Gene Colan is not well

Gene Colan, artist extraordinaire, is in bad shape right now, suffering from liver disease, with mounting medical bills. Make a donation via Paypal or send best wishes via this e-mail address. The family is also selling original art on eBay here.

A good interview with Gene from 2001 by Tom Field in Comic Book Artist is here.

(The above cover has enormous sentimental value to me, as I used to own the original art. The inker, btw, is the incredible Tom Palmer.)

Steve Gerber switched ducks!

In 1996, Steve Gerber pulled off an incredible cross-company switch — engineered by no less a maniac than Image Comics Publisher Erik Larsen — that resulted in Howard the Duck switching places (in the Marvel Universe) with a clone, then renamed "Leonard. The "real" Howard (Leonard) was in Steve's virtual possession through his final days. The clone remained with Marvel.

Think I'm making this up or it's an April Fool's thing? Read this.I'm going to lay out the whole story when I get a chance, including an interview rescued from Wizard's recent page-purge, but it's nice to know that things worked out... even if we're talking about fantasy.