Howard the Duck

Howard the Duck was a character created by Steve Gerber, debuting in Marvel Comics' Adventure into Fear #19 in 1973.

Gerber had lost the rights to his creation to Marvel, and in an effort to "take back" his creation, at least spiritually, he wrote an issue of a story with Howard for Marvel (Spider-Man Team-Up #5), and wrote a companion piece for Image - The Savage Dragon - Destroyer Duck issue 1. In this issue, Howard (steeped in shadow) is cloned, and while Officer Dragon and Destroyer Duck leave with the real Howard, Spider-Man leaves with one of the "soulless clones", who in essence becomes Marvel's Howard. Meanwhile, the real Howard goes into the witness protection program, dyeing his feathers and changing his name to Leonard.

Leonard later appears along with the in The Savage Dragon issue 41.