Official Press Release

The Gil Kane Memorial Scholarship has been established by the Green

Lantern/Hal Jordan fanclub 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. The Faculty of the Cartooning

Department will choose the recipient this spring.

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 over 7400 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. go to our website: http://www.glheat.cjb.net/