The classic nineties Disney hero, Darkwing Duck, is back! Well, at least in comic book form. News over at the website Inside the Magic.net reveals that Darkwing Duck will once again return to comics via Disney’s BOOM! Studios in a series called The Duck Knight Returns.
Darkwing Duck was always one of my favorite Disney characters. Mostly because of the not so clever take off on a bumbling Batman clone. However, I always thought the villains were extremely cool looking and the stories had a neat comic book spin. Of course, it’s been awhile since I’ve taken a look at them. Nevertheless, it’s cool to see Disney taking some time to revisit some of their classic cartoon franchises in this day an age of Hannah Montana and whatever other drek they happen to be peddling to kids these days.
It’s been almost 20 years, if you can believe that, since Darkwing Duck made any sort of appearance. Be that as it may, a quick scan of YouTube will net you a bunch of episodes from the half hour cartoon that used to run in the 1990′s. For those that don’t remember this character from the old Disney Afternoon days, here’s a look at the first part of Episode 1:
For those of you who do remember this classic character, you should be happy to know that you can check out a preview of the first five pages by clicking here. There is also an interview with the comic’s writer and cover artist here.
DuckTales was practically the perfect cartoon. It took well-known, beloved characters and placed them into a world that was oftentimes as thrilling as an Indiana Jones adventure. The dialog was smart, the villains were diabolical, and the tales were almost always entertaining from start to finish.
When their Uncle Donald goes off to join the marines, Huey, Dewey, and Louie are stuck living with their cranky old Uncle Scrooge in his lavish mansion. Instead of being thrilled to live among the rich and famous, the three ducklings are stuck in an attic room, watched over by an uppity butler. Slowly, over the first few episodes, Scrooge and his nephews grow fond of eachother and eventually they’re constant companions, off traveling the world and constantly saving Scrooge’s fortune from nefarious evildoers.
As solid as the main characters are, the supporting cast is great as well. Each week, Scrooge McDuck and his nephews are joined by Launchpad McQuack, Scrooge’s bumbling pilot, Gyro Gearloose, the wacky inventor, the nanny Mrs. Beakley and her grandaughter Webigail, along with a recurring cast of baddies. Magica De Spell, the Beagle Boys, and Flintheart Glomgold are the ones that appear most often.
I’m happy to report that DuckTales holds up beautifully these days and is still a near-perfect cartoon for any little adventurers-in-training you may have clomping around your house. In fact, DuckTales is the first television show that really hooked my son. Before he could speak, he would say “WooHoo!” (like in the theme song) to indicate that he wanted to watch DuckTales. And to this day, we still break out the DVD sets. Speaking of which, you can find them here:
Okay, confession time: I’m a huge fan of Disney animated films. While I usually let Moe do the talking on things like The Little Mermaid being his favorite film, I’m really the bigger Disney geek of the group. These days, I’m more entrenched in Disney films than ever, what with a 2 year old in the house. There isn’t a day that goes by where Pinnochio, Jungle Book or Cinderella aren’t playing for my daughter. The Disney Princesses are heroines and classic songs from the great Disney films of the past ring through our home all the time.
When I was younger, I had a dream of being a Disney animator. I took art classes, studied every book I could, read every interview and copied the Nine Old Men’s artistry to the best of my meagre ability. When my parents took us to Disney World, I stood for (literally) hours watching the animators work and couldn’t wait to sit at one of those animation table and do the same.
Sadly, when Pixar took off in the late 90′s and started making money hand over fist, Disney fell under the same spell as the other animation studios. Every movie was now supposed to imitate the look of CGI and get the kids back in the theaters. As other short sighted executives before them had done, the Disney brass allowed look to trump character and essentially signed the death certificate for what made Disney animation great in the first place. Rather than craft memorable characters and stories with heart, Disney produced a series of pop-star voiced characters with little in the way of story but with plenty of effort toward making the film more CGI-like.
In 2004, Disney announced that Home on the Range (a miserable film) would be the last 2D animation film for the studio and that all animation would go to making CGI films instead. Although they had changed artistic direction long before, I couldn’t help but feel as if something very important had died. When my wife and I visited Disney World on our honeymoon, I noticed the old Disney animation building that I had spent hours of my life in, had been shuttered. It was one of the saddest things I could ever see. While I didn’t mind the CGI movies that came out of the studio over the past five years, nothing stood out the way those old classic films did.
When the creative behemoth that is John Lasseter became head of Disney Animation, it was with great joy and hope that I heard his desire to return traditional 2D animation to the Disney company. And now the first new Disney 2D film in five years is set to be released this year and it goes by the name of The Princess and the Frog.
Set in the French Quarter of New Orleans, the classic tale of the The Frog Princess will be told old school Disney style. And I’m pretty damn excited about it. While I’m no fan of Oprah Winfrey, I’m betting her presence will do a lot to get moms and their kids into the film. While I also make fun of Randy Newman every chance I can get, it does my heart good to know that he’ll be providing the music for the film. As zany and apparently drunk as he sounds, I can’t complain over the work he’s done for Pixar over the years. The directors of The Little Mermaid and Aladdin (Ron Clemens and John Musker) are taking the helm this time around and it looks as if all the pieces are there for another fantastic film and a return to great 2D Disney animation. I’ll be celebrating.
