Howard the Duck vs Dr. Bong

 

A pencil sketch I drew last night. It's Howard the Duck and his arch-nemesis, Dr. Bong! Done in tribute to Gene Colan, artist on the HOWARD THE DUCK comic book series.

Gene Colan passed away on Thursday, and I wrote a personal recollection about him and his amazing career in comics on my blog yesterday. Howard the Duck was created by writer Steve Gerber, and artist Val Mayerick, when they introduced him in the pages of MAN-THING. Soon Howard got his own comic book series and by the fourth issue the art chores were taken over by Gene Colan, who really made the character his own.  Dr. Bong appeared in issue #15, co-created by Gerber and Colan.

Comic book artist GENE COLAN, 1926-2011

Gene Colan passed on June 23, having been in the hospital for various, long-term health issues. He was 84.

When I started reading my first batch of comics, Gene's work was amongst the pile of books my older brother Albert had given me. Included in that collection (dating from about 1968-70) were several titles drawn by Gene Colan, including DAREDEVIL, CAPTAIN AMERICA and IRON MAN.  

I love that two-fisted punch Daredevil's throwing on Dr. Doom!

This issue stood out to me for the fight scene. Daredevil returns to his home, and there's a robot waiting for him in the closet. Daredevil approaches the closet door and the robot bursts out and demolishes DD. I mean he just wails into him and pounds him to a pulp! The robot takes his mask and shirt back to the villian's hideout as proof that he's destroyed Daredevil. The cover for this issue was a really clever way to preview the fight scene.

By 1975, I was buying my own comic books off the shelves at 7-11, King Cole Market, McCoy's Market and anywhere else I could find them. For 25¢ a copy, it was a pretty sweet deal for a kid with a buck or two from mom!


Besides all the superhero titles I was buying from Marvel (SPIDER-MAN, FANTASTIC FOUR, HULK, CAPTAIN AMERICA) I picked up, with much curiosity, HOWARD THE DUCK, written by Steve Gerber and illustrated masterfully by Gene Colan.

Howard fights the Kidney Lady on a bus bound for Cleveland!! How's that for a teaser of a cover...?


As a kid, some of Gerber's writing may have been above my head, but Gene Colan's artwork had my eyes glued to the page. At the time I'm sure I didn't appreciate the fact that he could draw spandex-clad superheroes as easily as he could a talking duck. But as I grew older I realized just how talented Colan was to be able to so deftly imbue Howard with as many personal attributes as he did. Just look at that image of Howard waddling down the aisle, angry determination on his face.


One of my favorite covers of all time is this one:

Again, look at that angry indignation on Howard's face. He get's drafted to run for President of the USA by the All Night Party, and it looks like he's mad as hell and isn't going to take it any longer! Colan's great skill in displaying so much real emotion on a cartoon animal, combined with his naturalistic drawing abilities, gave HOWARD so much humanity. And of course with writer/creator Steve Gerber using Howard as a great sounding board for his own outsider sensibilities, it made for such a memorable book.

During the same time Colan was chronicling the adventures of the Duck, he was doing perhaps his most atmospheric work ever (certainly my favorite of his entire career):

 Working with writer Marv Wolfman, (himself achieving a high watermark on this series), Colan imbued the lead character, a cunning monster in human form, with all the dignity, malevolence and high drama he could. Dracula's series took the immortal character to entirely new levels, sometimes even clashing with such Marvel heroes as Dr. Strange and the Silver Surfer.


Colan's Dracula was all swirling capes and smokey mists. Like a ghost trying to live amongst humans. The scripts called upon Colan to conjure up haunted houses, nighttime cityscapes, demonic horrors and a grand design for Dracula, the proud Prince of Darkness, former king and corrupter of souls. All of which Colan handled with masterly skills. Credit must be given also to Tom Palmer, who inked Colan's painterly pencils with such precise attention.

In the last two years or so the book's run, Wolfman introduced an epic story involving Dracula's takeover of a Satanic cult, his subsequent affair and marriage to a cult member, the birth of his child Janus, battles with Christ and eventually the Devil himself. Gene Colan of course presented the storyline with all the skills at his command: suspense, haunting atmosphere, horrific scenes of terror, melancholy, action. Above all, a passion for storytelling, moving the story forward with maximum dramatic effect. No stone was left unturned in the unspooling of this supernatural odyssey they took Dracula on. I bought most of this run at a used bookstore in Uptown Whittier called Ames Books, and remember being totally enthralled at the entire opus. To this day it remains one of my favorite stories ever told.

And this is another one of my favorite covers of all time:

 When Dracula met the Silver Surfer, it was truly two worlds clashing head-on. Dracula was an evil, supernatural enemy, all smokey mist and billowing cape, shrouded in black. The Surfer was a space-born hero created by alien super science, a pure soul, gleaming in metallic light. How perfectly Gene captured that confrontation on his cover.


Gene Colan's career spanned about 7 decades. Almost 70 years drawing comic books. His strengths to me were his unmistakeable style of drawing, his flair for dramatic camera angles, his sense of movement in his figures, and that overriding sense he gave to all his characters of being alive, whether they were aliens, robots, undead monsters or talking ducks from Cleveland.

Growing up with comics, taking them to heart as much as I did, makes me sad to hear of the man's passing. I never had the privilege of meeting Gene Colan, but feel so fortunate to have known so much of his work. His dedication to his craft, and his joy at doing what he loved, will always provide me with warm memories. And of course, I have so much of my favorite works of his at hand. Thank you, Gene Colan.

You can read a quick obituary about Gene Colan over at writer Mark Evanier's site.

Gene's close friend, Clifford Meth, who has been handling Gene's affairs since Gene's wife Adrienne passed away a year ago, has a very lovely final interview with Gene done just a few weeks ago, at his hospice bedside.

I met Howard the Duck!!

Earlier today I took a jaunt to Frank & Sons, a well known destination to lots and lots of people. It's literally an indoor swap meet, filled with 100s of dealers selling action figures, Japanese manga/anime/toys, movie posters, sports memorabilia, collector supplies, junk food, and comics, the new ones as well as a real large selection of back issues (the reasons I been showing up there for over 15 years!).

Well, I was visiting my friend Alan Rutledge, who is one of the best back issue dealers I've ever had the pleasure to know. Alan carries books from the 1940s all the way to the more recent tradepaperbacks. But his bread and butter is his huge selection of reasonably priced back issues from the 60s-90s. My favs are the 70s Bronze Age books he carries. Today I had picked up a half dozen issues or so of the early 70s JUNGLE ACTION Featuring THE BLACK PANTHER. Here's one of the them:



I'd love to tell you more about the Panther, but as this post's title promises to spill the dirt on my meeting with Howard, I better get to it!

So as I'm visiting with Alan, over the PA system I hear the announcement that there are 7 celebrities from Sci-Fi movies and tv shows signing up front. Alan comments that they didn't even mention the actual actors, and that maybe the actor who played Howard the Duck might be signing. "I'd like to meet him!" I said, realizing that was probably just wishful thinking. The actor had already been signing at Franks a few months ago, and I had missed him then.



Well, as I made my way to the exits, I pass by the signing area and there he was! Ed Gale, the actor from HOWARD THE DUCK! I hadn't seen the film but once, back when it was released in 1986. The film was finally released on DVD a few months ago, complete with special features, which included Mr. Gale talking about working in the Howard suit. As long-time readers of this blog know, I'm a real big fan of the Steve Gerber's Howard the Duck comic. Upon watching the DVD, I actually liked it more than I did back in 1986. I think now I looked at it more as an appreciation for the film as it's own entity, rather than a (back in the 80s) misfired attempt at adapting the comic. It's a silly, irreverant flick with a talking duck, the cute rock-n-roll chick he's in love with, and the evil Overlord threatening to destroy the world....What's not to like about that?!

Yep, he signed it to "To Javier, Let's rock it! Howard T. Duck"!!

Ed was the actor hired to physically play Howard (voiced by Chip Zien), performing in what looked like a cumbersome suit, but deftly giving Howard his physical characteristics. Like many, I get off on my own 80s nostalgia kicks, and the film, with big haired Lea Thompson, FERRIS BUELLER'S Jeffrey Jones and music by Thomas Dolby, certainly screams 80s! What's cool about having an actual person performing in a duck suit is that it gives the character a real sense of being in the film, as opposed to one actor reacting to a CGI creation. Not that CGI technology was available back then, but nowadays Howard would be a high tech animated figure in the film.



I chatted with Ed briefly. He shared stories about working on the film, and how the slightest damage to the Howard heads would cause it to be ruined! We talked about the cost of indie films and the wasteful spending on the huge Hollwood movies, among other things. He's a nice guy, and very enthusiastic, and I'm glad I got a chance to meet him. It was real trippy, talking to Howard the Duck!

Steve Gerber 1947-2008

I've just learned that comic book writer Steve Gerber, creator of Howard the Duck and Omega the Unknown passed away on Sunday.

Steve had been suffering from pulmonary fibrosis, and had been writing about the process on his blog for some time. Mark Evanier has a testimonial to his friend over on his site his site. And Mark has been given permission by those close to Steve to log into Steve Gerber's blog. I recommend reading the posts their to get an idea of Steve's contributions to the industry.

As a kid in the 70s, I became a huge fan of Gerber's HOWARD THE DUCK, one of the most unusual Marvel Comics at the time. A talking Duck, with a sarcastic wit that would make Archie Bunker blush. Steve used a lot of social and political satire in the book, poking fun at us 'hairless apes' and the way we screw things up. As a 10 year old, I may not have even been aware of some of the satirical points he was making, but the book was so captivating to me that I still loved it. No doubt the amazing artwork by Gene Colan helped.

Lately, I've been on a big Howard trip. I even finally bought, after never owning one, a nice copy of HOWARD THE DUCK #1. Steve really was the first writer that taught me satire. This from a talking Duck, with a sexy, human, model as a girlfriend!


I'd like to share more thoughts on his writing, his influence and my huge affection for Howard the Duck. But tonight though, I miss Steve Gerber. Thank you Steve, for your great storytelling gifts, your professional impact, and for your unique insight.

God Bless.

Javier