Mark Evanier announced on his blog today that a 70-year-old fan artist named Carl Taylor died.
https://www.newsfromme.com/2025/01/02/carl-taylor-r-i-p/A lot of folks in the Southern California comic book community were saddened the other day by the news that Carl Taylor has died. The cause isn't known, at least to any of us, but we'd heard he'd been ill lately. Carl was a devout comic fan and an aspiring comic artist who never quite found the right place to apply his skills. He drew exciting pages in a style that merged his two favorites — Jack Kirby and Gil Kane — and Jack especially was delighted with Carl's enthusiasm and imagination. Though Jack and others gave him pointers and encouragement, Carl somehow never managed to make it out of the fanzines.
He seemed to be at every local convention and it was always fun to be around him. He had a wonderful sense of humor and the talent to do vocal impressions of the folks he admired in the industry and a few he didn't. Just a very nice, clever guy. We need more like that.
Until then, I'd never heard of Taylor. Out of curiosity, I did a search, and was rewarded with some wonderful artwork that combined the best qualities of Jack Kirby with the best qualities of Gil Kane, and more seamlessly than I can ever recall seeing before! I couldn't believe this guy never made it into the big time!
Perhaps Taylor's race had something to do with it. He was African-American, and with a few exceptions (Keith Pollard, Arvell Jones, Ron Wilson, and Billy Graham are the only ones I can think of off the top of my head) Taylor's generation faced resistance from publishers and editors just because of their skin color.
It's a tragic, and timely, reminder that not everyone benefits from the ongoing march of progress. Some get left behind. I'm not saying that Taylor's race was the only reason he didn't find a success worthy of his talent, but it makes me feel even sadder than usual at the unfairness of life.
May he rest in peace.
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