Farwell, Steve Gerber
Feb. 12th, 2008 06:52 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
drpaisleyhttp://www.comicsreporter.com/index.php/steve_gerber_1947_2008/
In the fall of 1974, as I was starting my freshman year at KU, I went into the Town Crier bookstore at 23rd & Louisana in Lawrence and took a different route to the science fiction section at the back of the store. I happened to go past the magazine racks, and noticed the comics, which I had not read in six or seven years, at least. "Hmm," I remember saying to myself, "I wonder what's up with Spider-Man and all them folks?" So I bought a couple of them. The next thing I knew, I was buying every Marvel title and had 3,000 back issues.
While there were a number of writers whose work I fell in love with then (Don McGregor, Steve Englehart, Marv Wolfman), the person who really grabbed me was Steve Gerber. The Defenders, Morbius the Living Vampire, The Guardians of the Galaxy and others all had something special about them, a unique perspective that made them more than just run-of-the-mill underwear pervert titles. But the comic that made the biggest impression was Man-Thing. Gerber and Val Mayerik took what should have been just another slime monster strip and turned it into a serious meditation on what it means to be human.
All of that would have been more than enough to make Gerber my fave. But then there was his greatest creation: Howard the Duck. Howard should have been a one-off, a throwaway joke. But Gerber made this stranger in a strange land of "hairless apes" into a well-rounded, fully-realized character who provided a unique commentary on the bizarre world he found himself in. Howard became a sensation, even running for President in 1976 (I was all ready to vote for him, until I found out after I got in the booth that you had to ask for a write-in ballot for President in Kansas. Bastards.) I still have my Howard comics, and my "Get Down America!" button from his campaign.
As noted in the link above, Marvel proceeded to screw Gerber over on Howard and other of his creations, in particular Omega the Unknown, and his struggles with Marvel were instrumental in the long battle over creators' rights.
Fare thee well, Steve Gerber. This hairless ape thanks you for all the fun.
In the fall of 1974, as I was starting my freshman year at KU, I went into the Town Crier bookstore at 23rd & Louisana in Lawrence and took a different route to the science fiction section at the back of the store. I happened to go past the magazine racks, and noticed the comics, which I had not read in six or seven years, at least. "Hmm," I remember saying to myself, "I wonder what's up with Spider-Man and all them folks?" So I bought a couple of them. The next thing I knew, I was buying every Marvel title and had 3,000 back issues.
While there were a number of writers whose work I fell in love with then (Don McGregor, Steve Englehart, Marv Wolfman), the person who really grabbed me was Steve Gerber. The Defenders, Morbius the Living Vampire, The Guardians of the Galaxy and others all had something special about them, a unique perspective that made them more than just run-of-the-mill underwear pervert titles. But the comic that made the biggest impression was Man-Thing. Gerber and Val Mayerik took what should have been just another slime monster strip and turned it into a serious meditation on what it means to be human.
All of that would have been more than enough to make Gerber my fave. But then there was his greatest creation: Howard the Duck. Howard should have been a one-off, a throwaway joke. But Gerber made this stranger in a strange land of "hairless apes" into a well-rounded, fully-realized character who provided a unique commentary on the bizarre world he found himself in. Howard became a sensation, even running for President in 1976 (I was all ready to vote for him, until I found out after I got in the booth that you had to ask for a write-in ballot for President in Kansas. Bastards.) I still have my Howard comics, and my "Get Down America!" button from his campaign.
As noted in the link above, Marvel proceeded to screw Gerber over on Howard and other of his creations, in particular Omega the Unknown, and his struggles with Marvel were instrumental in the long battle over creators' rights.
Fare thee well, Steve Gerber. This hairless ape thanks you for all the fun.