Rest in Peace Gary Friedrich and Marie Severin

The #comics industry announced the loss of two comic book legends on August 30, 2018, Marie Severin and Gary Friedrich.

Sadly, I cannot comment much on Marie Severin. While I would notice the name from time to time in the credits for older books, I had not taken the time to study up on her impact on the #comics industry. Clearly, she was a pioneer for women in the industry with work dating back to the 1940s. She was a jack of all trades (or should I say jill of all trades) with work as a penciller, inker, colorist, editor, and writer. To get an idea of the breadth of her work, check her credits list on ComicbookDB at http://comicbookdb.com/creator.php?ID=385, which I doubt is a comprehensive list.

I had the pleasure of meeting Gary Friedrich on more than one occasion. He was the first comic book professional to come to the local comic convention I host each year, #burgcomicscon, with professional credits. I had met Mr. Friedrich at a poorly attended comic book convention in Metropolis, IL the summer before. The day was slow, so Mr. Friedrich had begun searching through my long boxes, specifically for Ghost Rider #comics for which he was credited that he could then sign and resell to supplement his income due to his legal battle with Marvel over Ghost Rider (more on that shortly). He pulled an issue of The Original Ghost Rider, which was a reprint of one of his earlier Ghost Rider stories. He told me he would come back with the money, to which I responded, "You know what, I think you can have that one." It was kind of fun to think at the time that I had given a Ghost Rider comic to the creator of the character.

While Gary Friedrich is the co-creator of Ghost Rider, he suffered through a lengthy battle over the character and creator rights for many year, which likely contributed to some of the health problems he experienced in his later years. Terms of one of the lawsuits against Mr. Friedrich prohibited him from even claiming to be the co-creator of Ghost Rider, even though you can read it for yourself in Marvel Spotlight #5.