Didn't set out to make my blog an obituary, i planned to post some art yesterday, but i found out that Steve Gerber had died on Sunday, February 10th, aged 60. But i couldn't put stuff into words, i was genuinely, sincerely, too upset. And considering i never knew the man personally, or even met him, i was struck with how much the news choked me up.
Then i looked at some of his works; Man-Thing, The Defenders and Howard The Duck, and then i understood.
I grew up with him.
The 70's, for me, was the golden age of Marvel Comics; i read em by the wheelbarrow full. Back then, they really were 'The House of Ideas' - offering some of the best art, best writers and an intoxicating and eclectic choice of titles; with the superheroes we had horror anthologies, westerns, sci-fi, sword and sorcery, kung fu, giant monsters, humour, adaptions of classic novels and movies...and Howard The Duck.
Steve Gerber had me hooked instantly, same with his run on Defenders; he didn't just write great characters - he wrote great PEOPLE(and Ducks). And his stories/plots/ideas were like nothing you'd ever read before; subversive, surreal, anarchic, creepy, weird, satirical, funny, personal, poignant; always turning your expectations around, and comic book conventions inside out.
His comics are probably some of my all time favorites, i know I'd put Howard in my Top 5, and I'd put Steve Gerber, next to Alan Moore, Will Eisner and Archie Goodwin, as among the finest, boldest, most heartfelt writers the comics industry has EVER seen.
A very small roll call indeed.
Thanks for the trip, Steve.
2 comments:
a true original.
his Howard the duck was one of the best comics of the seventies.
know where you're coming from. I was a fraction too young to read them at the time of print. But you're sooo right
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