Howard the Duck #21

Poor Howard just can't catch a break — this 1978 issue finds Marvel's favorite fowl literally tumbling inside a washing machine, soaking wet and wide-eyed with panic, courtesy of a towering smiley-faced villain in royal robes who declares it's time to "clean up his act." Backed by a cult of white-suited, smiley-faced followers, the self-proclaimed Sinister Soofi makes for one of the stranger threats Howard has faced in a world he never made. The cover by Carmine Infantino, Marie Severin, and Frank Giacoia perfectly captures the absurdist humor that made Steve Gerber's run such a singular corner of the Marvel universe.