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Nevada
As a Las Vegas showgirl who performs onstage with her pet ostrich, Nevada's greatest daily concerns are her stalking ex-boyfriend and the future of her job. But when a bizarre series of murders occur at the hotel that she works at, the street tough dancer suddenly finds herself thrust into the middle of a cosmic crisis. Now with her beloved ostrich by her side and a drunken mystic as her sage, Nevada must simultaneously deal with alternate dimensions and accidental time-travel as she tries to stop a celestial takeover of her hotel and world.
156 pages, Paperback
First published March 26, 1999
1 person is currently reading
56 people want to read
About the author
Steve Gerber
639 books66 followersSteve Gerber graduated from the University of Missouri with a degree in communications and took a job in advertising. To keep himself sane, he wrote bizarre short stories such as "Elves Against Hitler," "Conversion in a Terminal Subway," and "...And the Birds Hummed Dirges!" He noticed acquaintance Roy Thomas working at Marvel, and Thomas sent him Marvel's standard writing test, dialoguing Daredevil art. He was soon made a regular on Daredevil and Sub-Mariner, and the newly created Man-Thing, the latter of which pegged him as having a strong personal style--intellectual, introspective, and literary. In one issue, he introduced an anthropomorphic duck into a horror fantasy, because he wanted something weird and incongruous, and Thomas made the character, named for Gerber's childhood friend Howard, fall to his apparent death in the following issue. Fans were outraged, and the character was revived in a new and deeply personal series. Gerber said in interview that the joke of Howard the Duck is that "there is no joke." The series was existential and dealt with the necessities of life, such as finding employment to pay the rent. Such unusual fare for comicbooks also informed his writing on The Defenders. Other works included Morbius, the Lving Vampire, The Son of Satan, Tales of the Zombie, The Living Mummy, Marvel Two-in-One, Guardians of the Galaxy, Shanna the She-Devil, and Crazy Magazine for Marvel, and Mister Miracle, Metal Men,
The Phantom Zone
, and The Immortal Doctor Fate for DC. Gerber eventually lost a lawsuit for control of Howard the Duck when he was defending artist Gene Colan's claim of delayed paychecks for the series, which was less important to him personally because he had a staff job and Colan did not.
He left comics for animation in the early 1980s, working mainly with Ruby-Spears, creating Thundarr the Barbarian with Alex Toth and Jack Kirby and episodes of The Puppy's Further Adventures, and Marvel Productions, where he was story editor on multiple Marvel series including Dungeons & Dragons, G.I. Joe, and The Transformers. He continued to dabble in comics, mainly for Eclipse, including the graphic novel Stewart the Rat, the two-part horror story "Role Model: Caring, Sharing, and Helping Others," and the seven-issue Destroyer Duck with Jack Kirby, which began as a fundraiser for Gerber's lawsuit.
In the early 1990s, he returned to Marvel with Foolkiller, a ten-issue limited series featuring a new version of a villain he had used in The Man-Thing and Omega the Unknown, who communicated with a previous version of the character through internet bulletin boards. An early internet adopter himself, he wrote two chapters of BBSs for Dummies with Beth Woods Slick, with whom he also wrote the Star Trek: The Next Generation episode, "Contagion." During this period, he also wrote The Sensational She-Hulk and Cloak and Dagger for Marvel, Cybernary and WildC.A.T.s for Image, and Sludge and Exiles for the writer-driven Malibu Ultraverse, and Nevada for DC's mature readers Vertigo line.
In 2002, he returned to the Howard the Duck character for Marvel's mature readers MAX line, and for DC created Hard Time with Mary Skrenes, with whom he had co-created the cult hit Omega the Unknown for Marvel. Their ending for Omega the Unknown remains a secret that Skrenes plans to take to the grave if Marvel refuses to publish it. Suffering from idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis ("idiopathic" meaning of unknown origin despite having been a heavy smoker much of his life), he was on a waiting list for a double lung transplant. His final work was the Doctor Fate story arc, "More Pain Comics," for DC Comics'
He left comics for animation in the early 1980s, working mainly with Ruby-Spears, creating Thundarr the Barbarian with Alex Toth and Jack Kirby and episodes of The Puppy's Further Adventures, and Marvel Productions, where he was story editor on multiple Marvel series including Dungeons & Dragons, G.I. Joe, and The Transformers. He continued to dabble in comics, mainly for Eclipse, including the graphic novel Stewart the Rat, the two-part horror story "Role Model: Caring, Sharing, and Helping Others," and the seven-issue Destroyer Duck with Jack Kirby, which began as a fundraiser for Gerber's lawsuit.
In the early 1990s, he returned to Marvel with Foolkiller, a ten-issue limited series featuring a new version of a villain he had used in The Man-Thing and Omega the Unknown, who communicated with a previous version of the character through internet bulletin boards. An early internet adopter himself, he wrote two chapters of BBSs for Dummies with Beth Woods Slick, with whom he also wrote the Star Trek: The Next Generation episode, "Contagion." During this period, he also wrote The Sensational She-Hulk and Cloak and Dagger for Marvel, Cybernary and WildC.A.T.s for Image, and Sludge and Exiles for the writer-driven Malibu Ultraverse, and Nevada for DC's mature readers Vertigo line.
In 2002, he returned to the Howard the Duck character for Marvel's mature readers MAX line, and for DC created Hard Time with Mary Skrenes, with whom he had co-created the cult hit Omega the Unknown for Marvel. Their ending for Omega the Unknown remains a secret that Skrenes plans to take to the grave if Marvel refuses to publish it. Suffering from idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis ("idiopathic" meaning of unknown origin despite having been a heavy smoker much of his life), he was on a waiting list for a double lung transplant. His final work was the Doctor Fate story arc, "More Pain Comics," for DC Comics'
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Displaying 1 - 15 of 15 reviews
June 30, 2022
#ThrowbackThursday - Back in the '90s, I used to write comic book reviews for the website of a now-defunct comic book retailer called Rockem Sockem Comics. (Collect them all!)
From the February 1999 edition with a theme of "Weird Science Fantasy":
INTRODUCTION
Science fiction and fantasy just aren't the same anymore. As a matter of fact, as the following comics illustrate, science fiction and fantasy have gotten downright weird in these New Age Nineties, blurring into each other's domains until science seems like magic and magic has become a science.
Come join me in the Twilight Zone.
LOST IN THE DESERT
NEVADA #1-6 (DC Comics/Vertigo)
Take a Las Vegas showgirl, an ostrich, a man with a lava lamp for a head, and a rift in the time/space continuum, mix liberally with a tanker of New Age hooey, and you have NEVADA.
Writer Steve Gerber is trying to top his outrageous run on Marvel's HOWARD THE DUCK with this bizarre tale of Vegas and its central role in the Cosmos. The title character of NEVADA is a down-to-earth woman trying to earn a living wage to support herself and her pet ostrich. With legs up to here (imagine me pointing at my neck, people), a classic hourglass shape (imagine my hands waving in the air here), and dancing ability out the wazoo (sorry, can't dance, not even in the best imagination), Nevada has found her niche as a showgirl. However, the Universe has a larger role in store for her. Typical of her hard luck though, Nevada's mentor turns out to be a forgetful old wino who needs to sleep one off before explaining how to forestall Armageddon.
Frankly, this book would be much better if it were simply about an ordinary Las Vegas showgirl and her weird pet. Every time Gerber cuts to his mystical, pan-dimensional crap my interest strays. He's going for over-the-top and gonzo, I guess, but, well, "ho-hum," I say. Only the wildly kinetic artwork of Phil Winslade (WONDER WOMAN: AMAZONIA) makes those parts bearable. The slice-of-life sections of the book let both Winslade and Gerber shine, but those sections come almost too infrequently. If Nevada (and her nearly non-existent costumes) weren't so engaging, this book would probably have made last month's worst of the year listing.
Grade: C-
From the February 1999 edition with a theme of "Weird Science Fantasy":
INTRODUCTION
Science fiction and fantasy just aren't the same anymore. As a matter of fact, as the following comics illustrate, science fiction and fantasy have gotten downright weird in these New Age Nineties, blurring into each other's domains until science seems like magic and magic has become a science.
Come join me in the Twilight Zone.
LOST IN THE DESERT
NEVADA #1-6 (DC Comics/Vertigo)
Take a Las Vegas showgirl, an ostrich, a man with a lava lamp for a head, and a rift in the time/space continuum, mix liberally with a tanker of New Age hooey, and you have NEVADA.
Writer Steve Gerber is trying to top his outrageous run on Marvel's HOWARD THE DUCK with this bizarre tale of Vegas and its central role in the Cosmos. The title character of NEVADA is a down-to-earth woman trying to earn a living wage to support herself and her pet ostrich. With legs up to here (imagine me pointing at my neck, people), a classic hourglass shape (imagine my hands waving in the air here), and dancing ability out the wazoo (sorry, can't dance, not even in the best imagination), Nevada has found her niche as a showgirl. However, the Universe has a larger role in store for her. Typical of her hard luck though, Nevada's mentor turns out to be a forgetful old wino who needs to sleep one off before explaining how to forestall Armageddon.
Frankly, this book would be much better if it were simply about an ordinary Las Vegas showgirl and her weird pet. Every time Gerber cuts to his mystical, pan-dimensional crap my interest strays. He's going for over-the-top and gonzo, I guess, but, well, "ho-hum," I say. Only the wildly kinetic artwork of Phil Winslade (WONDER WOMAN: AMAZONIA) makes those parts bearable. The slice-of-life sections of the book let both Winslade and Gerber shine, but those sections come almost too infrequently. If Nevada (and her nearly non-existent costumes) weren't so engaging, this book would probably have made last month's worst of the year listing.
Grade: C-
March 14, 2022
This started out well but fizzled out towards the end. That quaint, almost fairytale ending was rather anticlimactic.
December 3, 2023
Nevada is a six-issue miniseries, published by Vertigo, written by the famous Steve Gerber and pencilled by Phil Winslade, not an artist I’m familiar with, but whose work is certainly impressive: varies faces, actual body language and varied poses that show off the personalities of those who strike them, a couple of extraordinary spreads. The inks are by Steve Leialoha, another unknown to me, and Dick Giordano, a long-time workhorse for DC.
So what’s it about? There’s a show-girl called Nevada, operating in Las Vegas, Nevada. She has a pet ostrich called Bolero, an unusually cartoony creature for the world it inhabits, with an expressive face and an excellent understanding of what humans are telling it. She’s being stalked by a man but seems to find him more annoying than threatening, even during physical altercations. There’s her friend Rip, who works with the computer systems at the same casino she dances at, there’s detective Blount who is investigating a series of murders occurring at said casino, the mysterious and villainous Mr. di Vesuvio and of course Odgen, a local drunk homeless person with a doctorate in theoretical physics and a supposed connection to other planes of existence, and a few side-characters here and there. It’s a colourful cast with a ton of personality, Nevada herself in particular, and I will miss her after this.
After all the trouble Gerber had with Marvel and the limitations on his creativity during his television work, it’s an exciting concept to have him working on a Vertigo title, where far greater freedom is available. No more being tied down by pre-made characters whose status quo must be protected, no more limiting the story to the sensibilities of preteens and the CCA. So what does Gerber do with all this freedom?
Not much actually. There’s some gore, mutilated bodies and an alien autopsy. There’s some use of slurs and a lot of dropping the word “fuck”, because this was never an option before. But beyond that, Nevada doesn’t differentiate itself in any meaningful way from Gerber’s older work, the oddities and quirks and weirdness of the story tempered by the psychological realism of the people inhabiting it.
An example of Gerber still being a little stuck in that past of his is the villain di Vesuvio, who feels like Gerber recycling an old idea from The Defenders. Those who have read Gerber’s legendary run on that book might recall the group called The Headmen, and their only Gerber-created member, Ruby. Ruby had a red orb for a head, an orb of some malleable material (too lazy to check what the actual explanation was) that could be manipulated at will. di Vesuvio’s head is the same, only instead of an orb it’s shaped like a lava lamp. He is able to get away with more gruesome acts with this head and its malleable parts than Ruby ever did, including shoving two tendrils up a man’s nose and into his brain.
I suppose the reason this isn’t all that different from Gerber’s older work is that he was so far ahead of his time in the 70’s that there wasn’t much of a direction for him to go. By 1998 the rest of the mainstream comic book world had finally caught up with him and his uniqueness was being drowned out be the new generation of primarily British writers at Vertigo. That’s not to say Nevada isn’t worth the read, because it certainly is.
Spoilers to follow:
The story has at its core a Rift in reality, and this Rift is another idea that Gerber has used before (The Nexus of All Realities from Man-Thing for example), complete with Nevada herself going on a journey through space and time to learn lessons about the nature of the universe and herself, a tried and well-worn trope by this point. Through this Rift a number of entities are seeking entry to Earth, with potentially disastrous results unless they are stopped. Nevada is the next person in line to become a guardian of this Rift, an unlikely hero who, in typical Gerber fashion, is cast as the only sane person surrounded by endless weirdness.
It’s clear that Nevada wasn’t intended as a one-and-done type of deal, in the final issue there’s an entire page dedicated to introducing us to the various types of creatures that travel the Rift. Why expend this effort if there wasn’t going to be further exploration of them? Alas, Gerber never returned to this setting and these characters.
It’s even more of a shame he didn’t since this particular story ends without any meaningful closure. By the end of it the immediate business at the Rift has been temporarily deal with but Nevada now has the charge of continuing to defend her plane of reality. Her life and that of Rip has been reset financially speaking, Mr. di Vesuvio is still around and has not faced any justice for his actions and his niece Allegra looks to be getting set up for something down the line. It feels like the comic is really only the introduction to a larger story that was never told.
So what’s it about? There’s a show-girl called Nevada, operating in Las Vegas, Nevada. She has a pet ostrich called Bolero, an unusually cartoony creature for the world it inhabits, with an expressive face and an excellent understanding of what humans are telling it. She’s being stalked by a man but seems to find him more annoying than threatening, even during physical altercations. There’s her friend Rip, who works with the computer systems at the same casino she dances at, there’s detective Blount who is investigating a series of murders occurring at said casino, the mysterious and villainous Mr. di Vesuvio and of course Odgen, a local drunk homeless person with a doctorate in theoretical physics and a supposed connection to other planes of existence, and a few side-characters here and there. It’s a colourful cast with a ton of personality, Nevada herself in particular, and I will miss her after this.
After all the trouble Gerber had with Marvel and the limitations on his creativity during his television work, it’s an exciting concept to have him working on a Vertigo title, where far greater freedom is available. No more being tied down by pre-made characters whose status quo must be protected, no more limiting the story to the sensibilities of preteens and the CCA. So what does Gerber do with all this freedom?
Not much actually. There’s some gore, mutilated bodies and an alien autopsy. There’s some use of slurs and a lot of dropping the word “fuck”, because this was never an option before. But beyond that, Nevada doesn’t differentiate itself in any meaningful way from Gerber’s older work, the oddities and quirks and weirdness of the story tempered by the psychological realism of the people inhabiting it.
An example of Gerber still being a little stuck in that past of his is the villain di Vesuvio, who feels like Gerber recycling an old idea from The Defenders. Those who have read Gerber’s legendary run on that book might recall the group called The Headmen, and their only Gerber-created member, Ruby. Ruby had a red orb for a head, an orb of some malleable material (too lazy to check what the actual explanation was) that could be manipulated at will. di Vesuvio’s head is the same, only instead of an orb it’s shaped like a lava lamp. He is able to get away with more gruesome acts with this head and its malleable parts than Ruby ever did, including shoving two tendrils up a man’s nose and into his brain.
I suppose the reason this isn’t all that different from Gerber’s older work is that he was so far ahead of his time in the 70’s that there wasn’t much of a direction for him to go. By 1998 the rest of the mainstream comic book world had finally caught up with him and his uniqueness was being drowned out be the new generation of primarily British writers at Vertigo. That’s not to say Nevada isn’t worth the read, because it certainly is.
Spoilers to follow:
The story has at its core a Rift in reality, and this Rift is another idea that Gerber has used before (The Nexus of All Realities from Man-Thing for example), complete with Nevada herself going on a journey through space and time to learn lessons about the nature of the universe and herself, a tried and well-worn trope by this point. Through this Rift a number of entities are seeking entry to Earth, with potentially disastrous results unless they are stopped. Nevada is the next person in line to become a guardian of this Rift, an unlikely hero who, in typical Gerber fashion, is cast as the only sane person surrounded by endless weirdness.
It’s clear that Nevada wasn’t intended as a one-and-done type of deal, in the final issue there’s an entire page dedicated to introducing us to the various types of creatures that travel the Rift. Why expend this effort if there wasn’t going to be further exploration of them? Alas, Gerber never returned to this setting and these characters.
It’s even more of a shame he didn’t since this particular story ends without any meaningful closure. By the end of it the immediate business at the Rift has been temporarily deal with but Nevada now has the charge of continuing to defend her plane of reality. Her life and that of Rip has been reset financially speaking, Mr. di Vesuvio is still around and has not faced any justice for his actions and his niece Allegra looks to be getting set up for something down the line. It feels like the comic is really only the introduction to a larger story that was never told.
May 3, 2021
Steve Gerber, the cynical metaphysical surrealist behind the creation and first run of "Howard the Duck," indulges all his best AND his worst instincts in this short-lived Vertigo adult series. There are leggy showgirls, psychedelic trip-out and transformation sequences, existential crises, villains who have had drastic alterations to their heads; in other words, if you loved/hated Howard, you'll love/hate THIS.
The only real trouble here is that it ends incredibly abruptly. I don't know if this was intended to be just a limited series or if it was expecting to run longer and suddenly told "issue 6 is the end, wrap it up." The story doesn't resolve so much as it just... stops, with a letter from a few months later that hints there was more to the story and that we're not getting it. Still, Steve Gerber is all about the journey, not the destination.
The only real trouble here is that it ends incredibly abruptly. I don't know if this was intended to be just a limited series or if it was expecting to run longer and suddenly told "issue 6 is the end, wrap it up." The story doesn't resolve so much as it just... stops, with a letter from a few months later that hints there was more to the story and that we're not getting it. Still, Steve Gerber is all about the journey, not the destination.
February 19, 2019
Like a 2.5 really. I enjoy the Gerber weirdness. Bad guy has a lava lamp for a head, a series of murders where bodies are cleanly cut into pieces, sudden jumps through time. It can be fun, but the overall plot is forgettable. Most memorable character is the ostrich sidekick. There's also a genius homeless man with existential knowledge that constantly refers to the heroine as "sweet legs" which I found annoying.
May 20, 2019
Very out there with some weird stuff being passed off as completely normal, like the pet ostrich and dude with a lava lamp for a head. I don’t think everything really quite gelled though. The climax was a bit rushed and it just sort of ends with threads dangling. Was this intended to keep going but got cancelled? Still interesting, but not my favourite Gerber.
May 23, 2018
This is what comics used to be and especially what Vertigo used to be: edgy, provocative, nearly insane at times - but with great art and a solid concept to back it up.
Steve Gerber is no doubt best known for Howard the Duck and it is saying a lot that he is in fact KNOWN for it, that he took the wacky concept of an alien, cigar-smoking, foul-mouthed cousin to Donald Duck and managed to create engaging stories, still loved today.
Nevada is where the aforementioned wackiness (but not featuring Howard the Duck) meets the sort of metatextual storytelling one often sees in Mike Carey or Bill Willingham's books and creates what could very well be an Awakening story for Mage: the Ascension; and all that is illustrated by the amazing Phil Winslade.
So, after all that, why a mere 3 stars? Well, there is no doubt that it's an acquired taste and I have no illusions as to the "normalcy" of my reading habits. That said, people who love and miss the good old days of Vertigo and enjoy surreal stories with great art, should definitely check it out.
Steve Gerber is no doubt best known for Howard the Duck and it is saying a lot that he is in fact KNOWN for it, that he took the wacky concept of an alien, cigar-smoking, foul-mouthed cousin to Donald Duck and managed to create engaging stories, still loved today.
Nevada is where the aforementioned wackiness (but not featuring Howard the Duck) meets the sort of metatextual storytelling one often sees in Mike Carey or Bill Willingham's books and creates what could very well be an Awakening story for Mage: the Ascension; and all that is illustrated by the amazing Phil Winslade.
So, after all that, why a mere 3 stars? Well, there is no doubt that it's an acquired taste and I have no illusions as to the "normalcy" of my reading habits. That said, people who love and miss the good old days of Vertigo and enjoy surreal stories with great art, should definitely check it out.
February 10, 2018
I liked the story a lot, and the main character; I'd give this book 5 stars if the protagonist's body parts weren't a character all by themselves in the artwork.
November 18, 2023
If this had been the first volume of a continuing series, it'd probably be 4 1/2 or even 5 stars, but as is, the ending is rushed beyond belief, even if the story does conclude reasonably.
January 22, 2022
Aliens, cults, conspiracies and mobsters and all up to something in Las Vegas, and a showgirl and her pet ostrich are somehow caught in the middle of it all.
It's Gerber without the brakes on, and while it has some great, weird ideas, it gets a little too caught up in weird ideas and navel gazing.
Feels like the set up arc for an ongoing, that never got past its first six issue mini.
Not perfect, but I would have liked to have seen where it would have gone next.
It's Gerber without the brakes on, and while it has some great, weird ideas, it gets a little too caught up in weird ideas and navel gazing.
Feels like the set up arc for an ongoing, that never got past its first six issue mini.
Not perfect, but I would have liked to have seen where it would have gone next.
February 10, 2011
Gerber is terrific. One of the greats from the old days. I know that that the movie "Howard the Duck" is supposed to be one of the worst films ever made, but the comic book that it was based on was terrific. And that's allll Gerber. Nice to see that he got the free reign of the Vertigo imprint to tell this thoroughly bizarre story. Artwork is really nice, as well.
June 5, 2009
Not even the homeless dishwasher would read this smut. (Even though he asks me everyday where he can find three dancing ladies and a box of pizza.) However, if you like comic tales of dancing showgirls and their oversized pets, it's not bad.
January 16, 2016
Usual Gerber weirdness! But so entertaining. Winslade's art is so nice and the weirdness is beautifully portrayed. I always assumed the ostrich was a Howard the Duck device (Gerber invented him) but it's an ostrich and nothing more. As usual with Steve Gerber the universe is at stake
February 1, 2012
Classic Gerber. Love the Ostrich. I wish he'd done more for Vertigo.
January 17, 2013
Brilliant and Bizarre at the same time.Takes a lot to get use to and i didn't understand many part's, but the part's you do understand makes it awesome.Its quite a lot on the weird side. Decent Art
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