Adventures of Superman Gil Kane

Gil Kane's The Amazing Spider-Man: Artist's EditionYesterday afternoon, as it seems to be my daily custom of late, while on my lunch break, I visited Midtown Comics Grand Central. I actually went there with the intentions to buy the trade paperback volume collecting Grant Morrison's seminal 80's run on Animal Man... which I did. Aside from that, I also checked-out the wall of new releases and noted, with a measure of indifference, Marvel's Superior Spiderman #1 to be the big draw. Quickly passing that up, I kept perusing through hundreds of titles, looking for anything of interest, and a new release by DC instantly caught my eye: the hardcover book... Adventures of Superman Gil Kane. It's a funny thing!... perhaps almost serendipitous!... but on December 30th and January 3rd, I posted two journals detailing my purchases of Marvel Premiere #1 and #2 featuring Adam Warlock, beautifully brought to life by the majestic hand of Gil Kane. One of the replies to the latter journal came from Brandon Shepherd, who agreed with me on my opinions of Gil Kane: "Neat book SW3D! You're absolutely right about Gil Kane, he was a master." I replied to Brandon's comments: "Hey Brandon, I was looking through your exceptional AC collection... tremendous!... lots of high grades. I actually own AC's 545 to 554 which I bought back in the day from my favorite local newsstand which feature Gil Kane's exceptional art. I also collected his Superman run from 381 to 392... None of which are graded as of yet.There's something exceptional about Gil Kane... he has his own unique style that no one else has... like a unique stamp. When you see a Gil Kane rendering, you immediately know it's him... like seeing art by Neal Adams, Jack Kirby, or Steve Ditko... you just know it's them. I am actually waiting for the CGC to finish grading my newsstand bought copy of Action Comics 552 and 553 which includes guest appearances of Animal Man and a host of others. Those two comics feature two of my favorite covers... GK packs them with wall-to-wall action! There's a natural fluidity and depth of excitement that very few can replicate let only master."So lo and behold, DC has published and released Gil Kane's run of Action Comics and Superman from the 1980's... comics which I collected and treasured for their brilliant art work. Priced at $39.95, I had no choice but to add it to my collection. I'm sure there are many of you out there who are unfamiliar with Gil Kane. That's okay... there's plenty of time to get familiar with the legend. Gil Kane's real name was Eli Katz... born on April 6, 1926, in Riga, Latvia. At the age of three, his family immigrated to the States and settled in Brooklyn, New York. By the age of fifteen, Gil Kane was working at MLJ Comics (now known as Archie Comics), working on Pep Comics and The Shield. Sometime later, Gil found himself working side-by-side with the dynamic-duo: Jack Kirby and Joe Simon, at Timely Comics (Marvel's predecessor). By the late 50's, DC came calling and this is where Kane really made his mark. While at DC, with John Broome, Gil Kane co-created Hal Jordan, the Silver Age Green Lantern (Showcase #22), and the Silver Age Atom (Showcase #34) with Gardner Fox. He also lent his prodigious talents on titles like the Teen Titans, Captain Action, and Hawk and Dove. Fast forward to the 70's, and Kane is working for Marvel, co-creating Iron Fist (Marvel Premiere #15) and Morbius the Living Vampire (Amazing Spider-man #101) with Roy Thomas. His work on Conan and Adam Warlock are stand-out's, but his reputation and fame is solidified with a brilliant run on Amazing Spider-Man. In fact, this past Summer, Marvel and IDW teamed-up to bring you a glimpse of Kane's fantastic draftsmanship in the monolithic book: Gil Kane's The Amazing Spider-Man: Artist's Edition... faithfully scanning the original comic artwork appearing in ASM's 96 -- 102, and 121 (the infamous "Death of Gwen Stacy"). This is a beautiful book! I was rifling thru it this afternoon at Midtown Comics. Priced at $125 it is a bargain! I'm going to pick it up... no doubt about it! My favorite issues happen to be 101 and 102 where we are first introduced to the Living Vampire: Morbius. On top of that, Peter Parker grows four additional arms... making him a spider-like freak. Throw in the Lizard for good measure and it becomes a "Merry-Marvel-Monster-Free-for-All"!Leap into the next decade, the 80's (incidentally, the decade where I did most of my comic collecting), and Gil Kane is back at DC, illustrating the adventures of Superman and his co-creation: Hal Jordan. Some of my favorite Green Lantern books are the ones penciled by Gil Kane, where he provided the interior artwork and covers for issues 154, 156, 166, 167, 177, and 184. Sadly, on January 31, 2000, Gil Kane passed away from complications due to lymphoma (a type of blood cancer). This upcoming 31st will mark the 13th year of his untimely death. It's is fitting that DC put out a book commemorating his brilliance. I hope you all pick up a copy and enjoy his amazing talents. I'm including a pic of not only the Gil Kane's Superman book I picked up today, but also Marvel's Masterworks featuring Warlock which reprints Marvel Premiere 1 and 2, and Warlock No's 1- 8, featuring Gil Kane's illustrations. Good reading and Happy Collecting!SW3DTo see old comments for this Journal entry, click here. New comments can be added below.