Throwback Thursday: The Sensational She-Hulk #14-17

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Continuing this winter series of Throwback Thursday posts dedicated to Howard the Duck.

Sensational She-Hulk #14
“A Baloney Place of Dying”
April, 1990

Credits: Steve Gerber, writer; Bryan Hitch, penciler; Jim Sanders III, inker; Jim Novak, letterer; Glynis Oliver, colorist; Bobbie Chase, editor; Tom DeFalco, editor-in-chief

Howard the Duck made his first major appearance in a Marvel comic book since his movie flopped in 1986. Howard’s co-creator Steve Gerber returned to writing about the duck for the first time since the 1970s when he had Howard guest-star in this four-part She-Hulk story.

Synopsis: Jennifer Walters is a lawyer who became the She-Hulk when she received an emergency blood transfusion from her cousin, Bruce Banner (a.k.a. the Incredible Hulk), and she received a milder version of his Hulk condition where she has green skin and green hair. Unlike her cousin, the She-Hulk’s condition is mostly permanent yet she can still retain her personality, intelligence, and emotional control.

This particular issue begins in outer space. There is a race known as the Watchers who are assigned various planets and timelines whose sole job is to just watch what goes on. They are not allowed to intervene in the internal affairs of the planets that they watch. (I first became aware of the Watchers because my ex-husband used to subscribe to a Marvel comic book series called What If?, where a Watcher named Uatu would show alternative timelines showing alternate storylines in other Marvel comic books, such as what would have happened had Spider-Man joined the Fantastic Four.)

The particular Watcher in this story comes from a splinter group who do more than just passive watch—they also provide commentary on what they see. This splinter group is known as the Critics.

This Critic is at his favorite black hole where he sees the debris of shattered solar system get sucked inside. After the debris get sucked in, a giant plunger appears. The plunger completely covers the opening of the black hole and the handle is pressed down as if an invisible arm is pushing it. The plunger pops back up away from the black hole and the black hole spews out what it had already sucked in as a result of the reverse suction that was brought about by that plunger.

The story advances ten years after that event in space. Jennifer “She-Hulk” Walters and her friend, Weezi Mason, are experiencing car trouble outside of Mt. Pressure, Vermont. Apparently it was caused by this trapezoid-shaped object that Jennifer has somehow gotten ahold of. (I have a feeling that the previous She-Hulk comic book issue dealt directly with how Jennifer and Weezi managed to get ahold of this mysterious object but my copy of Howard the Duck: The Complete Collection, Volume 4 doesn’t have that previous issue probably because Howard doesn’t appear in it.)

Apparently this object is very powerful because Jennifer says that this object affects her inner ear when she touches it, which makes her feel very woozy. The object releases an energy coil that loops around Jennifer then releases her like a spinning top.

Afterwards the object loses its black surface and Jennifer’s inner ear reverts to normal so she stops being dizzy. The object resembles a trapezoid-shaped frame. When Jennifer puts her hand inside of the frame, she sees her hand disappears.

Meanwhile Howard the Duck and Beverly Switzler had apparently gotten back together and they are now once again sharing an apartment in Cleveland. Howard is working in a computer store as a sales representative while Beverly is working as a costumed ninja at the Rent-A-Ninja agency. Beverly appears only briefly at the beginning of this issue and she’s largely absent for the rest of the story.

Howard goes to the refrigerator to get something for himself when he sees a giant green hand knocking over the milk carton inside. Howard quickly closes the door. He opens it again and sees that the hand is gone with the milk carton lying on its side in a puddle of milk. Howard thinks that he’s going crazy and he blames his consumption of diet soda as the culprit.

Jennifer withdraws her hand from that shape and sees it covered in milk. She decides to show the object to someone for examination.

The scene shifts to the Wormwall, New York State Correctional Facility where two guards are investigating the fact that a longtime prisoner named Floyd Mangles has been collecting odd items like a plunger, coffee mug, an old shoe, and a candy wrapper. Floyd tells the guards that he uses them as mediation devices. The guards confiscate Floyd’s collection but Floyd tells himself that it all doesn’t matter since the Big Squish is set to begin soon.

The Critic finds out that one of the shapes that was created when the plunger reversed-suctioned the black hole ten years earlier had landed on Earth. Fearful that the shape will create utter chaos on Earth, the Critic decides to try to find a way of doing something about the situation without breaking the rule against interfering in the planet’s internal affairs.

Once back at her home in New York City, Jennifer seeks out Professor Brent Wilcox, who teaches Physics at Empire State University, so she could show him that trapezoid object. After sticking his hand through (only to see it get covered by what he thinks is liquid nitrogen) then dropping a pen through the frame only to see it disappear, he’s convinced that there must be another universe that has somehow been tucked into that frame. When he later puts the frame under a microscope, he sees nothing but small cold-cuts floating around, which he dubs the Baloney-Verse.

The Critic comes down to Earth where he arrives at the computer store where Howard works, snatches in him a bubble that he had built around Howard then leaves the store with the duck by flying through the air. Once he reaches the windows of Professor Wilcox’s office at Empire State University, the Critic hurled the bubble through the window. The force of that throw frees Howard from the bubble.

At the same time Professor Wilcox gets entirely sucked into the object. When Jennifer tries to rescue him, she is only able to pull out a bratwurst. Jennifer decides to go into the object feet first in an effort to rescue Professor Wilcox and she grabs Howard to take him with her as well.

Howard and Jennifer are in that compacted universe where all kinds of cold cuts are floating around them. This issue ends with the realization that, with entry into this compacted universe, Jennifer has lost all of her She-Hulk looks and powers and she has reverted back to a normal caucasian human woman.

The Bottom Line: The story provides the setup for the adventure to come. I only wish that Sensational She-Hulk #13 had been reprinted in this volume as well because I would have loved to know how Jennifer and Weezy ever got a hold of that mysterious trapezoid object in the first place. It was pretty jarring for me to begin this story with the two women already having that object that is creating havoc from the very beginning.

The writing at the beginning of the story where the Critic is seeing a plunger over a black hole was a definite spot-on parody of some of the melodramatic writing that one sometimes reads in science fiction. There are hilarious references to the ad campaign of Ronald Reagan’s successful reelection campaign back in 1984 (such as “the shining city on the hill”) along with the Republicans’ frequent demand for a balanced budget.

Seeing that giant cosmic plunger unclogging that black hole like it was a blocked sink was also pretty funny.

The one thing that really dates this story the most is the scene at the beginning where Howard, in his job as a computer salesman, is telling a prospective customer that he knows DOS.

All in all it’s a pretty good setup for what’s to come.

Sensational She-Hulk #15
“Secret Warts”
May, 1990

Credits: Steve Gerber, writer; Bryan Hitch, penciler; Jim Sanders III, inker; Jim Novak, letterer; Glynis Oliver, colorist; Bobbie Chase, editor; Tom DeFalco, editor-in-chief

Synopsis: No sooner had Jennifer Walters lost all of her She-Hulk powers once she and Howard arrived in the Baloney-verse than they get surrounded by the voracious hordes who inhabit this Baloney-verse. The hordes are initially more interested in eating the bologna that they are all standing on until the hordes take a look at Jennifer and Howard and they decide that they want to eat them.

Jennifer and Howard escape by jumping on another floating cold cut but that turns out to be short-lived because the hordes are pursuing them. Eventually Jennifer begins to get angry at their pursuit of her and Howard and she morphs into a version of the She-Hulk that’s larger than normal and has a dull grey-green skin (as opposed to the She-Hulk’s normal bright green skin). She is also less rational than normal as she fights off the hordes.

At that point Professor Brent Wilcox finds both Jennifer and Howard and Jennifer is about to go after Wilcox because her mind has become completely irrational by that point.

The Critic sees what’s going on and is appalled by the unexpected turn of events inside of the Baloney-verse and he fears that the Earth’s existence could be endangered. So he sends a bubble into the trapezoid-form that captures Jennifer, Howard, and Professor Wilcox and brings them back into Wilcox’s office. Jennifer initially becomes so angry at being trapped in an office that she begins to trash the place until she reverts back to her original non-superpower caucasian form. At that point Jennifer, Howard, and Professor Wilcox goes to the apartment that Jennifer shares with her friend Weezy.

Meanwhile at the Mystic Meadows retirement home in Connecticut, a man in a wheelchair named Laslo Pevely begins to feel his blood tingling for the first time in many years. He becomes a werewolf-like creature just in time to interrupt a meeting where the owner of the retirement home is being pressured to sign ownership over to a Wall Street type because the owner had made a disastrous investment in junk bonds. He kills both men then reverts back to his usual form of a man in a wheelchair.

The action shifts to the Wormwall, New York State Correctional Center where a couple of wardens are looking at the records of prisoner Floyd Mangles and realizes that he was a super villain under the name Dr. Angst, who is the same person that Howard once battled way back in the 1976 Marvel Treasury Edition #12. At the same time a giant power drill that’s six stories tall bores a hole in Dr. Angst’s cell and he escapes while mentioning that 10 years earlier he used his powers to create a giant plunger that plunged over the black hole (that was shown in the previous issue) and reverse-suctioned out everything that had recently gone into that black hole.

Back at Jennifer’s apartment, Jennifer mentions that what happened to her is reminiscent of what happened to her cousin Bruce during his early days as the Hulk. Bruce had to lock himself away each sundown because his alter-ego would become so violent and irrational that he feared hurting or even killing innocent people. As a precaution, Jennifer decides that she wants to do the same at sunset.

Dr. Angst returns to his old neighborhood and he decides to call up his old comrades Tillie the Hun, The Spanker, Sitting Bullseye, and The Black Hole and invite them to rejoin him.

Jennifer, Professor Wilcox, Howard, and Weezy are riding in Professor Wilcox’s flying car in an effort to continue flying into the sunset in order to delay Jennifer’s transformation into the She-Hulk and to locate the area in New Mexico where Bruce Banner used to lock himself away each evening between sunset and sunrise. They eventually find an abandoned cave with computer equipment and a vault that might be perfect for Jennifer to lock her safely away in.

While Howard waits outside of the cave, Weezy and Professor Wilcox locks Jennifer inside of the vault. Once the vault is sealed, Jennifer discovers, to her horror, that there are two teenagers who are in the same vault as her. The teens have locked themselves inside of this vault because they have something called the secret warts.

The story ends with the Critic and Dr. Angst having opposite reactions to a bunch of debris from space (which is the same debris that was pulled out of that black hole by that giant plunger that Dr. Angst was responsible for) that is on its way to Earth. The Critic is devastated that the debris is still arriving despite his efforts to stop it while Dr. Angst is looking forward to the debris falling down to Earth.

The Bottom Line: It is pretty funny in spots (especially the scene where the werewolf-like creature was going after both the owner of the nursing home where he lives and the Wall Street type who pressured the owner to sell the property to him so he could replace the nursing home with condos). But, like the previous issue, this one is still setting up for the action to come in the next two issues.

Sensational She-Hulk #16
“The Lowbrow Hunters”
June, 1990

Credits: Steve Gerber, writer; Bryan Hitch, penciler; Jim Sanders III, inker; Jim Novak, letterer; Glynis Oliver, colorist; Bobbie Chase, editor; Tom DeFalco, editor-in-chief

Synopsis: The story picks up where it leaves off as Jennifer Walters is locked inside of a vault with two teens, whose names are Jason and Cara. The sun sets which results in Jennifer turning into a larger version of the She-Hulk with grey-green skin and a completely irrational mind as she bangs on the doors of the vault demanding that someone free her. Jason and Cara offer to help with opening the vault. They have something they call secret warts, which are warts infused with gamma rays that they originally received as a result of playing with mutant lizards in the desert. Jason and Cara use their warts on the vault door, which weakened it enough for the She-Hulk to push it away and all three are able to escape.

Howard, Weezy, and Professor Wilcox, who have been waiting outside of the vault door, run and hide behind Professor Wilcox’s car they see that the She-Hulk has broken out. The She-Hulk, accompanied by Jason and Cara, decide to head towards the nearby Gamma Ray Dude Ranch and Spa because the She-Hulk thinks that Howard, Weezy, and Professor Wilcox had fled there.

Once the She-Hulk, Jason, and Cara arrive at the ranch, the She-Hulk goes on a rampage where she walks through walls and knock over tables in an effort to find Howard, Weezy, and Professor Wilcox. She eventually reaches the spa room that are full of hot tubs. Once she falls in one of the tubs, the effects from the steam reduces her to her normal She-Hulk size and her mind becomes lucid once again. However, the skin remains the dull grey-green color and she has no memory of what happened before she became smaller and her mind became more rational. At that moment Weezy and Professor Wilcox catches up to her outside of the hot tub area while Howard opts to remain at the car.

Meanwhile Dr. Angst have managed to reunite his old gang consisting of Tillie the Hun, The Spanker, Sitting Bullseye, and The Black Hole.

The Critic flies on the wing of an airplane as the debris that escaped from that black hole hurls towards the ground. The Critic jumps off of the wind and lands near the Mystic Meadows retirement home just as the police took away two bodies of the men who were killed in the previous issue.

The police see the Critic and they immediately consider him as a suspect. The Critic uses his power to fly away from the cops and into the retirement home where he happens to land in Laslo Pevely’s room. When Laslo Pevely tells the Critic to leave him alone, the Critic does a mind-meld with Pevely where he learns about his origins, which resulted from a lab experiment where he was injected with a serum that was distilled from a dog’s brain.

Pevely realizes that when he senses evil, he turns into a canine form that hurts or kills the evil-doers while reverting back to normal once the crisis passes. Laslo Pevely briefly becomes a superhero until he began to feel that his tendency to revert to a dog-like form has weakened over time. It was only recently that Pevely’s special powers have returned once again.

Meanwhile Jennifer is behind the wheel of the air car as she flies Professor Wilcox, Howard, and Weezy when a hole suddenly opens from out of nowhere. The car gets pulled into the hole before Jennifer even has a chance to turn the car away from it. They end up in another universe where the inhabitants are committing suicide en masse by jumping off of high places and landing on various hard surfaces below. Professor Wilcox theorizes that this universe has a governing principle that’s based on suicide.

The Bottom Line: This issue is funnier and more outrageous than the previous issues. Jason and Cara have slacker personalities that are reminiscent of Bill and Ted. Laslo Pevely’s origin story is a funny parody of all of those overwrought superhero origin stories. I especially laughed at the end when Jennifer, Howard, Professor Wilcox, and Weezy have traveled to an alternative universe where the inhabitants commit suicide. In some ways this issue is reminiscent of the 1970s Howard the Duck comic books where he runs into strange people and situations like Patsy the child mad scientist and her living gingerbread man.

Sensational She-Hulk #17
“Acts of Peevishness”
July, 1990

Credits: Steve Gerber, writer; Bryan Hitch, penciler; Jim Sanders III, inker; Jim Novak, letterer; Glynis Oliver, colorist; Bobbie Chase, editor; Tom DeFalco, editor-in-chief

Synopsis: This is the fourth and final part of that epic story and it’s a doozy. The story begins where it left off when Jennifer, Professor Wilcox, Howard, and Weezy find themselves in an alternate universe where all of the inhabitants are committing suicide en masse.by jumping off of high places and landing on various surfaces below.

They eventually escape that place and end up at the Gateway Arch in St. Louis. But then the air car suddenly ends up in another universe known as the Don’t Worry Be Happyverse where people are saying stuff like “Air poison don’t worry” and “Water filthy be happy.” But then the car enters the Trashiverse, which only produces garbage and supermarket tabloids with headlines like “Mother Gives Birth to Two-Headed Trump” while the people openly speak of their admiration for Donald Trump.

They went into other universes, including the Media-Verse (a cosmos of Cyclopeans with camcorders for brains where every being is his own talk show), the 976iverse (where people are only into 976 chat lines), the Narcissiverse (where people achieve the perfect body until they hit a wall, fall, and get eaten by tigers), and the Noriegaverse (where everyone looks like then-Panamanian dictator Manuel Noriega).

The car manages to get out of these alternate universes and into London. But it’s a world where London is next to New York City because the planet Earth is becoming compressed just like those alternate universes that the air car drove through.

Meanwhile Laslo Pevely is speaking with the Critic at the nursing home where he lives and is getting frustrated because the Critic is sworn to secrecy among his kind and he feels that he can’t tell Pevely what’s going on. When Pevely asks the Critic what he is supposed to do, the Critic encases Pevely in a bubble and flies away from the nursing home with the bubble in tow.

The Critic and Pevely arrive to the area where Howard, Jennifer, Professor Wilcox, and Weezy are standing and he begins to explain what is going on.

Dr. Angst and his gang meet at a square block in Manhattan that is one of only five places that are immune from the cosmic squish that is going on across several different universes. Dr. Angst’s plan is for he and his gang to take advantage of the chaos emanating from the cosmic squish and impose dominion over what’s left of the Earth after it gets squished. Dr. Angst says that the Critic, She-Hulk, Howard, Weezy, Professor Wilcox, and Laslo Pevely are the only ones who stand in the way of Dr. Angst’s ultimate goal. Dr. Angst sends Tillie the Hun, The Spanker, Sitting Bullseye, and The Black Hole to where She-Hulk and company are located with an order to wipe them all out.

Once the four arrive to where the others are located, a battle begins. In the heat of the battle The Black Hole exposes his hole where Professor Wilcox’s air car gets sucked inside. This gives Professor Wilcox an idea: Get The Black Hole to suck in all of those other compacted universes inside of him. The She-Hulk holds The Black Hole while expanding his hole. The Critic uses his powers to gather all of the compacted universes then have The Black Hole suck them inside of his body. This results in The Black Hole’s body growing to two or three times its usual size.

Once all of the compacted universes are sucked inside of The Black Hole’s body, the She-Hulk lets go of him. The Critic takes The Black Hole and suddenly disappears while, at the same time, he wipes away the recent memories of everyone present. In the process the She-Hulk’s skin is once again its usual bright green color while everyone have no memory of what they have just went through. The Critic had even managed to bring Dr. Angst’s gang to the area of Manhattan where Dr. Angst is standing and he wiped their minds as well.

The story ends with the Critic sitting somewhere in space with an engorged Black Hole who is busy burping. He explains that he had to wipe the minds of everyone involved in the story because he needed to keep secret his recent involvement in the internal affairs of Earth even though he is usually prohibited from doing so.

The Bottom Line: The story was pretty hard to follow at times throughout this four-issue series but it didn’t really matter because the humor made up for the convoluted storyline. This one was definitely pretty surreal yet was funny at times. There was that funny satire on the 1988 hit song “Don’t Worry, Be Happy.”

That Trashiverse featuring people who worship Donald Trump was both funny and very prophetic since Donald Trump managed to get elected as president while winning over a fanatic devoted following that consists mainly of white heterosexual evangelical Christians. When I was traveling through Southern Maryland as part of my job with the Census Bureau this past summer, I was amazed to see houses that flew Trump flags alongside American flags, while implying that Donald Trump equals America so even a very mild critique of Donald Trump is the same as being anti-American. It’s too bad that Steve Gerber passed away in 2008 because I can only imagine how he would have reacted to the reality of a President Donald Trump.

There were some dated jokes as well, such as the ones parodying former Panamanian dictator Manuel Noriega and 976 chat lines (the latter of which became irrelevant thanks to the rise of the Internet dating sites and social media).

While this epic story was a far cry from the best of the 1970s Howard the Duck comic book series, having the duck make a guest appearance in the She-Hulk comic book was good way of rehabilitating a character whose name had become synonymous with that notorious 1986 bomb movie.

These issues were reprinted in Howard the Duck: The Complete Collection, Volume 4, which can be purchased online at AbeBooks, Amazon, Barnes & Noble, BookDepository, eBay, IndieBound, Indigo, and Powell’s.

Next in this series.

Howard the Duck: The Complete Collection, Volume 1 (1973-1977)

The Early Stories
Howard the Duck #1-3
Howard the Duck #4-5
Howard the Duck #6
Howard the Duck #7 andMarvel Treasury Edition #12: Howard the Duck
Howard the Duck #8
Howard the Duck #9-11
Howard the Duck #12-14
Howard the Duck King Size Annual #1 and Howard the Duck #15
Howard the Duck #16

Howard the Duck: The Complete Collection, Volume 2 (1977-1979)

Howard the Duck #17-19
Howard the Duck #20-22
Howard the Duck #23-25
Howard the Duck #26-28
Howard the Duck #29-31
Howard the Duck Magazine #1

Howard the Duck: The Complete Collection, Volume 3 (1979-1980)

Howard the Duck Magazine #2
Howard the Duck Magazine #3
Howard the Duck Magazine #4
Howard the Duck Magazine #5
Howard the Duck Magazine #6
Howard the Duck Magazine #7

Howard the Duck: The Complete Collection, Volume 4 (1980-1996)

Howard the Duck Magazine #8
Howard the Duck Magazine #9
Marvel Team-Up #98 and Bizarre Adventures #34
Howard the Duck #32-33
Sensational She-Hulk #14-17
Marvel Tales#237 and Spider-Man Team-Up #5

Howard the Duck MAX (2002)

Howard the Duck MAX #1-2
Howard the Duck MAX #3-4
Howard the Duck MAX #5-6

Throwback Thursday: Howard the Duck #7 and Marvel Treasury Edition #12

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Howard the Duck #7
December, 1976

This issue is divided into two separate chapters featuring two different stories.

Credits: Steve Gerber, writer; Gene Colan, illustrator; Steve Leialoha, inker; Archie Goodwin, editor; Jim Novak, Letterer; M. Severin, colorist

Chapter I: The Way the Cookie Crumbles!

Synopsis: This chapter picks up where issue 6 leaves off—immediately after the giant gingerbread man that budding mad scientist Patsy bakes comes to life. While Patsy jumps up and down in total joy like a child her age would over a major accomplishment, the adults cower in fear as the living cookie monster starts to move towards them.

Howard and Beverly attempt to sneak out the door where they originally came in only to find that it is locked. Howard comes up with another idea where he jumps on the cookie monster, crawls down to the monster’s right leg, and starts eating through it until the leg is completely severed. The giant gingerbread man crashes into Patsy’s jury-rigged electrical system and starts a fire.

Howard and Beverly find another doorway with a set of stairs leading to the top of the tower. They climb up the steps and crash through the window on to the rooftop. The pair slide down a gutter drain pipe until they reach the ground. At that point they run a few feet away from the house then hit the ground right at the moment when the house explodes.

Howard and Beverly inspect the rubble of the destroyed home but there is no sign that any of the other people have escaped, which implies that they are the only survivors of that blast. As they talk about what happened to young Patsy and debate how could such a young girl could become a mad scientist at such a tender age, Howard and Beverly decide to head towards the nearest gas station to freshen up before resuming their hitchhiking travels.

Chapter II: Get Down, America!

This is the beginning of the story arc that would lead to another high point of the original comic book series when Howard the Duck runs for President of the United States of America. This story begins sometime after Howard and Beverly cleaned up in the gas station’s restrooms and resumed hitchhiking until someone picked them up. They end up traveling to New York City in a Rolls Royce with the famous country music star Dreyfuss Gultch.

After Beverly finishes telling Dreyfuss Gultch the story about how she and Howard escaped from Patsy’s cookie monster right before the house exploded, she asks Dreyfuss why a country music star like him is heading to New York City. Dreyfuss tells the pair that he is scheduled to sing “The Star-Spangled Banner” at the All-Night Party’s political convention. The All-Night Party is meeting in New York City in order to select their candidate to run as President of the United States under its banner against both the Republican (the then-incumbent President Gerald Ford) and Democratic (former Georgia Governor Jimmy Carter) candidates. Beverly ask Dreyfuss Gultch about her and Howard getting jobs at that convention so they can earn enough money to get an apartment. Dreyfuss Gultch uses his celebrity to get the Chairman of The All-Night Party to give Howard and Beverly a room at the Plaza Hotel where the convention is being held at as well as temporary work at the convention itself.

Beverly works as one of the Hospitality Girls who greet the nearly all-male delegates and other convention-goers. (There are no women depicted among the delegates or other party faithful.) Howard gets a job in security. Their work uniforms are delivered by a bellhop that also includes a cryptic note that only says that the mix is in the pan and it’s signed “A Friend.” Howard is puzzled by that note but he shrugs is off because it was time for him and Beverly to report to their jobs.

Howard arrives at the security office only to see the head of security is busy making out with one of the other Hospitality Girls. The security head tells Howard that he’s too busy and he suggests that the duck just walks around the hall. He listens in on one of those backroom conferences where the party members are loudly debating about what is The All-Night Party’s stand regarding the CIA. Sample argument: “I’m afraid Mr. Sangor’s animalistic conservatism and Mr. Langor’s jellyfish liberalism both fail to address the real issue, Mr. Chairman! We’ve got to get the dumb people out of intelligence!” The party members spot Howard looking in on the insanity and they ask him for his opinion. Howard asks them bluntly if they know anything about intelligence. The men in the room look on Howard blankly then the duck suggests that they tell the truth that they don’t know much about intelligence but they will educate themselves on this issue as much as possible.

Later on Howard meets up with Beverly, whose butt has been pinched by the male convention attendees so much that she has to lay down in the hotel room. When the pair reaches their room, they find another cryptic note from “A Friend” saying that the ice cream is on the cake.

The next day Howard patrols the convention floor where a near-brawl breaks out over whether the party delegates should vote for either of the two similarly-named candidates: Wauldrop or Wauldrap. An exasperated Howard suggests a method of deciding on a candidate to vote for by tossing the placards with the candidates’ names on them up in the air then letting them drop to the floor. At that moment Dreyfuss Gultch catches up with Howard and invites the duck to have a night on the town with himself and some of the party bigwigs.

Howard, Dreyfuss, and the party bigwigs end up in what looks like a strip club. Howard gets a bill from a waiter who looks suspiciously like that bellhop at the hotel. That bill has another cryptic message signed “A Friend” that says that everything is in the oven. The next day Howard tells Beverly about that message and Beverly said that all those notes sounds like a recipe for a Baked Alaska. At that moment Howard realizes that it may be a cryptic message about a bomb being planted on the convention floor. He tries to tell his boss, who’s way too busy partying with the Hospitality Girls to listen to Howard’s warning about a potential bomb at the convention.

Howard remembers the clues in the cryptic messages he received and realizes that it may have something to do with the Alaska delegation. He sees smoke coming out of the Alaska standard so Howard grabs that standard and smashes it into the special Bicentennial cake that was especially made for the convention. The cake explodes all over the convention floor.

Wauldrop, one of the candidates who is speaking on the podium at the time decides to withdraw his nomination on the grounds that he feels that running for president is too dangerous. At that moment the delegates decide to nominate Howard the Duck as The All-Night Party candidate for the President of the United States—despite the fact that under [Get Constitution Amendment dealing with being a native born American] Howard would be ineligible for that office on the grounds that not only was he born outside of the United States but he was born (or should I say hatched?) on a different planet to parents who are also non-U.S. citizens from a different planet.

Topical 1970’s References: The second chapter deals with the 1976 U.S. presidential elections while also mentioning the Bicentennial that was celebrated that same year.

The scenes dealing with Beverly having her butt constantly pinched while on the job while the security head frequently makes out with the Hospitality Girls while on the job are reminiscent of a time when sexual harassment of women on the job was not only accepted as a part of doing business but women had no recourse for dealing with this. I remember when sexual harassment was starting to be discussed in the media in the 1970’s and it has led to new laws being passed that forbids that type of behavior. While sexual harassment sadly still goes on, these days employees who are affected by this have legal recourse (ranging from filing a complaint with human resources to actually suing a company for sexual harassment) so workers no longer have to just sit there and take it from others on the job.

The Bottom Line: The first chapter does an excellent job of concluding the story about budding mad scientist Patsy and her giant cookie monster gingerbread man. The story literally ends with a bang. The second chapter is a hilarious send-up of political conventions and all of the backroom shenanigans that frequently goes on behind closed doors. It provides a very promising beginning to the story arc about Howard’s run for the White House that is a high point of the original comic book series.

Marvel Treasury Edition #12: Howard the Duck
1976

Judging from this comic book’s original table of contents that’s reprinted in Howard the Duck: The Complete Collection, Volume 1, it looks like the Marvel Treasury Edition was one of those extra-long comic books that was more expensive than the usual regular comic book but also provided a lot of bang for the buck. This issue had one previously unreleased Howard the Duck story (The Duck and The Defenders) along with reprints of the duck’s first appearances (Adventure Into Fear #19, The Man-Thing #1, Giant-Size Man-Thing #4, Giant-Size Man-Thing #5, and Howard the Duck #1) and dispatches from Howard the Duck’s political campaign. (These dispatches are reprinted in the back of Howard the Duck: The Complete Collection, Volume 1 and they basically consist of one page of a text interview between Howard and writer Steve Gerber along with one mostly text page of other Marvel superheroes and Marvel publisher Stan Lee weighing in on Howard’s presidential campaign.) For the person who was relatively new to the comic book series, this Marvel Treasury Edition was a good bargain in that the person was able to read about the original origins of Howard the Duck without having to pay huge prices for the original issues on the comic book collector’s market. I’m sure that fans who had followed the duck’s story from the beginning were probably miffed that they had to shell out extra money for an issue featuring reprints of comic books that they already owned just so they can get the one new story that was published in that issue.

The Duck and The Defenders

Credits: Steve Gerber, writer; Sal Buscema and Klaus Janson, artists; Steve Leialoha, inker; Joe Rosen, Letterer; Marie Severin, colorist

Synopsis: The story begins with a Prologue that’s subtitled “Five Villains in Search of a Plot!” Four people wearing costumes are in Central Park in New York City roasting marshmallows over an open fire after midnight. One by one they introduce themselves. Sitting Bullseye is an ex-CIA operative who infiltrated the American Indian movement until the native people discovered that he was a mole. They retaliated by tattooing a giant bullseye on his chest, which resulted in his being fired from the CIA since he could no longer go undercover due to that tattoo. Tillie the Hun introduces herself with no backstory but she looks like an overweight version of Valkyrie (who shows up later in this story). The Spanker was once the headmaster of a prestigious private school until he was forced out due to his excessive use of corporal punishment. The Black Hole was a normal human until some dwarf star matter had somehow landed on his chest, which created a giant black hole in his chest that Black Hole can open and close on command.

The police arrive on the scene because these people had violated local laws by being in Central Park after 10 p.m. and holding a bonfire. When they attempt to arrest these wacky costumed people, the villains manage to defeat them, especially after Black Hole uses his power to suck two of the cops into his chest. At that point a fifth villain emerges from the bushes. He is Dr. Angst, Master of the Mundane Mysticism, and he is the one who called the other four together because the five of them, despite their various powers and abilities, have long been overshadowed by other superhero and villains to the point where they are obscure. Dr. Angst proposes to fix that by killing the newly minted All-Night Party presidential candidate Howard the Duck.

The main part of the actual story begins when Howard and Beverly are thrown out of the hotel they were staying at for non-payment of their bill. Apparently the All-Night Party assumed that Howard was rich like so many other politicians of all persuasions so they stopped paying for his and Beverly’s accommodations. Beverly said that two of her old high school friends from Cleveland are currently working as stewardesses and sharing a home in Greenwich Village. She suggests taking the subway to the Village and see if her old high school friends can give them a place to stay.

When they arrive at Greenwich Village they promptly become lost because both are unfamiliar with New York City and, apparently, neither one of them have bothered to pack a map or even buy one at the many different stores that sell maps. They decided to ask someone for directions so they turned to a young couple who are obviously going on a date. The man of the couple turns out to be none other than Peter Parker, whose superhero alter-ego is Spider-Man. His girlfriend, Mary Jane, gives Howard and Beverly the directions to the street where Beverly’s friends live.

They follow Mary Jane’s directions until they arrive at a mansion. (It’s never clear if Mary Jane gave the pair bad directions or if they mis-heard her directions or if Mary Jane gave the correct directions but Beverly had the wrong address for her friends.) Both Beverly and Howard are skeptical that two stewardesses could afford to live in a mansion in Greenwich Village but they decide to ring the doorbell anyway. Nighthawk answers the door and Beverly remembers him from seeing his photograph in the newspapers.

The others who live in that mansion soon arrive at the front door. It soon becomes apparent that the mansion is the living quarters for The Defenders, a loose alliance of superheroes just like the more popular Avengers. In addition to Nighthawk, The Defenders consist of Valkyrie, who’s one of the ancient Norse goddesses who traditionally accompany the souls of men who fall in battle to Valhalla; the Incredible Hulk, whom I don’t have to describe because chances are that you have already heard of him—even if your knowledge of him is limited to the 1970’s TV series and/or the various Hulk movies that have been released over the years; and Dr. Strange, a sorcerer who’s a master of the mystic arts. Dr. Strange instinctively suspects that Howard is not of this planet so he takes the duck upstairs so he can learn more about him.

Meanwhile Dr. Angst is holding a meeting with his own band of misfit villains in his tiny place. Dr. Angst makes a deal where he gives the villains mettle spheres cast from the otherworldly alloy promethium for them to swallow so their powers can grow exponentially. The villains begin to feel the effect of swallowing those spheres as they begin to feel more powerful. Dr. Angst says that the spheres’ effect doesn’t last a long time but he has offered to give them more spheres for them to consume in exchange for helping him find and kill Howard the Duck. Dr. Angst uses his mundane powers to look into a shoe (which he calls a “pedestrian prognosticator”) where he finds that Howard is currently with Dr. Strange at The Defenders’ mansion.

After talking with Howard, Dr. Strange concludes that the duck isn’t a mystic like he thought. At that point Howard asks Dr. Strange if there is any way that he can use his mystical powers to send Howard back to his home world. Dr. Strange attempts to use the Orb of Agamotto to see if he can locate Howard’s planet before using his magic powers to send Howard back to where he originally came from. At that moment a bunch of tennis balls shoot out and one of them knocks Dr. Strange unconscious.

Beverly and the other Defenders hear the commotion upstairs. When Nighthawk tries to use the stairs to investigate, he’s stopped by a white picket fence that suddenly appears. The other four villains who are helping Dr. Angst kill Howard suddenly crash into a window all prepared for battle. In addition the mansion is enclosed in a giant cereal box so no one can escape. Dr. Strange appears to Howard in apparition form where he tells Howard he will give the duck a portion of his mystic powers while guiding Howard telepathically to where the super villains are located so Howard can use these powers to take them down. Howard, under Dr. Strange’s guidance, goes downstairs and magically sends Beverly, The Defenders, and the villains to Shea Stadium where they can battle amongst themselves.

The Defenders and the other villains battle each other in Shea Stadium. Initially The Spanker starts to spank Beverly on her rear until she is rescued by Nighthawk. She subsequently stands off to the side since she has no superhero power at all. When Black Hole attempts to use his power, to suck the Incredible Hulk, the other Defenders, and anyone else who happens to be in Shea Stadium at the moment into his body, Beverly stops him by grabbing his arm and shoving it into the hole. This action triggers the Black Hole into consuming himself until just a black hole remains on the ground.

Meanwhile, back at the mansion, Howard meets Dr. Angst, who had placed a mask over Dr. Strange’s face so he can’t guide Howard telepathically. Howard manages to still have some of Dr. Strange’s powers so he uses it to defeat Dr. Angst and free Dr. Strange from that mask.

Dr. Strange uses his powers to suddenly bring everyone else from Shea Stadium to the mansion. The defeated villains said that they didn’t care about killing Howard the Duck. They only went along with Dr. Angst’s plan because he promised them more promethium spheres so they can continue to keep their enhanced powers. Dr. Strange tells them that the promethium spheres are little more than the mystic world’s equivalent of a sugar pill placebo so any effect of feeling more powerful than before came from wishful thinking instead of the spheres actually doing anything. Dr. Strange uses his mystical powers to revive the Black Hole from his self-consumption then free the police officers who were sucked into Black Hole’s black hole during the prologue of this story. The police officers arrest the villains and take them away.

Dr. Strange offers to teach Howard the ways of the mystic arts because he feels that Howard has great potential in that area but Howard turns him down. He offers to help Howard locate his home planet once again. But then the duck sees Beverly, who’s so glad to see him that she hugs him very tightly, and he has a change of heart. He tells Dr. Strange that he would settle for some fare money so he and Beverly can ride the bus uptown.

Topical 1970’s References: Sitting Bullseye’s origin is a reference to the time in the 1970’s was when Congress passed the Freedom of Information Act where journalists and other interested parties can have access to unclassified government documents. In the wake of that law being passed, journalists started to read government files where they discovered that the FBI had infiltrated various 1960’s political dissident groups like the Black Panthers, Congress of Racial Equality, Students for a Democratic Society, and various Native American civil rights groups. Those FBI moles would whip up dissent among these groups which led, in many cases, to people fighting among themselves and having local chapters of these dissident groups ultimately implode.

But that wasn’t all. It turned out that the CIA did similar things as well, except they did their tricks in foreign countries. For example, the CIA helped in the overthrow of democratically elected governments in Iran and Chile and replaced those leaders with dictators.

The Spanker’s origins is also a reference to the issue of schools and parents using corporal punishment on children, a controversial issue that was so hotly debated in the 1970’s that it led to many school districts outlawing the practice and many parents also began to adopt nonviolent forms of punishments for children (such as having time out corners in their homes).

The Bottom Line: This story is okay and it has its moments but, compared to the previous storylines about Patsy the child mad scientist creating her giant gingerbread cookie monster and Howard winning the All-Night Party’s nomination as president, this one is nothing special. Superhero fans will definitely enjoy seeing The Defenders take on those villain misfits in Shea Stadium but, for others who just like Howard the Duck for the satire, this story just lacks the cutting edge humor of the previous issues. Modern racism alert—There are times when Sitting Bullseye refers to the Native Americans, whom he infiltrated only to turn on him, as “Injuns” and “Redskins.” (Yeah, I know that the latter term is the name of a certain Washington football team and, living outside of DC, I hear that name all the time. But there is currently a concerted effort to get that team to adopt a new name but current owner Dan Snyder refuses to even consider it despite the fact that a judge has recently decided that the Redskins can no longer be trademarked due to the fact that many Native Americans consider it to be a racial slur.)

These issues were reprinted in Howard the Duck: The Complete Collection, Volume 1, which can be purchased online at AbeBooks, Amazon, Barnes & Noble, BookDepository, Google Play, Half.com, IndieBound, Indigo, Powell’s.

Next post in this series.

The Howard the Duck Series

Howard the Duck: The Complete Collection, Volume 1 (1973-1977)

The Early Stories
Howard the Duck #1-3
Howard the Duck #4-5
Howard the Duck #6
Howard the Duck #7 and Marvel Treasury Edition #12: Howard the Duck
Howard the Duck #8
Howard the Duck #9-11
Howard the Duck #12-14
Howard the Duck King Size Annual #1 and Howard the Duck #15
Howard the Duck #16

Howard the Duck: The Complete Collection, Volume 2 (1977-1979)

Howard the Duck #17-19
Howard the Duck #20-22
Howard the Duck #23-25
Howard the Duck #26-28
Howard the Duck #29-31
Howard the Duck Magazine #1

Howard the Duck: The Complete Collection, Volume 3 (1979-1980)

Howard the Duck Magazine #2
Howard the Duck Magazine #3
Howard the Duck Magazine #4
Howard the Duck Magazine #5
Howard the Duck Magazine #6
Howard the Duck Magazine #7

Howard the Duck: The Complete Collection, Volume 4 (1980-1996)

Howard the Duck Magazine #8
Howard the Duck Magazine #9
Marvel Team-Up #98 and Bizarre Adventures #34
Howard the Duck #32-33
Sensational She-Hulk #14-17
Marvel Tales #237 and Spider-Man Team-Up #5

Howard the Duck MAX (2002)

Howard the Duck MAX #1-2
Howard the Duck MAX #3-4
Howard the Duck MAX #5-6