New Howard The Duck Series

Over on Marvel editor Tom Brevoort’s blog, a previously unannounced “Howard the Duck” series was revealed, via the preview page mirrored to the left. If this series is as good as his recent appearance in Civil War: Choosing Sides, it may actually be an interesting read, though the art definitely looks a bit different.

It’s worth mentioning that this is maybe the third time in the last 10 years that Marvel’s tried a Howard the Duck revival… But that this time they may be doing it without original creator Steve Gerber in the mix. At the moment, this page is all we know about the series, but if you’re interested in a quick-n-dirty version of Steve Gerber’s sordid past with Marvel, Tom Brevoort, and creator rights, then read on after the jump.


Steve Gerber was one of the big names at Marvel in the 1970’s. He had a successful run on The Defenders, and the Guardians of the Galaxy; and he created Man-Thing, Howard the Duck, Foolkiller, and the Omega the Unknown. Ironic name, now that I think about it, as I’d never heard of the character prior to the recent excitement over it. Omega the Unknown, that is.

If you want to research the matter yourself, you can find an insane wealth of information regarding creator rights (and the struggle with Marvel and DC regarding them), but one of the more prominent individuals in this fight throughout the past few decades is Steve Gerber. He fought long and bitterly with Marvel regarding Howard the Duck, but in 2001, Marvel and Gerber seemed to be getting along again, when he was wooed back to write a Howard the Duck mini for their MAX line.

However, he recently took up the torch again regarding Omega the Unknown. The book clearly meant a lot to the man, and when Marvel announced about a year ago that they were re-launching it, he completely lost his temper, saying “the writer of the (new) book has made an enemy for life.” You can read a much calmer, more reserved speech by the man here, which he wrote after calming a bit. The sparks haven’t flown lately, but I imagine that’s because there hasn’t been much news regarding this book lately.

With this news breaking, however, I think we can expect to see Steve Gerber rise up again, as he’s stated that the two creations of his that mean the most to him (at least from that time period) are Omega the Unknown and Howard the Duck. Tom Brevoort surely must have considered this, especially considering Brevoort’s recent Steve Gerber/Howard the Duck anecdote, telling how dealing with the two made for the worst mistake he ever made working in comics. This took place in the mid-90’s when Marvel was working a Duck revival, and Gerber was brought on board to write an issue of Marvel Team-Up. It’s elaborate, but it resulted in him trying to take back control of the character via a dimension hopping mess. It’s difficult to explain.

Brevoort said it “embittered (him) to the point to where (he) won’t even work with the guy involved.” Gerber apologized on his blog after the story was brought to his attention, but Brevoort never openly responded to it. So this means that either the two buried the hatchet and Gerber was brought on board for this… or that maybe this in itself is Brevoort’s response.

Either way, I imagine we’ll have a lot to hear from Gerber on this soon – whether it be in form of celebratory interviews, or with him angrily cursing Marvel out.