of Dracula" magazine). But key characters also died or were maimed from among the regular cast of vampire hunters. During the key 70 issues the action shifted from Transylvania to London to Boston and back to the grand finale in Transylvania (worthy of any Universal movie) only flagging in the occasional issue.

And when the series was cancelled it returned as a black and white magazine, with more focus on nudity than decent storylines (Wolfman and Colan did not work on all the stories. When they did the quality showed through).

Wolfman moved to DC and found fame scripting the Teen Titans with Perez. He also worked with Gene Colan on "Night Force" an ambitious idea concerning a mysterious Baron who lives in an old mansion which has doors that lead into the past. The Baron can enter the past but for reasons that are never stated he cannot step outside the house in the present. Instead he must recruit others to do his business - his Night Force. The Baron is a slick and sinister figure who, whilst working for good, is pragmatic about the good he does and always aims to be amply rewarded for his trouble. Often members of the Night Force don's survive.

Neither did the series. It lasted for 14 intriguing issues which was never enough to establish it. The first 7 issues involved Vanessa Van Helsing (another descendent of the Dracula hunter - there was a Rachel in "Tomb of Dracula") whose psychic powers were used by the soviet tom unleash evil as a weapon but which were too strong even for them. She was saved by a washed out journo called Jack Gold, who was forced to say he loved her, even though he had only slept with her once (he was then forced to maintain the subterfuge out of fear that her psychic powers would return and rip him apart if he said it was all a lie).

The second story arc which lasted about three issues had the Baron despatching a killer to a house that was haunted by a creature who refused to let the tenant leave. This is the best of the three stories, having as it does an unlikely "hero" (who the Baron knows will be killed) and a scenario where the tenants accept their lack of freedom in return for both food and consumer items.

The third story concerned a haunted house and the beast from the book of revelations. it was interesting but probably rushed because the series was cancelled.

Wolfman got the chance to revisit both Dracula (with Gene Colan) and Night Force (with a cover by Gene Colan). Neither was particularly distinguished.

Steve Gerber

Steve Gerber was Colan's favourite writer. As a special favour he even read the Howard the Duck scripts to the end. Gerber's best work was Howard. He created a duck character because he was sick of superhero stuff. He was surprised when it was given its own title. Until Gerber left the series Howard was the closest that mainstream comics came to being underground - sometimes the stories were even better. It's impossible to really describe the humour so you're better off getting hold of a copy of the Essential Howard the Duck. But if you're a comics collector the best issues are:

• Giant Size Man Thing 5 with its vampire cow (which parodies Conan's Tomb of Dracula series - reprinted in a Marvel Treasury edition
• issue 1, illustrated by Frank Brunner - reprinted in a Marvel treasury edition
• issue 3 with its Kung Fu piss take
• issue 8 where Howard runs for President
• issue 10 where Howard has a breakdown
• issues 15, 17 and 18, concerning Doctor Bong
• issue 21 with its exploding religious fanatics (how contemporary is that?)
• issues 22-23 with its Star Wars piss take

Gerber fell out with Marvel over creators rights concerning the Howard character. Marvel then had a run in with Disney (see also Disney vs the Air Pirates) over Howard's resemblance to Donald Duck.

In a fit of pique Gerber collaborated on Stewart the Rat, with Gene Colan. which was basically Howard the Duck as a rat, complete with female sidekick and a more hurried, less interesting plot development. This is not to be confused with Gerber's excellent new six issues Howard the Duck series (not illustrated by Colan) where Howard really does become a rat (though he insists he's a mouse). This is well worth getting hold of. Many familiar characters return and there are some good jokes in it - including a wonderful parody of Witchblade where Howard the Duck/rat/mouse becomes the carrier of the sacred claw, changes sex and gets a giant pair of tits. Oh yes and there's also a lot of religious cosmic shit in it.

For completists there is also Nevada, which tells the tale mentioned in Howard the Duck 16 (avoid this indulgent mess) of the chorus girl, the ostrich and the lamp. It's not too bad actually but better to stick with Howard.

Roy Thomas

Conan worked with Thomas both at Marvel and DC. Thomas is chiefly famous for Conan the Barbarian. Whilst at Marvel he worked with Colan on Dr Strange and at DC the two of them did Wonder Woman. In fact they collaborated on what might be the best silver age Wonder Woman story (there aren't that many) which involved Silver Swan. This story is better than the later Swan stories that appear in Wonder Woman series 2.

Don McGregor

Don Mc Gregor was a big fan of Colan. It was McGregor who suggested that DC put out a story using Colan's uninked pencils. In recent years this has got to be a trend but at the time it was a technically difficult thing to do. The first series of Nathaniel Dusk suffered because of this. The story wasn't brilliant either. Dusk is a depression set private eye with an eighties touchy feely sensibility when it comes to women. His girlfriend is murdered and he investigates - but there's no great plot.

The second Nathaniel Dusk is technically better - some of Colan's best art. The story is an improvement too. It begins with the police digging up a little girl who has been buried by some Lindberg style kidnappers and then moves on to Dusk attempting to protect an ex millionaire who has fallen on hard times since the Wall Street Crash.

Colan thinks McGregor writes too much dialogue. This is certainly true in three of his other projects. He wrote two modern day private eye stories - Detectives Inc. The first concerns the death of a lesbian but the story sacrifices plot and excitement for soap opera and heart searching. Well drawn though. The second uses Colan's pencils. Again the plot is an improvement but not much of one. It tries to bring in issues around wife beating, mixed with large scale political corruption. All too much in the end as it collapses under the weight of it's own pretension (Gerber has this tendency too but his humour often saves the day.

McGregor is also known for creating a futuristic Jimi Hendrix lookalike called Sable. It has similar weaknesses to Mcgregor's other stuff.

Inkers

Colan's work is heavily pencilled in light and shade which causes problems for inkers who have difficulty deciding when to lighten up on the shade. In the words of Colan..

"I have worked with a bunch, but I've never had much success with any of them. Outside of just a few…a handful. Tom Palmer was very good on Tomb of Dracula. He captured the character of the piece…the essence of what I was trying to do, the creepiness of it. He was heavy with inking…good with black and white. Whatever shadows I would indicate, he would follow. He did a very nice job. Another inker I liked was… Let's see, he's still working. What was his name? Oh yes. Al Williamson…that's right. I liked him. I loved him. He was a great penciller. He did pencilling and then went on to inking. He has a style similar to Alex Raymond. You know, the guy that did Flash Gordon, I think if I had to put him in a category, his style was similar to that."

 This page has been accessed times.

Back