Sadly artist Gene Colan passed away last night at the age of 84 following months of declining health. You can read more about it here at Cifford Meth's blog.
I'm sure in the days ahead people far more eloquent than I am will be writing tributes to his art and career, so I'll share a small personal story instead.
The above picture was taken in San Diego in 2009, where I was fortunate enough to get the chance to spend some time with Gene over the course of the weekend. In fact, at a dinner Marvel hosted one night his wife Adrienne came to my table and told me that Gene wanted to meet me. It turns out he had been referencing issues of Captain America that I had drawn while he was working on issue #601 and wanted to tell me how much he admired my work. Needless to say I was (and still am) floored by this. I sat and talked with him about art and sequential storytelling for longer than I probably should have, but he was still so enthusiastic about what he was doing and saw something of a kindred spirit in me I suppose, particularly in the way we both approached shadows and spotting blacks. I could never hope to be in Gene's class as an illustrator or storyteller, but I can try to live up to the praise he gave my work, even if he was being overly generous in giving it.
I doubt he knew how much it meant (and still means) to me.
