Dirty Duck is a

fictional character In fiction, a character (or speaker, in poetry) is a person or other being in a narrative (such as a novel, play, radio or television series, music, film, or video game). The character may be entirely fictional or based on a real-life person, ...

created by

underground comix Underground comix are small press or self-published comic books that are often socially relevant or satirical in nature. They differ from mainstream comics in depicting content forbidden to mainstream publications by the Comics Code Authority, ...

artist

Bobby London Robert "Bobby" London (born June 29, 1950) is an American underground comix and mainstream comics artist. His style evokes the work of early American cartoonists like George Herriman and Elzie Crisler Segar. Biography As a child, London was "pen ...

. The style of the strip is an homage to

George Herriman George Joseph Herriman III (August 22, 1880 – April 25, 1944) was an American cartoonist best known for the comic strip '' Krazy Kat'' (1913–1944). More influential than popular, ''Krazy Kat'' had an appreciative audience ...

Krazy Kat ''Krazy Kat'' (also known as ''Krazy & Ignatz'' in some reprints and compilations) is an US, American newspaper comic strip, by cartoonist George Herriman, which ran from 1913 to 1944. It first appeared in the ''New York Journal-American, New Yor ...

. The character is not related to the 1975 film ''

Down and Dirty Duck ''Down and Dirty Duck'', promoted under the abbreviated title ''Dirty Duck'', is a 1974 American adult animated comedy film written and directed by Charles Swenson and starring Mark Volman and Howard Kaylan ( Flo & Eddie) as the voices of a str ...

''. While promoted under the abbreviated title ''Dirty Duck'', the film has no connection to London's character or comics.

Publication history

London originally created the Dirty Duck character in 1970 to appear in an unsigned "basement" strip that would run underneath

Dan O'Neill Dan O'Neill (born April 21, 1942) is an American underground cartoonist, creator of the syndicated comic strip ''Odd Bodkins'' and founder of the underground comics collective the Air Pirates. Education O'Neill attended the University of Sa ...

's syndicated ''Odd Bodkins'' strip. The cartoon strips planned to run underneath

O'Neill The O'Neill dynasty (Irish: ''Ó Néill'') are a lineage of Irish Gaelic origin, that held prominent positions and titles in Ireland and elsewhere. As kings of Cenél nEógain, they were historically the most prominent family of the Northern ...

's "Odd Bodkins" never saw print. The first person who succeeded in helping the strip see print was

Gilbert Shelton Gilbert Shelton (born May 31, 1940) is an American cartoonist and a key member of the underground comix movement. He is the creator of the iconic underground characters ''The Fabulous Furry Freak Brothers'', '' Fat Freddy's Cat'', and ''Wonder W ...

, who ran it under Fat Freddy's Cat in the ''

Los Angeles Free Press The ''Los Angeles Free Press'', also called the "''Freep''", is often cited as the first, and certainly was the largest, of the underground newspapers of the 1960s. The ''Freep'' was founded in 1964 by Art Kunkin, who served as its publisher unti ...

'' in early spring of 1971. The character's first long-form appearance was in ''

Air Pirates The Air Pirates were a group of cartoonists who created two issues of an underground comic called ''Air Pirates Funnies'' in 1971, leading to a famous lawsuit by Walt Disney Productions. Founded by Dan O'Neill, the group also included Bobby Lo ...

Funnies'' #1 (Last Gasp, July 1971). John Bagley's San Francisco-based

Company & Sons Company & Sons was an early underground comix publisher based in San Francisco, ran by John Bagley. The company operated from 1970 to 1973, publishing a total of 15 titles, all but one of them consisting of a single issue. Company & Sons was t ...

published ''The Dirty Duck Book'' #1 in December 1971. Shortly afterwards, London was contacted by the publishers of '' National Lampoon'', where ''Dirty Duck'' ran monthly for several years alongside the work of London's wife

Shary Flenniken Shary Flenniken (born 1950) is an American editor-writer-illustrator and underground cartoonist. After joining the burgeoning underground comics movement in the early 1970s, she became a prominent contributor to '' National Lampoon'' and was one ...

, who was drawing ''Trots and Bonnie'' for them. London moved the strip to ''

Playboy ''Playboy'' is an American men's lifestyle and entertainment magazine, formerly in print and currently online. It was founded in Chicago in 1953, by Hugh Hefner and his associates, and funded in part by a $1,000 loan from Hefner's mother. K ...

'' magazine around 1976, where it ran until 1987. ''Dirty Duck'' later returned to ''Playboy'' and continues to run there as of 2011. Almost all of the strips would have been collected in a hardcover collection from

IDW Publishing IDW Publishing is an American publisher of comic books, graphic novels, art books, and comic strip collections. It was founded in 1999 as the publishing division of Idea and Design Works, LLC (IDW), itself formed in 1999, and is regularly recog ...

under the Top Shelf imprint, but it has continuously been delayed since 2017.

Characters

The main characters are two

anthropomorphic Anthropomorphism is the attribution of human traits, emotions, or intentions to non-human entities. It is considered to be an innate tendency of human psychology. Personification is the related attribution of human form and characteristics t ...

animals, a cigar-smoking

duck Duck is the common name for numerous species of waterfowl in the family Anatidae. Ducks are generally smaller and shorter-necked than swans and geese, which are members of the same family. Divided among several subfamilies, they are a form t ...

(usually referred to as "Mr. Duck") and his assistant,

Weevil Weevils are beetles belonging to the Taxonomic rank, superfamily Curculionoidea, known for their elongated snouts. They are usually small, less than in length, and Herbivore, herbivorous. Approximately 97,000 species of weevils are known. They b ...

. They live in human society and are often seen in the company of naked human women. In the comic strip running in ''Playboy'', Mr. Duck is a wealthy and elderly gentleman with a lecherous streak and a sharp (if sardonic) wit. Weevil is his long-suffering butler.

References

External links

*
Dirty Duck
at

Don Markstein's Toonopedia Don Markstein's Toonopedia (subtitled A Vast Repository of Toonological Knowledge) is an online encyclopedia of print cartoons, comic strips and animation, initiated February 13, 2001. Donald D. Markstein, the sole writer and editor of Toonopedi ...

Archived
from the original on September 9, 2015. Comics characters introduced in 1971 Comics about ducks Comics about animals Fictional ducks 1971 comics debuts National Lampoon (franchise) Playboy characters Underground comix Erotic comics {{comics-char-stub