The Incompleat Howard - Volume Three!

The third volume of Howard the Duck The Complete Series the focus shifts to the black and white magazine which followed on after the cancellation of the original color series. In these pages it was assumed I guess that the writers and artists could be more frank about the notions and ideas the series explored and about the exact nature of the relationship between Howard and Beverly. It's evident and flatly stated they are lovers and the incongruity of that circumstance becomes a constant of the of the stories going forward. 

Under a cover by Howard co-creator Val Mayerik and Pete Ledger we have two stories. Both are written by Bill Mantlo and drawn by Gene Colan. Inking Colan on the first is Klaus Janson and on the second Dave Simons. The first story titled "Animal Indecency" we meet Wally Sidney an ill-disguised variation of Walt Disney who in this incarnation is a clothing store magnate and as such has promulgated a campaign against the nudity of animals in order to sell more clothes. Howard becomes a target and as a consequence is forced to add pants to his permanent wardrobe. The spin that it was Disney which sued about Howard's proposed similarity to Donald Duck is of course the basis for this lampoon. The second story is titled "The Crash of '79" and pits Howard and Beverly once again against Pro Rata the Financial Wizard who lures the duo to a famous Cleveland location with a phantom movie picture production which vanishes when he no longer needs it. Instead Howard and Beverly must battle against a quickened Breakfast Special made up a evil eggs, bacon, toast, coffee, and juice. They battle these creatures of the table but in the end frustrated Pro Rata's attempts to get the cosmic key and so his outstanding debt is called in and him along with it. 

Under a raucous Jack Davis cover we have a story by the regular Mantlo, Colan, and Simons team titled "A Christmas for Carol". The Carol of the story turns out to be a little girl and despite his better judgment Howard attempts to pick up her spirits during the holiday since she is gloomy about the world and her parents who are divorced. Quickly the pair encounter Santa himself and an elf named Sunquist (he's from Florida) and their broken down sleigh. It seems Santa has sold out to OPEC and he's running short of fuel. They get the sleigh going but back at the North Pole a villain named Pinball Lizard has led a work stoppage and general uprising to shut down the  Christmas operations. It turns out that Pinball Lizard himself is a pawn in the plans of a greater villain named Greedy Killerwatt, a mutated human who resembles a lightbulb. Once again of course Howard despite his unheroic nature finds a way to save the day and Christmas and lifts Carol's spirits as well. The mag ends with a text feature by Mantlo titled "Duck Soup" which reprises of the long history of Howard for new readers. 

The fourth issue offers up a parody of Playboy with not only the cover by John Pound but also several features inside (including a double-page pin-up by John Byrne) showing what the magazine might look like on Duckworld. The lead story by Mantlo, Colan and Simons is a send-up of The Maltese Falcon with a giant insect named "Hemlock Shoals" taking Howard on a quick magical trip to NYC in his cab to follow the trail of the cosmic key again which is also being pursued by the villainous Cockroach. After much ballyhoo they universe is saved again and Howard ends up back in Cleveland but going against traffic as usual, but this time literally. The second story titled "The Dreadcliff Cuckoos" by Mantlo again welcomes John Buscema and Klaus Janson on the art chores. The gang (Howard, Beverly, Winda, and Paul) wind a vacation to a remote resort which is pretty spooky all things being equal, but they soon learn it's all a ploy to get access to Winda's psychic powers. It's a who's who of old Howard villains as the Reverand Jun Moon Yuk and the Sinister SOOFI join others to extract the information. The leader seems to be Adolph Hitler himself who at one time in the series seemed to operate a hospital Winda was in, but who is revealed at the end to have been merely Hitler's dentist with delusions of grandeur. This story seemed a clear attempt to tie up some old plot threads. 

The next issue of Howard the Duck gives us another of Marvel's 70's hit characters -- The Prince of Darkness Dracula. Howard had already famously battled the Hellcow, one of Dracula's lesser offspring, but this time it's Howard himself who gets the bite and becomes something of a sympathetic vampire (as opposed to a real one) in a story titled "The Tomb of Drakula" by Mantlo, Michael Golden and Bob McLeod. Under an experimental cover by Larry Fredericks, it is needless to say after much vampiric action Howard comes to his senses, more or less. In the story "Captain Ameicana" Howard loses cabbie gig when his cab is demolished and seeking work offers up his skills as a babysitter of sorts to a family which prides itself on its dedication if not deification of mythic American norms. This platoon of two parents and two and a half kids (one is slow) threaten Howard when he tries to bring a bit of sanity to the natural order of  the American Dream. This story by the regular team of Mantlo, Colan and Simons had the "Good Housekeeping" seal of approval. At the end though Winda tells Howard she can send him home and he hops at the chance and Beverly goes with him. The magazine closes with an "Interview with The Duck by Lynn Graeme" (the editor) and "A Fond Look At Fowl Friend" which highlights the characters from Howard stories past. 

Howard at long last returns to his old paddling ponds in a story dubbed simply "Duckworld". Written by Bill Manto, this one marks the return of Michael Golden and Bob McLeod on the art. (Lynn Graeme admits in the next issue that she had over-burdened regular artist Gene Colan and that's why we get this nifty fill-in.) But they are more than up to the task and we find on Duckworld, a world proportioned to Howard-size a land teeming with  ducks of all kinds, but many if not most of them inspired by one single mythic figure -- the ascended Howard the Duck. It turns out that Howard's disappearance, coming at a media-covered event similar in many grim details to the Kent University shootings, had created the basis for a whole new relgion of sorts built around the phrase "Get Down!" But it had been used by those in power to cause folks to relinquish their free will and so Howard is both stunned and appalled that anyone has taken his life as some model to guide life as it should be lived. He makes his feelings known and causes the downfall of the very religion he unintentionally had triggered. At his side throughout his time on Duckworld is Beverly, who is a statuesque "hairless ape" and in a state of undress for much of the story. She finds that being the only human being in a world of ducks is much more alienating that she expected and her empathy for Howard is only increased and they realize that no matter where they are they don't fit in but have each other. With that goal in mind Howard digs up the local "Sorcerer Supreme" and has him magic them back to Earth, leaving Duckworld a less controlled but more independent land. The mag rounds out with a new feature called "Street Peeple" which as far as I can tell does factor into the Howard story at all. John Pound executes one of his best covers for the series. 

After Duckworld Beverly and Howard the Duck find themselves back in that old Okefenokee Swamp where his misadventures on Earth had started so long ago. Showing up quickly enough is the Man-Thing who grabs up Beverly and takes away. In a story titled "Of Dice and Ducks" by Mantlo, Colan and Simons (the regular crew) Howard pursues his kidnapped flame and finds in the middle of the swamp a town with a familiar and highly geometric layout. As he searches for Beverly, Howard is given an obligatory $200 and speeds along the streets in a race car finding himself lost in low rent areas, crisscrossed by railroads, and with a jail keen to catch up folks of all kinds. There are nifty little men who offer chances and opportunities but Howard must break a few rules and dodge some giant dice which repeatedly get in his way as makes way to Beverly across Oriental Ave to the ultimate goal of Boardwalk. There he finds a gorilla by the name of "Monk Kee" who runs the local "Kong Glomerate" after catching for himself the lovely Ann Darrow. Howard chases the baddie up a tower of consumer goods where ultimately the head of "Kong Glomerate" falls to his death and where Howard proclaims that "Booty killed the beast." Rewarded with money which is no good outside of the small town he and Beverly hit the road headed north for more adventures we can only hope. The magazine is rounded out with some tasty full-page pinups of Howard by Marie Severin, Howie Chaykin, John Byrne, Walt Simonson and Marshall Rogers. The "Street Peeple" make their second appearance as well. To my eye this cover for issue seven is the best of John Pound's covers for the series. 

This volume also begins to reprint some of Howard's appearances in Crazy, Marvel's MAD-like humor magazine of the 70's. We have stories by Michael Weiss and Roger Stern with art by Vincente Alacazar and Pat Broderick. One page appears to cobbled together with art from other sources by Colan and Frank Brunner. 

Here are some of the pin-ups featured in this issue and others. 

The key to these stories is the relationship between Howard and Beverly. The antics created by Mantlo and rendered by Colan and others are wild and raucous and funny but at the core is the true caring between the two protagonists. They not only need each other at times, but want each other. Gerber put the two together, but I have to say that Mantlo really makes the romance between these two have some pop and zing and some reality. Where it will end we'll find out next time. 

Rip Off