GERRY CONWAY

Real Name: Gerard Francis Conway

Identity/Class: Human

Occupation: Writer

Group Membership: Marvel Comics (Steve Englehart, Mike Friedrich, Archie Goodwin, Jack Kirby, Stan Lee, George Perez, Marie Severin, Joe Sinnott, Jean Thomas, Roy Thomas, John Verpoorten, Glynis Wein, Len Wein, Marv Wolfman, others)

Affiliations: Beast (Hank McCoy), Vera Cantor, Tom Fagan, the Fantastic Four (Human Torch/Johnny Storm, Invisible Girl/Sue Richards, Mister Fantastic/Reed Richards, Thing/Ben Grimm), Marvel Comics

Enemies: Impossible Man, Juggernaut (Cain Marko), Loki (Loki Laufeyson) (though he was unaware it was the real Loki);
    briefly the Beast (Hank McCoy)

Known Relatives: Karen Conway (wife), Cara Conway, Rachel Conway (daughters), Carla Conway (ex-wife)

Aliases: "Ger" (nickname)

Base of Operations: Thousand Oaks, California, USA;
    formerly Brooklyn, New York, USA

First Appearance: (in a Marvel comic) Thor I#207 (January, 1973)

Powers/Abilities: While Gerry Conway did not possess any superhuman powers, he was an extremely talented and prolific writer, especially in the field of superheroes and science fiction.

Height: 6'2"
Weight: Unrevealed
Eyes: Blue
Hair: Brown

History:
(real life) - Gerry Conway was born on September 10, 1952 in Brooklyn, New York. An avid fan of comic books, he wrote to Marvel Comics and his letter was published in an issue of their Fantastic Four comic book (see comments). At age sixteen, Conway got into the comic book field, writing stories for the DC Comics and horror short stories for Marvel Comics' anthology Chamber of Darkness and Tower of Shadows books. More interested in writing superhero stories, Gerry befriended writer Roy Thomas and Thomas eventually had Gerry submit a "writing test" to the company. While editor Stan Lee wasn't impressed, Roy Thomas began passing along short assignments to Gerry. Following a few short years of writing nearly every major character Marvel published, Gerry was assigned to write the popular Amazing Spider-Man comic book at age nineteen, where he wrote some of the most well-known Spider-Man stories including the introduction of the Punisher character and the "Death of Gwen Stacy" storyline.

(Punisher XIII#3 (fb) - BTS) - At some point, someone spray-painted Gerry Conway's last name on the wall on the rooftop of a building in New York.

(Thor I#207 (fb) - BTS) - Gerry Conway was the former roommate of fellow writer Len Wein. Some time later, Gerry Conway suggested some of the Marvel Comics staff visit Tom Fagan in Rutland, Vermont for their annual Halloween celebrations and he, Len Wein, Glynis Wein and Steve Englehart traveled to Rutland in Steve's run-down Mustang car.

(Thor I#207) - Upon arrival in Rutland, Steve Englehart looked over at Gerry and proclaimed that Gerry was true about Rutland's Halloween celebration and that they should end up having a good time. When Steve mentioned he could use a good time after the ride up and Len Wein agreed, noting that he was so tense he could punch someone, Gerry warned against Len getting violent since Tom Fagan was expecting them. Steve then suggested they return to his car (which was missing a muffler) to travel over to Tom Fagan's home and as the group took a very bumpy ride over to Fagan's home, Gerry asked if Steve was sure it was not illegal to drive with a broken muffler. Steve replied by asking Gerry to trust him since it was only a few miles over to Tom's place.

(Amazing Adventures II#16) - Along the way, the animalistic Beast leaped in front of Steve's car and the gang quickly pulled over to see what they had nearly hit. As the Beast jumped up the side of a cliff, Glynis joked that she now knew how Fay Wray felt and when Len joked back that they were going back to Queens if he had to fly bi-planes to be with her, Gerry Conway commented that bi-planes might be better than Steve's rattle-trap of a car to get them to Tom Fagan's Halloween party. Steve assured Gerry that his car was fine but noted that, after seeing the Beast, he had lost interest in being in Rutland, Vermont. The Beast soon changed into his Hank McCoy civilian clothes and a rubber mask to regroup with his girlfriend Vera Cantor and the two backtracked to find Gerry and his friends still standing by Steve's Mustang. Steve happily agreed to give Hank and Vera a ride and they all drove off moments before the Juggernaut appeared on the scene. The gang eventually dropped Hank and Vera off near their motel and Steve informed Hank that they were going to drop their belongings off at the motel before heading over to Tom Fagan's house. Gerry and his friends then began unloading Steve's car as Hank and Vera walked on.

(Thor I#207) - Twenty minutes later, after a brief brush with the local police, Gerry and his co-workers arrived at Tom Fagan's home and a tense-looking Tom Fagan greeted them. Fagan invited them all inside and revealed that he and his party guests were just about to leave for the Halloween parade. Len Wein whispered to his friends that something was bothering him about Tom Fagan and when Glynis Wein mentioned that Tom seemed distant, Gerry Conway suggested that it was just nerves and that Tom would be fine after the parade.

(Amazing Adventures II#16) - While at Tom Fagan's house, Gerry and his friends managed to snag Hank McCoy an invitation to Tom Fagan's Halloween party. They later walked around Rutland, Vermont enjoying the Halloween parade and the costumed civilians and they came upon Hank and Vera once more, revealing that they had gotten him an invitation to the party. Hank thanked them but remarked that he and Vera had to be going but Juggernaut soon appeared in town, destroying a parade float before seemingly disappearing.

(Thor I#207) -  Gerry accompanied his co-workers to a local restaurant, where Len Wein downed several burgers as they waited for the parade floats to be repaired. Gerry eventually grumbled that they had been there for an hour and couldn't stay all night. Len and Glynis soon got into a light-hearted discussion about their Halloween costumes and when Len asked what was so great about Glynis' costume, Gerry suggested Glynis not listen to Len's insults, claiming his old roommate had rotten taste. Glynis then got up to go to the restroom and while she was gone, Gerry had a malt. Len began to get concerned twenty minutes later and Gerry suggested they might need to have a waitress check on Glynis, asking how it took to powder one's nose. They soon did just that but the waitress confirmed that no one was in the restroom and Len became worried. Gerry assured Len that they would find her.

(Amazing Adventures II#16) - Steve, Len and Gerry rushed back outside past Hank McCoy in their search for the missing Glynis, and Hank secretly removed his costume to investigate as the Beast. Steve, Len and Gerry soon returned to Tom Fagan's house in hopes that Glynis had already returned to Fagan's Halloween party but they were knocked aside when the Juggernaut tossed Beast into them and ran outside in an attempt to steal Steve Englehart's car.

(Thor I#207) - Gerry, Len and Steve ran outside as the Juggernaut continued his attempt to steal Steve's car and Glynis, who had been mesmerized by the Asgardian god Loki, returned to her friends. The foursome then witnessed a blinded Loki rush over a nearby cliff, at which point Glynis recalled some of what had occurred while she was mesmerized and she asked Len to hold her close.

(Amazing Adventures II#16) - As the foursome left Tom Fagan's house, Len asked Glynis where exactly she had been but when Glynis didn't fully recall, only that she had a good time, Gerry complained that they had a terrible time searching for her. Gerry then told Glynis never to go missing like that again, to which Glynis replied by accusing Gerry of making a big deal out of everything and reminding Gerry that Halloween was a time to cut loose and have fun.

(Fantastic Four I#176) - After the alien Impossible Man attacked the Marvel Comics offices demanding a comic book starring himself, Gerry Conway walked up as the Fantastic Four's Mr. Fantastic was convincing Marvel head Stan Lee into doing a single Impossible Man special issue. Asking what had been going on, Gerry was sarcastically told by Roy Thomas that "nothing much" was happening.

(real life) - Gerry eventually worked his way up to editorship at Marvel Comics before moving on to write for DC Comics again, where he co-created the fan-favorite Firestorm character among many others. Over the succeeding decades, Gerry moved into writing science fiction novels and for movie and television shows, periodically returning to write for Marvel Comics at various points. At some point, he married his first wife Carla and they had a daughter, Cara. He remarried in 1992 to a psychologist, Karen, and together they had a daughter, Rachel. In recent years, Gerry went through surgery to remove a cancerous tumor in October 2022 and he passed away in 2026 at the age of 73.

Comments: Adapted into Marvel Comics by Gerry Conway himself, John Buscema and Vinnie Colletta.

    The letter written by Gerry Conway was published in Fantastic Four I#50 (May, 1966).

    This profile is meant to be a profile on the Earth-616 version of Gerry Conway but I included some real life flavor text to give his fictional counterpart a bit of backstory. I hope this profile is a fitting tribute to an amazingly talented writer whose many contributions to Marvel Comics cannot be put into words. Rest in peace, Mr. Conway.

Profile by Proto-Man.

CLARIFICATIONS:
Gerry Conway should be distinguished from:

• CONWAY, JOAN - Alpha/Andy Maguire character--Amazing Spider-Man II#692
  
• CONWAY, SWEENEY - vampire circa 1975, vampirized by Al Virgil, incinerated by sunlight while wearing Donder's dark glasses as a disguise--Vampire Tales I#10
• other "Gerry" or "Conway" characters, groups, items, races or events

Appearances:
Thor I#207 (January, 1973) - Gerry Conway (writer), John Buscema (pencils), Vinnie Colletta (inks), Roy Thomas (editor)
Amazing Adventures II#16 (January, 1973) - Steve Englehart (writer), Bob Brown (pencils), Frank McLaughlin (inks), Roy Thomas (editor)
Fantastic Four I#176 (November, 1976) - Roy Thomas (writer, editor), George Perez (pencils), Joe Sinnott (inks)
Punisher XIII#3 (July, 2022) - Jason Aaron (writer), Jesus Saiz, Paul Azaceta (art), Tom Brevoort (editor)

First posted: 04/27/2026
Last updated: 04/27/2026

Any Additions/Corrections? please let me know.

Non-Marvel Copyright info
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Please visit The Marvel Official Site at: http://www.marvel.com

Special Thanks to www.g-mart.com for hosting the Appendix, Master List, etc.!

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