Howard the Duck

Howard the Duck's first appearance in Adventure into Fear #19 (Dec. 1973). Art by penciler Val Mayerik and inker Sal Trapani.

Howard the Duck was created by writer Steve Gerber and penciler Val Mayerik in Adventure into Fear #19 (Dec. 1973) as a secondary character in that comic's "Man-Thing" feature.[3][4] He graduated to his own backup feature in Giant-Size Man-Thing #4–5 (May and Aug. 1975), confronting such bizarre horror-parody characters as Garko the Man-Frog and Bessie the Hellcow, before acquiring his own comic book title with Howard the Duck #1 in 1976.[3][5]

Howard the Duck #1 (Jan. 1976), with
series co-star Beverly Switzler in background.
Cover art by Frank Brunner.

Gerber wrote 27 issues of the series (for the most part ditching the horror parodies), illustrated by a variety of artists, beginning with Frank Brunner. For Gerber, Howard was a flesh-and-blood duck and explained that "If Wile E. Coyote gets run over by a steamroller, the result is a pancake-flat coyote who can be expected to snap back to three dimensions within moments; if Howard gets run over by a steamroller, the result is blood on asphalt."[1] Gene Colan became the regular penciller with issue #4.[3] Gerber later said to Colan: "There really was almost a telepathic connection there. I would see something in my mind, and that is what you would draw! I've never had that experience with another artist before or since."[6]

Sporting the slogan "Get Down, America!", the All-Night Party was a fictional political party that appeared in Gerber's Howard the Duck series during the U.S. Presidential campaign of 1976,[7][8] and led to Howard the Duck allegedly receiving thousands of write-in votes in the actual election.[9] Gerber addressed questions about the campaign in the letters column of the comic book and, as Mad Genius Associates, sold merchandise publicizing the campaign.

Marvel attempted a spin-off with a short-lived Howard the Duck newspaper comic strip from 1977 to 1978, at first written by Gerber and drawn by Colan and Mayerik,[10] later written by Marv Wolfman and drawn by Alan Kupperberg.[11]

Gerber gained a degree of creative autonomy when he became the comic series' editor in addition to his usual writing duties. With issue #16, 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.[12]

The Walt Disney Company contacted Marvel in 1977 over concerns that the visual design of Howard infringed on their trademark for Donald Duck. Marvel agreed to a redesign of the character by Disney artists. A key feature of the redesign was that the character would wear pants.[13]

In 1978, Gerber was removed from the newspaper strip and the comic-book series due to chronic problems with deadlines.[14] His final issue of the comic-book series was #27 (September 1978). The series continued for four more issues with stories by Marv Wolfman, Mary Skrenes, Mark Evanier, and Bill Mantlo.

The final episode of the newspaper strip was published on October 29, 1978. Issue #31 (May 1979) of the comic-book series 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 black and white magazine, with scripts by Mantlo, art by Colan and Michael Golden and unrelated backup features by others. The magazine was canceled after nine issues.

On August 29, 1980, after learning of Marvel's efforts to license Howard for use in film and broadcast media, Steve Gerber filed a copyright infringement lawsuit against Marvel corporate parent Cadence Industries and other parties, alleging that he was the sole owner of the character.[15][16] This was one of the first highly publicized creator's rights cases in American comics, and attracted support from major industry figures, some of whom created homage/parody stories with Gerber to fund a lawsuit against Marvel; these included Destroyer Duck with Jack Kirby.[17] The lawsuit was settled on September 24, 1982, with Gerber acknowledging that his work on the character was done as work-for-hire and that Marvel parent Cadence Industries owned "all right, title and interest" to Howard the Duck and the Howard material he had produced. On November 5, 1982, Judge David Kenyon approved the motion and dismissed the case.[15][16][17]

The only new story featuring the character between 1981 and 1986 appeared in Bizarre Adventures #34 (1983) Scripted by Steven Grant, it featured a suicidal Howard being put through a parody of It's a Wonderful Life.

The original comic book series reappeared with issue #32 (January 1986). It featured a story that had been written by Grant four years earlier.[17] Steve Gerber had submitted a script for the issue, but withdrew it after it had been revised to conform to editorial guidelines.[15][16] Issue #33 (October 1986), scripted by Christopher Stager, featured a parody of the film Bride of Frankenstein. Howard co-creator Val Mayerik co-plotted the story and provided the art. It was released alongside an adaptation of the Howard the Duck feature film, which was published in Marvel Super Special #41 (November 1986) and a three-issue comic-book series.

Gerber returned to Howard in 1989 in The Sensational She-Hulk #14–17. The character was again living with Beverly Switzler, now working as a rent-a-ninja. How they got back together was never explained. Beverly was not involved in the story, in which She-Hulk takes Howard on a trip through several dimensions with a theoretical physicist from Empire State University.

Gerber's next story featuring Howard appeared in Spider-Man Team-Up #5 (December 1996), 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 scheduled to appear in Ghost Rider vol. 3, #81 (Jan. 1997) alongside Devil Dinosaur and Moon Boy, and issues of Generation X, as well as the three issue Daydreamers miniseries by J.M. DeMatteis. Gerber was not pleased with this development, and changed the "unofficial crossover" somewhat.[18]

In Spider-Man Team-Up #5, Spider-Man, Beverly and Howard meet the Elf with a Gun and two shadowy figures (presumed to be Savage Dragon and Destroyer Duck) in a darkened warehouse, grab a disc, then leave shortly afterwards. But in the Savage Dragon/Destroyer Duck crossover comic, Elf with a Gun creates thousands of clones of Howard and Beverly during a fierce battle. As Savage Dragon and Destroyer Duck escape the warehouse, they reveal that they rescued the "real" Howard and Beverly, while Spider-Man left with two of the clones. Howard has his feathers dyed green, and is renamed "Leonard the Duck", and Beverly has her hair dyed black and is renamed "Rhonda Martini". Leonard later had a cameo appearance in Savage Dragon #41, and Leonard and Rhonda have a single-panel cameo when they meet Gerber's Nevada in Vertigo Comics' Winter's Edge #2.

In 2001, when Marvel launched its MAX imprint of "mature readers" comics, Gerber returned to write a 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 mouse (as a parody of Mickey Mouse, in retaliation for the Disney-mandated redesign), 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 (vol. 2) #9 in February 2005 and in She-Hulk vol. 3 #3/#100 in February 2006 (issue #3 was also the numbered as the 100th total issue of all the various She-Hulk series). In 2007, he returned in Howard the Duck vol. 4 #1-4, a miniseries by writer Ty Templeton and artist Juan Bobillo. This series was rated for ages 9 and up, though one issue was published with a Marvel Zombies tie-in cover with a parental advisory claim.

In November 2014, Marvel announced an ongoing series starting in March 2015 featuring Howard as a private investigator on Earth. The creative team consisted of writer Chip Zdarsky and artist Joe Quinones.[19] Howard the Duck (vol. 5) ran for 5 issues before Marvel relaunched many of their existing titles with the All-New, All-Different Marvel line of comics. This led to a reboot produced by the same creative team starting with Howard the Duck (vol. 6) #1 in November 2015.[20] This series included a two-part crossover with The Unbeatable Squirrel Girl.[21] The 11th and last issue was released in October 2016.[22]

Howard's first appearance in comics is when he is abruptly abducted from his home planet by an unseen force and randomly dropped into the Florida Everglades by the demon-lord Thog the Nether-Spawn. He meets the Man-Thing, who had been attacked by Korrek of Katharta, and the three of them are confronted by warriors of the Congress of Realities.[23] He then meets Dakimh the Enchanter and Dakimh banishes the warriors and transports Howard, Man-Thing, and Korrek to his castle, where they are joined by Jennifer Kale. They then travel to the realm of Therea and destroy Thog the Nether-Spawn. Howard then accidentally falls off the inter-dimensional stepping stones that the group were traveling on[24] and materializes in Cleveland, Ohio, where he battles Garko the Man-Frog.[25] Howard is arrested at this time for disturbing the peace and is mistaken for a mutant during a strip search, but is released because the police fear he has mutant abilities. Howard also briefly encounters and kills a vampiric cow named Bessie the Hellcow.[26]

Howard makes friends with an artists' model named Beverly Switzler and a bizarre series of encounters follow. He battles Pro-Rata, the cosmic accountant, then meets Spider-Man at the end of the battle.[27][28] He battles Turnip-Man and the Kidney Lady,[29] who would become a semi-recurring character over the years, then learns the fictional martial art of "Quack-Fu".[30] Howard then encounters the Winky Man, who is actually the sleepwalking alter-ego of Beverly's artist friend, Paul Same,[31] who would become a series regular and later become the pair's roommate. Howard also briefly becomes a wrestler.[32]

Howard and Beverly hit the road, seeking shelter in a gothic mansion where they battle a girl named Patsy and her giant, animated-to-life gingerbread man.[33][34] They eventually end up in New York City, where Howard is nominated for President of the United States by the All-Night Party[34] and he later battles the Band of the Bland, alongside the Defenders.[35] A doctored-photo scandal leads him to Canada where he defeats a supervillain, the Beaver, who caused the scandal. The Beaver falls to his death in a battle with Howard.[36] Howard then suffers a nervous breakdown and flees Bev and their situation on a bus. Unfortunately, the bus' passengers are all believers in various weird cults, and try to interest Howard in them. His seatmates are Winda Wester and the Kidney Lady, a woman who believes that the soul of a person lives in their kidneys and attempts to stop anything she sees as "anti-kidney health". 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 new Son of Satan.[37] Beverly and Paul manage to get them both back to Cleveland. Later, while on the S. S. Damned, a cruise ship returning from scenic Bagmom, Howard and Beverly are taken captive by Lester Verde. Verde had known Beverly in college and had a crush on her and had assumed the identity of the supervillain Doctor Bong,[38] who illegally marries Beverly against her will and transforms Howard into a human.[39][40]

After escaping back to New York and being restored to his natural form, Howard is hired as a dishwasher by Beverly's uncle, Lee Switzler. Howard is later reunited with Dakihm the Enchanter, the Man-Thing, Korrek and Jennifer Kale, and they all battle the demon Bzzk'Joh. Korrek pilots the ship the Epoch Weasel and drops Howard back off at Cleveland before he and their allies fly away.[41][42] Howard finally meets up with the cruise ship that rescued Paul and Winda from Doctor Bong, and finds that Paul and Winda have befriended socialite Iris Raritan.

Howard is later kidnapped by the Ringmaster and his Circus of Crime. Winda is abandoned by Paul and Iris and Paul is shot and left in a coma.[43][44] After defeating the Circus of Crime, Howard is plagued by pessimistic dreams and goes his way alone, just as he had at the series' beginning.[45]

Writer Bill 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. Howard's creator Steve Gerber, who left the series after issue #27, originally intended for Beverly and Bong's marriage to be lasting and for Beverly to be written out of the series from that point on. Howard and Beverly's friend Paul, who had ended up in a coma after he had previously been shot by the Ringmaster, awakens from his coma and is released from the hospital. Beverly's uncle Lee 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, becomes Winda's boyfriend. Howard dons a suit of "Iron Duck" armor made by Claude Starkowitz, a man who has delusions of being related to Tony Stark and dreams of being the personal armorer to Iron Man, and battles Doctor Bong in the final issue of the original 70s Howard the Duck series (issue #31).[46][47] Howard later encounters Dracula[48] and even once returns to Duckworld.[49] At the end of the nine-issue magazine series, Howard leaves Beverly (at her request) and is later offered a genetically-constructed female duck mate, whom he does not take to.[50]

On a later occasion, She-Hulk accidentally pulls Howard though a cosmic wormhole along with theoretical physicist Brent Wilcox and they are able to prevent other universes from crowding out Earth-616. During this time, Howard meets a character called the Critic, travels to a dimension known as the Baloneyverse and again battles a group called the Band of the Bland, whom he had previously battled with the Defenders.[51][52][53]

In an encounter with Peter Parker and Ben Reilly (the then-current Spider-Man), Howard gets a rematch with the Circus of Crime and the Circus is defeated. During the fight, Howard and Beverly get stuck in a warehouse full of anthropomorphic ducks, briefly meeting the Savage Dragon and Destroyer Duck. Parker and Reilly leave the warehouse believing that they have the correct versions of Howard and Beverly with them. However, in the Savage Dragon/Destroyer Duck companion story that takes place simultaneously and that was written by Gerber, it is explained that the version of Howard and Beverly that left the warehouse with Parker and Reilly are simply clones taken by mistake and that the real Howard and Beverly actually left the scene with Savage Dragon and Destroyer Duck.[54]

The sorceress Jennifer Kale, in a weekly attempt to return Howard 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 Johnny Blaze's hellfire gun. Devil Dinosaur and Moon-Boy then rampage through the city before being subdued by Ghost Rider (Daniel Ketch). Howard says that he relates to the pair being trapped in a world they never made before wandering off.[55][56]

Howard has no superhuman powers, but is skilled in the martial art known as Quak-Fu, enough to defeat, or at least to hold his own against, far larger opponents. He has shown some degree of mystic talent in the past, to the point that Stephen Strange taught some spells to Howard and even offered to train him, but Howard declined.[35]

On one occasion, Howard used a suit of powered armor known as the "Iron Duck", designed by Claude Starkowitz. Besides its property as body armor, the suit was equipped with foot-mounted leaping coils, a chest-mounted searchlight, and arm-mounted flamethrowers.[46]

Howard the Duck 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,[89] and Marvel redesigned that aspect of the character by writing into the script that Howard was the target of anti-nudity protests, and was forced to do business with "Wally Sidney", a failed cartoonist who made his fortune through a chain of conservative clothing retailers known as "Sidney World". Howard tries on various outfits, including ones akin to Donald Duck's sailor uniform and Uncle Scrooge's coat and top hat, before settling on his new attire of a business suit complete with trousers. Although Howard sulks that he has lost, Beverly reassures him that she does not want him to be a victim of a mob, and loves him no matter what he wears.[90]

Howard has an irritable and cynical attitude towards 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.

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 as a beautiful woman rather than a duck. His other friends include Paul Same (a painter who briefly became a sleepwalking crime-fighter named the Winky Man), Winda Wester (a lisping ingénue with psychic powers), and country music singer Dreyfus Gultch. Howard has worked with Spider-Man and the Man-Thing 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." Gerber stated that Howard came from an alternate Earth populated by a variety of anthropomorphic animals and not Duckworld.[91] A panel in Fear #19, prior to Howard's introduction, depicts Howard or someone like him near an anthropomorphic mouse and an anthropomorphic dog, in a panel about hypothetical other dimensions. Gerber later depicted his character Destroyer Duck as existing in such a world.

His antagonists (who usually appear in a single story each) are often parodies of science fiction, fantasy, or horror characters, as well as frequent parodies of political figures and organizations. The chief recurring villain, Lester Verde, better 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 the bell-shaped helmet on his head and his main goal is to marry Beverly. Beverly eventually agreed to marry him to save Howard from Bong's evil experimentation, but the two were divorced shortly thereafter. Doctor Bong would reappear in issues of She-Hulk and Deadpool in the mid-1990s. Other recurring villains include the Kidney Lady, an older woman 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 organization S.O.O.F.I. (Save Our Offspring From Indecency), whose leader was implied to be 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 with Howard, including Spider-Man, the Son of Satan and the Ringmaster. Omega the Unknown appeared to him in a dream, as did Spider-Man and the founding members of the rock group Kiss on other occasions.

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 comic series),[92] the Brontë sisters, and other figures of philosophical and political significance. In a parody of the Marvel comic character Shang-Chi, Howard was trained in the martial art of Quak-Fu. In the 2001 miniseries, as a mocking gesture toward Disney's mascot Mickey Mouse and as a reference to a previous lawsuit with the company over Howard's similarity to Donald Duck, Howard was turned into various other animals, but primarily appeared in the series as an anthropomorphic mouse.[93]

Michael Burkett of the Orange County Register described Howard the Duck as a "cantankerous, stogie-chomping, nattily dressed" antihero with an "acerbic wit, irascible personality and down-and-dirty street smarts" that distinguished him from other cartoon animal characters. Burkett likened Howard to "Donald Duck cross-bred with Groucho Marx and Jean-Paul Sartre." He wrote that Howard's "cult-worshipped" 1970s comic book series brought the "surrealism, social commentary, political satire and what-the-hell-am-I-doing-here philosophy" of 1960s "underground comics" into the mainstream.[142] The New Yorker said Howard believed in "mainstream social Darwinism" and was "a web-footed Eric Hoffer". Kenneth Turan of The Washington Post called Howard "an Everyman with feathers, forever shooting his mouth off, battling a gloomy reality."[138]

Marvel editor-in-chief Roy Thomas thought that Howard, as a "funny animal" character, was inappropriate for the horror comic book in which he was introduced. He told Gerber to dispose of the character "as fast as you can." After Gerber showed Howard seemingly dying by falling into a void, Marvel's "office was flooded with letters" of protest. One fan even sent in a duck carcass to make his point. At San Diego Comic-Con, the auditorium stood up and applauded when a fan asked Thomas if Howard would ever come back. Marvel responded by bringing Howard back for more appearances and soon launching his own self-titled comic book series.[143]

Howard the Duck #1 "was the best-selling book Marvel ever had (that wasn't based on a movie)" according to artist Frank Brunner.[144] The debut issue of his series instantly became a target of speculators and "occasionally sold for as much as $25." Comic-book dealer Jim Kovacs said he followed a delivery truck on the day of its release and "bought 900 copies right off the newsstands."[138] Marvel's circulation director Ed Shukin said he "underestimated" demand, only printing 275,000 copies, the minimum amount allowed at the time.[145] By December 1977, the issue was selling for an average price of $12.50, which comic book price guide publisher Robert Overstreet described as "the most phenomenal growth of any comic book that has been published."[138] Gerber was angry about the hoarding situation, "I felt as if the book had been sabotaged by the very people who supposedly liked the character." He suspected that the lack of availability of issue #1 eventually led to lower sales on the entire series.[10] Howard's first issue has been cited as "the first big speculative book in the collectors market" for comic books.[146]

The Howard the Duck comic book has been described as "the first successful title aimed at an older audience."[146] Former Marvel editor-in-chief Jim Shooter said that Howard "had developed some cult favorite status that extended as far as Hollywood."[147] During post-production on Star Wars, George Lucas showed issue #1 to his friends and collaborators Willard Huyck and Gloria Katz, telling them, "this would make a great movie."[148] Gerber was surprised at how quickly the character attracted mainstream media attention. He was contacted for interviews by New York Magazine, The New Yorker, The Washington Post and others.[149]

"Precious", a song written by Chrissie Hynde for The Pretenders' first album, features the lyric "Now Howard the Duck and Mr. Stress both stayed / Trapped in a world they never made".[150] According to lead guitarist James Honeyman-Scott, quoted in Beat magazine, "Chrissie used to read Howard the Duck comic books and then she introduced Howard to [bassist] Pete [Farndon] and Pete was well over the top on it. He's got every Howard the Duck comic ever."[151]

After Gerber parted ways with Marvel in 1978 amid numerous legal and creative disputes, and other writers took over for him, Howard the Duck's popularity diminished rapidly. Stan Lee, Shooter and Gerber himself criticized the post-Gerber stories for their lack of substance and clever humor. Within three years of Gerber's departure, Marvel had ceased publishing new Howard the Duck material. Lucasfilm's big-budget 1986 Howard the Duck film disappointed critics, audiences and the character's fans alike. Although Marvel has occasionally released new Howard comic books, some written by Gerber, and sometimes features the character in other media, Howard's popularity has never again approached what it was in the 1970s.[15]

In August 2009, Time listed Howard the Duck as one of the "Top 10 Oddest Marvel Characters".[152]

• Howard the Duck at Marvel.com
• Christiansen, Jeff (February 6, 2014). "Howard the Duck". The Appendix to the Handbook of the Marvel Universe. Archived from the original on August 8, 2014.
• Markstein, Don (2010). "Howard the Duck". Don Markstein's Toonopedia. Archived from the original on November 23, 2014.
• Howard the Duck at the Unofficial Handbook of Marvel Comics Creators
• Howard The Duck film trailer
• Howard the Duck first series covers Archived 2008-06-13 at the Wayback Machine
• Howard the Duck on Marvel Database, a Marvel Comics wiki