CLAUDE STARKOWSKI

Real Name: Claude Starkowski

Identity/Class: Human technology user/creator

Occupation: Automobile mechanic, amateur armorer;
    former active in unspecified (presumably) US military group

Group Membership: Formerly Iron Man Auto Wreckers (apparent proprietor), To Hack and Back taxi company, unspecified (presumably) US military group

Affiliations: Howard the Duck, Paul Same (formerly the Winky-Man), Beverly Switzler, Lee Switzler, Winda Wester;
    formerly Stark International-Cleveland;
    presumably Andy the Angel, Chirreep, Dakimh the Enchanter, Jennifer Kale, Korrek the Barbarian, Man-Thing, Master C'haaj, and Hemlock Shoals

Enemies: Doctor Bong (Lester Verde); whoever planted whatever caused the shrapnel to be lodged in his head;
    presumably the Band of the Bland (Black Hole/Morton Kribbee, Sitting Bullseye/Oliver Bedwette, Spanker/Fred Hovel, Tillie the Hun/Matilda von Tromp), le Beaver (Pierre Dentfris), Black Talon (Thibodaux Boudreaux), Brotherhood of Evil Prepositions (Amonger, Arounder, Betweener, Of, Underneather, Withiner), Bzzk J'oh, Dr. Angst (Floyd Mangles), Galactongue, Jackpot, Jokester, Greedy Killerwatt, Kong Lomerate, Maller, Pro-Rata, Puffin, Quizling, and Wally Sidney

Known Relatives: Carol Starkowski (daughter), unidentified ex-wife, unidentified nephew

Aliases: Claude Stark, Claude Starkowitz

Base of Operations: Unrevealed (presumably Cleveland, Ohio);
    formerly To Hack and Back taxi company, Cleveland, Ohio;
    formerly Iron Man Auto Wreckers, Cleveland, Ohio

First Appearance:  Howard the Duck I#30 (March, 1979)

Powers/Abilities: Though somewhat delusional, Claude was a genius inventor and technologist. Somewhat limited by funding, he could nonetheless design relatively high-tech equipment and weaponry.

    Notable in his accomplishments was the Iron Duck armor utilized by Howard the Duck. It was armed with foot-springs, flame-throwers, a faceplate equipped with windshield wipers, a searchlight, a diamond-tipped drill, a radio to project his voice from within its helmet, and a magnetic uncoupler (which caused the armor to release him instantly). It reported contained air conditioning, which would have allowed Howard to smoke within the armor. The armor also granted Howard the strength (and fist protection) to crumple a trash can lid with a single punch.foot-springs, flame-throwers, a faceplate equipped with windshield wipers, a searchlight, a diamond-tipped drill, a radio to project his voice from within its helmet, and a magnetic uncoupler (which caused the armor to release him instantly). It reported contained air conditioning, which would have allowed Howard to smoke within the armor. The armor also granted Howard the strength (and fist protection) to crumple a trash can lid with a single punch.

    Clause also designed a set of sonar dishes to incapacitate Dr. Bong by neutralizing his vibrational powers; they were limited by dependency on batteries, as the devices' internal power only worked for seconds.

    Claude was an experienced and skilled auto mechanic.

    Initially, Claude did not seem to realize Howard was a duck, thinking him a midget instead; he eventually figured it out..

Height: Unrevealed (he is rarely standing up near anyone of known height; perhaps 5'9")
Weight: Unrevealed; approximately 180 lbs. (based on the above height)
Eyes: Blue
Hair: Black

History: 
(Howard the Duck I#30 (fb) - BTS) - Claude allegedly received shrapnel in his head in Vietnam (see comments); the shrapenl remained lodged in his head, affecting his cognitive skills and leaving him somewhat delusional.

(Howard the Duck II (magazine)#3 (fb) - BTS) <Three years before the main story> - Claude was married and had a daughter, Carol.

(Howard the Duck II (magazine)#3 (fb) - BTS) - Claude and his wife split up on Christmas when Carol was nine.

(Howard the Duck I#30 (fb) - BTS) - Claude allegedly received shrapnel in his head during Vietnam. At some point, he apparently came to believe he was somehow associated with Tony Stark, who at the time was believed to be the armorer of Iron Man (who was believed to be someone other than Stark). He also believed that he was the one who secretly supplied Tony with the Iron Man technology.

(Howard the Duck I#30 (fb) - BTS) - Claude opened Iron Man Auto Wreckers in Cleveland, Ohio.

(Howard the Duck I#30 - BTS) - Seeking a means to allow Howard the Duck to survive a confrontation with Doctor Bong, Lee Switzler drove Howard to meet Claude at Iron Man Auto Wreckers.

(Howard the Duck I#30) - Claude greeted Lee, "correcting" him to call him just "Stark," and then automatically considered Howard (or "Howie" as he called him right off the bat) a friend since he was a friend of Lee's. Howard was surprised that Claude didn't seem surprised by his being a humanoid duck, but Claude just kept working (apparently not realizing Howard was not human). 

(Howard the Duck I#30 - BTS) - Lee explained their current predicament to Claude.

(Howard the Duck I#30) - Claude correctly surmised that Lee wanted him to build Howard a suit of armor, but when he noted that he had built Iron Man's armor, Howard considered him crazy and started to run out. When Lee brought him back, Claude told them they were in luck as he was just making an Iron Man suit for his nephew, who was about Howard's size, and he should be able to easily modify it for Howard. 

    Claude continued that ever since he had gotten shrapnel lodged in his head in "'Nam," he had a good sideline creating armor for his favorite super hero, Iron Man. He continued that Iron Man didn't mind him making copies, as long as they were for a good cause, and he pulled out a box of equipment as he asked if Howard had a color preference. Though Howard was highly skeptical, he allowed Claude to get to work, and -- as he welded well into the afternoon -- Claude continued, discussing how he got his transistors from Stark's Cleveland plant; they didn't mind him hauling stuff away as it was part of their "Be Kind to Veterans" program. Noting how Tony Stark had been injured in 'Nam, too, and was "an OK Joe -- not as inventive as me, of course!" Claude considered it was even-Steven as Tony had gotten the looks while Claude had gotten the brains.

    After Howard reluctantly donned the armor, Howard noted the low budget as the reason he had included springs instead of jets and flame-throwers instead of repulsor rays, but Lee told him there was no reason to apologize, as it was a masterpiece. Howard protested, but Claude told him about the air conditioners that would allow him to smoke in it, after which he showed Howard the sonar dishes that silenced the vibrations of Claude's Liberty Bell replica. Encouraged by this, Howard briefly tried out the armor, before having to head back to Skudge, Pennsylvania to face Bong. After this, Howard considered that while Claude may be crazy, his heart was in the right place; however, he stilled figured he was likely to die in battle against Bong, but appreciated knowing he'd at least have friends mourning him. As Howard got back into Lee's car, Claude gave Howard cotton balls to stick in his ears to protect him from Bong's powers, and then reminded his departing friends to call him "when you whip that Bong bugger!"

(Howard the Duck II (magazine)#1 (fb) - BTS) - After buying the somewhat antiquated "To Hack and Back" taxi garage, Lee hired Claude as his mechanic to get it back into shape.

(Howard the Duck II (magazine)#2/2) - Claude acted as a driver of one of the To Hack and Back cabs for Lee to pick up Howard and Bev to take them to a movie audition for Bev. When Bev wondered if she could make it big in movies working from Cleveland, and Claude assured her that she and Howie were going to put Cleveland on the map; however, he was surprised to learn that Cleveland was already on the map. Soon after, he drove away with Lee after dropping Howard and Bev off at Union Terminal.

(Howard the Duck II (magazine)#3 - BTS) - Carol and Howard shared their frustrations and then ended up meeting Santa Claus and helping to save Christmas from the threats of Greedy Killerwatt and Pinball Lizard.

(Steve Gerber's unpublished script for Howard the Duck#1 "Secret Crisis II" - BTS) - Bong, presumably along with some of the others, targeted Andy the Angel, Dakimh the Enchanter, Jennifer Kale, Korrek the Barbarian, Man-Thing, Master C'haaj (sp?), Hemlock Shoals, and Claude Starkowski, while Kong led Maller, Jackpot, and Greedy Killerwatt to attack Howard and Chireep, who had left the mailroom (see comments).

Comments: Created by Bill Mantlo, Gene Colan, and Al Milgrom.

    I don't think Claude actually believed himself to be related to Tony Stark,and there is no evidence to support that he did. I think he just took the name "Stark" to be like Tony, but didn't actually believe they were related. In Howard the Duck II (magazine)#1 he clarified his name as "Stark for short." In that same issue, though, Howard commented that Claude had delusions of being related to Tony Stark.

    Obviously references to THE Vietnam War are topical...Claude could have seen action in Vietnam, just not during the historical war; or maybe it was Sin Cong or some other location in Southeast Asia. Or maybe he's totally crazy and made up the whole thing...

    He was called Claude Starkowitz in Howard the Duck II (magazine)#1, and maybe somewhere else.

    I think I originally misinterpretted a line in Howard the Duck I#30 where Claude was talking about armor he was building for his nephew as meaning he thought he was Tony's uncle. In further review, I think he was building something child-size, which is why it was so easy for him to modify it to fit Howard.

    Gerber's unpublished script:

• Obviously, the point at the start of these was that the events of the Howard the Duck magazine series and Bizarre Adventures#34 never happened in Reality-616. 
• I don't know how the story was to end, but Howard's Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe entry confirmed Howard as not originally coming from Duckworld but that his reality had been warped/merged so that it was now his native world. The events of the Howard the Duck magazine occurred in Howard's history as a result of the reality merger. Steve Gerber himself approved the entry before it was published.
• Chireep's stories created or were based on an alternate reality (Earth-791021), which then merged with (or overwrote) Earth-616's, affecting Howard's behavior and memory. Howard indeed had all of the adventures from the magazines, and the few other stories prior to 1985, but they were the merged Howard, which is why he remembered Duckworld as his home. In that reality, his parents' names were Ronald and Henrietta according to Gerber's story, BTW.
• When Chireep stopped making stories, the alternate reality split from Earth-616, and Howard was flung into the void, which is where Gerber's unpublished story took place.
• By the way, there was no discussion of Howard the Duck I#30-31 (or other issues of the original, color comic book after Gerber's departure) being lumped with Chireep's stories, so Howard met Claude before the reality warp-merger.

Profile by Snood.

CLARIFICATIONS:
Claude Starkowski should be distinguished from:

• TONY STARK, aka Iron Man--Tales of Suspense I#39
• STARKOVSKY, Lt. Col. PYOTR - trained Black Widow (Yelena Belova), obsessed with her, killed by Petra, the dominatrix posing as her--Black Widow: Pale Little Spider#1

Iron Man Auto Wreckers

(Howard the Duck I#30 (fb) - BTS) - Claude opened Iron Man Auto Wreckers in Cleveland, Ohio.

(Howard the Duck I#30 - BTS) - Seeking a means to allow Howard the Duck to survive a confrontation with Doctor Bong, Lee Switzler drove Howard to meet Claude at Iron Man Auto Wreckers.

(Howard the Duck I#30) - Working from parts that he was allowed to haul off from Stark International's Cleveland plant, Claude designed the "Iron Duck" armor for Howard, as well as a set of sonic disruptors to help against Bong.

images: (without ads)
Howard the Duck I#30, pg. 10, panel 1 (Iron Man Auto Wrecker);
        pg. 11, panel 4 (bending over and looking in equipment cabinet);
            panel 6 (front view, holding box of equipment);
Howard the Duck II#1: interlude, pg. 2, panel 5 (with welding visor up);
    #3, 2nd to last page, panel 1 (hatless, hugging Carol);
    #5/2: epilogue, pg. 1, panel 2 (mostly full body)

Appearances:
Howard the Duck I#30 (March, 1979) - by Bill Mantlo (writer), Gene Colan (pencils), Al Milgrom (inker), and Mark Gruenwald (editor)
Howard the Duck I#31 (May, 1979) - by Bill Mantlo (writer), Gene Colan (pencils), Al Milgrom (inker), and Jim Shooter (editor)
Howard the Duck II#1 (October, 1979) - Rick Marschall (Editor)
    "Fowl of Fear": interlude - by Bill Mantlo, Mike Golden, and Klaus Janson
    "The $64, 000 Desperado" - by Bill Mantlo, Gene Colan, and Bob McLeod
Howard the Duck II#2 (December, 1979) - Rick Marschall (Editor)
    "The Crash of '79" - by Bill Mantlo (writer), Gene Colan (penciler), and Dave Simons (inker)
Howard the Duck II#3 (February, 1980) - Lynn Graeme (editor)
    "A Christmas for Carol" - by Bill Mantlo (writer), Gene Colan (pencils), and Dave Simons (inks)
Howard the Duck II#5 (May, 1980) - Lynn Graeme (editor)
    "Captain Americana" epilogue - by Bill Mantlo (writer), Gene Colan (penciler), and Dave Simon (inker)
Unpublished Howard the Duck script - Steve Gerber

First Posted: 10/13/2017
Last updated: 10/13/2017/font>