Gerber is best known as the creator of Howard the Duck, but his relationship with the character has been bittersweet. While Howard has had a positive effect on Gerber's career, it has also caused him a lot of trouble. Gerber had a legal battle with Marvel Comics over the ownership of Howard, which they settled out of court. Since then, he has made attempts to return to writing Howard, but each time something has gone wrong, ruining the experience. He currently feels that he will not be returning to Howard again.

Gerber also created Destroyer Duck with the legendary Jack Kirby. He has written and co-created many comic books, with Man-Thing, Defenders, and Void Indigo being others he is probably best remembered for. Besides writing comic books, which has been his number one occupation, he has mostly been involved in writing for animation. He is also a former editor at Marvel Comics, and he has his own web site, too, called Gerber's Alarming World. He is currently working on Nevada, a new series for Vertigo, set to debut in March, 1998.

Why did you first decide to become a writer?

You know, I don't think I've ever been asked that question before. I'm not sure I can answer it easily, either.

I may have had a somewhat unusual upbringing, in that my mother and, to a lesser extent, my father always encouraged my interest in writing and in the performing arts. I suspect my mother always wanted to be a writer herself, and my father, or so the legend goes, had a brief career as a nightclub hoofer after World War II. Neither of them fulfilled their ambitions in those areas, and since I was their firstborn, they handed them down to me. Of course, I think they were mildly horrified when they realized I took the legacy seriously enough to stake my livelihood on it. They would much rather I had prepared for a "real" career, so I'd have something to fall back on.

Temperamentally, though, I was different from my parents. To a certain extent, I've always lived inside my own head. When I was a little kid, in first or second grade, I was always off by myself on the playground, thinking about weird little stories and characters. I also wrote and drew my own comics from the time I was five or six years old. I can't even tell you why I did, except that it seemed a perfectly natural thing to do. The artwork was terrible though, even for a six-year-old -- and it hasn't improved since then -- so I knew I was never going to be a cartoonist.

For a long time, I thought I wanted to be a performer -- a stand-up comic, maybe, or a radio personality, or a comedic actor. But that involved writing, too. I used to write a lot of my own material for talent shows and the like. A friend and I wrote the senior assembly for our class, a full-blown three-act musical parody of "Bye Bye Birdie" set in the Soviet Union. We also directed that production, but didn't perform in it. I think I discovered then that I enjoyed working behind the scenes of a production at least as much as getting out on stage.

A few years earlier than that, when I was still in junior high, my parents allowed me to buy a ditto machine to publish a comic book fanzine. Later, in high school, some friends and I used that same machine to print an underground magazine. The magazine wasn't political at all. It was a good-natured humor rag called Nerve. Nevertheless, it was banned from campus, because it was "unauthorized" by the school administration. That incident, I think, may have been when I first began to appreciate the power of the printed word and when I realized that humor could be employed subversively.

Anyway, to make a long self-analysis short, sometime during college I completely lost the urge to perform and became much more interested in seeing my thoughts take form on a page. I suppose it was the result of reading more serious works, meeting and talking to people who took life and literature more seriously, and, of course, a natural process of maturation and realizing where my talents actually lay.

What projects, inside or outside of comics, are you working on for the future?

Right now, all my efforts are concentrated on Nevada, the new series I'm doing for Vertigo. I'm making mental notes on a few other things, though -- a very strange science fiction series, a possible Superman story, a very provocative graphic novel idea that came out of a discussion with Phil Winslade, the artist on Neveda.

I did some scripts for the Superman and Batman cartoon series early in 1997, and those shows are just airing now, but I don't have any future plans to work in animation, movies, or TV.

What was it like writing scripts for the Superman and Batman cartoon series?

It was a great pleasure working with Alan Burnett and Paul Dini, who produced the two shows, and with the other writers on the series. You'd be hard put to find a brighter, more inventive bunch of people in animation -- especially in the field of animated adventure shows. I was highly impressed with how seriously they took the characters and their worlds. The animated shows depart here and there from the comics, as you probably know, but there was a real effort to keep the cartoon universe consistent within itself.

Mark Evanier and I collaborated on two Superman scripts, "Father's Day" and "Scott Free." The former contrasts the relationship between Clark and Pa Kent with that of Darkseid and Kalibak. It also has one of the longest, most grueling, most Kirbyesque fight sequences in the recent history of TV animation. The latter, of course, introduces Mr. Miracle to the show, along with Barda, Oberon, Granny Goodness, the Para-Demons and lord knows what else. Both of these were a lot of fun to write.

I also did several Batman episodes. One of those introduces the Creeper. Another is about a romance between Baby Doll and Killer Croc. (Yes, seriously.) I wrote the outline for a third, called "Critters", but someone else wrote the script from that outline due to some personal problems I was having at the time. And I scripted the middle chapter of the three-part "World's Finest," a Superman-Batman team-up, naturally, from Alan and Paul's outline.

All in all, working on these two shows was probably the second-best experience I've ever had in animation. The best was G.I. Joe, back in '84-'85.

The new series you are working on for Vertigo, called Nevada, that will come out in early '98. What is that about?

It's about a Las Vegas showgirl named Nevada, an ostrich, a drunken mystic, a cybernetically-altered gangster, the true nature of good and evil in the universe, and the current state of human relations.

The first issue of the series goes on sale in March, and there's a preview story in the Vertigo holiday special, Winter's Edge, which is in the stores now.

What do you enjoy about writing Nevada, and what do you think fans will enjoy about it?

Where do I begin?

This is going to sound immodest, but the characters are some of the liveliest I've ever created. Nevada is smart, funny, foul-mouthed, and very much a woman, not a good or bad "girl." The characters that surround her -- and there are a lot of them, a very extensive supporting cast -- are all unusual for comics. Some may seem to be familiar types at first, but the more you get to know them, the more they surprise you. (They've surprised me!) I truly enjoy spending time in the company of these people, and I think readers will, too.

The book itself has something in common with Man-Thing and Howard the Duck, in that it's impossible to categorize. It's a crime story, a horror story, a slice-of-life, and a cosmic saga all at once. It even has a few superheroic elements. And it's very funny. If readers come to it with an open mind, not expecting one thing or another, but rather one thing and another, they'll have a very good time.

The fans are also going to love the art. Phil Winslade is an excellent storyteller, and his rendition of Nevada is gorgeous. She's sexy as hell, but in an extremely subtle, realistic way. She doesn't have boobs the size of 747s. Her mouth isn't perpetually set in that silly comic-book pout. Instead, she looks and moves like a dancer. Phil has imbued her with a completely believable sensuality that makes the bad girls seem like cartoons.

Many people in entertainment try to distance themselves from their audience. You, on the other hand, have up a wonderful web site, which talks about your career. Why did you decide to have a web site?

Unlike a lot of comic book people, I've never been afraid of technology, and I like to stay reasonably current with what's happening in the computer field. I've always had a special interest in computer telecommunications. I've been on CompuServe for, oh, about thirteen years now, and I used to run a BBS for writers here in L.A. So when the web began to explode, I thought it was something I ought to learn about.

Beyond that, it seemed like an interesting way to let people know I was still alive and working in comics. And I had some old stories in my files that I thought the fans might be curious to read, work that had never been published. So I had enough content on hand to put together a site that had more to say than, "Wowee! Looka my page! It's under construction! Welcome to my world! Looka, looka!"

And finally, I enjoy communicating with the people who read my work. I used to read all the fan mail on my Marvel books personally, and I wrote the editorial responses in all the letters pages for those books. I learned a lot from those letters, even the highly critical ones and those I didn't agree with. I appreciated the fact that a reader would take the time and effort to write. The web site provides a way for me to stay in touch.

I suppose we should supply a link here. Okay, folks -- come visit Gerber's Alarming World.

Howard the Duck seems to be appearing more in Marvel comic books lately than he has in a long, long time. What comments would you like to make about that?

Very few. As far as I'm concerned, Howard the Duck is dead. The duck that Marvel publishes is a soulless clone. A fuller explanation of these remarks can be found at the "official" Howard the Duck DEATH Page and at the site for the SAVAGE DRAGON/DESTROYER DUCK book that Image published last year.

Are there any old series that you own that you would like to one day bring back, and write again?

Yes, there's one: Void Indigo. That series was too far ahead of its time. The negative reaction it provoked on the part of distributors, who actually urged their retailers to boycott the book, was grossly overblown. The story had an interesting premise and some of the oddest characters I've ever written. I'm determined to see it back on the stands one of these days, even if I have to publish it myself -- and I probably will. Even now, no publisher wants to go near it.

I got a huge kick out of writing Destroyer Duck again last year for the Savage Dragon/Destroyer Duck special, but I don't feel any pressing desire at the moment to bring him back on a regular basis. Likewise for Stewart the Rat -- although that character has been rattling around at the back of my mind lately. It's still just random noise, not a story yet.

Void Indigo, in its day, despite being treated unfairly, was still a series that most people who buy comics had heard of. It's surprising that no publisher today would take a chance with it, especially considering how extremely low their other titles are selling. Why do you think that publishers are staying away from it?

There are several reasons. When the market is depressed, publishers become extremely conservative. Instead of innovating, which might actually help them, they try to duplicate their other successes. So, really, now is the least likely time any major publisher would take a chance on Void Indigo.

Then, there's the reputation of the book itself. When it was released back in the early 80s, Void Indigo was considered beyond the pale in terms of its sexual content and violence. The distributors actively urged their retailers to boycott it. Bob Ingersoll called it a "crime against humanity" in his Buyer's Guide column. And Bob was far from the only reviewer to come down on it like a Ford Taurus dropped from 40,000 feet. Void Indigo was a rarity: a scary comic book that actually scared people.

So, naturally, the book is "tainted" now. Publishers perceive it not only as a failure, but as a controversial failure, which is much, much worse.

It does warm my heart, though, that so many people have heard of it, if only second-hand.

Other mediums must be a lot more rewarding, financially, that comic books. Why have you decided to continue to write comics?

Again, there are several reasons.

I don't like the movie business. Most of the people in film are even more self-absorbed and narcissistic than the worst of the comic book crowd. I just don't need that in my life. I don't care about movies passionately enough to endure the aggravation that comes with working in the field.

I don't really care for most of Hollywood's output, either. Assuming I'd have any talent for writing screenplays, I doubt I'd ever be able to sell one for a movie that I'd pay to see. This problem exists in comics, too, but it's a hundred times worse in movies.

Television has all the same nuttiness problems, plus the joy of network censors.

And there's another problem, for me, with both movies and TV. The final product often bears little or no resemblance to what the writer puts on the page. By the time a film or TV show gets to the screen, the writer has collaborated with literally hundreds of people, and a little of the original vision has gotten lost at each step between script and finished product.

In comics, by contrast, a writer collaborates with a handful of people -- editor, artist, inker, letterer, colorist. Under the best of circumstances, those people are working together toward the success of the comic book, not against each other in some misguided bid for power, or solely for the gratification of their individual egos.

It's usually very clear to a writer that if the art sucks, the comic book sucks, however good the script may be. It's equally clear to the more intelligent artists in the business that the reverse is true. It's easier to keep sight of the original objective -- producing something worth reading -- in a smaller, more intimate collaboration.

And, of course -- I happen to love the medium of comics.

You enjoy the experience that writing for comics give you, as opposed to filmed projects. You wrote some short stories years ago that are at your web site. Does writing novels have any interest for you now, especially since it would seem like there is a lot of freedom to writing them? Do you think that something like Void Indigo would work as a novel?

I'm not sure any of the work I've done for comics would translate well to prose. All of it was written to be visualized by an artist. Also, I suspect I'd have trouble keeping a straight face while writing a prose description of Jhagur, the lead character in Void Indigo -- an alien with indigo eyes, crimson skin, bald on the top of his head with long bluish-white hair around the sides and back, and dressed in black body armor? Readers accept the visual image of a character like Jhagur, because it's there. They don't have to stop and think about it or question its reality. If they had to piece the image together from words, I think they'd have a much tougher time with it.

As for the more general question, I really don't know. The last time I gave any serious thought to writing a novel was in college -- where everybody, at least for one semester, gives serious thought to writing a novel. It's something I might like to try one day, though.

In comic books, many of the characters seem like copies of each other. In your work, your characters are different and original. Please talk about your approach to characters in general.

I was just telling someone on the CompuServe Comics Forum that I spend a lot of time thinking about what a character's life is like "off-panel," in those moments that don't relate to the story and thus rarely appear on the comic book page. I want to know how a character thinks and behaves as a person first. So I ask myself a lot of questions.

What books does he (or she) read? What foods does he like or dislike? Where does he stand politically? What kind of music does he listen to? What does he do in his or her spare time? What draws him to another person as a friend? How confident is he of himself and his beliefs? What was his childhood like? What is he afraid of? Does he believe in a religion? How much education does he have? How secure is he financially? What does he want in life that he hasn't yet achieved or obtained? Does he sing in the shower? Is he good in bed?

It doesn't matter if the character is Nevada, Howard the Duck, or Kang the Conqueror. Knowing the answers -- or at least having a sense of the answers -- to questions like these is key to understanding what the character will or won't do, and why.

You've probably noticed that I haven't mentioned costumes, super-powers, or origin stories. That's because in most cases -- with a few notable exceptions -- they truly don't matter much. Spider-Man, for example, has a rather conventional costume, derivative super-powers, and an origin that can best be described as "charming" in its naivete. What drew people to Spider-Man was Peter Parker, not the web-shooters. Stan Lee understood the guy who was wearing the costume and wrote him accordingly.

The exceptions I mentioned are characters whose origins, costumes, and powers relate directly to who they are as people. The classic trio of Superman, Batman, and Wonder Woman are probably the best examples.

You have worked with some of the Image studios in recent years. What was that like?

For the most part, very pleasant. The Image guys aren't the rampaging egomaniacs that fans seem to believe they are. Jim Lee is a real gentleman and a very canny businessman. Marc Silvestri was always gracious to me and liked my work on Codename: Stryke Force. And Erik Larsen, despite the bad-boy image he's acquired (and, to some extent, cultivated), is one of the most generous human beings on the planet. Working with him on Savage Dragon/Destroyer Duck was great fun.

Unfortunately, I've never had the opportunity to work on a long-term project with any of the Image studios. Most of my work has been on specials, miniseries, and such. The one continuing series, Stryke Force, was cancelled before I had much of a chance to get it moving. I'd be curious to see what would happen if one of the Image studios handed me a continuing series and just let me run with it, the way Alan Moore has with Supreme.

Do you have any favorite stories from your career that you have written?

Oh, sure. The Foolkiller limited series, which comprised one long story. The Phantom Zone miniseries, again one story. Howard the Duck #2, the one with the Space Turnip. Howard the Duck #19, "Howard the Human." MAN-THING #5 and #6 (I think), "Night of the Laughing Dead." There's also a story that Gene Colan and I did for Dracula Lives -- I don't recall the title -- in which Drac was trapped in the Vatican, and no matter where he turned, there was a crucifix staring him in the face.

And, of course, Nevada. Which is rapidly becoming my all-time favorite.

(C) Copyright Steve Cadigan, 1997. All rights reserved. Send e-mail to the author to: home@seascape.com