Gene Day
Gene Day | |
---|---|
Born | Howard Eugene Day 13 August 1951 |
Died | 23 September 1982 Gananoque, Ontario, Canada | (aged 31)
Area(s) | Cartoonist, Writer, Penciller, Inker |
Notable works | Star Wars, Master of Kung Fu |
Awards | Joe Shuster Award, 2007 Inkwell Awards SASRA, 2022[1] |
Howard Eugene Day (August 13, 1951 – September 23, 1982)
Biography
Early career
Gene Day began his career with Canadian
For Mike Friedrich's early independent-comics company Star Reach, Day variously wrote/drew stories in 1977 and 1978 for the namesake anthology title Star Reach and its sister magazines Imagine and Quack, the latter a talking animal comic. Other work includes "Cheating Time!", written by Mark Burbey, in Dr. Wirtham's Comix & Stories #4 (1979).[4]
In 1977 he illustrated the Greg Stafford's fantasy wargame Nomad Gods. His continuing relationship with Stafford's company, Chaosium would see him produce artwork for many of their products, including the cover of the first edition of the horror roleplaying game Call of Cthulhu in 1981.
From 1975 until 1980, Gene Day published, under the imprint Shadow Press, at least 23 issues - the last being #d 24/25, and there having been no #13 - of the fanzine/magazine Dark Fantasy: The Magazine Of Underground Creators for which he was also an art contributor.
Graphic novel and Marvel Comics
In 1979, Day wrote and drew an early
Day began his several-year association with Master of Kung Fu by
Death
Day died of a
Legacy
From 1985 to 1986, Renegade Press published five issues of Gene Day's Black Zeppelin,[8] an anthology series primarily featuring stories and painted covers Day completed before his death, as well new contributions by Dave Sim, Bruce Conklin, Augustine Funnell, and Charles Vess. It was edited by Gail Day and Joe Erslavas. More of his work appeared posthumously in Caliber Comics' anthology series Day Brothers Presents, which also featured the work of Day's comics-artist brothers, David Day and Dan Day.[9]
In 2002, Sim and his
Gene really showed me that success in a creative field is a matter of hard work and productivity and persistence. I had done a handful of strips and illustrations at that point mostly for various fanzines but I wasn't very productive. I would do a strip or an illustration and send it off to a potential market and then wait to find out if they were going to use it before doing anything else. Or I'd wait for someone to write to me and ask me to draw something. Gene was producing artwork every day and putting it out in the mail and when it came back he'd send it out to someone else. He would draw work for money and then do work on spec if the paying markets dried up. He kept trying at places where he had been rejected. He did strips, cartoons, caricatures, covers, spot illos, anything that he might get paid for. He gave drawing lessons and produced his own fanzines.[11]
In 2007, Day was inducted into the
Future Day
Day's work in his 1979, graphic novel-like story collection:[4]
- "Gifts of Silver Splendor" (6 p.)
- "Hive" (6 p.)
- "Days of Future Past" (6 p.)
- "Gauntlet" (6 p.)
- "Paper Dragon" (5 p.)
- "War Games" (10 p.)
- "Black Legion" (text story, 7 p.)
Bibliography
Aardvark-Vanaheim
- Swords of Cerebus #3 (1981)
DC Comics
- Tales of the New Teen Titans #3 (1982)
Marvel Comics
- The Amazing Spider-Man #206 (1980)
- Avengers #181, 201 (1979–1980)
- Bizarre Adventures #30 (1982)
- Black Panther#13–15 (1979)
- Epic Illustrated #32 (writer) (1985)
- Further Adventures of Indiana Jones #3 (1983)
- Caleb Hammer) (1979–1980)
- Marvel Spotlight vol. 2 #3 (Captain Marvel) (1979)
- Marvel Team-Up #80 (1979)
- Marvel Two-in-One #49, 56–58, 60–71, Annual #6 (1979–1981)
- Master of Kung Fu #76–77, 79–111, 114–118, 120 (1979–1983)
- Savage Sword of Conan #68–69, 74, 102–104, 106 (1981–1984)
- Star Trek #14, 16 (1981)
- Star Wars #18, 21, 25, 28, 30, 33, 35–37, 45, 47, 68–69 (1978–1983)
- Thor #300, 310–315 (1980–1982)
Renegade Press
- Gene Day's Black Zeppelin #1–5 (1985–1986)
Star Reach
- Star Reach #6, 8–9, 11, 15 (1976–1978)
References
- ^ "inkwell awards 2022 lifetime achievement winners". 26 February 2022.
- ^ a b "Gene Day". Lambiek Comiclopedia. December 23, 2006. Archived from the original on October 12, 2012.
- ^ a b Gene Day at the Grand Comics Database
- ^ a b c Arndt, Richard. "Independent Comics, Part 2". Archived from the original on May 4, 2014.
- ^ Sacks, Jason (September 6, 2010). "Top 10 1970s Marvels". Comics Bulletin. Archived from the original on August 1, 2013. Retrieved August 3, 2013.
- ^ The Comic Reader #206 (Nov. 1982): Obituary, p. 41
- ^ "Master of Kung Fu's Gene Day Dead at 31". The Comics Journal. No. 77. November 1982. p. 14. Also: Obituary, p. 6/
- ^ Gene Day's Black Zeppelin at the Grand Comics Database
- ^ Day Brothers Present at the Grand Comics Database
- Cerebus#285 (Dec. 2002): Dave Sim on The Day Prize
- ^ "Coville's Clubhouse: Dave Sim interview", The Collector Times (July 2005). Archived March 9, 2008, at the Wayback Machine WebCitation archive.
- Joe Shuster Awards. September 26, 2009. Archivedfrom the original on August 2, 2014.
Further reading
- Entry in The Who's Who of American Comic Books 1977 Yearbook and 1978 Yearbook, by Jerry Bails
External links
- "Day, Gene" at the Michigan State University Libraries Special Collections Division: Reading Room Index to the Comic Art Collection, "Day" to "Day Zeke"
- Gene Day at Mike's Amazing World of Comics
- Gene Day at the Unofficial Handbook of Marvel Comics Creators
- Cerebus Checklist: Other Dave Sim & Gerhard Stuff
- Gene Day at the Internet Speculative Fiction Database