Steve Gerber passed away last night. If you met Steve or were just a fan of his, please go to Mark Evanier's blog for the full story.

I met Steve in 1972 when I was hired by Marvel to replace him on staff as he went freelance. Steve had some sort of sleeping disorder that made it impossible for him to wake up and get to the office anywhere resembling on time, which was probably the best thing that could have happened because it forced him to become full time writer instead of a desk jockey. Steve quickly established himself with a very independent voice at a time when most writers, myself included, strove to fit into the basic Marvel formula. There was no mistaking a Steve Gerber story, good or bad, though mostly good. It was paced differently from anyone else's script. His characters acted like no other. And his stories went places where no other writer would think of going. His mind just operated differently than the rest of us which made his stories unique. I was never quite sure what I was going to get when, as an editor I proofread a Steve Gerber story, but good, bad, or a combination of both, it was always something I knew I could never have come up with on my own. Steve also had the absolute best command of the English language of any of his peers. Even when I didn't understand his stories I marveled at his pure writing ability.

Steve was one of those people who somehow drew you into his circle pretty quickly even though it would be hard to explain why. He had a weird, unexplainable and quirky charisma that somehow made its way past a number of surface ticks that should have made that impossible. Some people have the ability to make you feel like you've known them all your life after five minutes. I don't know how it's done, but Steve was like that.

I was always friendly with Steve but we never were that close. Never pals but always two work friends who could shoot the breeze for ten minutes or so. When I'd run into him at a convention he always had that Jack Klugmanesque lopsided smile when he greeted me and he always seemed genuinely happy to see me.

As often happens, especially after Steve moved to the West Coast and I was on the East, we lost touch with each other. I heard he got into animation but that was about it. But sometime in '84 or '85 Steve called and told me he was the story editor for the G.I. Joe cartoon show and asked if I would like to write an episode for him. I had never previously thought about writing animation since the people who did that lived on the West Coast, but I said yes. I wrote one for him then another. Then, through Steve, Sunbow, the company we were working for, called to ask if I'd be interested in becoming a Producer in their New York office. By this point I was actually planning to move to Los Angeles so I couldn't do it. Instead they asked if I'd like to be a story-editor for Transformers. I said yes. So Steve got me an entirely new career.

I saw Steve more often because we both worked out of Sunbow's Westwood offices. When Sunbow went away I found myself as story editor for the Superman cartoon show on CBS and hired him to work on it. As usual, Steve was a little bit late but the script was great. I saw Steve some more but then he moved to Las Vegas.

And now he's gone.

His death sadly wasn't a surprise. Most of us knew his condition. The last time I spoke to him was a few months ago over the phone in Mark Evanier's car. We knew then his health was failing but we had our fingers crossed that he'd get his operation in time. Last week I was having lunch with a friend who kept in touch with Steve. He said not only had Steve not yet had the operation but that there might be complications that would prevent it. All I could say to that was damn.

Steve was a really good guy and a great writer. It is so sad that he had to suffer at the end. Nobody deserves that and certainly not someone who brought so much joy to so many for so long. He will definitely be missed. Damn.

Labels: Steve Gerber