Clifford Meth has reported that legendary comic book artist Gene Colan died last night at the age of 84. Colan is perhaps best remembered for his stylish, brooding work on Marvel's 1970s Tomb of Dracula series, but the artist's lengthy career spanned both titles and decades, beginning with Fiction House's Wings Comics in 1944 and including a number of memorable hilights such as Iron Man, Daredevil and Doctor Strange in the Silver Age, Howard the Duck in the 1970s, and DC Comics' Nathaniel Dusk in the 1980s. He won a Best Single Issue Eisner Award in 2010 for his work on Captain America 601, drawn by Colan and written by Ed Brubaker, and was inducted into the Eisner Comic Book Hall of Fame in 2005.

I regret to announce that my friend Gene Colan died at about 11 pm on June 23. Gene spent this last week in a quasi-coma state following a broken hip and complications from liver disease. He was 84. I am terribly saddened to lose Gene. He was a gentle and deeply spiritual man, a bright light in every context, and those who knew him at any level were enriched by his warmth and generous nature. Below are some thoughts I cobbled together when he slipped from consciousness earlier this week. I leave the historical perspective and details of Gene's significant career to my friends Tom Spurgeon and Mark Evanier. For now, I mourn. Clifford Meth

Check out a brief selection of original art from Colan's expansive career below: