The Ever-Lovin' Blue-EyedHOWARD the DUCK
(Reality-88011)
The Ever-Lovin' Blue-Eyed
HOWARD the DUCK
(Reality-88011)
Real Name: Howard; surname possibly Duckson
Identity/Class: Extradimensional / Alternate Reality (Earth-88011; see comments)
Occupation: Adventurer
Group Membership: Legion of Howards (Howard the Roboduck of
Earth-19171, Sister Howard the Duck of Earth-39251, the
Mjolnir-wielding Howard the Duck of Earth-20160, Duck-bill
costume wearing redheaded human woman Howard the Duck of Earth-89517 (presumably Beverly
Switzler?), Strangeduck of Earth-80118);
see comments
Affiliations: S.H.I.E.L.D. of Earth-616 (notably Leo Fitz and indirectly Jeremiah Warrick...and -- even less directly -- Phil Coulson);
Howard the Duck; (you know...not FROM -616, but lives there);
Known Relatives: Presumably the same as the "mainstream" Howard the Duck;
Base of Operations: Presumably mobile thoughout the universe of Reality-88011;
perhaps across realities on a regular basis in the Legion of Howards;
possibly formerly his native reality (see comments)
First Appearance:
Howard the Duck II#8 (November, 1980)
Powers/Abilities: Howard-88011 has some degree of superhuman strength and durability (granted by his rocky hide), presumably on par with a 40% size version of the Thing (Ben Grimm).
His increased mass presumably made his inability to swim even worse.
Height: Unrevealed; approximately 2'7" (based on height of Earth-616 dwelling Howard)
Weight: Unrevealed; approximately 90 lbs. (extrapolation based on height of Earth-616 dwelling Howard)
Eyes: Blue
Feathers: None; but likely formerly light yellow (almost
white...Howard has been shown with whiter feathers in his more recent
stories, perhaps further attempts to distance him from Donald Duck, or
maybe he's just getting old)
Unusual Features: Howard is a semi-humanoid duck, possessing
characteristics of both humans and ducks. He has a bill, but doesn't
appear to have webbed feet and certainly doesn't have wings.
History:
(Howard the Duck II#8 (fb) -
BTS) - Presumably at some point after arriving on the world of hairless
apes (see comments), Howard the Duck was mutated by cosmic rays into an orange and lumpy form...with blue eyes!
(S.H.I.E.L.D.III#10 (fb) - BTS) - Strangeduck helped form the Legion of Howards, a "cross-existential reality force" (group of alternate reality) Howard the Ducks that fought for "hyperjustice," including <at least> Howard the Roboduck of Earth-19171, Sister Howard the Duck of Earth-39251, the Mjolnir-wielding Howard the Duck of Earth-20160, and a Duck-bill costume wearing redheaded human woman Howard the Duck of Earth-89517 (presumably Beverly Switzler?), and Strangeduck of Earth-80118.
(S.H.I.E.L.D.III#10 (fb) - BTS) - The Legion of Howards did not invite the Howard the Duck active on Earth-616 because, well, you know...
For the rest of the profile, I'm going with the
616-dwelling Howard for conciseness/clarity/because I feel like it).
(S.H.I.E.L.D.III#10 (fb) - BTS)
- The Multiversal "Spider-Verse" conflict involving numerous alternate
reality Spider-beings fighting the spider-totem-eating Inheritors led
to progressive spatial anomalies that apparently threatened the entire
Multiverse.
After the "Zipper Unripper" was spat out by the chaos, Earth-616's S.H.I.E.L.D.
mystic agent Jeremiah Warrick determined that it could only be utilized
to mend the damage by a being from an alternate reality. It was
determined that Howard the Duck could be that being. 
(S.H.I.E.L.D.III#10 (fb) - BTS) - The Legion of Howards gathered to
oppose the threat of Ducanard of Earth-15110, who felt he was born to
create a perfect pate from the blended livers of one single duck who
existed in many forms across diverse realities.
(S.H.I.E.L.D.III#10 - BTS) - On Earth-616 Warrick and fellow agent Leo Fitz summoned (616-dwelling) Howard the Duck and informed him of his role, after which Warrick magically transported Howard to an alternate Earth (or perhaps a location where realities were crossing-over) to utilize the Zipper Unripper...and then he accidentally transported Fitz there as well.
(S.H.I.E.L.D.III#10 (fb) - BTS)
- Strangeduck informed the rest of the Legion that the 616-dwelling
Howard had the device needed to save their universes.
(S.H.I.E.L.D.III#10) - The Legion of Howards encountered the 616-dwelling Howard and Fitz and introduced themselves. When the 616-dwelling Howard questioned the Legion's story, asking why he had never been invited to join their group, the other Howards all looked away awkwardly (presumably preferring to avoid voicing something like, "because you're a jerk.").
(S.H.I.E.L.D.III#10) - As the Mjolnir-wielding Howard-20160 advised the 616-dwelling Howard
that he needed to use the tool he had been given to save all of their
universes, Ducanard suddenly impaled Howard-20160 with his long fork
deal, apparently killing him.
After Ducanard blew up Howard the Roboduck-19171, explained his motives (in French, but there were subtitles/translation boxes),
and wounded Fitz with his fork-deal, Fitz apparently modified pieces of
Roboduck into a weapon he used to blast and incapacitate Ducanard.
A blast from the giant Liverer
them apparently incinerated Ducanard. Seeing the giant, partially open
zipper/warp on the Liverer, the 616-dwelling Howard drew the Zipper Unripper, but the Liverer grabbed the 616-dwelling Howard,
causing him to drop the Unripper. However, Sister Howard grabbed
the Unripper and, with Fitz on her back, used it to grab the zipper and
pull it to reclose it.
Howard-89517 ("Bev") noted that it
was working and the zipper was closing, and she grabbed Fitz's foot and
helped pull; Strangeduck then grabbed Bev's foot, and the Ever-Lovin'
Blue-Eyed Howard/Thing/Duck-88011 grabbed Strangeduck's foot and held
Howard.
As the zipper approached closure, Fitz noted that
everyone was headed back to their proper realities and they had to stay
together if they wanted to end up back home.
(S.H.I.E.L.D.III#10 - BTS) - Glimpsing and considering multiple other realities, the 616-dwelling Howard nonetheless completed the zipper's closure and returned to Earth-616 with Fitz.
Warrick noted that the Multiversal anomaly had vanished a second before Howard and Fitz had reappeared.
The Ever-Lovin' Blue-Eyed Howard was presumably returned to Earth-88011.
Comments: Created by Dave Sim.
The inside front cover of Howard the Duck magazine#8 had a featurettedone
by Cerebus-creator Dave Sims that had Howard musing to Bev (some
pillow talk) about how life might be different if he had
super-powers...he commented to the effect of his being on Earth might
allow him to get powers like so many on that world seemed to have.
He seemed to be at-least partially motivated to want to
be able to punish anyone who annoyed him by pointing out..."You're a
duck!"
Regardless, in the infinite Multiverse, every
reality exists, and a daydream can be considered a glimpse into the
reality that mirrors it...
And then a cool writer like Mark Waid might just confirm this...
The Ever-Lovin' Blue-Eyed Howard
the Duck's appearances to date SEEMED (to me) to have consisted of a
single reference...not even a lousy picture, for criminy's sake!...and
I had originally just profiled "Thing-Duck" as a sub-profile under "Duck-Thing"-11880....
And then it (they) hit me. A pair of e-mails of from HBK123
In reviewing the page in Howard the Duck II#8, based on
discussion of other powers/forms he could possess since he was active on a world rife with superhumans, Howard presumably
diverged after leaving his native
world (like Kang the Conqueror), meaning Earth-88011 is a reality where
Howard the Duck arrived in humanoid duck form before being mutated...so his native reality isn't changed.
But, of course,
Howard's home is complex anyway, as he was native to Earth-47920, but then the
reality warp with Chireep overlapped his reality with Duckworld/"Earth-791021." Don't get me started...
Or, perhaps
While Howard-88011 is clearly patterned after the Thing (Ben Grimm),
the fact that he has an "H" on his belt, rather than a "4" makes it
questionable whether he is part of any Fantastic Four-type group in the
reality in which he dwells.
Then again, Sister Howard the Duck demonstrated stretching powers...things that make you go "Hmmmm..."
As the Thing calls himself the "idol of millions," perhaps Howard-88011 was the "idol of dozens"?
Or maybe "idol of mallards"--Loki
The Thing says "What a revoltin' development!", so Howard-88011 says, "What a remoultin' development...", continuing the bird-jokes, as birds molt (or moult) by shedding old feathers to make way for new growth.
While
most Howards have brown eyes, Howard-88011 obviously has blue
eyes...perhaps the "it" in the song "Brown Eyes Blue" ("Don't it make
my brown eyes blue?") is cosmic rays?
Profile by Snood.
CLARIFICATIONS:
The Ever-Lovin' Blue-Eyed Howard the Duck should be distinguished from:
images: (without ads)
Howard the Duck II#8, inside cover, panel 2 (black and white image);
SHIELD #10, pg. 9 (upper body; main image);
pg. 11 (face close-up);
pg. 18, panel 1 (mostly full, shows legs, but somewhat...tangential?);
panel 2 (Howard-chain on zipper
Appearances:
Howard the Duck II#8 (November, 1980) - Dave Sim (writer/artist), (Lynn Graeme (editor)
S.H.I.E.L.D.III#10 (November, 2015) - Mark Waid (writer), Evan "Doc"
Shaner (artist) Jon Moisan (assistant editor), Tom Brevoort (editor)
First posted: (As sub-profile) 08/01/2020; (as full profile) 08/07/2020
Last updated: 08/22/2020
Any Additions/Corrections? please let me know.
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