Steve Gerber and Val Mayerik's Howard the Duck is a tough nut to quack. The character has fallen fowl of ownership disputes in the past, and had to duck-and-cover after the disastrous 1986 movie. He's ruffled few feathers since, but really got audiences pond-ering a return after just a poultry post-credit cameo in Guardians Of The Galaxy.

No doubt egged on by the warm reception for Ryan North and Erica Henderson's forthcoming Unbeatable Squirrel Girl, Marvel has doubled down with another comedy book, an all-new Howard the Duck series, with Chip Zdarsky and Joe Quinones billed as the plucky creators. This begs the question; waddle Marvel do next?

The new Howard series was announced Friday morning by Entertainment Weekly. Zdarsky told EW:

"I love the contrast of Howard against both the normal world of us hairless apes and the weird worlds of Man-Things and Dr. Stranges and Spider-Mans. Cause he doesn’t fit into either, really. I’m just going to continue exploring those contrasts, but my ultimate goal is to make it funny. Marvel has taken chances on funny books and injecting humor into superhero titles, so I want to make sure this is worth some chuckles here and there. God, I’m picturing the reviews now: 'Some chuckles here and there.' Shoot for the stars, Chip!"

Zdarsky will write the book, with Quinones on pencils -- the title shouldn't impact on Zdarsky's own penciling work for his creator-owned Sex Criminals with Matt Fraction. Quinones is a superb humor artist and a Best Art Ever favorite here at ComicsAlliance, and he's offering his own take on Mayerik's design for Howard:

"I knew I wanted to disassociate his look a bit from being a literal cartoon duck, like Daffy or Donald, and instead into a sort of middle ground. Obviously I’m cartooning him here, but I wanted Howard to get away from the giant cartoon eyes. Howard should be able to sit in the same panel as Rocket Raccoon or Spider-man, and not have it look like Who Framed Roger Rabbit. He’s not from Toon Town. He’s just [a] talking duck in a suit. That’s doing most of the work for you already."

Zdarsky and Quinones are an excellent match-up, both for each other and for the tone of weird, subversive humor that a Howard the Duck book demands, and the book should offer a perfect complement to North and Henderson's Squirrel Girl.

No word yet on whether we'll get to see Zdarsky's Giant-Sized Man-Thing.

See some exclusively Entertainment Weekly-watermarked images from Entertainment Weekly below, courtesy of Entertainment Weekly. Howard the Duck #1 is available online and in stores March 4, 2015, and if you're asking yourself, "muscovy read this?", the answer is yes, you musc.

 

Chip Zdarsky
Chip Zdarsky
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Joe Quinones
Joe Quinones
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Joe Quinones
Joe Quinones
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