24 Years Ago, a Cult Marvel Character Finally Returned After Two Decades (And He’s Still Underrated)

It was 24 years ago that a cult favorite Marvel Comics character returned and got his own solo series for the first time in over 20 years. Marvel has a lot of characters, and there are certain times when someone ends up falling out of favor for one reason or another. Whether it is bad sales on a solo comic, or just complaints from fans, there are some characters that marvel shelbes for possibly years at a time before finally bringing them back out for a revival. However, for one Marvel cult favorite, it seems almost shocking that there was no series for them, even after appearing in a movie all their own in the 80s.

On January 23, 2002, Howard the Duck got his first solo series since 1981, and it was a welcome return for the cult favorite animal detective.

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Howard The Duck Returned 24 Years Ago After A Long Absense

Howard the Duck made his Marvel Comics debut in 1973 in Fear #19, a character who lived in an alternate universe where ducks were the intelligent lifeform, and the ducks in that world ended up like humans on Earth. However, he was whisked out of his home world by the demon-lord Thog the Nether-Spawn and ended up on Earth, where he found humans as the dominant life form, and he became an anomaly in the world. After this, he popped up in Man-Thing comics before getting his own series in 1976.

Howard the Duck ran for 32 issues and ended in 1979, although two special issues were released after this in 1986. Howard the Duck Vol. 2 then picked up in 1979 and ran for nine issues, ending in 1981. After this, Howard only popped up occasionally in other people’s comics, including several appearances in Sensational She-Hulk as a supporting character and appearances in Ghost Rider, Man-Thing, and Generation X.

However, his appearances were few and far between until 2002. In fact, he only appeared in a total of 27 comic book issues in the entire decade of the 1990s. This is even more shocking since Howard the Duck is one of the rare Marvel Comics characters to get his own movie, released in 1986. However, that movie’s failure might have something to do with his disappearance from comics, even though the film has since become a cult classic.

That all changed on January 23, 2002, when Howard the Duck roared back with Vol. 3 of his solo series, from the creative team of Steve Gerber and Phil Winslade. This was part of the Marvel MAX comic book line, and it offered a gritty and dark tone that plays out more like asatire than a regular comic book series. This was a six-issue miniseries that featured Howard and Beverly living together and Dr. Bong’s return as the villain. What resulted seemed to be a meditation on “work for hire” ideals, whether that is Steve Gerber as a work for hire for Marvel or God telling Howard he was a work for hire when he created humanity.

By the end of the miniseries, Howard was back in his regular life, but his character was once again popular. It was a smart idea to bring Steve Gerber back to Howard the Duck after his previous work on him in the 70s and 80s, and he helped homor the character while also making him into something different for a new generation. Howard was back in another series just two years later, and Marvel has used his character semi-regularly ever since.

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