Steve Gerber, who died at 60 this past Sunday, went out with his writing boots on. Check his blog for some of his last entries.He affected many of us at an impressionable age, with stories like "The Kid's Night Out" in Giant Size Man-Thing #4. Here is a link to The Comics Journal coverage.
From the Wiki: "Gerber initially penned standard superhero stories for titles such as Daredevil and Sub-Mariner, but soon developed an individual voice that mixed adventure with social satire and absurdist humor. In one issue of The Defenders, for example, a group of supervillains, tired of always being beaten by the good guys, seeks out a self-help guru for motivation."
More:
I keep thinking about "The Kid's Night Out" when I try to think of what it meant to be reading Steve's stuff as a kid. But it's more than that and it's part of my life. What a great gift those comics were. I remember being bugged by my hebrew school teacher b/c I was reading a copy of Man-Thing instead of studying my Bar-Mitzvah material. HA! That mediocre teacher didn't impart a fraction of the morality, humor, meaning and even, yes, Jewish values that Gerber's comics did in those days.
Here is a link to The Comics Journal's interview with Steve Gerber in the late 70's.
"They dig a hole. And they put you in it." Ah, we will miss you, Steve.
Rest in peace.
