I may be a little late to report this unfortunate news, but better late than not at all. Gene Colan, an amazing comic-book artist who is perhaps best known for his 81 consecutive issues of Dardevil, the entire 70-issue run of Tomb of Dracula, and most issues of Howard the Duck, is reportedly suffering from liver failure, which has led to perilous complications, among them fluid retention and encephalitis. Gene's wife, Adrienne, shared some of the details here.

Gene has been drawing comics for more than 50 years. If you're not familiar with his work, check out one of my favorite sites, the Silver Age Marvel Comics Cover Index, which features a gallery of some of Gene's greatest covers. Personally, I've always had a nostalgic soft spot for the cover of Marvel Super-Heroes #12, shown to the right. I can still remember encountering it in a Brooklyn candy store when I was 12 and being blown away by the first appearance of Marvel Comics' Captain Marvel. (My fondness for that memory has nothing to do with the fact that I'd end up writing his adventures a decade later.) I recall staring at the cover and desperately wanting to know, who is this guy? Gene's distinctive artwork, which displayed human emotions through facial expressions and body language in a way few could, certainly contributed to that.

If you're one of Gene's many fans, you can help in two ways. First, by simply dropping Gene a note if you wish, telling him how much his work has meant to you all these years. Supportive cards and letters may be sent to him at this address:

Gene Colan
2 Sea Cliff Avenue
Sea Cliff, NY 11579
USA

Additionally, various fundraising efforts are currently being organized to help pay for Gene's mounting medical costs. Clifford Meth is currently spearheading an effort to collect donations of books and artwork from professionals to be auctioned off, while the family is also auctioning artwork on eBay. Keep checking out both of those links for further updates.

Meanwhile, please keep both Gene and Adrienne in your thoughts.

Thanks to GalleyCat, I just learned that Charles Ardai's Hard Case Crime line will be publishing The Dead Man's Brother, a previously unpublished novel by Roger Zelazny.

The manuscript, supposedly completed 30 years ago and long thought lost, was apparently recently discovered among Zelazny's papers.

Roger Zelazny was once one of my gods. I loved "A Rose for Ecclesiastes," Creatures of Light and Darkness, Lord of Light, Nine Princes in Amber (the sequels, not so much), "The Doors of His Face, The Lamps of His Mouth," and many other of his short stories and novels, so a new work, particularly one from when he was still in his prime, is big news for me.

I'm also looking forward to learning the entire history of the manuscript's submissions and rejections, and why it ended up in a desk drawer for decades instead of being read by all of us in the '70s.

The stories behind Phil K. Dick's struggles to get his mainstream novels published were fascinating, so I'm hoping that the entire story behind this particular story will also end up being revealed.

Though GalleyCat didn't provide a link to it, the publisher's site is offering an excerpt. The fragment certainly has that hardboiled feel to it, and so I'm anxious to read the entire novel to see Zelazny's take on the genre.

For a Zelazny fan, nine months will be a long time to wait.