Steve in Hall of Fame
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.
July 27th, 2010 at 6:49 AM
Most deserving honor. How unfortunate that it is posthumous.
July 27th, 2010 at 2:12 PM
The detail that keeps snagging my attention is Steve being inducted alongside Mort Weisinger. Here you have two guys whose reputations were diametrically opposed in many ways and whose attitudes on many subjects were totally incompatible…but Gerber was so fascinated by the Silver Age Superman and its influence constantly showed in his work. In a weird way, Gerber and Weisinger shared an idea that the lowly superhero comic could be used as a vehicle for exploring and working out deep psychosexual and social issues in lurid hallucinatory images. I doubt Weisinger would have seen the similarity but I bet Gerber would have, and the incongruous pairing would have appealed to his sense of the absurd. And of course, each inspired Jim Mooney to do his greatest work.
If the video of the presentation is available online, could you post a link here? I’d so love to see Mary and Samantha’s appearance…as I’d love to see what Paul Levitz and Weisinger’s daughter said on his behalf.
July 28th, 2010 at 5:06 AM
A well deserved honor and greatly appreciated gesture that Mary Skrenes was there as well. I just don’t know if Steve really would be honored if he still where alive. As someone pointed out allready, he probaply would have gtaken it as a sign that most people think his prime work was behind him… but perhaps it would also sompelled him to prove them wrong.
His last work on Dr. Fate had the making of a real great series and it really is a shame that he couldn’t work more on it.
August 10th, 2010 at 10:39 AM
I came to this site as a result of just re-reading Steve’s amazing, chalenging and enlightening run on “The Defenders.” Truly sad to learn of his demise and totally in favour of his induction.
August 22nd, 2010 at 7:25 PM
Tom Spurgeon’s Comics Reporter site ran a list of 25 comics from the 70s that were indicative of that era. Howard the Duck made the list, which does not include much from the big two. Always good to see people remembering Steve’s work.
http://www.comicsreporter.com/index.php/25emblematiccomicsofthe_70s/
September 3rd, 2010 at 7:23 PM
In Mark Evanier’s blog, he refers to writers getting work because they’re friends with an editor who gives them a break. Reminded me of how many people got their start in comics because Steve Gerber believed in them.
September 13th, 2010 at 10:50 AM
Steve in the Hall of Fame? Richly deserved, of course, and, yes Mark, maybe a little late, but I seem to hear the echo of a chuckle from the worlds beyond. And one of these days I must get to a San Diego Comic-Con … but it’s a long haul from England …
September 19th, 2010 at 3:19 AM
Just read Steve’s 3-issue run on Mister Miracle (OK, a little late as they were published in 1978). Wonderful! And the art by Michael Golden is really good too. As so often in Steve’s career, one’s left with a sense of something great just taking off before being shot down by a comic book company. In this case the series fell to the night of the long knives known as ‘the DC Implosion’ and we’re left with just issues 23-25 to show what might have been. If Steve and Mike Golden had been around at DC in ’71 and had taken over the reins on Mister Miracle under Kirby’s editorial guidance … ? But then we’d not have been treated to the adventures of a certain cigar-smoking fowl. And, I guess, one of the benefits of being a Gerber fan is that there are these little lost gems lurking around amongst the back-issues. Another example I only found a couple of years ago was Steve’s run on Sensational She-Hulk (#10, 11, 13-23, 1989-90). Which reminds me, I must see if I can get hold of the Thundarr the Barbarian TV shows … Steve Gerber was touched with genius in a way that few comic creators are and his genius reached out and touched the rest of us, even from the humble pages of four-colour funny-books.
September 21st, 2010 at 6:05 PM
To Philip: Let’s not forget his run as story editor on GI Joe.
September 22nd, 2010 at 10:59 AM
A well deserved honor for a remarkable man. I am so glad that Mary could be there for him. He is truly missed.
October 9th, 2010 at 10:39 AM
Steve inspires me, still. Other than an Essentials-driven brush with Howard the Duck, I’d been away from comics over much of the past decade and still have quite a few Gerber-scripted gems to recover. The Seven Soldiers of Steve meme even inspired me recently to explore the literary tastiness of his hidden Iron Man annual in essay, and before that, to redefine the way I’d go on to write super-types, especially, after collecting his Defenders and Omega runs. He was blessed to sometimes write questions into his work than even HE didn’t see as he translated vision to writing. He is my hero.
January 17th, 2011 at 7:11 PM
Just wanted to drop by and say “hi to Steve.” He comes to mind all the time.
January 23rd, 2011 at 6:09 PM
I came across the two issues of Nightmare on Elm Street while going through my comics to purge unwanted items. I thought I had sold those; now I’m exceptionally glad I didn’t. Nothing much to add, except: Still miss you, Steve.
January 30th, 2011 at 9:57 AM
Mark, I just wanted to say thanks for keeping this site running. It’s good to check in once in a while and read some of Stave’s posts.
February 3rd, 2011 at 8:22 PM
After reading my beatup copies of Omega The Unknown for like the 50th time I found this tribute page and I can’t think of any writer more deserving for the HOF than Steve. To me he is THE 1970’s writer! His run on Man-Thing gave me chills as a kid and still does; his talent for scripting characters who cannot speak (MT, OTU) is unmatched.
About 5 years ago my old band Sons Of Liberty did a song “Foolkiller” based on my favorite “hero” Steve created. I had emailed him about it with alink to our page where he could hear it, but didn’t get a reply. I hope he liked it and approved because it was with the utmost respect. And it probably got some of our fans to go hunting at a comic shop. If anyone wants to hear it:
http://www.myspace.com/sonsoflibertyusa
February 10th, 2011 at 6:47 PM
Missing Steve’s live feed.
February 11th, 2011 at 4:46 PM
Missing Steve.
April 20th, 2011 at 6:04 PM
The biggest thrill in my young life–when I was seven and eight years old–was finding that the latest Gerber Defenders had arrived at the local convenience store, which stocked comics. Luckier than most kids who discover comics today, I started by encountering the Headmen. To consider the gifts that Steve left us from that run in the 1970’s….
April 26th, 2011 at 2:56 PM
Our esteemed host, Mark Evanier, just pointed to a column by Gail Simone about breaking into comics (http://gailsimone.tumblr.com/post/4654769851/brutal-tips-on-breaking-into-comics-warning-long). Unfortunately, she is no longer able to give what was one of the best ways of breaking into comics:
1) Have talent.
2) Make friends with Steve Gerber.
I know that there are more than a few reading this who got into comics that very way; I would have been among them if I hadn’t had a very lucrative day job and knew better than most which way the comics business was going.