Howard The Duck’s run for President was an event. It was accompanied by blurbs on the Bullpen Bulletins page of other series, merch sales, and all kinds of hype. The comics themselves don’t warrant that kind of attention, but as high concept, this is great stuff.
Interesting note about merch: Steve Gerber sold his own promotional buttons–without Marvel sanction. Marvel was smart enough to let him and not sue. Much later, of course, they’d get into a bitter war over the character, leading Gerber to move on independently and create Destroyer Duck–a satirical character of a satirical character.
And how about that slogan: Get Down America! Should have been the 2020 slogan for Biden.
Technically, the run began in issue #7, but #8 is the main story. It starts with an assassination attempt.
Obviously, he attracts a lot of negative attention–some “real life” candidates like Jimmy Carter appear in the book–and it’s a fake scandal that eventually ends his run. (Shades of Gary Hart.). Before that, though, there’s a campaign ad…
Issue #9 is the hunt for who was behind the fake scandal, and it was a Canadian man-beaver.
Issues #10-12 have Howard the Duck wondering, in the aftermath of his failed campaign, what is his purpose for living.
It’s a dream story featuring a bunch of guest-stars who don’t actually appear (they’re dreams–so they’re not tagged for this post), and it ends with him being committed to a mental institution, where he meets the Knights In Service of Satan.
And then decides that, lacking his own true purpose, he’ll take on that of Son of Satan.
He’s actually possessed, and Daimon Hellstrom has to exorcise the demon. From there, Howard is sane again.
All of this makes sense, given that the first issue of this series shows Howard contemplating suicide. It’s very mature themes–and very mature writing. The use of Howard is supposed to make it absurd or more accessible to readers, but I find it does the opposite. It makes it less impactful.
But I am a big fan of Steve Gerber. Even when his hits don’t land right, it’s fascinating to watch the attempt.