Howard the Duck #2

Mar 1976 · Marvel · 0.25 USD

📊 ~43,572 copies sold its debut month

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“Cry Turnip!”

★ 1st appearance — Kidney Lady

About this Issue

Howard the Duck #2 — titled 'Cry Turnip!' — delivers the first appearances of two characters who would become recurring fixtures in Steve Gerber's satirical universe: the Kidney Lady (Selma Blotte), an eccentric woman convinced that the human soul resides in the kidneys, and the Space Turnip (the fusion of mild-mannered security guard Arthur Winslow with an alien vegetable intelligence called Phelch). Both characters encapsulate the series' core method — grounding absurdist threats in recognizable human alienation and everyday urban dread — and the Kidney Lady in particular returned across the run as a shorthand for Gerber's belief that American society was populated by sincere, deeply strange people barely distinguishable from outright supervillains. The issue also marks the formal establishment of Howard and Beverly Switzler's domestic partnership as a storytelling engine, the relationship through which Gerber would satirize 1970s American economic anxiety, gender dynamics, and countercultural drift for years to come. As the final collaboration between Gerber, penciler Frank Brunner, and inker Steve Leialoha — the art team that launched the solo series — it closes the visually lush opening chapter of the title before Gene Colan's darker, more noir-inflected tenure began.

writer Steve Gerber · artist Frank Brunner · artist Jim Starlin · inker Steve Leialoha · colorist Michele Wolfman · letterer Tom Orzechowski · cover Frank Brunner

ComicBooks.com Value

Our Model is In Beta

Raw (Fine) $3

CGC 9.8 · 35 in census $199

CGC 9.6 · 58 in census $76

CGC 9.4 · 34 in census $37

CGC 9.2 · 28 in census $32

CGC 9.0 · 19 in census $32

CGC 8.5 · 15 in census $32

Show all 18 grades ▾

CGC 8.0 · 9 in census $22

CGC 7.5 · 11 in census $20*

CGC 7.0 · 1 in census $20*

CGC 6.5 · 4 in census $20*

CGC 6.0 · 3 in census $20*

CGC 5.5 · 3 in census $20*

CGC 5.0 · 1 in census $20*

CGC 4.5 none in existence

CGC 4.0 none in existence

CGC 3.5 · 1 in census $20*

CGC 3.0 none in existence

CGC 2.5 · 1 in census $20*

* estimate — limited direct-sales data at this grade

Our model’s value — refined as new sales data arrives · CGC census counts shown where available

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History

The story was written by Steve Gerber under the editorship of Marv Wolfman, with pencils by Frank Brunner — though the issue's closing caption acknowledges that Jim Starlin provided layout assistance on what Gerber described as a particularly demanding script, suggesting a production crunch behind the scenes. The issue shipped with a March 1976 cover date and was released in late December 1975, coloring by Michele Wolfman and lettering by Tom Orzechowski rounding out the credits. According to a 1978 Comics Journal interview cited by collector historians, Gerber modeled the Kidney Lady on a real person he had encountered in New York's Times Square, a creative habit — drawing grotesque supporting characters from actual observed life — that gave the series its distinctive texture of documented urban surrealism. Brunner departed the series after this issue, reportedly because of fundamental creative disagreements with Gerber over whether Howard should be treated as a cartoon character or as a flesh-and-blood being with real consequences; John Buscema filled in for issue #3, and Gene Colan became the permanent penciler beginning with issue #4.

Trivia · 8 facts

First appearance of the Kidney Lady (Selma Blotte), an obsessive woman who believes the soul resides in the kidneys and who recurs throughout the Gerber run.
First appearance and origin of the Space Turnip — the alien entity Phelch bonded with security guard Arthur Winslow, granting him super-powered form as 'Turnip Man.'
First appearance of Arthur Winslow, Beverly Switzler's acquaintance whose merging with Phelch drives the issue's plot.
Story title is 'Cry Turnip!'; written by Steve Gerber, penciled by Frank Brunner (with layout assistance from Jim Starlin), inked by Steve Leialoha, colored by Michele Wolfman, lettered by Tom Orzechowski, and edited by Marv Wolfman.
This is the final issue of the ongoing series drawn by Frank Brunner; his departure ended the Gerber–Brunner–Leialoha art team that had launched both the Giant-Size Man-Thing backup stories and the solo title.
The story functions partly as a parody of Marvel's Killraven property, spoofing the post-apocalyptic genre through the lens of Howard's Cleveland misadventures.
The Kidney Lady was reportedly inspired by a real person Gerber encountered in Times Square, per a 1978 Comics Journal interview.
The issue has been reprinted in Essential Howard the Duck Vol. 1 (2002, black and white), the Howard the Duck Omnibus (2008), Howard the Duck: The Complete Collection Vol. 1 (2015), and Marvel Masterworks: Howard the Duck Vol. 1 (2020).