“Doctor Fate” collects final Gerber stories
By Matthew Price
WORD BALLOONS
Steve Gerber’s final stories, recently collected by DC Comics, show the iconoclastic writer never lost his touch. Gerber passed away at the age of 60 on Feb. 10 in Las Vegas. This month, DC Comics released “Countdown to Mystery: Doctor Fate,” the seventh issue of which Gerber worked on from his hospital bed.
In “Countdown to Mystery,” the new Doctor Fate is Kent V. Nelson, a psychiatrist related to the original Doctor Fate. With the art team of Justiano and Walden Wong, Gerber introduces a new Fate in a world where the rules of magic have changed.
Nelson has hit rock-bottom as the series begins. After failing in his duties, Nelson succumbs to depression and alcoholism. When the mystical helmet of Fate finds him, he’s lying in a Dumpster after being beaten in a filmed bum-fighting bout.
The helmet doesn’t immediately turn Nelson into a hero, however: He still must battle his own demons before he can face external evil threats.
The original Doctor Fate was created by Gardner Fox and Howard Sherman in “More Fun Comics” No. 55 in 1940. Gerber titled his story “More Pain,” in homage to the original character, and reflective of the difficult path the new Fate must traverse.
After Gerber’s death, Adam Beechen, Mark Evanier, Gail Simone and Mark Waid each wrote possible finales for the series. While it hasn’t been revealed which – if any – of the endings will be canonical, Gerber made Doctor Fate both original and personal while also setting the character up well for a possible future ongoing series. However, whether anyone could properly write that series other than Gerber is debatable.
Gerber came to prominence in the 1970s, perhaps the most important of the second wave of Marvel creators. His deconstructive run on “The Defenders” expanded the limits of what could be done with a Marvel comic book. He created “Howard the Duck” for Marvel, which became a hit, expanding from comic book to magazine to newspaper strip. When Marvel removed Gerber from the newspaper strip, Gerber fought one of the first battles for comic-book creator rights, filing suit against Marvel.
It’s unfortunate that most people, if they remember “Howard the Duck” at all, will only remember the bomb of a movie released in 1986 (which had very little to do with Gerber’s vision). Gerber’s satirical take on society can still be found in “The Essential Howard the Duck,” and despite the changing times, it still holds up. As does “Countdown to Mystery: Doctor Fate,” available now in softcover.
(From Friday’s The Oklahoman)
If you enjoyed this post, please consider to leave a comment or subscribe to the feed and get future articles delivered to your feed reader.
I have this site bookmarked. Thanks from Kredit