riff-80726-htd8-faceriff-80726-htd8-fullRIFF

Real Name: Unrevealed

Identity/Class: Alternate Reality (Earth-80726 circa 1960s)

Occupation: None

Group Membership: Street Peeple (Cheyanne/Leslie Ann, Moonchild, Qwami)

Affiliations: Horsemeat, Moonchild;
    Cheyanne (Leslie Ann) and Qwami allowed him to stay at their place after his feigned injury, but neither of them particularly cared for him

Enemies: Unidentified anti-hippy mob, unidentified biker gang dude;
    Qwami seemed to hate him

Known Relatives: None

Aliases: "White Toast" (from Qwami)

Base of Operations: At least formerly the Street Peeple's pad, San Francisco, California

First Appearance: Howard the Duck II#6/2 (July, 1980)

Powers/Abilities: Riff was an experienced  juggler.

    He apparently wanted to be Buddhist, and he meditated to help himself.

    He liked to smoke and drink, and he was attracted to Cheyanne, who had not interest in him, but he was oblivious to Moonchild, who was interested in him.

Height: Unrevealed (approximately 5'9")
Weight: Unrevealed (approximately 200 lbs.)
Eyes: Unrevealed (black and white comic)
Hair: Unrevealed (black and white comic; perhaps light brown, blond or red)

History:
riff-80726-htd6-donate(Howard the Duck II#6/2 (fb) - BTS) - Considered a "cosmic clown" (by the narrator, at least), Riff graduated magnum cum laude from the Ringling Bros. - Barnum & Bailey Clown School for Juggling.riff-80726-htd6-collide

(Howard the Duck II#6/2) - Riff observed the Street Peeple juggling trio: Tall, blonde, and braless native California Cheyanne; Qwami, revolutionary African-American; and Moonchild, whose girth was outmatched only by her loving heart. Feeling Cheyanne to be his princess and goddess, Riff considered it to have been karma that led him to excel in juggling school to be ready for his angel. When she walked around with a hat, gathering tips, he gave her what little coin, cash and card that he possessed, proclaiming, "All I have is yours!!"...and she continued through the crowd, barely noticing him. Breaking into tears, Riff was devastated.

    After the next juggling session started up, a group of bikers rode by, and one of them snatched Cheyanne's cat, Horsemeat out of the air, as he or she was being juggled, too. After Riff realized that that was Cheyanne's cat, he rushed to save it, just as an anti-hippy mob rushed in to attack the crowd. Riff took a club to one side of the head, and the other side of his collided with the biker's head, and he hit the ground, with Horsemeat ending up on his belly.

    Feigning unconsciousness, Riff felt that Cheyanne would see him as her knight errant and take her home, as he had been injured on her behalf. While neither Cheyanne nor Qwami wanted anything to do with him -- with Cheyanne noting that lots of dudes were always trying to come on to her -- when Qwami tried to pick up Horsemeat , the cat dug its claws into him and refused to let go. Despite opposition from Qwami, Cheyanne argued that if the only way to get the cat back was to take the unconscious dude home, that they just do it, primarily because she was tired and bored and had to wash her hair.

    As the three women carried Riff back to their place, Cheyanne had their juggling bowling pins piled on top of him. Riff was ecstatic that Cheyanne was carrying him in her arms, sorta; and Moonchild, who held both of his feet, considered his calves to be so strong and masculine; she also considered him to have a real spiritual look. As they climbed the stairs, the pins fell off of him, and when they got him on the couch, Riff moaned in feigned distress, pretending to amnesia. Cheyanne argued that as soon as he figured out who he was, he had to go, but Moonchild countered that he could stay until he was better. She further noted that he didn't look like he ate well, but that if he gave her a few days, he would make her feel like a million...

    Qwami wanted him to go, but Riff swore to them, "...that rap on my head drove my entire life out of my head! I'm an un-carved block of wood! An empty page! A mirror with no reflection!" Moonchild convinced her reluctant roommates that he was a harmless soul who just needed a break.

(Howard the Duck II#7/3) - Saturday morning, Riff was enjoying a breakfast made by Moonchild when Qwami questioned that "White Toast" was still there. Riff desperately replied, "Some of it's starting to come back! There was a crib...and a blue rattle! With a little compassionate help, I know my memory will return!" Qwami was unconvinced.

    Later, at another juggling show, after Qwami had invited the crowd to submit objects and they would pick six with which to juggle, Cheyanne dropped a submitted top, and Riff ran to catch it and found that it contained a message about a terrorist plan involving dynamite and a blue van on Fishbone Alley at 1:30 AM. At Qwami's demand, Riff gave her the top.

 riff-80726-htd6-carried   That evening, there was a party as the Street Peeple's pad, and Riff failed to get Cheyanne's attention, although she was interested in at least one other guy present. While presumably partaking of some wine or other drink, Riff subsequently considered that maybe it was true that Bodhisattvas (enlightened Buddhists who chose to delay entering Nirvana to help others achieve enlightenment) worked in mysterious ways. He wondered if the torment through which Cheyanne put him was to be the instrument of his ultimate enlightenment.

    While attempting to meditate on his miseries, Riff discovered boxes of dynamite, and he told Moonchild about this, as well as the message he had seen on the top. Although Moonchild felt that their could be a perfectly innocent explanation, Riff had bad vibes about the whole thing. He convinced Moonchild to accompany him outside at 1 AM, and they saw the blue van. Resolving that it was his karma to save Qwami from herself, Riff warned the driver to get out of there, that the feds were there and watching the van. After the driver fled, Riff got into the driver's seat and donned a stocking over his head, and then apparently realized that it belonged to Cheyanne, and he was overcome with bliss.

(Howard the Duck II#7/3 - BTS) - After Qwami loaded the dynamite, Horsemeat and herself into the back of the van, it took off -- presumably driven by Riff -- and she and Horsemeat were tossed around for awhile. Presumably when it stopped, Qwami found the rear door of the van unlocked, and she and Horsemeat fled.

(Howard the Duck II#8/4 (fb) - BTS) - Riff lived with the Street Peeple for weeks.

(Howard the Duck II#8/4) - Now juggling with the Street Peeple, at the Crestview flea market on a Saturday, Riff tried in vain to make conversation with Cheyanne. They were interrupted, when Riff was derided by a passerby as a fascist, which Riff took pride in, crediting his new slogan worn on his t-shirt, "Who killed JFK?"

    Any further juggling was disrupted when Cheyanne was recognized by an old high school friend (Bertha?). After they packed up and they went home, Cheyanne detailed her high school life as a cheerleader and prom queen. The group went to her friend's barbeque, where they didn't fit in. Smoking and drinking, Riff was warned that that shirt could be hazardous to his health, but he presumably jokingly replied, "Wow -- you mean tee shirts case cancer, too?!"

    Eventually, Cheyanne rejected her old friend by dumping ketchup on her head, and the Street Peeple fled back to their friend Mr. Gloom's car, and he got them safely away, although Riff and the others were nauseated afterwards.

    Regardless, the Street Peeple cheered, "Poverty! It's wonderful!"

Comments: Created by Lynn Graeme and Ned Sonntag.

    The story seemed like a bad plot for an episode of Three's Company, but if it took place in the 1960s and with the three roommates making a statement of their characterization every time they spoke.

    The picture's don't show it clearly, but his shirt in his first appearance said "Save the whale." He wore the same shirt in his second appearance, and he may not have changed his clothes at all.

    There's a whole intro into the concept of Street Peeple right before the story in Howard the Duck II#6.

    This profile was completed 11/27/2025, but its publication was delayed as it was intended for the Appendix 25th anniversary 's celebratory event.

Profile by Snood.

CLARIFICATIONS:
Riff should be distinguished from:


images: (without ads)
Howard the Duck II#6/2, pg. 2, panel 3 (giving donation to Cheyanne);
       pg. 3, panel 5 (hit on both sides of the head);
       pg. 5, panel 3 (carried by Street Peeple);
    #8/4, pg. 3, panel 5 (face);
       pg. 4, panel 7 (full, JFK shirt, drinking a beer)
   
Appearances:
Howard the Duck II (magazine) #6/2 "Street Peeple" (July, 1980) - Lynn Graeme (writer, editor), Ned Sonntag (artist), Ralph Macchio (associate editor), Mark Gruenwald ("insulting editor")
Howard the Duck II (magazine) #7/3 "Dynamite, Baby!!" (September, 1980) - Lynn Graeme (writer, editor), Ned Sonntag (artist), Ralph Macchio (associate editor), Mark Gruenwald ("insulting editor")
Howard the Duck II (magazine) #8/4 "Best Friends" (November, 1980) - Lynn Graeme (writer, editor), Ned Sonntag (artist), Ralph Macchio (associate editor), Mark Gruenwald ("insulting editor")

First posted: 09/27/2026
Last updated: 11/27/2025

Any Additions/Corrections? please let me know.

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