New: Guide to Howard the Duck

He’s trapped in a world he never made, but I finally made a guide for him! Today, debuting exclusively for Pledgeonaut Patrons of Crushing Krisis is a brand new guide for a Marvel character who just celebrated his 50th anniversary in the world of pink hairless apes. It’s a Guide to Howard the Duck, including a complete reading order of his every appearance!

Guide to Howard the Duck

As with many children of the 80s, I’ve always primarily known Howard the Duck from his flop 1986 film with Lea Thompson. I don’t explicitly recall watching it, but I know in my heart that we absolutely rented it at some point. After all, it was the only Marvel Comics movie released since the 1940s, and it was produced by George Lucas! I’m sure plenty of kids came home from the video story with this odd duck of a film clutched to their chests based on that credit alone.

It’s not surprising that Howard’s film debut never found an audience, because he’s had that same challenge in the world of comics as well. Created by Steve Gerber first as a one-off gag in a Man-Thing story, Howard quickly transformed into a means of making sarcastic commentary on the peculiarity of the Marvel Universe – and, of the human world in general.

Disney was concerned that Howard infringed on their trademark on Donald Duck – early Howard looked a lot like Donald. (That’s why he was forced to wear pants starting in 1978.) But, Howard’s personality and tone was always closer to the nervous exasperation of Donald’s Looney Tunes cousin Daffy.

It was those animated qualities that made Howard the Duck a hard sell to comic buyers at the newsstand in the 1970s. He wasn’t a kids book, despite the fluffy duck on the cover, but he wasn’t really a superhero book either. In on ongoing gag, Steve Gerber had Howard run for president in 1976 – and reportedly he actually garnered a number of write-in votes! Howard wasn’t a superhero, but he was certain a counter-cultural icon.

When Marvel relaunched him into magazine format in 1979 and had one cover spoof Playboy they weren’t too far off. Not that Howard’s book was risqué, but Gerber’s style of commentary was closer to editorial cartoons in Playboy than in most Big Two comics of the time.

Howard is one of those characters who Marvel writers all seem to adore, which leads to a lot of cameo appearances. I read through so many issues for this guide where I had to squint at pages under high magnification to find Howard’s credited appearance. However, he does make a few standout moments between the end of his magazine in 1981 and his brilliant pair of Zdarsky/Quinones series in 2015-2016. Want to read Howard in She-Hulk, starring in an X-Men mini-series, and fending off inter-dimensional zombies? It’s all in this Howard the Duck Guide.

Want instant access to this Guide to Howard the Duck? Become a Patron of CK for as little as $2 a month or $20.40 a year to gain access to this exclusive guide and over 70 other guides months before the general public gains access to them. I have launched 37 Guides to Patrons in the past 365 days – 16 Marvel, 2 DC, & 19 Indie/Licensed! Plus, I’ve also updated over 100 of my 200+ guides for both patrons and the general public.