Howard the Duck #4

Jul 1976 · Marvel · 0.25 USD

📊 ~34,043 copies sold its debut month

☆ Be the first to review + Add to your collection — Join free

“The Sleep... of the Just!”

★ 1st appearance — Paul Same

About this Issue

Howard the Duck #4 (cover-dated July 1976) marks the permanent artistic handoff to Gene Colan, whose atmospheric, cinematic pencils defined the series' visual identity for the rest of Steve Gerber's run — an artistic partnership Gerber later described in near-telepathic terms. The issue introduces both Paul Same and his sleepwalking alter-ego Winky-Man, characters who recur across the series and who embody Gerber's recurring preoccupation with frustrated, conformity-crushed individuals finding grotesque release. Its letters page carries the first in-book announcement of Howard's satirical 1976 U.S. presidential bid under the All-Night Party banner, complete with a campaign-button illustration by Berni Wrightson, planting the seed for one of the more culturally resonant running gags in Bronze Age comics. The story itself — a pointed riff on artistic self-doubt, critical gatekeeping, and sleepwalking passivity in the face of injustice — is a showcase for Gerber's ability to route genuine social commentary through absurdist genre trappings.

writer Steve Gerber · artist Gene Colan · inker S. Leialoha · colorist Michele W. · letterer A. Kawecki · cover Gene Colan, Steve Leialoha

ComicBooks.com Value

Our Model is In Beta

Raw (Fine) $15

CGC 9.8 · 85 in census $326

CGC 9.6 · 62 in census $134

CGC 9.4 · 37 in census $97

CGC 9.2 · 20 in census $68*

CGC 9.0 · 20 in census $56*

CGC 8.5 · 16 in census $46*

Show all 15 grades ▾

CGC 8.0 · 11 in census $42*

CGC 7.5 · 6 in census $20*

CGC 7.0 · 5 in census $20*

CGC 6.5 · 6 in census $20*

CGC 6.0 · 1 in census $20*

CGC 5.5 · 2 in census $20*

CGC 5.0 · 1 in census $20*

CGC 4.5 none in existence

CGC 4.0 · 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

Find on ebay

Search eBay for Howard the Duck #4 ▸

No confirmed live listings for this exact issue right now — this opens an eBay search.

Read it digitally

Marvel Unlimited Marvel’s subscription reader ▸ Amazon Kindle Buy the digital edition ▸

Opens a search on each platform — digital availability varies by title.

Sell my copy

Have this issue — or a whole collection? Get a fair offer from us, skip the marketplace fees and the hassle.

We Buy Collections ▸

Fast, fair offers · we handle grading & shipping

History

Written by Steve Gerber, penciled by Gene Colan, inked by Steve Leialoha, lettered by Annette Kawecki, colored by Michelle Wolfman, and edited by Marv Wolfman, the issue was released on April 27, 1976 with a July 1976 cover date. Colan's arrival with this issue was the beginning of one of the most celebrated writer-artist collaborations of the Bronze Age; Gerber had cycled through Frank Brunner and John Buscema in the first three issues before Colan settled into the role. In a later interview quoted across multiple sources, Gerber reflected that there was 'almost a telepathic connection' between him and Colan — a creative rapport that lasted through Gerber's entire tenure on the book. Notably, Gerber's self-insertion as the struggling, somnambulant Paul Same was not guesswork: he freely admitted in a 1978 Comics Journal interview, 'I was Winky-Man,' acknowledging that both the sleeping disorder and the artistic frustrations of the character were autobiographical.

Trivia · 8 facts

First appearance and origin of Winky-Man (Paul Same), Howard and Beverly's upstairs-neighbor artist whose unresolved anxieties manifest as a sleepwalking vigilante persona armed with a roman candle and speaking in rhyme.
Marks Gene Colan's debut as the series' regular penciller, a role he would hold through Steve Gerber's entire run; Steve Leialoha inked, Marv Wolfman edited.
Story title: 'The Sleep of the Just!' (17 pages); set, according to an in-story newspaper date, on April 1, 1976 in Cleveland, Ohio.
Paul Same and art critic Xavier Couture are visually modeled on real people: Same on Steve Gerber himself, and Couture on Stan Lee (both sharing a notably prominent hairpiece as a plot point).
The letters page announces Howard's satirical 1976 presidential campaign under the All-Night Party, and includes Berni Wrightson's artwork for the 'Vote Howard the Duck in '76' campaign button — the first formal in-book launch of the political storyline.
The 'Sleep of the Just' story was later adapted as a story arc in the Howard the Duck daily newspaper strip (1977–78), scripted by Gerber and illustrated by Alan Kupperberg.
The issue has been reprinted multiple times, including in Essential Howard the Duck Vol. 1 (2002, black and white), Howard the Duck Omnibus (2008), Howard the Duck: The Complete Collection Vol. 1 (2015), and Marvel Masterworks: Howard the Duck Vol. 1 (2020).
A UK edition of this issue exists with identical content but a 10p cover price, and a 30-cent cover price variant (with starburst price style) also exists for the US market.