Friday, January 22, 2016

Howard the Duck with Balloon Shoulder Launcher


Fowl with Non-Lethal Weapon:

The kids found "Howard the Duck Vol 1: What the Duck?" by Chip Zdarsky, art by Joe Quinones, very amusing.

Their only significant previous exposure to the Howard character was the short post cameo in The Guardians of the Galaxy. They were mercifully unaware of the outstandingly horrible 1986 movie "Howard the Duck." (Arguably the first Marvel movie, it was produced by George Lucas, but reliably turns up on many lists of the worst movies of all time.)

 Zdarsky and Quinones's 2015 comic reboot, however, has just the right sort of snarky tone and dozens of jokes about other characters in the Marvel universe.

One of the kids' favorite moments in the comic involved a Punisher impersonator who uses a gun made out of twisty animal balloons to deadly effect. We've had several birthday parties over the last few years featuring balloon twisting.  Through the magic of Youtube videos, I learned how to make enough balloon things to keep a room full of 7 and/or 12 year olds entertained (and several adults very annoyed).  While I have fabricated an endless amount of balloon swords, I somehow resisted ever making any balloon guns.

Of course, what they really wanted all along was a balloon gun...or a shoulder mounted rocket launcher...

The kids were relatively satisfied with my balloon design on this napkin, but were not impressed with my interpretation of Howard with a slightly more realistic duck head.

Below: Howard in four incarnations, from top to bottom, by Joe Quinones, in the 1986 movie (that's Tim Robbins there on the right), at the end of Guardians of the Galaxy, and in an earlier, more Donald Duck-like comic version.



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