Howard The Duck #1 Review: A Goofy Good Time

It constantly amazes me that we live in a time where super heroes dominate pop culture in a way I could only dream about as a kid. Then there are things that I could never have imagined, things too far outside the realm of possibility to even consider. A Howard the Duck #1 comic book in 2015 is one of those.

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Yet here we are, and it certainly exists thanks to the efforts of Chip Zdarsky on words and Joe Quinones on pictures. Probably the nicest thing I can say about it is that it’s what you might have optimistically expected, as long as you weren’t thinking this was going to be a return of the subversive genius of Steve Gerber’s comics from the 70s.

To break it down further, Howard the Duck #1 is funny. Not the clever kind of funny that Nick Spencer is showing off on Ant-Man, but more the silly kind of humor. Zdarsky, probably best known as the artist on Sex Criminals, writes Howard as a slightly bewildered, anachronistic character who seems like he’s been out of the loop much longer than he’s actually been missing from comics in real life. It’d be interesting to know what he’s been up to in the interim, but this doesn’t seem like the kind of book that’s going to do that kind of exploration.

Instead, we find Howard thrown right into a mix of action and laughs, where he makes new friends, ticks off more than one familiar face and runs afoul (sorry) of a very powerful cosmic being. The narration breaks the fourth wall, and there are plenty of playful jabs at the competition (re: DC) along the way.

Quinones brings it to life with a properly cartoony feel, and while his Howard is a little more angular than I’m used to, he almost looks like he’s channeling Mike Allred in some of his other figures. That’s a compliment, by the way.

Marvel has really been on fire with some of its recent launches and re-launches, and while I wouldn’t put this up against Ant-Man, All-New Hawkeye or even Thor, it’s not lacking for entertainment value. If we use the 1986 film as an admittedly low bar to clear, Howard the Duck #1 makes it over with plenty of room to spare.

SPOILERS PAST THIS POINT!

An alien of unknown origin has its sights set on Earth. Howard the Duck is already on that planet, but temporarily sitting in jail. He’s released along with a young lady named Tara, a tattoo artist who isn’t put off by Howard’s appearance but does warn him about his sexism.

After some verbal sparring with She-Hulk, whose legal office is apparently in the same building, Howard heads for his private investigator’s office and finds he has a client.

He wants to find a necklace that was stolen from his home by the Black Cat, so Howard “acquires” Spider-Man’s phone number from She-Hulk and sets up a meeting. Unfortunately, Spidey warns Howard away from Black Cat, noting that she now has designs on becoming a crime boss.

A bummed out Howard’s spirits are lifted when Tara agrees to help him, and she knows where the Black Cat calls home. After the obligatory training montage (I’m not making that up), the duo tries carrying out a ridiculous plan that involves using pizza to distract the guard cats. The find the necklace, but Black Cat and some of her men return before they can leave.

Things get even more complicated when the alien from the first scene shows up, revealing that he’s a Gatherer working to collect unique life forms for the Collector before “the universe is destroyed.” Referencing both Secret Wars and the Guardians of the Galaxy film in one fell swoop? Well done Mr. Zdarsky.

Black Cat tries fighting the Gatherer, bit to no avail, and he makes off with Howard before Spider-Man, feeling guilty for refusing to help the duck earlier, arrives on the scene. So now Howard is in space prison, but one of his cellmates has plans to escape. And escaping prisons is one of the things Rocket Raccoon knows best …

Favorite moment: Even the amazing Spider-Man can’t get Siri to give him useful information when he asks about the average lifespan of a duck. Funny because it’s true.

Final thought: For this series to be really worthwhile, it needs to have a mix of the mundane and the fantastic, so it’s off on the right foot. Also, please think one more time about the incredibly unlikely series of events that had to happen for this book to even exist. I don’t think surreal is too strong a term.

Next: A quick background of Howard the Duck

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