It’s been over a year since I updated this board. I find myself talking about Steve often and thinking about him but there hasn’t been anything that has prompted me to post here. Maybe we can change that. I’ll start a new thread and ask that folks post about the Gerber work that has been reprinted lately…and what hasn’t been but should be.

Steve’s longtime collaborator Gene Colan passed away yesterday.  Words about him can be found on my site and every other one that cares about great comic artists.

There will be a tribute panel for Gene at the Comic-Con International in San Diego this year.  It will be on Friday, July 24 at Noon.  I’ll be moderating and we’ll have many of Gene’s collaborators there.  Wish we could have Gerber among them as I know how much he enjoyed their creative partnership.

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Last Friday evening at the Comic-Con International in San Diego, our friend Steve was formally inducted into the Hall of Fame along with Burne Hogarth, Mort Weisinger, Dick Giordano, Bob Montana and Mike Kaluta.  Accepting on Steve’s behalf were his daughter Samantha and his longtime friend/collaborator, Mary Skrenes.  A lot of us were pleased not just at the award but at the audience reaction.  And of course it goes without saying that the only negative is that it didn’t happen years ago when Gerber could have been around to enjoy it.

Once again, I am locking down comments on all earlier posts and ask that you post whatever you have to say about Gerber — whether it’s about this or not — in the Comments section of this post.

Yesterday marked two years since we lost our friend Gerber.  I dunno about you but his name still comes up in conversations around me and I often hear folks lament the loss of one of their favorite writers…and sometimes, he isn’t even “one of their favorites,” he’s Numero Uno.  I still miss my pal.

That’s not news.  What is news is that Steve Gerber is  a nominee for induction this year into the Will Eisner Hall of Fame.  The other nominees are Carl Burgos, Dick Giordano, Mike Kaluta, Jack Kamen, Frans Masereel, George McManus, Sheldon Moldoff, Marty Nodell, Bob Oksner, Bob Powell,  Yoshihiro Tatsumi and Mort Weisinger.  Four of those folks will be inducted along with the two judges’ choice inductees for this year, who are Burne Hogarth and Bob Montana.

I suspect there’s a fair amount of likelihood that Steve will be selected, if only because his name and credits are probably better known than at least three or four of those folks.  Also, I think most people actively liked Steve’s work, as opposed to several of the other nominees, who I suspect are on the list because they simply worked on a number of significant projects.

A couple of folks are asking me how I think Steve would have reacted to this.  Well, if Steve were alive to react, it would be a little different.  He’d be taking it, as most living recipients seem to, as a collective decree that their most important work is behind them.  We can all understand why someone wouldn’t like to think that the whole industry views them that way.  As it (unfortunately) turns out, Steve’s most important work is inarguably behind him…so I guess if he’s watching from somewhere, he’s flattered but also modestly thinking others should be ahead of him in that line.

Once again, I’m going to lock down the comments on all earlier postings and invite you to post whatever you want to post about Steve — on these topics or anything else — in response to this message.

Hello.  I haven’t posted anything here for a while because I haven’t thought of anything to post.  Nothing Gerber-wise seems to have changed.  He’s still gone and we still miss him.

Hey,  I dunno how many folks are still checking in here but I have a question for anyone who does.  There are actually folks who’ve gotten into reading comics since Steve stopped writing them…and there will be more.  What would you hand such a person to give them an idea of what was special about Gerber writing?  What comic or group of comics?

I’ve locked down all the other comments sections and opened up one for this message.  Post anything you like there, whether it addresses my question or not.  Just as long as it has something to do with Steve.

A Spammer posted a harmless-looking message as a comment to the previous message.  It contained a link (irrelevant to Gerber) that took you to a harmless-looking website.  But that website was full of nasty stuff to infect your computer and steal your identity and make your toenails fall out.

I have deleted the message…but if you clicked on the link in it, do a virus scan, a.s.a.p.

Thanks to Stefan “Starocotes” Immel, who alerted me to the presence of an asshole in our midst.

The mysterious person who’s posting a biography of Steve at this link has just added another chapter.  This one covers the years after Steve was ousted from his Duck…working for me at Hanna-Barbera, working in animation and suing Marvel.  As I kinda expected, the author got a lot of things wrong.

I’m pretty sure I know who it is.  What I don’t know is why this person is doing this anonymously or if they intend to do anything with this work apart from stick it on a website that few will see.

The latest posting also includes a scan of a comic story Steve wrote and published in his first fanzine in 1962 at the age of 14.  Not bad.  I’ve seen worse from adults working for DC or Marvel.

If Steve were here, I’m pretty sure he’d post this link.  It’s your chance to watch the movie, Howard the Duck, for free in a little window on your computer.  Or at least, you can watch enough of it to see Steve’s credit.  We can all find things to criticize in the film but my comment was “Not enough Gerber.”

An anonymous person has begun posting a biography of S. Gerber over at this link.  Someone on Heidi MacDonald’s message board guessed I was the author but I assure you, I’m not.  For one thing, there are a couple of mistakes in the narrative that I would not have made.

You’ll probably want to check it out, though I’m reserving judgment until I read more of it. The whole matter of Steve’s legal problems with Marvel, which the biographer will begin addressing in the next chapter, is a very complicated situation which has never been accurately described in any past reporting. I’ll be interested to see if the anonymous author gets it right. If he/she does, then I think I know who’s behind this biography…

I’m closing down the comment thread on all messages except this one.

Hello.  Yeah, it’s Evanier.  I thought it was time to close all the old threads and open up a new one to talk about Steve.  A big Howard the Duck collection is out now.  Apart from the fact that we all wish Steve had lived to see it and receive reprint fees, does anyone have anything to say about it?  Or anything else Gerber-related?  Post it as a comment to this message.