{{Short description|Chinese-born Filipino comics artist (born 1945)}} {{family name hatnote|Gan|lang=Chinese}} {{Infobox comics creator | image = | caption = | birth_name = Santos S. Gan | birth_date = {{birth date and age|1945|5|22}} | birth_place = | death_date = | death_place = | area = Penciller, inker | cartoonist = y | alias = | signature = | notable works = Panday<br/>Star-Lord<br/>Skull the Slayer | awards = | website = }}
'''Steve Gan''' (born May 22, 1945) is a Chinese-born Filipino<ref name="Alanguilan">{{cite web|url= http://www.alanguilan.com/museum/stevegan.html|title= Steve Gan|first= Gerry|last= Alanguilan|author-link= Gerry Alanguilan|date= n.d. |publisher= Alanguilan.com|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20161026193351/http://www.alanguilan.com/museum/stevegan.html|archive-date= October 26, 2016|url-status= dead|df=mdy-all}}</ref> comics artist. He is best known for co-creating Panday with Carlo J. Caparas and Marvel Comics' Star-Lord<ref name="Inquirer">{{cite news|url= http://lifestyle.inquirer.net/167381/steve-gan-finally-in-the-spotlight/|title=Steve Gan finally in the spotlight|last=De Vera|first=Ruel S.|date=August 2, 2014|newspaper=Philippine Daily Inquirer|location= Manila, Philippines|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20160220013501/http://lifestyle.inquirer.net/167381/steve-gan-finally-in-the-spotlight|archive-date= February 20, 2016|url-status= live|df=mdy-all}}</ref> and Skull the Slayer.<ref name="Christiansen">{{cite web|url= http://www.marvunapp.com/Appendix/blazskl2.htm|title= Jim Scully|first= Jeff|last= Christiansen|date= April 23, 2004|publisher= Appendix to the Handbook of the Marvel Universe|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20160613044226/http://www.marvunapp.com/Appendix/blazskl2.htm|archive-date= June 13, 2016|url-status= live|df=mdy-all}}</ref>
==Biography== Steve Gan was born as '''Santos S. Gan''' but changed his first name to "Steve" in admiration of Steve Ditko.<ref name="Inquirer" /> Gan studied architecture at the Mapúa Institute of Technology<ref name="Lambiek">{{cite web|url= https://www.lambiek.net/artists/g/gan_steve.htm|title= Steve Gan|date= December 16, 2006|publisher= Lambiek Comiclopedia|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20160505094104/https://www.lambiek.net/artists/g/gan_steve.htm|archive-date= May 5, 2016|url-status= live|df=mdy-all}}</ref> and later worked as an artist in the Komiks industry.
By the 1970s, Gan found work under veteran comic writer Carlo J. Caparas and became instrumental in designing the character that became known as Panday.<ref name="Inquirer"/><ref>{{Cite web|url=http://ffemagazine.com/filipino-superhero-series-panday/|title=Filipino Superhero Seriesf: Panday|date=May 9, 2017|website=FFE Magazine|access-date=July 17, 2019|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20190717104326/http://ffemagazine.com/filipino-superhero-series-panday/|archive-date=July 17, 2019|url-status= dead|df=mdy-all }}</ref>
It was as Steve Gan that he got a huge break drawing for American comic book publisher Marvel Comics, sending work through his United States-based agent, the Filipino comic book artist Tony DeZuñiga.<ref name="Inquirer" /> In 1974, Gan began drawing for Marvel Comics and contributed to their line of black-and-white magazines including ''Savage Tales''<ref>{{cite book|last= Cotter|first= Robert Michael "Bobb"|title= The Great Monster Magazines: A Critical Study of the Black and White Publications of the 1950s, 1960s and 1970s|publisher= McFarland & Company|date= 2008|location= Jefferson, North Carolina|pages= 165–167|url= https://books.google.com/books?id=E7HuCwAAQBAJ&q=Steve+Gan+Ka-Zar&pg=PA165|isbn= 978-0786433896}}</ref> and ''Dracula Lives''.<ref name="GCD">{{gcdb|type=credit|search= Steve+Gan|title= Steve Gan}}</ref> He co-created Star-Lord<ref name="Inquirer" /> and Skull the Slayer<ref name="Christiansen" /> with writers Steve Englehart and Marv Wolfman respectively. Gan was highly regarded for his artwork on both Conan titles ''Conan the Barbarian'' and ''Savage Sword of Conan'' from 1974 - 1979.
Gan briefly worked for Warren Publishing in the early 1980s.<ref>{{cite web|url= http://www.bailsprojects.com/bio.aspx?Name=GAN%2c+STEVE|title= Gan, Steve|first= Jerry|last= Bails|author-link= Jerry Bails|date= n.d.|work= Who's Who of American Comic Books 1928-1999|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20161228224143/http://www.bailsprojects.com/bio.aspx?Name=GAN%2c+STEVE|archive-date= December 28, 2016|url-status= live|df=mdy-all}}</ref> After leaving the comics industry, he became a layout designer and storyboard artist in the animation field.<ref name="Lambiek" /> Upon the release of the ''Guardians of the Galaxy'' film in 2014, Gan was given both a credit in the movie and royalties for co-creating Star-Lord.<ref>{{cite web|url= http://www.philstar.com/lifestyle-features/2014/12/30/1407928/hits-misses-and-breaks-filipino-comic-book-great-steve-gan|title= Hits, misses and breaks with Filipino comic book great Steve Gan|first= Rick|last= Olivares|date= December 30, 2014|work= The Philippine Star|location= Manila, Philippines|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20151025010618/http://www.philstar.com/lifestyle-features/2014/12/30/1407928/hits-misses-and-breaks-filipino-comic-book-great-steve-gan|archive-date= October 25, 2015|url-status= live|df=mdy-all}}</ref>
==Personal life== Gan is married with three children.<ref name="Alanguilan" /> He retired from drawing comics fulltime in 2002. He appeared at a convention in 2014 and spoke about leaving the industry 12 years earlier.<ref name="Inquirer" />
==Bibliography== ===Pilipino Comics=== * ''Ang Panday'' (1979)<ref name="Inquirer"/>
===Marvel Comics=== * ''Conan the Barbarian'' #58–63 (1976) * ''Deadly Hands of Kung Fu'' #16 (1975) * ''Dracula Lives'' #12–13 (1975) * ''Marvel Premiere'' #28 (1976) * ''Marvel Preview'' #4 (Star-Lord), 19 (Solomon Kane) (1976–1979) * ''Savage Sword of Conan'' #1, 5, 13, 25, 51 (1974–1979) * ''Savage Tales'' #6–9, 11–12 (1974–1975) * ''Skull the Slayer'' #1–3, 6 (1975–1976) * ''Tarzan Annual'' #1 (1977)
===Warren Publishing=== * ''Creepy'' #122, 134–135 (1980–1982)
==References== {{Reflist}}
==External links== * {{comicbookdb|type=creator|id= 5480|title= Steve Gan}} * [http://www.maelmill-insi.de/UHBMCC/namg5.htm#N1772 Steve Gan] at the Unofficial Handbook of Marvel Comics Creators
{{S-start}} {{Succession box|title= ''Conan the Barbarian'' inker|before= Mike Ploog|after= Al Milgrom|years= 1976}} {{S-end}}
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Gan, Steve}} Category:1945 births Category:20th-century Filipino illustrators Category:21st-century Filipino illustrators Category:Chinese animators Category:Chinese comics artists Category:20th-century Chinese illustrators Category:21st-century Chinese illustrators Category:Comics inkers Category:Filipino animators Category:Filipino comics artists Category:Filipino fantasy artists Category:Filipino horror artists Category:Filipino people of Chinese descent Category:Filipino storyboard artists Category:Living people Category:Mapúa University alumni