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Comic Book Artist Kane Dies at 73
MIAMI (AP) - Gil Kane, the comic book artist who spent more than half a century sketching such memorable characters as the Atom, Green Lantern, the Hulk, Captain Marvel and Spider-Man, has died. He was 73.
Kane died Monday in Miami of cancer, said his Los Angeles representative, Harris Miller.
A self-taught artist, Kane worked steadily from the age of 16 until he recently became ill. He was known for his dynamic figures and innovative fight scenes between superheroes.
Fans and collectors revered the work Kane did from 1956 to 1969. During that period, he redesigned the costumes of Green Lantern and Captain Marvel and helped make the old superheroes familiar to new generations of readers.
Born Eli Katz in Latvia on April 6, 1926, Kane came to New York with his family when he was 3. He grew up reading comics and pulp novels, and later served in the Army toward the end of World War II.
Kane worked extensively for DC Comics and Marvel but also freelanced for other producers of the genre. He illustrated a variety of DC's lines from mysteries and westerns to Rex the Wonder Dog and science fiction.
He didn't became famous until the late 1950s when DC revived Green Lantern and Kane took over its illustration. He soon added a revival of the Atom as well.
Moving to Marvel, Kane drew the Hulk, Conan the Barbarian, Captain Marvel, Spider-Man, Captain America, the Avengers and others and became a model for new comic artists who studied his style. He liked to ink his own work, instead of leaving the details to assistants.
In the 1980s, Kane spent about five years in Los Angeles, working on animation concepts for Hanna-Barbera and Ruby-Spears. But he soon returned to comics, illustrating the ``Ring'' for writer Roy Thomas in 1990 and drawing new versions of Superman.
Kane is survived by his wife, Elaine; son, Scott; and two stepchildren, Eric and Beverly.
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