Gil Kane would have been 85 today

Born Eli Katz in Riga, Latvia, Gil Kane was one of the most prolific comics artists over his almost 50 years in the industry. He co-created the Silver Age versions of Green Lantern (Hal Jordan) and the Atom (Ray Palmer), and drew every major character from both Marvel and DC. He is also notable for drawing a couple of classic storylines for The Amazing Spider-man, including the non-Comics Code Approved drug story as well the deaths of Gwen Stacy and the Green Goblin. Later in his life, he also branched off into animation and newspaper comics.

Kane is an important figure in graphic novel history, publishing creator-owned stories in the magazine format His Name is... Savage! (published in 1968) and the paperback format Blackmark (published in 1971), which was sold in bookstores and is now considered by many the first American graphic novel. Much more about his career and life can be found in this interview from FA the Comiczine. This interview with Gary Groth from The Comics Journal provides a lot of information about his life and early career.

Kane was inducted into the Eisner Award Hall of Fame and the Harvey Award Jack Kirby Hall of Fame in 1997.