Kaboom studios was working with Warren Spector on a new DuckTales comic. They wanted the title to rekindle the themes and characters from the animated show as well as call up the great adventures featured in the comics. Italians Leonel Castellani, Jose Massaroli working with Magic Eye Studios handled the art duties. Other Kaboom Studio artists like James Silvani were tapped to do alternate covers.
The story "Many Happy Returns" started off with a bang. Scrooge McDuck jumped out of a plane piloted by Launchpad McQuack. Scrooge then parachuted into the opening of a museum exhibit featuring the treasures from his collection. The nephews Huey, Dewey and Louie as well as Webby Vanderquack were waiting for him. They jumped on Scrooge and lavished him with affection The heart of the animated series was very much based on the relationship between the kids and Scrooge. Mr. Spector, a self proclaimed fan of the series brought this up right away.
At the the museum the ducks were met by Curator / Chief Billups and his assistant Farquardt. John D. Rockerduck, one of Scrooge's oldest enemies was also waiting. This was where Mr. Spector's story differed from DuckTales continuity. Flintheart Glomgold played the villain in most of the DuckTales episodes, whereas Rockerduck never even appeared on the show. Mr. Spector began building the rivalry between the two tycoons for readers. The core of each personality would be played up in the dialogue so that even if a reader had never heard of Rockerduck they would understand that he was a major player in Duckburg.
The group went through the museum where the kids questioned Scrooge on his collection and where Rockerduck challenged the purpose of showing it off. The panels illustrated within the museum were filled with tremendous detail. The various treasures the ducks had chased in previous stories were almost all present, if not mentioned in dialogue. Such as the The Fabulous Philosopher’s Stone, the Crown of the Mayas and a golden coat made from the mythological material featured in the Golden Fleecing story. From the earliest Bark's stories to the most recent Don Rosa adventures, if it was in canon then chances are it was on display in the background for all the fans to enjoy.
Webby questioned Scrooge if some of his treasures were gotten through unfavorable dealing. In one adventure Scrooge had traded King Fulla Cola on the island Ripan Taro some candy for a Candy-Striped Ruby On that island money was useless so Scrooge could not buy the Ruby outright. The sign of status for the island natives was in having a large belly, so Scrooge was able to able to barter the empty calories found in candy to King Fulla Cola. Scrooge defended his actions to and kept the group moving through the museum. Eventually they came across some rare creatures that Scrooge had also managed to bring back on his adventures, including the cantankerous unicorn from the Trail of the Unicorn story and a dinosaur from a latter story. All heck broke loose until Launchpad was able to separate the stampeding beasts.
At a reception party afterwards in the McDuck mansion the young ducks and Launchpad were seen playing the pencil and paper RPG Ducks and Danger. As the game master Webby was trying to convince the adventurers to return the treasure they had been collecting. She challenged the triplets by offering the idea that ill-begotten treasure was nothing more than stealing. The right thing in her mind was to return what had been taken. If that moral worked in the game then it should have worked in real life. Again Mr. Spector demonstrated an understanding on the subtle relationships in the DuckTales universe. Webby often acted as a moral compass for the characters and especially Scrooge. In many episodes her diminutive voice acted as a conscience for Scrooge, not unlike Jiminy Cricket did for Pinocchio.
Webby argued that the right thing to do was convince Uncle Scrooge to return the treasure to their rightful owners It was a noble idea, yet there was a mysterious person wearing a bowler hat and standing out in the hallway eavesdropping on the conversion. When the kids approached Scrooge about returning the treasure he said it was a preposterous idea. That was until he learned that Rockerduck was conducting a press interview stating that he was returning the treasures he had collected back to their rightful owners. He publicly challenged Scrooge to do the same.
It was obvious to most readers that Rockerduck was baiting Scrooge for a big showdown. Scrooge accepted the challenge and even offered to return two artifacts for every one of Rockerduck's. Scrooge saw this as an opportunity to prove that he was a better philanthropist on top of being a better businessman and would prove that to the media.
The first part of the adventure ended on the docks where Scrooge was beginning his first journey with Webby at his side. Daisy Duck and Fethry Duck made cameos as news reporters while on the other side of town a mysterious figure had gathered members of the underworld, including not only villains from Duckberg but also from the nearby St. Cannard better known as the home of Darkwing Duck! These criminals were told the locations and order for the treasures to be returned. Each of the named treasures harkened back to a classic adventure and possibly gave readers a hint as to how long the series was expected to run.
Fans of the DuckTales animated series should consider looking into these comics. They contained the same spirit of adventure and fantastic premises which earned the show a strong following. Fans of the classic Disney comics might not be as interested in the books because they seem to be retreading a lot of material. The next blog will explore the good and bad things going for the Warren Spector comic. I hope to see you back for that.
As always if you would like to sponsor me please visit my Patreon page and consider donating each month, even as little as $1 would help make better blogs and even podcasts!
No comments:
Post a Comment