Gerry Conway, the prolific comic book writer and creator best known to fans for his many creations and tenure as Marvel Editor-in-Chief, has passed away. Marvel brings word of Conway’s death, though no details of how he passed were revealed. Conway was 73 and is survived by his wife, Laura Conway.
“From Spider-Man to the Avengers, Iron Man to Captain Marvel, Gerry Conway has deftly written almost every character in the Marvel Universe,” Marvel Comics Editor-in-Chief C.B. Cebulski wrote in a statement. “He thrilled us with new characters like the Punisher and broke our hearts in emotional tales like ‘The Night Gwen Stacy Died,’ a story that affects Spider-Man to this day. Gerry Conway’s legacy has made an undeniable and indelible impact on the Super Hero stories we know and love. He will be dearly missed.”
Born September 10, 1952, in Brooklyn, Conway was a lifelong comic fan who got his start in the medium at a young age, writing stories and selling them at 16 to DC and Marvel before being hired for his first professional work at 20 for Marvel’s Astonishing Tales #3, an issue featuring Ka-Zar. After getting his foot in the door at the house of ideas, Conway was quickly given the reins to key characters like Daredevil, Iron Man, and The Incredible Hulk. With his time writing the Man Without Fear, Conway would bring two major new wrinkles to the lore of Daredevil, introducing his relationship with the Black Widow but also taking him out of New York and moving the hero to San Francisco. Conway would also kickstart some legendary horror stories with Marvel, writing the legendary Tomb of Dracula and creating the character Werewolf by Night.
Beyond his early works, Conway would really make a name for himself at Marvel when he began writing Spider-Man. He was given the task of penning Spider-Man, starting with The Amazing Spider-Man #111, writing the character all the way to Amazing Spider-Man #149, and introducing a slew of key characters like The Jackal, The Punisher, Hammerhead, Tarantula, and Tombstone. He was also the mastermind behind The Amazing Spider-Man #121, the aforementioned “The Night Gwen Stacy Died” that saw the death of Peter’s longtime girlfriend, Gwen Stacy, and which set the stage for Harry Osborn taking on the mantle of Green Goblin. In Conway’s final issue of Amazing Spider-Man, he introduced a major character and wrinkle to the lore with Ben Reilly, Peter’s clone.
“Gerry Conway brought real stakes to his writing, able to weave together sensational super heroics with the human and relatable, and in doing so created some of the most memorable stories and characters of all time,” Marvel Studios President Kevin Feige said in a statement. “His writing has been hugely impactful across our comics, but it has also inspired so much of what we’ve done on screen, from Werewolf by Night to Daredevil to Spider-Man and Punisher. Gerry was a wonderful collaborator and friend to so many and will be dearly missed.”
After working as a writer for many years, Conway eventually moved up the ladder and briefly became Marvel Comics’ editor-in-chief, eventually deciding to return to his post as a writer instead, returning to Spider-Man with the two hit ’80s titles, Peter Parker, the Spectacular Spider-Man and Web of Spider-Man. Conway had an even wider reach at Marvel than just Spider-Man, co-creating the likes of Carol Danvers as Ms. Marvel, plus Man-Thing, and writing the biggest teams at the publisher, including The Avengers, Fantastic Four, and the Defenders.
Conway’s comic work wasn’t limited to just Marvel, though, working at DC for an almost 100-issue run on Justice League of America through the 1970s and 80s, plus extended runs on Batman and Detective Comics. At that publisher, Conway once again had an abundance of new characters that he created, which not only remain pivotal to the storytelling of DC comics, but to their ventures in other media. Conway created heroes including Firestorm, Power Girl, and Jason Todd as the second Robin to Batman; he’d also create classic villains like Killer Croc, Cheetah, and Killer Frost. His work with DC went beyond the comic page, though, with Conway also writing episodes of Batman: The Animated Series.
Earlier this year, in January, it was confirmed that Gerry Conway was set to be inducted into The Will Eisner Comic Awards Hall of Fame. Our thoughts are with his family and friends during this time.
