Fifty years after the fact, I’m not sure exactly what my sixteen-year-old self expected to find behind Gil Kane and Ernie Chan’s excellent cover for Fear #19, back in September, 1973. A straight-up sword-and-sorcery yarn? That was certainly possible. After all, if there was one thing that writer Steve Gerber had demonstrated in his run on the “Man-Thing” feature, it was a willingness to confound genre-based expectations. His previous efforts had ranged from the traditional, demon-haunted horror of Fear #11 to the Superman parody of #17, and from the relatively realistic one-off melodramas of #12, #16, and #18 to the surreal, almost absurdist fantasy of #13-15’s “Thog” trilogy. If I’d had to choose which of all those antecedents issue #19’s story would most closely resemble, I’d probably have gone with the last one listed — and I’d have been right.
Still, even if I had guessed correctly about that, I’m quite certain that I would never have expected to finish the comic having made the acquaintance of an anthropomorphic talking waterfowl named (though not in this issue) Howard… though, of course, that’s exactly what happened, thank the dogs (err, I mean the gods. Or do I?).
Penciller Val Mayerik, who’d come on board the series two issues after Gerber, hadn’t been especially well-served by the inkers assigned to finish his work, and that problem continues with this issue. Sal Trapani had actually gotten off to a fairly decent start with #16 (at least in my opinion), but by this story he’d taken to embellishing with a heavy, solid line quite at odds with Mayerik’s more delicate and feathery approach to rendering.
The appearance of Florida teenager (and would-be sorceress) Jennifer Kale in her “Zhered-Na” regalia indicates that we are indeed reading a sequel to the aforementioned Thog Trilogy.
“Another nutty nightmare,” indeed. At the conclusion of issue #15, the powerful sorcerous energies contained within the swamp adjoining the Kales’ town of Citrusville were supposed to have been put to rest. At least, that’s what Jennifer’s grandfather Joshua (leader of the esoteric Cult of Zhered-Na, and a bona fide sorcerer) had believed. But construction work for a new airport to be built in the middle of the swamp may have disturbed those forces anew; and, as had been shown in the last couple of issues, Jennifer — whose psychic bond with the Man-Thing was supposed to have been terminated by the suppression of the swamp’s magical energies — has been having more and more bad dreams, to the extent that Joshua fears for her sanity.
After he manages to calm Jennifer down, Joshua heads downstairs to the kitchen, where he finds that his grandson Andy, having preceded him by several minutes, has used the time to make himself a sandwich. “Peanut butter! At this time of night, young man?” Grandpa Kale chides. “You’ll never get back to sleep.”
Hearing Jen’s screams, Joshua and Andy arrive in moments; and Korrek of Katharta decides that while he could certainly handle one, and maybe two “weirdly garbed workers of wizardry“, three might be pushing his luck — and so…
Remember Dakimh the Enchanter from issues #14 and #15? Something that I wasn’t aware of when I wrote my earlier blog post concerning those stories, but have since learned, is that Steve Gerber named this character after a friend and fellow writer, the late David Anthony Kraft; “Dakimh” is in fact an acronym for “David A. Kraft Is My Hero”. (I don’t know about you, but that leads me to wonder whether Gerber’s subsequent coinage “Dakkam” — the name of Wundarr’s home planet in Fear #17 — might have a similar story behind it. Hmm…)
This is, I believe, one of Marvel’s earliest takes on the “multiverse” concept (although the “m” word itself is never used).
Jennifer is keen to take Dakimh up on his offer — “I’ve wanted to study conjury for so long!” — and though her grandfather has his doubts about the wisdom of this course, he decides not to stand in her way. And so, the Enchanter casts his spell, and with a flash of light and a “ZOT” sound effect, he and his new apprentice vanish — leaving Andy Kale to muse ruefully, “How come I never get to save the world?”
“We are, after all, not a bright race — but we are strong!” That would probably have been my single favorite line in this issue — if not for a couple of even better ones that are about to arrive on the very next page…
In an interview conducted in 1976 for the fifteenth issue of Marvel’s official fan club magazine, FOOM, Steve Gerber was asked by the magazine’s editor — one David Anthony Kraft — how Howard the Duck was created. The author responded:
As a joke. It was the only sight gag I could think of to top Korrek jumping out of the jar of peanut butter in FEAR #19. I told Val to have a duck come waddling out of the bushes. I didn’t mention the cigar; the cigar was Val Mayerik’s creation. So was Howard’s clothing. I just told Val, “Don’t make him look too much like Donald, and for God’s sake, don’t dress him in a sailor suit.” Because I included Howard’s dialogue for that particular sequence of panels — “Clam up, buddy, you don’t know what absurdity is,” etc. — I think Val drew the kind of duck who might deliver that line. That’s where the cigar came from, and that’s where the kind of tacky suit and the rumpled hat came from, and the minute I saw it, without even knowing what the duck’s name was (we didn’t name him ’til next issue), I knew we had something more on our hands than just, y’know, a four panel gag or something. He was a very real character from the very beginning, and the easiest one of the characters in that whole sequence of bent-out-of-shape-reality stories to write. It was a good indication there was substance there.
Substance there was indeed… though it would take more time than one might imagine, in retrospect, before the potential of this new character would begin to be realized. But, we’ll have to defer further discussion about that topic to a later post…
Jennifer is hustled away and forced to enter the basket of an old-fashioned-looking hot air balloon; it quickly whisks her away towards parts unknown, as she wonders if Dakimh has truly betrayed her…
And that’s where we’ll have to leave things for now, faithful readers. I hope you’ll join me back here next month for my post about Man-Thing #1, in which we’ll find out more about the Congress of Realities, learn the identity of the mysterious Overmaster, and see Howard the Duck take the next big step towards his grand pop-culture destiny. (And if you don’t already know what I’m referring to there, well… let’s just say that that next step is a real doozy.)
Wow! I got the previous 3 issues of Fear, but, dang it, I missed this one! I did get the HtD Treasury edition which reprinted the portions of this and Man-Thing # 1 that featured Howard, however. I think this particular issue is where Gerber really begins to develop his reputation for being “out there”, conjuring up high levels of absurdity in otherwise “straight” comics, whether starring super-heroes or monsters like the Man-Thing. Even before this, he had a penchant for writing odd-ball things and his style was rather unique for a mainstream comics writer, but with Fear #19 is where he seems really unleashed. I love how he wrote Korrek — the not-too-bright but mightily muscled barbarian who sinks into despair when no matter what he does, he just can’t slay the muck-monster which isn’t even threatening but he attacks Manny anyhow simply because of his monstrous appearance and as a “man’s man” that’s what he’s supposed to do, but Manny simply takes the hacking and keeps on standing, silently mocking his efforts, albeit with no intention to. And then along comes our as-yet-unnamed duck, commanding Korrek to clam up! Yep, this is a “horror” comic taking on aspects of sword and sorcery, but not in the manner of Roy Thomas or any other comics writer. Not in 1973 or in any year since.
I can well understand why many comics readers who got this issue went nuts about Howard. For all his orneriness, he has an endearing spirit, plucked as he was into a mad world and trying to make the best of it. I can also sort of understand why Thomas ordered Gerber to get rid of “that duck” — I think Thomas had a serious outlook on how horror and sword & sorcery tales should be told, and including a talking, wise-cracking duck in the proceedings just did not fit the tone Thomas thought they should have. Which is true enough, for the most part. But over the last year, Gerber has been slyly, if likely unconsciously, creating his own Gerber-verse within Marvel, wherein such things do fit the overall tone. Clearly, Gerber loved these sort of fantasies as much as anyone else, but for the life of him, he couldn’t take them overly seriously. Hence, these various absurdist elements, which I loved. At least that’s my take.
Much enjoyed your overview of this latest chapter, Alan!
This was the first issue of Fear I bought (as opposed to read at the spinner rack).
I liked what Gerber was doing, but it was a bit inconsistant. The Kane/Chan cover might have been the selling point for this issue and then I followed the new Man-Thing book to the end.
Up to now, I had not known that David A, Kraft was a friend of Gerber. I had assumed he was tight with Thomas (who hired him) and Gerry Conway (whom he followed to DC), I also got the impression from some things Jim Shooter has written that he thought Kraft’s stuff was pretentious (“I couldm’t grok Star God.:”)
I suppose this might explain why Kraft’s Defenders work is so well remembered for being a fairly short run. He could have picked Gerber’s brain on why his run worked and might have been a sounding board for some of Gerber’s ideas on the book.
Kraft wrote a very minor thing that is one of my favorite comics: Secret Society of Supervillams #2. It reintroduced CPT Comet and really captured the note of alienation John Broome had evoked in his CPT Comet stories in Strange Adventures in the 1950s.
On Sal Trapani’s inking: 1) his sister was married to Dick Giordano; and 2( Trappani was known to be a pretty slow inker. I note that GCD credits Giordano as well on various Trapani jobs. (It was kind of a Giacoia/Giella situation.)
Great Post, as always.
Regarding Dakimh’s name, I think you meant ‘acronym’ rather than ‘anagram’.
Whoops! Thanks, fixing now.
Since I didn’t read horror comics back in the day, I never read this when it was new. If I had, I’m sure not I would have known what to make of it. Certainly, the story is absurd and Gerber is definitely trying to make a name for himself as one of the more creative voices in the Marvel Bullpen, but wow. There’s a lot to take in here.
I’m not sure how I would have reacted if I’d read this book in ’73. I had already broken ranks from the “fights and tights” crowd to read Conan and my introduction to Howard the Duck would come soon in the first issue of his own comic, so maybe I would have been ready for this level of weird…but maybe not. I think the main thing I would have found disappointing is that it’s Man-Thing’s book and dude is hardly in it, except as an interested observer. He doesn’t DO anything. The problem with a character that doesn’t speak–especially in a comic–is that his inability to communicate makes it difficult for him to engage his own story. We don’t know what Manny thinks about Jennifer or Dakimh or Korrek or anything that’s happening to him and that makes it really hard to root for him as a hero. In this story, he doesn’t even defend anyone; he just stands there and lets Korrek run him through, knowing it won’t hurt him. When you have a character that takes this passive a role in his own story, you have to surround him with characters who are able to engage and tell the story in question, which Gerber does here, but nothing they say gives us any insight into Man-Thing or what he’s experiencing. I don’t know if I would have found that frustrating in ’73, but I certainly find it frustrating in ’23.
As to the artwork, I’ve never been a big fan of Val Mayerik and Sal Trapani certainly doesn’t do him any favors here, burying the pencils under thick black lines and dark shadows. Where did the idea of having a separate penciller and inker come from, anyway? Is it supposed to make the process faster or more streamlined? It seems that by 1973, it did more harm than good, IMHO.
By the way, do we know WHY David Anthony Kraft is Steve Gerber’s hero? Is there a story there? Just curious…Thanks Alan, for another great trip down memory lane.
I didn’t read horror comics either (Swamp Thing never held my attention for long) and can’t tell you why I followed Man-Thing from the beginning. I’m just glad I did since the two Steves produced some of my favorite comics of that era!
I don’t think it’s any more complicated than the fact that the two (Gerber & DAK) were good friends. It seems DAK was one of Gerber’s earliest devoted fans and boosters. When you read the FOOM interviews Kraft had with Gerber, he was clearly immersed in Gerber’s work, and his Defenders run had a lot of Gerber flavor to it.
As I recall, I figured out pretty quickly that “Man-Thing” wasn’t “about” the former Ted Sallis in the way that “Swamp Thing” was “about” the former Alec Holland; the fact that there was little to no “rooting interest” involved in reading Manny’s stories never bothered me.
I thought Gerber aknowledged the fact that Man-Thing was a blank slate very effectively in his narration.
Ted Sallis had been a somewaht unemotional intellectual. Events transformed him into a being without intellect, who responds to the emotions of others,
Two stories Gerber did involved Sallis, Marvel-Two-In-One #1 (the team up with Ben Grimm, where Molicule Man briefly makes him Sallis) and “A Candle for St. Cloud in Man-Thing # 15, which keys on someone who Sallis cared for,
You get the idea there had never been much Ted Sallis there to begin with .. . . .
Man-Thing is very much a supporting character in his own book. Which works great when the “leads” are as interesting as here, but can fall flat on its face with the wrong character. Overall, more hits than misses though.
Man-Thing – come for the monster, stay for the absurdist fantasy and human interest.
This two-parter confused and entranced me as a 9 year old. I didn’t understand it, but it connected with me on some level that the other horror/monster comics didn’t. I grew to like and love the other books, but there was nothing else like this. With Dr. Strange, Captain Marvel and this, Marvel in 1973 was mind expanding for this young kid.
I never knew that Howard the Duck debuted in Fear #19. It is hilarious that Steve Gerber was pushing the boundaries of a swamp monster horror comic by having a Superman spoof in a prior issue, then having a Conan-type emerge into this dimension via a jar of peanut butter then, to too it off, having a talking duck emerge on the scene.
If I had been editor Roy Thomas at that time I might have seriously thought that Gerber was trying the sabotage the comic book, perhaps even having contempt for the material he was working on.
It is remarkable that Howard the Duck survived the two (?) issues of Fear that he was in. I first saw him in Giant Size Man-Thing #4, then his subsequent series. For mainstream U.S. comics it was nothing less than radical to have a “funny animal” character that was not strictly kiddie fare. Only underground comix like Fritz the Cat come to mind as an exception to the genre. Howard the Duck, by remaining within a Code-approved comic, really broke with convention.
I’m still amazed Steve Gerber wasn’t fired and the character wasn’t lost in his earliest appearances. Glad he wasn’t!
Correction: …then, to TOP it off…
P.S. It seems in some ways that the subsequent success of Howard the Duck paved the way for Dave Sim’s Cerebus the Aardvark (another “funny animal” in a world of humans and monsters which was anything but kiddie fare). Ironically, the success of Cerebus in turn led to Eastman & Laird’s Teenagr Mutant Ninja Turtles and Jeff Smith’s Bone (yes, I am aware that Cerebus and Turtles were initially parodies of BWS’ Conan and Frank Miller’s Ronin). All because of that silly duck Roy Thomas wanted Steve Gerber to write out of Man-Thing ASAP.
I think you can make a case for Ralph Bakshi;s adult cartoon of Fritz the Cat in1972 may have been one reason why this was done. https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0068612/?ref_=nm_flmg_t_30_dr. The “Funny Animal World” in Dakhm’s speech seems to have some influence from that,
That (X Rated back in the day) film might have made underground comics (and funny animals) more top of mind in pop culture.
Nice line early on, where Jennifer walks on a beam of light to “the spot where stands the thing from the swamp.”
Great stuff! I liked the fact that MAN-THING allowed Gerber to tell virtually any kind of story he wanted – a situation that is both liberating and intimidating.
I saw Gerber at conventions a few times back in the day, and I always respected the fact that he would go out of his way to credit Val Mayerik for the visuals of Howard. That’s why seeing both of them get credit at the end of the first GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY movie made me smile – and shed a little tear, since Gerber was the writer who kept the concept of the Guardians alive after the one-shot in the 1960s.
I never read Man-Thing, so I first learned about Howard the Duck when I got the first issue of his original series. It was a treat to see his first appearance here.