Comic Book Creator #11 by TwoMorrows Publishing

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Characters TM & © Marvel Characters, Inc.

A Tw o M o r r o w s Publication

Cover art by Gil Kane & Klaus Janson

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W i n t e r 2 0 1 6 • Vo i c e o f t h e C o m i c s M e d i u m • N u m b e r 1 1

About Our Cover

All characters TM & © Marvel Characters, Inc.

Pencils by GIL KANE Inks by KLAUS JANSON Colors by Glenn Whitmore

Comics Chatter An Enthusiastic Man: Talking to those who loved and cherished the gentleman, we ask the family and friends of the late, lamented Herbert William Trimpe to share their memories of and affections for the legendary comic book creator.......... 3 Incoming: Roy Thomas talks about faked alien invasions, Evertson Zell enlightens us about the fanzine Yandro, and reader complaints about our interview style........ 8 Hembeck’s Dateline: Our Man Fred talks about how the great comic book artist and celebrated raconteur Gilbert Eli Kane changed his life...................................... 13 Eisner’s Enduring Esprit: A short interview with Paul Levitz, author of the new book Will Eisner: Champion of the Graphic Novel............................................ 14 Comics in the Library: Explaining what libraries need from comic publishers............ 19 THE MAIN EVENT

One of our favorite inkers on the pencils of Gil Kane is Klaus Janson, and we are delighted he agreed to delineate Gil’s work on the back cover art for the “Giant Superhero Team-Up” Marvel Treasury Edition (#9, 1976). Art scan is courtesy of Heritage. The original inker on the published piece was John Romita. — Y.E. If you’re viewing a Digital Edition of this publication,

PLEASE READ THIS: This is copyrighted material, NOT intended for downloading anywhere except our website or Apps. If you downloaded it from another website or torrent, go ahead and read it, and if you decide to keep it, DO THE RIGHT THING and buy a legal download, or a printed copy. Otherwise, DELETE IT FROM YOUR DEVICE and DO NOT SHARE IT WITH FRIENDS OR POST IT ANYWHERE. If you enjoy our publications enough to download them, please pay for them so we can keep producing ones like this. Our digital editions should ONLY be downloaded within our Apps and at

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Comic Book Creator is a proud joint production of Jon B. Cooke/TwoMorrows

The Invention of Gil Kane: CBC takes a comprehensive look at the life and times of the man born Eli Kacz. From a childhood growing up on the mean streets of Brooklyn and early entry into the nascent comics field, we chronicle his years as DC Comics’ stalwart and witness an epiphanous breakthrough that transforms his work and ambitions into becoming among the first graphic novelists. The artist’s tenure at Marvel, stretch as newspaper comic strip creator, triumphant return to DC, and stay in television animation are detailed, as are personal hardships and medical difficulties, all culminating into a quintessential American story of selfinvention, constant refinement, and perpetual quest for excellence that made Gilbert Eli Kane into one of the greatest comic book creators of all time................ 20 One Last Thing: What to learn from the example of the man called Kane................... 77 BACK MATTER Creator’s Creators: Rob Smentek’s Great Comic Book Trek.......................................... 79 Coming Attractions: The transcendent King’s ’60s/’70s work and Howard Cruse......... 79 A Picture Is Worth A Thousand Words: Saddle up the frog! The Atom’s at it!.......... 80 Note: Yet again, with honest regret, we were unable to include any number of items that have been prepared for recent issues, including this one, due to the excessive length of our cover feature. We will strive to be more precise in the solicitations and will do our best to include omitted material in future issues. We beg the indulgence of our magazine’s understanding contributors and our readership. Right: Detail from a Gil Kane presentation, pitched to DC (but not purchased), of a series called Zero-Man.

Comic Book Artist Vol. 1 & 2 are available as digital downloads from twomorrows.com! Comic Book Creator ™ is published quarterly by TwoMorrows Publishing, 10407 Bedfordtown Dr., Raleigh, NC 27614 USA. Phone: (919) 449-0344. Jon B. Cooke, editor. John Morrow, publisher. Comic Book Creator editorial offices: P.O. Box 204, West Kingston, RI 02892 USA. E-mail: jonbcooke@aol.com. Send subscription funds to TwoMorrows, NOT to the editorial offices. Four-issue subscriptions: $36 US, $50 Canada, $65 elsewhere. All characters are © their respective copyright owners. All material © their creators unless otherwise noted. All editorial matter ©2016 Jon B. Cooke/TwoMorrows. Comic Book Creator is a TM of Jon B. Cooke/TwoMorrows. ISSN 2330-2437. Printed in China. FIRST PRINTING.

This issue is dedicated to the memories of MURPHY ANDERSON and Michael Gross ™

JON B. COOKE

Editor/Designer

John Morrow

Publisher & Consulting Editor

MICHAEL AUSHENKER

Associate Editor

GIL KANE

Cover Penciler

KLAUS JANSON Cover Inker

GLENN WHITMORE Cover Colorist

Contributing Editors

Brian K. Morris Senior Transcriber

STEVEN THOMPSON Transcriber

J.D. KING

CBC Cartoonist

TOM ZIUKO

CBC Colorist Supreme

RONN SUTTON

CBC Illustrator

ROB SMENTEK CBC Proofreader

SETH KUSHNER CBC Photographer in Memoriam

Greg PRESTON

CBC Contributing Photographer

KENDALL WHITEHOUSE

CBC Convention Photographer

MICHAEL AUSHENKER FRED HEMBECK GEORGE KHOURY TOM ZIUKO

CBC Columnists

To contact CBC, please email jonbcooke@aol.com or snail-mail CBC, P.O. Box 204, West Kingston, RI 02892 2

Hard lessons learned seeking space on retailers’ comics racks ture a whopping 43k-word piece on the life and Heavens to Murgatroyd! What a stinging times of Gilbert Eli Kane, among the very best rebuke that was! Back in 2014, yours truly comic book creators of all time, and next issue and longtime pal Rob Yeremian, propriCBC will include a bookend essay to compleetor of the Time Capsule comic shops ment my piece on Jack Kirby in our first issue, in Rhode Island and Massachusetts, back in 2013. Plus, those interested may like had a notion to produce a magazine that to know that my 10,000 word biography of filled a niche left empty by Wizard magSam J. Glanzman (with 14k in annotations) azine, one devoted to the comics scene will serve as introduction for the U.S.S. Stevens of today and yesterday, with an up-tocollection coming from Dover Books this spring, date and accurate price guide. Actually, and my Mike Ploog bio in FPG’s The Art of truth be told, the entire concept Ploog should now be in the shops. was Rob’s and he saw in me the I’ve also been digging through the person who could execute a archives to dust off unfinished projects, comic-sized, 128-page monthly, and am happy to announce that I’ve half-feature/half-guide. just signed with Last Gasp Books to Thus was born ACE: All produce The Weirdo Book, a definitive Comics Evaluated and, man, we history (and “best of” collection) of hit the ground running, organizthat outstanding alternative comics ing a crack team to cover comics anthology edited by R. Crumb, Peter and related stuff with intelligence Bagge, and Aline Kominsky-Crumb and enthusiasm. Joined by Joe from 1981–93. Dunno the release date McCabe, Mike Hall, Steven on that, but likely sometime in 2017. Thompson, Eti Berland, Will In addition, I’ve joined with French Murray, Brian Saner Lamkin, and comics scholar Jean Depelley (Mssr. others, we kicked ass! And Rob Patience to moi!) to complete our histowas so committed to the idea, ry of the formation of Métal Hurlant and he enlisted Diamond Distributors the first ten years of Heavy Metal, the to send a free copy of ACE #1 adult illustrated fantasy magazine, and to every account in the country, we’re currently seeking a publisher. around 3,500 retailers. Inspired by Bill Schelly’s great Starting last March and Gil Kane by Ronn Sutton work, especially his out-freakin’-standing Harvey Kurtzlasting for three issues, ACE delivered… and man tome, I’d love to continue with the biographies of then some. But, in early May, the moment order important creators — a comprehensive examination numbers were received for #4, which would indicate of the great Archie Goodwin would be awesome, don’t how retailers responded to the free copy, orders rose cha think? — and hopefully there’s a few publishers out by 15 copies from the previous issue. Fifteen. there who could use my talents. Drop me a line, will ya? Live and learn. That was the end of ACE. The Internet wins. Thanks, Rob. That was one helluva ride! We hope you enjoy the epic look at Gil Kane, one The sudden demise of ACE has given yours truly the opportunity to devote much more time for research and writing and, believe you me, I’ve been taking advantage of the situation, and over the last half-year, I’ve been scribblin’ and schemin’ like crazy! And there’s no better example than the last few issues of this very magazine. CBC #10 contains my 20,000 word piece on the history of Warp, the science-fiction play, and this issue we fea-

of my personal favorite artists and, still today, a friend I miss tremendously, 16 years after his passing. The impetus for this issue, I confess, is a fear that appreciation of the raconteur, a stunningly talented and tenaciously ambitious creator, ever looking for paths to extend the form, is starting to fade and I’ll be damned to see that happen to the Amazing Kane without a fight! Enormous thanks to Gary Groth for his help this ish.

cbc contributors Neal Adams Jim Alexander Richard J. Arndt Allen Bellman John Benson Athos Bousvaros Tim Burgard Aaron Caplan Mike Catron Howard Chaykin Mark Chiarello Ernie Colón

Richard Corben Ferran Delgado Jean Depelley John DiBello Kirk Dilbeck Tom Durwood Scott Edelman Jules Feiffer Linda Fite Brent Frankenhoff Steven Grant Karen Green

Gary Groth Russ Heath Heritage Auctions Rick Hoberg Al Jaffee Klaus Jason Elaine Kane Scott Kane Stan Lee Victor Lim Will Meugniot Joe Murray

—Y e Crusading Editor jonbcooke@aol.com

Melissa Trimpe Olds Rick Parker Bud Plant Norman Podhoretz Darryl Ponicsan Linda Lessman Reinhold Dan Riba Arlen Schumer Cory Sedlmeier Jan Strnad Hugh Surratt Roy Thomas

The Time Capsule Alex Trimpe Amelia Trimpe Patricia Vasquez Trimpe Sarah Trimpe Jim Vadeboncoeur, Jr. Michael J. Vassallo Barry Windsor Smith Marv Wolfman Jim Woodring Rob Yeremian Tom Ziuko

#11 • Winter 2016 • COMIC BOOK CREATOR

GEORGE KHOURY RICHARD J. ARNDT CHRISTOPHER IRVING TOM ZIUKO

ACE was not the place

passages

An Enthusiastic Man Remembering the passionate and generous artist, deacon, educator, and family man by Jon B. Cooke CBC Editor The last time I saw my friend was at the Asbury Park Comic Con a few years ago. I approached his table, our eyes locked, a huge, tooth-filled grin erupted across his kind face, and my pal rocketed out of his chair to embrace me with an incredible hug. In those few minutes we had together, in that New Jersey convention hall, with typical Herb Trimpe exuberance, he shared the recent doings of his life and a newfound gratitude for attentive fans, and he introduced his wife, Patricia. Ever since my very first meeting the comic book artist, at another con, one of many years before, I liked Herbert William Trimpe. I liked Herb a lot. Upon Trimpe’s shockingly abrupt passing on April 30, at the age of 75, I’ve been mulling over CBC’s proper response, and when reading his book, The Power of Angels, written about the man’s experience between 2001–02 as a volunteer at ruins of the World Trade Center towers (dubbed “the pile”) I came across this passage: I came to see that grief was not suffered best alone. Grief did not have to be buried within oneself like so much dead weight. It was something that needed to be shared. Grieving was a time to lean on others for assistance and comfort. Once that understanding becomes part of the grief equation the anger is cancelled out. Anger no longer serves as a defense mechanism to guard against the anguish. It no longer has to be a poisonous factor blocking the healing process. I came to understand that the number one priority at Ground Zero, as well as for life in general, was to care and share and to be there for one another. That remarkably compassionate and spiritually resonant paragraph offered the most fitting approach: Ask those friends and family who loved and cared for him to share about the remarkable man. Mutual pal Barry Windsor-Smith, the legendary storyteller whose relationship with the departed stretches back to the late ’60s, related very simply, “Herb Trimpe was my oldest and dearest friend. I loved him unconditionally. He was a wonderful man.” BWS also shared the photo at right. Readers doubtless know the story of “Happy Herbie” (a nickname given by Stan Lee), who, just out of the Air Force and year in Vietnam, joined with the Marvel Bullpen in the 1967, soon to become the predominant artist on The Incredible Hulk. Along the way, he co-created Wolverine, another cash-cow for the House of Ideas, and Trimpe also became known for art stints on Marvel titles G.I. Joe and Godzilla. Stan Lee said to CBC, “Herb was a great guy. He did so many strips for us, mainly the Hulk, but he could do anything. And he was a pleasure to work with. A nice, even-tempered, pleasant guy. I liked him.” Trimpe was, indeed, a get-along kind of guy, and much more. His second wife, onetime Marvel writer now journalist Linda Fite, alluded to a “type of nobility” and “chivalrous element” to his make-up, aspects he shared with his close friend Barry Windsor-Smith. And Herb Trimpe was also a family man. I asked the artist’s children about their memories and his oldest, Melissa, daughter with first wife Merri-lee, offered, “My dad liked learning, his knowledge, and interest, changed and morphed as he experienced life. Lately, he Comic Book Creator • Winter 2016 • #11

would tell me facts about the planets, like ‘If the sun were the size of the Earth, the Earth would be the size of a basketball.’ And he was fascinated by Saturn. You could ask him just about anything and he would know the answer. “He liked to be busy, not idle. As he got older, he told me he didn’t want to just sit around and wait to expire. He didn’t get it that everyone didn’t feel this way. ‘Why don’t they want to be productive human beings?’ he would ask. “In the ’70s, he was a registered Republican and, as an idealistic kid, I would demand to know why. He would say, ‘Hey, Melissa, it’s good to know what the other side is thinking.’ I wonder if this line of thought lead him in his pursuit to become a deacon in the Episcopal Church. I never asked, but when he was a Republican, he was also an agnostic. “As for his time as a chaplain at Ground Zero, he spoke to me mostly about his experiences with the people, the first responders. He met folks from all walks of life, with all types of backgrounds, and I think the experience opened his mind and changed the palate he had known for so long to a much richer and colorful one. He wrote a book about his experience, The Power of Angels. The word angel in the title refers to the first responders and the folks who gave unconditionally of themselves in the aftermath of 9/11. “My dad was free and he didn’t care what you thought of his style. Later in his life, he took to wearing an arm full of braided macramé and leather bracelets that went from his wrist up his for arm — like a rock star, I always thought. “He liked adventure and we had a few in his plane. Once, coming back from Bethany, we were forced to land in a big field because of weather, camped right there next to the plane to be awoken the next morning by the curious farmer and his son. My dad made fast friends of them. To say he was likable would be an understatement. People were drawn to him. He had real charisma. “I think he saw the comics as a means to an end.

Above: A contemplative Herb Trimpe in an undated photo shared by Amelia, Herb and Linda Fite’s oldest daughter.

Below: Barry Windsor-Smith sent this Polaroid picture of his best friend, snapped by BWS in 1981.

championing the champ

Eisner’s Enduring Esprit A chat with Paul Levitz about his latest, Will Eisner: Champion of the Graphic Novel by Jon B. Cooke CBC Editor [Yours truly is happy to include this feature on friend and fellow historian Paul Levitz’s new tome, Will Eisner: Champion of the Graphic Novel (published last fall by Abrams), but it must be disclosed that I helped out with the book, if ever so slightly, when the author asked for an assist. The interview was conducted by email this past July. — Ye Editor.]

CBC: What was your first exposure to the work of Will Eisner, Paul, and what were your impressions? Paul Levitz: I think I first saw The Spirit in Jules Feiffer’s wonderful Great Comic Book Heroes, but I was too overwhelmed by the joy of discovery of the Golden Age super-heroes to focus on him. A couple of tastes in the early 1970s, with the bagged black-&-white reprints and the like, and then my friend Mark Hanerfeld got me hooked on Will. Mark sold me about half of The Spirit sections (his duplicates), and I started a futile quest for the rest. CBC: The Spirit had poked his head up from Wildwood Cemetery a few times during the 1960s — in an Israel Waldman one-shot, momentarily revived in a New York Herald Tribune magazine feature, in a reprint appearing in Feiffer’s book, and in two glorious issues of a Harvey Comics resurrection. In your memory, and in retrospect, how were these sparse appearances received by comics fandom? Did they whet the appetite of readers or was there overall indifference? Paul: I’m a little later than that in my introduction to fandom. My first con was is 1971 and my fanzine reading only really goes wide just before that. By the time I come in, The Spirit has won an Alley Award (the first organized comics awards), and is being written about in early historical works, from Steranko’s History of Comics to Richard Kyle’s Graphic Story fanzine. The older fans are definitely holding it in reverence, and Will’s regarded as a father figure already. CBC: Can you describe what the atmosphere of the Seuling Comic Art Conventions were like in the early 1970s with some comparison to the mega-events of today? (To set the stage for the environment Will stepped into when encountering the field after his long absence.) Paul: It was a magic time, certainly for me, but for others as well. In those pre-Internet days when even a #11 • Winter 2016 • COMIC BOOK CREATOR

Gerhard Shnooble, Will Eisner logo, and book cover art TM & © Will Eisner Studios, Inc. Portrait ©the estate of Seth Kushner.

Above: Portrait of Paul Levitz by the late Seth Kushner. Inset right: Vignette of Gerhard Shnooble by Will Eisner, from The Spirit #34 [Sept. ’87] cover. Below: Cover of Paul Levitz’s Will Eisner: Champion of the Graphic Novel.

One of the remarkable aspects of being on a first name basis with William Ervin Eisner was not only the rapt attention and respect he would grant you when speaking one-on-one, but also the ease and comfort in which he engaged differing points of view. Here was Will Eisner, certainly the true “elder statesman” of the comic book field, if ever there was one, a honest-to-goodness leader in this art form, with oodles of bona-fides to prove it, willing to earnestly listen and ponder even the most outlandish ideas… and he’d just as ardently — and graciously — refute any silly notions and set you straight. He was a class act. Back in the day, when overwhelmed by some epiphany, I would be gripped with an urge to ring him up. (Understand, that was the thing with Eisner: besides possessing a demeanor that effortlessly commanded he be dealt with courtesy, promising the same in return, there were no egotistical vibes coming from the legend that

would prompt any hesitation in making the call). Y’see, folks, I just had to share my totally original and utterly brilliant idea, about which, upon hearing, he would unfailingly pause and — kindly, mind you, ever so kindly — render my scheme to smithereens. Will Eisner had thought it all out long before… and he suffered fools like me very nicely. And maybe, God bless ‘im, I came out a little wiser for having the temerity to engage him. The point is, I reckon, Will Eisner was a mensch, a good man who treated others well. And he was also smart, prescient, and vital. I guess this is a long-winded (if not incoherent) intro about how Paul Levitz’s new book is utterly appropriate regarding the great graphic novelist. It is a beauty to behold and a joy to read. And Mr. Levitz, being a mensch in my estimation as well, was kind enough to chat about good ol’ Will with yours truly and suffer through some of my foolish questions…

“long distance” phone call was an impractical expense, it was a clan in-gathering of people who had challenges connecting. My first con, as I said, was 1971, and I think we had 3,500 people — the largest comic con that had yet happened, and we didn’t think it was possible to get larger. Legendary artists were being coaxed to appear, top talents were sketching (my Neal Adams sketch was six dollars), and there was joy in the air. The dealers’ room was small, and we all knew each other — by face, if not by name. I was there selling my fanzine, Etcetera, and fanzines for other people who would be lifelong friends and colleagues. CBC: The rise of underground comix is arguably one of the most crucial developments in the development of sequential art (to use Eisner’s high-falootin’ name for comics), and yet that segment has been Balkanized from general fandom (using the category’s exclusion in the Overstreet Price Guide as a prime example that the comix are “different”). Was that necessary and has the division adversely affected the field overall? Paul: It’s an interesting argument, which to some degree I’ve been having with [comics historian/dealer] Bob Beerbohm for a couple of decades. As a teacher, trying to put the development of the field in cognitive order, I’ve become convinced that the undergrounds were critical in reigniting creativity in the form. I consider the development of American comics as a tension between storytelling and expression, and at the time the undergrounds come along, most comics (periodical and syndicated) had retreated into the safest forms of storytelling. That doesn’t mean there weren’t wonderful comics to read and enjoy — much of my personal favorites were created in those years (as a Mort Wesinger/Julius Schwartz DC kid and later a Stan Lee/Roy Thomas/Jack Kirby Marvel kid) — but the creative chances being taken were structural and incremental. The undergrounds opened up subject matter. On the other hand, the issue of how critical they were to the business development is, I think, more arguable (which is where Bob and I often part ways). One aspect of the argument is a New York perspective versus a California one, and another is the question of how important you feel mass exposure or profitability are to the equation. As we enter an era of massive small press publishing, self-publishing, and mini-comics, so many elements that were present in both the undergrounds and fanzines have Comic Book Creator • Winter 2016 • #11

returned to comics. Is witzend an underground, a fanzine, a “prozine,” or simply comics? In any case, it’s a critical progenitor. It’s easy to get hung up on the labels (not that categorization doesn’t have value), and not to see it all as comics. CBC: Interestingly, as Eisner wanted to tell non-genre stories about real-life (non-fantasy, if you will) experiences and he had a past history with an almost super-hero, popular character of its day, the comics creator was straddling the cusp between mainstream and underground comics. In retrospect, was that an apt place for Eisner to be, and how comfortable do you think he was in that position few others could be? Paul: I’m not sure I’d qualify The Spirit as real life… certainly not in the way that Will later used his skills in A Contract With God and his graphic novels. The scale of the stories is modest, both because of the short story format and Will’s choices, but he does tales about alien invasions in the run too. And “Gerhard Schnobble” isn’t real life, though it’s a powerful metaphor, but it was Will’s favorite. I think Will made little distinction between the forms of comics and their labels. He cites the wordless novels of Lynd Ward in his introduction to Contract, tries to do a newspaper strip several times as a younger man, and ultimately did work in pretty much every form comics were done in during his lifetime until the emergence of web comics. He loved telling story in cartooning. CBC: Please describe your first meeting the man, any evolving impressions of his work (old and emerging) and your subsequent relationship. Paul: I first met Will when he was doing The Spirit magazine for Warren Publications, gathering info for my fanzine. I was very young, and it didn’t turn into a friendship then. Over the years, as I matured and gained more senior positions in the field, we’d run into each other at industry events (endless

Above: Opening title spread of Will Eisner: Champion on the Graphic Novel, featuring CBC’s own contributing photographer Greg Preston’s superb 2001 portrait of the legendary comic book artist, as well as letterer Todd Klein’s wonderfully apt logo design. Below: Will Eisner was challenged by the emerging underground comix that were transforming an industry into an art form and, leaving government contracts behind, he got back into the game. Kitchen Sink’s Snarf #3 [Nov. ’72], with cover art by Eisner.

Ah, but a man’s reach should exceed his grasp, Or what’s a heaven for? All is silver-grey, Placid and perfect with my art: the worse! I know both what I want and what might gain And yet how profitless to know, to sigh “Had I been two, another and myself, “Our head would have o’erlooked the world!” No doubt

— Robert Browning, Andrea del Sarto

As with all things, there was a time when comic books were new, and the form was born in a gray city, in a downtrodden country, amid a dispirited era called the Great Depression. Children of that glum period responded to the guileless, emerging medium with instant devotion and fervor; here, finally, was an entertainment wholly their own, easy to ingest, portable, and inexpensive. Some kids, those who could recognize that real, live human beings drew the pictures and composed the words in those four-colored exploits, vowed to become a part of the effluent scene, especially those whose families were desperate for any additional income. In those early days, the nascent industry was in frantic need of talent, even if crude, to fill the pages of its publications. Adolescents willing to produce stories at often-abysmal page rates flocked to the Manhattan publishing houses, among them a teen-aged Latvian immigrant who resided with his Yiddish-speaking parents in the neighboring borough of Brooklyn. The boy, who ardently embraced the adventure milieu, whether newspaper comic strips, episodic radio programs, or the moving pictures, had became an impassioned aficionado of comic books, especially the violent and bombastic stories produced by Bill Everett and those by Jack Kirby. Eli Katz’s ardor and devotion to the form’s pulp affectations would last all of his 73 years, long after he had reinvented himself from a mouthy, exuberant ghetto kid into the erudite and debonair Gil Kane.

#11 • Winter 2016 • COMIC BOOK CREATOR

This is the story of Eli the boy as well as Gil the man, who melded to become one of the greatest of all comic book creators. The man-child possessed a remarkable talent and, over many years, he fashioned a new identity for himself, and yet, sometimes to his lament, would never shed his childhood mania for pulpish melodrama, heroic derring-do, and garish spectacle. For Gilbert Kane, the promise of comics was ever fresh and alive, a form perpetually rife with possibilities, and quite simply the medium he loved the most, always bringing to his dynamic work the same enthusiasm that consumed an impressionable Eli Katz when the boy opened his first comic book.

Prologue The Mark of Kane: In his twilight years, during the ascent of the graphic novel, Gil Kane would bemoan that he had not produced substantive work in the comic book field — any achievement that went beyond genre and was singularly personal in content. “Gary Groth, my best friend, has always felt that I could do some sort of serious comic,” the artist explained. “When Maus came out, he said, ‘Jesus, you were born over there, you were in World War II; why don’t you do something like that?’ But I don’t have any interest and I don’t think I have the capacity for it. I grew up reading and absorbing all of the great classic romances of my age.”1 It wasn’t that Kane lacked the ability to self-reflect or realistically assess his presence in the world; the man consistently expressed a lucid and remarkable candor about his own limitations (and sometimes adolescent predilections) and about how he could fall short of lofty goals. Yet despite being willfully ensnared by the trappings of genre — and such glorious genre work he did manage to share with us! — the artist would puzzle over how to extend the form, reshape it into different formats, and give readers something new yet still familiar. However mired in romance, the man was nothing if not ambitious. And, while the obituaries after his passing on Jan. 31, 2000, invariably cited the artist for his assignments on the super-heroes Green Lantern and Spider-Man, what too few people celebrate is his grandiose and energetic attempts to create something unique out of the form. One can debate whether the content of His Name is… Savage (one part James Bond, one part Sam Peckinpah) and Blackmark (sword-&-sorcery against a post-apocalyptic backdrop) have endured the test of time, but what is indisputable is that Gil Kane’s undertakings were determined attempts to take the sphere of comics into a more substantial, advanced level. The origins of his aspiration, to leave a mark on his field of endeavor, are found in yearnings that began to emerge during an impoverished childhood spent in a New York City ghetto.

Part One: The Boy from Riga The Family Kacz: On Tuesday, April 4, 1926, a boy named Eli, their first and only child, was born to blacksmith Max Kacz and his wife, Helen (née Moran).2 The mother had likely given birth at home, as was the era’s custom, in the Jewish ghetto of Riga, the capital of the northern European state of Latvia and city that was home to some 43,000 Jews. The infant arrived amid a recovering Jewish presence in the Baltic state, a time of liberalization when his people gained citizenship and some government participation, though deep-rooted antisemitism — as always in Eastern Europe — remained prevalent among the ruling Gentiles. In the first two decades of the 20th century, Latvia was the object of a perpetual tug of war between Russia and Germany, a nation alternately occupied Comic Book Creator • Winter 2016 • #11

Previous spread: At top is detail of Gil Kane Star Hawks montage (from the cover of Future #7, Jan. ’79). At far right is Kane’s self-portrait from the cover of The Comics Journal #113 [Dec. ’86]. This page: Top is young Eli Kacz (front row, left, detailed above) and his parents, as well as extended family, in a portrait that was included in Gil Kane: The Art of Comics [2001]. The caption in that book states the photo was taken prior to Eli and his parents traveling to the United States, and it notes, “Everyone in this picture, except Kane and his parents, was killed in the Holocaust,” though, upon examination, the boy looks older than three years old, his age upon leaving Latvia, so it may have been shot after arriving in the states. Inset right is Eli and his parents before the family’s emigration to the U.S.

by those hostile neighbors, though after World War I and subsequent Latvian War of Independence, it began a period of autonomy, when Jews gained (albeit limited) social advancement. Still, Jews were overwhelmingly segregated, said cartoonist Al Jaffee, who as a boy at that time resided in the second largest city (now known as Kaunas) in Lithuania, Latvia’s southern neighbor. “I lived in what was a ghetto,” Jaffee said, “and it was called Slobodka, in [the city of] Kovno. It was all Jewish: there were Jewish schools, Hebrew schools, Yeshiva, temples… it would be like all of Brooklyn were Jewish.” The future MAD contributor also said that, as a youngster, “I had come from the United States to live in Lithuania for five years and, right from the beginning, I found that there were certain areas where a Jewish kid didn’t walk through, day or night, because you were going to get beat up.”3 The Kaczs were poor and opportunity beckoned far westward, where much of the extended family had already emigrated. Yet it was familial misfortune that brought the threesome to America, when Eli was a mere three-yearold. “They came because his paternal grandfather was ill and dying,” Gil’s wife Elaine Kane shared. After sitting for portraits with Latvian relatives — loved ones they would never see again — Max, Helen, and Eli voyaged for the U.S. in 1930, a time when immigration was discouraged and the Great Depression was beginning to bear down.

To enter the country, Elaine said, the Kaczs had to be vouched for by relatives. “I still have the letter that his relatives living in America wrote to sponsor the family to emigrate to the U.S.,” she said. “In those days, you had to have sponsorship to come here and had to guarantee they had put away $1,000 so they wouldn’t become wards of the state.” In the winter or early spring of 1930, the family arrived in America. “Gil said he remembered when their ship was coming into New York harbor, and his father ran below to bring the boy up on deck to see the Statue of Liberty,” Elaine recalled. Processed through U.S. Immigration, a slight alteration was made to the Kacz family name (which may be an abbreviated name derived from the Polish word for duck, Kaczka). Whether by intention or error, Kacz became Katz, Elaine said. Sadly, as to the reason for their journey, “By the time they got here,” she said, “the grandfather was already dead.” Brunzvil: As with many of the diaspora arriving from Eastern Europe in the early 20th century, the family found lodging in the Brownsville neighborhood in the New York City borough of Brooklyn. An area dubbed the “Jerusalem of America” for its enormous Jewish population, Brownsville was a stunningly impoverished and crime-ridden section of the city by the time the Katzs arrived. Plagued by the worsening Depression, in an area comprising a little over one square mile, the vicinity was the densely-packed home of approximately 300,000 people, with Jews comprising an estimated 80 percent of that citizenry. #11 • Winter 2016 • COMIC BOOK CREATOR

Notoriously, around the same time the Katzs were just settling into their tenement apartment at 1675 Park Place,* Brownsville witnessed the birth of Murder, Inc., the mobster hit squad formed by Jewish gangsters Bugsy Siegel and Meyer Lansky, which would be responsible during its 1930s to mid-’40s reign for executing upwards of 1,000 murder contracts. Literary critic Alfred Kazin, born of Brownsville and son of a house painter, said of his environs, “We were the end of the line. We were the children of immigrants who had camped at the city’s back door, in New York’s rawest, remotest, cheapest ghetto… [W]e were Brownsville — Brunzvil, as the old folks said — the dust of the earth to all of Jews with money, and notoriously a place that measured success by our skill with getting away with it.”4 “It was a difficult childhood,” said Elaine about young Eli. And with the need for blacksmiths on the wane in the modern automotive era and unemployment rapidly ascending to catastrophic levels nationwide, father Max was in desperate need of a job. “They had no money,” Elaine continued. “His dad had a rough time getting work. Apparently the family had gone to the beach and the father got an ear infection and they didn’t have the money to do anything about it, and he lost his hearing. (He would have hearing aids and, if you would yell, he could hear you.) So that made life even more difficult.” The artist shared with friend Jim Woodring stories of childhood hardship. “Gil told me stories about the poverty of his youth that were hair-raising,” Woodring said. “Such as three or four people using the same bathwater. I remember him telling me that he got hit in the mouth and broke some teeth, so it was suggested by his mother that he drink ice water to alleviate the pain. These stories didn’t contribute to my sense to who he was as a person, but they were memorable stories. And he did change his tone when he spoke of the deprivations of his youth; he wasn’t blithe about it at all.”5 “We were terribly poor and we lived in a cold-water flat,” Kane said. “We didn’t have any heat, hot water, and we had an old iron stove. My mother and I used to have to go into the marketplace to find wooden fruit boxes and break them up to use as fuel because we couldn’t afford coal.”6 (Kane’s boyhood friend Norman Podhoretz points out that for a Brownsville couple at the time to have only one offspring was not common. “It was unusual to be an only child of Jewish parents,” he said. “There were at least * The 1940 United States Census lists that address as the Katz residence and records they had lived there since five years prior. Howard Chaykin has repeatedly cited 420 Saratoga Avenue as Eli Katz’s boyhood address, but verification of any address other than 1675 Park Place has yet to be made. Comic Book Creator • Winter 2016 • #11

two kids in every family, usually more.”7 The Wikipedia page, History of Jews in Latvia, hints at Latvian government restriction, the “limiting of the [Jewish] family size [between 1925–35] to one or two children by the majority,”8 though verification was not available by presstime.) Perhaps exacerbating problems (though hardly unusual) was the fact that Yiddish, the everyday language of Eastern European Jewry, was the only language spoken in the household. “Gil said that when he started kindergarten,” Elaine said, “he practically spoke no English, so that wasn’t easy.” Gil’s son, Scott, recalled, “My grandparents continued to speak Yiddish throughout the rest of their lives.”9 Still, with eight out of ten Brownsville residents being Jewish, daily life didn’t necessitate adherence to goyish culture. “I thought the entire world was Jewish,” Brownsville native and daughter of factory workers Lillian Elkins said. “I didn’t realize I was a minority.”10 But on the street, Podhoretz related, “Between us kids, we never spoke Yiddish to each other.” Birthplace of the reputable Hebrew Educational Society of Brooklyn, Brownsville was also home to many dozens of synagogues and a flourishing Jewish culture. “There was a thriving Yiddish theater in Brownsville,” Podhoretz explained. “There was a theater on St. John’s Place, right near Eastern Parkway, a sort of main drag, and the shows from Second Avenue would come there and it was

This page: Photos of Brownsville, including (top right) Helen Levitt’s portrait of kids mugging for the camera and (above) street vendors selling out of their pushcarts. Below is the cover of Neil Kleid and Jake Allen’s graphic novel, Brownsville.

REFERENCES

93. comiczine-fa.com/interviews/gil-kane 146. Ibid. 41. Ibid. 94. Ibid. 42. Making It, Norman Podhoretz, 1967, 147. Ibid. Random House 95. Roy Thomas, interview with author, 148. Marv Wolfman, email interview with 1. “Marvel’s ‘Amazing-Man,’” Jon B. 43. Selective service data derived from Nov. 27, 2015 author, Oct. 30, 2015 Cooke, Comic Book Artist Vol. 1, #2, ancestry.com 96. The Comics Journal #186 149. “Award-Winning Wilton Artist Summer 1998 44. The Comics Journal #186 97. Russ Heath, interview with author, Lectures About Comic Books,” Bill 2. A ccording to Elaine Kane, interview 45. Selective service data Oct. 24, 2015 McDonald, The Bridgeport Post, with author, Oct. 12, 2015 46. The Comics Journal #186 98. The Comics Journal #186 April 29, 1976 3. A l Jaffee, interview with author, Oct. 47. Kane/Pearle engagement notice, The 99. Joe Staton, interview with author, 150. Comic Book Artist #2 18, 2015 Brooklyn Daily Eagle, Oct. 14, 1951 Mar. 14, 2015 151. The Art of the Comic Book 4. A lfred Kazin, A Walker in the City, 1951. 48. The Comics Journal #91 100. The Comics Journal #186 152. “Star Hawks,” Ron Goulart, Strip 5. J im Woodring, interview with author, 49. The Comics Journal #226 101. “Still Chaykin After All These Years,” News #1, Summer 1978 Oct. 22, 2015 Jon B. Cooke, CBA V. 2, #5, Dec. 2004 153. space1970.blogspot.com/2011/08/ 6. “Gil Kane on Jack Kirby,” Jon B. Cooke, 50. “Sheldon Mayer, Wizard of the Golden Age,” TCJ #148, Feb. 1992 102. Kenneth Landgraf, email interview goulart-kanes-star-hawks-1977.html The Jack Kirby Collector #21, Oct. 1998 51. The Comics Journal #186 with author, May 22, 205 154. Ernie Colón, email to author, Nov. 7. N orman Podhoretz, interview with 52. Jules Feiffer, interview with author, 103. Gil Kane’s Savage #1 12, 2015 author, Nov. 23, 2015 Oct. 22, 2015 104. The Comics Journal #187 155. Harry Harrison interview, Bill Spicer 8. h ttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Histo53. Who’s Who of American Comic 105. Gil Kane’s Savage #1 and Pete Serniuk, Graphic Story ry_of_the_Jews_in_Latvia Books, Vol. 2, J. Bails & H. Ware, 1974 106. Comic Book Artist #5 World #15, Summer 1973 9. S cott Kane, interview with author, Oct. 54. Gil Kane: Art and Interviews, Daniel 107. Ibid. 156. The Bridgeport Post, April 29, 1976 13, 2015 108. Ibid. Herman, 2002, Hermes Press 157. Ibid. 10. New York Jews and the Great Depres55. www.nytimes.com/movies/per109. Gil Kane: Art and Interviews 158. The Comics Journal #187 sion: Uncertain Promise, Beth S. son/40124/Gil-Lamb/biography 110. The Golden Age of Comic Fandom, 159. Ibid. Wenger, 1999, Syracuse Univ. Press Bill Schelly, 1999, Hamster Press 160. News item, TCJ #74, Aug. 1982 11. Brownsville: The Birth, Development, 56. Kane/Pearle engagement notice 111. “A/E Interview: Gil Kane,” John 161. “Little Big Hero,” J. Collier, Amazing and Passing of a Jewish Community 57. Social security data derived from ancestry.com Benson, Alter Ego Vol. 1, #10, 1969 Heroes #28, Aug. 1, 1983 in New York, Alter F. Landesman, 1989, 58. “I Didn’t Want to Know [What 112. The Comics Journal #186 162. “With Talos Aforethought,” Joey Bloch Publishing Other Companies Were Doing]!,” Jim 113. Alter Ego #10 Cavalieri, Talos of the Wilderness 12. https://archive.org/details/ArthurKleiAmash, Alter Ego #56, Feb. 2006 114. The Comics Journal #78 Sea #1, 1987 n12october2011YiddishBookCenter 59. The Comics Journal #186 115. The Comics Journal #186 163. Jan Strnad, email to author, Dec. 13. Will Eisner: Portrait of a Sequential 116. The Comics Journal #38 19, 2015 Artist, directed by Andrew D. Cooke, 60. www.reuben.org/awards 61. The 1980 National Cartoonists Society 117. The Art of the Comic Book, Robert C. 164. The Comics Journal #226 2011 [film documentary] Album, Museum of Cartoon Art, 1980 Harvey, 1996, Univ. Press of Miss. 165. Amazing Heroes #28 14. The Jack Kirby Collector #21 62. Comics: Between the Panels, Steve 118. The Comics Journal #186 166. Ibid. 15. “An Interview with Gil Kane,” Gary Duin and Mike Richardson, 1998, Dark 119. Ibid. 167. Ibid. Groth, The Comics Journal #38, Feb. Horse Comics 120. Introduction, Marvel Masterworks: 168. The Comics Journal #226 1978 Captain Marvel V. 2, 2007, Marvel 63. Will Eisner: Portrait of a Sequential 169. The Comics Journal #186 16. “The Shape of Art,” Gary Groth, Gil Artist 121. Ibid. 170. Ibid. Kane, and Robert Crumb, The Comics 64. comiczine-fa.com/interviews/gil-kane 122. The Comics Journal #186 171. The Comics Journal #226 Journal #113, Dec. 1986 65. The Comics Journal #186 123. Comic Book Artist #2 172. The Comics Journal #222 17. “Gil Kane,” Gary Groth, The Comics 66. Ibid. 124. “John Romita,” Robert J. McKinnon, 173. Ibid. Journal #186, Apr. 1996 The Comics Journal #222, April 2000 174. “When the Lobster Whistles on the 67. “The Man Who Knew Too Much: 18. The Jack Kirby Collector #21 Remembering Gil Kane,” Gary Groth, 125. Comic Book Artist #2 Hill,” Gary Groth, The Comics Journal 19. Ibid. The Comics Journal #222, Apr. 2000 126. Ibid. #165, Dec. 1993 20. “Kane and Chaykin,” Gil Kane and 127. Ibid. 175. Ibid. Howard Chaykin, The Comics Journal 68. The Comics Journal #186 69. Ibid. 128. Ibid. 176. “Inking the Universe,” Steven Regi#91, July 1984 129. Ibid. na, www.theswervemagazine.com/ 21. Allen Bellman, interview with author, 70. The Silver Age of Comic Book Art, Arlen Schumer, 2003, Collectors Press 130. Ibid. Joe_Rubinstein.html Oct. 20, 2015 71. comiczine-fa.com/interviews/gil-kane 131. Ibid. 177. Tim Burgard, email to author, Oct. 22. The Jack Kirby Collector #21 132. The Comics Journal #226 30, 2015 23. ”School’s Alumni and Staff Feel Its Art 72. Ibid. 133. Comic Book Artist #2. 178. Cover jacket blurb, The Ring of Emphasis is Neglected,” Mira Tweti, 73. Ibid. 74. The Comics Journal #186 134. The Comics Journal #222 Nibelung, 1992, DC Comics The New York Times, Dec. 5, 2001 75. Howard Chaykin, interview with 135. Introduction, Leigh Brackett, Fifty 179. Ibid. 24. The Comics Journal #91 author, Oct. 23, 2015 Years of Wonder, The Best of Ed180. The Comics Journal #186 25. The New York Times, Dec. 5, 2001 76. The Comics Journal #186 mond Hamilton, 1976, Ballantine 181. Ibid. 26. The Comics Journal #91 77. 1980 Nat. Cartoonists Society Album 136. “He That Hath Wings,” Edmond 182. Ibid. 27. 1940 U.S. Federal Census records 78. The Comics Journal #186 Hamilton, Weird Tales Vol. 32, No. 1, 183. “Dan’s Dogma,” Shaun McLaughlin, retrieved via ancestry.com 79. Ibid. July 1938, Popular Fiction Edge #1, July 1994 28. The Comics Journal #91 80. The Silver Age of Comic Book Art 137. comiczine-fa.com/interviews/gil184. Steven Grant, message via Facebook 29. “The Artistry Behind the ‘Superhekane 81. “Gil Kane: Man of Action,” Jon B. to author, Dec. 3, 2015 roes,’” John Sargent, May 12, 1981, 138. Klaus Janson, interview with author, 185. “Blood & Thunder,” The Comics Cooke, CBA Vol. 1, #5, Summer 1999 The Norwalk Hour 82. The Jack Kirby Collector Dec. 6, 2015 Journal #189, Aug. 1996 30. www.ushmm.org/wic/en/article. 83. Neal Adams, interview with author, 139. Tom Durwood, email interview with 186. The Comics Journal #222 php?Moduleld=10005463 Dec. 9, 2015 author, Oct. 11, 2015 187. Ibid. 31. www.holocaustresearchproject.org/ 84. “Gil Kane, Part II,” Gary Groth, The 140. “The Richard Corben Interview,” 188. “Remembering Gil,” Roy Thomas, ghettos/riga.html Comics Journal #187, May 1996 Brad Balfour, Heavy Metal Vo. 5, #4, Alter Ego Vol. 3, #4, Spring 2000 32. The Comics Journal #186 July 1981 189. “He lit Green Lantern’s light,” James 33. “It’s Easy to Love Ava Gardner,” Gary 85. Comic Book Artist #2 86. The Comics Journal #186 141. Richard Corben, email to author, Dec. M. Pethokoukis, U.S. News & World Groth, TCJ #226, Aug. 2000 87. “Kane on Savage,” G. Groth & M. Ca15, 2015 Report, Vol. 128, #6, Feb. 14, 2000 34. Social security data derived from tron, Gil Kane’s Savage #1, Mar. 1982 142. “Creating the Graphic Novel,” Phil 190. The Comics Journal #38 ancestry.com 88. The Comics Journal #186 Seuling, Mediascene #16, Nov.–Dec. 191. The Comics Journal #226 35. The Comics Journal #186 89. Gil Kane’s Savage #1 1975 192. The Comics Journal #187 36. Ibid. 90. “Archie Goodwin,” Steve Ringgen143. Mediascene #16 193. The Art of the Comic Book 37. Ibid. berg, TCJ #78, Dec. 1982 144. Richard Corben, email to author, 194. The Silver Age of Comic Book Art 38. Ibid. 91. Gil Kane’s Savage #1 Dec. 16, 2015 39. Ibid. 92. rehtwogunraconteur.com/2013/07/ 145. The Comics Journal #186 40. Ibid. 76

#11 • Winter 2016 • COMIC BOOK CREATOR

one last thing

What Gil Kane Taught Me Learning from this intense investigation into the life and times of the great artist I’ve just got off the phone from a long chat with Gary Groth. The Fantagraphics publisher was kind enough — on a Sunday no less! — to go over this massive essay about his best friend’s life and times, correcting errors and clarifying stuff that might be hazy. One thing Gary wanted to make clear was the chronology and location of when and where he began, back in the late ’70s, to telephone his new acquaintance, Gil Kane. That would be, Gary corrected, before he moved to Connecticut, at a time when still living in Maryland. And he wanted me to know, emphasizing more than once, that he called Gil not to talk, but to listen. I know exactly what Gary means. For me, it was in the late ’90s, when I was in my Providence advertising agency working on Comic Book Artist magazine over the weekend. I would call up the artist and I would listen. In just listening, I was regaled with stories of romantic times, of a young Eli Katz bounding through rafters in hood and cape, of jaunty Stan Lee in jodhpurs strutting about the Timely Bullpen, of coquettes and cocktails with suave Jim Warren in the swinging ’60s, of worshiping the heroic ideal and an endless quest for personal excellence. And though I knew I wasn’t the only one whom he called “my boy,” during those Saturday mornings, when I had the septuagenarian raconteur all to myself, and with pride and affection in my heart, I was his boy (for, at least, the duration of the call). Long before I loved the man, I loved his work. I was downright passionate about it. Even during those walks back home up Robinson Street in the early ’70s, after my brother and I left Healy’s news store, when the Southwick brothers would pshaw the artist’s trope of “nostril upshots,” I would stand my ground and be firm in my resolve about the excellence of Gil Kane. In those salad days of my early teens, while his peers Kirby, Kubert, Windsor-Smith, Wrightson, and Adams were doing among the best comic book work ever, Kane matched their every effort with panache, sheer, infectious exuberance, and vibrant enthusiasm. Simply put, for this young reader, Gil Kane kicked ass. Over the years, when I would wander in and out of fandom, if there was a new Kane comic book on the stands, it would be mine. But a transformative moment occurred back in 1996, when I became more an admirer of the mind of the man than fan of his art. It was upon opening The Comics Journal #186 and, staying up Comic Book Creator • Winter 2016 • #11

all night, I was transfixed reading Gary’s colossal interview with the artist, an amazing artifact about not only the life an influential and vitally engaged creator, but also a learned, knowing, and gossipy history of this field I love so much. Like I said, it was transformative, enough so that when the opportunity to join up with TwoMorrows and help chronicle that history, I was greatly influenced by Kane’s erudite, informative, sometimes vexing, and terrifically engaging elocution that wafted off the pages of TCJ #186 (well quoted herein!). Yet despite being a lifelong Kane aficionado, it wasn’t until I devoted these past few months of intensive research and interviewing, a thorough effort that started in late September and ending only now, on the winter solstice, when I began to finally appreciate the lesson Gil Kane’s life imparts. I am staggered by the man’s raw ambition, his ability to self-invent, re-invent, and constantly refine. If you knew him, you knew Gil was his own harshest critic, yet he wasn’t despondent over limitations, but challenged instead. Rarely satisfied, his desire was to always get better. He met failure with unfailing tenacity to try something different. His Name is… Savage is quashed? Let’s move on to Blackmark. Time and time again, Gil Kane met adversity with assiduity, a man driven for achievement. Honestly, as late as August, I had conceived of this issue as a by-the-numbers tribute: I would organize a bunch of his peers to write appreciations, interview some family and friends, scrounge for some artwork, and cobble together an adequate, efficient memorial. But then I remembered one Saturday morning call in 1999, when, upon hearing I was designing a book devoted to his bête noire, Carmine Infantino, Gil suggested, in an atypically shy way, that I should do a book on his career. (I can still hear that ever-so slight, almost embarrassed lilt in his voice.) Boy, did I spark to that idea! As I had designed Rouge Enfant’s volume as horizontal, I’d make Kane’s tome vertical! But my friend was sick and he soon passed away. I always regretted not doing that book. I wanted to have him give me an approving look, to be pleased, to say, “Good job, my boy. Good job.” So I put my all into this one. I hope Elaine approves. Gary, also. I hope everyone does. I know I’ve done my very best, and Gilbert Eli Kane deserves nothing less. I still want to do that book. Wouldn’t a tall book be awesome? — JBC.

Above: Akin, perhaps, to the unpublished Centipede material found in CBC #2’s Joe Kubert tribute issue, Gil Kane would’ve done the art chores on the proposed series Asteroids, also based on an Atari video game. Unused cover courtesy of Tom Ziuko. Left: Cartoonist Rick Parker renders Gil Kane in mid-soliloquy. Inset left: Courtesy of Kirk Dilbeck, it’s Blackmark. Below: Ye Ed’s one Gil Kane commission, the cover of CBA V1 #2 [Sum. ’98].