Steve Gerber

• Born 1947-09-20 · Died 2008-02-10

Steve Gerber was an American comic book writer and and best known as the creator of the satiric Marvel Comics character Howard the Duck. Gerber's comics writing career at Marvel began in 1972. He initially penned superhero stories for titles such as Daredevil (20 issues), Iron Man (three issues) and Sub-Mariner (11 issues). He also penned anthological horror-fantasy stories and humor pieces. Gerber scripted one of his signature features, Man-Thing, about a swamp-monster empath, beginning in Adventure into Fear #11 (Dec. 1972) and later in a solo title for 22 issues. With penciler Val Mayerik, Gerber created Howard the Duck as a secondary character in a Man-Thing story. Howard got his own series, which Gerber wrote for 28 issues. Gerber was replaced on the strip in mid-1978, by another comic book writer, creating acrimony. Later, Gerber filed a copyright infringement lawsuit against Marvel corporate parent Cadence Industries and other parties, alleging that he was the sole owner of the character. The lawsuit was settled on September 24, 1982. Gerber acknowledged that his work on the character had been done as work-for-hire and that Marvel parent Cadence Industries owned "all right, title and interest" to Howard the Duck and related material. In the 1980s Gerber scripted assorted projects for Marvel, including a Man-Thing feature in the anthology series Marvel Comics Presents and a 12-issue run on The Sensational She-Hulk. In the 1990s, he was one of the founders of the Malibu Comics superhero setting the Ultraverse and co-created Sludge and Exiles. Gerber often included lengthy text pages in the midst of comic book stories, such as in his graphic novel, Stewart the Rat. Gerber was posthumously inducted into the Will Eisner Comic Book Hall of Fame in 2010.