For those who’ve never heard of Marvel’s anthropomorphic waterfowl, Howard the Duck is a feisty, horny, cigar-chomping citizen of the planet Duckworld, brought to Earth against his will. He had his own (surprisingly successful) comic in the 1970s, and his own (diabolically awful) live-action, George Lucas-produced movie in 1986, co-starring Back to the Future’s Lea Thompson. He still pops up as a guest star in Marvel comics from time to time.
I know that deep within the recesses of Marvel Studios there is some poor writer squirreling on a script that somehow brings Howard The Duck back to the Marvel Universe in a big way. Howard is an iconic character who was all but destroyed by the George Lucas movie from the 80s. How did this stupid Duck ever have a movie before Spider-Man is beyond me but there you have it. I knew this one was going to be crap that I actually said NO when my friends went to see it. I never missed a movie or time with my friends (when I had them) but that movie went beyond what I could tolerate. I loved the comic and couldn't stand if they ruined it. I thought I would wait for the reviews to come out and as we know, they were savage. After reading them I knew I could wait for the video.
That movie also showed that if Lucas hadn't have come up with Star Wars, then he would be driving a fork lift at the Home Depot. The man has a tin ear when it comes to telling a good story.
Howard was a nice surprise in the Guardians of the Galaxy and could so easily fit into the Guardian's universe but then you have two grumpy animals with him and Rocket so that won't work. Either way, I am glad to see the comics getting some new attention as they deserve it. THIS was the House of Ideas before everything got corporate. You can read about creator Steve Gerber's battle with Marvel over the rights to Howard.
You can watch Siskel and Ebert talk about Howard the Duck as one of their worse films of 1986. You can watch that episode by going HERE.
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6 comments:
i dig this cat, i mean this duck!
Check out how Steve Gerber (the creator of Howard) stole him back from Marvel, years after the fall out he had with them. Without Marvel noticing. In an issue of Spider-Man and an issue of Savage Dragon and smuggled Howard out from Marvel by dying he's feathers green and calling him Leonard the duck. It was a very well "hatched " plan.
http://leonarddduck.tripod.com/id17.htm
Which is already covered in the link you posted that I missed first time round. I'll just shut up and go back to my man sized dog basket. Cheers.
No, I appreciate that info. I enjoyed that article and further convinced myself Shooter was an asshole even though I loved his stuff at Valiant.
Agreed and agreed. I collected the near-total sum of HTD 4-color comics for about $20 last year.
It's hard to follow Gerber at some turns, but I'm a huge Howard fan.
Can't wait for him to be done right.... The egg at the end of GOTG looks like a great start.
Wow and WOW.. Just read that Gerber/Marvel historical write-up. Pretty indepth.
Thanks for the awesome link, Kal.
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