Spider-Man and Howard the Duck

While Spider-Man's main area of operations is New York City, the web-slinger has made several trips to Cleveland, and today we'll be looking at the two times he came to Cleveland and met a certain anthropomorphic duck named Howard. For those of you unfamiliar with the characters, Spider-Man is a masked hero whose uncle was killed early on in his career, resulting in the hero learning that with great power, there must come great responsibilty. In the years since, he's fought hundreds of enemies, appeared in thousands of comic books, and crossed over into movies, television shows, and even musicals. Howard the Duck, meanwhile, is a duck from an alternate reality who has become trapped on Earth due to cosmic magical events early on in his career. He spends most of his time trying to get back to his homeworld, or at least out of Cleveland. He had a movie made about him, and it was quite bad.

The pair first met in Howard the Duck #1 (Marvel Comics, 1976), though their meeting was brief. Most of the issue involved Howard, trapped in Cleveland, trying to commit suicide as it seemed to him like the best option. However, he stumbles upon a sorcerer who is hunting for a cosmic key and is forced to find the key... or else! Spider-Man, meanwhile, is sent to Cleveland by Jonah Jameson of the Daily Bugle in order to take pictures of "the duck who walks like a man!" The pair only meet towards the end, after Howard decides not to give the sorcerer the key and a battle ensues. During the battle, the Cuyahoga River gets set on fire and Spider-Man rescues Howard from falling into the burning river. While the pair would go on to meet several times, it would be almost twenty years before it happened in Cleveland again.

However, not all was as it seemed. During this period, a clone of Peter Parker named Ben Reilly had taken over as Spider-Man, and he had no recollection of Howard the Duck or Cleveland. However, Peter Parker was also along for the ride, and so both Spider-Men went to Cleveland to investigate the newest scheme of the Circus of Crime. Howard was also at the Circus on a date, and so he helped the Spider-Men dispatch the Circus of Crime in a battle which mainly featured the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum. This story also featured unofficial cameos from the Savage Dragon and Destroyer Duck, and was one of the last times Steve Gerber would write a story featuring one of his best-known characters.

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