This is interesting. After eyeteeth's comment and a cursory web search I realized I totally had my head in my feathers. The Howard the Duck comic always did use that phrase, and I had totally forgotten this. So my "neat thing" was the other way around, a tribute to HtD from another Ohioan: the lyrics to the Pretenders' "Precious".
Howard the Duck and Mr. Stress both stayed Trapped in a world that they never made