The 40 Years of Comics Project - Day 1246: Marvel Treasury Edition #12, 1976

As I went to read my issue of Howard the Duck this morning, I saw that the opening page was the aftermath of an adventure with the Defenders, and I realized I'd forgotten an important part of Howard's story - the Marvel Treasury Edition. It's tabloid sized and much longer than a typical comic.

I will admit I didn't read the whole thing. Part of the book is a reprint of Howard's first issue, and also of the Man-Frog story from Giant-Size Man-Thing. Instead I only read the main story, a team-up with the Defenders, the pages reprinted from Man-Thing #1 and from Giant-Size #5. They were all well-wrought. The main story serves to remind us that Howard does exist in the mainstream Marvel universe, albeit more often than not on the very fringes. That's where the Defenders like to think they live, but they don't really. At least, not until Mr. Gerber gets his hands on them.

Back to Howard's presidential bid tomorrow. More to come...

The 40 Years of Comics Project - Day 1236: Howard the Duck #2, March 1976

Mssrs. Gerber and Brunner turn their satiric lens on the superhero in today's issue. For me, it's a clear call back to the origin of Green Lantern, in that a mysterious thing from space chooses a particular individual to wield its power, and the hapless fool just acquiesces. I mean, if I found a talking ring (or turnip, in the case of today's comic) sitting in the middle of nowhere, I'm not sure I'd just pick it up and put it on.

Things go horribly wrong, of course. The turnip is actually interested in chaos more than justice, and it's up to Howard and Bev to rescue the schmuck who donned the vegetable helmet.

I love getting write things like that.

The only other thing that really stood out to me here was something that has always resonated for me from the HTD film. Howard and Bev, who don't really seem to have known each other very long, appear to share a bed, and hang around in various states of undress an awful lot. There's a scene in the movie in which Lea Thompson takes a chance on Howard being a good lover, but I hadn't realized that this semi-undressed aesthetic was actually an aspect of the comic as well. It's interesting that something like this could get past the Code.

More to come...

The 40 Years of Comics Project - Day 1235: Howard the Duck #1, January 1976

We miss one of Howard's appearances, in Giant-Size Man-Thing #5, but it's another one-off. What really gets the ball rolling is today's issue, Howard's first. It's, I will say, a bit of a rocky start. Don't get me wrong: I love this comic. Howard meeting Beverly for the first time, his rage over losing a cigar, his already-cynical response to the cries of "You're a duck!" All the elements of Howard are there. But the series takes a few issues to really get going. Today, we have the obligatory Spider-Man appearance. If you think I'm overstating by calling it that, remember that Marvel so loved having their media darling in every comic that he even meets up with the Transformers in their eponymous series just under a decade after this comic comes out. Like his namesakes, that dude is everywhere.

Today's story parodies the popular sword and sorcery comics that Marvel was publishing around the same time. The genre had a slight renaissance in the 70s, and comics were not immune to its charms. And it definitely is parody. Mr. Gerber's penchant for ridiculous names (the villain is Pro-Rata, the Chief Accountant of the Universe!) makes it's first appearance, and there's plenty of set-gnashing and cynical dialogue that we are certainly led to read this as a playful jab at that other genre that everyone's enjoying a lot. And that's sort of the series, at least for a few issues.

So, good, verging on, but not quite tipping into, great. Do away with the media parody, Howard. Get on to skewering culture. More to come...

The 40 Years of Comics Project - Day 749: Marvel Premier #6, January 1973

I've begun, this week, to delve back into the mysteries of my dissertation, though it's a slightly altered one than the one I took a break from almost a year ago. I think the comics portion of the work is going to have to be removed, as I simply can't work with the supervisor I'm working with anymore. Which means that the Lovecraft aspects of the work are coming more to the fore. So it's a nice (sort of) coincidence that I came across this comic today. I've had it for a few years now and, somehow, have never got around to reading it. The inside cover notes that it's based on ideas from Robert E. Howard, but there's a remarkable amount of HPL dripping from the sea-drenched shores and gables of the tale.

That said, I couldn't find any of the referenced creatures and deities in my Encyclopedia Cthulhiana, which makes me think it's not quite as complete as it could be. Perhaps that's another project for another time.

I like Doctor Strange and his over-the-top magicalness. His calling out each of the names of his powers is reminiscent (or maybe that's the other way around) of the tradition in anime and manga of naming and shouting an attack before it happens. What this gestures to is perhaps a culture that sees magic and the spiritual as far more a part of life than one does in the Western world. It's a worldview I appreciate a good deal, as, apparently, does Marvel's Master of the Mystic Arts. I'd love to follow along with this story, in the hopes that it continues its Howardian/Lovecraftian bent, though I imagine comics this old will be tough to track down. Thank goodness the Calgary Expo is coming up.

To be continued.