Scott Edelman reports on how the great lady spent her 80th.

Jim McLauchlin at the Hero Initiative writes to say that Gene Colan is back in the hospital:

Gene Colan’s wife Adrienne informs us that Gene was taken to Mt. Sinai Hospital in New York early in the morning on Monday, Aug. 10 by ambulance.

All is looking okay, and best guess is that Gene might be laid up in hospital for a few days. In fact, steady improvement could get him home by late Wednesday-early Thursday. He has pneumonia in his right lung behind his heart, and possibility of infection of some fluids. Some Encephalopathy-related difficulties may be going on, too.

As positive vibes are always a nice tonic, cards, letters and well-wishes are deeply appreciated, and can be sent to:
Gene Colan
2240 Burnett Street, #5D
Brooklyn, New York 11229

Legendary artist and publisher Carmine Infantino was the subject of an interview on the Graphic NYC website last week, and it seems that he takes issue with some of the handling of the piece. Since we gave the interview a prominent spot, we’re giving his rebuttal equal prominence:

“Some weeks back, I granted an interview to Mr. Christopher Irving, who brought along a few friends, one of whom photographed me. Mr. Irving promised that I could look over the materials before publication. Imagine my surprise when I found out that both the interview, which was turned into an essay, and the photographs, were posted on the internet before I had a chance to review them.
Not only am I displeased with Mr. Irving for not keeping his word to me, but I also object to his describing my physical health in a negative way, as if I was about to die. Irving reinforced this image by labeling the essay as Carmine Infantino’s Final Interview. I was unaware until now that I had died. I may be an 84 year old man with some health issues, but I am not at death’s door. Also, I never stated that this was my final interview, as I have given one since then, and if the opportunity arises, I may do more.
When I complained about the essay title, Mr. Irving promised to change the title, but all he did was add a question mark at the end. If he’s expecting me to die soon, I wish he’d tell that to my sister-in-law, who’s cooking dinner for me next week.
I asked him to remove the bad language from the interview, which he did. However, he has not fixed the historical inaccuracies in the piece, most of which consist of his own lack of research. When discussing my decision to have Murphy Anderson redraw Jack Kirby’s Superman and Jimmy Olsen faces, Irving states, “Carmine now admits this was a mistake.” I never said any such thing, and I still stand by my original decision. I asked Irving to remove this comment, and he has yet to do so.
I had not intended to go public with this, but because Irving has painted an inaccurate portrait of me nor has he kept his promises after our last private conversation, I have no choice but to disassociate myself with this article. I have learned one lesson, though. From now on, I’ll be more careful about granting interviews to disrespectful amateurs.

Carmine Infantino”

Okay, we gave the writer of the original piece a change to respond, and you can read his response in the jump:
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