Howard The Duck #5, page 8

Gene was initially worried that being assigned the Howard The Duck comic was a demotion to drawing funny animal stories for children... until he read Steve Gerber's scripts. “I enjoyed it, because Howard was the easiest thing to do, and it was such a chance to make things funny and lighten up a little bit,” Colan said. “I enjoyed humor, and Steve was so funny. I’d just sit there and laugh my head off just reading the script, and I’d call him and say so.”


I think it's time to talk about Steve Leialoha. Brothers and Sisters, can I testify to the glory of Steve Leialoha, and praise him for his mighty deeds; praise him according to his surpassing greatness? When the great artist pairings of comics history are duly reverenced, Brothers and Sisters, where are the trumpets, lutes and harps for Colan/Leialoha? Heed my words, and teach the children of Newsprint that they cannot apply themselves too diligently to the praises of Colan/Leialoha!


Steve Leialoha brought a sensitivity and finesse that was perfect for this book, and for about a year we had a dream team of Gerber/Colan/Leialoha working sympatico to bring us some quirky and wonderful stories. Here's to comics that fly under the radar of editors!


I might be misremembering... and there's not much tread left on the ol' cognitive tires, if you catch my frisbee... but I think that Steve Leialoha departed Howard The Duck to ink the initial Star Wars adaptation comics in 1977. I'm not saying this was a bad idea. I'm not saying that Leialoha didn't help those comics look great, too. I won't deny that the initial Star Wars comics were reprinted dozens and dozens of times, allowing Steve Leialoha to bask in opulent luxury hitherto unknown to comics artist trench workers, while Marvel waited almost 25 years to reprint Howard the Duck in an Essential TPB that went out of print a few weeks later. What I am saying is that Leialoha's departure from HTD still saddens me, and I take it as a personal affront.