Darkwing Duck #1 Review

The subject matter of today’s review holds a very special place in my heart. Like many children of the 90’s I grew up watching Darkwing Duck, and to this day, it remains one of the most beloved shows of my childhood alongside Power Rangers and my favorite show of all time, Gargoyles. Primarily the series was a parody of the superhero genre with the titular character being a self-absorbed glory seeker who, despite his massive ego, still had a good heart and a strong sense of justice. With the help of his loyal sidekick, ace pilot Launchpad McQuack and his adoptive daughter, Gosalyn, Darkwing battles the criminal element of the city of St. Canard, and makes sure they learn to fear the sound of Darkwing’s signature introduction.

I am the terror that flaps in the night.

I am the jailer that throws away the key.

I, am, DARKWING DUCK!!

The middle line changes every episode, but you get the general idea. Anywho, some years back, Boom Studios published an ongoing series of Darkwing Duck comics. As a fan of the show, I enjoyed them and would recommend that fans hunt down the some of the trades if they can find them. Unfortunately, Boom Studios lost the license to produce Darkwing Duck comics to Marvel shortly after the latter was purchased by Disney, and with the series approaching the end of its run and Marvel expressing no interest to do anything with the character, Darkwing’s future in comics was looking bleak. The end of the Boom Studios run holds particular significance for me as when I first started reviewing comics back in 2011, one of my first reviews was the final issue of the series. So, imagine my elation when I discovered this beautiful comic sitting on the shelf at the local comic book store. To very briefly recap, as this series, despite being released under a different imprint, does in fact continue from where the Boom Studios run left off, the series ended with Nega Duck, Darkwing’s arch nemesis and alternate reality doppelganger, having gained supernatural powers and, alongside an army of villains, nearly succeeded in taking over both St. Canard and Duckburg. In the end, Darkwing, was able to banish Nega Duck to another dimension by forcing him to confront the fact that unlike Darkwing, Nega Duck is truly alone. Trust me, it was a lot cooler than I’m making it sound. Anywho, I’ve delayed long enough, it’s time to get to the comic itself, so come on readers let’s get dangerous.

We open in St. Canard as the citizens are eagerly awaiting the start of the annual electrical parade. However, the fun is soon spoiled as Megavolt, one of the more prominent members of Darkwing’s Rogue’s gallery has used his electrical powers to cause one of the floats to go out of control, with Darkwing and Launchpad in tow. Thinking quickly, Darkwing uses his grappling gun to crash the runaway float into the fountain, shorting out both it and Megavolt. As Megavolt is dragged away by the authorities, Darkwing is feeling more than a little pleased with himself for having once again brought one of the evildoers of St. Canard to justice. However, something far worse awaits our hero later that night: Dinner with his annoying neighbors, the Muddlefoots. Yes, in the guise of his alter ego, Drake Mallard, Darkwing reluctantly attends a barbeque at the residence of Herb and Binkie Muddlefoot. Drake loathes every second he has to spend with these people, but puts up with it because their son, Honker Muddlefoot is Gosalyn’s best friend. However, when Drake sees Gosalyn save Honker from bullying older brother, Tank, Darkwing is concerned that Gosalyn may be too eager to follow in her father’s footsteps.

Meanwhile, Megavolt is being hauled away by police officers in riot gear, when one of the officers takes out the rest with a mallet. As the mystery man removes his Mask, Megavolt recognizes who he sees, but doesn’t believe what he’s seeing. The mysterious figure, unrevealed to the audience just yet, says that he’s breaking Megavolt loose so that they may both get their revenge on Darkwing Duck.

The Next day, Gosalyn’s class is going on a field trip to the ribbon cutting for St. Canard’s new maximum-security prison. Now, I know that field trips to prisons are not unheard of, having been on such a trip myself. That said, the trip I went on was for a civics and law class, I was in high school at the time and I was never given a tour of the general population. These are elementary school students being shown around a prison like it’s a zoo. Even for something geared towards children, this is a level of stupidity that is simply beyond belief. Anywho, we see that several of Darkwing’s enemies are locked up in this prison, including Bushroot, The Liquidator, Amonia Pine, and quite a few I don’t recognize who may have been invented for the comic. However, one of the guards reveals himself to be none other than Nega Duck in disguise. While Gosalyn is horrified to see that Nega Duck has returned from his inter-dimensional exile, she keeps a cool head and helps everyone evacuate, but stays behind to look for a classmate who’s gone missing. Darkwing enters the prison in a puff of smoke and delivers his signature line, but Nega Duck, knowing his foe all too well, smashes our hero over the head with a mallet before he can finish. While Darkwing is incapacitated, Nega Duck uses Megavolts powers to lock down the prison and open all of the cells. As Darkwing comes too, Nega Duck reveals his dastardly plan. He’s going to give Darkwing a thirty-minute head start, and when his time is up, every villain he’s ever faced is going to come hunting for him. And our comic ends with Nega reminding Darkwing that the clock is ticking, so he should run.

What Works: I cannot begin to tell you how happy I am that Darkwing Duck is back. This is a character that is way too much fun to stay buried in obscurity. All of the familiar Darkwing Duck tropes are here. Especially entertaining is Darkwing’s bottomless disdain for the Muddlefoots. There were also several in jokes too numerous to mention here that were especially funny, particularly for fans of the old series. The set up for the story arc is brilliant: A hero, locked in a prison and forced to face a gauntlet of his worst enemies, it’s essentially a more lighthearted version of the Arkham Asylum video game. Mind you, that makes the premise somewhat unoriginal, but seeing as how Darkwing Duck is intended as a parody of superheroes and Batman in particular, so it fits. Finally, I especially appreciate how, even though this series picks up from where the original Boom Studios run left off, it is still written in such a way that new readers who didn’t necessarily read the original run won’t feel alienated.

What Doesn’t: I can’t believe I’m even bothering to talk about this, but it bugged me. See, I have always loved Darkwing Duck’s costume. I would best describe it as “Batman meets Carmen Sandiego.” Ordinarily, Darkwing wears what appears to be a green turtleneck under his purple costume, but for some reason, in this comic they’ve replaced the turtleneck with a green collared shirt with a purple tie. I have no idea why they made this change nor can I come up with a reason as to why it bugs me so much, but it does. It’s especially jarring when we see that Nega Duck, whose costume is basically just Darkwing’s with a different color-scheme, still wears the turtleneck. The silliest thing to nitpick, I know, but I can’t help but be annoyed by it.

Overall:

5/5

Darkwing Duck is finally back and this fan could not be happier. Here’s hoping that this series lasts a lot longer than the last one.