Legendary artist Gene Colan passed away Thursday night. Gene was an artist on every major title to come from Marvel and DC comics over the past seventy years. He was most well known for his work on Iron Man, Daredevil, Dr. Strange, Howard the Duck and Tomb of Dracula where he helped create the character of “Blade” with writer Marv Wolfman. Word spread quickly across the internet at this unfortunate event. An official announcement was made on his website shortly thereafter:
“I regret to tell you that Gene passed away on 6/23/2011, around 11pm. Gene had ongoing health issues with his liver, heart and cancer. He was a fighter to the end, making plans on leaving the hospice to return home. He wanted me to price him a VW Beetle.”
The Mutantville Players had the honor of meeting Gene Colan back in 2005 when he was in Charlotte for Heroes Con. Gene was very personable and friendly. We attended several panels to hear Gene speak and afterward he was very generous with his time. 
We talked to Gene at his table at length where he was willing to share any and all of his storytelling secrets. Geo and I talked to him about the art of using horror in storytelling. He discussed how to generate mood and atmosphere.
Gene revealed how he used music to inspire him when he was working on something dark. He also talked about the inspiration he received from watching the classic Universal monster movies like Dracula, The Wolfman, The Creature from the Black Lagoon, and Frankenstein. Mr. Colan was even kind enough to draw a piece for us to use in our movie C for Chaos.
In honor of Mr. Colan’s passing, MVP is proud to bring you an unofficial adaptation of his work on the Tomb of Dracula. In 1980, Colan and writer Marv Wolfman’s take on the Dracula mythology was adapted into an animated TV movie entitled Yami no Teio Kyuketsuki Dracula (Dracula: The Vampire Emperor of Darkness). The results were perhaps mixed at best – but it’s interesting to see the world Woflman and Colan created come to the screen in some form. The movie was dubbed in English by the Harmony Gold group and released in the States as Dracula: Sovereign of the Damned.
So what are you waiting for? A legendary artist has passed away after a lifetime of showing us new and amazing sights. It’s Saturday. You can watch the movie online for free. Let’s honor his memory. It’s Scary Movie Saturday.
R.I.P. Gene. You will be missed.
