Howard The Duck #11 - A Review

Howard The Duck is dead but the chaos he attracted lives on. Now, as a group of intergalactic content-creators who manipulate the heroes of the universe for their own ends attempt to take control of the situation, Howard moves on to his final rest.

Oh, if only it were that simple...



There is little I can say about this series at this point beyond this: Chip Zdarsky and Joe Quinones have done the legacy of Steve Gerber and Val Mayerik proud.

This Howard the Duck run - too good for one volume - did not try to ape the style of the classic series but it did what the original series did in the 1970's - examine the comic industry and the world at large through the lens of The Marvel Universe and everything that makes them all so gloriously insane. This was no small thing in a year in which Howard The Duck running for President might be seen as the best of all possible options even to those who only know him for "that crappy George Lucas movie" and Marvel Comics became hopelessly devoted to promoting special event after special event.

Yet this book remained free and true to its vision to the very end. More, it proved what wonders can be created when writers and artists are free to create and not beholden to the whims of an editorial team devoted to crafting the next big spectacle, so that they may build audience interest for the next big spectacle to follow.  It is a lesson that will surely be lost upon The House of Ideas but, for a time, at least, the sanity of the everyduck prevailed.

Howard The Duck #10 - A Review

Howard The Duck just learned that his life is The Mojoverse's most popular reality show!  The problem is that this discovery was orchestrated by two alien "content creators"- Chipp and Joe - whom Mojo was paying to introduce random craziness into Howard's life to make things more interesting. Now, Howard is - as usual - caught in the middle of it as everyone is trying to cover up their various misdeeds with as much ratings-rising violence as possible.


With this gloriously metatextual issue, Chip Zdarsky has proven himself the premiere satirist of modern Marvel Comics and  a worthy heir to Steve Gerber's throne. The artwork is equally strong across the board. Still, all good things must come to an end and as much as I want to see how they end it all, I am not looking forward to the series finale.

Howard The Duck #9 - A Review

No sooner has Howard returned home and he's hit with another case. And a case from a big Hollywood actress! Well, so she says. Howard doesn't keep up on hairless ape culture. But his interest is piqued when this Lea Thompson says she's been having dreams of Howard. Dreams that seem oddly close to the events of Howard's life...

The artwork for this issue is more erratic than usual. It isn't bad but there's little sense of visual continuity from page to page. Occasionally, it isn't consistent from panel to panel. Blame it on the four inkers and two colorists.


Thankfully, while the look of this issue may be a little off, the writing is as funny as ever. Chip Zdarsky goes far beyond one could have been a one-note meta-joke in the mystery involving why Lea Thompson is dreaming of Howard. I'll be sad to see this series end in a few months but I'll be laughing every step of the way until the end.

Howard The Duck #8 - A Review

Since Howard The Duck returned to monthly comics, one question has been asked more than any other - who the hell thought it was a good idea to bring Howard The Duck back to monthly comics?! But this issue devotes itself toward answering that next most frequently asked question - whatever happened to Beverly Switzler?

You know?  The gorgeous redhead art model who was Howard's sidekick/best-friend/possible love interest depending on which stories you consider canon?  Lea Thompson played her in the movie? Ringing any bells yet?

*sighs* Well, anyway this issue is about them catching up. And then a Sentinel who wants to avenge his murdered family shows up to kill them.

Oh sure - THAT gets your interest!

While not as political a writer as Steve Gerber, Chip Zdarsky has captured the comedic spirit of Gerber's work and his acerbic wit perfectly when it comes to parodying the outrageous nature of The Marvel Universe. Yet he also manages some honest emotion in the discussion between Beverly and Howard. You really feel for them and Zdarsky does a fine job of capturing a relationship that has faltered despite the best efforts of both parties involved.


The art team proves equally excellent when it comes to depicting the absurd action Zdarky's scripts require. It's hard to pick out any one aspect of it, the whole package is so good. That being said, I do love Joe Quinones design for The Punisher Sentinel.

Howard The Duck #7 - A Review

It's all very simple.

Howard The Duck is a detective. He got hired by lawyer Jennifer Walter (aka She-Hulk) to track down one of her clients. Said client is a high-rolling rich jerk named Gary Stark (no relation, though he pretends there is) who mysteriously disappeared doing high-roller rich jerk stuff.

Howard recruits his "good friend" Spider-Man's boss (aka Peter Parker, but also secretly Spider-Man) to help them with a sting to figure out where Gary Stark went. This attracts the attention of D.A. Matt Murdock (aka Daredevil, but also secretly Matt Murdock), who has his own reasons for tracking down Gary Stark. And when Gary's trail leads to the Savage Land, they all have to go hitch a ride with Steve Rogers (aka The Senior Citizen Formerly Known As Captain America) so they don't violate the UN rules on traveling to The Savage Land!

See!  Totally simple!  It isn't until the geeks with the dinosaur-controlling helmets show up that things get complicated...


Guest artist Kevin Maguire is in fine form here. Nobody draws a great facial expression quite like Maguire and he is given ample opportunity to exercise his gifts for physical comedy throughout the issue. The color-art by Joe Quinones and Jordan Gibson bring the verdant wilds of the Savage Land to life perfectly, resulting in some amazing looking backgrounds.


This may not be a Giffen/DeMatteis comic book, but you'd never know it from the script. Chip Zdarksy's script seems to be a love letter to the BWA-HA-HA! days of comics, with all of the established characters played as overblown parodies of themselves and Howard stuck in the middle as the only sane man, er duck! How much you enjoy this issue may depend upon how willing you are to tolerate Spider-Man telling his amazing friends that they suck but I personally found the whole thing hilarious!

Howard The Duck #6 - A Review

Normally this is the part of the review where I'd summarize the set-up of the issue. Thankfully, I don't have to do that this time around. Howard The Duck does it for me! Yay Howard!


Mere words cannot do justice to the sheer enjoyable lunacy of this series. Ryan North and Chip Zdarsky are to be commended (or is that condemned?) for having raised the bar so high for future comic-writing smart-asses. Trying to detail all of the wonderful witty things in this comic would require me to write an encyclopedia, so I shall instead include a scan of my favorite sight-gag - Punisher with a cart-full of random guns at the same dealership Kraven The Hunter and Rocket Raccoon frequent.


All of this is ably illustrated by a top-notch art-team. That being said, you'd never know that there was a team working on this book because everything fits together so seamlessly. That's surprisingly uncommon on a book with three inkers and two colorists and well-worth praising!


If you haven't been reading Howard The Duck or The Unbeatable Squirrel Girl, this Animal House crossover is just the thing to make you realize just what you've been missing. And what have you been missing? Two of the funniest comics in existence, ya goober!

Howard The Duck #5 - A Review

The Collector wants Howard for his collection of rare creatures. That hasn't changed.

What The Collector doesn't know is that Howard, in addition to now being a living link to the Nexus Of All Realities, has also temporarily been granted The Power Cosmic! And The Guardians of the Galaxy, Howard's time-displaced female clone, a female clone of Rocket Raccoon, The Silver Surfer, a Galactus groupie known as Scout and Howard's sidekick Linda the shape-shifter are coming to save him and free every other being held captive by The Collector!

Seriously, though - how could he have seen that coming?!


The action of this issue is a glorious train-wreck. That being said, it is an amusing train-wreck. Chip Zdarsky revels in the sheer insanity of The Marvel Universe at large like no one else and turns Howard into the only sane man-er duck capable of telling it like it is.


It is to the credit of the art team that you'd never know there was such a large art team working on this book. Frequently there are obvious differences in style when two inkers or two colorists are at work on a single comic. This issue has no such problems and the whole thing looks wonderful.