RAVELRAVEL
Real Name: Ravel
Identity/Class: Gastornis
Occupation: Dancer
Group Membership: Partner of Utah
Affiliations: Cain, Utah;
Splatter Gomorrah may or may not have fed Ravel
Enemies: Doc (of the
Interminable, and possibly the rest of the Interminable) was not a fan;
he scared but did not otherwise harm Howard
the Duck, Beverly
Switzler and some unidentified demon (and likely anyone else who
came to the door)
Known Relatives: None
Aliases: None
Base of Operations: Boarding House of Mystery,
apparently Cleveland, Ohio
First Appearance: Howard the Duck III#4 (June 2002)
Powers/Abilities: Ravel was large and powerful, able to smash through a solid wooden door with its add without any obvious signs of personal damage.
Ravel was intelligent enough to respond
to commands from Utah.
Presumably, he was like a ratite, with
strong, powerful leg muscles and wings and feathers only serving as
insulation.
He may or may not have been able to run
at great speeds, but he almost certainly could not fly.
Gastornis are believed to have been
herbivores or perhaps scavengers, but Ravel, at least, may have been an
omnivore.
Utah stated that she did not let him eat other
people's pets.
Would he have eaten them if Utah
had allowed it? Who knows?
History:
(Howard the Duck III#4 (fb)
- BTS) - Ravel lived with his partner, Utah, a Vegas dancing girl, in a
room within the Boarding House of Mystery run by Cain and Abel. Utah was
pleased to find the place, as it had been really challenging to find a
place that would take a gastornis.
They were a
source of annoyance to Doc (and perhaps his six brethren in the
Interminable), playing their music and pounding their feet all night.
Their neighbord
down the hall Splatter Gomorrah put a sign on his door that stated, "Do not disturb, or I'll rip out your eyes
and feed them to the sgastronis" <sic>.
Splatter may or may
not have actually fed Ravel on occasion...
(Howard the Duck III#4 - BTS) - Howard the Duck, Beverly Switzler and their pet pit bull Parsifal took up residence in the Boarding House of Mystery.
After gaining
some wish fulfillment intrinsic to the House and falling asleep, Howard
and Bev were awakened by commotion in the hallway, which involved an
Israeli and a Muslim man engaging in warfare until a demon summoned by
another resident, Hellboozer, devoured the surviving Muslim man. After
returning to their room, they found it now inhabited by the
Interminable. Bev asked about their dog, and Doc noted that he hadn't
seen one but hoped that it hadn't run across the hall where "that damn
Vegas whore and her dancing monstrosity" lived.
Doc continued
that "...and if you complain, that
Eocene freak would bite your head off."
Did it bite off
Doc's head, and it grew back?
Or did Doc witness
someone else complaining and getting his or her head bitten off?
Or was he just
speaking figuratively and/or exaggerating?
(Howard the
Duck III#4) - Approaching the door, Bev listened and heard only dancing
feet and depressing old Beatles songs. When she knocked on the door and
asked if they had seen her pit bull, Ravel smashed his head through the
door and screamed, "WUHHHK!"
Even the demon
summoned by Hellboozer fled from the monstrous bird.
After Ravel
extended his neck into the hallway and again screamed "WUHHHK!"
at Howard and Bev, who had hit the floor, Utah chided Ravel as a bad
boy.
When she
instructed him to get back in the room this instant or there would be no
dinner, Ravel quietly replied, "Wuk?"
and then complied.
As Ravel went
into the room, Utah apologized if Ravel had scared them, explaining that
they had so few visitors and that Ravel always wanted to be first to the
door.
As she helped Howard to his feet, Utah asked Howard and Bev not to tell their landlord, Cain, as it "hard as Hell" to find a place that would take a gastornis. The ever-sarcastic Howard replied, "Wish it'd been a little harder..."
(Howard the Duck III#4 - BTS) - Beverly then noted that they were looking for their pit bull, and she wondered if perhaps her bird had...
Utah interrupted, you've been talking to that f@$&king dwarf (referring to Doc), haven't you? "Well, I don't let Ravel eat other people's pets!"
She further
added, "Maybe your dog smelled the
mutant cat down the hall and went in there?"
Based on experiences thus far, Bev asked, "But I better hope not -- right?" Utah replied, "You have no idea."
Down the hall,
Splatter Gomorrah's door had a sign that stated, "Do
not disturb, or I'll rip out your eyes and feed them to the gastronis"
<sic>. Knocking anyway, Howard and Bev ultimately found Parsifal
inside, somehow stoned along with a three-headed cat.
Comments: Created by Steve Gerber and Phil Winslade.
The gastornis is a large flightless
bird that lived around 50 million years ago. You can find information on
the gastronis
here. Or just Google it.
How did Ravel exist in the modern world?
Ravel and Utah are part of a
running gag/story by Gerber.
It all
started a single panel, double page spread of the "obligatory comic book
fight scene" involving a Las
Vegas chorus girl, an ostrich, and Killer Lampshade, which
occurred during an experimental stream of consciousness issue (taking
place during a cross-country roadtrip involving Howard the Duck and
Steve Gerber) printed as an alternative to a reprint in the event of a
missed deadline.
In a subsequent letter page, Gerber
himself pretended to be a fan writing in, demanding a series for the
ostrich and chorus girl.
Allegedly (according to Wikipedia, at least; I
haven't personally seen the request, so I neither confirm nor deny),
Neil
Gaiman, writing on the CompuServe comics forum. said he'd love to see
that story. Regardless, Gerber eventually re imagined the characters as
Nevada and Bolero for the Vertigo imprint of DC comics. AFAIK, Nevada
and Bolero first appeared in Vertigo Winter's Edge#1 (January, 1988),
followed by the six issue series "Nevada" (May-October, 1998; I have the
trade paperback), and again in Vertigo Winter's Edge#2 (January, 1999).
Additionally, Gerber (along with Paul Winslade, the artist for Nevada)
parodied Nevada and Bolero as "Utah" and Ravel (a roc-like gastornis
(Google it)) in Howard the Duck (MAX)#4 (June, 2002).
Maurice Ravel was the creator of the play Bolero, and
that was almost certainly the inspiration to name the gastornis "Ravel."
When I wrote the profile for the
Las Vegas chorus girl 7/29/2012, I noted that I might get around to
profiling Utah and Ravel once my son went off to college in 2026...so
here we are...
I still think that Arizona and Maurice would be great names for the -616 versions.
I still want
to learn the origins of the Killer Lampshade.
This was a MAX series, so I've edited the language to cut-out the F-bomb.
This profile was
completed 09/21/2025, but its publication was delayed as it was intended
for the Appendix 25th anniversary 's celebratory event.
Profile by Snood.
CLARIFICATIONS:
Ravel should be distinguished from:
First posted: 09/23/2026
Last updated: 08/12/2026
Any Additions/Corrections? please let me know.
Non-Marvel
Copyright info
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