Marie Severin and Gary Friedrich Pass Away

Two Marvel Mainstays Leave Us

Last week, we lost veteran Marvel creators Marie Severin and Gary Friedrich and Tripwire’s senior editor Andrew Colman takes a look at their lives and their legacy…

In the last few days, two figures from Marvel Comics’ heyday passed – not necessarily heavyweights as such, but mainstays, if not cornerstones, of the publisher. Without question their contribution was highly significant, their relatively low profile belying the difference they made during their careers there.

Marie Severin was very much the company woman at Marvel Comics, who like her friend Flo Steinberg (the only other woman at the House of Ideas during the 1960s) kept the engine running during the hothouse years – capable of doing everything from colouring, inking, pencilling and lettering, she was the ultimate utility person whose considerable skills were often overlooked. Following her brother (celebrated horror artist John Severin) into E.C. Comics in the 1950s, Severin was there just before the arrival of the New Trend, colouring titles such as A Moon, A Girl, A Romance, while quickly developing expertise in that field. She continued working at the company on its horror and war titles until the Comics Code enforced its closure, returning to the medium with Marvel Comics in 1959. After five years she graduated from colouring and inking to pencilling, working primarily on Doctor Strange in Strange Tales, as well as the Sub-Mariner and The Hulk in Tales to Astonish. She also worked on other second tier characters such as Iron Man and Daredevil.

Her versatility as an artist was particularly to the fore in Marvel’s humour titles, such as in-house parody books that sent up Marvel heroes like Not Brand Ecch, Spoof and Crazy, where her witty and humorous art style imbued each of these titles with Mad – like knowing subversion. Very much the team player and all-rounder, Severin understood, if not defined, the Marvel House Style as well as anyone in the Bullpen, often undertaking post-production assignments, sometimes at very short notice. The best example of this was when she was asked to redraw Hulk’s face for the cover of Incredible Hulk Annual 1 as Jim Steranko’s original didn’t chime well with Marvel’s editors.

In the mid 1970s, Severin co-created Spider-Woman, not to mention Howard the Duck’s infamously verbose nemesis, Doctor Bong. After this she worked in other areas for the company, while also moving onto other publishers. However she will always be associated with the Marvel Age of Comics, her underrated pencils gracing many late 60s books. A much cherished staffer at Marvel and with fandom in general, hers is a sad loss indeed.

A native of Missouri, Gary Friedrich was a school friend of future Marvel Editor in Chief Roy Thomas, following him to New York in the mid 1960s in order to gain employment working in the revived comic industry. On Thomas’s recommendation, Friedrich began work at Charlton Comics soon after, initially writing romance stories. He then moved onto super-hero books such as Peter Cannon Thunderbolt and Captain Atom, collaborating on the Blue Beetle strip with Steve Ditko.

In 1967 Friedrich arrived at Marvel, cutting his teeth with their ever-marginalized western line, on titles that had survived the Implosion such as Kid Colt, Two Gun Kid and Rawhide Kid. He then created the short-lived western Ghost Rider, before teaming up with veteran Dick Ayers on Sgt Fury. He elevated the somewhat gung ho title with more allegorical, thought-provoking stories before the series slowly became mostly reprints. From there, Friedrich worked on Captain Savage and ‘50s revival Combat Kelly, although these series were also relatively brief. His move to the super-hero title the Incredible Hulk may have signalled his arrival as a more distinguished concern at Marvel, but his career never quite ignited as it might have, as he was passed over in favour of younger guns such as Steve Englehart, Gerry Conway and Marv Wolfman. His high watermark at the company was in the early 70s, when he co-created Ghost Rider (a satanic version of a long-forgotten Daredevil foe, coupled with the western character’s name) with Mike Ploog, along with Monster of Frankenstein, a title considered to be a worthy companion to Tomb of Dracula, and one of the longest running horror series from the company. He also co-created Son of Satan, a cross between a supernatural and hero character.

Remarkably, none of these successful, innovative efforts led to much more work at Marvel, with Friedrich freelancing at rivals Skywald and the abortive Atlas-Seaboard, writing or creating characters that were second-hand versions of Marvel’s roster. A brief stint at Marvel UK writing Captain Britain in the late 70s led to what became a fifteen year hiatus from comics for Friedrich, before a last hurrah at Topps Comics’ Bombast, which saw him momentarily back in the fold with his old colleagues Dick Ayers, Roy Thomas and John Severin. Despite coming across as a nearly man at Marvel, Friedrich was a quality writer who could turn his hand to most genres, one of the backbone contributors at the company who often brought in excellent work, and who deserves to be remembered.

Marie Severin Gary Friedrich Obituaries www.tripwiremagazine.co.uk