Howard The Duck Holiday Special # 1
Writer: Larry Hama
Penciller: Pascual Ferry
Inkers: Jaime Mendoza & Hack Shack Studios
Colorist: Joe Rosas
Letterer: Jon Babcock
Cover Date; February 1997
Rating: 
This week I’ll wrap up my review of holiday comics by looking at The Howard The Duck Holiday Special # 1 from the late ’90s. Aside from a few appearances here and there, Howard wasn’t seen much in the era that gave us AOL, Surge, and Bill Clinton so it was a surprise that Marvel greenlit the special because I feel as if the comic book audience at the time needed some cheering up after having to endure the “Onslaught” event from the X-Men titles and the never-ending sequel to the Clone Saga that almost ruined Spider-Man. Now without further adieu, let’s check out Howard’s Christmas shall we……?!
When Howard gets a job as a department store Santa while getting harassed by a Judge Dredd knockoff who accuses him of copyright infringement, he doesn’t expect to find a half-dead elf crammed down a chimney! But before he croaks, the elf lets loose a shocker: Hydra has taken over the North Pole! Now the Dauntless Duck, along with his girl Beverly Switzler must spearhead a covert attack to rescue the real Santa! If you were expecting a warm and fuzzy Christmas story with a talking duck to get you in the holiday spirit, then this is not the story for you. Larry Hama is the best at what he does (Writing stellar G.I. Joe and Wolverine stories), but he manages to take every comedic element at his disposal and throw it into his script so that it can accompany the chaotic tone he puts into play and while some aspect will have you chuckling, most of Hama’s script tends to go off the rails that keep anyone from enjoying this story; Pascual Ferry’s artwork, however, is simply memorizing and is by far the only main attraction for this special.
This special, in its own weird way, brought out the best in the holiday season but the comedy really felt hit or miss, almost like a cross between a Ben Stiller movie with a Farrelly Brothers script that sounds like a great idea but falls apart when you actually see the results. It would have been great if Marvel brought in Steve Gerber to write this, but the fact that this special exists is living proof that it’s another bizarre entry in the life of Howard The Duck; At least most of Howard’s fans will look back at the 1986 George Lucas-produced film with fondness after reading this but it’s up to the readers to decided if that’s a good thing or not.
Well, that’s it for me this week. I’ll be back with another review so thanks for sticking around and I will see you all next time.
About Author
