Debbie the Duck

Character Description

Debbie the Duck (so named because she often makes a quacking sound mid-conversation) is a friend and girlfriend of Ken Connell, the original Star Brand in the New Universe. She is not very smart, but has a good heart. She speaks with a very pronounced Pittsburgh accent. She also has an amazingly low level of self-esteem, and is willing to do anything for Ken, no matter how poorly he treats her. Ken is a skirt-chaser of the first degree, and goes out with or sleeps with several other women during the time he is also with Duck.

Ken's main girlfriend is Barb Petrovic, but he's seeing Deb on the side. He seems to be more on Deb's wavelength, and they bond together more, even though he acts like he wants to be with Barb more. Deb takes all this in stride and lets Ken do what he wants.

Character History

Soon after Ken's first battle with an alien as Star Brand, he goes to Deb's house for rest and solace, although he doesn't tell her about his powers. He calls her his favorite waterfowl.

She accompanies him to his friend Myron's, and when Ken gets mad at Myron and leaves, he finally tells Deb about his powers. She becomes one of his prime confidants; Ken never tells his "real" girlfriend Barb about his powers, and Myron is often derogatory about Ken's use of his powers, but she is always supportive of him. She also helps him with many other small things, like cooking for him and doing his laundry.

He gets her a small Disney duck present, and she loves it. They sleep together at his place, and he takes a picture of her in her underwear. Barb shows up right afterwards, and Duck characteristically ducks out the back door without a complaint. Barb sees the picture but doesn't say anything about it.

On his birthday, Duck shows up at Ken's with some presents to help him fly around at night (he often gets lost). They sleep together again, then go on a trip to see some of Ken's friends. They have to stop off at his mom's house briefly, but it turns out to be a surprise party, and Barb is there, so Duck hides under the dashboard of the car for an hour and a half to avoid being seen--and does it happily, without being asked. Even Ken thinks this is overboard and gets worried about his effect on her.

Finally, after sleeping with yet another random woman he meets on a beach, Ken decides to propose to Barb. She says yes, and he goes over to Deb's to break it off with her. However, she is completely distraught and basically threatens to kill herself if she can't see him any more. Ken feels horrible and tells her he'll still see her sometimes--and so essentially he'll keep dating her while he's engaged. Soon after, Ken sees Barb parenting her kids and feels freaked out about the whole idea of having a family, and starts getting cold feet about Barb anyway.

Ken's enemy the Old Man comes back and hypnotizes Deb, making her fall in love with him. All kinds of confusion ensues as Barb finds them all together. The Old Man hurts Duck and Barb gets her to a hospital as Ken fights the Old Man. The Old Man isn't killed, however, and keeps harassing Ken. Barb, meanwhile, finally breaks up with Ken. Finally the Old Man calls Ken and tells him to meet him at the hospital. The Old Man has his hand on Duck's throat and says he'll kill her if Ken doesn't give him the Star Brand.

Ken tells him to do it, because he's not going to let anything stop him from beating him. The Old Man is stunned, and Ken knocks him out of the hospital and defeats him. He comes back and apologizes to Deb for putting her in that position. They both say they love each other.

However, this doesn't stop him from leaving her in the dust as he takes a trip to think about his power. She asks to come along but he says no.

She eventually makes him a super-hero costume and tells him he needs to go public and really use his power. He disagrees but talks to Myron, who tells him the same thing, apparently upon Duck's request. He finally agrees, dons her costume, becoming temporarily famous. However, it turns out that Deb is pregnant. She tells Ken, but he doesn't believe it's his at first; eventually he admits it is.

Ken ends up accidentally destroying Pittsburgh. She has the baby without him in the wreckage of the city, however, with some Red Cross workers, Jane and Roger Price. The baby is the Starchild, a baby with the innate power of the Star Brand. She dies in the process of his birth.

Other Versions

Debbie appears in the Exiles storyline taking place in Earth-15731.

She also appears (in this case going by her full name, Madeline "Maddy" Felix) as Kevin Connell's girlfriend in the newuniversal reboot of the New Universe. In that storyline, she is the daughter of the local sheriff in a small town in Oklahoma. The two go out for a night on the town, then sleep out in the open on a meadow. A White Event occurs, giving Connell his powers. This causes him to flare up with the energy of the Brand, burning Maddy to a husk.