Ali Blubber (Earth-78423, Howard the Duck foe)

ALI BLUBBER

Real Name: Ali Blubber (possible alias)

Identity/Class: Alternate reality (Earth-78423) human

Occupation: Criminal gang leader, owner of Ali Blubber's Weight Reducing Salon

Group Membership: Leader of the Fatty Thieves (Omar, Kyamm, others)

Affiliations: Ruby Valley Discotheque Au Go-Go, Karina Karima

Enemies: Howard the Duck, Beverly Switzler, CHICKEN (Agent 001/2, Thinbad, others)

Known Relatives: Unidentified father (deceased)

Aliases: Pasha of Plump, Emir of Enormity, Sultan of Swine, Laird of Lard

Base of Operations: S.S Ruby yacht in the Badgag dock district in Cleveland, Ohio

First Appearance: Howard the Duck Newspaper Strip (June 28th, 1978)

Powers/Abilities: Ali Blubber did not possess any known superhuman powers but he sure loved to eat.

Height: Unrevealed (5'6"; by approximation)
Weight: Unrevealed (350 lbs.; by approximation)
Eyes: Brown
Hair: Black

History:
(Howard the Duck Newspaper Strip - June to September, 1978 - BTS) - The criminal mobster calling himself Ali Blubber fancied himself as some type of Arabian Sultan and formed a gang he dubbed the Fatty Thieves and ran a small criminal enterprise onboard his boat the S.S Ruby based in Badgag in Cleveland's Arab District. He hid his base of operations from law enforcement by disguising it as a weight reducing salon and put Omar and Kyamm in charge of it. Life as a criminal sultan had been good for him as he had over time developed a food addiction and became grossly overweight due to years of inactivity and having others do his bidding. When he had learned about the Tuesday Ruby an experimental miniature neutron bomb designed to look like a large cut gemstone that was passing through his territory by a spy called Agent 001/2, he sent his top men Omar and Kyamm to steal it.

(Howard the Duck Newspaper Strip - June to September, 1978 - BTS) - Ali told Omar and Kyamm that he may have killed his father by toasting him within a toaster.

(Howard the Duck Newspaper Strip - June to September, 1978 - BTS) - Ali told Omar and Kyamm that he once poached a waiter in some cup-a-soup because he wasn't served his croutons on time.

(Howard the Duck Newspaper Strip - June to September, 1978 - BTS) - Rather than bringing the Tuesday Ruby back to CHICKEN, Agent 001/2 ended up trading it to Omar and Kyamm for a Star Wars card so he could complete his set. The Ruby was then taken aboard Blubber's yacht the S.S Ruby and locked within a safe.

(Howard the Duck Newspaper Strip - June to September, 1978) - Howard the Duck and Beverly were sent on a mission by CHICKEN, a mysterious American secret spy agency, to find and safely return the Tuesday Ruby to them and were joined by the bungling super spy Thinbad, an agent of CHICKEN who spoke with a lisp, to help them. Omar and Kyamm witnessed their arrival and reported back to Ali Blubber.

(Howard the Duck Newspaper Strip - June to September, 1978) - While enjoying a large meal, Omar and Kyamm told Ali that American agents sent Howard the Duck to find the stolen Tuesday Ruby and he angrily broke out in rhyme "I will roast that duck and eat him whole, and send him packing to parts unknown, then pick my teeth with his fowl bone." Kyamm said that the rhyme was "purdy" and Ali replied that he wrote it for Father's Day. He then went on about toasting his father in a toaster for missing his birthday. He then relayed to Omar and Kyamm that his doctor put him on a 2 million calorie a day diet that was not easy as he would end up out of food by lunch. Ali Blubber suddenly shrieked in terror after seeing his own shadow and momentarily believing it to have been an angry mob that was out to get him. Planning to use the Tuesday Ruby to blackmail nations or face annihilation, Ali Blubber later opened his safe only to discover that the Tuesday Ruby he stole was now stolen from him.

(Howard the Duck Newspaper Strip - June to September, 1978) - Ali Blubber ordered Omar and Kyamm to kill the infidel duck Howard and Beverly who were nearing the docks by shooting at them from a helicopter. Escaping by jumping into a nearby river and tumbling down a nearby waterfall, Beverly was captured but Howard managed to elude them and thought she was dead when she did not show up down stream with him.

(Howard the Duck Newspaper Strip - June to September, 1978) - Ali Blubber and his Fatty Thieves captured Thinbad and Howard when they attempted to sneak aboard his yacht and Ali Blubber threatened to cook them if he did not cooperate in recovering the lost Tuesday Ruby. He then restrained Thinbad and Howard inside a couple of fat reducing steam cabinets to slowly die unless Howard (whom he thought had the Tuesday Ruby) did not disclose where the explosive gemstone was. After being refused to divulge its location, Howard and Thinbad were left to die but they managed to escape when Howard used his cigar's smoke to set off the emergency fire sprinklers. Ali Blubber took Beverly to his slave auction to sell her where she was sold for 2000 Romlats (what is this?) to the Ruby Valley Discotheque Au Go-Go in Badgag. Howard and Thinbad (disguised as women) boarded a truck loaded with a harem of Ali Blubber's women whom he sold at his auction and then snuck into the club.

(Howard the Duck Newspaper Strip - June to September, 1978) - Ali Blubber, Omar and Kyamm sat themselves at a table in the Ruby Valley Discotheque Au Go-Go and watched the opening act featuring Karina Karima and her new back-up dancers (Howard and Thinbad) the Ruby Peelers. The owner of the club, finding a new star attraction in Beverly, later ordered Karima to hand over the ruby so Beverly could wear it. Angry for being replaced as the club's headliner and aware of the gemstone's true nature, Karima approached Ali Blubber and told him about where he could find the Tuesday Ruby.

(Howard the Duck Newspaper Strip - June to September, 1978) - Howard and Ali discovered Beverly was alive but under hypnosis attempted to rescue her and also realized that she was wearing the Tuesday Ruby. The three fled the club but were chased by Ali Blubber and his men Omar and Kyamm. During the chaos, Howard primed the explosive device and tossed it. The following explosion, although causing tremendous destruction, only rendered Ali Blubber and his men unconscious and trapped in garbage cans that they had used to shield themselves from the explosion.

Comments: Created by Marv Wolfman and Alan Kupperberg.

Ali Blubber had a fake business called Ali Blubber's Weight reducing salon. Not stated in the story, women who attended his salon were likely his source of his harem girls he would hypnotise and eventually sell at his auctions.

I could not find anything about what type of currency a Romlat was, but this word is middle eastern in origin.

Fitting into the story's Arabic theme, Karina Karima was likely based off the 1928 blues song Corinna Corrina by Bo Carter. A version of this song was released by a group called the Mississippi Sheiks that changed the title to Sweet Alberta along with substituting the songs' lines Corinna, Corinna to Sweet Alberta as well. Also, this song became hit in the 1960's by Ray Petersen who sang it once live at the Hollywood A Go-Go that was a Los Angeles based variety show in 1964 and became a national syndicated TV program in 1965-1966. The Ruby Valley Discotheque Au Go-Go was most likely a parody of this.

Ali Blubber had some sort of food fetish and often did away with his enemies or incompetent employees by threatening to, or actually cook them in some sort of food related dish. It is unknown if he ate them afterwards, but he seemed to eat most foods that were presented before him by his servants.

Although not stated in the story, Ali Blubber possessed the Tuesday Ruby and was later stolen from his locked safe on his yacht and nobody was ever implicated. It was likely that Karina Karima had once been one of Ali Blubber's harem girls and stole it before being sold to the Ruby Valley Discotheque Au Go-Go.

Profile by AvatarWarlord.

CLARIFICATIONS:
Ali Blubber has no known connections to:

Ali Baba, anti-mutant Human rights organization @ X-Treme X-Men Annual 2001/2
Or any other character named Ali or Blubber.

Omar and Kyamm have no known connections to:

Omar Khayyam, a Persian astronomer, mathematician, and poet 1048 – 1138 AD
or any other character with a similar name

Omar and Kyamm

This pair of bumbling crooks were members of the Ali Blubber's Fatty Thieves and ran his secret base of operations behind the fake business Ali Blubber's Weight Reducing Salon. Ali Blubber sent them to steal the Tuesday Ruby from an American secret agent 001/2 from CHICKEN who legally traded it for a rare Star Wars card to complete his collection. They also witnessed the arrival of Howard the Duck and Beverly who were sent by CHICKEN to locate the Tuesday Ruby with the help of Thinbad. Ali Blubber then ordered Omar and Kyamm to kill the infidel duck Howard and Beverly who were nearing the docks by shooting at them from a helicopter. Escaping by jumping into a nearby river and tumbling down a nearby waterfall, Beverly was captured but Howard managed to elude them and thought she was dead when she did not show up down stream with him. They later captured Howard and Thinbad who attempted to sneak aboard the S.S Ruby yacht and they restrained them inside a pair of steam weight reducing cabinets. After Beverly was sold at Ali's harem auction to the Ruby Valley Discotheque Au Go-Go, Omar and Kyamm went with Ali Blubber to attend the dance club's new acts. After Karina Karima told Ali Blubber where to find the Tuesday Ruby, he told Omar and Kyamm to eliminate her, but the trio ran off to chase Howard who managed to rescue Beverly and the Tuesday Ruby. Howard primed the explosive device and tossed it. The following explosion, although causing tremendous destruction, only rendered Ali Blubber and his men unconscious and trapped in garbage cans that they had used to shield themselves from the explosion.

Omar was big and clean cut and not that bright while Kyamm was the smaller one who seemed to take the lead on most of their missions.