"Darkwing Duck"

Darkwing Duck # 18 Review

Darkwing and company team up to beat the bad guys and rescue an old friend.

Darkwing Duck #16 Review

The Purple Powerhouse battles his foe Suff-Rage for his life and his friend Launchpad in the Mayorial Election.

Darkwing Duck #15 Review

Darkwing Duck vs Launchpad McQuack for mayor of St. Canard as villains attack the city!

Darkwing Duck #14 Review

Darkwing runs for mayor and meets his newest foe Cat-Tankerous!  Wow, that’s bad enough to be one of MY puns….

Darkwing Duck #12 Review

Darkwing Duck #11 Review

F.O.W.L. Disposition brings us the latest installment of the great struggle of Darkwing Duck and his foe Steelbeak, both working to stop the rise of Duckthulu. Elder Gods are usually no laughing matter, but hey, it’s Darkwing.

Darkwing Duck #10 Review

Darkwing continues to try and get used to working with those he usually fights, as he and Steelbeak try and foil FOWL’s plan to raise the mighty Duckthulu from the mystic realms to the unsuspecting (and can’t catch a break) city of St. Canard. Our heroes are split in three groups- DW and Steelbeak (along with new ally, the foxy (literally) Femme Appeal) fight FOWL’s’s furious flunkies (great, now I’M talking like Darkwing), Goslyn as Quiverwing Quack tries to break in to the base with long suffering sidekick/friend Honker, and Magica and Launchpad try and find some more clues about how to stop the mystic madness.

Darkwing Duck Annual #1 Review

Boom Studios is continuing their triumphant return of the Disney cartoon hero with Darkwing Duck Annual #1. The annual has a back up by Tad Stones, who was instrumental in creating Darkwing in the first place, all those years ago.

Darkwing Duck #9 Review

Darkwing Duck #9

With the Crisis of Infinite Darkwings finally over, poor DW’s reputation is badly mauled. So what’s a somewhat vain superhero to do? Hire an ad agency for an image makeover, what else? Not liking their approach, DW makes a dramatic window exit, somewhat spoiled by a poorly placed banana peel from the window washers just outside.

Taking some time to recover from a less than graceful landing, Darkwing hears an alarm go off nearby, and rushes to see someone stealing from…. the public library? Even more confusing, his old foe, secret agent Steelbeak, runs up to him, saying he needs Darkwing’s help. Never at a loss for words, Darkwing manages the great comeback of “Uhh.. What now?”

It seems Steelbeak’s organization, the espionage group F.O.W.L. (No, I don’t remember what it stands for), was less than happy when Quackwerks managed to take over almost everything. Seeking a way back into the big leagues, they went the dark mystic route, and are now trying to summon dread Duckthuulhu. Steelbeak rebelled, both because they were going to enslave the minds of everyone on Earth to this ancient evil, and because they were going to make him give up his James Bond-ish tux for cultist robes. Steelbeak is almost as vain as Darkwing. The library theft was just a way to get DW’s attention.

In a rather amusing detour, their counter-plotting (after a confusing bit about double vs triple crosses) is put on hold so Darkwing can go “take care of something.” in this case putting Goslyn to bed. Trying to keep them out of trouble, DW tells both Goslyn and Morgana that he’s just off for a regular night of heroing, and gets them both to stay home.

Morgana sulks about being dismissed so easily, and misses Goslyn sneaking out in her Quiverwing Quack outfit. Goslyn saw DW leave with Steelbeak, and figured he was mind controlled or something that would require her help, and allow her to skip bedtime.

Darkwing and Steelbeak sneak into F.O.W.L.’s base, using the ruse of Steelbeak as captive to try and demoralize them. DW gets jumped by three guards and tosses his gun in the air, dropping them all before it lands… on his head. They then get surrounded by swarms of henchmen, and end up having to flee. Steelbeak is wounded in the escape, and tells DW to take the controls of his flying car, which Darkwing is not really familiar with, leading to a good tension filled point to end the issue.

What I liked and what I didn’t:

I continue to really enjoy this comic. Good, silly, superhero fun. DW is a tricky character to write, as his heroic tendencies are constantly at war with his major league ego. I dimly recall Steelbeak and F.O.W.L. from the show, and they seem to match what I recall.

I can’t put my finger on it, but this one was not quite as good as past issues. It was good, but not quite great. Maybe it’s that DW’s ego was more in control on this one, which I don’t like quite as much. It’s still a great title and worth the read.

Darkwing Duck #8 Review

Darkwing Duck #8

One of the best parts of the “Crisis of Infinite Darkwings” story in Darkwing Duck presently is the little Easter Eggs the artists throw in. Because there are infinite Darkwings, they have done versions of many popular characters, and the first page of this month’s features Darkwing hybrids with the Tom Baker Doctor Who, Optimus Prime, and the Lion King. These contribute nothing to the plot, but they’re vastly entertaining, and the Thunderquack/TARDIS in the background did actually make me laugh out loud.

These hypnotized variants are being captured by Quiverwing Quack, freed from the bad guy’s control last issue. After a showdown with something like a Dark Knight version, Quiver is off to help the heroes, leaving the readers to worry about the cryptic comment from the Dark Darkwing “Help him have one of his last few victories. Before he loses her.” Sounds bad for either Goslyn or Morgana. Elsewhere, the fight rages on of Darkwing vs NegaDuck, Goslyn/Gosmoduck vs Werewolf Darkwing, and Morgana vs Magica. It seems to be largely a stalemate until Quiverwing pops up, helping the heroes. The rest of the DW’s are freed, with more cameos of Harry Potter, Darth Vader, the Bob’s Big Boy mascot, Indiana Jones, and even the Chip and Dale Rescue Rangers.

NegaDuck is furious about this development, which makes him the perfect host for the demon Paddywhack, who takes control as everyone else flees the suddenly flooding chamber. They make it back to the streets, where Goslyn’s armor, which never seemed to work quite right for her, falls to pieces. In true comic fashion, as desperate times call for desperate measures, the heroes team with Magica against the Paddy-Nega-whatever you want to call it.

Darkwing quickly devises a plan, having Morgana and Magica buy time for he and Launchpad to get to the prison and find Megavolt, and his Tronspliter, which created the original NegaDuck. Megavolt, relieved to find out he doesn’t have to come fight, urges them to take it from the corner of his cell, prompting DW to remark “When this is over, we really need to write a sternly worded memo about the security in this place,” made even more ironic by the fact that Quackerjack’s bunk is occupied by a stuffed dummy. Magica comes close to being wounded and flees, leaving Morgana alone until the arrival of the horde of Darkwings, led by Quiverwing Quack, with more amusing cameos including Rorschach (really disturbing), the Incredibles, the Flash, and what I think is Bugs Bunny with the Singing Sword from one of Bugs’ classic cartoons. I’ll stop trying to name them all here, but just looking at the crowd scenes of Darkwings is vastly entertaining for comics and cartoon fans.

DW and Launchpad use the Tronspliter to weaken Nega/Paddy, but then the Paddy beast seizes it to try and reduce all the Darkwings to free floating bits of good, as he did with NegaDuck and the small bits of evil. Goslyn provides a moment’s distraction, and Quiverwing and Morgana use the device that was controlling the Darkwings to harness their collective good energy to drive Paddywhack back into his version of a genie lamp, in this case a jack in the box. The bad guys are defeated, the Darkwings return to their worlds, and all’s well that ends well… almost. The TV news pops on with the latest poll- 98% of the citizens distrust Darkwing Duck, 2% claim to trust him, but say “He’s the guy who swims in money, right?” another Scrooge McDuck joke. DW faints, and this arc is over.

What I liked and what I didn’t:

As with the other issues, this is just pure fun, silly adventure at its finest. I went back several times to just stare at the panels and pick out who everyone was supposed to be, making me think of Where’s Waldo, which got even funnier when I actually found a Waldo/Darkwing. It was nice to see the writer (Ian Brill) had such a great grasp on the character that, when all the DW’s were freed, even in all their alternate versions, the two things that unite them were being a hero and the love for daughter Goslyn.

The only thing at all I didn’t like was on the page when we switch from Quiverwing to the main heroes. The caption boxes read “So this is still a thing. Attacked! Trapped! Werewolfed!” I have no idea what “So this is still a thing” is supposed to mean. I went back a few times, reread it, looked at the context, I still don’t get it. But that’s pretty minor in a great book.

All Our Darkwing Duck Reviews

Darkwing Duck #7 Review

Boom Studios is on quite the roll with their ongoing Darkwing Duck series. The current story arc features Darkwing’s arch enemy, Negaduck, teamed with Disney villain Magica Despell. They have captured versions of Darkwing Duck from many different Earths, brainwashed them, and turned them loose on Darkwing’s city of St. Canard. Continuing their comic spoofs, this is called the Crisis of Infinite Darkwings. The cover that I got is even a tribute to the famed Golden Age cover of Batman and Robin swinging over the city, now replaced by Darkwing and GosmoDuck.

Darkwing Duck #6 Review

Boom! Comics continues one of my old favorities as they continue the adventures of Darkwing Duck. This is the Crisis of Infinite Darkwings, continuing their plays on comic titles. NegaDuck and Magica de Spell are dimension-hopping, collecting Darkwing Dopplegangers, hyponitizing them, and turning them loose on St. Canard, wreaking havoc and destroying DW’s good name. There is also something odd going on with the water, as it seems to keep coming to life and grabbing people, but the enraged (and easily led) citizenry are blaming Darkwing for that, too. DW finally decides to take action, and embarks on a plan for he and Morgana to track down the water-hazard quite publicly at a press conference.