Disney LongBox Reviews: Donald Duck #18

Rue Britannia

First Published In : Kalle Ankas Pocket #330 (2004)

Country of Origin: Sweden

First Time Published in North America

Our story begins with Duckburg being hit with a new fad :New Age Thinking. Oh the terror, oh the agony, not New Age Thinking. Fethry Duck has fully embraced it much to the annoyance of his cousin Donald Duck.

Fethry tries to get Donald some juice that is a part of the fad as Donald informs that he sick of this fad being everywhere in Duckburg going off on a rampage until the head of TNT rings in.

The chief informs them that a mysterious light have been sighted at an old British royal air base and they demand an investigation. The chief  then tells them that they need to go undercover at a nearby airport to pick up an TNT truck with the gadgets necessary for the mission.

The boys soon head to Big Missington as some creatures watch them park the vehicle as Donald and Fethry step out of the vehicle to activate the device in the back of the truck until the bright lights once again trigger as it soon takes the boys across a rainbow dimension landing on the ground soon after.

Donald and Fethry soon realize they have went back in time by observing the nearby airplanes as some employees of the facility mistake Donald for a pilot instructor that was supposed to arrive the following week. One of them mentions a series of incidents as the other silences him and tells him to show them around.

Donald and Fethry soon go on an airplane ride with Buzz as suddenly something is messing with the plane. Donald soon observes a rogue elf on one of the airplane’s wings as he tries to catch it before he can saw the entire wing off.

It’s too late as the elf flies off as Donald and the others reach for their parachutes jumping off the doomed plane. Buzz soon tells them what they saw was in fact a gremlin, dozens of them have been making life miserable for the pilots. There is one twist , the Gremlins can only be seen by someone with an open mind, the C.O Wilkins is too hard headed to see them, hence he does not believe in their existence.

They soon enter a village where some of the local children show off their Gremlin dolls as the village fully embraces the Gremlins. Donald is horrified that he is exposed to yet another fad as they explore the town. Donald tries to teach the local children a new dance to make them about the Gremlins but it dosen’t go too well.

The three head back to base to report on the situation. Donald lies and says he believes human interference and screw-ups are to blame for the incidents and not Gremlins much to the dismay of Buzz and Fehtry. Donald believes that he can make the Gremlin mania die down by making everyone not believe in them as a Gremlin sneaks up behind him to kick him. This mean war of course

The Gremlins soon begin pranking Donald Duck non-stop until Donald has had enough, he begins shooting at a target dummy to relax until Fethry interrupts him saying that he needs to believe in the Gremlins as they soon overhear the leader of the Gremlins, Gus talking about needing to make the pilots believe in them for good to get their homes back.

What can the Gremlins be up to ? What are their ultimate plan ? You will need to pick up Donald Duck #18 to find out.

FINAL THOUGHTS: At last, this issue features the glorious return of the obscure Disney characters called the Gremlins. These characters were meant to be in an animated film that would be written by Roald Dahl but the war eventually caused the project to be shelved. A children’s book and comic book was later made based on them.

They were also featured in the Epic Mickey video game series where they enjoyed newfound popularity with Disney fans. This story is a very good tribute to the original idea for the Gremlins. Lars’ writing perfectly captures them and how Donald would react to their presence. Poor Donald just can’t get away from small pesky creatures.