Andy wrote:I like how Steve Gerber drew him better. But I am going to give the new Omega the Unknown book a try.
Steve Gerber was the writer and creator of Howard. Val Mayerik was the artist, though I associate Howard more with Gene Colan. I believe Michael Golden did an excellent fill-in issue as well.
Howard the Duck #1 was the first comic that I heard of that had an immediate sell-through on the stands, that is it was sold out at the retail level as well as the publishers. Copies were going for as much as $5 the week after it was released. This was way before the speculators came into the comics market.
Steve tried to get the rights of Howard back from Marvel. This incurred a lot of legal fees. As a fund raiser, Eclipse published Destroyer Duck with a lead story by Steve and Jack Kirby. It also featured a short back-up story by Sergio Aragones called Groo the Wanderer.
Steve and Gene Colan later came up with another funny animal character named Stewart the Rat, which was never as popular as the Duck.
And don't forget the Howard the Duck movie (though George Lucas wishes you would).