Item! U.S. cartoonist Gene Colan died yesterday at age 84.
Colan was one of the key stylists of the Marvel renaissance of the 1960s and 70, his dynamic, atmospheric pencils lending a veneer of sophistication and realism to any number of genre exercises during that period.
A master of composition and athletic figures with a caricaturist’s eye, Colan’s capes, trenchcoats and shadows refined the visual identity of oddball titles such as Howard the Duck and Son of Satan, as well as more well-known properties and characters like Dr. Strange, Iron Man, Daredevil, and Batman.
Item! Issue 7 of The Feathertale Review is an all-comics issue with 64 pages of colour and black-and-white stories from a collection of U.S. and Canadian cartoonists, including Graham Roumieu, Rebecca Hitchens, and Sequential’s own cartooning mastermind Dalton Sharp whose 5-page dayglo strip entitled “Creamberry Surprises” is the lead feature.
Item! The Comic Book Legal Defense Fund will support the defense case of American man accused of importing manga child porn into Canada.
Item! Sean Rogers’ Martin-Vaughan James article [first published in sequential pulp 2 – issuu bookmark] is now online at the Wright Awards’ Giants of the North site with some new samples of Martin-Vaughan James’ art.
Item! Joe McCulloch looks back on the comic book-writing career of Bruce Bezaire, the T. Casey Brennan of Canada. Some truly obscure history here folks!