Appearing in "Sleep of the... Just!"
Featured Characters:
Supporting Characters:
- ⏴ Beverly Switzler ⏵
- Paul Same/Winky Man ⏵ (First appearance)
Other Characters:
- Paul Same's parents (Only in flashback)
- unnamed robber
- an old lady
- customers at Joe's Bar
- Xavier Couture (First appearance)
- policemen
Locations:
Items:
- Winky Man's Roman Candle
Synopsis for "Sleep of the... Just!"
Woken up at midnight by constant pounding on the floor from the apartment upstairs, Howard and Beverly go up to investigate. In the apartment they find Paul Same, a man with a sleeping disorder pounding on the floor. Howard wakes him up, and Paul tells them his life story:
Able to read at age three, Paul was viewed as a child prodigy until he started school, where his boredom and disinterest in doing everything the same as anyone else led to flagging grades and trouble with his folks. Unable to stand up for himself, Paul would drift into daydreams where he would punish those who pushed him around, but this would cause him to fall asleep in the waking world at inopportune times.
With his story finished, Howard questions why Paul never stood up for himself, something which Paul cannot answer, but is inspired by as Howard storms back downstairs to go back to sleep. Finding himself dwelling over the problems he sees with humans, Howard finds he cannot sleep either and goes down to the local bar. While drinking at the bar, Howard becomes the cause of a bar fight which erupts into a full fledged brawl until Paul arrives dressed in pajamas and a face mask. Calling himself Winky Man he tries to dispel the crowd with a candle and rhymes. Before he is pummeled to a pulp, Howard grabs "Winky Man" and pulls him into a dark alley, there Paul wakes up with no memory of what happened.
In the coming days, Paul found himself able to complete his art works while at night his Winky Man persona would go out and target those who would push others around. Finally having enough work to put on a show, Paul's work is savaged by art critic Xavier Coutire, prompting Paul to become Winky Man and attack Xavier. However, Howard intervenes and when Winky's roman candle causes the art galleries sprinklers to turn on, waking Paul up, Howard has Paul stand up to Xavier. When Paul does so, revealing that Xavier wears a wig, Xavier turns it around in front of the press to make it look as though the whole ordeal was a artistic expression, a notion which Paul goes along with when Xavier begins to praise Paul's ability.
After the whole ordeal, Howard feels as though Paul didn't learn anything, however Beverly has a little more faith in Paul.
Notes
- This issue also has an announcement for Howard the Duck running for the 1976 presidential election, and an offer to order a "Vote For Howard" button.