In an industry as old and as fluid as comics, there are many legends. Writers, artists, editors, and more have come and gone and continue to line up to craft the lives of heroes and villains on the printed page. Gene Colan is one of those legends. His work in the 1970s seemed perfectly suited to The Tomb of Dracula (Colan’s broad strokes always seemed to be not so much moving as floating effortlessly, sweeping across the pages, like finely honed mist). But he was just as much at home in the world of superheroes, taking on Daredevil, Captain America, Batman, and more.

Today, one of the industry’s longtime writers, Cliff Meth, is giving Gene Colan his due in the giant collection The Invincible Gene Colan. A tribute to Colan’s extensive body of work and his amazing impact is a must for any longtime fan, so we were eager to discuss with Meth how the book came about. Here are the details.
 

 
When and how did you and Gene first meet?
I met Gene at the first MarvelCon in New York City in 1976. I was 15 and Gene sketched a little Captain America head for me in the program book. Those were the good old days, guys like Gene and John Buscema and John Romita doing free sketches. It was like being at the Yankees’ dugout in ’51 with a pen and a baseball.
 
How did you first get involved in comics professionally?

I was a collector as a little kid and a fanzine contributor as a teenager. When I was in my early 20s, my local comics shop (The Comic Book Emporium in Union, New Jersey) went up for sale and I bought it, renamed it “Clobbering Time,” then opened two more shops. I had frequent guest artists coming in to sketch for my customers and ended up befriending a number of them. I was also writing for ComicScene and Wizard, making new friends. One thing led to another and in 1994, Jim Reeber and I launched Aardwolf Publishing with the help of Dave Cockrum and Gray Morrow.   
 
Do you enjoy working in the industry as much now as you always did?
Now that I’m back to freelancing, I enjoy it more. I was frustrated as a full-time professional. It was political instead of creative. I suppose everything is when you get too close.
 
What is the industry like now versus when you first became a part of it? Has it changed for the better?
From what I can see, it is more political than ever. Business is always about making money, but there was more of a sense of fraternity in the ’70s, when I started hanging around. I suppose you had specious jerks then, too, but didn’t know them.
 
You do a lot to acknowledge the impact and importance of comics’ legends, recently with both Colan and Dave Cockrum. Does the industry as a whole do enough to recognize its classic talents?
You can’t personify the industry—there’s just people, individuals doing what they do. In the ’80s, Neal Adams set a great example for the rest of us; he wasn’t about his own pocket—he was willing to risk his own neck to help those two old men who’d created Superman. Today, it’s a little easier on oldtimers, but not much. Most of them didn’t get their due, let’s face it…. People pretend to be rebels today, but real rebels, as far as I can see, run the risk of rejection, of real disapproval. The old guys—some of them—risked shock, disgust, outrage, censorship. Ditko, Gerber… The new rebels might be willing to risk rolled eyes and yawns, but outside of Alan Moore, I don’t see risk-takers—not creatively and certainly not when it comes to watching out for the guys who came before them.
 
How do you define Gene Colan’s influence on comics?
Gene was cinematic in a time when artists were still Kirby-esque. He was terribly important.
 
What made you decide to do a book on his art and his life at this point?
Gene came to me and said he wanted to retire, and he asked if I would negotiate his retirement package with Marvel and I agreed to. What I did for the Cockrums is fairly well known among the older generation of comics’ creators, and Gene and I have been friends for decades, so it was no surprise that he came to me. The book was part of the deal; Marvel agreed to allow me to reprise what I did with The Uncanny Dave Cockrum collection; they said they would publish it and give all profits to Gene. It was a win-win for everyone.
 
How is Gene doing now? He continues to work—is he going to be involved in promoting the book?
He’s out there, to the extent that his health allows him to be out there.
 
Does any of Gene’s work stand out and particularly resonate with you? Was there any series that you consider definitive in terms of his style?
Despite the fact that I created Snaked and write what Barnes & Noble and others have described as “dark fiction,” I am not a horror reader. So I was never a Tomb of Dracula reader. But I believe Gene was at his best there—he had evolved from Daredevil into a place where he could stretch the limits. I personally preferred DD and Iron Man and especially his run on Captain America, but that’s because I prefer superheroes. Gene’s style, as I said, is cinematic. He goes beyond the necessity just to tell a story—he infuses it with mood. Most comic artists recognize that but are incapable of producing it; they wow you with fantastic figure drawings, but there’s no soul. With Gene…it’s a feel, I think—not something that can necessarily be learned. We recognize—and adore—certain writers by their voices. With artists, it’s by their taste.
 
What are you working on next? What other projects can we expect from you?
I continue to write fiction and find different vehicles for it. My next book will be a collaboration with Jeffrey Catherine Jones. You can see my current projects—including some signed and remarqued copies of The Invincible Gene Colan, at www.aardwolfpublishing.com