This is a review of Marvel Masterworks: Howard the Duck Volume One. Howard is a walking, talking, cigar-smoking duck. He came to earth from another dimension in the pages of Man-Thing, reviewed here. The first six or so issues are send-ups of different genres – fantasy, quack-fu, gothic. This changes when Howard runs for president and loses because of a doctored photograph. He has a mental breakdown, is committed to an insane asylum in Cleveland because of a traffic incident, and ends up being possessed by Damian Hellstrom’s evil second soul. Alas, Howard’s career as Devil Duck is cut sadly short, just like this comic.
The highlight of this graphic novel is when Howard runs for President, because reasons, but the establishment doesn’t want him because he’s a duck. He loses because of a fake photograph of him in the bathtub with Beverly Switzler. Beverly is human, Howard is a duck. Neither Howard nor Beverly nor the creators of the comic itself deny that Howard and Beverly have a relationship…but the photo is fake because Beverly doesn’t like wet feathers.
Howard the Duck is satire, but it’s done well. Marvel in the 1970’s tended to be the place where messages were bludgeoned home with a hammer, but Howard the Duck isn’t overtly political. Man Thing is Steve Gerber’s (the writer’s) political strip, featuring a brain-dead monstrosity that thrashes about mindlessly and destroys things with a touch of its burning fingers. Howard the Duck is about isolation. As a duck living in a world of humans, Howard is the ultimate outsider. He has a single friend, Beverly Switzler, who has a thing for outsiders: her past two boyfriends were a security guard possessed by a cosmic turnip and a guy who commits crime dressed in a diaper. There’s also the magnificent Hell Cow and Howard’s greatest enemy, The Kidney Lady.
This is Marvel’s version of an underground comic. It’s PG-rated, and the writer is perhaps a little self-absorbed, but the journey itself is loads of fun. Recommended!
Abandoned Places 