The Rise of Duckthulu comes to its climax in Darkwing Duck 12 from Kaboom studios (I still don’t know why they changed their name from BOOM!, but oh well).

Darkwing Duck #12

Darkwing watches helplessly as the dread Duckthulu rises, while elsewhere, Morgana, Quiverwing Quack, Arrow Kid, and Femme Appeal all join up to work together. Femme giving Morgana a scroll from her mysterious true employer to hopefully stop the rising. After much chaos and spellcasting (and many jibes at Darkwing’s ego), Morgana uses the scroll, and reality shifts…

 

To a sitcom? Yes, our heroes (and villains) are on the set of a sitcom with some truly odd dialogue, a “live studio audience” of entranced FOWL henchmen, and Duckthulu as Darkwing’s boss, who’s been invited to dinner. Even in these cheesy surroundings, the love of the “family” (Darkwing, Morgana, Goslyn, and Launchpad) is strong enough to set Duckthulu back a bit. Morgana powers up from this and unleashes powerful magic, driving him back, as she says a hurried goodbye to Darkwing. Reality finally snaps back, but Morgana is gone. To what fate, we don’t know, but she’s not with the others. SHUSH agents rush in, arresting the FOWL stooges, and Steelbeak slips off to find the FOWL leaders, saying they owe him now. Femme, it seems, was also working for FOWL. What disturbs me is the last panel, as Darkwing realizes he has lost Morgana, and the caption is “The Beginning.” In my experience, that usually means a title is ending, which I really hope isn’t so.

What I liked and what I didn’t:

This was some good, screwy fun as I’ve come to expect from this take on the Duck Knight. Darkwing certainly has his flaws, and his ego bites him hard this time around. Steelbeak and Femme both getting away works, and I’m glad Goslyn came through unharmed, as there have been dark hints about a tragedy involving her in days to come. Again, there are some nice art based Easter Eggs, such as Morgana rifling through which type of place to set the fight against Duckthulu in before settling on the tv sitcom.

My only objection is the loss of Morgana. Every hero needs a love interest, and she and Dark have always clicked well. What’s the world coming to when even a comic book based on a cartoon has to have a darker ending? I’ll just have to hope she’s back soon, I suppose.