Gene Colan's Final Story for Marvel

Artist Gene Colan, who passed away in June of 2011, turned in his final full-length comics work just over two years earlier, capping a career spanning over six decades (which included commissions work, to the delight of his fans) and bidding farewell to a red, white and blue character he worked on with Stan Lee from mid-1969 until the early '70s.

With no inker assigned to the story, the issue is a splendid showcase of Colan's talent in its purest form, even well past his prime--with colorist Dean White helping to bring the pages to vivid life. As for the story itself, however, it might leave you with the impression that the issue is something of a one-shot, with Colan's large, canvas-style scenes curtailing any scripting nuances which writer Ed Brubaker provides, while Brubaker himself appears to be giving Colan a wide berth and providing narrative and dialog only as needed. As such, the story regrettably suffers, both in conception and in execution--a tale of vampires attacking a Belgium village, along with the remnants of two U.S. army platoons within which Cap and Bucky are stationed. Not the usual fare we would expect in a wartime flashback tale, though the type of story which The Invaders had opened the door to often enough.

The story's events stem from a present-day conversation between Nick Fury and Bucky, involving the conflicts of the Civil War crossover which had heroes on both sides of the conflict turning on one another--which then serves to segue us to the past, where our soldiers are being turned into vampires and preying on their fellow soldiers, with Cap's priority being clear: find the vampire who is to blame for the initial attack and destroy him. But Brubaker, taking his cues from Colan's art, is obliged to offer one red herring after another in the search for the principal vampire before finally revealing the true culprit to Cap and Bucky--only to abruptly end the story seconds after the climax has begun to unfold, while offering only token resolution in the form of Bucky providing a piece of trivia to Fury (which we'll get to in a moment).

During the post-Stan Lee part of his career, it's fair to wonder if Colan was ever in the habit of conferring more closely with the writer of the book he was working on in order for both writer and artist to be on the same page, as it were, in regard to having a more detailed understanding of the plot beyond the basic characters involved, given that this doesn't appear to be the case here.* That said, Colan arguably lays sufficient groundwork for the writer to pen at least a more coherent story, which might have benefited from less of an impulse to let the art stand on its own.

*It would certainly be helpful to have the thoughts of this book's editor at the time, Tom Brevoort, on the subject.


But with our focus primarily on Colan, his work here makes for a splendid final act to make his exit on. Reportedly suffering from glaucoma and progressively reduced vision since the '90s, the quality of Colan's work nevertheless spoke for itself, and one would have been hard-pressed to detect any hint of his condition in these pages. To have seen this story followed up with a Dr. Strange tale... well, a guy can dream.

The clues that Cap and Bucky gather eventually lead back to a village child who's been seen carrying food and water, and who was last seen in the company of one of the latest victims. Yet it turns out this child hasn't been among the living for four years.

As we've seen, the story ends abruptly as Bucky brings ourselves and Fury back to the present, where he offers one last tidbit of information: Bucky and Cap didn't return with the platoons to join up with Gen. Patton in the south, but were instead sent back to England to guard an experimental plane--an assignment which led to Zemo's island in the English channel, and a pivotal moment in time for Captain America.

Your mileage may certainly vary as to what degree this story worked for you, though I'm hoping your one takeaway is the caliber of work which its distinguished artist has produced at the twilight of his career. Do take the opportunity to sample Mr. Colan's talent in any number of other comics forums where he surely has a presence--though you can be assured that you'll see his renowned and unique artistry continue to be featured in the PPC.