Valedictories

A couple of people who made the seventies that much more liveable passed on this past week. One of course is Peter Falk. 83 at the time of his passing, he'd reportedly been suffering from Alzheimer's. Still, he made his last film in 2009, titled American Cowslip. It's not well known, but sounds eccentric enough to be worth trying.

Falk made impressions as himself in Wings of Desire, as the storytelling grandfather in The Princess Bride, in several raw films directed by his friend John Cassavetes. And of course, the good lieutenant. This here is a nice message delivered by Lt Columbo, after his introduction by Ruth Gordon.


Also taking leave was Gene Colan, one of the best artists to ever work in mainstream comics. In some ways he was a late bloomer. While he started working for Timely (which later became Marvel) right after his service in World War II, it was in the sixties that his style started to gel, and the horror-infused wave a decade later when he really took off. The keywords for his art were "mystery" and "sensuality". His figures breathed heightened, soap opera emotion, and violence was beside the point.

Along with Daredevil, Batman, Doctor Strange, Dracula, and a brief and underrated stint on the Spectre, Colan was the artist for most of the late Steve Gerber's classic Howard the Duck comics. And in these panels, Howard's new friend Winda Wester drops some more wisdom.