Deep Dive Disney: Saga of the Chaos God Part 1

Welcome everyone to a subject I have wanted to tackle for some time. I’ve talked about the Disney Afternoon quite a bit in the past but I don’t think we’ve ever discussed the subject in great detail. I’ve debated often on how exactly to go about tackling this subject. Then I was rewatching an episode of the Ducktales reboot that offhandedly mentioned a character named Solego and it was like I was struck in the back of the head with a very large baseball bat made of pure, concentrated nostalgia. See, here’s something you have to understand about me, with the exception of Darkwing Duck and Gargoyles, which I watched regularly, my primary exposure to the shows popularized by the Disney Afternoon was not the TV episodes, but rather, the comics in Disney Adventures Magazine. For those of you who might be too young to remember, Disney Adventures was a monthly publication for children that contained celebrity interviews, sneak peaks at upcoming films and most relevant to today’s topic of discussion, comics. In that spirit, allow me to welcome you to a Deep Dive Disney Mini Series that we’ll be calling Saga of the Chaos God. See, in the early 90’s, Disney Adventures took five of their popular cartoons and put them all together in a five part series… kind of. This is not a full blown crossover per se, more of a series of isolated stories connected by common elements. Does this story from my childhood still hold up, or have I been blinded by nostalgia goggles. In any case, let’s get into it, starting with TaleSpin.

For those that don’t know, at some point in the 90’s some Disney executive presumably took a massive bong rip and said to themselves “Hey, that Jungle Book movie was pretty good, but you know what would make it better, Airplanes! And when this exec finally came down, TaleSpin was born and ended up being a pretty good show. The series starred Baloo as a brave yet dull witted cargo pilot and his sidekick, Kit Cloudkicker. They would take various jobs and would often have to contend with some vicious sky pirates. For the purposes of this article, I’m reasonably certain that’s all you need to know.

We open in Baloo’s plane, The Sea Duck with Baloo, Kit and Molly, the young Daughter of Rebecca, the owner of Higher for Hire, the cargo pilot business that she started with Baloo. They’re heading to a remote island to meet with a Professor Potsherd who has recently unearthed some ancient artifacts and has hired Baloo’s company to transport them safely. Unfortunately, the villainous Don Karnage and his gang of air pirates are already there looking to steal the valuables. Baloo makes quick work of the pirates with some fancy flying, but in the scuffle, a red crystal is knocked into an empty barrel and a gold medallion that looks as if the crystal is meant to fit within it is knocked into the ocean.

Baloo lands the Sea Duck and we're introduced to the Professor and his young son Bisk. As the professor thanks Baloo for his efforts, Molly is introduced to Bisk who, in a very know it all sort of way, explains that his father’s goal is to prove the existence of an ancient Chaos God who destroyed many civilizations thousands of years ago. A needlessly hostile Molly says that her Mommy doesn’t need any Chaos God when she’s got Baloo. I think this is meant to be a dig at how Baloo is a magnet for calamity, but the way Molly talks, it sounds like she thought Bisk was trying to set her mom up on a date with an ancient malevolent deity. Weird, but Molly is meant to be like, five years old, so whatever.

Back at Higher or Hire, Becky chews out Baloo for being late and even more when she finds out Baloo was fighting space pirates with her daughter on board. Molly saves Baloo any further verbal lambasting by making Puss in Boots eyes at her mother, but she still shoos everyone out of her office.

Later, while taking inventory, Becky knocks over the empty barrel from earlier finding the red crystal. Becky picks up the the jewel and starts glowing with unnatural red light. A voice in her head says that it has found a body at last. The voice introduces itself as Solego, the Chaos God. If you haven’t already guessed, this is the common element that ties these stories together. Solego the Chaos God is indeed real and very powerful, but right now, he’s sealed inside the crystal. He can however possess any poor soul misfortunate enough to pick up the crystal and use their body to accomplish his wicked goals, just as he’s doing with Becky. Molly runs into the room, but Solego has taken control, indicated by Becky’s eyes now glowing red. Molly sees this and immediately can tell something is wrong with her mother and then runs off to get Baloo.

Becky isn’t too pleased that Solego made her scare her daughter, but Solego says he will do much more than scare if she doesn’t do as he says. To that end, Becky steals the Sea Duck and takes to the skies. While in the air, Solego explains that in order to return to full power, he must find the gold setting in which the crystal fits. Only then can he begin his conquest of the world.

Baloo, clearly seeing that something is up with Becky, lassos the tail of the plane and holds on for dear life, Kit and Molly holding on to Baloo in a similar fashion. Seeing Molly’s grasp starting to slip gives Becky the will to resist Solego’s influence just long enough to save her friends, with everyone on the Sea Duck, Solego asserts control yet again and is about to attack our heroes, but Becky resists just long enough for Molly to tackle her mother, knocking the crystal out of her grasp.

And so our comic ends with Kit, safely holding the crystal with a pair of pliers, dropping it into the ocean as far away from civilization as possible, Solego vowing that this is not over yet.

Our first chapter was a lot of fun. We got a good sense of Solego’s MO and the threat he poses. This guy is not some cartoony crook like Don Karnage. This guy is a serious threat. Next time, The Rescue Rangers must deal with the Power of the Chaos God. Until then.