Disney LongBox Reviews: Duck Avenger #0

EVRONIANS

ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED IN PAPERNIK NEW ADVENTURES #0 (1996)

COUNTRY OF ORIGIN: ITALY

FIRST TIME PUBLISHED IN NORTH AMERICA

It’s a big night in Duckburg as a crowd encircles the local TV station as one of Duckburg’s most popular shows is currently being filmed as they wait for the elegant Saxony Starbright to exit the building. Unknown to them, she leaves backside into a car provided by the station. Meanwhile,in another part of town, our hero, the ever impressive Duck Avenger stands amongst the tall buildings in the rain noting how dull the evening has been so far. But a scream soon catches his attention.

Mysterious flame headed ducks have attacked the car containing the earlier mentioned TV actress as the Duck Avenger valiantly tries to use his gadgets but they all get destroyed by the monsters. When all hope looks lost, the police show up to defend the Avenger but notice the monsters look more confused than hostile as a strange duck shows up on a glider to pick the monsters up. The mysterious duck is revealed to be an Evronian named Agron ( They’re the bad guys) who shows him video of the Duck Avenger to inform his leader  that Earthlings aren’t what they expected as the boss  begins getting interested in capturing our favourite hero.

The next day, Donald,after having saved his idol decides to catch the latest episode of Anxieties as he noticed they replaced one of the lead actors as he finds it quite bizarre. He gets interrupted by his uncle who has yet another job for his lazy nephew.

Scrooge reveals to Donald that he has bought Ducklair Tower for a very cheap price due to the original owner deciding to sell all of his belongings and bailing town. Scrooge shows Donald all the floors of the building and informs him he wants Donald to move in until Srooge finds the proper staff to run Ducklair Tower. Donald proceeds to count all the floors of the building noticing something unsual. An extra floor that the tenant missed.

Meanwhile in another part of Duckburg, some reporters exchange phrases as the new reporter wants to report on the missing actor from Anxieties while the other wishes to keep it hush-hush so the ratings of the network won’t plummet and cause a riot. They suggest to him to cover the big premiere party that the producer will be throwing to his frustration. The new reporter, Angus from New Zealand informs a co-worker named Lila that reporting these sort of stories is not what he came to do and decides to go after Duck Avenger and write a report on him.

The reporter decides to go to Donald’s house for his scoop as he gets hounded with questions about the Duck Avenger. During the interview, the cameraman accidentally slips out that Brad Van Beak has gone missing as Donald later decides to find a way to get into the mysterious floor of the Ducklair Tower.

After long hours outside in the rain, Duck Avenger decides to talk shelter underneath a gargoyle’s mouth as it snaps up on him sucking him into the mysterious floor. Duck Avengers gets up, hearing a mysterious voice as Duck Avenger demands to see his face. The voice, revealed to be from a super computer projects a face to satisfy him. It tells him that he controls everything in the tower and that he is called One. He goes on to explain how and why his creator vanished as Donald asks if he still has any of his old gadgets as One provides him with new futuristic technology that makes his old Phantomallard gadgets look like toys.

The pieces are now in place. Duck Avenger now had the power of One and the Ducklair Tower, can he become Duckburg’s greatest hero yet ? Where has Brad Von Beak been taken to ? What about those purple duck aliens we saw at the start, will they cause mayhem again ? Will that kiwi ever get the beans on Duck Avenger ? Find out in this 64 page epic introduction to one of the most beloved Disney comics of all time.

FINAL THOUGHTS: 

The title Disney fans have waited 20 long years for is finally here in the States, the title that revolutionized Italian Disney comics forever with the introduction of more dramatic Disney stories such as Mickey Mouse Mystery Magazine, W.I.T.C.H and Monster Allergy. Now we Americans get to have a taste of what critics have hailed as one of the best Disney comics of all time. Heck one of the best Italian comic books of all time. Over the course of the next 8 years ( if the IDW licence lasts that long), we will see all the Papernik New Adventures issues printed in the US.

This 64 page book does not disappoint, the title is an action packed Disney take on the Marvel superhero comics of the time. Duck Avenger is no longer a bumbling selfish comedic superhero, he is now the real deal when threats from outer space loom their faces in Duckburg and is given the arsenal and intelligence of the most futuristic skyscrapers ever seen. This issue serves as a good introduction piece, setting up the Papernik universe with its bold new cast of characters and some returning characters such as Scrooge McDuck in this issue. Plus we get to see the book’s original colours as well from the team at Disney Italia when digital colouring was first being used for comic books.

This was not the first time Disney have tried introducing the Duck Avenger in the USA however, they went a different route in the early 2000s with a exclusive story made for the Disney Adventures Magazines to set up an abridged origin for the caped webbed wonder featuring Ludwig Von Drake in place of One and the bee from various Donald Duck shorts as a pseudo crime fighting partner.

 

This introduction was quietly shelved until two years later when Disney had Ubisoft Montreal create a Duck Avenger video game named PK: Out of the Shadows exclusively for the US and Canada market. The game bombed due to the lack of information on this new version of Donald Duck confusing many American kids and Disney fans alike. Its poor controls and the fact that legendary voice actor Rob Paulsen voiced Donald instead of the Duck Master Tony Anselmo did not help matters either.

A comic was made for the game’s instruction manual, here are some panels from it. He no longer dons the Duck Avenger name , rather calling himself PK.

When the game failed, so did any hopes of bringing further stories of the Duck Avenger to the US for many years. But we all know how that story ends don’t we ?

What are you waiting for ? Go buy yourself a copy of Disney Duck Avenger and see what all the fuss is about.

CREDITS:

WRITERS: ALESSANDRO SISTI AND EZIO SISTO

ARTISTS: ALBERTO LAVORADORI

TRANSLATION : JONATHAN H. GRAY

EDITOR: SARAH GAYDOS

ARCHIVAL EDITOR: DAVID GERSTEIN

PUBLISHER: IDW PUBLISHING