Drake Improving

Mark Evanier is reporting that Ken Gale is reporting that Arnold Drake's condition "is much improved." That is truly great news.

I met Arnold a few years ago at the San Diego Comic-Con, first when he was on a panel that Mark Evanier was hosting and later in the Artist's Alley, where Arnold had a table. What a great man, so full of life and real joy! He was wearing a "I'm Deadman's Father" t-shirt and had a large reproduction of the cover to Strange Adventures #205 on the table beside him. The cover was hand water-colored and I remarked that I thought it was one of the best covers in the history of comics, not so much for the Carmine Infantino/George Rousso artwork (which is pretty damn cool!), but because the caption was pure magic. Arnold agreed, saying, "Yeah, that caption is the single best thing I ever wrote." For those too lazy to click on the artwork and see a larger copy, it reads

This man who was just murdered is our hero!

His story begins one minute later--

Introducing... DEADMAN

Pure magic Arnold, pure magic! Get well soon my man!