While the world’s greatest super heroes fight to save New York City – and possibly America and parts of Canada – Howard and Tara Tam learn a lot about each other, and themselves. Communication is key in life. Be inquisitive about the people you surround yourself with.

When I first saw the first issue of this comic on the shelves five or so months ago, I was fairly confident that I was going to ignore it.

I didn’t.

On impulse, I leafed through the first few pages, and knew that I’d be adding the book to my pull list. Chip Zdarsky has written a comic that is willing to take a poke not only at itself, but at the Marvel Universe as a whole. There are tongue in cheek jabs at everything from interstellar travel times to typical comic book conventions such as the recap page that make everything from the front cover to the very last page worth reading.

I’m an unashamed fan of this series, and I’ve been singing it’s praises since the first issue. It’s one of the highlights of my pull list every month, and I’ve really enjoyed Howard‘s almost irreverent treatment of some of Marvel‘s biggest names in the series so far. Chip Zdarsky has a great grasp on how to write characters that appear briefly in each issue that captures a caricature of their personalities without feeling as though he’s disrespecting them. Joe Quinones artwork continues to shine in this issue, his pencils giving a sense of innocent simplicity to the series that works very well with how the writing distances itself somewhat from the overarching Marvel Universe  story lines going on right now.

When November comes, Howard will return with the same creative team and a new #1, but this final issue caps the current run with such an excellent comic book that it’s hard not to laugh as you read through the issue. Will it make much sense if you haven’t read the other four issues? Probably, even if you certainly won’t be all that familiar with the story up until this point, you should still be able to enjoy Howard The Duck #5 for the almost Anti-Marvel comic that it’s pretending to be. Chip Zdarsky pokes more fun at the Marvel Universe with this issue than in many of the previous ones, and I love every moment of it (especially the last page). The climactic battle for New York (and maybe some other places) that’s hinted at on the front cover is spectacular. I’ve not enjoyed a comic book fight this much in years. I won’t tell you why, because that’ll ruin some of the enjoyment for you, but I will let you know that I’ve a new appreciation for a certain maneuver popularized by Wolverine and Colossus.

Amidst all the zany antics that Howard and Tara find themselves in this issue, there is still a poignant reminder that it doesn’t matter what you look like, it doesn’t matter where you’re from, we’re all in this together.

If all that wasn’t enough to encourage you to think about picking Howard The Duck #5 up, the this retailer note from Marvel’s preview page probably won’t help, either.

Story: Chip Zdarsky Art: Joe Quinones
Story: 10 Art: 9.5 Overall: 9.75 Recommendation: Buy