Howard the Duck #1
Howard the Duck #1 marks the solo debut of one of Marvel's most audacious Bronze Age creations — an existentialist, wisecracking anthropomorphic duck stranded in a world of humans, whose adventures functioned as sharp social satire at a time when mainstream superhero comics rarely ventured into that territory. The series launched by this issue proved that a Marvel title anchored in absurdist comedy and pointed cultural commentary could attract a devoted readership, influencing a later generation of genre-bending superhero books. It is also the first appearance of Beverly Switzler, Howard's indispensable companion throughout the Gerber run, and of the villain Pro-Rata — characters who defined the book's identity from page one. The issue's placement of Howard in Cleveland's polluted Cuyahoga River basin, far from the Manhattan nexus of most Marvel storytelling, signaled immediately that this was a different kind of comic.
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Howard had been created by writer Steve Gerber and artist Val Mayerik as a throwaway supporting character in Adventure into Fear #19 (December 1973), only to be written out almost immediately at the editorial insistence of then-Marvel editor-in-chief Roy Thomas, who was skeptical that readers would accept a 'funny animal' in a horror context. Fan response was overwhelmingly positive, however, and Gerber was eventually permitted to revive Howard in backup features in Giant-Size Man-Thing #4 and #5 (1975), both drawn by Frank Brunner. After those stories also resonated with readers, Gerber pitched publisher Stan Lee on a dedicated ongoing series, and Marvel greenlit it — reportedly requiring a Spider-Man guest appearance in the first issue to give the unfamiliar character a recognizable hook for regular Marvel readers. Beverly Switzler's character and name were the contribution of Gerber's friend and fellow writer Mary Skrenes, who joined a planning dinner with Gerber and Brunner and suggested the 'scantily clad damsel' imprisoned in Pro-Rata's tower.
Trivia · 7 facts
- Cover date: January 1976; on-sale/release date approximately October–November 1975. Written by Steve Gerber; pencils by Frank Brunner; inks by Steve Leialoha; lettered by John Costanza; cover pencils and inks by Frank Brunner.
- Story title: 'Howard the Barbarian' — a deliberate parody of the Conan the Barbarian genre, which was at the peak of its Marvel popularity at the time of publication.
- First appearance of Beverly Switzler, Cleveland art model and Howard's principal companion throughout the original series. Her character was conceived in collaboration with writer Mary Skrenes, according to Skrenes's own 2008 account in Back Issue #31.
- First appearance (and death) of Pro-Rata, the 'Cosmic Accountant' villain who wields a Cosmic Calculator to pursue godhood — one of Gerber's trademark satirical constructs blending the mundane (accountancy) with the cosmic.
- Spider-Man guest-stars; J. Jonah Jameson dispatches Peter Parker to Cleveland to investigate reports of a talking duck, providing the Daily Bugle framing device that brings Spider-Man into the story. Marvel reportedly insisted on the Spider-Man appearance to anchor the book in the wider Marvel Universe.
- The series directly continued from Giant-Size Man-Thing #5, and Gerber wrote a total of 27 issues of the ongoing, with Gene Colan replacing Brunner as regular penciller beginning with issue #4.
- The story in this issue was reprinted in Marvel Treasury Edition #12 (October 1976), and the issue was later collected in the Marvel Masterworks: Howard the Duck Vol. 1 hardcover (2020), which also includes the earlier Giant-Size Man-Thing backup appearances.
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Reprints
↩ Reprints [Marvel Hostess Ads] #4 (1976)
Reprinted in Comic Reader #123 (1975), Marvel Treasury Edition #12 (1976), Howard the Duck #[nn] (1977), Stakkels And #1 (1977), Topp-serien [Toppserien] #1/1977 (1977), The Savage Dragon / Destroyer Duck #1 (1996), Essential Howard the Duck #1 (2002), Howard the Duck Omnibus #[nn] (2008), Howard the Duck: The Complete Collection #1 (2015), Die offizielle Marvel-Comic-Sammlung #29 (2016), Marvel. Официальная коллекция комиксов #130 (2018), Howard the Duck #1 Facsimile Edition #[nn] (2019), Marvel Masterworks: Howard the Duck #1 (2020), Χάουαρντ Ντακ [Howard the Duck] #1
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