Howard the Duck

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Howard the Duck
Howard the Duck #8 (Jan. 1977), art by Gene Colan & Steve Leialoha.
Publication information
Publisher	Marvel Comics
First appearance	Adventure into Fear #19 (Dec. 1973)
Created by	Steve Gerber and Val Mayerik
In-story information
Alter ego	Howard
Team affiliations	Defenders All-Night Party Daydreamers
Notable aliases	Son of Satan (former)
Abilities	Master of Quack-Fu, superhuman strength

Howard the Duck, is a comic book character in the Marvel Comics universe created by writer Steve Gerber and artist Val Mayerik. The character first appeared in Adventure into Fear #19 (Dec. 1973) and several subsequent series have chronicled the misadventures of the ill-tempered, anthropomorphic, "funny animal" trapped on human-dominated Earth. Howard's adventures are generally social satires, and also often parodies of genre fiction with a metafictional awareness of the medium.

Contents 1 Publication history 2 Fictional character biography 2.1 Heroes Reborn 2.2 Civil War 2.3 Post-Civil War 2.4 Secret Invasion 3 Powers and abilities 4 Characteristics and associations 5 Other versions 5.1 Amalgam 5.2 Marvel Zombies 5.3 MC2 5.4 Ultimate 5.5 Universe X 6 In other media 6.1 Television 6.2 Film 6.3 Other comics 6.4 Newspaper comic strip 6.5 Memorabilia 6.6 Toys 7 Popular culture 8 Bibliography 8.1 Comics series and starring features (including guest appearances) 8.2 Collections 8.3 Official published reference works to Howard and cast 9 References 10 External links

[edit] Publication history

Howard the Duck was created in 1973 by Steve Gerber and Val Mayerik in Adventure into Fear as a secondary character in that comic's Man-Thing feature. He graduated to his own backup feature in Giant-Size Man-Thing, confronting such bizarre horror-parody characters as the Hellcow and the Man-Frog, before acquiring his own comic book title with Howard the Duck #1 in 1976.

Gerber wrote 27 issues of the series, illustrated by a variety of artists, beginning with Frank Brunner, who left because he considered Howard a cartoon in the real world, which Gerber did not, with Gene Colan eventually becoming the regular penciller. The series gradually developed a substantial cult following, possibly amplified by Howard's entry into the 1976 U.S. presidential campaign under the auspices of the All-Night Party (an event later immortalized in a brief reference in Stephen King's The Tommyknockers). Marvel attempted a spin-off with a short-lived Howard the Duck newspaper strip from 1977 to 1978, at first written by Gerber and drawn by Colan and Mayerik, later written by Marv Wolfman and drawn by Alan Kupperberg.

Gerber gained a degree of creative autonomy when he became Howard the Duck's editor in addition to his writing duties (as evidenced by the credits on later issues), which was unusual for mass-market comics writers of the time, and the stories became increasingly experimental. At one point, unable to meet the deadline for his regular script, Gerber substituted an entire issue of text pieces and illustrations satirizing his own difficulties as a writer. One of those illustrated text pieces inspired Gerber's Vertigo series Nevada.

In 1978, the writer and publisher clashed over issues of creative control, and Gerber was abruptly removed from the series. This was the first highly publicized creator's rights case in American comics, and attracted support from major industry figures, some of whom created homage/parody stories with Gerber to dramatize the case; these included Destroyer Duck with Jack Kirby.

Disney also threatened to sue Marvel for infringing Donald Duck's copyright and enforced a different design, including the use of pants (as seen in the movie and some later comics).^[1]

The series continued for four more issues with stories by Marv Wolfman, Mary Skrenes, Mark Evanier, and Bill Mantlo. Gerber returned briefly to write, though not plot, #29 as part of a contract fulfillment. Harvey Pekar, himself a Cleveland resident, was mentioned as a possible replacement for Gerber, but he was unavailable, and nothing came of it.^[2]

Issue #31, dated May 1979, announced on its letters page that it would be the final issue of Howard the Duck as a color comic. Marvel then relaunched the series that year as a bimonthly magazine, with scripts by Mantlo, art by Colan and Michael Golden and unrelated backup features by others; this series was canceled after nine issues. Articles in these issues claimed that Howard was Mayerik's idea, though this is contrary to statements by both Gerber and Mayerik (it would, however, conform to the "Marvel way" of comics creation—art first—akin to Kirby's creation of Silver Surfer without initial input from Stan Lee). The first story of issue #9, written by Bill Mantlo, had Howard walk away from Beverly, and what happened to him next was documented in a story by Steve Skeates the same issue. Steven Grant followed this with a story in Bizarre Adventures #34, in which the suicidal Howard is put through a parody of It's a Wonderful Life.

The original comic book series reappeared in early 1986 with issue #32, written by Grant. Issue #33, a parody of Bride of Frankenstein, written by Christopher Stager, appeared nine months later, along with a three-issue adaptation of the movie.

In a story rejected by Jim Shooter, Marvel's then-editor-in-chief, Gerber explained that a Krylorian Cyndi Lauper named Chirreep had made up the events in the Mantlo stories much like the events in The Rampaging Hulk magazine were considered made up by Bereet, though those stories, as originally conceived, were intended to fill in material left by the publication gap between Incredible Hulk #6 and the Hulk's appearances in Tales to Astonish. Shooter considered this an insult to Mantlo (as well as to himself, as the story lampooned Shooter's Secret Wars), not regarding the insult Mantlo's stories may have been to Gerber (Mantlo himself had used the Krylorians to erase Doug Moench's contributions to the Hulk's continuity), and Gerber's story was never illustrated. He also identified Howard's parents as Dave and Dotty, names that differ from the Mantlo stories, in which his parents are named Ronald and Henrietta.^[3]

Gerber brought back Howard in The Sensational She-Hulk #14-17, again living with Beverly, now working as a rent-a-ninja. How they got back together is never explained, and Beverly is not involved as She-Hulk takes Howard on a trip through several dimensions with a theoretical physicist from Empire State University.

Gerber returned to Howard with Spider-Man Team-Up #5, around the same time he was writing a "Savage Dragon/Destroyer Duck" crossover for Image. He had the idea to create an unofficial crossover between the two issues, where the characters would meet momentarily in the shadows, but which would not affect either story. Soon after, Gerber discovered that Howard was also scheduled to appear in Ghost Rider vol. 3, #81 (Jan. 1997) alongside Devil Dinosaur and Moon Boy, and issues of Generation X leading up to issue #25 and the Daydreamers miniseries by J.M. DeMatteis. Gerber was not pleased with this development, and changed the "unofficial crossover" somewhat.^[4]

In the Spider-Man comic, Spider-Man and Howard meet two shadowy figures (presumed to be Savage Dragon and Destroyer Duck) in a darkened warehouse, then leave shortly afterwards. But in the Savage Dragon comic, a villain creates hundreds of clones of Howard during a fierce battle. As Savage Dragon and Destroyer Duck escape the warehouse with a character hidden in a bag, they reveal that they rescued the “real” Howard, while Spider-Man left with one of the clones. Howard has his feathers dyed green, and is renamed “Leonard the Duck,” which is now a character owned by Gerber, who went on to appear in Image Comics and Vertigo comics. Gerber considers this the real Howard, and Marvel's Howard an empty shell.

In 2001, when Marvel launched its MAX imprint of "mature readers" comics, Gerber returned to write the six-issue Howard the Duck miniseries, illustrated by Phil Winslade and Glenn Fabry. Featuring several familiar Howard the Duck characters, the series, like the original one, parodied a wide range of other comics and pop culture figures, but with considerably stronger language and sexual content than what would have been allowable 25 years earlier. The series has Doctor Bong causing Howard to go through multiple changes of form, principally into a rat (possibly as a parody of Mickey Mouse, in retaliation for the earlier lawsuit), and entering a chain of events parodying comics such as Witchblade, Preacher and several others, with Howard ultimately having a conversation with God in Hell.

Howard had cameo appearances in She-Hulk #9 (Feb. 2005) and vol. 2, #3/100 (Feb. 2006, the 100th issue of all the various She-Hulk series). He returned in a series by writer Ty Templeton and artist Juan Bobillo in 2007. This series is rated for all ages, though it has also been published with a Marvel Zombies tie-in cover with a parental advisory claim.

[edit] Fictional character biography

Howard is abducted from New Stork City on his native world and dropped into the Florida Everglades by the demonic Thog the Overmaster of the dread realm Sominus.^[5] There, he meets the Man-Thing and Korrek the Barbarian.^[6] Shortly thereafter, Howard meets Dakimh the Enchanter and Jennifer Kale as well, but then falls off a set of inter-dimensional stepping stones.^[7] Before long, he materializes in Cleveland, Ohio. There he battles Garko the Man-Frog ^[8], after which he is arrested for disturbing the peace and mistaken for a mutant during a strip search. Upon release (because the officer fears he has mutant abilities that could be used against him), he encounters a vampire cow, Bessie the Hellcow.^[9]

Howard soon meets artists' model Beverly Switzler and a bizarre series of encounters follows. He battles Pro-Rata, the cosmic accountant, who hired Beverley and held her prisoner, and then meets Spider-Man.^[10] He battles Turnip-Man and the Kidney Lady.^[11] He then learns Quak Fu,^[12] encounters the Winky Man, a sleepwalking alter ego of Beverly's artist friend, Paul Same, who would become a series regular (and share the apartment),^[13] and becomes a wrestler.^[14]

Howard and Beverely hit the road, seeking shelter in a gothic mansion where they battle an animated Gingerbread Man.^[15] They eventually end up in New York City, where Howard is nominated for U.S. President by the All-Night Party.^[16] Howard battles the Band of the Bland — Dr. Angst, Sitting Bullseye, Tillie the Hun, the Spanker, and Black Hole — alongside the Defenders.^[17] A doctored-photo scandal leads him to Canada, and the defeat of a supervillain, Le Beaver, who falls to his death.^[18] Howard then suffers a nervous breakdown, and flees Bev and their situation on a bus. Unfortunately, the passengers are all believers in various weird cults, and try to interest Howard in them. His seatmates are Winda Wester (afflicted with an Elmer Fudd-like speech impediment) and S. Blotte the Kidney Lady. After the bus crashes, Howard and Winda are sent to a mental institution. There he meets Daimon Hellstrom, and is briefly possessed by Hellstrom's demonic soul, becoming the Son of Satan.^[19] Beverly and Paul get them both back to Cleveland. Later, while on a cruise ship returning from scenic Bagmom, Howard and Beverly are taken captive by Lester Verde, who had a crush on Beverly in college and is now in the identity of the supervillain Doctor Bong,^[20] who illegally marries Beverly against her will and transforms Howard into a human.^[21] After escaping back to New York and being restored to his natural form, Howard is hired as a dishwasher by Beverly's uncle and namesake, who goes by Lee. Howard battles Sudd,^[22] and then battles Soofi.^[23] Howard is then reunited with the Man-Thing, Korrek, and Jennifer Kale, and they all battle Bzzk'Joh.^[24] He then attends a party on Long Island, where he is abducted by the Ringmaster and his Circus of Crime.^[25] After defeating them, Howard, plagued by pessimistic dreams, goes his way alone, as he had at the beginning of the series.

Mantlo, beginning with Issue #30, returned the series to its former status quo, bringing Beverly back into the picture and having her divorce Doctor Bong, and getting Paul, who has been shot by the Ringmaster, out of the hospital. Lee Switzler brings everyone back to Cleveland and employs Howard as a cab driver, while Paul, back to being a somnambulist after his release from the hospital, seems to have become Winda's boyfriend. Howard dons a suit of "Iron Duck" armor, and battles Doctor Bong.^[26] He later battles Morton Erg and the Gopher.^[27] He encountered Dracula,^[28] and even returns to Duckworld at one point.^[29] At the end of the magazine series, Howard walks away from Beverly (at her request). After that, he is mistaken for "Duck Drake, Private Eye", meets CeCe Ryder when hitchhiking, and is later offered a genetically constructed mate whom he does not take to.

She-Hulk accidentally pulls him though a cosmic wormhole, and along with theoretical physicist Brent Wilcox, they prevent other universes from crowding out Earth-616. By this point, Beverly is working as a rent-a-ninja. Howard met the Critic, and traveled to the Baloneyverse, and battled Dr. Angst and his cohorts.^[30]

In an encounter with Peter Parker, Ben Reilly (then-current Spider-Man), and a rematch with the Circus of Crime, Howard and Beverly get stuck in a warehouse full of anthropomorphic ducks, briefly meeting Savage Dragon and Destroyer Duck. The group leaves the warehouse believing that they have brought the correct Howard with them.^[31]

The sorceress Jennifer Kale, in a weekly attempt to return Howard (a Howard with stubble who accuses her and Doctor Strange of being responsible for bringing him to this world) to his home world, inadvertently teleports Devil Dinosaur and Moon Boy into her New York apartment. The disoriented dinosaur attempts to eat Howard, but spits him out when shot with John Blaze's hellfire gun, then rampages through the city before being subdued by Ghost Rider (Daniel Ketch). Howard relates to the pair being trapped in a world he never made, and wanders off.^[32]

[edit] Heroes Reborn

After giving a ride from the western desert and becoming involved in an anti-mutant bar brawl with Chamber and Skin, assisting the mutants with his knowledge of Quack-Fu, Howard and Beverly (apparently back together with Howard again working as a driver) spend Thanksgiving at Charles Xavier's Massachusetts Academy. Chamber, however, is celebrating Thanksgiving with Husk's family, and the young mutants Artie Maddicks, Leech, and Franklin Richards are intrigued by the pair, inviting Beverly and dragging Howard to a treehouse where they have hidden the visiting Rigellian Tana Nile. Working as a video store clerk in Cleveland, Beverly gets him to play a department store Santa Claus, which gets him dragged to the North Pole, where Santa Claus has sold out to HYDRA. Some time after Christmas, Howard returns alone to his friends' treehouse, and during a battle with a rampaging Black Tom Cassidy, the group escapes with the apparent help of the Man-Thing.^[33] Howard goes through several dimensions, apparently through the power of Man-Thing, who can now talk but does not understand this ability, and lands on a version of Duckworld where his parents are essentially Ward and June Cleaver, has a sister named Princess, and is regarded as a hero because his activities on Earth-616 were recognized by Duckworld's version of Reed Richards. This origin traces the source of these dimensions to be projections from Franklin's mind, though through the course of the adventure, Howard has a romance with Tana Nile, culminating in a kiss, after which he apologizes and tells her of his attachment to Beverly.^[34] When Franklin understands that he has shaped all these worlds, they find themselves back in Man-Thing's swamp. While Man-Thing became a self-appointed guardian to Franklin Richards, Howard went off on his own and was captured by the Cult of Entropy, who wrapped him in swaddling clothes.^[35] Although we last saw him in the swamp, he states that he was thrown into baggage and transported on a plane. The cult wants him because he has part of the Nexus of All Realities, which shattered during Heroes Reborn, inside him, which he knows because it is making him nauseous. Man-Thing enters his gullet, and Howard vomits him back out with the fragment, but the former is left desiccated and practically dead.^[36] He then encountered Namor, who thought he had slain the creature, but Howard explains that he would not be lugging his friend's body if that were the case. Howard sets Man-Thing down in the water, and he revives during the conversation with Namor. Once he sees that Man-Thing is alive and well, he bids Namor farewell and says he is returning to Cleveland.^[37]

Back with Beverly, he undergoes further shape-shifting experiments from Doctor Bong. Beverly is hired by Verde's Globally Branded Content Corporation, which manufactures boy bands from protein vats based on the sexual arousal of a focus group of gay men. Attempting to destroy an escapee whom Beverly has taken in, Bong inadvertently knocks Howard into a vat, which changes him, unstably, into a mouse^[38]--showering changes his form multiple times. Verde then goes to the press and claims that his building was attacked by Osama el-Barka ("Osama the Duck" in Arabic). Howard and Beverly are sent back on the road after the junkyard office where they are living is destroyed by a S.W.A.T. team.^[39] Denied admittance to every possible shelter due to lack of funds, the pair and their dog find a sign for the Boarding House of Mystery, but are taken to the police station for questioning and strip searches by Suzy Pazuzu, with whom Beverly had attended high school. One of the officers on the case is the same beat cop who mistook Howard for a mutant many years before. Suzy is the inheritor of the doucheblade, which starts to take her over until in a skirmish, the bracelet is caught by Howard. The doucheblade causes its holder to grow enormous bare breasts and armor in a parody of Witchblade, and possessed by this, Howard kills the male lover of a businessman who works with Verde as he and Verde break into Suzy's house.^[40]

Arriving at the Boarding House of Mystery, Howard and Beverly encounter Cain and Abel, the latter with a rock stuck in his head that allows him only moments of lucidity. There, they are granted their every wish, including Howard's return to his true form, and Beverly never being tight again, and meet parodies of John Constantine, Wesley Dodds, The Endless, and Gerber's own Nevada (called Utah), all characters from DC Comics' Vertigo imprint. The downside is that everyone staying in the place gets their every wish, so Che Guevara can have his revolution, but someone else can easily slaughter him.^[41] One tenant, a writer named Mr. Gommorah (a parody of Spider Jerusalem), takes Beverly and Howard to be on the Iprah Show with the topic "Why Women Give It to Men Who Don't Get It," guest starring Dr. Phlip. Upon leaving the house, Howard is once again transformed into a mouse. Iprah has been merged with an experiment by the Angel Gabriel called Deuteronomy, intended to replace God, because God has been spending all his time in a bar in Hell since 1938. Deuteronomy is a creature half id and half superego, while Iprah is an all-ego promoter of self-indulgent pop psychology. Considering her dangerous, Gabriel sends Cherub Thrasher to resurrect Sigmund Freud, whose cigar blasts out half of Thrasher's brains (being immortal, this just makes him act drunk). Iprah destroys Freud, but Howard blasts her with the cigar, separating her from Deuteronomy. Puffing on the cigar, Howard disintegrates and arrives in Hell.^[42]

Thrasher tells Howard that he is not dead, but in an Existential Suspension Loop or E.S.L., and takes him to the bar where God drinks. Yahweh, who prefers to be called "Yah," (saying being called "God" is like calling Howard "Duck" (a form to which Yah restores him for real)), leaves a resentful Jesus to take care of the Holy Ghost--Gabriel calls this "tripolar disorder"--in order to talk to Howard. Yah says he prefers to talk to non-believers, since he did not create religion (other than Zoroastrianism as a practical joke), and says that Bonanza is more accurate as historical fiction than any religious text. He created the multiverse as a work-for-hire, introducing sentient life in spite of his corporate employers' misgivings. They were afraid of competition. The only reason they don't "pull the plug" is because it's a popular tourist attraction. His employers insisted he create death, so Yah sneaked evolution in, so that science would allow for the extension of life, as well as the afterlife--near Earth asteroids are no accident and are sent by his colleagues. In the end, Yah tells Howard, "you have to find your own little bit of grace," for he is still too busy trying to learn his project management software to have a master plan. Howard asks if he can get out of the E.S.L., and Yah tells him he can go anywhere he chooses. Yah shows Howard a possible existence on his homeworld, and he decides life with Beverly is preferable—so Yah uses a Trans-Planar Conduit to send him home. Yah asks Howard to tell the people that he is really "a slob like one of them," but Howard says he doesn't want to say anything for fear of starting his own religion, declaring, "Let 'em believe what they want, 'til they're ready to use the brains you gave 'em." Arriving in the empty Iprah studio, outside, he finds a bum who was paid $23 to give him a mezuzah, a snow globe depicting one of the abstract, lifeless universes Yah showed Howard he created for hire.^[43]

In Adam Beechen's ending of Doctor Fate: More Pain Comics, which Gerber left unfinished when he died, Howard, who is heard but unseen (his speech balloon ends with "waaugh"), dispatched the Elf with a Gun to destroy Negal and Ymp, then invited to Elf for one last drink with Yah, Bev, Thunny, and Megs before Yah goes back "upstairs."^[44]

[edit] Civil War

Sometime later, Howard attempts to register under the Superhero Registration Act during the superhero Civil War, but learns his socially disrupted life has created so many bureaucratic headaches that the government's policy is that Howard does not exist. This lack of government oversight delights him: "No more parking tickets, no taxes, no jury duty". In this story, as well, Howard says he was pressured to give up his cigars.^[45]

[edit] Post-Civil War

However, after he defeats the supervillain M.O.D.O.T.'s scheme to control the public through mass media, his attorney, Jennifer Walters, successfully restores his citizenship including all relevant responsibilities.^[46]

[edit] Secret Invasion

Howard the Duck is briefly seen as part of the super-powered army gathered to battle invading Skrull forces.^[47] He is seen armed with a pistol.^[48] He is later seen kicking a Skrull during interrogation after the invasion.^[49] However, Brian Michael Bendis has commented when asked of Howard: "That character has shown up in six issues I've done, and I've never typed the words Howard the Duck".^[50]

[edit] Powers and abilities

Howard has no superhuman powers, but he is moderately skilled in the martial art known as "Quack-Fu".

[edit] Characteristics and associations

Howard the Duck, as his name suggests, is a three-foot-tall anthropomorphic duck. He generally wears a tie and shirt, and is almost always found smoking a cigar. Originally, like many cartoon ducks, he wore no pants; Disney threatened legal action due to Howard's resemblance to Donald Duck, and Marvel redesigned that aspect of the character.

Howard has an irritable and cynical attitude to the often bizarre events around him; he feels there is nothing special about him except that he is a duck, and though he has no goals other than seeking comfort and to be left alone, he is often dragged into dangerous adventures simply because he is visibly unusual. His series' tagline, "Trapped in a world he never made", played off the genre trappings of 1950s science fiction. A common reaction to meeting Howard the first time is a startled, "You...you're a DUCK!"

His near-constant companion and occasional girlfriend is former art model and Cleveland native Beverly Switzler. Like Howard, Beverly wants an ordinary life but is frequently singled out for her appearance, though she is a beautiful and sexy woman rather than a duck. Their only other friends are Paul Same (a painter who briefly became a sleepwalking crime-fighter) and Winda Wester (a lisping ingénue with psychic powers); he has also worked with Spider-Man and the Man-Thing and associates on various occasions.

Howard found himself on Earth due to a shift in "the Cosmic Axis" from a world similar to Earth, but where there are "more ducks" and "apes don't talk." In the black-and-white Howard the Duck magazine series, writer Bill Mantlo theorized that Howard came from an extra-dimensional planet called Duckworld, a planet similar to Earth where ducks, not apes, had evolved to become the dominant species. In 2001, Gerber dismissed this idea, calling it "very pedestrian" and 'comic-booky' — in the worst sense of the term." He believes Howard came from an alternate Earth populated by a variety of cartoon animals.^[51] A panel in Fear #19, prior to Howard's introduction, depicts Howard or someone like him near an anthropomorphic rat and an anthropomorphic dog, in a hypothetical panel about other dimensions. Destroyer Duck was depicted existing in such a world, and in Howard the Duck vol. #6, Howard mentions that Moses is believed to be a moose in his world and Yeshua a flying squirrel.

His antagonists, who usually appear in a single story each, are often parodies of science fiction, fantasy, and horror characters, and sometimes political figures, but also include ordinary people simply making life difficult for Howard. The chief recurring villain, Lester Verde, also known as Doctor Bong - modeled on Doctor Doom and writers Bob Greene and Lester Bangs - is a former tabloid reporter who has the power to "reorder reality" by smashing himself on his bell-shaped helmet; his main goal is to marry Beverly. After several issues, she agrees to marry him to save Howard from Bong's evil experimentation, and remains married to him for some time. Doctor Bong would reappear in issues of She-Hulk and Deadpool in the mid-1990s. Other recurring villains include the Kidney Lady (S. Blotte) who has been convinced by her former lover that the soul is in the kidneys and attacks anything she sees as a threat to them, and Reverend Jun Moon Yuc and his Yuccies, a parody of Reverend Sun Myung Moon and the Unification Church "Moonies". Another important villain was the Sinister S.O.O.F.I. (Save Our Offspring from Indecency) organization, whose leader was implicitly Anita Bryant, though she looked like an old, fat Elvis Presley with a smiley face/orange on her head.

Other Marvel Comics characters occasionally appeared, including Spider-Man, Daimon Hellstrom, and the Ringmaster. Also, Omega The Unknown appeared to him in a dream, as did Spider-Man, whom he had previously met for real, unlike Omega.

Seemingly an autodidact, Howard at various times references Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel, Albert Camus (whose novel The Stranger Gerber considers the principal influence on the series^[52]), the Brontë sisters, and other figures of philosophical and political significance. In a parody of the Marvel comic character Shang-Chi, he was trained in the art of Quak-Fu. In the 2001 miniseries, as a mocking gesture toward Disney's mascot Mickey Mouse, he was turned into various animals, primarily a mouse.^[1]

[edit] Other versions

[edit] Amalgam

• In the Amalgam Comics universe, Howard the Duck is fused with Lobo (DC) to become Lobo the Duck.^[53]
• In the letter page of Bat-Thing #1, there was mention of a fictional upcoming 'special issue' featuring Howard the Mxztplx, presumably a merging of Howard with Mister Mxyzptlk.^[54]

[edit] Marvel Zombies

• An alternate version of Howard the Duck becomes infected with the zombie plague, and eats the brains of the alternate-Ash that is native to the Marvel Universe. He is swiftly slain by the Scarlet Witch and the original Ash Williams of the Evil Dead series.^[55]

[edit] MC2

• Howard is seen as a blindfold-wearing martial arts teacher.^[56]

[edit] Ultimate

• In the limited series Ultimate Comics: Armor Wars, a billboard advertising for "HDTV" is seen in the first panel, showing Howard.^{[volume & issue needed]}

[edit] Universe X

• While he does not appear, the Beast says "I still feel badly about Howard" who had been "hunted down and consumed".^[57]

[edit] In other media

[edit] Television

• Howard the Duck was seen on Beast's shirt on the animated series X-Men (The Phoenix Saga Part 2).

[edit] Film

• In 1986, Lucasfilm and Universal Pictures produced the movie Howard the Duck, starring Lea Thompson, Jeffrey Jones, Tim Robbins, and, as the voice of Howard, Chip Zien. Besides Howard (who was portrayed by an assortment of stunt actors in a duck suit) the only character borrowed from the Marvel Comics mythos was Beverly Switzler, though in this version she was a rock singer. In the film, Howard is brought to Cleveland by a laser spectroscope experiment gone awry, which also summoned an evil alien, one of the Dark Overlords of the Universe, who intended to sacrifice all human life in order to free the others of its kind from their celestial prison. The film was widely panned and was a box office bomb. There was also a novelization and a comic adaptation of the film.

[edit] Other comics

• In Savage Dragon/Destroyer Duck #1 (Nov. 1996), Gerber claims that Howard and Beverly Switzler changed their names to Leonard the Duck and Rhonda Martini, remained in the Image Universe and "were last sighted in Chicago boarding the Amtrak for Buffalo" while the duck who returned to Marvel is "only an empty trademark, a clone whose soul departed him at the corner of Floss and Regret".^[58] This was done because Tom Brevoort invited Gerber to write the comic, claiming he was the only one to write Howard, then Gerber noticed the Howard guest appearances in Ghost Rider and Generation X and felt as though he had been tricked.^[59]

• In the Kitchen Sink Press series Megaton Man, a comedy relief character is Gower Goose, who is an intended parody of Howard.^{[volume & issue needed]}

• In the Claypool Comics series "Elvira Mistress of the Dark", Gordon the Goose (clearly modelled on Howard) appears, together with Dorkheem the Sorcerer and Heap-Thing. (issues #49, 58 & 59)

• In America's Best Comics "Top 10" #8 a duck appearing to be Howard (with his distinctive blue hat & jacket) can be seen at the Transworld Transport Terminus.

• In several editions of The Maxx, Howard appears, along with many other characters, seemingly cut and pasted into the story.

[edit] Newspaper comic strip

Between June 1977 and October 1978 Howard the Duck appeared in a daily comic strip which featured in a number of papers including The Toronto Star and the Spokane Daily Chronicle. A total of eleven stories were printed as well as a number of single joke strips.^[60]

These began with original stories written by Steve Gerber and illustrated by Gene Colan: "Pop Syke", "The Cult of the Entropy", "The Self Made Man", "The Sleigh Jacking" and "In Search of the Good Life".

These were followed by an adaptation of the "Sleep of the Just" story from issue 4 of the Marvel comic, illustrated by Gene Colan and Alan Kupperberg, before Steve Gerber left the series to be replaced by Marv Wolfman as writer. Illustrated by Alan Kupperberg, the remaining stories were: "Close Encounters of the Fowl Kind", "The Tuesday Ruby", "The Clone Ranger", "The Mystery of the Maltese Human" and "Howard Heads Home".

As the series drew to an end, it was printed in fewer and fewer papers, making copies of these last (post Gerber) stories particularly hard to find.

Collections of some of these strips have been gathered together and can be seen at www.nemsworld.com/howard/.

[edit] Memorabilia

• Howard appears on a mid-1970s painted drinking glass from 7-11 convenience stores.

[edit] Toys

• A Howard the Duck action figure is sold together with Toy Biz's Marvel Legends Series 5 Silver Surfer figure. The only such figure as of 2009, it uses the original, pant-less version of the character.

• The Summer 2008 booster expansion entitled "Secret Invasion" of Heroclix includes Howard the Duck. His 'powers' include Master of Quack Fu, Official Non-person, and Trapped in a Game He Never Made. His sculpt shows him wearing pants.

[edit] Popular culture

• In Philip K. Dick's book The Transmigration of Timothy Archer, published in 1982, one of the characters (Angel Archer) reads a current issue of Howard the Duck.
• In Stephen King's novel The Stand, a character reads a Howard the Duck comic and is bewildered by the concept. In the 1990 reissue of the book, the comic was changed to Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.
• On the rock band The Pretenders' first album, 1980s Pretenders, the song "Precious" contains a brief reference. Songwriter Chrissie Hynde, a native of Northeastern Ohio, uses Cleveland as the backdrop for the song, which includes the lines:

          And Howard the Duck and Mr. Stress  [a long-time local bar band ]  both stayed
          Trapped in a world that they never made
          But not me, baby, I'm too precious.

• On Lil' Wayne's Tha Carter 2 album, the song "Weezy Baby" features the line "...and I am no coward/No Howard the Duck."
• On an episode of South Park titled "The China Probrem" (season twelve), Indiana Jones is seen playing a pinball machine which features Howard the Duck (as he appears in the movie) on the top.

[edit] Bibliography

[edit] Comics series and starring features (including guest appearances)

• Adventure into Fear #19 (Dec. 1973)
• Man-Thing #1 (Jan. 1974)
• Giant-Size Man-Thing #4-5 (April-Aug. 1975)
• Man-Thing #22 (Oct. 1975) (one panel flashback cameo)
• Howard the Duck (1976 series) #1-31 (Jan. 1976 - May 1979)
• Marvel Treasury Edition #12 (1976) (between issues #7 and #8)
• Fantastic Four #176 (Nov 1976)(autographed poster of Howard on the wall at Marvel Comics)
• Howard the Duck Annual #1 (May 1977) (between issues #14 and #15)
• Defenders #50 (along with everyone else who had served with the Defenders up until that time, his face is included on the border of a pinup of Nighthawk's stables.)
• Crazy Magazine #36, 50, 51, 53, 54, 59, 63, 65, 66, 68, 69, 71, 72, 74, 75, 77, 82 (April 1978 - Jan. 1982)
• Marvel Two-in-One #46 (Dec. 1978) (kids'-show host named Mr. Waddles who resembles Howard; any further connection unconfirmed)
• Marvel Team-Up #96 (Aug. 1980)
• Howard the Duck (black-and-white magazine) #1-9 (Oct. 1979 - March 1981)
• (Marvel) Fun and Games Magazine #4 (Dec. 1979)
• Fantastic Four Roast #1 (May 1982) (cameo, with Man-Thing)
• What If? #34 (Aug. 1982)
• Bizarre Adventures (color, comic-size last issue of black-and-white magazine) #34 (Feb. 1983)
• Marvel Fanfare #9 (pin-up), 25 (pin-up), 56 (pin-up, with Dagger) (June 1983 - April 1991)
• Howard the Duck #32 & 33 (Jan. & Sept. 1986)
• Marvel Age #43 (Oct. 1986) (article)
• Marvel Comics Super Special (magazine movie adaptation) #41 (Nov. 1986)
  • Reprinted in part as Howard the Duck: The Movie #1-3 (Dec. 1986 - Feb. 1987)
• What The --?! #5, 11, 21 (July 1989– Sept. 1992)
• Web of Spider-Man Annual #5 (Aug. 1989) (Retrospective: "Spider-Man's Most Dubious Allies")
• Doctor Strange, Sorcerer Supreme #6 (Aug. 1989) (Rintrah disguised as Howard)
• Cerebus High Society #1 (Feb. 1990)
• Sensational She-Hulk #14-17 (April-July 1990)
• Marvel Tales #237 (May 1990) (guest in Spider-Ham story)
• Marvel Illustrated: Swimsuit Edition #1 (June 1991) (pin-up)
• What If vol. 2, #34 (Feb. 1992)
• Slapstick #1 (Nov. 1992) (one-panel cameo)
• Silver Surfer vs. Dracula #1 (Feb. 1994) (reprint of "Hellcow")
• Marvels: Portraits #3 (May 1995) (pin-up)
• The Savage Hulk #1 (Jan. 1996)
• Generation X #20-23, 25 (Oct. 1996 - March 1997) (#22 shows Howard at Halloween, possibly not the real Howard)
• Savage Dragon/Destroyer Duck #1 (Nov. 1996) (chronologically simultaneous with Spider-Man Team-Up #5, origin of Leonard the Duck)
• Spider-Man Team-Up #5 (Dec. 1996)
• Ghost Rider vol. 3, #81-82 (Jan.-Feb. 1997) (chronologically probably comes before Generation X)
• Howard the Duck Holiday Special #1 (Feb. 1997)
• X-Men #minus 1 (July 1997) (one panel cameo in Marvel offices in present-day frame story)
• Daydreamers #1-3 (Aug.-Oct. 1997)
• Man-Thing vol. 3 #5-7 (April-June 1998)
• J2 #11 (Aug. 1999)
• Top Ten #8 (June 2000) (one-panel cameo)
• Captain Marvel vol. 3, #10 (Feb. 2000) (flashback Fear #19)
• Fantastic Four #479 aka vol. 3, #50 (Feb. 2002) (1-panel cameo in Not Brand Ecch-style story)
• Howard the Duck (Marvel MAX) #1-6 (March-Aug. 2002)
• She-Hulk #8-9 (Dec. 2004 – Jan. 2005)
• She-Hulk vol. 2, #3 (Feb. 2006)
• Civil War: Choosing Sides (Marvel Civil War Tie-in) One-shot (Dec. 2006) reprinted with new cover Feb. 2007
• Marvel Zombies vs. Army of Darkness #2-3 (June-July 2007)
• Howard The Duck vol. 3, #1-4 (Oct. 2007 - Jan. 2008)
• The New Avengers #36 (Jan. 2008) (cameo)
• Marvel: Your Universe Saga (Sep, 2008) (appears in back cover)
• Secret Invasion #6-8 (Nov, 2008) (double page spread with the Avengers #6 & in battle #7)
• Secret Invasion #1 Directors Cut (Nov, 2008) (appears in "Secret Invasion Promotional Artwork", inside & on back cover)

[edit] Collections

• Spider-Man Strange Adventures (1996) (ISBN 0-7851-0221-3)
• Essential Howard the Duck, Vol. 1 (2002) (ISBN 0-7851-0831-9)
• Howard the Duck (Marvel Max series; 2002) (ISBN 0-7851-0931-5)
• Howard the Duck: Media Duckling (2008) (ISBN 978-0-7851-2776-5)
• Howard the Duck Omnibus (2008) (ISBN 978-0-7851-3023-9)

[edit] Official published reference works to Howard and cast

• The Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe #5 (May 1983) (Howard; ½ page)
  • Reprinted in The Essential Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe, Vol. 1 (2006; ISBN 0-7851-1933-7)
• The Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe vol. 2, #5 (Apr. 1986) (Howard; 1 page)
  • Reprinted in The Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe Volume Three: Galactus to Kang (1986; ISBN 0-87135-210-9)
  • Reprinted in The Essential Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe – Deluxe Edition Vol. 1 (2006; ISBN 0-7851-1934-5)
• Official Marvel Index to Marvel Team-Up #5 (Oct. 1986)
• The Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe vol. 3, #2 (Aug. 1989) (Doctor Bong; 2 pages)
  • Reprinted in The Essential Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe – Update 89 Vol. 1 (2006; ISBN 0-7851-1937-X)
• The Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe vol. 4, #2 (Jan. 1991) (Howard; 1 looseleaf sheet; Masters Edition)
• Marvel Encyclopedia Vol. 4: Spider-Man (2003; ISBN 0-7851-1304-5) (Howard; 1/3 page)
• The All-New Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe A-Z #5 (Jun. 2006)
• Marvel Legacy: The 1970s Handbook (May 2006) (Hellcow; ½ page)
• The All-New Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe #5 (May 2006) (Howard; 3 pages)
• The All-New Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe Update #1 (Jan. 2007) (Garko the Man-Frog; ½ page)
• Civil War: Battle Damage Report (Howard; ½ page, plus a one-panel appearance of Howard's friend Paul Same, a.k.a. Winky Man)

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• Marvel.com bio
• Don Markstein Toonopedia: Howard the Duck
• The Appendix to the Handbook of the Marvel Universe: Howard the Duck
• Howard The Duck film trailer
• Howard the Duck 1st series covers
• Howard the Duck Newspaper Strip

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