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Post by BrodietheSlayer on Jul 5, 2017 20:55:52 GMT -5
Thanks man. Yeah, I'll finish it down the road, but it'll be kind of nice for the break regardless. Besides, you know what I'm planning to review for the break, and it'll definitely be a fun as fill in.
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Post by BrodietheSlayer on Jul 5, 2017 21:44:16 GMT -5
Adventures Into Fear # 19/Man Thing # 1"The Enchanter's Apprentice!"Cover Date: December, 1973/January, 1974 Writer: Steve Gerber Artist: Val Mayerik Feature Character: The Man Thing Villain: Thog the Neither Spawn Special Guests: Jennifer Kale, Dakimh the Enchanter, Joshua Kale, Andrew Kale, Korrek, and Howard the Duck (1st appearances of the last two) (Daredevil/Black Widow appear briefly in MAN THING # 1) Official Plot: As an improbable battle rages on below the castle, Man-Thing is picked up by Jennifer Kale, with the savage Korrek following from behind. Korrek catches up with Kale and the Man-Thing and attacks the two of them. Jennifer suddenly awakens screaming, and as her brother and grandfather burst into the room to reassure her it's all a dream. However, Joshua Kale has his doubts that his granddaughters nightmares being just dreams. His supicions are validated when Korrek is transported to Earth's dimension through a jar of peanut butter and resumes his attack on Jennifer. However, when Joshua and Andy burst into the room, Korrek believes himself surrounded and flees into the swamp. The Kales are soon visited by Dahkim the Mystic who has come to tell the Kales about the disruption in the Nexus of Realities caused by the construction being done in the swamp. He has also come to train Jennifer in his mystical knowledge, with her grandfathers permission, Jennifer leaves with Dakimh. While in the swamp, Korrek is confused with his surroundings and is about to give up his quest when he spots the Man-Thing spying on him. Attacking the creature in a fury, he once again sees that no matter what he does, he cannot harm the Man-Thing and so he stops fighting. While lamenting over his plight, Korrek is visited by Howard the Duck, who has also found himself transported to Earth's dimension as well. While in the other realm, Jennifer begins her mystical training by Dakimh, however an attack by their enemies leaves Jennifer alone when Dakimh flees during their attack, and she is taken prisoner. While back on the Earth dimension, Howard and Korrek team up to find a way back to their respective realities. Traveling through the swamp with Man-Thing in tow, Korrek is compelled to go to the F.A. Schist construction site after hearing a blood curdling scream. Spotting demons attacking the site, the monsters soon turn their attention towards Man-Thing, Korrek and Howard and close in for the kill. This story is continued in Man-Thing #1. Story continued from Adventure into Fear #19.... At the F.A. Schist Construction Camp, Man-Thing, Korrek and Howard the Duck are confronted by demons that are followers of the "Overmaster" who seeks to take over all of existence. Fighting a losing battle against the neigh indestructible demons, the trio are saved by a last minute intervention by Dahkim, who asks them to join him in stopping the Overmaster. Meanwhile, Jennifer Kale is a prisoner of the Congress of Realities, who are waiting for the arrival of the Overmaster to execute her. When the Overmaster arrives he orders his men to execute her, however they fail to do so when a dimensional shift causes Daredevil and Black Widow to briefly appear in the room and disarm her executioners. Jennifer is suddenly turned into water and leaks between the floor boards and rematerializes in between realms where Dahkim and the others are waiting for her. Explaining that they need to realign the Nexus of Realities, the foursome begin to hop across the dimensional path, however Howard trips and falls into the dimensional void. In order not to lose any more of his companions, Dahkim creates a helmet of protection for Korrek. When the trio arrive at the center of the nexus, they succeed in realigning it, however it also gives the Overmaster and his Congress of Realities access to the realm of Therea, where they hope to kill the Gods that reside there and take over. Traveling to Therea themselves, Dahkim and the others stop the Overmaster's armies progression to the palace of Therea. There the Overmaster unmasks himself, revealing him to be the demon Thog. The Man-Thing battles Thog and his minions, burning those who fear him, and when Thog becomes afraid of plunging into the moat of Therean water, Man-Thing grabs him and he begins to burn as well. With his hands melting, Thog tries to break free, and ends up falling in the moat of pure water, which seemingly kills him. With their master defeated, the Congress and it's armies retreat back from whence they came.<br. After the battle, when the others wonder why the gods of Therea didn't help in the battle, Dahkim shows that they never lived in the castle at all, but in the village below, and that the God's of this realm are two dogs under the care of two farmers. When the Man-Thing touches one of the dogs, they are all shown the full of reality before all being sent to their respective homes. Brodie's View:First off, let me answer the question; no, I'm not doing Steve Gerber's MAN THING run....yet. However, the first few reviews will take place in MAN THING'S various books, as these are the first few appearances of the run I am doing for the next few weeks; Howard the F'N Duck!!! Unfortunately, while the above synopsis tells the whole story of what happens in this issue, the part of it in my Marvel Essential (The HtD Essential, of course) only covers the part of the story that Howard appears in, so, we miss out on quite a bit. Basically, some mystical chicanery is causing alternate Earths to bump against each other, causing various figures from those Earths to suddenly appear in other Earths. The two characters that we see making that jump is the Conan-like Korrek (the Barbarian), and, of course, Howard, who kind of just pops in to join our heroes (Also including, of course, The Man Thing) in trying to find out what's behind all of this. They end up coming across demons, who attack them, with the good guys taking the advantage at first, as they appear to be as hollow as "a child's doll." However, as the pieces the demons are cut into reanimate, and begin attacking our heroes, it appears things are turning mighty grim. This is when our other heroes (Sorceress Jennifer Kale, and Enchanter, Dakimh) show up, and dispatch the demons by creating a mystical tornado to whisk them away. The group then tries to make their way down a dimensional path to face the main baddie, but Howard ends up tripping and falling into a void, and apparently to his death . That's pretty much where my part of the story ends, but as you can see above, it goes on. You can definitely tell that Gerber was in the middle of an epic story that I'm genuinely sad I don't have the rest of. As for Howard, he would prove to be too popular to kill from his little one off (where he obviously was meant to be a take off of Disney's Donald Duck), and Gerber would end up bringing him back; first in little one off stories in the MAN THING book, and then in his own. In our next two reviews, we'll end up tackling those little side stories, and then, HOWARD THE DUCK # 1 . GRADE: A-
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Post by BrodietheSlayer on Jul 6, 2017 20:00:34 GMT -5
Giant Size Man Thing # 4"Frog Death!"Cover Date: May, 1975 Writer: Steve Gerber Artist: Frank Brunner Feature Character: Howard the Duck Villain: Garko the Man-Frog Special Guests: None Official Plot: After months of falling between the dimensional void was stranded on during his battle against the Overmaster, Howard lands back on Earth, however this time he lands in Cleveland. Befriending some children, they take Howard to the nearest cigar shop, where the indifferent owner is given a shock first by Howard's currency (US money with ducks for presidents) and later his appearance. When asking the children why the cigar shop owner was on edge, they point out Garko, a man who, since moving into the neighborhood, has sat in the window of his fourth floor apartment looking into a jar and occasionally yelling about taking over the world. Garko debates over the merits of ruling the world, and decides that the point of acquiring power would be to get more, which would equate to killing people. Opting to just cut out the world conquering and skip to the killing, he consumes the potion in his bottle and transforms into a Man-Frog creature. When the rampaging Garko approaches Howard and the boys, Howard sends them off to call the police while he battles the Man-Frog. During the fight Garko begins to shrink and turn into a real frog. Swinging blindly, Howard accidentally strikes a police officer who has arrived to the scene. Not believing his story about a giant Man-Frog, the police arrest Howard instead believing him to be the maniac that was called in about. As the police car drives away, it runs over the frog body of Garko. Brodie's View:So, as I'm sure you noticed, this story, which is just a side story in an Annual for MAN THING'S book, is the only one I gave the info on, and the only one I'll be reviewing, as, quite honestly, I don't have the rest of it. The Howard story, which is his first solo story, is the only one that was included in the HtD Marvel Essential, so, as I said before, that's the only one I'll be talking about here. Anyways, after falling off the dimensional pathway in our last review, Howard ends up falling through dimensional space (for a year pretty much ) until landing back in the main Marvel Universe, and in the city of Cleveland no less . Our feathered hero is happy to be back on Earth, but is doubly pissed when he finds out it isn't his Earth. However, with the help of a group of kids, he makes his way to a cigar store, drowning his sorrows with one of his beloved stogies. It's after this that we are introduced to our "villain" of this story; a douche bag named Garko that spends all of his time perched out of his apartment window, bragging about how one day he'll RULE THE WORLD!!! Of course, this is the beginning of Gerber using Howard to poke fun at various tropes, including many within the comic book industry itself. In this case, it's the maniacal scientist using some sort of formula to try and RULE THE WORLD (!!!) by mutating into some creature (that usually ends up in a battle with the nearest superhero), and after having a funny inner monologue about why he would even want to rule the world, Garko decides to down his formula, and transforms into GARKO: THE MAN-FROG!!! The now man sized Frog starts to attack the city, and goes after Howard and the boys. Howard ducks down an alley, and after arming himself, does battle with Garko until, as often happens when one mutates into some sort of humanoid monster animal, the mutation continues until the former human loses their humanity completely, and transforms into that animal. In Garko's instance, he actually turns into a real frog, with his last human thought being about needing to get to a swamp....lol. Howard is too much in battle mode, and doesn't even notice this. However, the police come across him, and thinking that he's the threat, arrest him. Of course, this will pick up in the next review, as we'll see Howard do battle against another ridiculous ass threat....the Menace of HELL COW!!!! This was a short story, but a glimpse at the greatness to come, and as you can tell with my little teaser, Steve Gerber is just getting warmed up. GRADE: A-
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Post by BrodietheSlayer on Jul 8, 2017 2:17:58 GMT -5
Giant Size Man Thing # 5"Hellcow!"Cover Date: August, 1975 Writer: Steve Gerber Artist: Frank Brunner Feature Character: Howard the Duck Villain: Hellcow Special Guests: Dracula, & Commissioner Gordonski Official Plot: Howard the Duck languishes inside of a Cleveland City jail cell. Police commissioner Gordonski mistakenly believes that Howard is a midget dressed as duck. He attempts to remove his costume, but is shocked to discover that Howard is a genuine duck. Unwilling to risk public humiliation he orders Howard's release. Howard decides to develop a strong reputation in Cleveland in the hopes of one day becoming a police officer. He reads a local newspaper, which tells of a series of mysterious farm slayings. That night, Howard masquerades as a human and wanders the city streets in the hopes of luring the killer out of hiding. Suddenly, a vampiric bovine known as the Hellcow swoops down out of the sky and attacks Howard. It kicks him into an auto-parts store and attempts to drink his blood. Howard keeps Hellcow at bay with a cross-shaped lug wrench, and manipulates her into diving into a pile of tires. As Hellcow attempts to wrest her fangs free from a whitewall tire, Howard destroys her with a stake and hammer. Although Howard solves the mystery and saves the day, he is denied the chance to become a police officer. Brodie's View:As promised, we come to our second "dry run" short story before the launch of the official HOWARD THE DUCK comic, which, like the last one, is tucked near the middle/back of a MAN THING Annual. However, one can definitely tell with this one that we're mo(o)ving towards a solo Howard book, as this story definitely builds off of the last one. We open this story with Howard in jail, after being mistaken for the threat causing a ruckus in downtown Cleveland. The cops assume Howard is a midget in a duck costume, but after finding out, to their horror, that this isn't so, they end up kicking our feathered hero out into the street. However, Howard takes this as a cue for a potential future career (as a cop), so, he decides to be the one to crack the case of a series of mysterious murders taking place in nearby farms. Of course, there's more to all this as it seems, as we reveal that these murders are not being committed by a person, but rather, a cow....a vampire cow.....HELLCOW!!! Born in a moment of desperation by the Dark Prince of the Underworld himself, Dracula (which, as portrayed here, makes it look like Drac was interested in more than cow blood....lol), our bovine villain (complete with its own cape, as what self respectful vampire would not have one?!?) has been going from farm to farm, drinking the blood of helpless rednecks. Anyways, Howard ends up encountering Hellcow, and after a bit of a scuffle, they end up in an auto parts store, with Hellcow accidentally falling into a tire display, getting its fangs stuck in a tire. Howard quickly puts the cursed cow out of its misery, right before the police arrive to find a cow with a stake through its heart....and Howard, which causes them to just say "Screw it," and walk off, leaving a pissed off (and very broke) duck behind. Once again, an awesome ass story that is setting the stage for what Gerber was planning to do with the HOWARD ongoing. Speaking of which, our next review will tackle that momentous issue, which ends up introducing the most important supporting character of the whole HtD mythos, along with having a few fun cameos...and, of course, a goofy ass villain. GRADE: A
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Post by BrodietheSlayer on Jul 9, 2017 2:01:37 GMT -5
Howard the Duck # 1"Howard the Barbarian!"Cover Date: January, 1976 Writer: Steve Gerber Artist: Frank Brunner Feature Character: Howard the Duck Villain: Pro Rata, a Werewolf Special Guests: Beverly Switzer (1st Appearance), Spider-Man, J. Jonah, Jameson Official Plot: At the mouth of the Cuyahoga river, Howard the Duck contemplates his lot in life and comes to the conclusion that he should commit suicide, because he is unable to make a living in a world of humans. Spying a tower out in the middle of the river, Howard rides a log there and decides to scale the tower and jump off. As he climbs he realizes that the tower is made out of credit cards. Reaching a window near the top, Howard enters for a rest and comes face to face with Beverly Switzler. Killing a barbarian mystically transformed into a dog by fluke, Howard meets Beverly's captor, Pro-Rata. Pro-Rata is a magician that uses accounting skills in order to command his magic and hopes to obtain the Jeweled Key, that once used at midnight with his cosmic adding machine will allow him to become a god. Explaining his origin, Pro-Rata knocks Howard out. While in New York City, J. Jonah Jameson sends Peter Parker on assignment to Cleveland in order to confirm reports of a talking duck and to take pictures. While back in Cleveland, Howard revives and finds that he's been changed into barbarian garb, he and Beverly are then sent to another dimension to collect the jeweled key. There Howard is mistaken for a hatchling Bahndbird and is attacked by a barbarian on a steed. Howard manages to break his joust causing the barbarian to wipe out and get knocked unconscious. Commandeering his steed, Howard and Beverly travel to the temple of the Jeweled Key. There they find it guarded by stone statues and suspended over a pit of spikes. Putting his mind into how to get the key (and chomping on a cigar to boot) Howard has Beverly hold his helmet over the pit while he flicks his cigar at the rope suspending the key over the pit. The ploy works, the cigar burning through the rope and making the key land in the helmet. Leaving the temple they are attacked by the stone statues and a Bahndbird, which destroys the statues. As the creature approaches Howard and Beverly, they are transported back to Earth, along with the Bahndbird. When Pro-Rata commands Howard to give him the key, Howard tosses it off the tower, however it is caught by the arriving Spider-Man who has been drawn to the tower when it's upper levels were blasted open by the Bahndbird. As Spider-Man battles the Bahndbird, Pro-Rata attempts to blast him with a mystic bolt, however Howard throws his scabbard at the mystic, causing him to misfire and ignite the pollutants in the Cuyahoga instead. In an act of heroism, Howard then knocks himself and Pro-Rata over the edge, however, Howard is saved by Spider-Man, and Pro-Rata lands in the fire to perish alone. After thanking Spider-Man for his help, Howard and Beverly bid the wall-crawler farewell as he webs off to capture the Bahndbird. Brodie's View:Finally! We comes to the first actual issue of the HOWARD THE DUCK comic, and we get to officially start the momentum that would make our webbed foot hero one of the more popular characters of this period. To add to the special-ness of this issue, we get a pretty cool Guest Star in the form of the Amazing Spider-Man (and a member of his supporting cast, J. Jonah Jameson), who, at this point, was definitely Marvel's most popular character (In the 90's, Wolverine would have probably taken that role, and Deadpool would have gotten it in this day and age). Not that Spidey really does very much in this issue, well, at least until a little bit near the end, but, it's still cool to have him. No, the main importance of this issue, well, other than the fact that it's the first issue of Howard's own book, is the introduction of what would be his main supporting character, the lovely Beverly Switzer (brought to luscious life by one of the hottest women of the 80's, Lea Thompson, in the flawed movie spawned from the popularity of Howard during this period). Howard finds her is a castle created from credit cards, and after rescuing her from what appears to be a wild dog (but ends up being a werewolf of sorts, who Howard accidentally kills), Howard and Beverly are forced into the service of our main villain for this one: Pro Rata: The Master of Mystical Accounting(!!!)....lol. They are sent into a mystical world, where they are forced to retrieve a MacGuffin Magic Key, which ends up sending a giant bird from that world after them. They jump back into our world, but the bird follows, and after the main showdown with Rata (which Spidey comes in just in time to make the difference in the fight), Rata falls to his death. The bird flies free, and after officially meeting Howard and Beverly, Spidey takes off to try and stop the bird (which we never hear about, so, yeah....wouldn't worry too much about it), leaving our new kinda sorta Bestiality tinged couple to suss out what comes next. I can honestly tell you that what comes next is Howard doing battle with a Turnip from Outer Space (!!!), but that comes next issue. I will say that this was a pretty solid start to the HOWARD THE DUCK ongoing, but what's to come will be even greater. GRADE: B+
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Post by BrodietheSlayer on Jul 10, 2017 0:58:05 GMT -5
Howard the Duck # 2"Cry Turnip!"Cover Date: March, 1976 Writer: Steve Gerber Artist: Frank Brunner Feature Character: Howard the Duck Villain: Turnip Man & Phelch Special Guests: Beverly Switzer & The Kidney Lady Official Plot: After reading the story "Killmallard" written by Beverly's friend Arthur Winslow, Howard has a nightmare where he lives as the character and he and Beverly are killed battling alien invaders. Waking up from his nightmare, Howard and Beverly talk about their escape from Pro-Rata's tower, and about Beverly's friend Arthur. Arthur, an aspiring and unpublished writer, is just a friend to Beverly, however Howard is still a little jealous of him. Meanwhile, Arthur is spending yet another night on duty as a night watchman when he hears a crash. Investigating a warehouse with a broken window, Arthur finds a turnip from space. The space turnip contacts him telepathically and tells him that its name is Pheltch, and that it is the last survivor of its race and that it has scoured the universe looking for the perfect host body. Arthur tells Pheltch about how dull his life is and how he desires to become a hero in the eyes of people. The two make a deal, allowing Pheltch to take control of Arthur's body, Pheltch would give Arthur the opportunity to be a hero, and in return Arthur would allow Pheltch to use his body to experience being human. The next day, Howard and Beverly are riding the bus when Howard is hassled by the Kidney Lady for smoking on the bus. The two get into an altercation which causes the bus to spin off the overpass, however they are all saved by Arthur, who has become the costumed hero Turnip Man. Feeling that it has completed it's part of the bargain, Pheltch then takes control of Arthur's body and kidnaps Beverly so that it may experience sex. Howard chases after them, not hearing the Kidney Lady vowing revenge on Howard. Arriving at Sunspot Slope, Howard stops Turnip Man before he can make a move on Beverly (which he was failing at miserably anyway because Pheltch could only access Arthur's cheesy pick-up lines.) Howard is knocked back by a mental bolt, and realizes that the only way Pheltch would have let Arthur carve up his body and wear it as a helmet is if the stem is where his brain is. Howard then plucks the stem, causing Pheltch to go mad and try to get away, pulling Howard with him. Howard however directs Pheltch to a near by smoke stack and drops him in where he is incinerated. Returning to Beverly's apartment, Arthur realizes the errors of his way and accept the fact that life is supposed to be full of mundainaties. Brodie's View:Hee, hee. You know, I was kind of shocked (although looking at their work during this period, you can definitely tell) at the revelation in "The Untold History of Marvel Comics" that both Steve Gerber and Jim Starlin (among others) were....uh, big into the drug scene during this period, as it definitely shows in their work. For example, you get certain Gerber issues that definitely seemed like Gerber was on some incredibly good shit when he came up with the concept/story of certain issues, and this most certainly was one of those perfect examples. However, before I get into the silliness (and trippy-ness) of this issue, I will certainly say that we start out with a very Killraven inspired dream sequence, where Howard and Beverly are basically the main characters of that world, which allows Gerber to kind of totally take the piss out of that book, and even that Kind of book. He wakes up in Beverly's apartment, and we find out a bit more about Howard's kinda sorta girl friend, including the fact that she's living with a starving artist who desperately wants to get out of the Friend Zone with her. This comes into play soon after, as Arthur, the artist, who also works as a security guard, comes across a mysterious glowing turnip which has suddenly crash landed from outer space. That's right, A SPACE Turnip!!! When Arthur touches the turnip, it basically mentally bonds with him, and in a great pure prose page, which adds to the trippy nature of the moment, it talks Arthur (who is kind of stuck in a fantasy way of looking at life, being a writer and all) into physically bonding with him. In exchange, it turns him into a Turnip modeled "Super Hero," which leads him to attacking Howard and snatching Beverly. However, the turnip (named Phelch....LOL) basically tries to take him over, and use Arthur's body to...."make whoopie" with Beverly, which basically picking Arthur's ideas of his fantasies apart, which allowing Gerber to just go nuts (in a good way), writing wise. Finally, Howard arrives, and snatches the Turnip away from Arthur, and throws it into a smoke stack, killing it. The issue ends with Arthur okay again, but with his delusions completely blown. What a great issue, as we can definitely see Gerber amping up, as he gets what this book is going to be. (Oh, and I forgot we introduce the rather manish Kidney Lady, who is obsessed with the idea that someone is going to steal her Kidneys, and has an encounter on a bus with Howard, taking an instant psychotic interest in our feathered hero. This, of course, will play into a future issue, but in the next issue, we will see Howard learn the mystical art of Quack Fu. GRADE: A
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Post by BrodietheSlayer on Jul 11, 2017 3:03:12 GMT -5
Howard the Duck # 3"Four Feathers of Death! Or "Enter the Duck!"Cover Date: May, 1976 Writer: Steve Gerber Artist: John Buscema Feature Character: Howard the Duck Villain: Count Macho (and his gang) Special Guests: Beverly Switzer, Master C'haaj, & The Police (Thompkins) Official Plot: Leaving a theater after watching the latest Kung-Fu epic, Howard is disgusted by the fact that human culture would glamorize such violence and questions the merit of bastardizing of a culture to make a violent film that encourages young people to imitate. To prove his point, Howard and Beverly are bumped into by a young man who is imitating some of the moves that he saw in the movie. Telling the boy off, Howard and Beverly go into a diner for some food. Shortly after, the boy is thrown through the diner's window by Count Macho, a master of kung-fu and a self proclaimed macho man who will not stand for any effrontery to his manhood. When Howard tries to talk Macho out of beating the boy a fight erupts in the diner that increases in size as more patrons get up to fight Macho and his hoods. During the scuffle, the boy is stabbed by Macho, and his gang leaves shortly after. When Howard tries to stop them Macho beats Howard, however Howard pulls off Macho's pendant. In the ensuing chaos, Howard manages to back the crowd away so that Beverly can administer first aid until the authorities can arrive and take him away, Beverly goes with the paramedics leaving Howard to stew over what happened. Hoping to relax by browsing in an adult book store, Howard comes across a who rack of magazines devoted to Kung-Fu. Further disgusted by the wanton glamorization of violence, Howard browses through one of the magazines and happens upon an ad for Master C'haaj, who promises to teach the secrets of any fighting style. Deciding to beat Count Macho at his own game, Howard goes to Master C'haaj's school where he is welcomed as C'haaj's newest pupil and begins his training. Meanwhile, Beverly is told at the hospital that the boy had died in surgery. Leaving the hospital, Beverly is then captured by Macho's thugs. Back at the martial arts school, Howard trains his mind and body in the art of Quack-Fu and becomes a master of the fighting style in just under three hours. Given a fighting outfit, Howard suddenly finds himself back outside the adult book store as if the fighting school vanished. Rushing home to tell Beverly of his experience, Howard finds a note on the door from Macho demanding his pendant back. Howard goes to the meeting place and beats all of Macho's goons, and in the fight with Macho, Howard is able to deflect all of Macho's attacks. In a fit of rage, Macho jumps at Howard, who moves out of the way and Macho plummets off the sky scraper to his death. After the two reflect on the whole incident, believing that Macho deserved his fate, but not liking the idea that he had died. Brodie's View:Gerber gets a bit deep in this issue, which I guess will depend on how much one really enjoys a comic writer kind of soapboxing. I, myself, didn't mind it, as he does kind of raise a few important points on (even in the 70's) the glorification of violence in the culture, and in the case of the martial arts fever that kind of took over in the 70's, Post Bruce Lee, an exploitation of Asian cultures for the sake of an action movie (Now, I will throw my side opinion of this that while, yes, that is true, it doesn't make them any less valid in their own way, (or entertaining) types of films). Now, I will say that on some level, Gerber must have been on the same wavelength on that issue as well, he basically makes most of the issue as basic Martial Arts film story, with Howard, who preaches non violence, gets attacked by a $ 5.98 KUNG FU MASTER, and our main villain/s, COUNT MACHO (lol) and his gang, and Howard gets his ass kicked, and the kid gets killed. Getting "The Eye of the Tiger" somewhat, Howard learns the , Mystical Art of Quack Fu (for $5.98, with the added perk of getting a fancy wrist bracelet) from a Sensei type, or at least has a dream that he does (where he still gets the abilities and a nifty Kung Fu suit), goes after Macho (who has kidnapped Beverly in the meantime), kicks the asses of first Macho's gang, and then the man himself, sending him to his One Time Only death. However, at the end, it is noted that neither Howard or Beverly seem particularly happy that Macho had to die (lol). This was interesting issue, and was quite funny at times, even when Gerber was standing on his soapbox . In the next issue, THE SLEEPER AWAKENS!!!! GRADE: A-
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Post by BrodietheSlayer on Jul 12, 2017 16:13:01 GMT -5
Howard the Duck # 4"Sleep of the....Just!"Cover Date: July, 1976 Writer: Steve Gerber Artist: Gene Colan Feature Character: Howard the Duck Villain: None Special Guests: Beverly Switzer & Paul Same/Winky Man Official Plot: Woken up at midnight by constant pounding on the floor from the apartment upstairs, Howard and Beverly go up to investigate. In the apartment they find Paul Same, a man with a sleeping disorder pounding on the floor. Howard wakes him up, and Paul tells them his life story: Able to read at age three, Paul was viewed as a child prodigy until he started school, where his boredom and disinterest in doing everything the same as anyone else led to flagging grades and trouble with his folks. Unable to stand up for himself, Paul would drift into daydreams where he would punish those who pushed him around, but this would cause him to fall asleep in the waking world at inopportune times. With his story finished, Howard questions why Paul never stood up for himself, something which Paul cannot answer, but is inspired by as Howard storms back downstairs to go back to sleep. Finding himself dwelling over the problems he sees with humans, Howard finds he cannot sleep either and goes down to the local bar. While drinking at the bar, Howard becomes the cause of a bar fight which erupts into a full fledged brawl until Paul arrives dressed in pajamas and a face mask. Calling himself Winky Man he tries to dispel the crowd with a candle and rhymes. Before he is pummeled to a pulp, Howard grabs "Winky Man" and pulls him into a dark alley, there Paul wakes up with no memory of what happened. In the coming days, Paul found himself able to complete his art works while at night his Winky Man persona would go out and target those who would push others around. Finally having enough work to put on a show, Paul's work is savaged by art critic Xavier Coutire, prompting Paul to become Winky Man and attack Xavier. However, Howard intervenes and when Winky's roman candle causes the art galleries sprinklers to turn on, waking Paul up, Howard has Paul stand up to Xavier. When Paul does so, revealing that Xavier wears a wig, Xavier turns it around in front of the press to make it look as though the whole ordeal was a artistic expression, a notion which Paul goes along with when Xavier begins to praise Paul's ability. After the whole ordeal, Howard feels as though Paul didn't learn anything, however Beverly has a little more faith in Paul. Brodie's View:Howard (and Beverly) have to help an Artist deal with his anger issues (while Howard kind of tries to deal with his) in this one, but there's definitely an added comic book twist to our artist (Paul); he's a narcoleptic that daydreams himself into having powers, and sets off as a vigilante of sorts, named....WINKY MAN (!!! ) Anyways, this all springs from pent up rage that Paul would never express in his waking life, and Howard tries to look out for Paul/Winky, as he realizes that this is going to eventually get the artist killed. Finally, things come to a head at a art show, as a snooty art critic just completely dismisses Paul's art, which sends him into winky mode. However, Howard is finally able to convince Paul to wake up and just confront our snooty critic, which he finally does, but the critic quickly changes his opinion, and defuses Paul's anger. The issue ends with Howard and Beverly split on whether they ended up helping Paul at all, or just pushing him from one shitty situation into another. We'll have to see how that develops over time, as Paul makes regular appearances in the book. However, in our next issue, Howard and Beverly get a reminder of how broke they are, and Howard decided to try and make some money for them; in the wrasslin' ring! (This came with the issue) GRADE: B+
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Post by BrodietheSlayer on Jul 13, 2017 16:34:30 GMT -5
Howard the Duck # 5"I Want Mo-o-oney!"Cover Date: September, 1976 Writer: Steve Gerber Artist: Gene Colan Feature Character: Howard the Duck Villain: Emilie "The Goat" Klout & The Kidney Lady Special Guests: Beverly Switzer & Gonzo the Clown Official Plot: With money tight, Howard and Beverly begin considering their employment options, with Beverly deciding to do more modeling for art classes. When Beverly suggests that they try to make it rich, Howard scoffs at the silly notion deciding that he should find a real job. Sent out to buy supper (Which with their current income amounts to buying chocolate bars) Howard goes to the store, however while browsing the comic books he is outraged at the way ducks are portrayed in the book. Angrily smashing the comic on the ground, Howard is made to buy the comic book by the store manager and is only able to buy one chocolate bar. Still upset over how ducks are portrayed, Howard tries to air his outrage on a radio call in show and is hung up on when the DJ's think he's a nut. The next day, Howard tries to portray ducks properly by getting a job on "Gonzo the Clown Kiddie Kartoon Korner" a popular children's television program. Casted as Dopey Duck, Howard is pied in the face and not willing to suffer such an indignity punches out Gonzo on live television and is fired even though the children in the audience cheered him on. While wandering the streets, Howard is recognized by the owner of E-Z Credit Appliance Company, who offers him a job as a collections agent. When he has to call a woman about back payments she owes, Howard wonders why the woman can't make her payments. Calling at the woman's house, Howard finds that she is an impoverished woman who's husband bought the TV and left her with the bills when she has four children to raise. She tells Howard about how she didn't realize that the 40 cent a day payments would equate to paying $900 dollars for a TV set that would normally cost $400 and that it wouldn't last the amount of time it would take to pay it off. Heartbroken with the woman's story, Howard tells her that she can keep the television and that it's paid off and quits his job, finding that he doesn't have the heart for the work. While browsing in the papers for a job, Howard comes across a challenge made by a wrestler named Emile "The Goat" Klout offering any man who can beat him in the ring $10,000. Howard decides to take the challenge in spite of Beverly's warning about how unbeatable "The Goat" appears to be. Riding to the arena the next day, Howard is once more accosted by the Kidney Lady, who once more accuses him of being a Kidney Thief and spouts off about the conspiracies she believes in. Arriving at the arena, Howard prepares to face "The Goat" while other opponents are easily defeated by the apparently unbeatable wrestler. When Howard steps into the ring, he uses his smarts and is able to knock "The Goat" out cold, however when his manager realizes that Howard is a duck, he manages to weasel a way out of paying Howard the $10,000 by saying the challenge went out to any MAN who went into the ring. However, after some negotiation, the manager for "The Goat" sets up Howard and Beverly up with enough money to pay off their bills, and the two decide to leave Cleveland for New York and begin hitchhiking their way. Brodie's View:We get to see the plight of the poor, shot through the prism of our two main characters; Beverly and, of course, Howard the Duck. With the two realizing that they have less than a dollar between them, Howard sets off to try to find a job to make ends meet (though usually losing that job due to both his unshakable pride and temper). A perfect example of the last thing is his having to spend part of their last bit of money to buy a comic book (depicting a Daffy Duck type of character/story), because he threw that comic on the ground, pissed at how he feels the media depicts ducks. He tries to get a job on a children's television show, but ends up beating the crap out of the clown star of that show, Gonzo. He then tries to get a job as a collector for a RENT-A CENTER type of organization, but winds up quitting after one job, after he goes to take back an overdue television set, but softens after the lady of the house informs him of how much she's getting ripped off paying for that television that way. Finally, Howard winds up taking up a ad to "Knock Out" a professional wrestler for ten grand. Even though the dude is a monster, Howard ends up messing him up with Quack Fu. At first it looks like Howard will get cheated out of the money, due to his being a duck, but Howard and Beverly end up negotiating enough money to pay themselves current. The two then decide to leave Cleveland for New York, and on to, obviously, some new adventures. Before I move on to next issue's tease, I will say that The Kidney Lady makes another appearance in this issue as well, furthering setting up a story where she is the main villain. That won't happen in the next issue, though. That will have Howard and Beverly finding themselves in a very....Dark Shadows-ish situation. GRADE: A-
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Post by BrodietheSlayer on Jul 15, 2017 0:25:25 GMT -5
Howard the Duck # 6"The Secret House of Forbidden Cookies!"Cover Date: November, 1976 Writer: Steve Gerber Artist: Gene Colan Feature Character: Howard the Duck Villain: Gingerbread Man Special Guests: Beverly Switzer, The Dragonsworths (Mrs., Patsy, & Heathcliff), Joon Moon Yuk & The Yucchies Official Plot: As their hitchhiking to New York is meeting troubles after Howard gets them kicked out of a car for refusing to put out his cigar, and after narrowly avoiding being struck by a driver who figured Howard was a demon, the two travelers get into an argument and part company. While Howard finds a place to sleep outside, Beverly comes across a crumbling Victorian manor and is invited in by the young Patsy Dragonsworth. The next morning, Howard is discovered by the Reverend Joon Moon Yuc and his followers the Yucchies, a religious group who believe Howard to be a demon. When Howard tries to get a ride with them (which they refuse to give anyway) they are interrupted by the arrival of horse riding real estate agent Heathcliff Rochester, who mistakes Howard for Reverent Yuc (Believing the reverend's name to be Reverend Duck) who takes Howard off to see a mansion that is for sale at a discounted price, a house which Reverend Yuc and his followers hoped to purchase. At said mansion, Beverly prepares breakfast for Patsy and her insane mother. Breakfast is interrupted when a bunch of townspeople, who believe Patsy to be a witch show up to tear the house down. Heathcliff arrives with Howard and a band of dogs to drive the locals off. Invited in, Howard and Beverly make up and learn that the townspeople believe that Patsy is a witch and that she is creating monsters and that's why Patsy's mother is trying to sell the house. Patsy insists that she creates no monsters and only wishes to bake cookies. When Reverend Yuc arrives, also believing that Patsy is making monsters, Patsy takes them all to the cellar to show them what she's been working on. The setup is reminiscent to a scene out of Frankenstein, however Patsy insists that she is baking cookies in spite of the fact that there is a humanoid shape under a blanket in the middle of the room. Activating the device under protest, Patsy reveals her creation: A gigantic gingerbread man. As everyone tries to clear the room, the giant cookie-being begins to spring to life. Brodie's View:We get a fun "horror-ish" tale (which allows now regular artist, Gene Colan, to do his thing, being a classic artist of this type of fare to begin with), where Beverly, and then Howard (as the two have a spat at the beginning of the issue that has them going their separate ways for a bit) find themselves at an old, creepy Victorian castle. The people that live there, the Dragonsworth family, aren't really all there in the head, well, at least the women of the family aren't, and the daughter has a deadly secret that we won't reveal for a few sentences. Anyways, adding to all of this is the Reverend Joon Moon Yuk and his band of religious followers, The Yucchies (Based on, of course, Sun Myung Moon and his Moonies, who were a thing in the 70's), who want to buy the Dragonsworth home to use as their base of operations. Oh, and let's not forget the torch and pitchfork baring mob of the local townspeople, who are sure horrible things are happening in the house. And they have somewhat of a right to be worried, as we reveal at the end that Patsy Dragonworth is "baking cookies" in the basement of the mansion, which looks mysteriously like Frankenstein's laboratory, and the "cookie" she's baking is being brought to life, ala Frankenstein's Monster. In fact, that's how our issue ends, with this giant gingerbread Frankenstein Monster being brought to life!!! Of course, in the next issue, we'll see how all this resolves, if there is anyone left after being Cookie Smashed to Death!!! GRADE: A-
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Post by BrodietheSlayer on Jul 15, 2017 23:38:42 GMT -5
Howard the Duck # 7"The Way The Cookie Crumbles!"Cover Date: December, 1976 Writer: Steve Gerber Artist: Gene Colan Feature Character: Howard the Duck Villain: Gingerbread Man Special Guests: Beverly Switzer, Dreyfus Gultch, The Bellhop, The Dragonsworths (Mrs., Patsy, & Heathcliff), Joon Moon Yuk & The Yucchies Official Plot: Patsy's Gingerbread Man has sprung to life and starts lurching towards all gathered, Beverly and Howard make a break for it. However, Howard decides to turn and fight and begins attacking the Gingerbread Man, eating the monsters leg off. Short a leg, the Gingerbread Man stumbles backwards into a machine causing a chain reaction. Howard and Beverly manage to make it out of the house just before it explodes apparently killing everyone else inside. Howard and Beverly then resume their hitchhiking to New York. Sometime later, Howard and Beverly are picked up by country western star Dreyfus Gultch who is in New York to sing the national anthem during the All-Night Party's National Convention. Howard and Beverly ask Dreyfus if he can help them get jobs in New York, and Dreyfus (attracted to Beverly) agrees to try and help them out. The two get jobs for the convention, Beverly as a hospitality girl and Howard as a security guard. That night, as they receive their uniforms, they get the first in a series of cryptic notes giving a part of a recipe. During the convention, Howard takes note of the very lax security (the chief of security is more busy messing around with the hospitality girls to give Howard directions) and dispenses his straight-forward advice on political matters such as the powers the CIA should have and which candidate to follow: Wauldrop or Wauldrap. That night, Howard goes out with some of the party members and Dreyfus to a strip-club where Howard gets yet another cryptic message. Realizing that it's a recipe for Baked Alaska, Howard realizes that there is a bomb in the building. Rushing to the convention speech being made by Wauldrop, Howard spies standard for Alaska is starting to smoke. Pulling it free, Howard puts it into a seven layer cake which muffles the blast. After the explosion, the cake covered Wauldrop, finding the post as party leader too dangerous quits. Shortly after all present nominate Howard to be their candidate. Brodie's View:When we last left Howard and Beverly, they, and others (The strange Dragonsworth Family and Joon Moon Yuk) were in danger of being devoured by a giant Franken-Cookie Man. One would think that this would be the main story of this issue, but Gerber pulls a swerve on us, and settles the whole story set up last issue in like, five pages (lol ). Howard decides to try and fight his way out by eating the Cookie-stein Monster, at least until the monster collapses on the electrical equipment, setting the house on fire. Howard and Beverly jump out the window, and walk away right after the house explodes, seemingly killing everyone inside. Not really disturbed by any of this, Howard and Beverly hit the road again, leaving us right where we basically started. However, we don't leave them like that for long, and within a page, we find them heading towards NYC in a limo, more specifically, the limo of Country Music star, Dreyfus Gultch, who is performing for one of the Political Conventions (For a 3rd Party). He winds up giving both Howard and Beverly jobs, which allows our very opinionated Duck (and the writer talking through him) a chance to "get involved in Politics" by basically daring to speak logic to people so used to riding ideological lines. He then deepens this by saving the life of that Party's candidate from an assassination attempt, which ends up making him that Party's new choice for the upcoming election (as the last guy, freaked, decides to split). Of course, this sets up a LOT of fun, as this is going to give Steve Gerber a few issues to spout off about the political landscape of 1976 (I can only IMAGINE what he would say about 2017) through Howard running for President. In the next review, we will see the buildup to this, which will involve the Guest Starring of a superhero team that Gerber is quite familiar with. GRADE: A-
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Post by BrodietheSlayer on Jul 15, 2017 23:40:44 GMT -5
Okay, so, the reviews are going to be a bit sporadic over the next few days, as I will be going to South Carolina for some family business. I probably will post a review here and there, but it won't be back to its (somewhat) daily ritual until next Friday.
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Post by BrodietheSlayer on Jul 22, 2017 0:14:51 GMT -5
Marvel Treasury Edition # 12"The Duck and The Defenders!"Cover Date: January, 1976 Writer: Steve Gerber Artist: Sal Buscema Feature Character(s): Howard the Duck & The Defenders (Doctor Strange, The Hulk, Valkyrie, & Nighthawk) Villain: The Band of the Bland (Dr. Angst, Sitting Bullseye, Black Hole, Spanker, & Tillie the Hun) Special Guests: Beverly Switzer, Peter Parker, Mary Jane, & NYC Policemen Official Plot: A new group of super-villains called the Band of the Bland (villains who all share one thing in common: Not a single one has had an original thought ever.) have gathered together under the leadership of Dr. Angst, who suggests that they should get some big money job, and suggests that they assassinate presidential candidate Howard the Duck. The next day, Howard and Beverly are kicked out of a hotel, and while looking for an old friend of Beverly's who lives in Greenwich village, they stumble upon Dr. Strange's Sanctum Sanctorum and meet the Defenders. Invited in by Dr. Strange who is intrigued by Howard, the whole group is attacked by the Band of the Banal who believe themselves powered up on an element called Prometheum. Dr. Strange is struck down early in the battle and he transfers his mystic powers to Howard. Howard and the Defenders then battle the Band of the Banal until Dr. Strange can regain consciousness and reclaim his powers. Dr. Strange then easily finishes off the group, explains to them that Promethium was just a placebo and turns them over to the police. Brodie's View:Our favorite talking Duck (at least Marvel-wise) gets his first over sized special issue, and as a bonus, we get a nice Team Up with fellow Steve Gerber written super-team, The Defenders. Howard (who recently had been enlisted into running for President) and his main kinda sorta squeeze, Beverly Switzer find themselves in New York, but broke. While they're figuring out what to do, they end up running into yet another Marvel hero (In NYC?!? What are the Chances?!?), Peter Parker (of course, the alter ego of the Amazing Spider-Man) and his main squeeze at the time, Mary Jane. After an awkward meeting between the four, Howard and Beverly take their leave, heading to a "friend's house" in the Village. However, they end up at Doctor Stange's Sanctum Sanctorum, which at the time is also the home base (or one of them) of Marvel's "Non Team," of course, The Defenders. It's a good thing too, as Howard is being stalked by a group of super villains so lame, only Gerber (who loves creating lame/strange super villain teams for his heroes to "fight," the Band of the Bland. Led by the slightly less lame Dr. Angst, their goal is to assassinate Howard for his Presidential aspirations. While the rest of the team attacks the Defenders (and lays out Dr. Strange), Angst makes his attempt to take out the duck. However, Strange's astral form (and his Cloak of Levitation) is able to quickly teach Howard some magic tricks, and he is able to take out Angst, while the rest of the team makes short work of the other lame-o villains. Of course, this was all just a set up to allow Howard and The Defenders to team, as, like I mentioned earlier, Gerber was writing both books at the time, but it was a fun little one shot story saying all that. We also get some strengthening of the bond between Howard and Beverly, as Howard turns down the chance to go back to his world (as Strange is willing and able to do) to stick with her (of course, she's a hottie, so, I would stay too). In the next review, we'll see the Presidential Campaign of Howard the Duck in all its glory. GRADE: A-
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Ultimo Gallos
Bill S. Preston, Esq.
Dreams SUCK!Nightmares live FOREVER!
Posts: 15,295
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Post by Ultimo Gallos on Jul 22, 2017 11:44:19 GMT -5
Marvel Treasury Edition # 12"The Duck and The Defenders!"Cover Date: January, 1976 Writer: Steve Gerber Artist: Sal Buscema Feature Character(s): Howard the Duck & The Defenders (Doctor Strange, The Hulk, Valkyrie, & Nighthawk) Villain: The Band of the Bland (Dr. Angst, Sitting Bullseye, Black Hole, Spanker, & Tillie the Hun) Special Guests: Beverly Switzer, Peter Parker, Mary Jane, & NYC Policemen Official Plot: A new group of super-villains called the Band of the Bland (villains who all share one thing in common: Not a single one has had an original thought ever.) have gathered together under the leadership of Dr. Angst, who suggests that they should get some big money job, and suggests that they assassinate presidential candidate Howard the Duck. The next day, Howard and Beverly are kicked out of a hotel, and while looking for an old friend of Beverly's who lives in Greenwich village, they stumble upon Dr. Strange's Sanctum Sanctorum and meet the Defenders. Invited in by Dr. Strange who is intrigued by Howard, the whole group is attacked by the Band of the Banal who believe themselves powered up on an element called Prometheum. Dr. Strange is struck down early in the battle and he transfers his mystic powers to Howard. Howard and the Defenders then battle the Band of the Banal until Dr. Strange can regain consciousness and reclaim his powers. Dr. Strange then easily finishes off the group, explains to them that Promethium was just a placebo and turns them over to the police. Brodie's View:Our favorite talking Duck (at least Marvel-wise) gets his first over sized special issue, and as a bonus, we get a nice Team Up with fellow Steve Gerber written super-team, The Defenders. Howard (who recently had been enlisted into running for President) and his main kinda sorta squeeze, Beverly Switzer find themselves in New York, but broke. While they're figuring out what to do, they end up running into yet another Marvel hero (In NYC?!? What are the Chances?!?), Peter Parker (of course, the alter ego of the Amazing Spider-Man) and his main squeeze at the time, Mary Jane. After an awkward meeting between the four, Howard and Beverly take their leave, heading to a "friend's house" in the Village. However, they end up at Doctor Stange's Sanctum Sanctorum, which at the time is also the home base (or one of them) of Marvel's "Non Team," of course, The Defenders. It's a good thing too, as Howard is being stalked by a group of super villains so lame, only Gerber (who loves creating lame/strange super villain teams for his heroes to "fight," the Band of the Bland. Led by the slightly less lame Dr. Angst, their goal is to assassinate Howard for his Presidential aspirations. While the rest of the team attacks the Defenders (and lays out Dr. Strange, Angst makes his attempt to take out the duck. However, Strange's astral form (and his Cloak of Levitation) is able to quickly teach Howard some magic tricks, and he is able to take out Angst, while the rest of the team makes short work of the other lame-o villains. Of course, this was all just a set up to allow Howard and The Defenders, as, like I mentioned earlier, Gerber was writing at the time, but it was a fun little one shot story. We also get some strengthening of the bond between Howard and Beverly, as Howard turns down the chance to go back to his world (as Strange is willing and able to do), to stick with her (of course, she's a hottie, so, I would stay too). In the next review, we'll see the Presidential Campaign of Howard the Duck in all its glory. GRADE: A- One of the first Treasury Editons I got. All because my favorite team was teaming up with Howard.
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Post by BrodietheSlayer on Jul 22, 2017 23:34:18 GMT -5
Howard the Duck # 8"Open Season!"Cover Date: January, 1977 Writer: Steve Gerber Artist: Gene Colan Feature Character: Howard the Duck Villain: The Bellhop Special Guests: Beverly Switzer, Dreyfus Gultch, Doctor Strange, Clea, Jimmy Carter, & Gerald Ford Official Plot: Leaving Dr. Strange's Sanctum Sanctorum, Howard and Beverly soon find themselves the target of every hired assassin representing interest groups that seek to kill Howard and ruin the All-Night Parties bid for presidency. After a few botches attempts due to assassin incompetence, Howard and Beverly are rescued by Dreyfus who drives them to the All-Night Party campaign headquarters. There, Howard becomes privy to the advertising campaign that is being initiated by G.Q. Studley, who wants to reinvent Howard's image and come up with the best P.R. possible. While they are giving Howard a more friendly look, Studley explains to Beverly that Howard is popular enough to warrant the most targeted candidate for assassination above Gerald Ford or Jimmy Carter. However, when Howard rejects his new look, he fires the P.R. campaign and hires one at random out of the phone book: Mad Genius Associates. Afterward, Howard makes a number of media worthy stories, dumping unrecyclable junk at the door step of the corporation that made them, having parents ride the bus to school with their children, and unveiling his strategy for allowing the military to buy new, more powerful weapons by having the soldiers live in caves. After a flurry of media attention the polls show that 48% of the population wants Howard dead, 30% will vote for him and 22% are undecided. As Beverly spends a night alone in Central Park wondering what she's getting herself into, she is startled by the hotel bellhop, who -- after Beverly leaves -- strangles a duck to death. Later, being visited by various lobbyists at Dreyfus Gultch's estate, Howard turns away all their gifts for allowing their interests influence the government should Howard be voted in. Later, Howard addresses the nation and talks about an open debate over Vietnam, his opinion on political scandals, and on violence in entertainment before Beverly ends the conference. After the conference, Howard is attacked by assassins backing the consumer, automobile and oil industries, narrowly escaping death each time. Returning to the hotel, Dreyfus shows them the front page headline, which features a doctored photo of Howard and Beverly in the bath together. Brodie's View:Steve Gerber takes on Presidential Politics in this issue, making statements that are just as true now (if not even more so) than they were in 1976. Basically, this is the story of Howard the Duck running for President, while straight up admitting that he doesn't want to win, which gives him open reign to say whatever the hell he wants, which actually ends up making him somewhat popular among voters, well, the ones who aren't trying to kill him. Of course, there are a lot of people who are out to make Duck Soup, which is a running joke throughout the issue, especially after Howard tells both campaign managers and special interest groups to go f**k themselves. In addition to all of this, there is the bellhop of the hotel Howard and Beverly are staying at, who seems to have a psychotic hatred of ducks. This is such a great issue, that, once again, tells a lot of truths about the political process, and how manufactured it all is. There's another prose page, where Howard is being interviewed on his stances that should become required reading for followers of BOTH major parties. Hell, this whole issue should, and it's so great that Gerber is using this book as his personal soapbox on the major topics of society, while still keeping the book highly entertaining. In the next issue, we see the fallout of the scandal that undoes Howard (a pic of he and Beverly enjoying a sexy bubble bath), which leads Howard into the path of his next silly villain, a Giant Canadian Beaver. GRADE: A
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Post by BrodietheSlayer on Jul 23, 2017 23:55:51 GMT -5
Howard the Duck # 9"Open Season!"Cover Date: February, 1977 Writer: Steve Gerber Artist: Gene Colan Feature Character: Howard the Duck Villain: The Bellhop & Le Bever Special Guests: Beverly Switzer, Dreyfus Gultch, & Sgt. Preston Dudley of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police Official Plot: With headlines featuring a doctored photo of Howard and Beverly in a bathtub together (an obvious phony) ruins Howard's chance at winning the election to become President of the USA. The Bellhop at their hotel has traveled up to Canada to tell his employer, Le Beaver, that his mission is a success. While in New York City, after the election is over, Dreyfus tells Howard that his connections in the CIA told him the scandal was orchestrated by somebody in Canada, and that their bellboy was hired by them. Dreyfus gives them a lead informing him that the boy had moved to Ontario. After some convincing by both Beverly and Dreifus, Howard agrees to travel up to Canada and force the mastermind to confess in order to clear their good names, and the image of the All-Night Party. Boarding their plane, they are unaware that it is rigged by the Bellhop who tries to make the plane crash and kill them both. The plane does crash, in Canada near their destination, however Howard and Beverly survive the crash. They are rescued by Sgt. Preston Dudley of the RCMP along with his horse Prince and his dog Elizabeth. Telling Dudley their story, Dudley deduces that the culprate is none other than Pierre Dentifiris, an extremist Canadian nationalist who loathes the United States. Taking them to Dentifiris' home, they found a crippled old man. Pierre tells them that he hated America, and that after the US military foiled a plot in which he had use beavers to dam Niagara Falls, he hated America even more. When the US bombed the beavers, the incident apparently aged Peirre 73 years and made him a cripple. Believing that Pierre cannot be their man, Howard and Beverly leave. That night, they are attacked by the Bellboy who is dressed up like Uncle Sam who has come to kill them. However, Howard is able to incapacitate the Bellboy with the help of Dudley, but they find that in the commotion Beverly has been kidnapped. Tracking her down, they find her the captive of Peirre at Niagara Falls. Pierre is in a giant beaver exoskeleton calling himself Le Beaver. Challenging Howard to a duel on a tightrope, Howard chickens out and when Le Beaver tries to follow, he loses his balance and falls into Niagara Falls. After Dudley frees Beverly, they praise Howard as a hero, however Howard doesn't feel that way based on his cowardly actions. Brodie's View:The Presidential Candidacy of Howard the Duck came to a screeching halt at the end of last issue, as someone leaked to the Press a picture depicting Howard and his Gal Pal, Beverly Switzer, seeming to enjoy a rather risque bubble bath together. In this issue, we find out not only that the picture was faked to kill Howard's campaign (which Howard gives zero shits about), but we find out who has been orchestrating this whole deal in the first place. The one surprise is that our main villain's home base is in the Great White North of CANADA, prompting the two (begrudgingly in Howard's case) to head up there to investigate. Along the way, they meet up with, of course, a Mountie, who assists them in their search. The two people behind all of this (The Bellhop and an old man named Pierre) have kind of silly motivations, but born out of kind of serious events: The Bellhop's brother was killed in Vietnam, when a duck flew into his window, causing him to crash/Pierre was crippled when the U.S Army bombed the Beavers he used (as he has some sort of control over them...we get back to this in a second) to dam up Niagara Falls. This, of course, all leads to a big showdown, as Howard faces Pierre (who is now in a giant Beaver exo-skeleton, and calling himself Le Beaver) on a tightrope over Niagara Falls. However, Howard just kind of skips out on the whole deal, causing Le Beaver to fall to his death. This was an all right issue, but kind of a let down after the awesomeness of the last few, with Gerber trying to end this whole storyline off with a collection of Canada jokes. Ah well....they can't all be GREAT. In the next issue, we'll find Howard deal with the guilt over his actions at the end of this issue, as Gerber does try to keep Howard a very human (and therefore flawed) character. GRADE: B+
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Post by BrodietheSlayer on Jul 24, 2017 23:26:18 GMT -5
Howard the Duck # 10"Swan Song....of the Living Dead Duck!"Cover Date: March, 1977 Writer: Steve Gerber Artist: Gene Colan Feature Character: Howard the Duck Villain(s): Kong Lomerate, Turnip Man, The Bellhop, Gingerbread Man, Pro-Rata, Winki Man, Gonzo the Clown, Kidney Lady, and Le Beaver (All Visions) Special Guests: Beverly Switzer, Sgt. Preston Dudley, Spider-Man, Dr. Strange, & Omega (All Visions) Official Plot: Hatching out of an egg, Howard suddenly is chased by a giant hand into a room where small people react with hostility to his presence. He is suddenly approached by a giant ape named Kong Lomerate, who's word is law, he crushes Howard with a giant stamp that reads "Canceled" in flaming letters once lifted from Howard's spot. Surviving and find himself climbing a wintery mountain top, Howard enters the home of the Guru, and finds Omega the Unknown living inside. He asks Omega what the meaning of life is, "Gimme it straight! Why am I?" asks Howard, to which Omega responds "Why not?" He and Omega then go on a boat ride which leads to Howard being caught in a whirl pool. Dropping into a room where Beverly is waiting, she opens her face to reveals a flower, which squirts water in his face. Howard then retreats back into the egg that he hatched from. Howard realizes soon that this is all a dream, and when he tries to get a glass of water to down some aspirin, the spout pours out webbing and Spider-Man materializes, Howard realizes he's still dreaming. When Spider-Man offers him a book titled "When I Say No I Feel Guilty, A Guide to Assertive Behavior" Howard violently rejects the self-help book and Spider-Man vanishes. Howard tries to wake himself up but to no avail, so he decides to travel over to the coffee shop to think. There he finds the coffee shop is filled with his foes: The Bellhop, The Gingerbread Man, Pro-Rata, Turnip Man, Gonzo, and Winki Man. All of whom name call Howard, turning around and leaving, Howard runs into Dr. Strange, who takes him back to face Le Beaver once more. As Howard confronts Le Beaver, he is mocked by the Kidney Lady. Deciding to flee once more, Howard is stopped on the tightrope over Niagara Falls by Sgt. Dudley who makes him do a customs declaration. Howard loses his balance and falls down into the water, and finds himself in a Hell-like place, with all of his friends and foes taunting him. Brodie's View:Wow. I was kind of down on last issue, as it was coming off the great "Politics" issue of # 8. However, I shouldn't have doubted, as last issue was merely the set up for this issue, which is the best one so far (and that's saying a LOT). In this issue, Howard basically has a mental breakdown, and we get to see Steve Gerber at, we feel, his most auto biographical, as, once again, we feel, Gerber in talking about Howard's issues, is really talking about his own. The entirety of this issue is framed as a "dream sequence," as Howard is dealing with his actions at the end of last issue, where he chickened out of the fight with Le Beaver, inadvertently causing the old man in a giant Beaver exo-skeleton to fall to his death. However, it's also Howard dealing with his actions, and acting outside of what he claims is his nature (even though he's kind of told otherwise throughout the issue), since he arrived on the Marvel Earth. Through all this, there are a lot of true things said in this issue; how we are kind of programmed from birth to act certain ways for society's benefit/entertainment, and how that same society looks down on/punishes us when we try to step outside of that box. Enough of that pounding, and we become as cynical as Howard has become (which he even admits to being a failed idealist, like most cynics). Even when Howard does try to live up to the macho male expectations put on his, and tries to actually fight Le Beaver this time, he fails, and at the end of the issue finds himself in a Hell of his own making. Of course, the story continues from here, as we will see our feathered hero being broken down as much as he can, and hopefully being able to build himself back up to being what he could be. GRADE: A+
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Post by BrodietheSlayer on Jul 26, 2017 0:29:19 GMT -5
Howard the Duck # 11"Quack Up!"Cover Date: April, 1977 Writer: Steve Gerber Artist: Gene Colan Feature Character: Howard the Duck Villain(s): The Kidney Lady, Pro-Rata, Gingerbread Man, Turnip Man, & Winki Man (The last four are visions) Special Guests: Beverly Switzer & Winda Wester (1st Appearance of the second) Official Plot: Having been asleep since his battle with Le Beaver and plagued by bad dreams, Howard's condition worries Beverly enough to call a doctor. When the doctor identifies that Howard is suffering from a breakdown and needs rest, the two decide to let Howard sleep while they go for coffee. Howard awakens and finds that he is being patronized by voices in his head. Going out to find Beverly, Howard finds her having a good time with the doctor in the nearby coffee shop and in a brokenhearted jealousy decides to split. Going to a Black Dog Bus Lines ticket counter, Howard buys a ticket for the soonest bus and to the end of the line, little knowing that he purchased a ticket back to Cleveland. On the bus, Howard meets Winda Wester, a young girl who has been put on the bus to go to Cleveland in order to get an exorcism, because her parents think she's possessed because she likes to make funny faces and noises as a means of making herself feel good. Howard and Winda soon are accosted by various followers of different religions all trying to get Howard to accept their books as the cure for what ails him. Howard gets pushed around enough where he begins to get agitated. To make matters worse, it turns out the Kidney Lady is riding on the bus. Believing that Howard has been following her as part of the "Kidney Conspiracy", she resumes antagonizing Howard, and he eventually loses his temper and gets in a fight with the Kidney Lady. As the religious nuts and Winda all try to stop the fight, all the commotion distracts the bus driver enough to cause him to drive off the highway and crash. While surprisingly everybody survives the crash, however Howard, Winda and the Kidney Lady are all taken away in an ambulance under police custody. Brodie's View:Howard finally awakens from his delusion filled dreams, and embarks on the next major section of his adventures on Earth 616 (and our run). However, he doesn't get that far, as he boards a bus for Cleveland, only to be besieged by a woman who claims to be possessed (and obviously based on THE EXORCIST's Linda Blair), various religious figures that try to sell him on enlightenment, and finally our old pal, The Kidney Lady, who finally causes Howard to snap (although, during the fight, she ends up kicking a figure that appears to be Jesus in the head....lol). This ends up causing the bus to crash, and while no one on the bus is seriously hurt, it ends up landing Howard, The Kidney Lady, and Winda Wester (the Linda Blair character) in an insane asylum. This was an interesting turn after last issue's deepness, and while it wasn't as good as that story, it still was pretty interesting. I will admit to not being sure whether or not all this was really happening until the end of the story, as last issue's dream sequence within a dream sequence within a dream sequence set up kind of left me thinking this all was still part of the dream sequence. However, in the end, it wasn't, and this next little story arc proves to be interesting. Not sure what to think about "Winda Wester" yet, but it's clear Gerber wanted to poke some fun at THE EXORCIST, which was still very popular within the public mindset at this time (however, a soon to be released terrible sequel would dampen that somewhat). It was cool to finally see the whole Kidney Lady storyline start to get a pay off, as she had been around since the 2nd issue. In the next issue, we get to see Howard in an insane asylum, which should kind of say it all about what to expect. GRADE: A-
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Post by BrodietheSlayer on Jul 27, 2017 2:07:40 GMT -5
Howard the Duck # 12"Mind-Mush!"Cover Date: May, 1977 Writer: Steve Gerber Artist: Gene Colan Feature Character: Howard the Duck Villain(s): The Kidney Lady Special Guests: Winda Wester & KISS Official Plot: Waking up in a jail cell, Howard soon learns that he, Winda and the Kidney Lady are being brought before a traffic court in Sauerbraten County, Ohio, for the fight they started on the Black Dog bus they were riding. Brought before the judge, the Kidney Lady tells a sob story about how when she was a young woman she was seduced and ran away from home with a spiritual book seller, and after being wined and dined in Cleveland she woke up one morning to find him gone, leaving a note saying that he had been drafted. She tells the judge, that she has kept the last thing he left for her, a copy of the book he was selling "The Human Kidney, Seat of the Soul" and that she has tried her best to live by its teachings. That, weighed against Howard's violent outburst during her story, and Winda's confession that she was going to Cleveland for an exorcism, convinces the judge that the Kidney Woman is free to go and sentences Howard and Winda to spend time in the Sauerbraten County Medical Facility. There, the two are processed by nurses and while Winda is interviewed by Doc Avery, Howard is locked in a padded room until the isolation makes him willing to take the medication that the nurse brings to him. Listening to Winda's story, Doc Avery tells her that the home address she gave them belongs to a vacant lot, leaving Winda to believe her family has left her. The Doc tells her that they may arrange for an exorcism (something he will do to prove that one isn't needed) and takes Howard in. However, Howard isn't so responsive as he is in a drug induced stupor. Their interview is cut short when there is a scream from outside. Going out to check it out, Howard and Doc Avery are shocked to see the rock band Kiss materializing out of Winda's head. Brodie's View:Things get....Crazy in this issue, and I'm not just talking about the inner state of our hero, who is still in the process of having a nervous breakdown. Of course, none of this helps his outward situation, as assuming he's a crazy person in a duck costume (and not helped at all by his fits of rage), the judge he is brought in front of throws the book at both he and Winda Wester (the girl he met last issue that thinks she's possessed), sentencing them both to 90 days in a mental health hospital (The Kidney Lady, of course, ends up escaping this fate by delivering the sob stories of all sob stories, leaving her free to "fight another day"). One thrown in a rubber room, Howard starts to flip out, until he is convinced to take his medication, which ends up making him near catatonic. Meanwhile, Winda is being helped as well, revealing that checking out her past reveals it may not be what she thinks it is. Things get worse, however, as there definitely seems to an event that occurs that backs up her claim of demon possession, as from the depths of her mind she summons the band KISS ( ), who materialize in the mental hospital. Holy Crap!!! This would end up setting up not only the next issue, but a deal with that band that would land Steve Gerber his biggest comic book payday, as he would pen a Giant Sized issue featuring the band that Marvel and the band's record label (who would pay his tab) would co-produce. Of course, that whole deal might have led to the eventual breakdown between Gerber and Marvel, which caused him to eventually leave the book and the company (which is also where my run of reviews on HtD ends). Don't worry, though. That's not for a little while yet. In the next review, we of course deal with the batshit crazy event that happened at the end of this issue, and, of course, ROCK AND ROLL ALL NIGHT, AND PARTY EVERY DAYYYYYYY!!!!! GRADE: A-
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Ultimo Gallos
Bill S. Preston, Esq.
Dreams SUCK!Nightmares live FOREVER!
Posts: 15,295
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Post by Ultimo Gallos on Jul 27, 2017 22:11:40 GMT -5
The Howard run is proof to me that Steve Gerber should be considered one of the best writers in modern comics. Still pissed that I didn't go talk to him the one con we were both at.
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