ELTON BURKE

Real Name: Elton Burke  

Identity/Class: Human

Occupation: Former office worker

Group Membership: None

Affiliations: Howard the Duck, Amy Pope

Enemies: Mad Dog

Known Relatives: None

Aliases: None

Base of Operations: New York City, New York, USA

First Appearance: Howard the Duck I#19 (December, 1977)

Powers/Abilities: Elton Burke has no superhuman powers but when he is around his reluctant girlfriend Amy Pope, his feelings of love boost his self-confidence to the point in which he has no qualms with getting into fights with someone much larger than he is.

    Elton is prone to prolonged periods of waxing intellectual about his emotions and deep feelings in regards to women, especially those related to Amy Pope.

Height: Unrevealed (approximately 5'6")
Weight: Unrevealed (approximately 140 lbs)
Eyes: Blue
Hair: Blonde

History:
(Howard the Duck I#19 (fb) - BTS) - Elton Burke and Amy Pope worked at an office together but they were both laid off in the same budget cutback. Shortly after, Amy Pope started dating Elton in an effort to console him about the job loss but Elton quickly became smitten and emotionally attached to Amy, thinking of her as a sort of sounding board for his own reasoning and seeing women as the source of all truth in the world. As they continued dating, Elton's self-confidence grew.

(Howard the Duck I#19) - Elton and Amy were sitting in a coffee shop in New York's Port Authority when the derelict Mad Dog rampaged through the shop, angry that the shop worker wouldn't allow him to enter. When Amy suggested they move along, commenting that they were sitting in a combat zone, Elton dramatically proclaimed Amy's statements to be profound like her "sinewy yet feminine" hands. As Elton continued to caress her hands, Amy reminded Elton that he was not reading her but he insisted he was, noting that her words and gestures spoke to his inner-most longings and that her touch made him hope again. As Elton continued, claiming that he had been a broken man until Amy "resurrected" him, Mad Dog was knocked into the booth where Elton and Amy sat, interrupting Elton's attempts to bond with Amy. Elton then stood up from his chair and accused Mad Dog of being insane and interrupting his relating to Amy. When Mad Dog appeared uncaring, Elton became angry at the society that had produced Mad Dog and exclaimed that he wasn't going to take it anymore before punching Mad Dog through the glass window of the coffee shop. Elton then dove through the broken window onto Mad Dog, punching away at him, completely unaware of the recently-transformed Howard the Human walking nearby. Amy reminded Elton that Mad Dog looked worse off than Elton did and while Elton continued beating Mad Dog, Amy exited the scene and asked to leave with Howard, whom she had seen walking away from the fracas. Howard was confused by Amy's desire to leave with him but Amy insisted that Howard was everything Elton wasn't: totally misanthropic. Howard shrugged off Amy but she tackled him, insisting she was desperate to get away from Elton, despite actually liking him, because Elton seemed to think Amy represented his own minds and thoughts and she had a tough enough time thinking on her own without having to be someone else's reasoning faculties.

    Amy eventually brought Howard back to her Greenwich Village apartment, where she exercised and gave Howard the complete rundown on her and Elton's relationship. By the next morning, Elton was found pacing outside Amy's apartment, worried that Amy had been up in her apartment with Howard for several hours. Anxiously trying to decide what to do and blaming himself for not giving Amy what she needed, Elton ultimately refused to allow Amy to fly into the arms of a stranger, claiming that he respected Amy too much to allow such a thing. He eventually forced his way into Amy's apartment, breaking the chain lock on her door, only to stop in surprise when she saw Howard the Duck sleeping on Amy's couch. Amy awoke in confusion and Elton attempted to explain that he had come to tell her how he felt about her but panicked when he saw Howard on her couch. A still-confused Amy looked over and shrieked when she saw the anthropomorphic duck on her couch and when Howard, completely aware that he had transformed back into his true form, got up to take a shower, Elton and Amy watched in shock, Elton suggesting Amy was "too much woman" to fall apart over such a strange occurrence. Amy then questioned Elton's statement and Elton asked if Amy's questions were a joke or an attack.

Comments: Created by Steve Gerber, Gene Colan and Klaus Janson.

    This profile was completed on 08/21/2026 but its publication was delayed, as it was intended for the Appendix's 25th anniversary celebratory event.

Profile by Proto-Man.

CLARIFICATIONS:
Elton Burke should be distinguished from:

Mad Dog

Mad Dog was a homeless derelict that encountered the newly-transformed Howard the Human in New York's Port Authority bathroom. Asking Howard for spare change, Mad Dog constantly upped the amount of money he was asking for until Howard reluctantly agreed to buy him a coffee. When the two visited the Port Authority's coffee shop, however, Mad Dog was denied entry due to his smell and he angrily began rampaging through the shop until he was knocked into the booth containing Elton Burke and his girlfriend Amy. Tired of the state of society, Elton got up from his seat and knocked Mad Dog through the shop's glass window then leaped through the window himself to continue beating on Mad Dog.

--Howard the Duck I#19
Amy Pope

Amy Pope was a former office worker alongside Elton Burke and when they were both laid off, Amy began dating Elton to help console him over the job loss. Eventually, Elton grew too attached to Amy and she became tired of his overly emotional tirades. During one of their outings at the Port Authority coffee shop, Amy was growing bored with Elton's rants and seeming inability to function without using her as his reasoning faculties. When Elton got into a fistfight with the derelict Mad Dog, Amy noticed a man leaving the scene and quickly asked to accompany him. Learning that the man was named Howard, Amy took him back to her apartment, where she exercised while giving Howard the entire story of her relationship with Elton. Amy eventually seduced Howard and slept with him, the hormone boost transforming Howard back into his anthropomorphic duck form. Unaware of this transformation, the sleeping Amy was jolted awake the next morning when the concerned Elton burst into her apartment, only to stop in shock upon seeing Howard. When Elton pointed the humanoid duck on Amy's couch, Amy shrieked and watched alongside Elton as the unaware Howard went to take a shower.

--Howard the Duck I#19 (#19, #20 (fb), #19,
images: (without ads)
Howard the Duck I#19, p7, pan4 (Elton Burke, main image)
Howard the Duck I#19, p6, pan2 (Elton Burke, headshot)
Howard the Duck I#19, p4, pan5 (Mad Dog)
Howard the Duck I#19, p8, pan4 (Amy Pope)

Appearances:
Howard the Duck I#19 (December, 1977) - Steve Gerber (writer, editor), Gene Colan (pencils), Klaus Janson (inks)

First posted: 09/23/2026
Last updated: 08/21/2026

Any Additions/Corrections? please let me know.

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