How Gail Simone Paid Tribute To Gerry Conway In The Comics She Wrote

Posted in: Comics, DC Comics, Marvel Comics, Superman, X-Men | Tagged: gail simone, Gerry Conway, power girl, punisher, rip, Superman/Spider-Man, uncanny x-men, Werewolf By Night

How Gail Simone Paid Tribute To Gerry Conway In The Comics She Wrote

Read how Gail Simone paid tribute to Gerry Conway before his death in the Superman/Spider-Man and Uncanny X-Men comics she wrote

Published Tue, 28 Apr 2026 05:57:14 -0500
by Rich Johnston
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Yesterday, in the wake of the news of the death of Gerry Conway, comic book writer Gail Simone gave an essay worthy tribute across a number of posts on social media. Normally, I gather and curate a few of these for Bleeding Cool, and was in the process of doing so, but Gail's writing, anecdotes, recent memories, and actively using his characters and giving Gerry a smile in his final month, I thought was worth collecting and running in and of itself, especially how it relates to recent stories for DC and Marvel Comics. First, with the Power Girl and Punisher story, both characters Gerry created, in the new Superman/Spider-Man comic book, for the 50th anniversary of the original 1976 Superman/Spider-Man comic that Gerry wrote.

"I have just been told that legendary writer Gerry Conway has passed. This is a hard day. I was a lifelong fan, the characters he created, the stories he told, have been such a part of my love of comics (and this career I adore) at a molecular level. A couple months ago, he sent a letter to a lot of us, that he was in his last days, and the end of his life due to pancreatic cancer. He was gracious and straightforward. It was hard to hear, he's one of those creators whose work meant so much to me that I have a hard time quantifying it properly. I did two tributes to him recently in my comics, and it was a bit of a race, my hope that he would get to see them and perhaps enjoy them a little bit, before he passed. Just to know that his creations live on, and people are still walking in his shadow."

"His good friend Timmy Heague connected us a bit better, and I got to tell him a little bit about how much his work had meant to me. I believe we were past the point of hoping for a miracle recovery, that was just not in the cards."

"I told him of the Punisher/Power Girl story, both of which he co-created, and he asked if it was possible to see the script, which I got permission to do, and then the art by the wonderful Belén Ortega. He was gracious and very happy, he praised her wonderful art and the sense of fun in the story. I told him also that I had taken a one-time character he had in a very obscure book, a Werewolf By Night story, and turned her into the main villain in an Uncanny X-Men, and again, he was gracious and generous and just every bit the writer you hoped he would be.

"We passed a few more letters back and forth. I am still in that stage where when someone like George Perez, Jenny Isabella, or Dwayne McDuffie, or Steve Gerber, or Marv Wolfman, or Gerry Conway even knows my NAME, I find it astounding, but to have them all be so kind and so generous, it just feels like I chose my heroes welll. It's a sad day. But I am glad he and Timmy reached out, and I feel incredibly fortunate to have had this brief but beautiful exchange. I hope I can talk a bit more about Gerry but right now, my heart is a little too heavy. Thank you for everything, Gerry Conway."

And then in Uncanny X-Men #25, the series Gail Simone relaunched for Marvel a couple of years ago, and out last month, reviving the character of Agatha Timely under a new name… which was the deepest of deep cuts, fifty-four years back to 1972.

"This is another little tribute to Gerry Conway in one of my recent stories. The main villain, LADY DARKHOLD, is the resurrected corpse of a character who first appeared and died in the same issue of a WEREWOLF BY NIGHT story that Gerry wrote. I thought she was neat (though her total panel time was very small) and brought her back, in a new form, as a little handwave to one of my favorite writers. Art and design by co-creator David Marquez. This was just a couple issues ago, but Gerry was tickled that such an obscure character had reappeared."

And here's a little of how she appeared over half a century ago… before her second appearance in Uncanny X-Men this year.

Gail concluded, "You have to tell people you admire how much they mean to you while they are still here to hear it.
I am so glad I got to connect with Gerry Conway in the past few months and got to tell him how much I loved his stories. Today sucks, though." Too true.

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