Warning: spoilers ahead for Strange Academy #11!
In the latest issue of Marvel Comics' Strange Academy, Doctor Strange needs the assistance of the MCU's forgotten hero: Howard the Duck. Seeing as how there's been yet another murder at Doctor Strange's magic school, with the Man-Thing's son shattered into pieces, Howard is now on the case, utilizing his skills as a private investigator. In his eyes, everyone is a suspect in this new Marvel murder mystery, and that includes every student and teacher at the school for the mystically gifted.
At the beginning of the Strange Academy #11 from writer Skottie Young and artist Humberto Ramos, Man-Thing's son Toth is up late at the school's library studying when he is attacked by an unknown assailant. He is found dead the next morning by his fellow students, with his crystalline form having been shattered into pieces. However, given the nature of his abnormal anatomy, there is still hope for his restoration provided his missing crystal heart can be found. As a result, the Strange Academy hires none other than Howard the Duck to get to the bottom of this new murder mystery plaguing the school.
Despite the odd nature of Howard's entire existence both on the page and on the screen, the private investigator is quite the professional and pretty good at his job. He wastes no time interviewing every student one by one, checking out alibis and confirming their stories using their various social media platforms. Furthermore, he also interviews all of the teachers, ruling out no one as a suspect in Toth's murder. Surprisingly, Howard is depicted as the most level-headed and sensible character of the entire issue. Playing him straight as a by-the-book PI is a hilarious stroke of genius by Young and Ramos, given the ridiculous nature of the duck who entered the MCU in Guardians of the Galaxy, and who many never noticed was present in the final battle of Avengers: Endgame.
Howard initially thinks he's come up empty after all of his interviews, seeing as how everyone had a solid alibi at the time of Toth's murder. However, a return to the crime scene yields results, as Howard finds a pin belonging to the enchanted jacket of Calvin Morse. While Calvin was indeed asleep during the murder as he claimed, his jacket wasn't, revealing its dark side. However, once Calvin discovers Toth's heart shard in his jacket pocket, he became possessed by the jacket and turned into a horrifying monster at the issue's end.
While Howard cracked the case, it seems as though he was just a little too late. The evil jacket has already taken over Calvin, ready to attack the other students at the school for some unknown reason. Regardless of its motives, it's clearly bad news. Hopefully, the students and teachers at the Strange Academy can come together to safely free Calvin and restore Toth in the upcoming issues. In any case, it certainly seems as though Howard the Duck's work is done, showing that sometimes even Doctor Strange needs a hand from the MCU's least respected hero.