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Post by Batflunkie on Sept 16, 2021 20:27:49 GMT -5
In December 1973 Steve Gerber, a blossoming scribe at Marvel, wrote a two-part story for Marvel's Man-Thing where the very fabric of reality is in jeopardy. Worlds have collided and are on the very verge of imploding in on one another. It's here that a muck monster, a barbarian, and a talking duck meet to discuss their fates and what to do about it. On the way to rectify the situation, the duck named Howard, slips and falls between realities, plunging to his inevitable doom. Months pass and the duck,not even sure if he exists, lands in an open field; very much alive. But he soon realizes that this is not his home, it's a strange and hostile place called "Cleve-land" where Ducks are not well thought of or well considered by it's inhabitants; hairless apes. It is a world that he cannot fathom, but slowly realizes that he must make his own if he hopes to survive. A typical "duck out of water" story... I discovered Howard around 2007 through a sub-par revival attempt by Ty Templeton. But, giving it credit, it did create in me an interest to look to the past to see where the story began through the B&W Essentials collection. And oh, what a story it was! I was enchanted by it. It was like nothing I'd ever read before and with the exception of the works of John Kennedy Toole, haven't read since. It's a comedy for the ages that shows the world for what it truly is, a farce of Alice In Wonderland proportions that somehow makes sense to some while alienating others. For a teen such as myself, this was something akin to an Anarchist Cookbook. While the points of reference and the attempts at parody did not register until I was much older and became far more cultured in comicdom, the true message shone through. In this thread, I hope to share with you the mirth and majesty of this little title that could. This surreal and subversive shot to the jugular that has enriched my life so very, very much. Well, at least that's the idea, or else I've squandered thirty cents on my principles...
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Post by codystarbuck on Sept 17, 2021 0:22:22 GMT -5
All I can say is "Waugh!"
Truly amazing stuff and definitely a lightning in a bottle thing, as even Gerber had trouble recapturing things. Howard was very much a product of his time and an encapsulation of it; but, it is a very narrow window. Kind of like original SNL, in that it was a product of the time and the people, but the show and those performers have never been in that same space, again.
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Post by brutalis on Sept 17, 2021 3:08:56 GMT -5
Good ol' Howie and Bev fighting against and for the (in)sanity of a time in the WORLD when we needed it and him most. And oh the irony, that Disney felt so threatened by a cigar chomping, fedora wearing, suit and tie minus pants wearing sarcastic, angry, singular yellow duck trapped in a mass of humanity in being our conscience was FORCED IN COURT to put on his big boy pants so as to NOT BE CONFUSED with another famous white feathered angry water fowl in a sailor suit and is now owned by said corporate monster?
We Howard supporters want, nay, we demand most loudly, to seeing our smoking, drinking, cussing, sexually inappropriate (can you say beastiality? I knew you could) unwoke, politically incorrect in today's world that he could never ever be created in, as a regular ongoing series of comics AND AS THE BIG BREAKOUT STAR in DISNEY OWNED MCU MOVIES!!!
Now wouldn't that be a kick in the pants (literally and figuratively) and face to the greedy, hungry for every dollar heads of the table? I can see the long line for the photo op at Disneyland/world for kids (and adults) having their picture taken together with both, Howard on the left and Donald on the right. With humanity standing and trapped inbetween.
Waugh indeed...
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Post by pinkfloydsound17 on Sept 17, 2021 8:49:58 GMT -5
I am dialed in to this review. I actually own maybe 5 or 6 issues from the original 70's series for no other reason than they are nice copies and the covers are great (one contains a Kiss appearance if I recall). I have not ever read them however, as other stuff always seems to take precedence. I am hoping this thread pushes me into reading it all myself (or at least grabbing more issues). I am intrigued to know if it is a series you need to read from start to finish or one you can kind of grab and read any issue for a fun time.
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Post by Batflunkie on Sept 17, 2021 9:04:40 GMT -5
I am dialed in to this review. I actually own maybe 5 or 6 issues from the original 70's series for no other reason than they are nice copies and the covers are great (one contains a Kiss appearance if I recall). I have not ever read them however, as other stuff always seems to take precedence. I am hoping this thread pushes me into reading it all myself (or at least grabbing more issues). I am intrigued to know if it is a series you need to read from start to finish or one you can kind of grab and read any issue for a fun time. It's one of the few series that, after I had a friend "borrow" and not return my B&W Essentials copy, I actively sought out the Omnibus. Mostly because of how cheap it was at the time ($35). (And to be completely honest, I think Howard reads better in Black & White, especially when Gene Colan starts taking over as the artist)
The stories themselves have an over-arching plot, but no, they're relatively easy to get into with no need to seek out other issues
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shaxper
CCF Site Custodian
Posts: 22,268
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Post by shaxper on Sept 17, 2021 9:36:11 GMT -5
It's the characterization and absurdity to me, but mostly the characterization. Howard feels more "real" to me than most fictional characters, which is immensely surprising considering his visual look. And I'll respectfully disagree with codystarbuck that Gerber's success with Howard could never be repeated. I think it's much of what people loved about Dave Sim's "High Society" and "Church and State". Cerebus is very much a Howard rip-off, but executed just as successfully for a good long while.
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Post by Batflunkie on Sept 17, 2021 10:16:11 GMT -5
Primer: Giant-Size Man-Thing #4 & #5General Plot (#4): Still falling through time and space, Howard lands in a bed of grass, overjoyed to be alive. Only to be noticed by two young boys who are not of his species. Howard loses it, but settles for a trip to a cigar store. It's here that the boys introduce Howard to Garko, a strange man if there ever was one who just sits on a ledge, starting at a potion bottle and brings down property values. Garko talks to the potion, expounding on the virtues of world domination but also realistically taking into consideration the idea that once in power, life's not much fun. But Garko says to hell with it and chugs the potion down anyway, turning into a giant frog. Howard tells the boys to go find help while he deals with Garko. Running into a back alley, Howard gets a bit of plywood and a trash can lid and readies himself for battle, but it's all for not as Garko begins to shrink and turn into a regular run of the mill toad. A police car pulls up and the officers mistake Howard for the supposed "monster" that the boys described and take him in, running over Garko in the process General Plot (#5): In jail, Howard contemplates his situation. His cell door opens and he's greeted by the Commissioner who wants to know why there's a midget in a duck suit sitting in his jail cell. He frisks Howard and is baffled to find out that Howard is 100% certified USDA Duck. He's hysterical and releases Howard, not wanting people to know that they've put a duck in prison. Howard contemplates a way to make a living in this new world and the scene ends. Elsewhere a farmer finds a strange cow in his barn and decides to put her up for the night. The cow, named Bessie, is not what she seems, she's a vampire, who's on the hunt for the man who turned her into this monstrosity. Howard reads about the killing in the newspaper and figures that it must be a farm animal (maybe a chicken?) and he might get a job with the cops if he captures the killer. Howard disguises himself as tall, dark and handsome, hoping to lure the killer and he does just that. Bessie rams Howard into a hardware store where he arms himself with a lug wrench as a make-shift cross while he gets together a hammer and a steak to end Bessie's reign of terror for good. But Howard stops a moment. Bessie, having caught herself and her fangs in a white-wall tire, cries. He feels bad, but he knows that killing her is the right thing to do. The cops show up, Howard and Bessie tripping the silent alarm, and leave as soon as they see Howard. Howard loses it, out of ideas and out of the job. He lights up a cigar and waddles off into the night Thoughts: A decent enough start, I think my one misgiving is how cartoony looking Frank Brunner has drawn Howard. Maybe it was an effort to make him stand out more?
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Post by commond on Sept 17, 2021 10:53:48 GMT -5
I'm not a fan of Howard the Duck, but I have been slowly working through the Howard the Duck magazine, and I think Bill Mantlo did about as good a job of taking over from Steve Gerber as anyone possibly could. The magazine format is pretty much an excuse to show some nudity and the occasional bedroom scene, but it does tie into the continuity of the original book so you might want to cover it when you get to the end of the self-titled series.
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Post by Batflunkie on Sept 17, 2021 11:15:06 GMT -5
I'm not a fan of Howard the Duck, but I have been slowly working through the Howard the Duck magazine, and I think Bill Mantlo did about as good a job of taking over from Steve Gerber as anyone possibly could. The magazine format is pretty much an excuse to show some nudity and the occasional bedroom scene, but it does tie into the continuity of the original book so you might want to cover it when you get to the end of the self-titled series. For years, I despised Bill for supposedly taking Howard away from Steve (teen logic, whatcha gonna do?). But as I started reading Rom & Micronauts, I gained more of an appreciation for his writing ability and his gift for making comics about toys actually worth reading
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Post by codystarbuck on Sept 17, 2021 11:27:36 GMT -5
It's the characterization and absurdity to me, but mostly the characterization. Howard feels more "real" to me than most fictional characters, which is immensely surprising considering his visual look. And I'll respectfully disagree with codystarbuck that Gerber's success with Howard could never be repeated. I think it's much of what people loved about Dave Sim's "High Society" and "Church and State". Cerebus is very much a Howard rip-off, but executed just as successfully for a good long while. Whoa; back up there a bit. I did not say Gerber's success could not be repeated as much as Gerber, in later use of the character, never quite captured that same spirit as in the earliest comics. He wasn't in the same head space and events were different, much like the original SNL. As for Cerebus, there is an overlap but a different focus. Gerber was far more interested in society at large, while Sim, in his most satirical stages, was focused on narrower subjects, particularly within the comics industry and the conventions of fantasy. He also drifted away from the satire (in the second half of Church & State, in my opinion) and never really regained that edge that he had in his younger days. Similar "lightning in a bottle."
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Post by mikelmidnight on Sept 17, 2021 11:30:55 GMT -5
For years, I despised Bill for supposedly taking Howard away from Steve (teen logic, whatcha gonna do?). But as I started reading Rom & Micronauts, I gained more of an appreciation for his writing ability and his gift for making comics about toys actually worth reading
I never blamed Mantlo personally (it's just a job, you know?) but I always found his treatment of Beverly really insulting, which made them difficult for me to read.
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Post by Batflunkie on Sept 17, 2021 11:56:36 GMT -5
For years, I despised Bill for supposedly taking Howard away from Steve (teen logic, whatcha gonna do?). But as I started reading Rom & Micronauts, I gained more of an appreciation for his writing ability and his gift for making comics about toys actually worth reading
I never blamed Mantlo personally (it's just a job, you know?) but I always found his treatment of Beverly really insulting, which made them difficult for me to read.
I've never actually read any of Mantlo's contributions to Howard, nor do I plan to
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Post by badwolf on Sept 17, 2021 14:59:13 GMT -5
HTD came out when I was a kid and I remember writing it off as "funny animal" stuff I wasn't interested in. It's just as well, I wouldn't have understood the satire at that age anyway. But something made me pick up the omnibus a few years back, I think it was my newfound love of Gene Colan's art, and I loved it.
Unlike most readers I think the book remains consistent through Bill Mantlo's portion. In fact, I don't think I even noticed the switch at first as I was reading through the book. Only the last couple issues (not by Mantlo), which were published years later, are inferior.
I'll have to seek out those magazine stories.
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Post by berkley on Sept 17, 2021 16:26:56 GMT -5
I never blamed Mantlo personally (it's just a job, you know?) but I always found his treatment of Beverly really insulting, which made them difficult for me to read.
I've never actually read any of Mantlo's contributions to Howard, nor do I plan to
Same here. No interest at all, any more than I have in reading Geoff Johns's contributions to Watchmen. But I don't blame Mantlo too much for taking on the assignment, given the state of the industry at the time.
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Post by Batflunkie on Sept 17, 2021 16:38:09 GMT -5
HTD came out when I was a kid and I remember writing it off as "funny animal" stuff I wasn't interested in. It's just as well, I wouldn't have understood the satire at that age anyway. But something made me pick up the omnibus a few years back, I think it was my newfound love of Gene Colan's art, and I loved it. I love how Colan draws the Kidney Lady, she looks like a damned photograph
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