There's a number of items on my to-do list that don't get done because I theoretically maybe might conceivably think about possibly moving; which is a great excuse for disguising procrastination as preparation. But one thing that could probably get done, is re-organizing my
Essential/
Showcase shelf. Partly, so I don't keep buying multiples of the same ones; which you wouldn't think should be a problem since neither of those are as widely available as they used to be, but I've still managed it a couple of times. I'd remember having this one, at least:
Essential Howard the Duck.
I had only read, hmm, the
Hellcow issue, and the annual, before this. Spoiler alert: I didn't love them? I've been chewing them over, trying to put my finger on why. Could be the lingering residue of his movie leaving a bad taste in my mouth. Or, I read his half-page entry in
Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe #5 long before I ever read any of his comics; and it tries to break down the least-nonsense nonsense that happened to Howard in a dry, factual manner; which is like reading the wikipedia for an episode of
Laugh-In: maybe it was funny in its time, then it was kind of dated, and now it's kind of dry...(Howard has to share a page with Hobgoblin, who was probably not quite at the peak of his popularity in 1983. Conversely, Howard doesn't even make the cover, and
everyone made the
OHOTMU cover!)
I was also kind of wondering why this stops with #27, instead of just plowing onwards and packing in the whole run of the series. Especially since the cover of
#28 appears to be Howard vs. Cotton from
King of the Hill: he had no shins, he might be Howard's height! But that was a Marv Wolfman/Carmine Infantino fill-in issue; and the GCD notes that was about the same time Gerber was leaving Marvel. It's also not great, but better than telethon issue
#29, Gerber's last. (It wouldn't surprise me if he wasn't already out the door; that one might be on co-plotter Mark Evanier.) Bill Mantlo and Gene Colan make a game attempt to wrap up the Dr. Bong plotline in
#30 and
#31, before Howard was shifted over to a magazine format, where he would get
9 issues between 1979 and 1981. The comic's numbering would continue in 1986 to tie-in with the movie, and the Brian Bolland cover for
#33 would be used as the
Essential cover. (Another spoiler: that was the only good part of #33!)
Still, Howard might be like the Outsiders for me: I like the idea of them, much more than anything I've actually read with them. But, I'm still glad they're out there.
4 comments:
I think that last line, about liking the idea of him rather than the actual execution is pretty dead on, at least for me. Solid concept, especially with Gerber at the helm, but the jokes haven't aged well enough to REALLY get the whole experience. That being said, an animated short/movie/series might not be a bad idea provided it's written well enough.
That's about right, though I like him as a guest star (his MTU was pretty good) and thought the Ty Templeton mini was enjoyable but fluff. Come to think of it, that seems to be the biggest issue with Howard- most of the time, it's too philosophical and wordy. I think they were going to do a Disney+ animated series but I have no idea what happened with that.
I have the same problem with Essentials/Showcases, specifically because they're out of print. I usually grab them when I see them unless I'm sure I've got it. It's especially bad for Essentials, considering some of them have 10 volumes and 3 different cover designs for the early ones.
I bought a couple of big (non-Essential) collections of Howard the Duck, the second volume of which ends with that Mantlo/Colan wrap-up of the Dr. Bong story. I'd agree I didn't laugh much at the stories, but I find Gerber's work interesting, especially watching Howard gradually bend under the strain of the impromptu Presidential run and being menaced by a guy in a giant armored beaver suit, and then reading that issue where Gerber spends the entire time having a conversation with Howard about his own breakdown.
Gerber's kind of like Ann Nocenti for me, I get why he's not everyone's cup of tea, but I love digging into whatever they're doing.
Oh yeah, the Complete Collections- still amazed they actually happened in the first place, let alone putting four volumes out. Howard's a bit niche now, and I can't imagine a major comics publisher devoting that much shelf space to the back catalogue of such a relatively obscure character.
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