Tuesday, February 12, 2008

Steve Gerber R.I.P.

The comic book world lost one of its true innovators a couple of days ago when the legendary 1970's Marvel scribe Steve Gerber passed away after a long illness. Gerber brought a freshness to comic storytelling that was missing from Marvel at the time. The tried and true Stan Lee blueprint was still going strong but readers were ready for a new style. Of course Gerber's best known for creating Howard The Duck but he also put his stamp on such titles as The Defenders and Man-Thing. In addition to the many other titles he wrote in the '70's, Gerber wrote the iconic Marvel Super Special featuring Gene, Paul, Ace, and Peter, the mighty KISS. As if all that wasn't enough, after he left the comic field for a short time to work in animation, Gerber created perhaps the greatest Saturday morning cartoon ever made, Thundarr The Barbarian. Thundarr was light years ahead of the typical Saturday morning fare. It was intelligent and unique and truly captivated my young mind. I got the chance to meet Steve at a convention a few years ago and he was very kind and gracious to me and my friends. He will very definitely be missed!

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