Gerry Conway, Co-Creator of The Punisher & Jason Todd Has Died Aged 73

Posted in: Avengers, Batman, Comics, DC Comics, Marvel Comics, Spider-Man | Tagged: firestorm, Gerry Conway, jason todd, punisher, rip

Gerry Conway, Co-Creator of The Punisher & Jason Todd Has Died Aged 73

Gerry Conway, co-creator of The Punisher, Firestorm, Vixen, Carol Danvers, Ben Reilly, Killer Croc and Jason Todd has died at the age of 73

Published Mon, 27 Apr 2026 13:51:13 -0500
by Rich Johnston
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Gerry Conway, legendary comic book writer, editor, and television producer, has died at the age of 73. Born on September 10, 1952, in Brooklyn, he broke into the industry as a teenager, selling his first professional story to DC Comics for House of Secrets at 16, and went on to become one of the defining voices of the Bronze Age of Comics.
At Marvel Comics, Conway succeeded Stan Lee as the writer of The Amazing Spider-Man, including "The Night Gwen Stacy Died" in 1973. At Marvel, he co-created The Punisher, Tarantula, the Jackal, Vance Astrovik, Tombstone, Man Wolf, Man Thing, Spider-Man's clone Ben Reilly, Jack O'Lantern, Werewolf By Night, Carol Danvers (Ms Marvel and then Captain Marvel), among others, including writing Avengers and Vampire Tales.

While at DC Comics, he co-created Firestorm, as well as Power Girl, Jason Todd – the second Robin, Vixen, Killer Croc, Killer Frost, the second Thinker, Weasel, Atari Force, Baron Blitzkrieg, Commander Steel, Felicity Smoak and many more, writing Justice League of America, Batman, Superman, and Swamp Thing, as well as writing the first Marvel/DC superhero crossover, Superman vs. the Amazing Spider-Man.

Beyond comics, Conway wrote science fiction novels, scripted the Star Trek newspaper comic strip, and then worked in film and television. He co-wrote the animated movie Fire and Ice and Conan the Destroyer, as well as an unmade X-Men film. He was prolific, writing and producing TV series such as Father Dowling Mysteries, Diagnosis: Murder, Matlock, Law & Order, Hercules: The Legendary Journeys, and Batman: The Animated Series.

He returned to comics in recent years, with The Last Days of Animal Man, Justice League – The '80s and Firestorm in Legends of Tomorrow, for DC. As well as returning to Spider-Man, Carnage, The Punisher, Amazing Spider-Man: Renew Your Vows and more, most recently the one-shot What If…? Dark: Spider-Gwen.

He was a comics activist as well, trying to shame DC Comics by getting fans to help crowdsource payments for character use, as well as criticising DC for changing certain characters to be "derivative" characters, which reduced or eliminated payments, such as for Power Girl, or for Killer Frost, backed by Neal Adams and writing numerous letters. As well as talking up Syria, Zack Snyder on Watchmen, Obama and Nixon, Marvel's Northrop Grumman Partnership, a lack of creator credits on the Titans TV series, creating independent careers, and even cancelling every comic book and starting again.

He especially objected to how The Punisher was taken up by police, soldiers and far-right groups he disapproved of, like QAnon, pointing out he was a conscientious objector, and tried to reclaim the Punisher's skull for better purposes.

In 2022, Gerry Conway was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer and underwent successful surgery. Gerry Conway is survived by his wife, Laura Beth Conway, and his children from two previous marriages, Cara and Rachel.

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