Back Issue #31 Preview by TwoMorrows Publishing

STEVE GERBER TRIBUTE ISSUE

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AN ALL-STAR REMEMBRANCE OF THE CREATOR OF HOWARD THE DUCK, with BRUNNER • COLAN • SIMONSON • GOLDEN • MAYERIK

and many more superstars

Volume 1, Number 31 December 2008 Celebrating the Best Comics of the '70s, '80s, '90s, and Today!

The Retro Comics Experience!

EDITOR Michael Eury PUBLISHER John Morrow DESIGNER Rich J. Fowlks COVER ARTIST Frank Brunner

BACK SEAT DRIVER: Editorial by Michael Eury . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .2 FLASHBACK: Steve and Howard: A Boy and His Duck . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .3 Trapped in a world they never made, Howard the Duck and his creator

CIRCULATION DIRECTOR Bob Brodsky, Cookiesoup Productions PROOFREADERS John Morrow and Eric Nolen-Weathington SPECIAL THANKS Brook Anthony Roger Ash Michael Aushenker Karen Berger Jonathan Bolerjack Jerry Boyd Frank Brunner Rich Buckler Timothy Callahan KC Carlson Joe Casey Gene Colan Comic Book Artist Comic Book Resources Gerry Conway Farel Dalyrmple Tom DeFalco J. M. DeMatteis Brian Denhem Tony DeZuniga Mark DiFruscio Mark Evanier Brent Frankenhoff Mike Gagnon Simon Garth Michael Golden Grand Comic-Book Database Steven Grant Larry Hama Matthew E. Hawkins Heritage Comics Auctions Howard the Duck Club Christopher Irving Tony Isabella The Jack Kirby Collector Dan Johnson Jim Kingman David Anthony Kraft Andy Kuhn Bill Kunkel Stan Lee Steve Leialoha Paul Levitz

Ryan Liebowitz Alan Light Margaret Liss Johnny Lowe Pablo Marcos ManwithoutFear.com Wayne Markley Marvel Comics Val Mayerik Jim McCann Allen Milgrom Modern Masters Stuart Moore Gabriel Morrisette New York Comic Con Martin Pasko Michael Ploog Alan J. Porter Eric Reynolds Murray Roach Bob Rozakis Joe Rubinstein Brian Sagar Peter Sanderson Alex Segura Jason Shayer Dave Simons Walter Simonson Mary Skrenes Roger Slifer J. David Spurlock SteveGerber.com Ty Templeton Roy Thomas Randy Tischler Nathan Turner Len Wein Brett Weiss John Wells Westfield Comics Ron Wilson Phil Winslade Marv Wolfman Tom Ziuko

OFF MY CHEST: Of Ducks and Men . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .14 Artist Frank Brunner reveals the story behind Howard the Duck #1 PRO2PRO: The Duck Requiem . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .16 Howard the Duck artists Gene Colan and Val Mayerik on working with Steve BEYOND CAPES: Gerber’s Gruesomes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .23 Man-Thing, Tales of the Zombie, and other gory Gerber gems FLASHBACK: Steve Gerber in the Marvel Universe . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .33 From Shanna to Foolkiller, Gerber’s Marvel output was always different

COVER DESIGNER Michael Kronenberg

FLASHBACK: Omega the Unknown . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .41 The writer’s waaaaaay-before-its-time unfinished symphony GERBER’S GREATEST HITS ART GALLERY . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .47 Eye-popping pinups by Ron Wilson, Frank Brunner, and Pablo Marcos WHAT THE--?!: Gerber Goes Crazy! . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .51 Gerber’s gags elevated Marvel’s “MAD” to new heights FLASHBACK: The Metal Men . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .54 Gerber’s one issue of this series, drawn by Walter Simonson, is still talked about today FLASHBACK: The Miracle Messiah . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .57 Gerber’s short-lived take on Mister Miracle INTERVIEW: Steve Gerber Discusses The Phantom Zone . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .60 A 2006 interview examining Gerber’s dark, disturbing Superman spin-off BACKSTAGE PASS: Thundarr the Barbarian . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .64 How Gerber got around TV watchdogs to bring to life this clever cartoon series FLASHBACK: Sludge . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .71 Gerber’s muck-monster with a difference BEYOND CAPES: A Hard Time in Nevada . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .75 Two of the writer’s later, more mature comics series BACKSTAGE PASS: The Gerber Memorial . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .80 Mark Evanier leads an all-star tribute panel at the April 2008 New York Comic Con OFF MY CHEST: “There was something about the guy…” . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .82 Friends of Ol’ Gerber speak out BACK TALK . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .88 Reader feedback on “Mutants” issue #29 BACK ISSUE™ is published bimonthly by TwoMorrows Publishing, 10407 Bedfordtown Drive, Raleigh, NC 27614. Michael Eury, Editor. John Morrow, Publisher. Editorial Office: BACK ISSUE, c/o Michael Eury, Editor, 118 Edgewood Avenue NE, Concord, NC 28025. E-mail: euryman@gmail.com. Six-issue subscriptions: $40 Standard US, $54 First Class US, $66 Canada, $90 Surface International, $108 Airmail International. Please send subscription orders and funds to TwoMorrows, NOT to the editorial office. Cover art by Frank Brunner. Howard the Duck TM & © Marvel Characters, Inc. All Rights Reserved. All characters are © their respective companies. All material © their creators unless otherwise noted. All editorial matter © 2008 Michael Eury and TwoMorrows Publishing. BACK ISSUE is a TM of TwoMorrows Publishing. ISSN 1932-6904. Printed in Canada. FIRST PRINTING. S t e v e

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Roger Ash

In the mid-1970s, one of Marvel’s hottest titles didn’t star a musclebound hero or busty heroine dressed in bright spandex and saving the world from the latest galactic menace. Instead, it starred a cigar-chomping, suit-coat wearing duck named Howard. His adventures, as chronicled by creator Steve Gerber, brought some of the spirit of the Underground Comix to a mainstream audience. Howard’s stories revolved around mundane things like finding a job or bizarre things like crusaders for decency becoming suicide bombers and blowing up porno theaters and adult book stores. No topic was off limits. Even a relationship between a human woman and a duck somehow got past the Comics Code Authority. It was hip and relevant in the same way as the early Saturday Night Live. It wasn’t written by a fifty-year-old man trying to be cool. It was a young man writing to his peers, and the satire and social commentary hit home with the readers.

THE HATCHING OF HOWARD

Let’s back up and set the stage. In the Man-Thing series running in Adventure into Fear, a being called the Overmaster was messing with the Cosmic Axis and causing parallel dimensions to come into contact with each other. Dakimh the Enchanter; his apprentice, Jennifer Kale; the macabre Man-Thing; and a displaced barbarian named Korrek were trying to set things right. In Adventure into Fear #19 (Dec. 1973), Howard makes his first appearance, and reluctantly joins this group of “hairless apes.” In Man-Thing #1 (Jan. 1974), on a journey through the various dimensions, Howard missteps and falls into space. The first artist to draw Howard was Val Mayerik. “Neither Steve or myself had a specifically detailed concept of the duck’s appearance,” Mayerik remembers. “Steve simply said that the character was to be

Waugh’s Happenin’? The penciled version of the cover art for Marvel’s Howard the Duck Omnibus by Frank Brunner, the artist who drew the Duck’s first solo issue. Courtesy of Mr. Brunner. © 2008 Marvel Characters, Inc.

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proportioned like a cartooned, anthropomorphic duck, but in three dimensions, as if it existed in a three-dimensional world itself. The costume, cigar, and general demeanor of the duck may have all been Steve’s ideas or maybe they were features that I just came up with at the last minute, I can’t honestly recall. But the basic concept of a talking cartoon-type duck had its genesis with Steve. Once the character actually was on the page, it was then I think that Steve was inspired to really take off with it.” The idea of Howard’s sudden “death” in Man-Thing #1 came from Roy Thomas. “I had been the editor when I sort of had [Steve] kill off the character,” says Thomas. “He could always bring him back if it turned out that people wanted him. I wanted to get him out of there because I didn’t know how readers would take it. They had a tendency, in the past, to get almost hostile about humorous characters, like the Impossible Man a few years earlier. I was aware that there was some mail and that people liked Howard, so I told Steve, if he wanted to, he could run a Howard story in the comic Arrgh! that I was editing. It was my way of admitting that we should bring Howard back. He told me that he had already arranged—I don’t know exactly how it happened, though—for Howard to be in the Man-Thing book.” Giant-Size Man-Thing #4 (May 1975) featured the first Howard solo story, “Frog Death.” Howard, after falling through space for months, lands in Cleveland where he encounters Garko (which is misspelled as Gorko on the issue’s cover). Garko is a creepy tenant in the neighborhood who turns into a giant frog when he drinks a potion. The artist of “Frog Death” was originally planned to be Neal Adams, but it ended up being drawn by Frank Brunner. “The first time I saw Howard in Man-Thing, I knew I had to be part of this Duck’s career; he was unique compared to the rest of the Marvel Universe,” says Brunner. “When I contacted Gerber about Howard the Duck, he said he’d already written a short story as a backup in Giant-Size Man-Thing, and the script had been sitting on Neal’s drawing board for six months with no progress! I said, ‘Send it to me. I can start right away!’ And the rest, as they say, ‘is history.’” The next Howard story, in Giant-Size Man-Thing #5 (Aug. 1975), featured Howard fighting Bessie the Hellcow, a dairy cow that was bitten by a vampire and is now a vampire herself.

Man/Drake (top) Steve Gerber, from the 1982 San Diego Comic-Con. Photo by Alan Light. (bottom) Courtesy of Frank Brunner, Frank’s 2002 pencil recreation of his Howard the Duck #1 splash page. Howard the Duck © 2008 Marvel Characters, Inc.

FLYING SOLO Howard’s popularity continued to grow and he was awarded his own title, cover-dated January 1976. The first issue immediately shows that Howard the Duck is not your average comic as it begins with the title character contemplating suicide. It’s hard to imagine a similar opening in Amazing Spider-Man or the Fantastic Four. Howard decides to kill himself by throwing himself from a tower on an island in the Cuyahoga River. This decision leads to the first appearance of Beverly Switzler; an encounter with Pro-Rata, an evil wizard who wants to become the Chief Accountant of the Universe; and a guest appearance by Spider-Man. This story established what were to become staples of the Howard series: parody and social commentary. This story lampooned barbarian comics, which were extremely popular at the time, while also making a statement about how people’s lives were being controlled by the bean counters. Howard was also becoming a 4

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well-rounded duck. He was crass, outspoken, and not always likable, but he seemed very real and was genuinely upset about the injustices in the universe. Beverly became the main supporting character in the series. In the letters page of Howard the Duck #19 (Dec. 1977), it’s written that “Beverly Switzler is Mary Skrenes.” (Skrenes was Gerber’s friend, his sometimes co-plotter, and co-created Omega the Unknown with him.) When asked if that’s true, she replies, “What do you think, Ducky? “I came up with her character and her name,” Skrenes reveals. “We were sitting in some place, like a Burger and Brew, with Frank Brunner and talking about the issue. Howard was climbing up a tower of credit cards planning to ‘off’ himself. When he reached an opening at the top and looked inside … I said, ‘And, of course, there must be a scantily clad damsel chained to the wall.’ The boys liked it. “I think there are a couple of reasons that Beverly became a continuing character,” Skrenes continues. “One, it really worked well for Howard to have a friend who accepted him exactly as he was, feathers and all, and could be a positive optimist to his cynical pessimism. I called him ‘Ducky.’ I called Steve ‘Gerbs.’ “The second reason is kind of eerie to me. Back on that fateful night when I interjected the girl into Steve’s plot, I said, ‘And her name is Beverly Switzler. No, wait, I meant to say Swizzle.’ He got excited and said, ‘No, it’s got to be Switzler!’ It was some kind of ‘sign’ to him. He never explained why. After Steve’s death, when I took his ashes to New York, somebody, probably his brother Michael, told me that, ‘Steve named a character after the Switzler Hall Building on the University of Missouri-Columbia campus.’ I had never heard that name before. It was like a little last laugh he had on me.” Also in issue #1, the final member of the art team, inker Steve Leialoha, joined the book. “In early ’75, Frank Brunner was interested in finding an inker that would be local to him (the San Francisco Bay area) and Jim Starlin recommended me as a possibility,” Leialoha says. “I would pick up the Howard pages from Frank and we would go through them so I would know what he had in mind.” In Howard the Duck #2 (Mar. 1976), Bev’s friend, writer Arthur Winslow, becomes possessed by a nasty space turnip who menaces Bev and Howard. This issue also introduces a recurring annoyance to Howard, the Kidney Lady. She is convinced that Howard is head of a group who wants to destroy her kidneys, as well as those of the unsuspecting populace. This issue also marked Frank Brunner’s last as artist. When asked why he left the book so soon, Brunner replies, “Two reasons. Howard The Duck #1 was a mega-hit and was the first Marvel Comic to go back to press while still on the stands! I thought I deserved a small raise in my page rate. I was turned down by then-editors [Len] Wein and [Marv] Wolfman! “The other reason was with Howard #2, Steve was feeding me six or seven fully written pages of script at a time, so I had no idea where the story was going or how to pace it. And, most importantly, I wanted to have input on the storylines as I did with Howard #1. I thought that if I quit for an issue or two these problems might be resolved, but by then I was doing a lot of freelance work for Star*Reach, Quack!, and the blackand-white Marvel magazines, which paid better. So, in a sense, I bumped up my page rate anyway. But not for Howard, sadly.”

Howard #3 (May 1976) was drawn by John Buscema and featured Howard becoming a master of Quack Fu, a fact which has been noted by other writers of Howard over the years, including in the Howard the Duck film of 1986. The story juxtaposed the sensational version of martial arts often seen in films with the actual intentions behind the arts. Unfortunately, when writers other than Gerber referenced this story, they used it to show what a badass Howard was, which goes against the spirit of Gerber’s original story. The following issue introduced a new continuing character to the series, artist Paul Same. Paul is Bev’s upstairs neighbor who becomes the nightgown-wearing Winky-Man to deal with his critics. This was the first issue of Howard the Duck drawn by Gene Colan, the artist most closely associated with Howard. When asked what he liked about the book, Colan replies, “It was very funny. Steve was a hilarious writer. I generally didn’t read much of other comic scripts, after a few pages I got the gist of where it was going in general, but with Howard it was a treat to read the entire thing. I loved Steve’s writing. He had a very unusual outlook about life himself and it all translated over to Howard. Then there was the mix of animation along with real life people, which I’ve always loved to do.” An important part of Howard’s future was revealed in the letters page that issue as his candidacy for President of the United States was announced. But more on that later… Howard also dealt with everyday issues, like finding a job. In Howard #6 (Nov. 1976), Bev gets a job as a governess for a young girl named Patsy. The problem is that the house in which Patsy lives is supposedly the property of Rev. Joon Moon Yuc and his followers, the Yucchies. The reverend was a parody of then-current

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It was the autumn of 1975, I was living in Berkeley, California, and I had two “Howard” short stories under my belt, appearing as backups in Giant-Size Man-Thing #4 and 5, respectively. The fan mail was pouring in, coming from college students and comics fans all over the country. They were all saying the same thing, loud and clear: “WE WANT MORE!” “Howard must have his own book!!” So it was not a big surprise when the call came from New York and Steve Gerber gave me the good news—we got our own book! Or, should I say, Howard the Duck had won his own title! No small feat when you consider how long it took characters like Iron Man to do it! Steve was a bit giddy and I wanted to help write it (as I had done with Steve Englehart on Dr. Strange). Gerber was not your average comic-book writer and an odd bird unto himself! He was also part of the younger creators at Marvel who, frankly, wanted to turn Marvel upside-down and shake it up! He annouced to me that SPIDER-MAN would guest star in Howard’s premere issue! Which to us young guys was like throwing bombs at the Marvel Establishment, to actually intergrate Howard into the segregated (and very serious) Marvel superhero Universe … “Yep, that’ll shock the hell out of Stan Lee,” I was thinking. Within a couple days, I was in New York again, and knocking on Gerber’s door. I think Mary Skrenes answered and I was ushered into an apartment that resembled more a dorm room at college—with bunk beds, no less. I looked around and spotted a typewriter … piles of comics … and a rather large sign on the wall that said, “KILL FOR MONEY.” Before I could question what the hell that meant, Steve appeared with a phone in his ear: “I’m on the line with Lark”— otherwise known as Margaret “Lark” Russell. She and Mary were both interested in comics, writers, and artists … in a Bohemian sort of way, sometimes playing the muse or co-writers. Something that Steve liked to do was bounce his crazy ideas off others. And I guessed we four were going to a nice, dark restaurant where the music was low enough to hear ourselves plot and joke about our new project: Howard the Duck #1!

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Frank Brunner

Dan Johnson

8 con duc ted Apr il 17, 200

To anyone who loves the Bronze Age of Comics, the passing of writer Steve Gerber was a major blow. Gerber was one of the most creative and imaginative forces in the field. He was also one of the industry’s most vocal activists. His Howard the Duck helped break comic books out of formula superhero stories, and also became the catalyst that made Gerber push for creators’ rights. Recently BACK ISSUE sat down with two of the men who helped bring Gerber’s “fowl” little malcontent to life, artists Gene Colan and Val Mayerik, to talk about their time with Howard, and their all-too-fleeting time in Gerber’s world. – Dan Johnson DAN JOHNSON: What were your thoughts when you each first met Steve Gerber? GENE COLAN: He was a very funny guy. I would stop working in the middle of [a Howard the Duck] script and I would be laughing my head off. He was a good writer, an excellent writer. VAL MAYERIK: I don’t exactly remember the first time I met Steve, but we spoke for three or four years over the phone before I actually met him in person, when I was still living in Ohio, before I moved to New York. He always had an up personality, but we only spoke in regard to whatever issue of Man-Thing we were working on. That was the book we first worked on together, and of course that is the book where Howard appeared for the first time. When I was living in Manhattan, I met Steve and Roy Thomas, who was editing the book at the time, at a pub/restaurant and we sat around and talked. It struck me then that Steve was very ambitious, and not in the sense of wanting money or power, but he had a very clear vision of what he wanted to do with comics. He was very committed, and he didn’t want anything to stand in his way. He really wanted to write the stuff he wanted to write. And to echo what Gene said, he was a funny guy. He had a dry sense of humor and he was irreverent, but not nasty. He was not a bitter person by any

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means, but he certainly liked to point out the ironies of life. JOHNSON: Considering that, how much of Steve was Howard? COLAN: [laughs] MAYERIK: Howard was definitely Steve’s Greek chorus. I was not an avid follower of Howard the Duck, so I didn’t read everything ever written, but anyone who knew Steve who read that book could see Steve’s attitude coming out and manifesting itself in that character. JOHNSON: I was curious about how personal the character was to Steve, especially considering how hard he fought to win him back later on. I always thought that if there was ever a character that had Steve’s heart, it was Howard. COLAN: Oh, yeah. MAYERIK: I would say so, but I think it was also a question of the times and what was going on [in the industry]. Had it not been Howard, it might have been another character Steve would have fought for. [In the late 1970s,] people were starting to call attention to how Jack Kirby never got his due for all the characters he came up with and how a lot of the older guys were never given the credit they deserved. They certainly weren’t being given any financial compensation for the characters they helped create. It was a time when people were starting to be vocal about that. Barry Smith was one of them, Neal Adams was another. Steve just happened to have a character that he really liked, who was successful, and it was a particular time in Steve’s life when he had the energy and resources to fight. Part of it was just Steve’s personality, but certainly he liked the character, and he felt a connection to Howard, and an affection for him. I can’t say I was Steve’s closest friend, but knowing him as I did, had it been another character, a superhero or something else he had come up with, I think he would have fought just as hard [to hold on to it]. The time had come for people to start setting precedents as to what was theirs and what was Marvel’s and DC’s. In my opinion, [the fight over Howard] was just a confluence of events and personalities. Steve was suddenly in a position where he had something worth fighting for, and that is why he fought so hard. JOHNSON: Val, what were your thoughts when you first heard of Howard the Duck? MAYERIK: I think the Duck was truly a fluke. I don’t think Steve expected that character to be so popular initially. [Howard was introduced] in a Man-Thing story where Man-Thing, because of some psychic aura or some aspect of his latent power, was able to create dimensional openings, and all these people came through. There was a barbarian who came through, a blond-haired Conan-type guy, along with Howard and two or three other characters. I had gotten into comics because I wanted to draw Conan, so I didn’t even pay that much attention to drawing this silly duck. I was hoping this barbarian guy would be popular and spin off into his own book. That barbarian character disappeared quick soon thereafter, and I don’t know what it was, but there was some kind of groundswell with that duck that took on a life of its own. I really had no clue, and quite honestly, I don’t know if Steve, at that moment, thought it was going to go anywhere either. COLAN: Howard was certainly different, but there was a big conflict between Howard the Duck and Donald Duck. I thought from the beginning that there might even be a lawsuit. But all I had to do was put pants on Howard, and that settled it.

Beginnings: Wings Comics for Fiction House in 1944

Milestones: Journey into Mystery / Kid Colt, Outlaw / Creepy / Eerie / The Avengers / Silver Surfer / Iron Man / Sub-Mariner / Captain Marvel / Captain America / Dr. Strange / Daredevil / Tomb of Dracula / Howard the Duck / Phantom Zone / Wonder Woman / Ragamuffins in Eclipse Monthly / Batman in Detective Comics / Night Force / Nathaniel Dusk, Private Investigator / Jemm: Son of Saturn / Silverblade / Rob Zombie's Spookshow Spectacular / Hellboy: Weird Tales

Work in Progress: Retired, but taking requests for commissions through his official website

Cyberspace: www.genecolan.com

GENE COLAN

Beginnings: Brax the Barbarian story, “Spell of the Dragon,” in Chamber of Chills #2 (Jan. 1973)

Milestones: Thongor in Creatures on the Loose / Man-Thing / Howard the Duck / Ka-Zar / The Living Mummy in Supernatural Thrillers / Monsters Unleashed / The Frankenstein Monster / Conan (various incarnations) / Creepy / Eerie / Vampirella / Heavy Metal / The Starling in Destroyer Duck / Void Indigo / The Punisher / Sensei The Young Master / Magic: The Gathering

Works in Progress: Advertising art / No current comics projects in the works, although there are some whispers in the wind

Cyberspace: www.valmayerik.com

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JOHNSON: Gene, I had the honor of speaking with you and Steve previously about Howard [in a “Pro2Pro” in BACK ISSUE #19]. Just listening to the conversation between the two of you, I got the sense that you had a great respect for his talent. COLAN: He was an extremely talented fellow. I always thought he would have been great as a screenwriter in Hollywood. He lived in Las Vegas, didn’t he? MAYERIK: When he left New York, he went to Los Angeles, then he settled in Vegas. You know, Steve and I talked for about a year after 9/11, when he was still in Vegas, and if he was ill at the time, I didn’t know about it. I think it was just a chronic ailment that was nagging at him, it hadn’t become fatal yet, I don’t believe. COLAN: Do you know if he had paid attention to it pretty quickly? MAYERIK: From what I understand, that kind of condition is like emphysema. It just progresses, and there really isn’t a lot you can do. I understood he was on a waiting

See You in the Funny Papers (above) The Colan Duck daily from August 15, 1977. (below) The cover of issue #2 (Dec. 1979) of the Howard magazine featured pencils by Val Mayerik (with inks by Peter Ledger); Gene Colan penciled the interior tales. © 2008 Marvel Characters, Inc.

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list for a lung transplant. Even with that, he would have had only five more years. COLAN: You know, I didn’t know Steve that well outside of dealing with Howard. I know that long after the book became defunct, I would call him to see how he was doing and all I would ever get is a message machine. I did get him one time on the phone, but that was for a very short conversation. MAYERIK: The last two years of his life, Steve was almost incommunicado. The only reason I was able to get ahold of him was because of, coincidentally enough, an artist that I knew back in Cleveland, Ohio [Howard’s fictional Earth-home], who I had shared studio space with. He was a caricature artist, and he wasn’t making a lot of money with that, so he got in on the bottom floor of the computer animation business back in the 1980s, right when it was starting to take off. In 1997, 1998, he was working in Las Vegas at a huge animation studio and they were producing a lot of CD-Roms and computer games. His name was Chuck Carter and he was trying to get his own company going and develop his own games, and somehow he found out that Steve was living in Las Vegas. Chuck hired him to write storylines and scenarios. Chuck really liked working with Steve and thought he was coming up with some great ideas. For a while, Steve was getting gainful employment. It was good to hear that he was working and making some dough while still able to do a few comics. Chuck called me and told me he was working with Steve and he gave me his number. Gene, the same thing happened to me. I called him once a week for two or three months, and all I got were answering machines. Chuck told me later that Steve would go through periods where the illness was really getting to him, and he was depressed, and he wouldn’t talk to people. He didn’t want to talk to people unless he was at his best and feeling good because he didn’t want to burden anybody with his problems. COLAN: Yeah. That’s the special part of his nature. As far as family, I always thought of him as a loner, pretty much. MAYERIK: To tell the truth, I never heard Steve mention family, not a brother, nothing. I still don’t know to this day [about his family]. COLAN: We were at one of the big cons and we sat down to be interviewed together, and we were just talking like we are now. We had a good time. Steve would say two sentences and laugh. Did you ever catch that with him? It was kind of a little giggle.

Michael Aushenker

Call him the “outsider writer.” Gravitating from gravitas to ha-ha’s (sometimes within the same book), Steve Gerber may have been the most offbeat writer ever to pass through 575 Madison. If guys such as Sal Buscema, Jim Mooney, George Tuska, and Don Perlin represent the “house art style” of 1970s Marvel Comics, Bill Mantlo, Gerry Conway and Doug Moench surely represent the “house writing style”––dependable and ubiquitous. Count Gerber among this genre of writer. And yet––he wasn’t. His name was everywhere. But he was also a little different, a little more … eccentric. His work took detours. Looking back, the characters Gerber spent the most time and energy writing seemed to come from left field or under the radar. The imaginative writer became the glue of quality and consistency at Marvel, whether scripting The Man-Thing or his quirky, quacky Howard the Duck. Like the way he narrated those Man-Thing comics. Or the oddball Howard, a true novelty and a truly radical departure from superhero stuff. As dorky as Howard may have been, that alien fowl shared a lot in common with the supernatural characters that Gerber often scripted. Meanderers, misfits, misanthropes—the ultimate outsiders. When Gerber introduced Howard the Duck in “Man-Thing” (in Adventure into Fear #19), I never questioned it. The Duck somehow fit seamlessly into the Marvel Universe. As a kid, I took it for granted when I saw those great Marvel ads––Spider-Man, Hulk, Iron Man, Howard the Duck … of course, a cigar-chomping bird would be in that milieu! As an adult, I realized how desperately Gerber seemed to shoehorn something personal, observed, and different into an art form that was calcifying into formula. “It was a really neat time in the comics industry,” writer/artist/editor Al Milgrom recalls of the halcyon days when Gerber let his hair down at Marvel. Milgrom, who inked a couple of issues of Howard the Duck and collaborated with Gerber on “Guardians of the Galaxy,” worked uncredited on Gerber’s Man-Thing, assisting, with Jim Starlin, on Rich Buckler’s art.

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THE GERBER’S GRUESOMES CHECKLIST • Adventure into Fear #11–19 (Dec. 1972–Dec. 1973), 21–25 (Apr. 1974–Dec. 1974) • Chamber of Chills #2 (Jan. 1973) • Creatures on the Loose #28–29 (Mar.–May 1974) • Dracula Lives #1–2 (June–Aug. 1973), 6 (May 1974), 10–11 (Jan.–Mar. 1975) • Haunt of Horror #1 (May 1974) • Man-Thing #1–22 (Jan. 1974–Oct. 1975) • Marvel Comics Super Special: KISS # 1 (1977) • Marvel Presents #3–7 (Feb. 1976–Nov. 1976), 9 (Feb. 1977) • Marvel Preview #12 (Fall 1977), 16 (Fall 1978) • Marvel Spotlight #14–23 (Mar. 1974–Aug. 1975) • Monsters Unleashed #4 (Feb. 1974), #8–9 (Oct. 1974–Dec. 1974) • Supernatural Thrillers #5 (Aug. 1973), #7 (June 1974) • Tales of the Zombie #1–8 (Aug. 1973–Nov. 1974), Annual #1 (1975) • Vampire Tales #1 (Aug. 1973), #6 (Aug. 1974)

“It was the first time, in the late ’60s and early ’70s, when comic-book fans who loved the medium got into comics with the idea of doing comics [as opposed to strips and other media]. This whole group of guys from all over the country at the same time––because of the Marvel revolution––it became much more of a fan club, that Stan Lee attitude. It was the next generation after Stan introduced the stuff. Roy Thomas, Denny O’Neil, then [Len] Wein, [Marv] Wolfman, Starlin writing his own stuff. A certain amount of it was trying to stay the course, continue Stan’s superheroes. “But there was a group that did more personal, introspective stories. Not quite the scale of saving the universe. A lot more personal, a lot less commercial. Steve was one of them. He was probably one of the least commercial of those guys.” Simon Garth, the Zombie … Michael Morbius … Dr. Ted Sallis (Man-Thing) … the Living Mummy … Lilith … Daimon Hellstrom (the Son of Satan). Here’s a look back at those seminal supernatural characters that we will shorthand as … “Gerber’s Gruesomes”!

TRAPPED IN A WORLD HE NEVER MADE…

One of the most important people whom Steve Gerber met as a youth would become a big part of his professional life––Gerber’s future Marvel Spotlight and Tales of the Zombie editor, Marvel’s then-editor-in-chief, Roy Thomas. “Steve and I first met through the mail, after the first issue or so of Alter Ego came out, and he learned that we were both in Missouri,” Thomas tells BACK ISSUE. “He was in junior high, I was just finishing up college and then doing some teaching, so we communicated and he would send me these longish stories of a Legion of Super-Heroes-type group he drew on some kind of paper with roughly the consistency of today’s paper towels. This was in 1961–1962.

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“Before long,” continues Thomas, “we met in person, and I spent some time at his parents’ home in University City, a suburb of St. Louis; they were nice people. I also met several of Steve’s friends, some of whom did fanzine work together. In fact, I suggested they do one called Crudzine, using a term of the day for a badly done fanzine. I still have that. I was originally going to contribute, but never got around to it … but they did a very good parody of a bad fanzine, much of which will be printed in an upcoming series in Alter Ego (AE), in Bill Schelly’s “Comic Fandom Archive,” utilizing an article written by John G. Pierce several years ago and slated for early publication not long before Steve died.” Thomas and Gerber’s destinies took a detour and headed down a different path ... paths that would eventually cross on the road to Marvel. “At one time in early ’65,” Thomas remembers, “after I was publishing AE, I was contacted by someone who wanted me to put together a MAD-type magazine, and I turned to Steve and his talented friends. We were going to do it together, though I’d have been editor. But the guy who made the offer was a flake, and things quickly fell apart. I don’t even recall the details, although we’d already begun to do some stuff. After I moved to New York City in the summer of 1965, we kept in touch. “When Steve graduated from high school in 1965, he took a trip to NYC and stayed for a few days at Dave Kaler’s apartment on E. 2nd Street, off Avenue A, in the Lower East Side, which I was sharing with Dave at the time. At his request, I introduced him to Stan, but had warned him in advance that Stan could just spare a couple of minutes. Stan found him bright and interesting, though, and they talked for quite a while. I don’t recall about precisely what … I was busy doing my job elsewhere, and I don’t remember what Steve told me about the conversation. That was more than half a decade before he worked for Marvel, of course. “In 1967–1968,” Thomas recalls, “when I flew down to St. Louis once or twice to see Jean Maxey, my future wife, who was in college there, I’d see Steve as well. And at one time in ’68, since her parents wouldn’t let her go out with me, Steve was happy to act as the ‘beard’ in the situation. He picked up Jeanie, delivered her to me, and went his way. When the two of us eloped shortly afterward, however, it was an old boyfriend of Jeanie’s that acted as the beard. “Then, in the early ’70s,” he continues, “I got a letter from Steve that basically amounted to, ‘Help, I’m going crazy working for this advertising agency in St. Louis.’ As Jeanie put it later, ‘What we didn’t know at the time was that it wasn’t a work-caused illness.’ We both considered Steve a little nutty, though in a good way––he was just very excitable, given to occasional bouts of near hysteria, or so it seemed to us at the time. I gave him a job at Marvel first chance I got, which was very soon afterward, but Steve wasn’t a good staffer at the time. Once, I found him asleep at his desk when he was supposed to be proofreading. He always claimed it wasn’t narcolepsy, but I think it was some sort of ailment, perhaps psychological. He wandered off staff ere long, but was kept reasonably busy as a freelance writer, especially once we started all those black-andwhite horror mags.”

Jason Shayer

It Takes Two, Baby Steve Gerber paired the Thing and Dr. Strange in Marvel Two-in-One #6 (Nov. 1974), and that issue’s penciler, George Tuska, revisited the team-up in this commissioned illustration, inked by Bob McLeod. From the collection of Brian Sagar. © 2008 Marvel Characters, Inc.

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Growing up with the comics of the 1980s, I missed out on most of Steve Gerber’s work. The first I had heard of him was from his dispute with Marvel Comics over the character rights of Howard the Duck. Gerber was one of those creators I figured I would get around to reading sooner or later, and maybe even meet at a comic-book convention. When I heard that he had died, I decided to learn more about him through his Marvel Comics work. While Steve Gerber might be better known for Howard the Duck and Man-Thing, he also penned memorable runs on Daredevil, The Defenders, and Foolkiller, and did stints on a variety of other titles. “I admired Steve’s writing, which was always unique and spoke in its own voice,” says Marv Wolfman. “Steve was one of the few writers at the time who actually had their own voice early on. Most of us took a long time to find ours, but Steve came with it.” Gerber used that unique voice to tell eccentric stories that focused on character. He had the ability to mix the standard superhero fare with an eclectic sense of humor and keen social satire. He also captured precious human moments amid the wackiest of circumstances. By the early 1970s, the creative energy and the explosion of talent that Marvel Comics enjoyed in the 1960s were fading. A diverse collection of nonsuperheroes, like Conan, Dracula, and the Master of Kung Fu, were introduced in an effort to rekindle that 1960s magic. And a roster of new writers, like Len Wein, Steve Englehart, and Marv Wolfman, was emerging. It was in this fertile and experimental environment that Steve Gerber joined Marvel Comics.

As one of his first assignments, Steve Gerber co-created Shanna the She-Devil with Carole Seuling. Shanna was obviously Marvel Comics’ version of the jungle girl archetype with the prerequisite leopard-skin bikini. Her early stories were derivative of Tarzan and featured clashes with ivory poachers and the discovery of ancient lost cities. What set her apart, though, was her characterization. She was the relentless protector of the jungle and its animals, an environmentalist, and had an underlying hatred of men and firearms. Unfortunately, the set of girl-oriented early-1970s titles that Shanna the She-Devil belonged to, which included The Cat and Night Nurse, didn’t last long and the title ended abruptly after only five issues. However, Gerber took more of an ownership of the character over the next few years as Shanna made appearances in the titles he wrote. The Rampaging Hulk #9 (June 1978) had a Shanna backup story that Gerber used to take her in a bold new direction. He had written three issues to follow up on that story, but they were abandoned. However, they were published 13 years later in the pages of Marvel Comics’ anthology series, Marvel Fanfare. In the introduction to Marvel Fanfare #59 (Oct. 1991), editor Al Milgrom stated: “When I contacted him to write the final chapter he had no idea where his original plot was heading. Steve rose to the challenge and resolved things in his usual spectacularly offbeat fashion!” With this four-issue series, Gerber focused on Shanna’s internal struggles rather than external ones. While Shanna took on a malevolent organization called the Pride, it was a means to bring about a climax in the She-Devil’s psychological conflict, forcing her to deal with her primal side. Gerber presented Shanna’s broken psyche in a straightforward and effective manner by having her consult with a psychologist (a rather tired cliché in today’s TV and movie world, but inventive in its day). Shanna discussed the level of violence that plagued her life and how, over the years, death had claimed her close friends, her family, and her beloved animal pets. Shanna’s unhealthy attraction to death and violence was exemplified by the leopard skin she wore, which was actually the skin of her pet leopard Julani. The leopard skin, in her mind, operated like a form of spiritual possession, allowing her to let go of her humanity and be taken over by her baser instincts. Her animal relationships helped keep her connected to her more primal self, especially when she found herself trapped within civilization. To relax, she would playfight with her eight-foot-long python Ananta, which bordered on bondage and was strangely sensual. What was clear throughout was Steve Gerber’s love for Shanna and his interest in continuing to develop her character.

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Timothy Callahan

In March 1976, as Luke Cage joined forces with the Fantastic Four to defeat the Wrecker and Spider-Man battled—yet again—with the Sandman, a strange character popped up on the Marvel landscape. It was the being soon to be known as “Omega” and while the cover of Omega the Unknown #1 may have looked like any other superhero comic, the story inside was anything but typical. Omega the Unknown didn’t even seem to be part of the Marvel Universe in that first issue, with its strange, passive narration and its elliptical storytelling. Nary a superhero was to be found, except for the silent, enigmatic being from beyond the stars—a being who seemed to share a psychic link with an Earth boy named James-Michael Starling. What was the deal with this James-Michael kid, anyway? And who was this costumed alien who didn’t speak? What was the connection between them? These mysteries were all established in that first issue of Omega the Unknown, written by Steve Gerber and Mary Skrenes, with illustrations by veteran artist Jim Mooney. And although these questions would be answered over the years, none of them were ever answered by the series’ creators, who would move on to other things— other companies, other careers—without ever getting a chance to tell the whole story of the strange relationship between the boy and his counterpart from outer space. At its launch, Omega the Unknown was certainly a very different kind of superhero comic book, although such was to be expected from Gerber, who, by 1976, had produced the bulk of his acclaimed (and decidedly off-kilter) Defenders run and had created the inimitable Howard the Duck in an Adventure into Fear Man-Thing story. The multiple exclamation points and dynamic action pose on the cover of Omega the Unknown #1 might have fooled some readers into thinking that they were getting something in the mighty Marvel tradition, but even on the first page, Gerber and Skrenes signaled that the story would be a bit different from the norm:

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Omega’s Alpha Team Writer Steve Gerber and artist Jim Mooney. “Some unforeseen factor interrupts the orderly flow of events,” says the opening caption, “and without warning, a finely-tuned organism erupts in discord, violence.” Mooney’s accompanying splash page shows a blue-and-red-garbed figure running from explosions against a backdrop of crystalline mountains and a field of stars. The strangely clinical narration that continued throughout the opening scene hardly matched the dynamic images of destruction provided by Mooney, but the real twist in the first issue occurs on page four, when young James-Michael Starling wakes up screaming from the “agony,” according to the caption, that “may span a universe.” But Gerber and Skrenes don’t stop there, for as strange as the connection between an Earth boy and a musclebound alien might be, the series really takes an unexpected turn two pages later when a collision with an oncoming tractor-trailer reveals that James-Michael’s mother and father were, well, robots. James-Michael, thrown from the crash, sees his mother’s mechanical head on the ground—a head which warns him of danger: “Don’t listen to the voices,” the robotic head implores, before melting into a pile of smoke and sludge. Gerber and Skrenes were treading in Philip K. Dick territory here, and the strange paranoia and uncertainty were only enhanced by the appearance of faceless intruders into James-Michael’s hospital room and the timely arrival of the blue-and-red costumed being who made not a single sound. The series was called Omega the UNKNOWN, after all, and the first issue certainly lived up to that title, establishing a string of mysteries that seemed mostly designed to create an unsettling mood. A mood that quietly proclaimed this to be a very different comic book, indeed. Unfortunately, the series would only last for ten short issues—two of which written by fill-in writers—before its untimely cancellation. While it lasted, Omega the Unknown may have had some of the surface details of other Marvel comics—guest appearances by the Hulk, fights with villains like Electro or Blockbuster—but it was largely concerned with the perils of the urban environment and the disturbing state of inner-city public schools. The title character barely spoke and had almost no personality of his own; it was really James-Michael Starling’s story that took center stage, as the stranger-in-a-strange city tried to navigate the social and emotional upheavals of mid-’70s New York. According to a June 14, 2005 blog post at www.stevegerber.com, although the comic featured a mysterious, musclebound alien, much of the reality of the story derived from the personal experience of Gerber and Skrenes, who collaborated equally on their issues. Gerber wrote, “We drew heavily on our own childhoods for aspects of James-Michael’s story and on observation of our neighborhood—Hell’s Kitchen in New York, circa 1975—for the setting of the book.” •

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John Romita, Sr.’s first costume design for Omega, done in colored markers. Note the differences in the gauntlets and boots, and the original idea for the midriff omega icon. © 2008 Marvel Characters, Inc.

URBAN ANXIETY AND ADOLESCENCE

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Hell’s Kitchen, the section of Manhattan now known as Clinton (but familiar to Marvel readers as the Daredevil’s base of operations during the Frank Miller years and beyond), featured prominently in the Gerber/Skrenes Omega the Unknown issues. In issue #2 (May 1976), appropriately titled “Welcome to Hell’s Kitchen,” James-Michael, now parentless, moves in with compassionate nurse Ruth and her sassy roommate Amber. On the way to their Hell’s Kitchen apartment, James-Michael finds himself exposed to an urban jungle the likes of which he’d never seen or imagined. Amber comments on the “plethora of human misery,” and when they reach their building James-Michael bluntly and dispassionately asks, “Am I mistaken— or is that the odor of human excrement?” Surely such a line of dialogue had never before appeared in a mainstream superhero comic book.

THING AND GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY by RON WILSON Ben Grimm and the Guardians were first teamed by Steve Gerber in Marvel Two-in-One #5 (inset above), but here’s a rematch by the artist who drew their second team-up (in MTIO #69). From the collection of Brian Sagar. © 2008 Marvel Characters, Inc.

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Mark Arnold

When EC Comics created MAD magazine as a comic book at the end of 1952, little did the company know that it would start a worldwide phenomenon that also inspired a rash of imitators. Originally, these copycats popped up on the comic-book landscape during 1954, with bizarre titles like Bughouse, Wild, Whack, and Eh? The knock-offs were so prolific that in issue #17 of MAD, mention was made of all of them. As the imitators did not have the same level of humor or artwork as the original, they quickly died almost as soon as they started, many not lasting more than a handful of issues. In 1955, editor Harvey Kurtzman threatened to leave MAD unless it was switched to a magazine format. Although it was rumored to have changed to avoid the Comics Code Authority, the change was already in discussions by the time the Comics Code was taking effect. MAD’s new format became an instant hit and soon a new wave of clones burst upon the scene, this time in the black-and-white satirical format, ranging from 52 to 68 pages. One of those imitators was from (then-Atlas Comics) Marvel’s Stan Lee, who attempted his version under

Crazy’s New Man Among the issues of Marvel’s Crazy edited by Steve Gerber was #11 (June 1975), which featured a front cover painting by Frank Kelly Freas. In the inset photo, Gerber as Rev. Pierre La Pooj, from issue #6. © 2008 Marvel Characters, Inc.

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Think of Steve Gerber’s output in the 1970s and one could scarcely be blamed for thinking Marvel Comics. For a DC Comics fan, though, the answer might be something different. It’s all a matter of perspective— and perspective was what Metal Men #45 was all about. “Evil,” its title declared, “Was in the Eye of the Beholder.” The Metal Men had been one of DC’s most novel creations of the 1960s, a sextet of robots endowed with personalities and idiosyncrasies keyed to their respective metals. Written by the equally idiosyncratic Robert Kanigher and illustrated by Ross Andru and Mike Esposito, the series was a blend of cartoony charm and melodrama that saw the heroes repeatedly destroyed and rebuilt by their creator William “Doc” Magnus. “I had the first Metal Men Showcase issue back before my mom threw out some of my comics,” Walter Simonson recalls. “It is possible that I might actually have read that particular comic to shreds. I thought the flying manta ray was pretty cool.” The tone of the series took a dramatic shift in 1968, transforming the sextet into fugitives that ultimately had to hide their true nature under “human” secret identities. And Doc was no help at all, having first been rendered comatose and then kidnapped and brainwashed by the dictator of a

Junkheaped Cover Dick Giordano’s published cover (inset) for Metal Men #45 (Apr.–May 1976) is a winner, but it’s too bad Walt Simonson’s original cover for that issue, seen here (scanned from its publication in The Art of Walter Simonson trade paperback), wasn’t used. TM & © DC Comics.

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TM & © DC Comics.

Golden Years Gerber’s Mister Miracle cast, as illustrated by Michael Golden: Scott Free, Big Barda, Alianna (a Gerbercreated character), and Oberon. Courtesy of Modern Masters. TM & © DC Comics.

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The most violent and dramatic instance in DC’s Mister Miracle #23 (Apr. 1978) comes at its end as Mister Miracle breaks his mental shackles with a cry of revelation. Scott Free, a New God born on peaceful New Genesis, raised on dreaded Apokolips, and once-established super escape artist on Earth, has taken one of his greatest steps forward, admitting a deep sense of humanity that he had internally developed but never recognized. It is a pure Steve Gerber moment. The surrounding trappings, that of strong defensive mechanisms within Mister Miracle’s psyche and the familiar pacing of 1970s superhero storytelling, fall away to reveal a soul standing bare and in shock, yet rich in future potential. Mister Miracle has changed, writer Gerber has promised a new direction, and the reader craves more. Gerber and up-and-coming artist Michael Golden picked up in Mister Miracle #23 where writer Steve Englehart and artist Marshall Rogers had left off in MM #22, both in plot and cliffhanger. Gerber immediately

Last Issue Special The Michael Golden/ Russ Heath cover to the unpublished Mister Miracle #26. (Courtesy of Modern Masters editor Eric Nolen-Weathington.) TM & © DC Comics.

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dropped Mister Miracle, after his confrontation with Darkseid on Apokolips, into a place equal parts otherdimensional and Free’s subconscious. There Scott met the androgynous mentor Ethos and was subjected to a series of mental scenarios involving those closest to him: his wife, Big Barda; his little buddy, Oberon; his nemesis, Darkseid; and his best friend, Orion. Scott Free emerged with a greater sense of self, the human aspect having finally taken center stage. However, Gerber had no intention of discarding the messiah complex Englehart had set in motion—he simply shifted the locale and changed the choice of sheep Free would abide over as a self-appointed shepherd. Mister Miracle was now intent on raising the human race’s awareness of the threat of Darkseid, while also once again taking up the mantle of super escape artist. Not a bad start for Gerber in what, according to editor Larry Hama, was essentially a series of fill-in issues until Len Wein, having returned to DC from a stint at Marvel Comics, took over as ongoing writer. Before Scott could set his plans in motion, there were a few preliminary details he needed to attend to (presented in Mister Miracle #24, June 1978). First he returned to Apokolips to retrieve Oberon (stranded there since #22). Then he traveled to New Genesis to pick up the fully recovered Big Barda. After that it was back to Earth for some quality time with his wife and some much-needed rest. Then Scott made preparations to move out west to California. Finally he stopped by Thaddeus Brown’s office and rehired his struggling friend as his promotions manager. With that, the foursome hit the road and journeyed to Las Vegas, where Scott would perform his first act as a reinstated modern Houdini. In the space of 17 splendidly constructed and entertaining pages, Gerber returned Mister Miracle to his original roots established by Jack Kirby in the first issues of MM published in the early 1970s. The rousing triumph of Scott Free’s escape from an immaculately sealed steel coffin dropped into the Colorado River, punctuated by Oberon’s unleashed enthusiasm at witnessing his friend’s return from certain death, is the highlight of issue #24, well executed by Gerber and Golden. “Probably the main discussion I had with Steve about writing the book,” recalls Hama, “was explaining to him what I thought Golden’s strong points were and having him deliberately work towards them. ‘He gives good machines and gonzo crowd scenes,’ something like that.” This last page, with Mister Miracle hovering in the sky above the crowd, body poised in full angelic descent and arms outstretched as if reaching in communion to the cheering throng—with Oberon’s right arm pumping excitedly upward—is Gerber and Golden clicking on all cylinders. It also bodes well for Scott Free in gaining the positive attention of the masses so as to preach his crusade against Darkseid. Mister Miracle’s messianic venture did not escape the notice of the Lord of Apokolips, of course, who sought to nix the revival as quickly as possible by having Granny Goodness thwart her former pupil’s mission, as revealed in the beginning of Mister Miracle #25 (Aug.–Sept. 1978). Granny enlisted the aid of an individual introduced in the previous issue, the young Alianna, member of the mysterious Hubbard family. Alianna, daughter of Rex and Ida Hubbard of Glendale, California, had acquired and developed some enhanced physical powers as a result of a childhood accident. Though always in

In the early 1980s, Steve Gerber wasn’t known as a DC Comics writer, with only one issue of Metal Men and three of Mister Miracle to his credit. Yet DC’s Dick Giordano tapped him to pen a four-issue Superman spin-off miniseries, The Phantom Zone (Jan.–Apr. 1982), teaming Gerber with his frequent Howard the Duck partner, penciler Gene Colan. The pairing was, as expected, magical and macabre. Gerber’s harsh interpretation of the merciless Phantom Zone villains took readers into a dangerous terrain that longtime Superman editors Mort Weisinger and Julie Schwartz had never dared visit. Schwartz did eventually “go there,” bringing Gerber back to wrap up his Phantom Zone story in the last issue of the Superman team-up series DC Comics Presents. As hinted at in this interview, conducted in early 2006 for my TwoMorrows book The Krypton Companion, Steve Gerber had planned a return to Krypton when, in the mid-1980s, he and Frank Miller proposed a reboot of Superman during DC’s campaign to revitalize the Man of Steel. I had hoped to one day revisit this topic with Mr. Gerber and explore it in depth, but, alas, his vision of a new Superman continuity joins his unfinished Omega the Unknown series as one of the great mysteries of his writing career. Gerber did twice return to the Superman mythos, however, with the 1999 miniseries A. Bizarro and the 2000 miniseries Superman: Last Son of Earth. – Michael Eury

MICHAEL EURY: Most readers assumed that the Phantom Zone miniseries was DC’s response to the Phantom Zone villains appearing in the movie Superman II, but given the peculiarities of scheduling, that might not be the case. Was the Phantom Zone comic indeed inspired by the movie’s success? STEVE GERBER: The short answer is “yes.” I’m glad we stuck with the comics version of the villains,

Villains Unleashed Superman, trapped in the Zone with reformed Kryptonian bad guy Quex-Ul, can’t help his cousin Supergirl as the Zone escapees pillage Earth. Scan of the original Gene Colan/Dick Giordano cover art to The Phantom Zone #2, courtesy of Tom Ziuko. TM & © DC Comics.

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GERBER’S SUPERMAN STORIES • The Phantom Zone #1–4 (Jan.–Apr. 1982) • DC Comics Presents #97: Superman and the Phantom Zone Villains (Sept. 1986) • A. Bizarro #1–4 (Aug.–Nov. 1999) • Superman: Last Son of Earth #1–2 (2000)

though, even if Zod’s Italian fascist-inspired uniform looked a little goofy. EURY: You’d done very little work for DC prior to this. How were you chosen to write Phantom Zone? GERBER: As best I recall, Dick Giordano approached me about it. It’s not something I would’ve come up with myself, because I was never a big fan of the PZ villains. EURY: Phantom Zone was edited by Dick Giordano. Why didn’t Superman line editor Julie Schwartz oversee it? GERBER: Again, this is a guess: Dick may have thought I would have had difficulty working with Julie, whose approach to story and character was very different from my own. I would probably have agreed with that judgment, and so, probably, would Julie. Much as I liked and admired Julie, I don’t think we would have been a good fit as editor and writer over the long term. EURY: Did you bring your former Howard the Duck collaborator Gene Colan on board, or was he Dick’s pick? GERBER: As I recall, I asked for Gene, and Dick immediately agreed. I knew exactly what Gene’s Superman would look like before he even set pencil to paper, and he didn’t disappoint me. What really blew me away was Gene’s Clark Kent! He looked real and human, maybe for the first time in the character’s history. Gene was suffering a little from typecasting at both Marvel and DC. At Marvel, he’d become the Dracula guy; as a result, at DC, he became the Batman guy for a while. They thought of him as an artist who could create a certain kind of eeriness and mood.

Which was true, of course, but it hardly defined Gene’s limits. He was capable of doing really wonderful sci-fiflavored action stuff, too. EURY: You had written a Superman pastiche almost ten years earlier when you introduced Wundarr into the Man-Thing series in Adventure into Fear #17 (Oct. 1973). What’s the story behind Wundarr’s creation? GERBER: Nothing except my love of the Superman character and my desire to do a little parody/homage. EURY: According to Roy Thomas, Stan Lee was miffed over Wundarr. Did you catch any heat from Stan or Roy? GERBER: Actually, it was DC who was miffed. Marvel was the miffee. What I had intended as parody, DC saw as plagiarism. From what I was told, there were angry words exchanged, but it never got anywhere near a courtroom. Marvel agreed to do another Wundarr story that would set him drastically apart from Superman—which is what I had always intended— and that was that. (Wundarr’s home planet never exploded. His father was the alarmist the Krypton elders supposed Jor-El to be.) I’m sure Roy must have conveyed to me Stan’s displeasure with the incident. Under the circumstances, of course, Stan had every right to be displeased. I’m still amazed, though, that DC took it so seriously. EURY: The Phantom Zone reintroduced Daily Planet employee Charlie Kweskill, formerly the Zone villain Quex-Ul, whose powers and memories were erased by gold kryptonite in his sole prior appearance in Superman #157 (Nov. 1962). Were you aware of this character prior to your developing Phantom Zone, or was Kweskill a discovery during your research? S t e v e

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San Diego Comic-Con 1982 Steve Gerber gets devil horns from Althaea Yronwode, daughter of editor cat yronwode, at a Comic-Con function the year Phantom Zone was published. Photo courtesy of Alan Light.

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“Lords of Light!” “Demon Dogs!” “Riiiiiide!” Thundarr the Barbarian faithfuls will instantly recognize the aforementioned battle cries as frequently uttered by the titular cartoon savage, a blond, muscle-bound, Conan-like adventurer who traveled a post-apocalyptic Earth (circa 3994 A.D.), conquering tyrants everywhere. Unlike Robert E. Howard’s famous dark-maned savage, however, Thundarr (voice by Bob Ridgely) has never been a thief or a pirate. Rather, he’s a true hero through and through (which makes sense, since Thundarr was essentially a children’s television program), willing to risk life and limb time and again to right wrongs, promote freedom, and exact justice, most notably against evil wizards hellbent on enslaving and lording over humankind.

THUNDARR STRIKES

Produced by Joseph Ruby and Ken Spears (of RubySpears Productions), with story-editing by Steve Gerber (who co-created the show with Ruby), Thundarr the Barbarian debuted on Oct. 4, 1980, at 10:30 AM (Eastern Standard Time) on the ABC Television Network (at the same time as Popeye on CBS and Batman and the Super 7 on NBC). Markedly different than other Saturday morning fare of the era, Thundarr was an animated series with real bite, an honest-to-goodness action/adventure show, despite heavy-handed restrictions employed by network censors of the time. In The Comic Times #4 (Jan. 1980), Gerber remarked that “the difficulty with the Saturday morning show was to make the Broadcast Standards and Practices division of the network accept any conflict at all, much less physical conflict.” In Fantastic Films #20 (Dec. 1980), Gerber stated that “we have a number of severe limitations. With all of the mayhem that goes on in our show, the Program Practices will still not allow our main character to throw a punch or to hit anybody. He can do all kinds of acrobatic things, but he can’t even trip anyone.”

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Brett Weiss

Even with censors breathing down their necks, Gerber and company managed to pull off an exciting half-hour of television each week. As long as the violence portrayed was not easily emulated by children, Thundarr could battle bad guys in a relatively convincing manner. For example, though left jabs to the face, uppercuts to the jaw, and kicks to the crotch would never have passed muster with the censors, hurling giant boulders at villains and jump-kicking nasties in the chest were considered acceptable. In addition, the show had plenty of explosions, vehicle crashes, ray blasts, and other forms of light fantasy violence. Predictably, Gerber did get frustrated at times during the creation of the show, as evidenced by his remarks in Fantastic Films #20: “What I would have liked to have seen … is a character barbaric enough to be able to defend himself and perhaps even kill when necessary in order to stay alive or to protect his friends from a menace that couldn’t be dealt with in any other way. The big thing that we’ve had to overcome is that the censors tend to treat children as if they’re not just morons, but lunatics, potentially dangerous creatures.” In Comics Feature #10 (July 1981), Gerber sounded a bit more positive regarding what he envisioned with Thundarr and the resultant outcome: “We wanted to make the show as nearly pure adventure as we could, without the kind of cloying, preachy, mealy-mouthed social-consciousness crap that hobbled shows like Shazam, Isis, and, for a time, Super Friends. We wanted to do adventure, suspense, and, insofar as it was allowed, horror—in other words, to remain true to the spirit of the sword-and-sorcery genre. We’ve done more, actually, than I expected we’d be able to.” In The Comic Times #4, Gerber called the show “considerably better than what you usually find on Saturday morning.” Ironically, one network restriction—the fact that knives and other sharp objects were taboo on Saturday morning TV—led to the creation of a beloved

Must-See TV

Thundarr trademark, the powerful Sunsword, which is nothing less than one of the coolest weapons ever seen in a cartoon series. The Sunsword attached magnetlike to Thundarr’s wrist guards and was activated and deactivated similar to a lightsaber. It could absorb magic, slice through concrete and steel (and, one must presume, lop off a wizard’s head like a knife through butter), and much more. When swung, the weapon made a deep, satisfying, electronic sound like something coming out of an Atari 2600 video game. Despite the coolness of Thundarr’s Sunsword, the iconic (at least in this writer’s mind) implement failed to make ToyFare magazine’s list of “The 50 Greatest Fictional Weapons of All Time,” a feature that appeared in issue #125 (Jan. 2008). What did make the list, though, was He-Man’s Power Sword (weighing in at number two, just behind Green Lantern’s power ring), which pales in comparison. Sure, the Power Sword could transform the meek Prince Adam into the musclebound He-Man and the cowardly Cringer into the armored Battle Cat, but the Sunsword got much more use in terms of actual combat. He-Man was more on par with the Super Friends in its reluctance to show heroes kicking bad-guy butt.

ABC’s and NBC’s comic-book ads for their Saturday morning lineups, each including Thundarr. Thundarr © Ruby-Spears Productions. ABC © ABC-TV. NBC © NBC-TV. Other characters © their respective copyright holders.

THUNDARR AGENTS

Although he relied heavily on the mighty Sunsword, Thundarr valued his friends even more. Unlike Conan, who usually traveled solo, Thundarr rode (via horseback) side by side with two constant companions: the beautiful, busty Princess Ariel (voiced by Nellie Bellflower) and the big, brutish Ookla the Mok (voiced by Henry Corden). In every episode, the trio would work as a team to vanquish their foes, despite dealing with the occasional personality clash and some degree of internal conflict (at least compared to the Super Friends, who never had a cross word with one another). Classy, articulate, and well read, Ariel was in stark contrast to the noble, but savage and oftentimes angry, Thundarr. When Ariel would comment on their surroundings, Thundarr would likely brush her off. For example, in the episode “Master of the Stolen Sunsword,” Ariel tells Thundarr that they are in Beverly Hills and that it used to be one of the wealthiest cities in the world, to which Thundarr replies: “What of it. It’s the wizard and my Sunsword that matter now.”

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Mike Gagnon

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By 1993, it was common knowledge among fans and professionals alike that Steve Gerber was a prolific writer, a writer with a penchant for some of comicdom’s most offbeat premises and strangest concepts. In his early career, Gerber built a reputation for writing gory or supernatural characters such as Morbius, Son of Satan, the Zombie, and, of course, his celebrated work on the sympathetic bog-man, the Man-Thing. Regardless of the fact that he was, at times, admittedly uneasy with this reputation as the “Man-Thing guy,” Steve decided to revisit the muck-monster concept while working on Malibu’s Ultraverse line in the mid-1990s. The fruits of these new labors bore Sludge, a monster—according to the writer’s own words—that was vastly different from his previous work. For those unfamiliar with the comic, Sludge’s origin differed greatly from most of Gerber’s traditional “sympathetic hero” work. First of all, Sludge started out as NYPD detective Frank Hoag. Hoag was a crooked cop on the take from the mob, a far cry from the idealized scientists and geniuses that usually become swamp monsters. A large part of Hoag’s take consisted of doing the mob’s dirty work, but when they wanted Hoag to kill a fellow officer he refused. Hoag’s mob handlers were enraged by their lackey’s rebellion and in spectacular fashion rubbed him out in a hail of gunfire and explosions, then dumping his body into the New York sewers. Along with Hoag, thousands of gallons of experimental biological toxic waste were dumped as well. The mysterious chemicals healed Hoag and resurrected him in the sewers as Sludge, a muck-man made of sewage, fighting to use what was left of his fragile, once-human mind. Gerber seemed to take the idea of creating this new character very seriously. His desire to take the concept and create something wholly new and original can be seen not only in the fact that the character was not exactly admirable, or that he lived in the sewers, but in Gerber’s own words. In a 1993 interview with Shaun McLaughlin in The Malibu Sun, Gerber responded to the following question: Here’s a question that’s in a lot of people’s minds: What’s different about Sludge from the other muck-monster you worked on? GERBER: Well, let’s not be coy about it. Let’s just say “Man-Thing.” This is a question that a lot of people have asked. They’ll look at the character and ask: “Is this your new version of Man-Thing?” Then they’ll ask: “What other ‘thing’ is this like? Is it like Swamp Thing? Is it like the Thing thing?” And the answer is “no” to all. Sludge is radically different from Man-Thing. I don’t want to give too much of the story away, but we can discuss what Sludge isn’t. He’s not an empathic creature. He’s not tied to any particular locale. He’s not mindless. He has nothing to do with swamps. And he is not in any way magical. Those are some pretty striking differences to begin with. And unlike Ben Grimm, Sludge is not a guy you could dress in a tux and introduce into polite society. He smells really bad. Gerber also went on to state that the biggest challenge in creating Sludge was making a conscious decision not to waste time worrying about creating obvious differences between it and the Man-Thing, but just letting the character “become itself.” Unlike most heroes, Sludge had a slightly skewed view of the world. In one issue penned by Gerber, Sludge steals a newspaper from his friend, a blind man named Chas. Later, when he rescues a news reporter from an alien, he demands 35 cents in return so he can repay his friend. In a similar fashion to Gerber’s Man-Thing, Sludge is an untouchable hero. Any human flesh he comes into direct contact with becomes horribly disfigured, heightening the isolation of the character in Gerber’s storylines. Although the Sludge series (Oct. 1993–Sept. 1994) was not particularly long-lived when compared to Gerber’s other creations, the character struck a chord with fans and spawned special editions and guest appearances. The character even made recurring appearances on the Ultraforce animated television series (1995).

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In 1998 and 2004, writer Steve Gerber unleashed two wildly original series on unsuspecting comics readers. Nevada, from DC’s Vertigo line, was the tale of a girl, her ostrich, and a dimensional rift. Hard Time, initially from DC’s short-lived Focus imprint, was the story of a 15-year-old boy in prison. They were very different books, but each challenged readers to put aside their preconceptions of what to expect from a mainstream publisher. Those who went along for the ride were not disappointed. Nevada was a book 21 years in the making. In an interview I did with Steve Gerber for Westfield Comics in 1998, he explained the genesis of the series: “The inspiration came from an old issue of Howard the Duck, the ‘Dreaded Deadline Doom’ story in #16 (Sept. 1977). That issue was divided into eight or ten two-page stories with single illustrations by different artists. One of those stories was the ‘Obligatory Comic Book Fight Scene,’ a battle among a Las Vegas chorus girl, an ostrich, and a killer lampshade. It ended with the chorus girl becoming one with her headdress and conquering the universe, or something like that. I really don’t remember. “For twenty-odd years now, people have been asking me, ‘When are you going to bring back the showgirl and the ostrich?’ In a market dominated by Spawn, that’s not a question you take terribly seriously. But then, oddly enough, Neil Gaiman asked that question of me—in public—on CompuServe. And other people chimed in and said: ‘Yeah. When are you gonna do that?’ At that point I decided, ‘Okay, maybe this is worth a closer look.’ Another reason I hadn’t proposed it to any publisher before then was that I didn’t have a decent title for it. It was Vera of Vegas for a while and then Viva of Vegas. Try saying that four times fast. Imagine having to ask for it at the comic-book store. ‘Do you have a copy of Vee-vih-ahvee-voo-voogas?’ Anyway, I eventually hit on the name Nevada, and then Neil’s message popped up on the computer, and I thought, ‘Well, now’s as good a time as any.’ So I proposed it to Vertigo and, somewhat to my astonishment, Karen Berger liked it and wanted to publish it.”

Childhood Lost Brian Hurtt’s original cover artwork (sans character montage, which appeared inside his shirt on the original, shown elsewhere in this article) to Hard Time Season Two #7 (Aug. 2006), spotlighting Ethan, the series’ by

teen-turned-inmate. From the collection of Jonathan Bolerjack.

Roger Ash

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A GIRL AND HER OSTRICH

First Quack at “Nevada”

The artist chosen to bring Nevada to life was Phil Winslade. “I was at a London Comic Con and had heard just before that Steve was doing something for Vertigo and I knew Karen Berger was there, so we had a chat about it,” Winslade recalls. “I don’t remember Steve working in comics at the time and really wanted to work with him. Karen knew my work and was having trouble finding an artist Steve and she could agree on. I did a sample/character sheet and Steve was made familiar with my work and I got the gig.” Nevada was introduced in a ten-page story in Vertigo: Winter’s Edge #1 (Jan. 1998) in a Christmas story that combined the traditional birth of Christ story with grade school Christmas pageants and stereotypical Las Vegas excess. It set the “anything can happen” tone for the miniseries. Nevada and her ostrich, Bolero, perform in the Nile Hotel and Casino. A series of bizarre murders at the hotel catches the attention of mobster, Mr. Di Vesuvio, whose head, through a bizarre operation, now resembles a lava lamp (the updated version of the killer lampshade) and it can do some mighty strange things. A drunken, homeless mystic, Ogden Locke, makes some ominous predictions about Nevada. Egyptian hieroglyphics appearing in the hotel’s computer programs lead Nevada’s friend, Rip Lefkowitz, to make a startling discovery about the light shining from the top of the hotel. When he shows this to Nevada, she is taken into the light and goes … someplace else. Here she learns

Gerber’s showgirl-andostrich inspiration for what became Nevada, from Howard the Duck #16 (Sept. 1977). Art by Tom Palmer. (right) Pull your head out of the sand long enough to eyeball this incredible page from Nevada #4 (Aug. 1998), from the collection of Matthew Lee. Art by Phil Winslade and Steve Leialoha. Howard the Duck art © 2008 Marvel Characters, Inc. Nevada art TM & © DC Comics.

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about a rift between space and dimensions and how other-dimensional beings are traveling to Earth in the beam of light from the Nile Hotel. She has been chosen to be the new rift warrior who must stop these beings from traveling to Earth, and in the process, keep the universe from being destroyed. The book was as bizarre as it sounds, but Gerber performed an amazing juggling act to make it all work. “Being a real Howard and Man-Thing fan, I was expecting odd characters,” says Winslade. “One of the appeals of Steve’s work for me is his sense of the surreal, so I was hoping for things that would stretch me. “Bolero was a sweety to draw, once I got the knack of him. He had to be convincing as an ostrich, but expressive too (especially as a mute). Steve wanted him to reinforce and enhance the emotional drama of the situation, much like a Greek chorus, but he also needed to have a personality of his own rather than just be a cipher for Nevada. I liked the scenes where his emotion doesn’t conform to Nevada’s and his persona comes to the fore.” “What was great about Nevada, and also with Steve working for Vertigo, was he really had the freedom to do whatever he wanted to do,” says series editor Karen Berger. “He hadn’t had that opportunity since the ’70s working on his own material at Marvel. As out there as some of his ideas might be, he could just go for it, which is one of the reasons why I enjoyed working with him so much.”

DAVE SIMONS

Artist www.dave-simons.com

While I didn’t know Steve Gerber personally, I wouldn’t have had the career I did without his creation, Howard the Duck. I cut my inking eye-teeth on the black-and-white Howard the Duck magazine over Gene Colan’s pencils, which led to my further inking work over Colan on the Dracula and Hulk magazines and later, in color on Captain America.

Writer www.povonline.com

MARK EVANIER

When people asked Gerber what Howard the Duck’s voice should sound like, he used to tell them Burgess Meredith. I always thought Howard sounded like Steve Gerber. I really did, and not just because so much of that comic was autobiographical … and therefore, nearly impossible for anyone but Steve to write. But Steve had this great laugh when something struck him funny, and many things struck him funny. It was a rich, full laugh that somehow echoed off his back teeth and sounded a lot to me like Howard’s “Waughhh” sound should sound. I liked Steve, liked him a lot. I liked making him laugh and hearing that sound. I liked just talking with him because he was one of the smartest, sharpest people I’ve ever met. I didn’t like hearing all the many problems and crises that seemed to define his life but I like the way he faced them all, refusing to let them punch him too hard in the face. Most of the time. Here’s my “How I Met Gerber” story. I’m sure there are many others in this magazine. Here’s mine. Before I met him, someone at Marvel had warned me about Gerber, warned me he was insane. They didn’t mean ha-ha eccentric insane, the way a colorful writer is sometimes deemed insane. They meant insane in the way Charles Manson was insane. Gerber, this person told me, was inches from taking an assault weapon up on some tower and blowing away total strangers by the dozen. “Watch out for him,” they said. I remember that because it was one of the all-time stupidest, most wrong-headed things anyone has ever said to me … and boy, have there been a lot of contenders for that honor. But I didn’t know it was inaccurate that night up at Sergio’s. It was after a San Diego Comic-Con of the mid-’70s—1977, I’m guessing. Maybe ’78. The con hadn’t ended for some of us. It had just moved to the big house in the Hollywood Hills that Sergio Aragonés owned in those pre-divorce days. We drove up there and spent Sunday evening sitting by the pool, eating Numero Uno pizza and talking. I found myself in a long conversation with this guy with glasses. He knew me but if I’d been introduced to him, I’d somehow

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