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Howard the Duck (comics): Difference between revisions
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'''Howard The Duck''' is one of the strangest comic book characters ever published by [[Marvel Comics]], [[Adaptation Displacement|best known today because of]] [[Howard the Duck (
The character was apparently created as a sight gag; in ''"Adventure into Fear''" #19 (December, 1973), in a [[Man-Thing]] story involving the "Nexus of All Realities" characters from several [[Another Dimension|universes]] appeared, many of them being obvious homages to fictional characters such as [[Conan the Barbarian]] and (in Howard's case) [[Donald Duck]]. However, writer [[Steve Gerber]], known for both his love of strange characters and playing with reader's expectations, decided to continue using Howard, and convinced Marvel to give it its own series. Although Marvel had to strike a deal with [[Disney]] in order to use the character, including such things as requiring Howard to wear ''pants'', the character proved popular, most likely due to Gerber's writing.
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Gerber had the "duck" accidentally transported to Cleveland, where the "hairless apes" (humans, as Howard called them) refused to believe he was anything but a midget in a duck costume and treated him as a weirdo. "Trapped in a world he never made" (the series' catchphrase) Howard tried to live a normal life (and got a series of jobs, such as driving a taxi) but [[Weirdness Magnet|kept running into bizarre people and creatures]] and ended up having to confront them. The vast majority of these were just [[Super Zeroes|wannabe supervillains with silly names and goals]] such as "Doctor Bong" or humorous menaces like a vampiric cow. More importantly, the series used the short-tempered and sarcastic duck as a way to snark on modern human society. At one point, Howard even runs for President of the United States (!) only to retire after a false accusation of having sex with his friend, a human woman named Beverly Switzer.
Howard, despite running into superheroes occasionally, was no superhero himself, and had no superhuman powers (other than the [[New Powers
The character's popularity led to his being adapted into the live-action movie, but since other than the Beverly/Howard romance, nothing from the comics made it in, especially not the humor, fans of the character hated it.
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* [[Cloudcuckoolander]] - Most of the villains appear to be this, particularly the Kidney Lady.
* [[Deadpan Snarker]]
* [[Depending
* [[Driven to Madness]] - Poor Howard suffers a psychological breakdown after encountering with several weirdoes at some point. Fortunately, he gets better with the help of Damon Hellstrom and Dr. Avery (but not before causing a complete chaos while he is [[Demonic Possession|accidentally possessed by Hellstrom's demonic soul]]).
* [[Elmuh Fudd Syndwome]] - Winda Wester. Weally cute, though.
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* [[Interspecies Romance]]
* [[It's a Small World After All]] - One of the people who Howard befriends in New York after a disastrous escape from Dr. Bong's castle happens to be Beverly's uncle, Lee.
* [[Jerk
* [[Knight Templar]] - The underground organization S.O.O.F.I. ('''S'''ave '''O'''ur '''O'''ffspring '''F'''rom '''I'''ndecency)
* [[Morally-Ambiguous Ducktorate]]
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* [[Take That]]:
** Steve Gerber wasn't afraid to use ol' Howard as a mouthpiece.
** A 90s miniseries called ''Daydreamers'' has Howard travel to an alternate universe where he is revered as a hero. What really floors him though is that [[Howard the Duck (
** Howard's MAX series was almost never published due to Disney once again complaining about his visual similarity to Donald Duck. Gerber responded in the first issue by transforming Howard into...a mouse.
* [[Talking Animal]]
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