Howard the Duck is a comic bookcharacter in the Marvel Comicsuniverse 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, while a few are parodies of genre fiction with a metafictional awareness of the medium. The book is existentialist,
and its main joke, according to Gerber, is that there is no joke: "that
life's most serious moments and most incredibly dumb moments are often
distinguishable only by a momentary point of view."[1] This is diametrically opposed to screenwriter Gloria Katz,
who in adapting the comic to the screen declared, "It's a film about a
duck from outer space... It's not supposed to be an existential
experience".[2]
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 (for the most part ditching the
horror parodies), illustrated by a variety of artists, beginning with Frank Brunner. Brunner left the series because he considered Howard a cartoon in the real world,[citation needed]
whereas for Gerber, Howard was a flesh and blood duck. According to
Gerber, "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 eventually became the regular penciller. The series gradually developed a substantial cult following,[citation needed] and Howard became a mock candidate in the 1976 U.S. presidential campaign under the auspices of the All-Night Party.[citation needed] 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,[citation needed] later written by Marv Wolfman and drawn by Alan Kupperberg.[citation needed]
Gerber gained a degree of creative autonomy when he became Howard the Duck's editor in addition to his writing duties, and the stories became increasingly experimental.[citation needed]
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.[3]
In 1978, the writer and publisher clashed over issues of creative control,[4] and Gerber was abruptly removed from the series. This was the one of 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).[5]
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.
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).
In issue #6, Mantlo introduced the concept of "Duckworld," which Gerber
loathed. It depicted an all-duck parallel earth in which there were
equivalents of all famous people, such as "Ducktor Strange" (a parody
of Doctor Strange) who later appeared in She-Hulk (vol. 2 #19) and Truman Capoultry (Truman Capote), who narrated the issue. As Gerber told Mediascene,
"Howard's world, which would never be depicted visually, was inhabited
by other anthropomorphized animals like himself. Like the cartoon
worlds of Disney and Warner Brothers, Howard's world probably contained
more than one intelligent species. (As Howard was not a vegetarian, I
concluded that there must be "lower animals" also in his universe.)
Unlike the Disney and Warners worlds, however, Howard's reality was
beset with the same plethora of social ills and personal vicissitudes
which human beings confront daily. And the same, or similar, laws of
nature applied there, too."[1] 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. Harvey Pekar,
himself a Cleveland resident, was mentioned as a possible writer for
issue #33, but he was unavailable, and nothing came of it.[6]
In a story rejected by Jim Shooter, Marvel's then-editor-in-chief, Gerber explained that "a KrylorianCyndi 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.[7]
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.[8]
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 Duckminiseries, 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 limited series by writer
Ty Templeton and artist Juan Bobillo in 2007. This series is rated for ages 9 and up, though it has also been published with a Marvel Zombies tie-in cover with a parental advisory claim.
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.[9] There, he meets the Man-Thing and Korrek the Barbarian.[10] Shortly thereafter, Howard meets Dakimh the Enchanter and Jennifer Kale as well, but then falls off a set of inter-dimensional stepping stones.[11] Before long, he materializes in Cleveland, Ohio. There he battles Garko the Man-Frog,[12] 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.[13]
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.[14] He battles Turnip-Man and the Kidney Lady.[15] He then learns Quak Fu,[16] 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),[17] and becomes a wrestler.[18]
Howard and Beverely hit the road, seeking shelter in a gothic mansion where they battle an animated Gingerbread Man.[19] They eventually end up in New York City, where Howard is nominated for U.S. President by the All-Night Party.[20] Howard battles the Band of the Bland — Dr. Angst, Sitting Bullseye, Tillie the Hun, the Spanker, and Black Hole — alongside the Defenders.[21] A doctored-photo scandal leads him to Canada, and the defeat of a supervillain, Le Beaver, who falls to his death.[22] 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.[23] 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,[24] who illegally marries Beverly against her will and transforms Howard into a human.[25]
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,[26] and then battles Soofi.[27] Howard is then reunited with the Man-Thing, Korrek, and Jennifer Kale, and they all battle Bzzk'Joh.[28]
After finally meeting up with the cruise ship that resuces Paul and
Winda, now befriended by socialite Iris Raritan, he then attends her
party on Long Island, where he is abducted by the Ringmaster and his Circus of Crime. Paul is shot and left in a coma, and Winda, abandoned by Paul and Iris, is apparently raped by a hobo.[29]
After defeating the Circus of Crime, Howard, plagued by pessimistic
dreams, goes his way alone, as he had at the beginning of the series.[30]
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.[31] He later battles Morton Erg and the Gopher.[32] He encountered Dracula,[33] and even returns to Duckworld at one point.[34]
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 physicistBrent 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.[35]
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.[36]
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.[37]
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 RigellianTana 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.[38]
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.[39]
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.[40]
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.[41] 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.[42]
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[43]--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.[44] 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.[45]
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' Vertigoimprint. 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.[46] 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.[47] He is eventually freed by Yah, a being who claims to be "God".[48]
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."[49]
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 Howard says he was also
pressured to give up his cigars.[50]
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.[51]
Howard the Duck is briefly seen as part of the super-powered army gathered to battle invading Skrull forces.[52] He is seen armed with a pistol, a Skrull's hand around his neck.[53] He is later seen kicking a Skrull during interrogation after the invasion.[54] 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".[55]
In the Marvel Zombies 5 miniseries, the mainstream version of Howard the Duck teams with Machine Man to travel across the multiverse fighting zombies.[56]
Howard has no superhuman powers, but he is moderately skilled in the martial art known as Quack-Fu, and has shown some degree of mystic talent in the past.[volume & issue needed]
Howard the Duck, as his name suggests, is a three-foot-tall anthropomorphicduck. 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 sleepwalkingcrime-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.[57] 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. 2 #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[58]), 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.[5]
In the Amalgam Comics universe, Howard the Duck is fused with Lobo (DC) to become Lobo the Duck. This character is featured in its own one-shot comic book, a seeming contiuation of multiple other 'Lobo The Duck' stories.[59]
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.[60]
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.[61]
While he does not appear, the Beast says "I still feel badly about Howard" who had been "hunted down and consumed".[64]
In the original draft for Earth X,
Howard was supposedly served as a feast during the Skull's invasion of
New York City. The scene was cut due to space constraints.[65]
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.
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".[66] 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.[67]
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's 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 issues of The Maxx, Howard appears, along with many other characters, seemingly cut and pasted into the story.
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 story arcs, as well as a number of single joke
strips, were told in the 511 individual strips that were printed .[68][69]
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/.
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.
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."
Howard the Duck is a 1986 American comedyscience fiction film directed by Willard Huyck and produced by George Lucas. Loosely based on the Marvelcomic book, created by Steve Gerber and quoting scripts by Bill Mantlo,[3] the film focuses on Howard, an alien from a planet inhabited by anthropomorphic
ducks, who is transported to Earth, where he meets Beverly, a
struggling singer. As Howard attempts to find a way to return to his
planet, he helps Beverly with her career, develops a romance with her,
and finds himself having to save humanity from an evil alien monster.
The film stars Lea Thompson, Jeffrey Jones, Tim Robbins, and the voice of Chip Zien as Howard. Lucas proposed adapting the comic book following the production of American Graffiti, and began production on the film after stepping down as the president of Lucasfilm to focus on producing. Huyck and producer Gloria Katz's
adaptation altered the personality of the character, and placed less
emphasis on satirical storytelling in order to highlight the special
effects work of Industrial Light & Magic.
Following multiple production difficulties and mixed response to test
screenings, the film was released to very poor critical and commercial
reception. Criticism was made regarding the decision to shoot the film
in live action rather than as an animated film and the unconvincing appearance of Howard.
Overall, the tone of the film is in diametric opposition to the
comics. Whereas Katz declared that "It's a film about a duck from outer
space... It's not supposed to be an existential experience... We're
supposed to have fun with this concept, but for some reason reviewers
weren't able to get over that problem."[4] Gerber declared that the comic book series' was
an existental joke, stating "'This is no joke!' There it is. The cosmic
giggle. The funniest gag in the universe. That life's most serious
moments and most incredibly dumb moments are often distinguishable only
by a momentary point of view. Anyone who doesn't believe this probably
cannot enjoy reading Howard the Duck."[5]
Howard (voiced by Zien)
lives on Duckworld, a planet inhabited by anthropomorphic ducks. One
night, as he reads the latest issue of Playduck Magazine, his armchair
begins to quake violently and propels him out of his apartment building
and into outer space, where he eventually lands up on Earth, in Cleveland, Ohio. Upon arriving, Howard encounters a woman being attacked by thugs and decides to help her out with his unique brand of "Quack Fu". After the thugs scamper, the woman introduces herself as Beverly (Thompson),
and decides to take Howard to her apartment and let him spend the
night. The next day, Beverly takes Howard to a supposed-scientist by
the name of Phil Blumburtt (Robbins),
whom Beverly hopes can help Howard return to his world. After Phil is
revealed to be only a lab assistant, Howard resigns himself to life on
Earth and rejects Beverly's aid. He soon winds up landing a job
cleaning up at a local romantic spa. Due to unfair treatment by his
boss, Howard ultimately quits his job and returns to Beverly, who plays
in a band called Cherry Bomb. At the club where Cherry Bomb is
performing, Howard comes across the group's manager, and confronts the
manager when he bad-mouths the band. A fight ensues in which Howard is
victorious, before getting the manager to force Cherry Bomb out of
their unfair contract.
Howard rejoins Beverly backstage after the band's performance, gives
the band their money and accompanies Beverly back to the apartment,
where Beverly chooses Howard to be Cherry Bomb's new manager. The two
begin to flirt and joke at the idea of sexual intercourse, but are
interrupted when Blumburtt and two of his colleagues, Doctor Walter
Jenning (Jones) and Larry (Paymer),
arrive and reveal how Howard came to Earth: earlier, the scientists had
been working on a dimensional-jumping device that just happened to be
aimed at Howard's universe and brought him to Earth when it was
activated. They theorize that Howard can be sent back to his world
through a reversal of this same process, so they drive Howard to the
lab with the intention of sending him back. The device malfunctions
upon being used a second time, and Jenning's body is taken over by a
lifeform from another alternate dimension. When the police arrive, the
resulting chaos leads Howard, Beverly and Jenning to escape from the
police as Jenning's transformation becomes more apparent. After eluding
the police, they arrive at a Cajunsushi
diner where the lifeform introduces itself as the "Dark Overlord of the
Universe" and demonstrates its developing mental powers by causing the
table condiments to explode. Chaos ensues when a group of truckers in
the diner begin to insult Howard, resulting in a fight. This results in
Howard's capture and near-decapitation at the hands of the diner chef.
Meanwhile, the truckers are scared off when the Dark Overlord destroys
the cafe, kidnaps Beverly, and escapes in a semi truck.
Howard then finds Phil and frees him from the police car he had been
held in after being arrested for his role in the science center
explosion. On the run, the two discover an Ultralight aircraft, which
they use to search for the Dark Overlord and Beverly. Meanwhile, having
returned to the lab, the Dark Overlord ties Beverly down to a metal
bed, hoping to transfer another one of its kind into her body with the
dimension machine. Howard and Phil return to the lab and apparently
destroy the Dark Overlord with an experimental "neutron disintegrator"
laser. However, it had only been knocked out of Jennings' body. Then,
the Dark Overlord reveals itself as a monstrous creature. Howard fires
the neutron disintegrator at the beast, obliterating it, and destroys
the dimension machine, preventing more monsters from being brought to
Earth, but also removing Howard's only chance of returning to his
planet. Howard then becomes Beverly's manager and hires Phil as an
employee on her tour.
George Lucas stepped down as the president of Lucasfilm in order to focus on producing films, including Howard the Duck.
George Lucas attended film school with Willard Huyck and Gloria Katz, who later cowrote American Graffiti with Lucas. After the film's production concluded, Lucas told Huyck and Katz about the comic book Howard the Duck, primarily written by Steve Gerber, describing the series as being "very funny" and praising its elements of film noir and absurdism.[6] In 1984, Lucas relinquished his presidency of Lucasfilm to focus on producing films.[7] Huyck, Katz and Lucas began to seriously consider adapting Howard the Duck as a film, and met with Gerber to discuss the project.[6]
The film was optioned by Universal Studios. According to Marvin Antonowsky, "Sidney [Sheinberg] lobbied very hard for Howard the Duck", because the studio had passed on previous projects that Lucas was involved in, which had been very successful.[8] Sheinberg denied any involvement in Howard the Duck, claiming that he never read the screenplay.[9]
Huyck and Katz strongly felt that the film should be animated. Because
Universal needed a film for a summer release, Lucas suggested that the
film could be produced in live action, with special effects created by Industrial Light & Magic.[6]
Production designer Peter Jamison and director of photography
Richard Kline were hired in order to give the film a look similar to
that of a color comic book.[6]
Throughout the shoot, Huyck shot multiple segments establishing
Duckworld, designed by Jamison. Howard's apartment is filled with
detailed props, including books and magazines featuring duck-oriented
puns.[10] Because Lucas often worked with little person actors, he was able to hire a number of extras to work on these sequences.[6]
The Ultralight sequence was difficult to shoot, requiring intense coordination and actors Tim Robbins and Ed Gale to actually fly the plane.[6]
The location scout was stumped for a location for the Ultralight
sequence, after describing what she was looking for, a telephone
repairman working in her office in San Francisco, suggested Petaluma
for the scene. Because of the limited shooting time, a third unit was
hired to speed up the filming process.[10] The climax was shot in a naval installation in San Francisco, where conditions were cold throughout the shoot.[6] The film cost an estimated $36 million to produce.[1]
Huyck and Katz began to develop ideas for the film. Early on in the
production, it was decided that the personality of the character would
be changed from that of the comics, in which Howard was rude, obnoxious
and foul, in order to make the character nicer.[11] During the screenwriting process, a stronger emphasis was placed on special effects, rather than satire and story.[11]
An early proposed storyline involved the character being transported to
Hawaii. Huyck states that this storyline was considered because "we
thought it would be sort of fun to shoot there".[6]
According to Katz, they did not want to explain how Howard arrived on
Earth initially, but later rewrote the screenplay to include this
backstory.[6] Huyck and Katz wanted to incorporate both lighter, humorous elements and darker, suspenseful elements.[6]
Katz states that some readers were confused by the sexual elements of
the screenplay, as they were unsure as to whether the film was intended
for adults or children.[6] Huyck and Katz wrote the ending leaving the story open for a sequel, which was never produced.[6]
Lucasfilm built animatronic suits, costumes and puppets for the
film. Because of the limited preparation time, varied "ducks" created
for the film would explode or lose feathers, and multiple ducks were
built with the wrong proportions.[6]
On the first day of shooting, the crew realized the poor quality of the
effects when they found that the inside of the puppet's neck was
visible when its mouth opened.[6] Huyck continuously reshot scenes involving Howard as the quality of the technology improved.[6]
Because multiple puppeteers were in charge of controlling different
parts of the animatronic body, Huyck was unable to coordinate the shoot
properly.[6]
In the opening sequence, Howard's chair is propelled out of his
apartment by wires, which were later digitally erased by computer, an
effect that was uncommon in 1986.[6] The effect of the feathers on Howard's head becoming erect during the love sequence took months to prepare.[6]
The voice of Howard, Chip Zien,
was not cast until after shooting completed. Because Ed Gale's voice
was difficult to hear when he wore his suit, Huyck ordered Gale to
perform his scenes without speaking any of the required dialogue, which
was later synchronized during the editing process.[6][10]
Lead puppeteer Tim Rose was given a microphone attached to a small
speaker, which would allow Rose to speak the dialogue in order to help
the actors respond to Howard's dialogue.[10]
While wearing his suit, Gale could only see through Howard's mouth, and
had to sense his location without proper eyesight. Gale often had to
walk backwards before beginning rehearsals.[10] In between takes, a hair dryer was stuffed in Howard's bill in order to keep Gale cool.[6] Gale taped two of his fingers together in order to wear the three-fingered hands created for the Howard costume.[12] A total of six actors gave physical performances as Howard.[13]
Makeup artists Tom Burman and Bari Dreiband-Burman and actor Jeffrey Jones discussed the appearance of the Dark Overlord character with Huyck and Katz, and developed the character's progressing looks.[6] When Katz's daughter visited the set during the shoot, she was terrified by Jones' appearance in makeup.[6] The diner sequence combines practical effects, including squibs and air cannons, with visual effects created by ILM.[6] Sound designer Ben Burtt created the voice of the Dark Overlord by altering Jeffrey Jones' voice as his character transformed.[14]
Stop motion effects during the climax were designed by Phil Tippett,
who began with a clay model before upgrading to more sophisticated
pieces.[6]
After auditioning a number of actresses, singers and models for the
role of Beverly, Lea Thompson was cast in the role, because of her
appearance in Back to the Future.[6] Thompson purchased clothing from thrift stores because she wanted to appear at the audition as "a cross between Madonna and Cyndi Lauper."[10] During the shoot, Thompson complained that the filmmakers chose to shoot Howard's closeup before hers.[10] Thompson also states that she regrets not wearing a wig, as her hairstyle took two hours a day to prepare.[10] Jeffrey Jones was cast because of his performance in Amadeus.[6] Although Tim Robbins had not appeared in many films, Huyck and Katz were confident that he was right for the part.[6]
In order to play the physical role of Howard, Huyck and Katz held
casting calls with little person actors, eventually casting a child
actor and hiring Ed Gale, who had been rejected because he was too tall
for the role, to perform stunts and portray the role during evening
shoots.[10] The child actor found the shooting conditions to be too difficult to handle,[6] and the film's editors were unable to match day and evening sequences because of the difference in the two portrayals.[10] Because Gale also served as an understudy, he took over the role.[6][10]
After the film was completed, Huyck and Katz auditioned John Cusack and Martin Short for the voice of Howard, eventually casting Chip Zien, because they felt his gravelly voice worked well for the part.[14] Because Howard's voice was not cast until the film had begun editing, synchronization was extremely difficult.[14]
The film's score was written by John Barry. Thomas Dolby wrote the film's songs, and chose the members of Cherry Bomb.[6] Actress Lea Thompson
performed her own singing for the role, although she states that the
filmmakers were unsure as to whether they would keep her vocals in the
final film.[10]
Thompson was required to learn choreography with the band and record
the songs so that they could be synchronized during filming.[10]
The final sequence, in which Cherry Bomb performs the film's title
song, was shot in front of a live audience in an auditorium in San
Francisco. The song was cowritten by Dolby and George Clinton.[6] Gale was choreographed to dance and play guitar as Howard.[10] Dolby built a special guitar for Gale to rehearse and film with.[10]
The six actors who gave physical performances as Howard received a Golden Raspberry Award for "Worst New Star".[13] The appearance of Howard was generally seen as being unconvincing.[15][16]
When the film was screened for Universal, Katz said that the studio's executives left without commenting on the film.[14] Screenings for test audiences were met with mixed response.[14]
Rumors suggested that Universal production heads Frank Price and Sidney
Sheinberg engaged in a fistfight after arguing over who was to blame
for greenlighting the film. Both executives denied the rumors.[1][9] News reports speculated that one or both would be fired by MCA chairman Lew Wasserman.[1] Price soon left the studio, and was succeeded by Tom Pollack. The September 17, 1986 issue of Variety attributed Price's departure to the failure of the film, even though he had not approved the film's production.[9] Following the film's failure, Huyck and Katz left for Hawaii and refused to read reviews of the film.[14]
The negative reaction to the film had a difficult effect on the cast,
who found themselves unable to work on other projects because of the
film.[12]
The film is widely conidered one of the worst films ever.Orange Coast Magazine writer Marc Weinberg and Leonard Maltin criticized the decision to shoot the film in live action.[17][18] Maltin described the film as a "hopeless mess...a gargantuan production which produces a gargantuan headache".[18] The appearance of Howard was criticized as being unconvincing.[15][16] In The Psychotronic Video Guide,
Michael Weldon described the reactions to Howard as being inconsistent,
and that "It was obviously made in LA and suffers from long, boring
chase scenes", but praises the stop motion special effects in the
film's final sequences.[19] Film website Rotten Tomatoes, which compiles reviews from a wide range of critics, gives the film a score of 16%.[20] The film received four Golden Raspberry Awards: Worst Screenplay, Worst New Star, Worst Visual Effects and Worst Picture, tied with Under the Cherry Moon.[13]
According to Ed Gale, he was hired to work on Spaceballs because Mel Brooks had said, "Anybody who's in Howard the Duck can be in my movie." He said he receives more fan mail for his Howard the Duck portrayal than for his Chucky performances, the antagonist in the Child's Playhorror film series.[12][12] After the film's release,, Huyck and Katz chose to work on more dramatic projects in order to separate themselves from Howard the Duck.[12]
Katz said Lucas continued to support the film after its failure,
because he felt it would later be seen in a better light than it had
been at the time of its release.[12] Huyck said he later encountered fans and supporters of the film who felt that it had been unfairly treated by critics.[12]
^Shone, Tom (2004). Blockbuster: How Hollywood Learned To Stop Worrying And Love The Summer. Simon and Schuster. p. 136. ISBN0743235681.
^Sharp, Kathleen (2004). "Safeguarding the Legacy: 1981–2002". Mr. and Mrs. Hollywood: Edie and Lew Wasserman and Their Entertainment Empire. Carroll & Graf Publishers. p. 451. ISBN0786714190.
^ abcDick, Bernard F. (1997). "In the Embrace of the Octopus". City of Dreams: The Making and Remaking of Universal Pictures. University Press of Kentucky. p. 178. ISBN0813120160.
^ abcdefghijklmnoThompson, Lea; Jones, Jeffry; Gale, Ed. (2009) (documentary). A Look Back at Howard the Duck. [DVD]. Universal Home Video. ISBN025195052306.
^ abTom, Stempel (2000). "Alumni". Framework: A History of Screenwriting in the American Film. Syracuse University Press. p. 207. ISBN0815606540.
^ abcdefgThompson, Lea; Jones, Jeffry; Gale, Ed. (2009) (documentary). Releasing the Duck. [DVD]. Universal Home Video. ISBN025195052306.
^ abcdefHuyck, Willard; Katz, Gloria. (2009) (documentary). Releasing the Duck. [DVD]. Universal Home Video. ISBN025195052306.
^ abStanley, John (2000). Creature Features: The Science Fiction, Fantasy, and Horror Movie Guide. Berkley Boulevard Books. p. 253. ISBN0425175170. "For one, the duck costume and makeup are phony — Howard looks like a midget in a Halloween costume."
^ abHunter, Lew (2004). "Nothing in the Mind, Please". Lew Hunter's Screenwriting 434: The Industry's Premier Teacher Reveals the Secrets of the Successful Screenplay. Perigee. p. 21. ISBN0399529861.
"Because we all know what a duck looks like, Lucas could not get an
audience to suspend their belief that Howard was a little person in a
duck suit."
^Weinberg, Marc (1986-9). "Out-Foxed". Orange Coast Magazine 12 (9): 143–144.
^ abMaltin, Leonard (2008). "H". Leonard Maltin's 2009 Movie Guide. Penguin Group. p. 641. ISBN0452289785.
^Weldon, Michael (1996). "H". The Psychotronic Video Guide. 0312131496. p. 277. ISBN0312131496.
