Sean Clarke :: Gene Colan

Captain America #137, page 13

Artists: Gene Colan (Penciller) , Bill Everett (Inker)

7 Comments - 392 Views - 3 Likes

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Additional Images:

in color, as printed

alternate color version

as nature intended, before the split

page 12 & 13 merge, in color as never printed

pages 12 & 13 merge, alternate color version

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Captain America #137, page 12

Next Item:
Captain America #137, page 14

Artwork Details

Title:	Captain America #137, page 13
Artist:	Gene Colan (Penciller)
Artist:	Bill Everett (Inker)
Media Type:	Pen and Ink
Art Type:	Interior Page
For Sale Status:	NFS
Views:	392
Likes on CAF:	3 4
Comments:	7
Added to Site:	1/27/2021
Comic Art Archive:

Description

Here is the other half pager from Cap #137. As is often the case with originals from the same story, pages 12 and 13 have a slightly different paper quality, since they were separated for many years, and reunited in one collection thanks to the diligence of the last owner.

Gene Colan and Bill Everett created pages 12 and 13 on one board. This was cut in half horizontally between panels and each half secured with tape to a new board by Marvel's production department. The irregular cut from the blade left a clear pattern where the top and bottom halves match up. I considered reuniting them as one page again, but that would violate their integrity as artifacts, even if they did start life that way. I did recreate the page as nature (and Gene and Bill) intended, it's in additional images, below.*

There are two half-pagers in Cap #136 also, the other Colan/Everett Captain America outing. I have the top half (page 12) of that bisected page, and another collector owns the bottom half (page 13). Such are the vicissitudes of our quirky, fickle hobby. My fondest wish is that enough of these pages can be accounted for to merit inclusion in another prospective Gene Colan Artist Edition, or an artist edition-type book or folio. It could happen!

*Ok, the two halves fitted back together look amazing. Nix that: they look really, really amazing! I feel an art crime comin' on.

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About the Owner

	Sean Clarke Premium Gallery Owner
Joined:	January 2005
Last Login:	September 2025
Country:	UNITED STATES
On CAF:	Premium Member Q&A Sean's Classifieds Sean's Want List Artworks Commented On Liked Art Site Activity on CAF

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Comments on this Artwork

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Miki Annamanthadoo
Member Since 2003

1 - Posted on 1/27/2021

Great page! Putting those two back together would be so tempting...

Mark Howland
Member Since 2004

1 - Posted on 1/27/2021

Art Crime? It's what's for dinner.

J H
Member Since 2019

1 - Posted on 1/27/2021

I won't tell. Go for it, dude. You are the sequential page master for the nonce, so do as you like. :) I'm digging all these Colan pages you're posting. Thanks. And congrats!

Peter Sullivan
Member Since 2006

1 - Posted on 1/27/2021

Have you been selling body parts to pay for these? It would explain why you are so keen to reunite pieces.

artless artmore
Member Since 2013

1 - Posted on 1/28/2021

Another stellar half-page! Did Colan know ahead of time they were going to cut a page in half, or did the layout guys get lucky that at least one page from this issue had a horizontal gutter cutting through the entire page at the midpoint? Colan used to do a lot of 4 panel pages, but he also used diagornal gutters and irregular panel layouts a lot so I could easily imagine a 19 page book of his with no convenient place to slice a page in half...

Sean Clarke
Member Since 2005

Posted on 1/28/2021

artless artmore wrote:

Another stellar half-page!� Did Colan know ahead of time they were going to cut a page in half, or did the layout guys get lucky that at least one page from this�issue had a horizontal gutter cutting through the entire page at the midpoint?� Colan used to do a lot of 4 panel pages, but he also used diagornal gutters and irregular panel layouts a lot so I could easily imagine a 19 page book of his with no convenient place to slice a page in half...

That's a good question! My guess is that the artists were told in advance to leave a half-page horizontal gutter on page 12 (to divide into pages 12 and 13), but there might very well be comics where it was on different pages. I have half-pagers from Cap #136 and 137 and Conan #2 that are all pages 12 and 13.

It looks like the half pagers started with FF #100 and lasted until FF 113, and they're in Spidey #84-99, all paginated as 12 and 13.

artless artmore
Member Since 2013

1 - Posted on 1/28/2021

Sean Clarke wrote:

That's a good question! My guess is that the artists were told in advance to leave a half-page horizontal gutter on page�12 (to divide into pages 12 and 13), but there might very well be comics where it was on different pages. I have half-pagers from Cap #136 and 137 and Conan #2 that are all pages 12 and 13.

It looks like the half pagers started with FF #100 and lasted until FF 113, and they're in Spidey #84-99, all paginated as 12 and 13.

Good sleuthing! Your wonderful collection provides great statistics on Marvel's interior page structure in the Bronze age. I'm fascinated by the ways Colan and the other great pencilers of the time structured their pages and told their stories so effectively.

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