KANE, GIL

KANE, GIL (1926–2000), U.S. comic book artist. Born in Latvia and named Eli Katz, he immigrated to New York with his family when he was three. Kane dropped out of high school at 15 to seek work penciling comic books, the first stage of the process. Some artists would go over his lines in ink, others would add words, and some would add color. His first job was at MLJ, publishers of Archie comics. Just before entering the army in 1944, Kane took a job with DC Comics. He returned there after the war to work at the dawn of a new medium and gradually became recognized as one of the greatest comic book artists. His breakthrough came in 1959 when he drew an early follow-up to DC's Flash, a feature that had been a hit in the 1940s. He then revamped the characters Green Lantern and Atom and infused them with a vibrant new life. He represented an integral part of the resuscitation of superheroes in the 1960s, an era known as the "silver age" of comic books. He gave dynamic new interpretations to the Hulk, Captain Marvel, and Spider-Man. Kane drew tens of thousands of pages of superheroes for DC and Marvel Comics as well as for dozens of other companies. (Stewart Kampel (2nd ed.)