Gerber's Masterpiece

Steve Gerber may have erred in taking himself too seriously. He was undoubtedly a great writer, brimming with imagination and a knack for writing sharp, ironic dialogues. He hit his professional peak in the 1970s when he wrote the series Man-Thing for Marvel Comics, and he created a secondary character, Howard the Duck, that would change his life. Howard got his own comic and became very successful. Disney sued Marvel over the resemblance to Donald Duck, and this controversy only made Howard and his creator, Steve Gerber, more famous. Legal troubles ensued, and Gerber was eventually fired by Marvel, leaving several series unfinished, including Howard and the much less successful Omega, The Unknown. Gerber sued Marvel for the copyright of Howard (financing the lawsuit costs with the comic Destroyer Duck, drawn pro bono by Jack Kirby) and lost. Since then, he had a tumultuous career, working for various publishers, including DC, Eclypse, and again with Marvel when editors changed. Gerber perhaps took his authorship of the fun duck a bit too seriously without realizing that the endearing Howard was merely a parody of superheroes and, yes, Donald Duck. It was a humorous satire with certain elements of sex, drugs, and rock 'n' roll that clashed with the comic code censoring mainstream comics of that time, leading to problems.

Decades later, in 2003, Gerber pitched a story to DC Comics, unaware that it would be his final comic, a story about a fifteen-year-old boy involved in a school shooting similar to Columbine, who had to serve a 50-year prison sentence. What Gerber also may not have known was that this, not Howard the Duck, would be his masterpiece.

Hard Time is a harrowing story about Ethan Harrow, a fifteen-year-old serving a prison sentence in an adult penitentiary, surrounded by murderers and depraved individuals who have no compassion for him. His only weapon is a strange ability to project his spirit into dreams and attack his opponents in the form of ectoplasm. Getting into trouble from day one in prison, Ethan encounters all sorts of incredible characters. Turo is a Mexican gang member who wants to start a family from behind bars, regardless of the price he must pay. Curly, the elderly Vietnam veteran with a granddaughter he's never met: the luscious Red, who becomes Ethan's only love. Cindy is a young transgender woman with a tragic past who is forced into terrible acts to survive in prison. And Cole, an African American who has more sympathy for Ethan and Cindy than his street thug appearance might suggest. It's worth noting that these, and all the other supporting characters, have their specific traits, quirks, gestures, and ways of speaking. It's a collective story where every detail is carefully considered.

In Hard Time,  the narrative of life in prison doesn't hold back on grim and cruel details, and Ethan's supposed superpowers offer him no more than a means to endure his situation. Ethan is a convict with an endless sentence, even though he wasn't the one who fired the shots during the school shooting and was instead a victim of extremely ruthless bullying.

Gerber fell seriously ill with pulmonary fibrosis halfway through the 17 comic books that make up Hard Time, and the final issues were written, under his guidance, by his partner and co-writer, Mary Skrenes. It's impossible to know how much this influenced the fact that, although it's a very solid and well-constructed story, it starts leaving loose ends from a certain point. The series may not have had the success it deserved and was somewhat forcefully canceled after over four hundred pages. Nonetheless, the ailing Gerber and his partner Skrenes managed to wrap up the story in a unique final issue that gave it the necessary closure. Hard Time is an exciting, enjoyable comic with a dreadful backdrop that adheres to the standards of mainstream comics in the 21st century, no longer bound by the terrible Comic Code. It's a great work of art. This book exposes the flaws of the penal system and school bullying but also shows the unlimited capacity of human beings to survive in extreme situations.