Gerry Conway has died. As the co-creator of Punisher and author of “The Night Gwen Stacy Died,” the legendary comic book writer had an outsized impact on the medium, with storylines and characters that remain cornerstones of the world’s most popular and successful titles. Marvel confirmed Conway’s death but did not report a cause. He was 73.
“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,” said Marvel Studios President Kevin Feige 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.”
Born September 10, 1952, Conway made his entry into the pages of DC Comics at 16, with the short story, “Aaron Philips’ Photo Finish,” for House Of Secrets in 1969. Over the next two years, he continued to publish horror stories for both DC and Marvel, such as House Of Secrets and Chamber Of Darkness, but what he really wanted to write was superheroes. After a failed writing test for Stan Lee, Lee’s right-hand man, Roy Thomas, put Conway on Astonishing Tales before giving him a crack at Daredevil, The Incredible Hulk, and Iron Man. He eventually won Lee over, though, and shared credit with him on issues of Thor, The Tomb Of Dracula, and as the co-creator of Man-Thing, for whom Conway wrote dialogue in 1971’s Savage Tales #1. Conway and Thomas would remain collaborators for decades and would share a “Story By” credit on the Conan sequel, Conan The Destroyer.
At only 19-years-old, Conway took up Marvel’s flagship hero, Spider-Man, and quickly made his mark on the title. Penning 1973’s “The Night Gwen Stacy Died,” Conway gifted comics fans one of the great tragedies of Peter Parker’s life and forever altered the character’s future. Less than a year later, he and Thomas introduced two of Marvel’s longest-running characters: The Punisher and The Jackal, who would go on to start Spidey’s beloved “Clone Saga” of the mid-’90s. Punisher, however, would transcend comics culture as the star of movies and TV shows, with an instantly recognizable and frequently weaponized logo. At 24, he had a brief run as Marvel’s editor-in-chief, succeeding Marv Wolfman. He is also credited with creating or co-creating Jason Todd, Power Girl, Killer Croc, Marvel’s Dracula, Werewolf By Night, and Ms. Marvel.
In the 1980s, Conway moved his talents to television. He wrote episodes of Transformers, G.I. Joe, and My Little Pony. Throughout the ’90 and 2000s, he wrote episodes of Spider-Man: The Animated Series, Batman: The Animated Series, as well as installments of Matlock, Silk Stalkings, Diagnosis Murder, Law & Order, and Law & Order: Criminal Intent. He would also periodically return to Marvel, writing issues of Amazing Spider-Man and Punisher. His final credit is for the plot of 2023’s What If…? Dark: Spider-Gwen.
Conway was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer in 2022. Following Whipple surgery to remove the tumor, he announced, “Praise Cthulhu, as of January, I’m now cancer-free.” However, there were complications, including three hospitalizations, weeks in the ICU, and a medically induced coma.
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