'Duck' and cover: Steve Gerber needs help

When I was a kid, Steve Gerber was the guy who wrote the weird comics.

I remember picking up "Howard the Duck" in the 1970s and, as a young reader accustomed to superheroes, it was downright unsettling to read its edgy satire and oddball stories. Unsettling but also fascinating. I didn't get all the jokes, but I sure wanted to. Compared with the rest of the Marvel universe, his books were like off-kilter David Letterman pranks intruding into a Johnny Carson world of mainstream capes.

Later I would learn the word for it: "subversive."

(All of this makes it especially disappointing that Howard is now known best as the title character of the excruciatingly bad 1986 film.)

Gerber also wrote a "Phantom Zone" miniseries I loved as a kid, and he did a definitive run on Man-Thing and many other quirky characters that always seemed more sly and strange than the superhero stiffs who battled monologue villains in other titles. Gerber also wrote the Marvel Comics adventure of KISS, cementing his persona in my mind as "the weird guy." He also created Korvac, the bad guy who single-handedly offed the Avengers. These days Gerber is writing "Dr. Fate" for DC.

Why this Gerber retrospective? I got a note this morning about Gerber from Hero Initiative, which endeavors to help comics creators past and present deal with major financial and health challenges.

Why? It turns out that Steve Gerber is in a bind and is turning to the public for help. He's a candidate for a lung transplant at UCLA, but to get on the formal waiting list he needs a place to recuperate here in Southern California. Keep reading to see a letter from Steve himself on the situation.

-- Geoff Boucher

Here's a note from Steve Gerber:

Hi.

Before I even start, allow me to apologize for the mass mailing and, even more so, for dumping this in your consciousness at all. If the problem weren't extraordinary,  I wouldn't be writing this note.

As you may have heard, I'm a candidate for a lung transplant at UCLA's Heart & Lung Transplant Center. (If you haven't heard and are interested in some details, I wrote about it here, on my blog.)

I've hit a snag, however.  UCLA won't put any patient on the waiting list unless he or she has a place to stay in the L.A. area for six weeks to three months after the operation, and a 24/7 caregiver for that same period. Unfortunately, insurance doesn't provide coverage for this kind of post-operative housing or care.

I've asked a handful of relatives and very close friends to help out with the caregiving. One way or another, I think it'll be possible to deal with that aspect of the problem.

Housing is another matter, and that's why I'm writing. I'm hoping someone out there knows of somebody with a spare room or guest house to rent, or an apartment or condo they want to sublet, or a stray bungalow, or an oversized doghouse in the backyard of a McMansion -- whatever -- anyplace where, for a relatively modest rent, a caregiver and I could spend my recovery time. The only other alternative is a recuperative hotel, which, frankly, is prohibitively expensive.

If you happen to know of any such available housing, please let me hear from you.  If not, I'd appreciate it if you'd just keep one ear open and let me know if you hear of anything over the next month or so. I'm getting along well enough, and I'm not likely to keel over in the next ten minutes or anything, but time is of the essence. UCLA would like to put me on the transplant list as soon as possible.

Thanks for reading this.  Hope I haven't spoiled your weekend. 

-- Steve

To email Steve, click here.

(Image of Howard the Duck courtesy of Marvel Comics)