Steve Gerber, creator of Marvel’s Howard the Duck comic-book series, died Monday in a hospital in Las Vegas while awaiting a lung transplant. He joined the Marvel ranks in the 1970s and has written for a number of comic series, including Man-Thing, Sub-Mariner, Daredevil, The Phantom Zone, The Legion of Night and Guardians of the Galaxy. Gerber also wrote for a number of other publishers and was working on Countdown to Mystery: Doctor Fate for DC Comics when he passed away at the age 60.
Howard the Duck, an anthropomorphized, cigar-chomping alien quacker, first appeared as a secondary character in a Man-Thing story in Marvel’s Adventure into Fear #19, published in December of 1973. Gerber eventually penned 27 issues of Howard the Duck, which became a cult hit with its biting social satire and parodies of other genre staples. He also became editor of the series, but was removed in 1978 over creative control issues. He then unsuccessfully attempted to sue Marvel for rights to the character. Disney also threatened legal action and forced Marvel to alter the character design because it too closely resembled Donald Duck.
In 1986, director George Lucas and Universal Pictures released a live-action Howard the Duck feature film, which was poorly received and blasted by fans of the comics for abandoning the sly wit and subversive humor that marked Marvel’s version.
Gerber, who had little to do with the movie, returned to the Howard the Duck comic series from time to time, penning a miniseries in 2001. And while the character never found his way to animation, Gerber wrote for such animated series as Thundar the Barbarian, G.I. Joe, Superman, Mr. T, Yu-GI-Oh! and The New Batman Adventures.
