Date: Sat, 4 May 1996 08:42:19 -0400 From: SRoweCanoe@aol.com To: dcomics@strindberg.ling.uu.se Subject: from Steven Rowe [...] Fredrik Ekman: >There is a very similar history behind the Marvel character Howard the Duck. Howard, like Arne, originally looked very much like Donald and his creator, Steve Gerber, admits to having been very influenced by Carl Barks. Everything was fine until Howard was published in Sweden. There the character was translated with the name Charlie Anka, which is VERY similar to the Swedish name for Donald Duck. Apparently, the Swedish publisher Hemmets Journal went directly to Disney, Disney sued Marvel and Marvel had to change the outer appearance of Howard.< The story circulated here in the USA, was that everything was fine, until the Howard the Duck newspaper strip. Disney complained, and Marvel changed the appearance to avoid a lawsuit. ====================================================================== Date: Mon, 6 May 1996 16:14:09 +0200 (MET DST) From: Fredrik Ekman To: dcomics@strindberg.ling.uu.se Subject: Howard the Duck Steve wrote: >The story circulated here in the USA, was that everything was fine, until >the Howard the Duck newspaper strip. Disney complained, and Marvel >changed the appearance to avoid a lawsuit. I'll have to check my old files before I can say for certain, but I have my information directly from Steve Gerber, and I vaguely recall him saying that the thing about the newspaper strip and some other story are just rumours. /F PS. Arthur: I will mail you the list as soon as I remember to bring the comic book with me to school. ====================================================================== Date: 07 May 96 09:13:11 EDT From: "Donald D. Markstein" <76443.2401@CompuServe.COM> To: Disney mailing list Subject: Junkville Journal FREDRIK EKMAN -- Howard the Duck was originally intended as a one-shot character, not a series. I doubt he would have looked quite so much like Donald if they'd known he was going to continue. [...]