I think we can thank Guardians of the Galaxy for this one.
In the brief post-credits scene in that film, Steve Gerber and Val Mayerick’s Howard the Duck made his first cinematic appearance since the ill-fated Howard the Duck movie in 1986. And this time, audiences actually enjoyed seeing the talking duck onscreen.
Marvel is capitalizing on Howard’s renewed popularity by relaunching Howard the Duck as an ongoing comic book series by writer Chip Zdarsky and artist Joe Quinones. The announcement was made at Entertainment Weekly, where Zdarsky teased the new direction for Howard, which finds him reinventing himself as a private detective.
“He’s an everyman who happens to be a duck,” explained Zdarsky. “He’s angry, exasperated, and he’s had it up to here with the world around him, but he’s trapped here! Infinitely relatable! I love the contrast of Howard against both the normal world of us hairless apes and the weird worlds of Man-Things and Dr. Stranges and Spider-Mans. Cause he doesn’t fit into either, really.”
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“ I’m just going to continue exploring those contrasts,” continued Zdarsky. “But my ultimate goal is to make it funny. Marvel has taken chances on funny books and injecting humor into superhero titles, so I want to make sure this is worth some chuckles here and there. God, I’m picturing the reviews now: ‘Some chuckles here and there.’ Shoot for the stars, Chip!”
Howard the Duck # 1 will be released in March 2015.
