Monday, February 11, 2008
RIP Steve Gerber
Steve Gerber died yesterday, in a hospital in Las Vegas. He wrote some of the best and most idiosyncratic comics of the last 30 or so years. He came to fame working for Marvel in the '70's, writing the definitive takes on Man-Thing and The Defenders, and coming up with his best-known creation, Howard the Duck. A legal battle over the rights to Howard ended his first tenure at Marvel, but was a vital step towards gaining recognition and financial restitution for comic book creators. He did some comics work for DC, Marvel, and various independent publishers in the '80's and '90's, but spent most of his time working in television, both for cartoons like Thundarr the Barbarian, GI Joe, and Dungeon & Dragons, and an episode of Star Trek: The Next Generation.
Gerber's profile has risen somewhat of late, as respected novelist Jonathan Lethem has revamped Gerber's Omega the Unknown book for Marvel, along with a recent Howard mini-series and Gerber's own work on Dr. Fate for DC. Still, his fantastic '70's work for Marvel is his best-remembered, and mandatory reading for anybody interested in mainstream American comics.
UPDATE: Obituaries from Mark Evanier, Gail Simone, Dan Slott, Tom Spurgeon...
Steve Gerber died yesterday, in a hospital in Las Vegas. He wrote some of the best and most idiosyncratic comics of the last 30 or so years. He came to fame working for Marvel in the '70's, writing the definitive takes on Man-Thing and The Defenders, and coming up with his best-known creation, Howard the Duck. A legal battle over the rights to Howard ended his first tenure at Marvel, but was a vital step towards gaining recognition and financial restitution for comic book creators. He did some comics work for DC, Marvel, and various independent publishers in the '80's and '90's, but spent most of his time working in television, both for cartoons like Thundarr the Barbarian, GI Joe, and Dungeon & Dragons, and an episode of Star Trek: The Next Generation.
Gerber's profile has risen somewhat of late, as respected novelist Jonathan Lethem has revamped Gerber's Omega the Unknown book for Marvel, along with a recent Howard mini-series and Gerber's own work on Dr. Fate for DC. Still, his fantastic '70's work for Marvel is his best-remembered, and mandatory reading for anybody interested in mainstream American comics.
UPDATE: Obituaries from Mark Evanier, Gail Simone, Dan Slott, Tom Spurgeon...
