Destroyer Duck
A comic book character who debuted in 1982 and was created by Howard the Duck creator Steve Gerber and industry legend Jack Kirby in order to raise funds for Gerber's lawsuit against Marvel Comics for the rights to Howard.
The series exploits the violent misadventures of Duke "Destroyer" Duck, an ordinary resident of a world where animals talk and behave like humans. While lamenting with his best and only friend (whose real name is never revealed and is just called "The Little Guy", though it is slightly implied he is Howard the Duck) that his girlfriend left him for a "wimp", Duke witnesseses Little Guy vanish in front of his eyes. A few years later, Little Guy appears in Duke's house bleeding to death, much to the horror and anger from his friend. As he dies, Little Guy reveals to Duke that he had been teleported to another dimension, where he was forced to sign a contract with an entertainment company called Godcorp in order to survive in this new world, only to be exploited, humiliated and consequently killed when he tried to fight back for his rights. Vowing revenge, Duke creates a dimensional-travelling machine and goes to the world where Godcorp resides, starting a bloody and brutal war against the company and a group of assassins under their command. Along the way, Duke also meets a few allies that include the violent-tempered Beryl Mudge and superhuman lawyer Henry Holmes.
Gerber and Kirby worked on the title until issue #5, followed by two final issues written by Buzz Dixon and penciled by Gary Kato, with Gerber as the editor. Much later, Destroyer Duck crossed over with Savage Dragon in a one-shot special that resolved Destroyer's storyline and Gerber's quest to claim the rights to Howard in a very innovative, out-of-the-box way.
It is also noteworthy that Destroyer Duck was the first comic to feature Sergio Aragones' famous creation Groo the Wanderer.
- Action Girl: Berly.
- The Alcoholic: Pablo, the airplane pilot who Duke and Beryl have to rely to in every occasion.
- Alliterative Name: Duke "Destroyer" Duck, Henry Holmes, Cinnamon Carter.
- Anti-Hero: Duke is a Type IV, with shades of a typical Nineties Anti-Hero.
- Ax Crazy: Medea. Just... Medea. Also Vulpa Paker in a lesser extent.
- Badass
- Berserk Button: Don't show Berly any product depicting her sister Opal dressed as Vanilla Cupcake. The result is quite disastrous.
- Also, never piss off Duke. You'll regret it a lot.
- Bunny Ears Lawyer: Henry Holmes, who is seen wearing a superhero costume in every appearance. It is later showed that he really is a superhero.
- Cool Chair: Godcorp executive Ned Packer has a hovering armchair.
- Corrupt Corporate Executive: Pretty much all the higher-ups of Godcorp.
- Crazy Prepared: Berly.
- Dance Battler: Woblina Strangelegs has a fighting style that is actually called "I've Gotta Dance".
- The Dragon: The secretary of Godcorp's major executives Woblina Strangelegs, who is physically stronger and tougher than Godcorp's assassins.
- Fate Worse Than Death: The Black Syph. See Our Zombies Are Different below.
- Hates the Job, Loves the Limelight: Opal when she is forced to become the child icon Vanilla Cupcake to Godcorp.
- Hey, It's That Guy!: The cover of issue #7 was drawn by Frank Miller.
- Kick Chick: Woblina's main style of fighting.
- Knight Templar Big Brother: Beryl, who is prone to get rough to protect her younger sister Opal from anyone.
- Mad Scientist: Dr. Paraquat, the main antagonist of issues # 6 and 7.
- Morally-Ambiguous Ducktorate: Duke is not exactly the type of duck that you would like to have on your bad side.
- No Celebrities Were Harmed: At the end of issue 5 Gerber and Kirby admitted that Cogburn was a parody of the comic book writer John Byrne, who, at the time this comic was being published, described himself as a company man and had no problems in being a cog to Marvel.
- Only Known by Their Nickname: The Little Guy.
- Our Zombies Are Different: The zombies that Duke, Beryl and Pablo come across in issues 6 and 7 were infected by Black Syph, a variant of syphilis modified by Agent Orange during Vietnam War. The side-effects cause the infected die slowly while their bodies degenerate to a highly horrifying level.
- Psycho for Hire: Godcorp's assassins, particularly Medea and Uranus P. Chicago. And the Cogburns.
- Roaring Rampage of Revenge
- Send in the Clones: The Cogburns, who are a group of clones created from an employee of Godcorp that disappeared. The way they reproduce another copy... it is rather unpleasant.
- Later, Duke suspects that the same thing happened with the Little Guy, and believes he is still alive somewhere.
- Take That
- Talking Animal
- Throwaway Country: Moqoom at the end of issue 5.
- The Virus: The Black Syph.
- White-Haired Pretty Girl: Cinnamon Carter.
- Zombie Gait: In issues 06 and 07.