|
The following is the Official Press Release that was sent out to advertise the existence of this special tribute to the late great Gil Kane:
The Gil Kane Memorial Scholarship has been established by the Green Lantern/Hal Jordan fan club H.E.A.T. at the School of Visual Arts in New York. As a co-creator of the Silver Age Green Lantern, Gil Kane was a favorite artist of ours. As Eli Katz, Gil studied at The School of Visual Arts before going on to become one of the industry’s most innovative comic book artists. Over his long career he drew virtually all of the major comics characters and invented the graphic novel. Gil Kane passed away in January 2000. The late Rich Morrissey was instrumental in securing the blessing of Gil Kane’s widow, Elaine Kane, for this project. The Scholarship has been fully funded for the next academic year by donations from H.E.A.T. members. The recipient of the award will be a talented third year student that has a financial need and has expressed the intention and has the potential to work in comic books and/or graphic storytelling. We have directed that the recipient of the award is to be the most deserving student without regard to any particular drawing style. H.E.A.T. is an acronym that stands for Hal’s Emerald Advancement Team. We have a diverse membership that is united behind this mission statement: "As Green Lantern fans, it is our goal to encourage and advocate the return and exoneration of Hal Jordan as Green Lantern, the restoration of the Green Lantern legend, and the revival of the honorable Green Lantern Corps." In a broader sense, we stand for quality comic books, responsible storytelling and respect for traditional comic book characters and their preservation for the enjoyment of future generations of fans. We do not expect the School of Visual Arts or the recipient of the Scholarship to endorse our mission statement. H.E.A.T. was formed in 1996 out of frustration with DC Comics editorial indifference to fan reaction over the treatment of Hal Jordan. We were instrumental in raising the airfare for John Broome (Green Lantern’s other co-creator) to attend the 1998 San Diego Comicon. It was the only con he ever attended before his passing. In 1999 we collected almost 10,000 comic books that we donated to children’s hospitals It is beyond our resources to establish the Gil Kane Memorial Scholarship as an ongoing award. We are in the process of seeking corporate sponsorship to enable the Scholarship to be awarded annually. For more information about H.E.A.T., please visit our website : http://glheat.cjb.net.
|