Steve Gerber, Marshall Rogers, Dave Stevens

Steve Gerber, Marshall Rogers, Dave Stevens.

So far this year we've lost 3 greats. Although these names may not be as familiar to some as the writers and artists now, these men made a great impact on me, and the generation that grew up with their stories.

What I remember......

Steve Gerber, Howard the Duck (forget the movie, read the first few books in the series) , Man-Thing, Omega the Unknown, Foolkiller ( " You're a FOOL! BLAM!, Punisher fans take note.) , Tales of the Zombie ( the only comic that actually spooked me) , The Defenders ( misfit heroes, way before everyone was a mutant at Marvel) , and the Guardians of the Galaxy ( Starhawk, the first hero that I recall that had REAL identity issues.)
Gerber's writing was escape, that still had threads of the real world intertwined.

Marshall Rogers, Daughters of the Dragon ( A Black and white comic. Get your hands on them and just look at the artwork) Batman ( Bringing more realism to the art, while keeping the " Dark Knight" before Miller) and Manhunter ( I really LOVED the back up stories in Detective Comics, again the artwork was amazing)

Dave Stevens, His pin-up style and glamour art illustrations, especially Bettie Page. Wow. And The Rocketeer,(okay, you CAN see that movie, I loved it too)His art had this realistic look, while still maintaining fantasy.

I really hope these are all we lose. Because these 3 were too much.

Steve Gerber Dead at 60.

Stephen Ross "Steve" Gerber (born 20 September 1947, St. Louis, Missouri - died 10 February 2008, Las Vegas, Nevada) was an American comic book writer best known as co-creator of the satiric Marvel Comics character Howard the Duck.

Other major works include Man-Thing, Omega the Unknown, The Phantom Zone, Void Indigo, Shanna the She-Devil, Tales of the Zombie, Marvel Spotlight: Son of Satan, Defenders, Marvel Presents: Guardians of the Galaxy, Foolkiller, The Legion of Night, Nevada, Sludge, A. Bizarro, and Hard Time, as well as long runs on Sub-Mariner and Daredevil.

He was among the 1970s wave of writers such as Steve Englehart, Don McGregor and Doug Moench who took often minor characters and helped create a writerly Renaissance. At the time of his death, he was writing Countdown to Mystery: Doctor Fate for DC Comics, having briefly worked with a version of the character in 1983.

He was also known for including lengthy text pages in the midst of a comic book story, such as in Man-Thing, Howard the Duck, Son of Satan, Defenders, and his graphic novel, Stewart the Rat.

In 2007, Gerber was diagnosed with an early stage of idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis, and attempted to get on a waiting list for a lung transplant, while continuing to work. On February 10, 2008, Gerber died in a Las Vegas hospital from complications stemming from his condition.




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