Sometime last fall, I stumbled across a handful of comic book related websites and blogs that I’ve been enjoying ever since — especially this one and this one.
While my comic reading habits these days are pretty limited to a handful of titles somewhat outside of the mainstream, I like keeping in touch with what’s happening in the industry and the potent mix of powerdork joy and trivia that infuses these sites.
I was very lucky as a kid to have an older brother who read comics and didn’t seem to mind when I’d paw through them. I constantly read and reread his mishmash of Legion of Superheroes, Captain America, The Invaders, and (of course) Batman. I must have been eight or nine at the time I started reading them, perhaps earlier. Heady stuff some of it, to say the least.
This was all during the pre-collecting days, when it was perfectly normal to keep comics piled haphazardly in a cardboard box. Mylar bags were nowhere to be found. I dug through them all the time and most of what I know about dramatic structure, storytelling, character, and mood started with those books.
One of the other standouts in my brother’s box was Steve Gerber’s original run on Howard the Duck — certainly baffling to a nine year old kid on many levels, but entirely enjoyable as well.
The deeply disappointing Howard the Duck movie was one of the first times when I would feel compelled to explain to a friend that while the movie was horrible, the comic was worth reading. Sadly, it’s a conversation I’ve had many times since.
Checking my various news feeds this morning, I found the comic sites buzzing with the news that Steve Gerber passed away yesterday. Reading the various remembrances opened my eyes to how much he’d done in his long career, how much influence he’d had in the industry, and the resonance his personal battles have had for the rights of all creators.
But mostly it made me wish — not for the first time, alas — that I knew what had happened to that cardboard box, so I could dig it out and reread Howard the Duck all over again.
Goodbye Steve, and thanks…