Steve Gerber 1947-2008

Steve Gerber died two days ago in Las Vegas. He was in the hospital with pulmonary fibrosis. And he was one of my favorite writers.

Of course, he's best known for writing Howard the Duck, and it takes a certain kind of comic book fan (usually an older one) to understand what that means and why it's a good thing. To anyone who hasn't read the wonderful comic book, understood its anger and its satire and its disgust over things political and social in the 1970s, it's just a movie that bombed. Which is wrong. It's much, much more. Hell, when Marvel started its adults-only Max line, I thought the only reason for it to exist was for Steve Gerber to finally come in and finish Howard the Duck. Which he did. Brilliantly.

Fans should also know him as one of the creators of Thundarr the Barbarian and a writer for G.I. Joe and Dungeons & Dragons. At Marvel, he also wrote The Defenders, Man-Thing, Omega the Unknown, and Shanna the She-Devil, among others. But the cream of it all is Howard.

Howard came into my life at the perfect time to be tremendously influential to me. It may have also helped that I was vulnerable from being on a massive does of painkillers from having all four wisdom teeth removed. But Steve Gerber spoke directly to me the way Harlan Ellison did. In sharp, satirical points that cut through the bullshit and made me think about things the way they are and the way they could be. And there's a small, small group of comic book writers who've ever been able to do that. He was one.

Mark Evanier has a great personal remembrance of him here. Rest in peace, Steve Gerber. And thank you so much.