Cooking With Gas

Book: Howard the Duck

Issue No.: 28

Published: August 22, 1978

Title: “Cooking With Gas”

Cover Price: 35¢

Format: Original paper copy

When I saw this issue had a credited “guest plotter,” I (of course) immediately thought “fill-in issue!” Then I noticed a separate person was credited with “dialogue,” and I thought, “oh yeah, that’s weird, this is definitely a fill-in issue.”

But then I looked ahead a little bit (thanks, Fandom.com Marvel Wiki!) and found out the truth isn’t that simple. Basically, the regular writer on this book, the great Steve Gerber, was on his way out around this time. He’s the editor for this issue, the co-writer/editor of the next issue, and then he’s gone the issue after that. Then there’s one more Gerber-less issue to wrap up this series.

A few months after the series finale, Howard the Duck got a new book, when the Howard the Duck magazine launched in mid-1979. Putting Howard in a magazine makes sense, since Marvel’s magazines weren’t subject to the same censorship as their comic books. I’ve mentioned before that adult me loves Howard the Duck, but I suspect it would have went over my head if I’d tried to read it in 1978. So a magazine aimed at older readers seems like a good fit for Howard.

But I’m obviously getting ahead of myself. Despite the shakeup with the creative team, this is another entertaining, darkly humorous issue of Howard the Duck. The setup here revolves around a shady psychiatrist. Three different patients come in questioning their own sanity because of their encounter with a talking duck. We know that the talking duck is Howard, and that he’s real. Well, real in the world of the comic book. The psychiatrist doesn’t know that, so he decides that each patient is crazy and has them all sent off to a mental hospital.

The psychiatrist framing device lets the three patients narrate a typical Howard the Duck anti-authoritarian tale. This one involves the U.S. government pumping laughing gas into the sewer system — a “basic pacify-the-populace scam” as Howard puts it. The punchline of the story is that the psychiatrist finally sees Howard for himself. He then decides that he’s crazy, too.

On seeing the psychiatrist being carried away to the mental hospital, Howard’s friend Bev comments, “It’s a shame when shrinks go nuts, Ducky. What hope is there for the rest of us?” Howard replies, “Not much, kiddo... not much!”

Next time — Tars Tarkas of Mars!