How Walt Disney Forced Howard the Duck to Wear Pants!

CBR

By Brian Cronin

Published Feb 29, 2020

In their latest look at creators talking about comics, CSBG shows how Walt Disney forced Howard the Duck to wear pants!

In Meta-Messages, I explore the context behind (using reader danjack's term) "meta-messages." A meta-message is where a comic book creator comments on/references the work of another comic book/comic book creator (or sometimes even themselves) in their comic. Each time around, I'll give you the context behind one such "meta-message."

Today, we look at how Walt Disney forced Howard the Duck to wear pants in an issue of the Howard the Duck magazine!

This issue could be featured under SO MANY different features, but I settled on Meta-Messages. I thought of this issue when I was doing a recent piece about how Walt Disney parodies have been such a common trope in comics over the years. There was one Walt Disney parody that I thought I needed to spotlight on his own, since it was such an important issue for another reason.

Many moons ago, I wrote a Comic Book Legends Revealed about how Walt Disney threatened to sue Marvel Comics over Howard the Duck, which Disney believed was too similar in appearance to Donald Duck. Part of the deal was that Marvel had to agree to a design submitted by Disney, which most notably involved Howard now wearing pants (unlike the famously pants-less Donald Duck).

Marvel agreed and then Bill Mantlo, Gene Colan and Klaus Janson had to a story in Howard the Duck (the magazine) #2 in 1979 to explain Howard's new look.

In the opening story of the issue, Howard and Beverley are accosted by a protest over "Pet Decency," as people are now insisting that animals wear pants, Howard included.

Things devolve into a riot and so Howard and Bev are on the run when they are given shelter in a clothing store, but Wally Sidney reveals that HE'S actually behind it all!

You see, Sidney had invented a cartoon character (Mickey Mouse, clearly) and was laughed out of the room because animals don't wear pants. So he started a clothing empire instead...

But the modern fashion designs have made it so that his conservative clothing is now no longer selling...

So his plan is to convince people to have animals wear clothes! And he'll obviously sell those clothes. He essentially forces Howard to agree to wear pants.

They look through some different outfits (one of which makes Howard look like Donald Duck literally) until Howard has a new outfit, complete with pants.