Download Howard The Duck #1
The duck who inspired one of Hollywood's biggest turkeys, Howard entered comic books in 1973. He looked like a cigar-smoking funny animal fowl, but he was actually an extraterrestrial. After appearing in Marvel's Fear and Man-Thing, Howard won his own comic book in 1975. The world
in which Howard had to function was a freely rendered version of Cleveland. He was confused and angry at being stranded on Earth and, as the cover blurb reminds readers, "trapped in a world he never made." Howard was as much an anti-hero as he was a comedy character.Howard was talkative and cynical. Writer/creator Steve Gerber used him to comment on a wide variety of social issues. Gerber, who'd scripted such superhero titles as The Defenders, kidded the fairly rigid formats and formulas of the genre. Frank Brunner, the original artist, was succeeded by Gene Colon commencing with Howard the Duck #4. The book lasted for thirty-one issues and was canceled in 1979. Two additional issues that carried the original
numbering appeared in 1986 to coincide with the movie Howard the Duck, still considered one of the all-time cinema follies.The sarcastic bird also appeared in a nine-issue run of a black-and-white Howard magazine. Gerber and Colon turned out a cryptic and short-lived Howard newspaper strip. Howard made another minimal comeback in 2002 in a six-issue series. Gerber once more wrote the scripts, with Paul Winslade the artist. This time around, however, Howard had been reincarnated as a giant rat.
Characters: Howard the Duck; Beverly Switzler (first); Pro-Rata (first); Spider-Man; J. Jonah Jameson (cameo appearance).
Credits
Script: Steve Gerber
Pencils: Frank Brunner
Inks: Steve Leialoha
Colors: Frank Brunner
Reprinted:
- in Marvel Treasury Edition (Marvel, 1974 series) #12.
- in Essential Howard the Duck (Marvel, 2002 series) #1.
Note: storyline continued from Giant-Size Man-Thing #5.
Howard the Duck #1 was hard to find when it came out. Dealers and fans bought them up on speculation. I remember looking all over my hometown until I found three copies at a convenience store and bought two. I left one for the clerk who, as I found out, was also a comic book fan and didn't know it was on the rack until I walked up to the cash register with them in my hand.
ReplyDeleteI was 11 or 12 years old when this hit the racks and I partly bought this because it was a first issue. I had picked up even at a very young age that this might be of much more value some day—and I was right! Fortunately, we didn't have any speculators in the very small town that I grew up in.
ReplyDeleteFunny thing, to this day I still haven't caught the movie, but I hear it's a real turkey.
Thanks for dropping by, Hairy Green Eyeball!
hello there thanks for your grat post, as usual ((o:
ReplyDeleteDamn, that was good! Thanks for posting that. I'll have to get vol 1 of the Essentials now!
ReplyDeleteYou're very welcome,Thwacko!
ReplyDelete