Gary Friedrich
Encyclopedia
Gary Friedrich. is an American comic book
writer
best known for his Silver Age
stories for Marvel Comics
' Sgt. Fury and his Howling Commandos
, and for the following era's Monster of Frankenstein series and co-creating the supernatural motorcyclist Ghost Rider
.
Friedrich — no relation to fellow comics writer Mike Friedrich
— was the first successful new writer brought in to the burgeoning 1960s Marvel after fellow Missouri
an Roy Thomas
. Succeeding Thomas on Sgt. Fury, Friedrich and the art team of Dick Ayers
and John Severin
produced a World War II
series for the Vietnam
years, combining militaristic camaraderie and gung ho humor with a regretful sense of war
as a terrible last resort. The humanistic military
drama
was noted for its semi-anthological
"The" stories, such as "The Medic" and "The Deserter". Additionally, one story was an homage to / retcon
of the movie Casablanca
, and Friedrich annuals caught up with the Howlers in both the 1950s Korean War
, and in the 1960s in the Vietnam War
.
, where he graduated from Jackson High School in 1961. He was editor of the high school newspaper and a member of the marching band
. As a teen, he was a friend of future Marvel Comics
writer and eventual editor-in-chief Roy Thomas
.
Friedrich worked at a record store in Cape Girardeau, Missouri
after high school
, and in February 1964, obtained a job at Jackson's two weekly newspapers, which were being combined into a single twice-weekly. "I was working about 80 hours a week for $50", he recalled in 2001. "I wrote, edited, and laid out the entire newspaper. I was the whole editorial staff without any help. It was driving me crazy". Friedrich had gotten married the year before and by now had a young son, but, "I didn't have time for anything because I was working all the damn time." The marriage fell apart, "and even that wasn't a major problem for a while because I was so damn busy and I was either working, drunk, or both", Friedrich said, alluding to the alcoholism
from which he began recovering on "New Year's night in 1979".
When the newspaper ceased publication in late summer 1965, Friedrich began working a union job at a Cape Girardeau factory, installing heating element
s in waffle iron
s. Roy Thomas, now a Marvel Comics staff writer in New York City
, called his friend with the suggestion that freelance work might exist in the newly resurgent medium. Friedrich took a Greyhound bus the following day, and stayed with Thomas and a fandom
friend, Dave Kaler, in Manhattan
's East Village
. Shortly afterward, Friedrich and Thomas took an apartment on Bleecker Street
in Greenwich Village
.
This was a time of transition between the beat movement
and the hippie era, when the Village flourished as a creative mecca. "The Village was a really neat place to be at that time. We went to the theater that was to become the Fillmore East
; it wasn't called that yet, but they were starting to have some rock concerts, like Chuck Berry
. ... I began to let my hair grow and become a real New York hippie", he recalled, encapsulating the hybrid of blue-collar, Midwestern background with youth-culture progressiveness
that combined to give his Sgt. Fury stories a distinctive sensibility.
With the help of Thomas, who recommended Friedrich to Charlton Comics
editor Dick Giordano
, Friedrich began writing romance comics for that low-budget publisher, where many pros got early breaks. "I did it with a great good sense of humor", Friedrich recalled. "I wrote things like 'Tears in My Malted' and 'Too Fat to Frug'...." With anonymous help and input from Thomas, Friedrich also began writing superhero
stories, beginning with his backup feature "The Sentinels" (with penciler-inker
Sam Grainger
) in Peter Cannon ... Thunderbolt
#54 (Oct. 1966; actually the sixth issue, due to the series continuing the numbering of a canceled title). He wrote the feature for two more issues before handing it off. Friedrich also dialogued the debut and the next three stories of the Blue Beetle
, plotted and drawn by Steve Ditko
, in Captain Atom
#83-86 (Nov. 1966 - June 1967). Friedrich's last recorded Charlton story was "If I Had Three Wishes", penciled by Ditko, in Ghostly Tales
#60 (March 1967).
By this time Friedrich had already begun writing Westerns
for Marvel, including issues of Kid Colt, Outlaw
; Two-Gun Kid
; Rawhide Kid
; and his first regular series, the Western Ghost Rider
— launched with debut-issue co-plotter Thomas, and running six issues, mostly co-scripted by Friedrich and series penciler Dick Ayers
. Friedrich also contributed to the parody series Not Brand Echh
. He began on Sgt. Fury with #42 (May 1967) — co-scripted, as was the next issue, by Friedrich's Western pardner, Sgt. Fury penciler Ayers. The next issue, a flashback to the Howlers' first mission, was co-scripted by Friedrich and Thomas.
Following this inauspicious beginning came the first of several Friedrich "The" stories, "The War Lover" (#45, Aug. 1967) — a shaded exploration of a trigger-happy soldier and the line drawn, even in war, between killing and murder. Daring for the time, when majority public sentiment still supported the undeclared Vietnam War
, the story balanced present-day issues while demonstrating that even in what is referred to as "a just war", a larger morality
prevails. While war comics at this stage were less overtly jingoistic than in the 1950s, Friedrich's allegorical approach was ahead of movies and television
as well, occurring years before M*A*S*H would tread similar ground. Friedrich's story also marked the first time since the early Lee-Kirby Furys that such provocative humanism appeared in a full-length tale, rather than in the occasional "very special" short stories
that represented the preferred length at rival DC Comics
. Friedrich would write several more "The" stories, including "The Assassin", "The Peacemonger", and the unromanticized A.W.O.L. drama "The Deserter" (#75, Feb. 1970), based loosely on the real-life case of WWII Private Eddie Slovik
.
Friedrich continued through #83 (Jan. 1971), with the late part of this run having reprint issues between new stories, and again for the even-numbered issues from #94-114 (Jan. 1972 - Nov. 1973). Issue #100 (July 1972) featured a present-day, fictional reunion gala.
Friedrich also launched the far shorter-lived, 19-issue United States Marines
series Capt. Savage and his Leatherneck Raiders
(changed to Captain Savage and his Battlefield Raiders with #9), running Jan. 1968 to March 1970; and the nine-issue U.S. Army series Combat Kelly and the Deadly Dozen, running June 1972 to September 1973.
These brief efforts proved more pedestrian than his Sgt. Fury work, and Friedrich settled into the niche of utility writer. His first regular superhero series for Marvel was The Incredible Hulk, for which he wrote a handful of issues starting with #102 (April 1968; the premiere issue, following the Hulk feature in the "split book" Tales to Astonish
), as well as the 1968 Hulk annual. The series would not, however, launch him as Thomas' natural successor on Marvel's flagship titles, which went to such later hires as Gerry Conway
, Steve Englehart
, Len Wein
and Marv Wolfman
. Friedrich mostly would be assigned titles in transition or facing cancellation, including, variously, [Uncanny] X-Men
; Captain America
; Captain Marvel
; Daredevil
; Nick Fury, Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D.
; and the "Black Widow" feature in Amazing Adventures
. He was also given many non-superhero features, including such Westerns as The Gunhawks.
During this time, Friedrich also wrote prose stories for the line of men's magazines owned by Marvel's then-publisher, Martin Goodman
.
Friedrich was the co-creator and initial writer of Marvel's motorcycle-demon Ghost Rider
, and later teamed with that character's first artist, Mike Ploog
, on Marvel's Monster of Frankenstein — the first five issues of which (Jan.-Oct. 1973) contained a relatively faithful adaptation of Mary Shelley
's novel.
line of black-and-white horror-comics magazines. For that company he created Hell-Rider
— a Vietnam-vet vigilante motorcyclist with a flame-thrower-equipped bike — in a namesake two-issue series (July-Aug. to Sept.-Oct. 1971). The following year, Friedrich worked with Thomas on the similarly motorcycle-mounted Ghost Rider.
Additionally, Friedrich freelanced for the short-lived Atlas/Seaboard Comics
, where he co-created the character Man-Monster with Rich Buckler
and Mike Vosburg
in Tales of Evil #3 (July 1975). He also wrote the third and final issue of Morlock 2001, with the very rare art team of Steve Ditko and Bernie Wrightson; the third and final issue of The Brute; and the fourth and final issue of IronJaw before eventually leaving the comics industry to return to Missouri, , where he found work as a courier.
In early 1977, as his alcoholism was progressing to a crisis point, Friedrich's sole comics work was writing the seven-page Captain Britain
stories in the character's namesake Marvel UK
weekly comic book. He would be published in comics just once more as of 2007, scripting Topps Comics
' Jack Kirby-created Bombast #1 (April 1993), where he reteamed with plotter Roy Thomas and Sgt. Fury artists Dick Ayers and John Severin.
. In 2001, Roy Thomas claimed that:
Friedrich responded:
Ploog recalled, in a 2008 interview:
On April 4, 2007, Friedrich filed a lawsuit in the United States District Court - Southern District of Illinois, against Marvel Enterprises, Sony Pictures, Columbia TriStar Motion Pictures
, Relativity Media, Crystal Sky Pictures
, Michael DeLuca
Productions, Hasbro
and Take-Two Interactive
, alleging his copyrights to the Ghost Rider
character have been exploited and utilized in a "joint venture and conspiracy". The lawsuit
states that the film rights and merchandising
reverted from Marvel to him in 2001. The case was transferred to the federal New York State Southern District Court on February 14, 2008.
Comic book
A comic book or comicbook is a magazine made up of comics, narrative artwork in the form of separate panels that represent individual scenes, often accompanied by dialog as well as including...
writer
Writer
A writer is a person who produces literature, such as novels, short stories, plays, screenplays, poetry, or other literary art. Skilled writers are able to use language to portray ideas and images....
best known for his Silver Age
Silver Age of Comic Books
The Silver Age of Comic Books was a period of artistic advancement and commercial success in mainstream American comic books, predominantly those in the superhero genre. Following the Golden Age of Comic Books and an interregnum in the early to mid-1950s, the Silver Age is considered to cover the...
stories for Marvel Comics
Marvel Comics
Marvel Worldwide, Inc., commonly referred to as Marvel Comics and formerly Marvel Publishing, Inc. and Marvel Comics Group, is an American company that publishes comic books and related media...
' Sgt. Fury and his Howling Commandos
Sgt. Fury and his Howling Commandos
Sgt. Fury and his Howling Commandos are a fictional World War II unit in comic books published by Marvel Comics. Created by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby, they first appeared in Sgt. Fury and his Howling Commandos #1 . The main character, Sgt...
, and for the following era's Monster of Frankenstein series and co-creating the supernatural motorcyclist Ghost Rider
Ghost Rider (Johnny Blaze)
Ghost Rider is a fictional character, an antihero in the Marvel Comics Universe. He is the second Marvel character to use the name Ghost Rider, following the Western hero later known as the Phantom Rider, and preceding Daniel Ketch.Johnny Blaze was portrayed both in the 2007 film Ghost Rider and...
.
Friedrich — no relation to fellow comics writer Mike Friedrich
Mike Friedrich
Mike Friedrich is an American comic book writer and publisher best known for his work at Marvel and DC Comics, and for publishing the anthology series Star*Reach, one of the first independent comics...
— was the first successful new writer brought in to the burgeoning 1960s Marvel after fellow Missouri
Missouri
Missouri is a US state located in the Midwestern United States, bordered by Iowa, Illinois, Kentucky, Tennessee, Arkansas, Oklahoma, Kansas and Nebraska. With a 2010 population of 5,988,927, Missouri is the 18th most populous state in the nation and the fifth most populous in the Midwest. It...
an Roy Thomas
Roy Thomas
Roy William Thomas, Jr. is an American comic book writer and editor, and Stan Lee's first successor as editor-in-chief of Marvel Comics. He is possibly best known for introducing the pulp magazine hero Conan the Barbarian to American comics, with a series that added to the storyline of Robert E...
. Succeeding Thomas on Sgt. Fury, Friedrich and the art team of Dick Ayers
Dick Ayers
Richard "Dick" Ayers is an American comic book artist and cartoonist best known for his work as one of Jack Kirby's inkers during the late-1950s and 1960s period known as the Silver Age of Comics, including on some of the earliest issues of Marvel Comics' The Fantastic Four, and as the signature...
and John Severin
John Severin
John Powers Severin is an American comic book artist noted for his distinctive work with EC Comics, primarily on the war comics Two-Fisted Tales and Frontline Combat; for Marvel Comics, primarily on its war and Western comics; and for the satiric magazine Cracked...
produced a World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
series for the Vietnam
Vietnam War
The Vietnam War was a Cold War-era military conflict that occurred in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia from 1 November 1955 to the fall of Saigon on 30 April 1975. This war followed the First Indochina War and was fought between North Vietnam, supported by its communist allies, and the government of...
years, combining militaristic camaraderie and gung ho humor with a regretful sense of war
War
War is a state of organized, armed, and often prolonged conflict carried on between states, nations, or other parties typified by extreme aggression, social disruption, and usually high mortality. War should be understood as an actual, intentional and widespread armed conflict between political...
as a terrible last resort. The humanistic military
Military
A military is an organization authorized by its greater society to use lethal force, usually including use of weapons, in defending its country by combating actual or perceived threats. The military may have additional functions of use to its greater society, such as advancing a political agenda e.g...
drama
Drama
Drama is the specific mode of fiction represented in performance. The term comes from a Greek word meaning "action" , which is derived from "to do","to act" . The enactment of drama in theatre, performed by actors on a stage before an audience, presupposes collaborative modes of production and a...
was noted for its semi-anthological
Anthology
An anthology is a collection of literary works chosen by the compiler. It may be a collection of poems, short stories, plays, songs, or excerpts...
"The" stories, such as "The Medic" and "The Deserter". Additionally, one story was an homage to / retcon
Retcon
Retroactive continuity is the alteration of previously established facts in a fictional work. Retcons are done for many reasons, including the accommodation of sequels or further derivative works in a series, wherein newer authors or creators want to revise the in-story history to allow a course...
of the movie Casablanca
Casablanca (film)
Casablanca is a 1942 American romantic drama film directed by Michael Curtiz, starring Humphrey Bogart, Ingrid Bergman and Paul Henreid, and featuring Claude Rains, Conrad Veidt, Sydney Greenstreet, Peter Lorre and Dooley Wilson. Set during World War II, it focuses on a man torn between, in...
, and Friedrich annuals caught up with the Howlers in both the 1950s Korean War
Korean War
The Korean War was a conventional war between South Korea, supported by the United Nations, and North Korea, supported by the People's Republic of China , with military material aid from the Soviet Union...
, and in the 1960s in the Vietnam War
Vietnam War
The Vietnam War was a Cold War-era military conflict that occurred in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia from 1 November 1955 to the fall of Saigon on 30 April 1975. This war followed the First Indochina War and was fought between North Vietnam, supported by its communist allies, and the government of...
.
Early life and career
Gary Friedrich, the son of Jerry and Elsie Friedrich, was born and raised in Jackson, MissouriJackson, Missouri
Jackson is a city in Cape Girardeau County, Missouri, United States. The population was 13,758 at the 2010 census. It is the county seat of Cape Girardeau County. Jackson is named for U.S. President Andrew Jackson. It is a principal city of the Cape Girardeau–Jackson, MO-IL Metropolitan...
, where he graduated from Jackson High School in 1961. He was editor of the high school newspaper and a member of the marching band
Marching band
Marching band is a physical activity in which a group of instrumental musicians generally perform outdoors and incorporate some type of marching with their musical performance. Instrumentation typically includes brass, woodwinds, and percussion instruments...
. As a teen, he was a friend of future Marvel Comics
Marvel Comics
Marvel Worldwide, Inc., commonly referred to as Marvel Comics and formerly Marvel Publishing, Inc. and Marvel Comics Group, is an American company that publishes comic books and related media...
writer and eventual editor-in-chief Roy Thomas
Roy Thomas
Roy William Thomas, Jr. is an American comic book writer and editor, and Stan Lee's first successor as editor-in-chief of Marvel Comics. He is possibly best known for introducing the pulp magazine hero Conan the Barbarian to American comics, with a series that added to the storyline of Robert E...
.
Cape Girardeau, Missouri
Cape Girardeau is a city located in Cape Girardeau and Scott counties in Southeast Missouri in the United States. It is located approximately southeast of St. Louis and north of Memphis. As of the 2010 census, the city's population was 37,941. A college town, it is the home of Southeast Missouri...
after high school
High school
High school is a term used in parts of the English speaking world to describe institutions which provide all or part of secondary education. The term is often incorporated into the name of such institutions....
, and in February 1964, obtained a job at Jackson's two weekly newspapers, which were being combined into a single twice-weekly. "I was working about 80 hours a week for $50", he recalled in 2001. "I wrote, edited, and laid out the entire newspaper. I was the whole editorial staff without any help. It was driving me crazy". Friedrich had gotten married the year before and by now had a young son, but, "I didn't have time for anything because I was working all the damn time." The marriage fell apart, "and even that wasn't a major problem for a while because I was so damn busy and I was either working, drunk, or both", Friedrich said, alluding to the alcoholism
Alcoholism
Alcoholism is a broad term for problems with alcohol, and is generally used to mean compulsive and uncontrolled consumption of alcoholic beverages, usually to the detriment of the drinker's health, personal relationships, and social standing...
from which he began recovering on "New Year's night in 1979".
When the newspaper ceased publication in late summer 1965, Friedrich began working a union job at a Cape Girardeau factory, installing heating element
Heating element
A heating element converts electricity into heat through the process of Joule heating. Electric current through the element encounters resistance, resulting in heating of the element....
s in waffle iron
Waffle iron
A waffle iron is a cooking appliance used to make waffles.It usually consists of two hinged metal plates, molded to create the honeycomb pattern found on waffles...
s. Roy Thomas, now a Marvel Comics staff writer in New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
, called his friend with the suggestion that freelance work might exist in the newly resurgent medium. Friedrich took a Greyhound bus the following day, and stayed with Thomas and a fandom
Fandom
Fandom is a term used to refer to a subculture composed of fans characterized by a feeling of sympathy and camaraderie with others who share a common interest...
friend, Dave Kaler, in Manhattan
Manhattan
Manhattan is the oldest and the most densely populated of the five boroughs of New York City. Located primarily on the island of Manhattan at the mouth of the Hudson River, the boundaries of the borough are identical to those of New York County, an original county of the state of New York...
's East Village
East Village, Manhattan
The East Village is a neighborhood in the borough of Manhattan in New York City, lying east of Greenwich Village, south of Gramercy and Stuyvesant Town, and north of the Lower East Side...
. Shortly afterward, Friedrich and Thomas took an apartment on Bleecker Street
Bleecker Street
Bleecker Street is a street in New York City's Manhattan borough. It is perhaps most famous today as a Greenwich Village nightclub district. The street is a spine that connects a neighborhood today popular for music venues and comedy, but which was once a major center for American bohemia.Bleecker...
in Greenwich Village
Greenwich Village
Greenwich Village, , , , .in New York often simply called "the Village", is a largely residential neighborhood on the west side of Lower Manhattan in New York City. A large majority of the district is home to upper middle class families...
.
This was a time of transition between the beat movement
Beat generation
The Beat Generation refers to a group of American post-WWII writers who came to prominence in the 1950s, as well as the cultural phenomena that they both documented and inspired...
and the hippie era, when the Village flourished as a creative mecca. "The Village was a really neat place to be at that time. We went to the theater that was to become the Fillmore East
Fillmore East
The Fillmore East was rock promoter Bill Graham's rock venue on Second Avenue near East 6th Street in the East Village neighborhood of the Manhattan borough of New York City. It was open from 1968 to 1971, and featured some of the biggest acts in rock music at the time...
; it wasn't called that yet, but they were starting to have some rock concerts, like Chuck Berry
Chuck Berry
Charles Edward Anderson "Chuck" Berry is an American guitarist, singer, and songwriter, and one of the pioneers of rock and roll music. With songs such as "Maybellene" , "Roll Over Beethoven" , "Rock and Roll Music" and "Johnny B...
. ... I began to let my hair grow and become a real New York hippie", he recalled, encapsulating the hybrid of blue-collar, Midwestern background with youth-culture progressiveness
Progressivism
Progressivism is an umbrella term for a political ideology advocating or favoring social, political, and economic reform or changes. Progressivism is often viewed by some conservatives, constitutionalists, and libertarians to be in opposition to conservative or reactionary ideologies.The...
that combined to give his Sgt. Fury stories a distinctive sensibility.
With the help of Thomas, who recommended Friedrich to Charlton Comics
Charlton Comics
Charlton Comics was an American comic book publishing company that existed from 1946 to 1985, having begun under a different name in 1944. It was based in Derby, Connecticut...
editor Dick Giordano
Dick Giordano
Richard Joseph "Dick" Giordano was an American comic book artist and editor best known for introducing Charlton Comics' "Action Heroes" stable of superheroes, and serving as executive editor of then–industry leader DC Comics...
, Friedrich began writing romance comics for that low-budget publisher, where many pros got early breaks. "I did it with a great good sense of humor", Friedrich recalled. "I wrote things like 'Tears in My Malted' and 'Too Fat to Frug'...." With anonymous help and input from Thomas, Friedrich also began writing superhero
Superhero
A superhero is a type of stock character, possessing "extraordinary or superhuman powers", dedicated to protecting the public. Since the debut of the prototypical superhero Superman in 1938, stories of superheroes — ranging from brief episodic adventures to continuing years-long sagas —...
stories, beginning with his backup feature "The Sentinels" (with penciler-inker
Inker
The inker is one of the two line artists in a traditional comic book or graphic novel. After a pencilled drawing is given to the inker, the inker uses black ink to produce refined outlines over the pencil lines...
Sam Grainger
Sam Grainger
Samuel E. Grainger was an American comic book artist best known as a Marvel Comics inker during the 1960s and 1970s periods fans and historians call, respectively, the Silver Age and the Bronze Age of Comic Books...
) in Peter Cannon ... Thunderbolt
Peter Cannon, Thunderbolt
Peter Cannon, Thunderbolt is a fictional superhero character originally owned by Charlton Comics, notable for containing some of the earliest respectful invocations of Eastern mysticism in American pop culture. The character has been owned by the estate of its creator, writer-artist Pete Morisi,...
#54 (Oct. 1966; actually the sixth issue, due to the series continuing the numbering of a canceled title). He wrote the feature for two more issues before handing it off. Friedrich also dialogued the debut and the next three stories of the Blue Beetle
Blue Beetle
Blue Beetle is the name of three fictional superheroes that appear in American comic books published by a variety of companies since 1939.-Publication history:...
, plotted and drawn by Steve Ditko
Steve Ditko
Stephen J. "Steve" Ditko is an American comic book artist and writer best known as the artist co-creator, with Stan Lee, of the Marvel Comics heroes Spider-Man and Doctor Strange....
, in Captain Atom
Captain Atom
Captain Atom is a fictional comic book superhero that has existed in three basic incarnations. Created by writer Joe Gill and artist/co-writer Steve Ditko, he first appeared in Space Adventures #33 . Captain Atom was created for Charlton Comics but was later acquired by DC Comics and revised for...
#83-86 (Nov. 1966 - June 1967). Friedrich's last recorded Charlton story was "If I Had Three Wishes", penciled by Ditko, in Ghostly Tales
Ghostly Tales
Ghostly Tales was a horror-suspense anthology comic book series published by Charlton Comics from 1966 to 1984 . The book was "hosted" by Mr. L. Dedd , a middle-aged gentleman with purplish skin and horns who dressed like a vampire. Mr...
#60 (March 1967).
Marvel Comics
Western comics
Western comics is a comics genre usually depicting the American Old West frontier and typically set during the late nineteenth century...
for Marvel, including issues of Kid Colt, Outlaw
Kid Colt
Kid Colt is the name of two fictional characters in comic books published by Marvel Comics. The first is a cowboy whose adventures have taken place in numerous western themed comic book series published by Marvel...
; Two-Gun Kid
Two-Gun Kid
The Two-Gun Kid is a fictional character, a cowboy gunslinger in the Wild West of Marvel Comics' shared universe, the Marvel Universe.-Publication history:...
; Rawhide Kid
Rawhide Kid
The Rawhide Kid is a fictional Old West cowboy in comic books published by Marvel Comics. A heroic gunfighter of the 19th-century American West who was unjustly wanted as an outlaw, he is one of Marvel's most prolific Western characters...
; and his first regular series, the Western Ghost Rider
Phantom Rider
The Phantom Rider is the name of several fictional characters, Old West heroic gunfighters appearing in comic books in the Marvel Comics universe...
— launched with debut-issue co-plotter Thomas, and running six issues, mostly co-scripted by Friedrich and series penciler Dick Ayers
Dick Ayers
Richard "Dick" Ayers is an American comic book artist and cartoonist best known for his work as one of Jack Kirby's inkers during the late-1950s and 1960s period known as the Silver Age of Comics, including on some of the earliest issues of Marvel Comics' The Fantastic Four, and as the signature...
. Friedrich also contributed to the parody series Not Brand Echh
Not Brand Echh
Not Brand Echh was a satiric comic book series published by Marvel Comics that parodied its own superhero stories as well as those of other comics publishers. Running for 13 issues , it included among its contributors such notable writers and artists as Stan Lee, Jack Kirby, Gene Colan, Bill...
. He began on Sgt. Fury with #42 (May 1967) — co-scripted, as was the next issue, by Friedrich's Western pardner, Sgt. Fury penciler Ayers. The next issue, a flashback to the Howlers' first mission, was co-scripted by Friedrich and Thomas.
Following this inauspicious beginning came the first of several Friedrich "The" stories, "The War Lover" (#45, Aug. 1967) — a shaded exploration of a trigger-happy soldier and the line drawn, even in war, between killing and murder. Daring for the time, when majority public sentiment still supported the undeclared Vietnam War
Vietnam War
The Vietnam War was a Cold War-era military conflict that occurred in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia from 1 November 1955 to the fall of Saigon on 30 April 1975. This war followed the First Indochina War and was fought between North Vietnam, supported by its communist allies, and the government of...
, the story balanced present-day issues while demonstrating that even in what is referred to as "a just war", a larger morality
Morality
Morality is the differentiation among intentions, decisions, and actions between those that are good and bad . A moral code is a system of morality and a moral is any one practice or teaching within a moral code...
prevails. While war comics at this stage were less overtly jingoistic than in the 1950s, Friedrich's allegorical approach was ahead of movies and television
Television
Television is a telecommunication medium for transmitting and receiving moving images that can be monochrome or colored, with accompanying sound...
as well, occurring years before M*A*S*H would tread similar ground. Friedrich's story also marked the first time since the early Lee-Kirby Furys that such provocative humanism appeared in a full-length tale, rather than in the occasional "very special" short stories
Short Stories
Short Stories may refer to:*A plural for Short story*Short Stories , an American pulp magazine published from 1890-1959*Short Stories, a 1954 collection by O. E...
that represented the preferred length at rival DC Comics
DC Comics
DC Comics, Inc. is one of the largest and most successful companies operating in the market for American comic books and related media. It is the publishing unit of DC Entertainment a company of Warner Bros. Entertainment, which itself is owned by Time Warner...
. Friedrich would write several more "The" stories, including "The Assassin", "The Peacemonger", and the unromanticized A.W.O.L. drama "The Deserter" (#75, Feb. 1970), based loosely on the real-life case of WWII Private Eddie Slovik
Eddie Slovik
Edward Donald Slovik was a private in the United States Army during World War II and the only American soldier to be court-martialled and executed for desertion since the American Civil War....
.
Friedrich continued through #83 (Jan. 1971), with the late part of this run having reprint issues between new stories, and again for the even-numbered issues from #94-114 (Jan. 1972 - Nov. 1973). Issue #100 (July 1972) featured a present-day, fictional reunion gala.
Friedrich also launched the far shorter-lived, 19-issue United States Marines
United States Marine Corps
The United States Marine Corps is a branch of the United States Armed Forces responsible for providing power projection from the sea, using the mobility of the United States Navy to deliver combined-arms task forces rapidly. It is one of seven uniformed services of the United States...
series Capt. Savage and his Leatherneck Raiders
Leatherneck Raiders
The Leatherneck Raiders are a fictional World War II unit in comic books published by Marvel Comics. Created by Gary Friedrich and Dick Ayers, they were a specially trained tactical commando squad...
(changed to Captain Savage and his Battlefield Raiders with #9), running Jan. 1968 to March 1970; and the nine-issue U.S. Army series Combat Kelly and the Deadly Dozen, running June 1972 to September 1973.
These brief efforts proved more pedestrian than his Sgt. Fury work, and Friedrich settled into the niche of utility writer. His first regular superhero series for Marvel was The Incredible Hulk, for which he wrote a handful of issues starting with #102 (April 1968; the premiere issue, following the Hulk feature in the "split book" Tales to Astonish
Tales to Astonish
Tales to Astonish is the name of two American comic book series and a one-shot comic published by Marvel Comics.The primary title bearing that name was published from 1959-1968...
), as well as the 1968 Hulk annual. The series would not, however, launch him as Thomas' natural successor on Marvel's flagship titles, which went to such later hires as Gerry Conway
Gerry Conway
Gerard F. "Gerry" Conway is an American writer of comic books and television shows. He is known for co-creating the Marvel Comics vigilante The Punisher and scripting the death of the character Gwen Stacy during his long run on The Amazing Spider-Man...
, Steve Englehart
Steve Englehart
Steve Englehart is an American novelist. In his earlier career he was a comic book writer best known for his work at Marvel Comics and DC Comics, particularly in the 1970s...
, Len Wein
Len Wein
Len Wein is an American comic book writer and editor best known for co-creating DC Comics' Swamp Thing and Marvel Comics' Wolverine, and for helping revive the Marvel superhero team the X-Men...
and Marv Wolfman
Marv Wolfman
Marvin A. "Marv" Wolfman is an award-winning American comic book writer. He is best known for lengthy runs on The Tomb of Dracula, creating Blade for Marvel Comics, and The New Teen Titans for DC Comics.-1960s:...
. Friedrich mostly would be assigned titles in transition or facing cancellation, including, variously, [Uncanny] X-Men
Uncanny X-Men
Uncanny X-Men, first published as The X-Men, is the flagship Marvel Comics comic book series for the X-Men franchise. It is the mainstream continuity featuring the adventures of the eponymous group of mutant superheroes...
; Captain America
Captain America
Captain America is a fictional character, a superhero that appears in comic books published by Marvel Comics. The character first appeared in Captain America Comics #1 , from Marvel Comics' 1940s predecessor, Timely Comics, and was created by Joe Simon and Jack Kirby...
; Captain Marvel
Captain Marvel (Marvel Comics)
Captain Marvel is the name of several fictional superheroes appearing in comic books published by Marvel Comics. Most of these versions exist in Marvel's main shared universe, known as the Marvel Universe.- Publication history :...
; Daredevil
Daredevil (Marvel Comics)
Daredevil is a fictional character, a superhero in comic books published by Marvel Comics. The character was created by writer-editor Stan Lee and artist Bill Everett, with an unspecified amount of input from Jack Kirby, and first appeared in Daredevil #1 .Living in the Hell's Kitchen neighborhood...
; Nick Fury, Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D.
Nick Fury
Colonel Nicholas Joseph "Nick" Fury is a fictional World War II army hero and present-day super-spy in the Marvel Comics universe. Created by artist Jack Kirby and writer Stan Lee, Fury first appeared in Sgt. Fury and his Howling Commandos #1 , a World War II combat series that portrayed the...
; and the "Black Widow" feature in Amazing Adventures
Amazing Adventures
Amazing Adventures is the name of several anthology comic book series, all but one published by Marvel Comics.The earliest Marvel series of that name introduced the company's first superhero of the late-1950s to early-1960s period fans and historians call the Silver Age of Comic Books...
. He was also given many non-superhero features, including such Westerns as The Gunhawks.
During this time, Friedrich also wrote prose stories for the line of men's magazines owned by Marvel's then-publisher, Martin Goodman
Martin Goodman (publisher)
Martin Goodman born on was an American publisher of pulp magazines, paperback books, men's adventure magazines, and comic books, launching the company that would become Marvel Comics....
.
Friedrich was the co-creator and initial writer of Marvel's motorcycle-demon Ghost Rider
Ghost Rider (Johnny Blaze)
Ghost Rider is a fictional character, an antihero in the Marvel Comics Universe. He is the second Marvel character to use the name Ghost Rider, following the Western hero later known as the Phantom Rider, and preceding Daniel Ketch.Johnny Blaze was portrayed both in the 2007 film Ghost Rider and...
, and later teamed with that character's first artist, Mike Ploog
Mike Ploog
Michael G. Ploog is an American storyboard and comic book artist, and a visual designer for movies....
, on Marvel's Monster of Frankenstein — the first five issues of which (Jan.-Oct. 1973) contained a relatively faithful adaptation of Mary Shelley
Mary Shelley
Mary Shelley was a British novelist, short story writer, dramatist, essayist, biographer, and travel writer, best known for her Gothic novel Frankenstein: or, The Modern Prometheus . She also edited and promoted the works of her husband, the Romantic poet and philosopher Percy Bysshe Shelley...
's novel.
Later career
Friedrich's other work includes writing for the SkywaldSkywald Publications
Skywald Publications is a 1970s publisher of black-and-white comics magazines, primarily the horror anthologies Nightmare, Psycho, and Scream. It also published a small line of comic books and other magazines....
line of black-and-white horror-comics magazines. For that company he created Hell-Rider
Hell-Rider
Hell-Rider is a short-lived, black-and-white comics magazine published by Skywald Publications, a 1970s company best known for its horror-comics magazines Nightmare, Psycho, and Scream. Like them and the similar publications of Warren Publishing, these were mature-audience magazines not covered by...
— a Vietnam-vet vigilante motorcyclist with a flame-thrower-equipped bike — in a namesake two-issue series (July-Aug. to Sept.-Oct. 1971). The following year, Friedrich worked with Thomas on the similarly motorcycle-mounted Ghost Rider.
Additionally, Friedrich freelanced for the short-lived Atlas/Seaboard Comics
Atlas/Seaboard Comics
Atlas/Seaboard is the term comic-book historians and collectors use to refer to the 1970s line of comics published as Atlas Comics by the American company Seaboard Periodicals, to differentiate from the 1950s' Atlas Comics, a predecessor of Marvel Comics...
, where he co-created the character Man-Monster with Rich Buckler
Rich Buckler
Rich Buckler is an American comic book artist and penciller, best known for his work on Marvel Comics' The Fantastic Four in the mid-1970s and, with writer Doug Moench, co-creating the character Deathlok in Astonishing Tales #25...
and Mike Vosburg
Mike Vosburg
Mike Vosburg is an American comic book artist primarily known for his work on the Tales from the Crypt TV series.-Biography:...
in Tales of Evil #3 (July 1975). He also wrote the third and final issue of Morlock 2001, with the very rare art team of Steve Ditko and Bernie Wrightson; the third and final issue of The Brute; and the fourth and final issue of IronJaw before eventually leaving the comics industry to return to Missouri, , where he found work as a courier.
In early 1977, as his alcoholism was progressing to a crisis point, Friedrich's sole comics work was writing the seven-page Captain Britain
Captain Britain
Captain Britain , briefly known as Britannic, is a fictional character, a superhero appearing in the comic books published by Marvel Comics. Created by Chris Claremont and Herb Trimpe, he first appeared in Captain Britain Weekly, #1...
stories in the character's namesake Marvel UK
Marvel UK
Marvel UK was an imprint of Marvel Comics formed in 1972 to reprint US produced stories for the British weekly comic market, though it later did produce original material by British creators such as Alan Moore, John Wagner, Dave Gibbons, Steve Dillon and Grant Morrison.Panini Comics obtained the...
weekly comic book. He would be published in comics just once more as of 2007, scripting Topps Comics
Topps Comics
Topps Comics is a division of the American trading card publisher and gum/candy distributor the Topps Company, Inc. that published comic books from 1993–1998, beginning its existence during a short comics-industry boom that attracted many investors and new companies...
' Jack Kirby-created Bombast #1 (April 1993), where he reteamed with plotter Roy Thomas and Sgt. Fury artists Dick Ayers and John Severin.
Controversy
In the 2000s, Friedrich expressed public disagreement about the genesis of the supernatural Ghost RiderGhost Rider (Johnny Blaze)
Ghost Rider is a fictional character, an antihero in the Marvel Comics Universe. He is the second Marvel character to use the name Ghost Rider, following the Western hero later known as the Phantom Rider, and preceding Daniel Ketch.Johnny Blaze was portrayed both in the 2007 film Ghost Rider and...
. In 2001, Roy Thomas claimed that:
Friedrich responded:
Ploog recalled, in a 2008 interview:
On April 4, 2007, Friedrich filed a lawsuit in the United States District Court - Southern District of Illinois, against Marvel Enterprises, Sony Pictures, Columbia TriStar Motion Pictures
Columbia Pictures
Columbia Pictures Industries, Inc. is an American film production and distribution company. Columbia Pictures now forms part of the Columbia TriStar Motion Picture Group, owned by Sony Pictures Entertainment, a subsidiary of the Japanese conglomerate Sony. It is one of the leading film companies...
, Relativity Media, Crystal Sky Pictures
Crystal Sky Pictures
Crystal Sky Pictures in an independent film production company that develops its own films for production, acquiring the rights to popular video games, comic books, graphic novels, toys, and other brands and supplying the funding for rights, script development, and production.-Filmography:...
, Michael DeLuca
Michael DeLuca
Michael De Luca is an American movie producer and screenwriter.-Life and career:De Luca was born and raised in Brooklyn, New York, the son of a worker at ConEdison. De Luca was exposed to motion pictures by his father, who would sneak the youngster into movie theaters...
Productions, Hasbro
Hasbro
Hasbro is a multinational toy and boardgame company from the United States of America. It is one of the largest toy makers in the world. The corporate headquarters is located in Pawtucket, Rhode Island, United States...
and Take-Two Interactive
Take-Two Interactive
Take-Two Interactive Software, Inc. is a major American publisher, developer, and distributor of video games and video game peripherals. Take-Two wholly owns 2K Games and Rockstar Games. The company's headquarters are in New York City, with international headquarters in Windsor, United Kingdom...
, alleging his copyrights to the Ghost Rider
Ghost Rider (Johnny Blaze)
Ghost Rider is a fictional character, an antihero in the Marvel Comics Universe. He is the second Marvel character to use the name Ghost Rider, following the Western hero later known as the Phantom Rider, and preceding Daniel Ketch.Johnny Blaze was portrayed both in the 2007 film Ghost Rider and...
character have been exploited and utilized in a "joint venture and conspiracy". The lawsuit
Lawsuit
A lawsuit or "suit in law" is a civil action brought in a court of law in which a plaintiff, a party who claims to have incurred loss as a result of a defendant's actions, demands a legal or equitable remedy. The defendant is required to respond to the plaintiff's complaint...
states that the film rights and merchandising
Merchandising
Merchandising is the methods, practices, and operations used to promote and sustain certain categories of commercial activity. In the broadest sense, merchandising is any practice which contributes to the sale of products to a retail consumer...
reverted from Marvel to him in 2001. The case was transferred to the federal New York State Southern District Court on February 14, 2008.
Awards
- Sgt. Fury and his Howling CommandosSgt. Fury and his Howling CommandosSgt. Fury and his Howling Commandos are a fictional World War II unit in comic books published by Marvel Comics. Created by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby, they first appeared in Sgt. Fury and his Howling Commandos #1 . The main character, Sgt...
, written by Friedrich, won the Alley AwardAlley AwardThe Alley Award was an American series of comic book fan awards, first presented in 1962 for comics published in 1961. Officially organized under the aegis of the Academy of Comic Book Arts and Sciences, under executive secretary Jerry Bails, and later Paul Gambaccini and David Kaler, the award...
for Best War Title in 1967 and 1968.
Books
- Brown, LenLen Brown (comics)Len Brown is a writer, editor, radio personality and comic book scripter, best known as the co-creator of T.H.U.N.D.E.R. Agents and Mars Attacks....
, and Gary Friedrich, Encyclopedia of Rock & Roll (Tower Publications, 1970) - Brown, Len, and Gary Friedrich, Encyclopedia of Country and Western Music (Tower Publications, 1971)
- Brown, Len, and Gary Friedrich, So You Think You Know About Rock and Roll (Tower Publications, 1972)