by Josh Powell, Editor-at-Large

Official Description:
MEET HOWARD DUCKSON (YES, THAT IS HIS REAL NAME, CHECK THE WIKIS!), BETTER KNOWN AS HOWARD THE DUCK. WHY “THE DUCK”? BECAUSE HE’S AN ANTHROPOMORPHIC TALKING DUCK, OBVIOUSLY. FROM DUCKWORLD! OH, YOU’VE NEVER HEARD OF DUCKWORLD? WELL, IMAGINE THE WORLD OUTSIDE YOUR WINDOW–EXCEPT EVERYONE IS A DUCK. YOUR MAILMAN? MAILDUCK. SALESWOMAN? SALESDUCK. SPOKESPERSON? SPOKESDUCK. YOU GET IT. 

ANYWAY, HOWARD HAS BEEN A RELUCTANT INHABITANT OF THIS HERE BEAUTIFUL EARTH FOR A WHILE NOW. HE’S BEEN A RENT-A-NINJA, A PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE, A MOVIE STAR, EVEN A RAT BRIEFLY. NOWADAYS HE’S A PRIVATE DETECTIVE, WORKING CASES WITH HIS HALF-SKRULL FRIEND TARA TAM AND TRYING HIS VERY BEST TO KEEP A LEVEL HEAD IN A WORLD THAT IS ABSOLUTELY NOT ON THE LEVEL (YOU MIGHT EVEN SAY IT’S…QUACKED). IT’S NOT GOING WELL, THOUGH–HOWARD IS ONE UNLUCKY DUCK.BUT WHAT IF…HE DIDN’T HAVE TO BE?

Another major anniversary and ComicsOnline gestures to the bullpen to bring the weary old-timer out to comment sardonically on matters which readers of today, introduced to comics through their fondness for the likes of Chris Pratt, never knew they didn’t care about.

As the intro states, it’s been 50 years since what turned out to be Marvel’s flagship “offbeat” character debuted with zero fanfare in the unlikely pages of Adventure into Fear.  Equally offbeat creator Steve Gerber was writing tales of the Man-Thing therein and needed a backup piece.  The hip, niche comic book community of the day were ready for a character that inserted some indie, underground sensibility into the mainstream titles, so Howard took off in a big way.  

Pretty soon he was the main event in the book, until new Marvel E-i-C Roy Thomas, who had just taken over for Stan Lee, newly off on his quixotic mission to conquer Hollywood, noticed that a funny animal knockoff was an odd fit for a horror mag and told Gerber to lose the duck.  Fans protested, most notably at the baby SDCC, and Marvel brought him back, but gave him his own title, which was under-printed and promptly became a huge collector’s item, soaring nearly 100-fold in value within a year.  Early adventures included cavorting with horror characters like the aforementioned Man-Thing and Bessie the Hellcow, battling the nefarious Doctor Bong (whose powers manifest by riding the clapper of his own head), and running for president in the bicentennial year against Gerald Ford and Jimmy Carter (and just how the hell is that dude still alive?).

Things were jolly, a newspaper strip was launched, and then Gerber got a) not-quite-sued by Disney for coming a bit too close to the look of a certain irascible duck in a sailor suit (which is why Howard the Duck became contractually obligated to wear pants in real life and in the comics) and b) fired for missing too many deadlines, including ones he set himself when he was also the editor of the book.  And how nonconformist do you have to be, anyway, to get fired from Marvel?  In the ’70s?  

Gerber tried to take his hit creation with him, but at the time “creator’s rights” was a phrase that had no referent, so he got told to kiss off.  Book and strip got taken over by other writers, but satire is harder than parody- you have to have a point- and general goofiness is easier than either, so that was what transpired. Readership dropped, buzz faded, everything was soon cancelled, and by the time Gerber returned to the fold, the trippy weirdness of the 70s had given way to the gritty 80s and the moment had passed.  (Except for George Lucas, who thought this nonsense was the perfect entree to bring comics to the big screen in ’86.  Clearly, his Phantom Menace derangement was already setting in.). Howard the Duck‘s publication history thereafter became spottier than Werewolf by Night‘s, so rather than being a gala 600th issue or so, Howard gets about 35 pages of homage in this one-off by various creative teams.

Chip (Batman, Sex Criminals) Zdarsky and Joe (Batman ’89) Quinones know the lore, having written the last string of continuous-run appearances several years back.  They set up the frame story- in one of the parodiverses Howard and his mixed-race skrull pal are trying to avoid the carnage from the latest super Civil War when Uatu’s cousin, The Peeper, (looking like a gigantic version of Carl from Aqua Teen Hunger Force) tries to make up for his cosmic uselessness by peering into other universes to see if some other version of Howard’s life might be of help.

Then Daniel (Quantum & Woody) Kibblesmith and Annie (Hawkeye) Wu take over with a look at Howard’s life in the White House with some mordant commentary on comics’ all-but-complete mediaization, keeping it in the family with some timely help from an old pal who, fittingly, AIN’T NEVAH coming to a theater near you.  Wu’s art works well with the weird, album-cover subject matter, and in her hands, it’s a good thing Howard has his presidential slacks on, or else The House of Mouse really would have something to complain about.  Although, I guess it’s a bit late for that anyway.  Given the corporate ownership structure, he might as well rock a flap collar now.

Jason (X-Corp) Loo and Derek (Squirrel Girl) Charm chip in with a loving recap at what was going on in the 80’s at Marvel and how Howard could have been so much more relevant if only he hadn’t had the misfortune (like so many of us) of not being a mutant.

And finally game designer Merritt K and Will Robson wrap it up with a team-up with Guardians of the Galaxy and a moonlighting Ben Grimm to take a tour down some of the more obscure corners of what might qualify as his Rogues Gallery.

There’s not a ton of outright laughs in it, but some wry observations land here and there, pretty consonant with most of his appearances over the years.  There are, however, a ton of Easter Eggs to spot and deep cut references for those who enjoy that sort of thing.

Despite his initial popularity jag, Howard the Duck has always been a specialty flavor, and a little of him goes a long way (just ask Lea Thompson’s career), so this tip-of-the-bill is probably right-sized.  For decades, his natural spot has been to show up for a few lines or a few issues at most, giving those in-the-know a chance to condescend to the ignorance of casual fans who wonder what the quack that’s all about when he suddenly appears, and lending some metafictional levity by his very presence to whatever the goings-on might be.  The end-of-credits vignette format is perfect for him.

I tend to think that Howardmania owed almost everything to a chance conjunction of the state of affairs at adolescent Marvel and a weird moment in the larger culture, and not the character itself.  That would have worn off at about the same time, like Pet Rocks, or Tamagotchi, whether the creative team could have learned to hand in scripts and art more than a week before shipping date or not.  Mickey or Spidey (or for that matter Donald) he is not.  But, it is fitting to have this retrospective take the form of a series of what might-have-beens.

Rating:
ComicsOnline gives this brief nod to Howard the Duck one of Marvel’s perennial oddballs 3 1/2 out of 5 formerly ubiquitous cigars notably no longer appearing in the character’s ensemble.

<Shambles back wearily to cave muttering about damn whippersnappers>.

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