Issue(s): Howard the Duck #9
Cover Date: Feb 77
Title: "Scandal plucks duck"
Credits:
Steve Gerber - Writer
Gene Colan - Penciler
Stephen Leialoha - Inker

Review/plot:
Howard and Bev go to Canada to find out who sabotaged Howard's campaign. It turns out to be a bellboy whose brother was killed by a duck in Viet Nam and a super-patriotic Canadian beaver.

We also meet a Dudley Do Right type mountie.

Howard gets a headache and walks away in the middle of his fight with the beaver.

Despite the fact that it all seems so obvious (go to Canada, fight a mountie and a beaver) this was one of the funnier issues of this series.

Quality Rating: C+

Historical Significance Rating: 1

Chronological Placement Considerations: N/A

References: N/A

Crossover: N/A

Continuity Insert? N

My Reprint: Essential Howard the Duck vol. 1

"Slowly he turns" is a reference to the old Vaudeville "Niagara Falls" sketch, best known from the Three Stooges short "Gents Without Cents."

Hard to believe Le Beaver had no more appearances.

Le Beaver may be a bit of a spoof of Pierre Trudeau, who was very aggressive about improving his country's international profile and emphasizing the independence of Canadian foreign policy from that of the U.S.

I'm pretty sure Le Beaver started as an over-the-kid's-heads pun, and just grew from there, like Dr. Bong.