The Best Dracula Artist: Gene Colan
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- Опубликовано: 15 окт 2022
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Gene Colan had a unique art style in comics, heavy on shading and lots of shadows. He worked from the end of the Golden Age all the way up into the 2000s, winning an Eisner as late as 2009. This episode delves into his history and techniques with a focus on his excellent horror work on the hit Marvel title Tomb of Dracula. 
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I am so happy the "oh hi! You caught me -" intros are still around. Happy this channel is around! You have single handedly rekindled a love of this art form in me that i haven't felt in many years, and for that i will be eternally grateful
Probably the greatest thrill I got as an inker was when I got to ink a Wildfire backup story in the Legion of Superheroes. To say I was in awe is an understatement. When I received the pages all I could do is stare at them and say “wow! I’m inking one of my idols!” I still have one of those original pages and will never part with it. Nice job as always, Chris.
good work!
Legion Legend! 😁
Huge fan of your Legion work!
Great experience, thanks for sharing.
Wow. I was a huge fan of your inking on Keith Giffen on LSH. Nice to hear from you.
You can’t have Gene Colan without talking about the equally important Tom Palmer.
They have worked successfully together on a number of projects and not just Tomb of Dracula. I liked their work on Doc Savage.
I’m so glad to see someone else thinks this. Palmer is Gene Colan’s perfect inker; there’s no one who could bring out the beauty and strength of his pencils better. Palmer is a justly revered master of the.
Gene Colan’s work on Doctor Strange was fantastic. I feel like he was influenced by Frazetta in many subtle ways…
I recently read the first 25 issues of Daredevil, in black and white. When I got to the issues illustrated by Colan, it got so, so much better. The heavy shadows, the big panels (sometimes taking up an entire page), the creative panel layouts, the cinematic poses and "camera" angles and positions... It was such a huge step forward from what came before, in my opinion.
Gene Colan had a smooth, seamless aesthetic to his artwork. But he definitely used Jack Kirby's famous splash page panels approach to his comics. He's in my top ten great Marvel comic artist(s) Jack Kirby, Steve Ditko, John Romita, Gil Kane, Jim Starlin, John Buscema, Dick Ayers, John Byrne, Todd Mcfarlane, Jim Lee, (George Perez, Adam Kubert, etc)
Marvel super adventure in the UK reprinted the early 70s Daredevil oversize and in black and white Gene Colan with inking by Syd Shores the art was full of drama and energy, it was fantastic.
Considering that prior artists on the book were Wallace Wood, Bill Everett, and John Romita, I'd hesitate to say the book got better. This is especially cuz around that time, "Mike Murdock" made his entry. I'd agree that Colan's still a top contributor to the book, though.
When I was quite little, I was only really interested in superhero comics at the local library. But "Tomb of Dracula" always had me intrigued, entirely on the basis of how gorgeous and compelling Colan's art was.
I was just a kid in the 70s, and I could only pick up comics sporatically, and I remember being facinated by Tomb of Dracula. Thanks for the run down memory lane.
Gene Colan was also fantastic on the Daredevil title. Brilliant artist.
Colan and Palmer - legends!
So much better together. With Palmer doing both inks and colors too.
I loved his work for The Tomb of Dracula. Followed it almost the entire run.
Used to almost religiously read the hell outta this great series:Gene Colan was a genius 😮😊❤.
Gene Colan is one of the most distinct and highly underrated artists of the silver age and beyond... His work especially when inked by people like Tom Palmer was like a film noir brought to the page. No one has ever been has Moody and no one has ever been has expressive. I am very fortunate to have met the man when I was in college and got to talk to him... I wish more people talked about them like you did!
You are correct. Gene Colan and Jim Starlin had this seamless beauty in their artwork. You just wanted to blow them up as posters and frame them.
Inked and colored by Palmer. I love their Doctor strange work together too.
That was an awesome look at Gene Colan , truly one of the all times great . Btw I really liked the way he drew Iron-Man
In the 70s in the UK we used to get black and white weekly reprints titles Mig.hey Workd of Marvel and Spider-Man Comics Weekly. Dracula Lives was debuted at the same time as the also weekly black and white Planet of the Apes
I am sorting thru issues of all of them as we speak! I thought it was fun, the way they would gang the titles together, like " THE MIGHTY WORLD OF MARVEL featuring THE INCREDIBLE HULK and DRACULA LIVES ".
PS: The English Conan reprints are nice aswell.
@@joedent3323 I was doing the same on my last trip to the UK this summer. I have literally thousands of them in old cornflakes boxes in my sister's garage. Every title from MWOM to Fury.
Next time I'm home they're going on the market. My poor mother, then my sister have looked after them since 1980.
I met Gene years and years ago. He was with Julius Swartz, Sheldon moldoff talking shop and about the good old days.😛 One of the greatest artists to have ever lived. Back in the 70's when his dracula book was at the top of the charts. I always knew this book would take precedence in the years to come.😛
This show is fabulous. I'm not even a comic book guy, I'm a comedy writer but I find this channel absolutely fascinating.
Gene Colan is an excellent artist
His stuff just so simple and alive
Thank you for this episode. Gene's art was so perfect for Dracula. Glad he convinced Stan Lee :).
Gene Colan was always a tough sell for me personally, but I admit his style fits horror pretty well.
Riveting video! Thank you! Growing up in the 70's, I didn't have a proper appreciation for Mr. Colan's fluid and lifelike style. Now that he's gone, I see him for the true master he was. Enjoy Comic Artist Valhalla, sir!
I loved Gene Colan's art back in the day. I mostly remember his Batman work. Great video, Chris!
I used to get Dracula Lives when I was a kid. The first time I saw Gene Colan’s artwork for it I was hooked. I still got the comics and of course appreciate and love them on a different level. As you said, his style was a complete fir for that subject. It would have been a different comic it had bold holding lines and did not have those ethereal swirls he used to draw..
Thanks for this Chris. Gene Colan is my all time favourite artist. His Dr Strange work with Steve Englehart will always be close to my heart. I'm pleased to say I have some of his original artwork. In a world where comics professionals were big fishes in small ponds, I always said there were two artists I'd cross the road to meet. One was Will Eisner and the other was Gene Colan. I got to shake Eisner's hand but despite a couple of promises to appear in conventions in the UK I never got to meet Gene Colan.
Gene was always one of my favorite artists. I loved how he made you feel the atmosphere on the page. Also want to mention that he and Marv Wolfman reunited to di The Night Force for DC. Another really good supernatural comic.
Night Force scared the heck out of me back in the day! DC's horror stories were mostly shorts narrated by EC-style host characters, which kind of distanced you from what was happening. But Night Force was a straightforwardly told 22 page story with no framing devices that put you right into the horrific situations with the characters, thanks to Colan's dramatic art style. For me it felt like the same sort of thing Alan Moore would do a couple of years later in Swamp Thing.
I only just started reading Tomb of Dracula (Marv Wolfman did an interview about his run and Blade) and Gene's art is so stellar
*Love Gene Colan's work! He was fantastic!*
Tomb of Dracula is one of my favorite titles! Great art and stories.
Still read Tomb of Dracula today as much as I did in the 1980s. Gene Colan was a master comic-teer. RIP legend.
Avengers 210 (1981) with artwork by Gene Colan and Dan Green was one of the first comic books I ever bought and I always loved the artwork. I lost the issue at some point in my childhood. Years later as an adult I picked it up at a convention.
Sometimes when I look back at comics from my childhood the artwork is not nearly as good as I remember it, but this issue was exactly as I remembered it. Colan had a perfect balance of realistic and fantastical elements to his artwork. It's crazy to hear that Shooter drove him out of Marvel, because in a lot of ways I thought he embodied the perfect Marvel style.
Colin's work on iron man under the Austin name was second to none. I still think it stands up so well today.
Imagine my disappointment when I bought the 3rd part of the sub-mariner iron man cross over in the 60's, only to find Kirby's artwork!
3:07 $60 a week comes out to in 2022 money, about $798 or around $40,000 a year. Pretty darn good money for someone just starting out, even if NYC is more expensive than most of America.
A little known anime adaption of some of this run was a film called "Dracula - Sovereign of the Damned."
Gene Colon became my favorite Batman artist (surpassing the great and immortal Jim Aparo) because he drew the most terrifying issues of Batman when he went up against vampires and supernatural villians. He also drew The Night Force, which was the creepiest and scariest pre-Vertigo comic DC had in the early 1980s.
Thanks so much for featuring the incredible work of Gene Colon! He was always my favorite artist growing up. His style is the closest thing to cinematic any of the Marvel universe ever reached before the movies came along. RIP, Mr. Colon.
Absolutely love your creator biography episodes like this thank you! 😁👍
I’ve been collecting the 2010-2011 TPB of Tomb of Dracula and they’re hard to find but worth the search! Such a great comic! Gene’s art is just so good.
Love the 'Oh, hi' prologues. I know they're a pain in the ass, but they are gold. Thank you.
I'm reading through a Marvel reading list from FF#1 on. I haven't reached Tomb of Dracula yet, but anytime I see Gene Colan on any other comic, I know I'm going to enjoy it even if the story is subpar.
Truly a superb video for an artist who should be considered among the first rank of his peers! I loved his dynamic early work on Daredevil, Iron Man, Dr. Strange and so many others. I remember his work on Sub-Mariner as "Adam Austin", but there was no disguising that the pencils were Colan's. His distinctive and confident renderings have never been duplicated.
Thanks for remembering one of the all time greats.
I remember reading once that one inker said that Colan's pencils were so complex and layered with shades of grey that he sometimes didn't know what he was inking until he was almost done.
Total agreement! Colan was a great artist who was supernaturally good on “Tomb of Dracula”.
Never seen an artist better suited to a title and vice versa!
Also excellent on: Dr.Strange, Iron Man, Bat Man, Submariner, Dare Devil (including a smokin hot Black Widow) and Captain Marvel, et al. 🥰
Just Perfect on anti-hero tendencies in a title 👍
His Use of black and shade is unsurpassed in comic art 😀
A true favorite for me 🥰
Aw yeah, Gene Colan! He was the definitive Batman artist for me, 'cause he was drawing both of Batman's books when I became a regular reader, and his stories were so emotional. Back in the early 80's Batman was the one with intense closeups and moody shadows, and Superman was the one with a clean, classic style - but now I see that was all down to the personal styles of the artists, with Curt Swan on Superman and Gene Colan (and Don Newton) on Batman. That's fascinating.
Your video inspired me to look in my long boxes, and there's a lot of Gene Colan comics in there. Back then I didn't really notice the names of the creators (except for Jack Kirby), but Colan's emotionally intense style was a draw on any title, apparently. In addition to his Batman I've got his Phantom Zone miniseries (really cool, more fantasy than sci-fi) and Night Force with Marv Wolfman.
Oh man, Night Force was _freaky_ . Colan's style worked really well on horror comics. I can see why he did Tomb of Dracula. Gonna have to check that series out some time.
Thank you for this awesome video! It's a really cool look at a great artist.
"Oh hi! I'm Hollywood Steve. You caught me researching how to kill a vampire."
Gotta love this. Love the subject matter in October. Horror Comics are my favorite. Hope all is well.
Gene Colan did a great run on Daredevil. Other artists at the time would laud his draughtsmanship just for the way he draw a hand turning a doorknob!
I always saw Jack Palance as Dracula. That 70s Dracula movie was probably my first intro to Dracula.
Gene Colon beautiful artist. I remember his daredevil so fondly.
Thanks for this one, Chris. Gene Colan has always been one of my faves!
No one has used more lead than Gene Colan! He is the film noir of comics, period! I think I fell in love with Jae Lee's covers for the same creep-factor, but Colan did it first, from a very different generation! For me, the Spanish artists at Warren are still the best comic book artists of all time but Gene Colan, at Marvel, was the most visionary, and dynamic, since Kirby.
I was a boy in the 70's, but I really grew up with comics in the early '80's, so, John Byrne, for me, was the gold standard. His work from that time is still excellent. Yet, it's very clean and 2-D. Gene Colan was something else. I pitty his inkers because there was SO much black and shadow. I look at his finished pencils and it's a serious puzzle as to how to translate them to ink!
He was a truly capable comic book artist (his Daredevil run was amazing) but he was also always a fluid fine artist who made everything look cinematic and 3-D, over 60 years ago! Just an amazing talent. I love that Stan Lee gave him some space to be himself!!!
I started ToD late in the run (issue #56) but was working in a small comic book shop and quickly was able to pick up all the back issues to #10. The story telling was a mixture of serialized and stand alone that was satisfying. The characterization of the secondary characters maybe bordered on soap opera, but they were unique individuals who had their own reasons to be in the book. And then there was Dracula himself. As cunning as the Red Skull, as insidious as Mephisto, and as egotistical as Doctor Doom. You hated him because of what he was, but you still wanted to see if this time his scheming was successful. Gene's artwork was like nothing I had seen, but I soon started his Daredevil run and later his Batman work. Wolfman/Colan/Palmer were a great team and produced on of my two favorite books from the 1970s that once the writer/artist team was set, gave a long run of intriguing storytelling, great artwork and just a lot of fun. The other book was Shang-Chi, Master of Kung-Fu. Both children of 1970s Marvel and probably couldn't have existed at any other time with the same success.
As a kid, we’d often get a stack of second hand comics for road trips. My lifelong favorite book of all time to this day was what I recall a crossover of Daredevil and Dracula. I never have known why that comic was my fave of all time…maybe it was Gene Colan. 😎
I got into Batman because of Gene Colan's run in the 80's in which Batman was fighting a vampire monk and in turn Batman turns into a vampire for awhile which was a var cry from the 60's Batman and Super Friends cartoon.
I never noticed the Jack Palance connection before to Colan's depiction of Dracula. Now it seems so obvious, I wonder how I missed it?
The look based on Palance was inspired. Gene’s take on Dracula has never been better in my opinion.
the intros always make me lol everytime dont change a thing
Gene Colan was also the best Iron Man artist. His IM in Tales Of Suspense has never been topped.
i grew up on the original stories in the 1970s-'81; also read the black -&-white 'sequel',"Tomb of Dracula 2". Colan was AWESOME.
I have only recently discovered your RUclips channel, but I am really impressed. Your love and knowledge of comics is apparent. Personally I am a silver and bronze guy, and your topics from Ditko to Colan, even the Atlas/Seaboard flash in the pan, I enjoy them. There are thousands of RUclipsrs about comics but many are more about “oh look at my cgc collection, I have tons of disposable income, aren’t you impressed!” Tedious in the extreme.
Most of us have to watch our pennies and comics may come way down our list of essentials but we still love the art form. I am a life long lover of comics, I have bought and loved even coverless ones, and even now when I get a package of Bronze Age Marvel Team ups I get a little twinge of excitement. My wife and son just shake their heads! Great work pal, lots of support from the U.K.
Great video on a truly great artist; my all-time favorite Gene Colan story for Marvel is "Though Some Call It Magic!", a short Dr. Doom tale with heavy horror overtones (and beautiful artwork, of course). I very highly recommend it for anyone who enjoyed his equally gore-geous work on Dracula!
To tie in with this I think the best Werewolf by Night artist is obviously Mike Ploog!
Ha! Chris did a brief Stan Lee impression. I love it.
Another nice piece on an amazing artist. I never even liked Dracula much(Frankenstein guy),but his art was and awesome. Thanks for the video.
I too love Colan, and when it comes to drawing Dracula, I don't think anyone else even comes close!
I’ll give an honorable mention to Mignola for the adaptation of the movie Dracula.
@@ComicTropes Oh yeah, I've been meaning to read that!
@@hamzadawud its brilliant - I read it online a few weeks back; and then I plumped for paying for the print versions, as it was just that good.
If you like the Dracula story? Then you will like Mignolas Dracula.
"LiL'JpD."
@@ComicTropes Was that from Topps Comics?
Thank you been waiting for this episode for so long
Great intro!!! Thanks for another great edition of comictropes. Also Thanks for including my fan art. My kids will be so impressed (or not).
Another great video! Always enjoy these :D
I enjoyed Gene's work on Namor, Dr. Strange, Cap, DD and Iron Man but he really nailed it with Dracula.
It's amazing Gene drew Daredevil & Tomb Of Dracula at the same time. He must of got very little sleep. Working around the clock!
my favorite comic book artist! I still have my copy of Tomb Of Dracula#10, 1973 the first appearance of Blade my favorite comic book character. It's in pristine condition. I haven't had it appraised but I might now.
FINALLY!!! Somebody is talking about his work in Creepy & Eerie! So amazing! He outshines guys like Wally Wood and Neal Adams in the issues!
Another fantastic episode Chris! I always get such a buzz watching your videos! They're so engaging, and fun, and interesting. Thanks for the HUGE effort you always put in! It really shows!
Excellent video review gene colan is one of my all time favorite artists in comics from his cap stuff to his man thing/Howard the duck stuff and his tomb of dracula stuff is beautiful gothic comic horror
My very favourite comics artist over the years. Oddly, I remember when young NOT liking his art style as I'd been raised reading Kirby, Ditko, Wood, etc, and Colan was so different, I didn't like it! (I don't think Vince Colletta inking his Captain Marvel & Sub-Mariner helped), but suddenly one day I woke up and got it! His Daredevil, HTD, Tomb of Dracula, Black Widow, Iron Man, etc, are just beautiful. :-)
Great work. Love your videos!
Amazing video as always
Thank you for your excellent content. It means the world to me to get these deep dives into all these creators that have put their stamp on comic history.
wow, this ep was great. another one of those, “dont know the artist/book so i might skip,” in the headline! but so glad I watched that was a total classic (esp w/ that intro!) nice work! you are becoming my fave online comic vid, im appreciating much more of the classics bc of your show
Colon was AMAZING! Another excellent presentation.
This guy is my all time favourite, who frightened me at the age of 10 before I came to understand his work. Perhaps the most dogged around and underappreciated comic artist ever. More and more Vince Colletta's legacy is his bland inking over what was otherwise beautiful, intricate, classic work. I tried New Gods recently, but couln't get over Colletta's quick inks.
Day-um!!! Those black and whites from Warren were wonderful! Thanks, my friend,!
Great video. I always learn something. Thanks!
Ok Chris you got a laugh out of me with the intro joke. Keep up the good work!
I really love these deep dives into artists I barely know. I do recognise some of the illustrations, and it's fascinating learning more about the artist.
Believe it or not, there was an anime based on the Tomb of Dracula. A rare instance of an American comic book being adapted into a Japanese animation.
That's really interesting!
I saw it on TV years ago in an English language dubbed version. It focuses, I believe, on the conflict between Dracula and Dr. Sun.
Wikipedia says the anime is called *Dracula: Sovereign of the Damned,* and that it was made in 1980 and released "sparsely" to American cable TV in 1983.
I've seen it.It doesn't come close to the originals.
The Japanese title is「闇の帝王 吸血鬼ドラキュラ」which can be translated as "Sovereign of Darkness: The Vampire Dracula". (The "Sovereign" part could also be translated as "Emperor" or "Monarch", too.)
I've seen an English subtitled version on RUclips before. I don't remember much, but I do remember that Blade was NOT in the movie.
I remember reading that they had planned to do more adaptations than just "Tomb of Dracula", but the deal fell through for some reason. (I don't remember the details, though.)
Amazing video. Love me some Comic Tropes, especially around the Spooky Season!
Gene "The Dean" Colan!
I'm more into his Daredevil work than his Dracula stuff, but he was a phenomenal artist!
Great episode. Your work continues to be more refined. I like the acknowledgements crawl at the end next to the stack of books.
Gene Colon was a true master and had a distinct and clear style that was rich with atmosphere and felt like it was in constant motion.
fantastic artist, thanks for highlighting him chris
Cool to see Gene Colan's work getting some love! Some of my favorite comic art ever. Unsurprisingly he was also terrific on Doctor Strange.
Great work as always sir!
Oh, hi, you caught me enjoying this great show, thanks, Chris. Gene was a mean machine.
As a fan i cath xprenn how much this show has incceased my appretiation for thekppl behind comics not just stan lee n makes me look forward to seeing artists work on cowers n knowing them by name 'wun on books i never knew they worked on for eg john romita jr run on iron man. Hollyyy..
I’m literally reading ToD rn, this is an awesome episode 😊
Man I love your videos, so informative. Seems like any drama at marvel will have a connection to Jim shooter if it’s of a certain era
worth mentioning he also did some horror artwork for Danzig and Rob Zombie
This is amazing! I've been waiting to read Tomb of Dracula and this pushed me over the edge. Just picked up the number 1 facsimile and waiting patiently for an omnibus reprint 🤞
Fantastic Halloween themed video! Happy October everyone.
A great artist. As a kid I wasn't a fan but as an adult I am. Honestly, I don't like his superhero comics work except for Daredevil and especially Dr. Strange. But he was perfect for Dracula and non-superhero books. I see him much more as an "artist" than a comic book artist.
Nice review. Continuing in the same " vein " ( I can't believe I said that ), would please do a retrospective on " Dracula Lives ? ". It was an old Marvel B & W horror magazine.
I must admit it took me a loooooong time to get into his work (similar thing, growing up in the '90s), but damn, he was a master.
One of the things I love about his stuff (besides the shading) is that his linework was really fluid. Not a lot of hard angles, and that's quite hard to pull off.
Keep up the great work, Chris!
Thanks for covering Mr. Colan and including the breadth of his work.
Somewhat off-topic, there is a 1980 anime movie based on _Tomb of Dracula_ called _Dracula, Sovereign of the Damned._ It is on RUclips. I don't think it is very good, nor do I see any sign that Gene Colan was involved on the project. Basically, it is a little known curiosity that I thought was at lease worth mention.