Gerard Francis Conway[2] (born September 10, 1952)[3] is an American comic book writer, comic book editor, science fiction writer,[4] screenwriter, television writer, and television producer.He is known for co-creating the Marvel Comicsvigilanteantihero the Punisher as well as Peter Parker's clone Ben Reilly, the super villain Jackal, and the first Ms. Marvel, and also writing the death of the character Gwen Stacy during his long run on The Amazing Spider-Man in the story arc "The Night Gwen Stacy Died".
At DC Comics, he is known for co-creating the superheroesFirestorm, Power Girl, Jason Todd
Conway wrote the first major, modern-day intercompany crossover, Superman vs. the Amazing Spider-Man.
Early life
Conway was born in Brooklyn, New York,[3] and was a fan of comics from a young age.A letter from him appears in Fantastic Four #50 (May 1966), written when Conway was 13.
Conway published his first professional comic book work at 16,[5] with the 61/2-page horror story "Aaron Philips' Photo Finish" in DC Comics' House of Secrets #81 (Sept. 1969).He continued selling such anthological stories for that series and for Marvel's Chamber of Darkness and Tower of Shadows through the end of 1970, by which time he had also published one-page text short stories in DC's All-Star Western #1 (Sept. 1970) and Super DC Giant #S-14 (Oct. 1970).He published his first continuing-character story in DC's semi-anthological occult comic The Phantom Stranger #10 (Dec. 1970).[6]
Conway recalled breaking into Marvel Comics through Marvel editor Roy Thomas:"I'd been writing for DC Comics for two or three years...but to paraphrase the joke about the actor's ambitions to be a director, what I really wanted to do was write superheroes – specifically Marvel heroes. Through friends I'd become acquainted with Roy Thomas, who was Stan Lee's right-hand man at the time, and Roy offered me a shot at the Marvel 'writing test.' Stan wasn't impressed, but Roy liked what I did, and began throwing some short assignments my way, including scripting over his plot on an early Ka-Zar [story].[7]"
Following his first continuing-character story for Marvel, with his script for the jungle lord Ka-Zar in Astonishing Tales #3 (Dec. 1970), Conway began writing superhero stories with Daredevil #72 (Jan. 1971).He quickly went on to assignments on Iron Man, The Incredible Hulk, and both "The Inhumans" and "The Black Widow" features in the split book Amazing Adventures.He scripted the first Man-Thing story, in 1971,[8] sharing co-creation credit with Stan Lee and Roy Thomas.[6] Conway eventually scripted virtually every major Marvel title, and co-created (with writers Roy and Jean Thomas and artist Mike Ploog
Spider-Man and intercompany rotation
At 19, Conway began scripting The Amazing Spider-Man, succeeding Stan Lee as writer of one of Marvel's flagship titles.[11] His run, from issues #111–149 (August 1972 – October 1975), included the landmark death of Gwen Stacy story in #121 (June 1973).[12][13][14] Eight issues later, Conway and Andru introduced the Punisher as a conflicted antagonist for Spider-Man, as well as the Jackal.[15] The Punisher became a popular star of numerous comic books and has been adapted into three movies and a live action television series.Conway additionally wrote Fantastic Four, from #133–152 (April 1973 – Nov. 1974).[6]
Personal life
Conway's first wife was comic-book writer Carla Conway.[60][61] The couple have a daughter, Cara.[60] His second wife, Karen, is a psychologist who works with autistic children.[5] They married in 1992 and have a daughter, Rachel.[60] As of 2015, Conway and Laura live in Thousand Oaks, California.[5]
Conway's ancestral family background is Irish, as he described in his blog: "In my case, on my mother's side, I'm a second-generation immigrant. My grandparents were born in Ireland. They came to America in the late 'teens of the last century and lived a life not very different from the life my housekeeper and her husband live today. My grandfather was a day laborer in the Brooklyn ship yards. My (step)-grandmother washed floors at Hunter College in Manhattan. (My biological grandmother died when my mother was eight years old, so I've no idea what she did to earn a living, but I assume it was either piece work or domestic work of some kind.) Because they were lower-class Irish, they were the Hispanics of their day – tolerated, but not embraced, by the larger society, and viewed with scorn by the WASP upper class. ... Even my father felt that anti-Irish prejudice, real or imagined. In the 1950s he once spoke, rather bitterly, about being one of the two 'token Irishmen' working at his company.[62]"
Conway was raised a Christian, but stated in a 2013 interview that he does not "have any religious belief at this point".[63]
In October 2022, Conway was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer and underwent Whipple surgery to remove the tumor, resulting in several hospitalizations.In September 2023, he declared that he was cancer-free.[64][65]
Awards and recognition
In 2026, Conway was selected for inclusion in the Eisner Hall of Fame.[66]
7.Allan Harvey. Black Widow: The Gloria Steinem of the Jump-Suit Set Back Issue!, TwoMorrows Publishing, February 2008^
8.Peter Sanderson. Marvel Chronicle A Year by Year History Dorling Kindersley, 2008^
9.Sanderson "1970s" in Gilbert (2008), p. 154: "Roy Thomas came up with the idea for a series called 'I, Werewolf', narrated in the first person by a teenager who transformed into a werewolf. Stan Lee liked the concept but decided to name it 'Werewolf by Night'. The initial creative team on the series was scripter Gerry Conway and artist Mike Ploog."^
10.Sanderson "1970s" in Gilbert (2008), p. 155: "Following the revision of the Comics Code, Stan Lee was eager to do a comics series about the archetypal vampire, novelist Bram Stoker's Dracula. Based on a few ideas from Lee, Roy Thomas plotted the first issue of The Tomb of Dracula, which Gerry Conway then scripted. The interior art was penciled by Gene Colan."^
11.Matthew K. Manning. Spider-Man Chronicle Celebrating 50 Years of Web-Slinging Dorling Kindersley, 2012^
12.Sanderson "1970s" in Gilbert (2008), p. 159: "In June [1973], Marvel embarked on a story that would have far-reaching effects. The Amazing Spider-Man artist John Romita, Sr. suggested killing off Spider-Man's beloved Gwen Stacy in order to shake up the book's status quo."^
13.Manning "1970s" in Gilbert (2012), p. 68: "This story by writer Gerry Conway and penciler Gil Kane would go down in history as one of the most memorable events of Spider-Man's life."^
14.Peter David, Robert Greenberger. The Spider-Man Vault: A Museum-in-a-Book with Rare Collectibles Spun from Marvel's Web Running Press, 2010^
15.Manning "1970s" in Gilbert (2012), p. 72: "Writer Gerry Conway and artist Ross Andru introduced two major new characters to Spider-Man's world and the Marvel Universe in this self-contained issue. Not only would the vigilante known as the Punisher go on to be one of the most important and iconic Marvel creations of the 1970s, but his instigator, the Jackal, would become the next big threat in Spider-Man's life."^
21.DC Comics Year By Year A Visual Chronicle Dorling Kindersley, 2010^
22.Paul Levitz. 75 Years of DC Comics The Art of Modern Mythmaking Taschen America, 2010^
23.McAvennie "1970s" in Dolan, p. 170 "The tale was written by Gerry Conway and drawn by Ross Andru, both among the few [at that time] to ever have worked on both Superman and Spider-Man...The result was a defining moment in Bronze Age comics."^
24.Jack Abramowitz. 1st Issue Special: It Was No Showcase (But It Was Never Meant To Be) Back Issue!, TwoMorrows Publishing, April 2014^
25.Les Daniels. Marvel: Five Fabulous Decades of the World's Greatest Comics Harry N. Abrams, 1991^
26."Gerry Conway on Englehart Leaving Marvel" (sidebar) in Shannon E. Riley. The Man Who Saved the Justice League of America Back Issue!, TwoMorrows Publishing, September 2010^
27.Sanderson "1970s" in Gilbert (2008), p. 177: "Spider-Man already starred in two monthly series: The Amazing Spider-Man and Marvel Team-Up. Now Marvel added a third, Peter Parker, The Spectacular Spider-Man, initially written by Gerry Conway with art by Sal Buscema and Mike Esposito."^
28.Philip Schweier. Justice League, Then and Now with Gerry Conway and Dan Jurgens Back Issue!, TwoMorrows Publishing, August 2012^
29.Peter Sanderson. Justice League #200 All-Star Affair Comics Feature, New Media Publishing, September–October 1981^
30.Andy Mangels. Kryptonian and Amazonian Not Living in Perfect Harmony Back Issue!, TwoMorrows Publishing, December 2012^
31.P.C. Hamerlinck. When Worlds Collide The Colossal-Sized Confrontation Between Superman and Captain Marvel Back Issue!, TwoMorrows Publishing, December 2012^
32.McAvennie "1970s" in Dolan, p. 177 "If inventiveness is the fusion of ideas, then Firestorm was one of the most original characters to emerge from a comic book in years. Penned by Gerry Conway and drawn by Al Milgrom, the Nuclear Man was a genuine sign of the times – the explosive embodiment of a nuclear world."^
33.McAvennie "1970s" in Dolan, p. 177 "Thanks to scripter Gerry Conway and artist Don Heck, the red, white, and blue shone like never before – on the steel-alloyed suit of the World War II cyborg, Steel."^
34.John Wells. 'Lost' DC: The DC Implosion Comics Buyer's Guide, October 24, 1997^
35.Dan Johnson. Showcase Presents Again Back Issue!, TwoMorrows Publishing, April 2014^
36.Wells p. 134: "After being touted in house ads during the summer, details regarding The Vixen #1 appeared in a 'Daily Planet' text page in Batman #305 and The Flash #267. Ultimately, 'Who Is The Vixen?' was printed only in Cancelled Comic Cavalcade #2."^
37.Manning, Matthew K. "1980s" in Dolan, p. 209 "The prestigious Justice League of America got a bit easier to join, thanks to writer Gerry Conway and artist Chuck Patton. Marking the debut of camouflaging hero Gypsy, the shockwave-casting Vibe, and the second generation hero Steel, this landmark comic saw many of the more famous League members step down in order to make way for a younger roster to carry on their legacy."^
38.Matthew K. Manning. Batman: A Visual History Dorling Kindersley, 2014^
39.Manning "1980s" in Dolan, p. 200 "Killer Croc made his mysterious debut in the pages of Detective Comics #523, written by Gerry Conway, with art by Gene Colan." "Croc would soon become a major player in Gotham's underworld."^
40.Manning "1980s" in Dolan, p. 201 "Jason Todd first appeared in a circus scene in the pages of Batman #357, written by Gerry Conway and illustrated by Don Newton."^
43.In Justice League of America #207–209 (Oct.-Dec. 1982) and All-Star Squadron #14–15 (Oct.–Nov. 1982); and Justice League of America #219–220 (Oct.–Nov. 1983); and Infinity, Inc. #19 (Oct. 1985) and Justice League of America #244 (Nov. 1985). Per Thomas, Roy. "The Justice League-Justice Society Team-Ups", The All-Star Companion (TwoMorrows Publishing 2000) ISBN 1-893905-05-5 pp. 191–192^
44.Thomas, Roy. "Crisis on Finite Earths: The Justice League-Justice Society Team-Ups (1963–1985)", Alter Ego vol. 3, #7 (Winter 2001), pp. 31–34^
50.DeFalco "1980s" in Gilbert (2008), p. 238: Created by writer Gerry Conway and artist Sal Buscema, Carlos and Eduardo Lobo possessed the mutant ability to transform into werewolves.^
51.Sources disagree on the spelling, sometimes even within the same source: The cover of the single issue itself appears to spell it "NightGlider". The cover of Victory #1 likewise spells it as one word, though in an all-caps typeface. The Grand Comics Database entry spells it as both "Nightglider" and "Night Glider".^
In 2009, Conway reflected on writing flagship Marvel characters at a young age: "Precocity is a well-known curse; most of the pressure I felt as a younger writer was self-imposed. I wanted to be accepted by other writers and artists as an equal, which put me in some awkward situations — pretending to be more mature than I was, emotionally and professionally. As it happened, I was pretty good at faking a maturity I didn't have, which had advantages and, obviously, some disadvantages. I think people often forgot how young I was, and expected me to perform at a level that was actually beyond me. The result was, I was pretty stressed for most of my early career as a writer, and I often felt like I had no idea what I was doing —which was true. I wrote instinctively and from the gut; when those instincts were appropriate to the material I was writing – for example, when I was writing [The Amazing] Spider-Man — the results were something I was quite proud of, then and now. When my instincts were off, I didn't have the experience to either recognize it, or to compensate for it, with results that were more uneven.[16]"
In late 1972, Conway and writers Steve Englehart and Len Wein crafted a metafictional unofficial crossover spanning titles from both major comics companies.Each comic featured Englehart, Conway, and Wein, as well as Wein's first wife Glynis, interacting with Marvel or DC characters at the Rutland Halloween Parade in Rutland, Vermont.Beginning in Amazing Adventures #16 (by Englehart with art by Bob Brown and Frank McLaughlin), the story continued in Justice League of America #103 (by Wein, Dick Dillin and Dick Giordano), and concluded in Thor #207 (by Conway and penciler John Buscema).As Englehart explained in 2010, "It certainly seemed like a radical concept and we knew that we had to be subtle (laughs) and each story had to stand on its own, but we really worked it out. It's really worthwhile to read those stories back to back to back – it didn't matter to us that one was at DC and two were at Marvel – I think it was us being creative, thinking what would be really cool to do."[17][18][19]
Conway returned to DC Comics in mid-1975, beginning with three books cover-dated Nov. 1975: Hercules Unbound #1, Kong the Untamed #3, and Swamp Thing #19.He wrote a revival of the Golden Age comic book series All Star Comics, which introduced the character Power Girl.[20][21][22] Shortly afterward, he was chosen by Marvel and DC editors to script the historic intercompany crossover Superman vs. the Amazing Spider-Man #1, a 96-page, tabloid-sized, $2 one-shot, at a time when comic books sold for 25 cents.[6][23]
He continued writing for DC, on titles including Superman, Detective Comics (starring Batman), Metal Men, Justice League of America, 1st Issue Special #11 starring Codename: Assassin,[24] and that of the licensed character Tarzan.[6] Conway briefly returned to Marvel where he succeeded Marv Wolfman as editor-in-chief in March 1976,[25] but held the job only "about a month-and-a-half,"[26] relinquishing the post and being succeeded by Archie Goodwin.
For a time, a confluence of publishing schedules resulted in Conway stories appearing in both Marvel and DC comics in the same month: The prolific Conway's comic books with January 1977 cover-dates alone, for example, are Marvel's The Avengers, The Defenders, Captain Marvel, Iron Man, The Spectacular Spider-Man,[27] and the premiere issues of Ms. Marvel and Logan's Run, and Superman and Action Comics.[6]
DC Comics and later career
After leaving Marvel's editorship, he again wrote exclusively for DC for the next decade writing both major and lesser titles – from those featuring Superman, Wonder Woman, and the Legion of Super-Heroes to such books as Weird Western Tales, Atari Force and Sun Devils.He had an eight-year run on Justice League of America, writing most issues from #151–255 (Feb. 1978 – Oct. 1986)[28] including the double-sized anniversary issue #200 (March 1982).[29] Conway wrote two additional Superman projects in the oversized tabloid format, Superman vs. Wonder Woman, drawn by José Luis García-López,[30] and Superman vs. Shazam, drawn by Rich Buckler.[31]
Conway was a frequent collaborator with Roy Thomas.Together they wrote a two-part Superman–Captain Marvel team-up in DC Comics Presents #33–34 (May–June 1981); the Atari Force and Swordquest mini-comics packaged with Atari 2600 video games; and three Justice League of America-Justice Society of America crossovers.[43][44] Conway contributed ideas to the talking animal comic Captain Carrot and His Amazing Zoo Crew!, created by Thomas and Scott Shaw.[45] Thomas and Conway were to be the co-writers of the JLA/Avengersintercompany crossover,[46] but editorial disputes between DC and Marvel caused the project's cancellation.[47]
He returned to Marvel in the 1980s and served as the regular writer of both The Spectacular Spider-Man and Web of Spider-Man from 1988 until 1990.[6] Conway stated in 1991 that "I understand the character a lot better now than I did when I was nineteen. And one of the nice things about the Marvel characters is that you can keep them fresh by changing them just a bit."[49] His run on Spectacular included such story arcs as the "Lobo Brothers Gang War".[50] He relinquished writing duties on both titles when he became the story editor of the television series Father Dowling Mysteries.Conway's last recorded comic credits for many years were Topps Comics' "Kirbyverse" NightGlider[51] #1 (April 1993), scripting from a Roy Thomas plot, and a story for Disney Adventures, published in 1995.
Conway returned to comics in 2009 and wrote DC Comics' The Last Days of Animal Man, with artist Chris Batista.[52] In 2011, he wrote the DC Retroactive: Justice League – The '80s one-shot.[53] Also for DC, he wrote the Firestorm feature in Legends of Tomorrow #1–6 in 2016.[54]
In 2015, he returned to Spider-Man by writing a story in Spider-Verse Team Up #2, and the "Spiral" storyline in The Amazing Spider-Man #16.1–20.1. He returned to work as a series' regular writer that same year with Carnage which ran for 16 issues until 2017. In 2016, he returned to his creation the Punisher by writing The Punisher Annual #1. From 2016 to 2017, he wrote The Amazing Spider-Man: Renew Your Vows #1–9, followed by ''What If? Spider-Man #1 in 2018 and the oneshot The Amazing Spider-Man: Going Big'', penciled by Mark Bagley, in 2019.In 2023, he was credited with the plot for the oneshot What If...? Dark: Spider-Gwen.
Novels and Star Trek Comic Strip
In addition to comics, Conway published two science-fiction novels: The Midnight Dancers[55] and Mindship (originally published as a short story in the science fiction anthology Universe 1.)[56] He also wrote the February 14–December 3, 1983, dailies of the syndicated newspaper comic stripStar Trek, based upon the 1960s TV series.[57]
Screenplays and TV producing
Conway moved into screenwriting in the 1980s, starting with the animated feature Fire and Ice (1983), co-written with Roy Thomas, based on characters created by Ralph Bakshi and Frank Frazetta.Conway and Thomas wrote the story basis for Stanley Mann's screenplay for the film Conan the Destroyer (1984).Afterwards, Conway and Thomas also worked on the script of a live-action X-Men film for production company Nelvana that wasn't produced because of distributor Orion Pictures' financial troubles and subsequent bankruptcy.[58]
Conway wrote, and later produced, such TV series as Father Dowling Mysteries, Diagnosis: Murder, Matlock, Jake and the Fatman, Under Suspicion, Hercules: The Legendary Journeys, Baywatch Nights, Pacific Blue, Silk Stalkings, Perry Masontelefilms, Law & Order, The Huntress, Law & Order: Criminal Intent, and two episodes of Batman: The Animated Series ("Appointment in Crime Alley", "Second Chance").[59]
Conway frequently referenced his comic book connections during his stint on Law & Order by naming characters on the show after comic book creators such as John Byrne.
were scheduled to receive their own series as well but were
canceled before any issues were published
.
He additionally co-created the characters Vibe and Gypsy.[37] As writer of Batman #337–359 (July 1981 – May 1983) and the feature "Batman" in Detective Comics #497–526 (Dec. 1980 – May 1983),[38] he introduced the characters Killer Croc[39] and Jason Todd,[40] the latter of whom became the second Robin, succeeding original sidekick Dick Grayson.[6] With artist Gene Colan, Conway revived the Golden Age supervillains Doctor Death in Batman #345 (March 1982)[41] and the Monk in Batman #350 (Aug. 1982).[42]
