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Steve Gerber (born 20 September, 1947, St. Louis, Missouri, United States) is an American comic book writer best known as the creator of the satiric Marvel Comics character Howard the Duck. 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.

Early life and career

After corresponding with fellow youthful comics fans Roy Thomas and Jerry Bails, and starting one of the first comics fanzines, Headline, at age 13 or 14, Gerber attended college at the University of Missouri-St. Louis, the University of Missouri-Columbia, and St. Louis University, where he finished his communications degree and did some post-graduate work. He then began work as a copywriter for a St. Louis advertising agency.

In early 1972, Gerber asked Thomas, by now Marvel editor-in-chief, about writing comics; Thomas sent him a writer's test — six pages of a Daredevil car-chase scene drawn by Gene Colan — which Gerber passed. He accepted a position as an associate editor and writer at Marvel Comics for $125 a week — $25 less than at the ad agency — and $13 a page for writing.

Marvel Comics

Gerber initially penned standard superhero stories for titles such as Daredevil and Sub-Mariner, but soon developed an individual voice that which mixed adventure with social satire and absurdist humor. In one issue of The Defenders, for example, a group of supervillains, tired of always being beaten by the good guys, seeks out a self-help guru for motivation.

Besides a lengthy run on The Defenders, Gerber is noted for scripting Man-Thing (a quasi-horror title); Omega The Unknown (which explored the strange link between a cosmic superhero and a small boy); and Howard the Duck, created with artist Val Mayerick as a throwaway character in a Man-Thing story, and then eventually brought back in solo backup stories in Giant-Size Man-Thing (with artist Frank Brunner) before getting his own series (with art primarily by penciler Gene Colan and inker Steve Leialoha). Gerber and Colan later collaborated on a Howard the Duck syndicated comic strip.

Among other Marvel project, Gerber also wrote a short-lived comic based on the band KISS.

Steve Gerber is noted for his memorable supporting or guest characters who become cult favorites in their own right. His best-known are probably Everyman Richard Rory, who has appeared off and on in most of the Gerber books, and the Foolkiller, a psychopathic vigilante who inspired several different individuals to adopt his identity over the years and acquired his own 10-issue limited series in 1990. He is also responsible for the creation of the Silver Samurai during his Daredevil run.

Battle for Howard the Duck

Gerber left Marvel in 1979 and launched a lengthy legal battle for control of Howard the Duck. During the late 1970s and 1980s he did some work for DC (including a 1981 Superman miniseries, The Phantom Zone) and for independent comic companies.

In 1982 he teamed with Jack Kirby to create Destroyer Duck, a satirical comic that raised funds for his court case and Kirby's similar legal battles against Marvel. Gerber and Marvel reached a settlement on the case.

Later career

Since that time, Gerber has worked sporadically in comics, writing several miniseries for Marvel (including Void Indigo for the Epic Comics imprint in 1983) and DC (including Nevada for the Vertigo imprint in 1998). In 2002 he created a new Howard the Duck miniseries for Marvel's MAX line. For DC he then created Hard Time, which outlasted the short-lived imprint DC Focus.

He has also worked in television animation, working as story editor on the animated series G.I. Joe and Dungeons & Dragons; creating Thundarr the Barbarian, and sharing a 1998 Daytime Emmy Award for Outstanding Special Class — Animated Program, for the WB program The New Batman/Superman Adventures.

Quotes

Steve Gerber: "We had some problems with the Howard newspaper strip, which led to problems with the Howard book, which ultimately led to the lawsuit. Marvel wouldn't pay the artist to draw it. Gene Colan and I were supposed to get a percentage of the syndicate's take for the strip. The problem was, the money came in 90 days, 120 days, six months — I don't remember how long exactly — after the strips were published. So, essentially, the artis was working for nothing up until that time, and no artist can afford to do that. Stan, as publisher of Marvel, had a regular salary coming in, and John Romita, I believe, was also on staff at the time. They didn't have quite the same problem." Template:Fn

References

• stevegerber.com
• Academy of Television Arts and Sciences Daytime Emmy Awards
• Comic Book Artist Collection Volume 3 (TwoMorrows Publishng, 2005): "Steve Gerber's Crazy Days" (reprinted from Comic Book Artist #7, Feb. 2000) (offline)

Footnotes

• Template:Fnb Comic Book Artist Collection Volume 3 (TwoMorrows Publishng, 2005): "Steve Gerber's Crazy Days", p. 66

External links

• Steve Gerblog: Steve Gerber's Online Journal

• 1947 births
• Comics writers