And now word comes that comics writer Gary Friedrich has passed away at age 75. Best known as the co-creator of Ghost Rider, Friedrich also worked on Captain America, Shield and many more titles. Tony Isabella broke the news from Roy Thomas:
Friedrich was best known in recent years for losing a legal battle with Marvel over Ghost Rider’s ownership. That ruling was overturned on an appeal and Marvel and Friedrich settled in 2013.
With his passing and that of Marie Severin and Russ Heath, in case you haven’t noticed, our golden age greats are leaving us quickly. Take the time to honor these creators while they are here.
Since Gary Friedrich has no comments as yet, I’ll include here my link to the joint RIP essay I wrote on his collaboration with Marie Severin. Those HULK stories are among my favorite Friedrich works, along with his MONSTER OF FRANKENSTEIN tales.
https://arche-arc.blogspot.com/2018/08/rip-marie-severin-and-gary-friedrich.html
Gary Friedrich and Ghost Rider kind of epitomize the genius of Marvel and super-hero comics in general. Something greenlit just to try and cash in on a fad and sell some comics turns into a legitimately great book and, regrettably, an intellectual property solid enough for the company to still be exploiting it 46 years later.
Think anyone’s going to be reading a Miles Morales comic in 2064?
Mike
Yes, Mike. Not that that’s the most important thing.
Friedrich wrote the first 2 years of Ghost Rider, and it’s the definitive version for me. He also wrote some of the best Sgt. Fury comics, including one that had a cover I’ve never forgotten:
https://www.comics.org/issue/22601/cover/4/
MBunge: Yes. Because Miles is as great a spin-off character as Jennifer Walters.
You really have nothing left to say, Mike. Why are you still here?
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