R.I.P. Steve Gerber

Ay, Dios. The icons of my teenage years seem to be dying all over the place. First actress Suzanne Pleshette died on the 19th of last month, then actor Roy Scheider died on the 10th of this month, and now I find out that comic book writer Steve Gerber died on the 10 of this month as well.

True, he was never as famous as the first two people...but he should have been. As creator of the comic book series Howard the Duck, he was very easily one of the best comic book satirists of the 1970s. Indeed, his work still packs a heck of a wallop even today.

Unfortunately, when most people think of Howard the Duck, they think of the George Lucas film of the same name, a movie even the most ardent Gerber fans have trouble defending. (Indeed, Gerber fans like myself hate the movie even worse than most people because we're familiar enough with the source material to suspect how great a Howard the Duck movie could have been had it been in the hands of the right filmmaker.)

Fortunately, Gerber's comic book work is starting to become available in paperback. But for how long, I won't even pretend to guess.

Please do not judge the guy by that stupid movie. Judge him by his words.

Come to think of it, that's how all great writers should be judged: by their words.