If you’re a fan of comics, you know about reprints – when a book is in demand or there’s an anniversary or simply to provide a character’s origin. The past couple of years, the big two (DC and Marvel) have been doing a lot of reprints. Marvel especially has been releasing a lot of first appearances and first issues, sometimes to coincide with movie releases, but other times just because. And with that in mind, we get the reprint of the first issue of Howard the Duck.  

If you don’t know Howard, than you don’t know duck! (Couldn’t help myself.) Yes, he is a duck – an anthropomorphic smart ass alien (from Duckworld) stuck on Earth and having to deal with life. Not just anywhere on Earth, by the way, but Cleveland, Ohio. His first appearance was in 1973, but he got his own title in 1976, the first issue of which Marvel reprinted this year.

Not surprisingly, a lot of adventures Howard ends up involved in are ridiculous and this first issue gives you a taste of that. In a 180 from what you’d expect in a “fun” comicbook, Howard is planning to kill himself at the beginning of the story. That’s when he stumbles across a woman (dressed in a chainmail bikini) trapped in a tower by a madman. So basically it becomes a quest for Howard to save the maiden in distress.

A straightforward story, perhaps, but lets get to the more oddball pieces of the plot. First off, you get all the stereotypes about the city of Cleveland – and in the 70s the place really was a joke (a burning river, anyone?). As someone who works in the city and lives nearby, I was amused to see how people felt about it a few decades back. Then there’s the villain Howard faces off against – Pro Rata, a mad wizard who wants to become the accountant of the universe (yes, really). Oh, and while we’re at it, Spider-Man shows up to ultimately save the day.

Yes, Howard the Duck is one of the odder characters in a universe of superheroes. And he doesn’t always have the most positive outlook on things. But a lot of his stories were social satire and had more of a message behind them than a lot of other comics at the time. Some of his early books are worth checking out, especially if you only know Howard from the big screen versions.