# Comic book writer Gerry Conway has died **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Tags:** comic-books-manga\ **Created:** [April 28, 2026, 12:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/comic-book-writer-gerry-conway-has-died/1029608 "2026-04-28T00:14:18Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![MrAtoz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@MrAtoz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrAtoz)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2026, 12:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/comic-book-writer-gerry-conway-has-died/1029608/1 "2026-04-28T00:14:18Z")
It’s being reported in multiple sources that comic book writer Gerry Conway has died at the age of 73. He wrote for both Marvel and DC, and is credited with creating or co-creating such characters as The Punisher, Power Girl, Jason Todd, and Ms. Marvel (the original, Carol Danvers version, who is now called Captain Marvel). He also wrote the famous issue of Spider-Man in which Gwen Stacy was killed. He left comics for a time and found work writing for TV, including Diagnosis: Murder, Matlock, and Law and Order: Criminal Intent. Here is the Hollywood Reporter’s obituary: > **[Gerry Conway, Marvel and DC Comics Writer and Co-Creator of Punisher, Ms....](https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/movies/movie-news/gerry-conway-dead-marvel-dc-comics-punisher-gwen-stacy-1236578184/)** > > He also penned the seminal 'Amazing Spider-Man' story "The Night Gwen Stacy Died" when he was just 20. ---
**Author:** ![Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/elmer_j.fudd/32/1211_2.png) [@Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elmer_J.Fudd)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2026, 1:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/comic-book-writer-gerry-conway-has-died/1029608/2 "2026-04-28T01:33:37Z")
I didn’t realize he was so young. He was writing _Fantastic Four_ when I discovered the series at age 10. Conway would have only been 20 at the time. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_other_waldo_pepper/32/12370_2.png) [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Other_Waldo_Pepper)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2026, 1:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/comic-book-writer-gerry-conway-has-died/1029608/3 "2026-04-28T01:41:35Z")
I think he wrote the first comic book I ever read. (…and re-read, and re-re-read; I was spellbound.) ---
**Author:** ![MrAtoz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@MrAtoz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrAtoz)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2026, 1:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/comic-book-writer-gerry-conway-has-died/1029608/4 "2026-04-28T13:07:44Z")
I don’t think that much of Conway’s Fantastic Four stuff, to be honest. That was when he had Reed and Sue break up, Sue get together with Namor, and Medusa replace Sue on the team. I think perhaps because he was so young at the time, he had some difficulty handling the family dynamic that was always central to the FF. On the other hand, he did well on Spider-Man, because he was about the same age that Peter Parker was supposed to be at that time. He became editor-in-chief of Marvel at the age of 24, but famously quit after only a month and a half. By his own later admission, he was really too young for a job with that much responsibility. At the time I started reading comics, in the mid 1970s, his name was all over the place. Looking back, not everything he wrote was gold, but overall he had a pretty good batting average. That he was able to make it in prime-time TV for quite awhile, at a time when “I used to write Spider-Man” probably didn’t open a whole lot of doors, is impressive. ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2026, 5:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/comic-book-writer-gerry-conway-has-died/1029608/5 "2026-04-28T17:33:22Z")
Conway was dead to me after he killed Gwen Stacy. ---
**Author:** ![MrAtoz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@MrAtoz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrAtoz)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2026, 5:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/comic-book-writer-gerry-conway-has-died/1029608/6 "2026-04-28T17:37:05Z")
Good news. Like all dead comic book characters, she’s currently alive. ---
**Author:** ![hogarth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hogarth/32/1773_2.png) [@hogarth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hogarth)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2026, 6:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/comic-book-writer-gerry-conway-has-died/1029608/7 "2026-04-28T18:06:08Z")
My brother’s prime comic-collecting era was in the early '80s, so I mostly associate him with my favourite JLA comics. Like JLA #195-#197 where the villains of Earth-1 and Earth-2 team up. ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2026, 6:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/comic-book-writer-gerry-conway-has-died/1029608/8 "2026-04-28T18:26:09Z")
I stopped reading comics in 1986, so that doesn’t change my mind. The current character never could be my Gwen. ---
**Author:** ![Intergalactic\_Gladiator](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/intergalactic_gladiator/32/112_2.png) [@Intergalactic\_Gladiator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Intergalactic_Gladiator)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2026, 5:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/comic-book-writer-gerry-conway-has-died/1029608/9 "2026-04-29T17:27:24Z")
RIP. I didn’t realize that in addition to all of his comic credits, Conway also wrote episodes for a bunch of 80s cartoons including G.I. Joe, Transformers, My Little Pony, and Spiral Zone. On top of that, he also wrote episodes of primetime shows like Father Dowling Mysteries, Matlock, Diagnosis Murder, and Law & Order. Quite an interesting mix of work.