Duck Avenger #1 Review

"Duck Avenger" #1 from IDW -

     By day Donald Duck is a not-so-mild-mannered caretaker of Ducklair Tower, property of his filthy rich uncle, Scrooge McDuck. But, by night, Donald is someone else...He is something else...He is...The Duck Avenger, masked do-gooder and protector of the city of Duckberg! With the aid of his super-powerful A.I., One, The Duck Avenger uses his amazing crime-fighting skills to defend Duckberg and give crime a black eye. But this time, Donald just might be way out of his league. When a seemingly unstoppable new foe, The Red Raider, causes mayhem in Duckberg, The Duck Avenger springs into action to clean Red Raider's clock...But he only ends up getting his own clock cleaned. Why? Because Red Raider  OWNS the clock...He can travel through time! How can The Duck Avenger hope to catch a criminal with time on his side? The Duck Avenger gets help along the way from a lovely reporter named Lyla. But who is she really? Why does she know so much about The Red Raider...And HOW does she know The Duck Avenger's secret identity?! Return to Duckberg and find out! Journey with The Duck Avenger!!

    Italian writers, Alessandro Sisti and Ezio Sisto drum up lots of action and lots of guffaws in "Duck Avenger" #1 from IDW and Disney. Although this story is technically a reprint (it was first printed in Italy in 1996), that doesn't take away from the pure Disney fun that fills this super-sized book. Fans of the Donald Duck-verse in comics will enjoy a return to their childhood, as well as those who were just fans of the TV show, "Duck Tales" back in the 1980s. Donald Duck has been quite a big deal in Europe for decades and so has his alter-ego, The Duck Avenger. So, it looks like, after a few false starts, Americans are finally getting a taste of the European awesomeness that we have missed out on. Artist Claudio Sciarrone's pencils are gorgeous, wacky and very busy. Lots of work went into this book, and it shows. Disney Italia's saturated colors over Sciarrone's pencils make this book lots of fun for the eyes to enjoy. Are you going to find any deep ideas or characters explorations in this book? Nope. Will you find a super-hero adventure with some resemblances to classic Disney romps with familiar, well-loved characters, along with dated pop culture references (Car 54, anyone?), and classic Disney yucks? Absolutely. If you are a Disney fan, I think you'll love this book. I sure did. 

CAVEAT: While it does have elements of a classic Disney story, it also feels like a semi-serious super-hero story with Donald as a pretty dogged and competent protagonist, instead of a lovable, nincompoop who needs anger-management classes. Remember, this is not Carl Barks' Donald Duck-verse. If you're interested, you can find out about the history of The Duck Avenger here.

RATING: 8 out of 10. I had a lot of fun reading this book.

HEADS UP: "Duck Tales" is set to return to TV in 2017!!

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