Gerry Conway

Well, dammit, the specter of death has claimed another part of my comic book reading youth.

Writer Gerry Conway has died.

A lot of the obituraries I've seen focused on his work for Marvel, creating The Punisher, Werewolf by Night, Ms. Marvel and...

His work on Spider-Man where he famously killed off Gwen Stacy.

I knew Gerry's work at DC Comics where he had long runs on Superman, Batman and Wonder Woman and very long stretch on Justice League of America.

One of Gerry's most outstanding issues of JLA was the super sized 200th issue with artist George Perez and assorted guest artists like Joe Kubert, Brian Bolland, Jim Aparo and more.

DC is releasing a facsimile edition of JLA#200 this summer.

I will be honest that Conway was not always a favorite writer. Particularly during DC's Implosion era where Conway did a lot of heavy lifting on titles as competent comic book writer person. 

Superboy & the Legion of Super Heroes comes to mind.

But even when merely being competent and not great, Conway still managed to deliver some good solid writing. 

He brought a sense of depth and maturity to DC characters who otherwise lacked nuanced characterization.  

And when Conway was truly inspired, the passion showed.

Like in his best known DC creation, Firestorm.

Mark Evanier described Gerry Conway as "a good writer, a good guy and a good friend. "

I've never heard anyone say a negative word by the man.

He was a big part of my childhood comic book reading experience.  And he will be missed.