COMIC BOOK OF THE WEEK

COMIC BOOK OF THE WEEK


Hello yet again, my friends!  We've come to that time of the week, where we take a comic book issue, and dive into it, and see what makes it so special. And, from here on out, we're just calling this segment the Comic Book of the Week.  And this week, we're going onto the lighter side of things, as we take a peek at the comic book adaptation of the late 80's/early 90's Disney cartoon classic, DuckTales.  This was, perhaps, one of THE hottest cartoons of its time, as well as one of THE best cartoons of all time!  Adventure and excitement, with a good smattering of humor---all the things you'd expect from Disney, published in a comic book, courtesy of Gladstone Publishing.  Today, we take a look at the debut issue.



DISNEY'S DUCKTALES #1



COVER:  Daan Jippes
WRITER:  Larry Gotterer, Carl Barks (Scrooge back-up story)
ARTIST:  Jaime Diaz Studio, Carl Barks (Scrooge back-up story)
INKS:  Jaime Diaz Studio
COLORS:  Ken Feduniwicz
LETTERS:  Bill Spicer
EDITOR:  Unknown
COVER DATE:  October 1988
PUBLISHER:  Gladstone Publishing

TAGLINE:  Giant-Sized First Issue!


STORY TITLE:  "Armstrong"/"Lost Crown of Genghis Khan"


Disney's DuckTales #1 piggybacked on the success of the tv show that Disney was producing at the time.  The premise was that Donald Duck, who'd enlisted in the Navy, had dropped off his nehphews Huey, Dewey, and Louie with his Uncle Scrooge, and along with Scrooge's personal pilot, Launchpad McQuack, engage in a series of adventures that span the globe, and facing peril against such enemies as Flintheart Glomgold and Ma Beagle and the Beagle Boys.  Gladstone Publishing was the first company to take a crack at the series, which lasted all of 13 issues before it was cancelled.  Disney then began publishing a new series not too long after.  


THE STORY:  In "Armstrong", Scrooge McDuck's resident inventer, Gyro Gearloose, believes he's assisting McDuck in helping him with all the essential things that he needs done, by inventing a robot named Armstrong.  However, things go awry, and it's up to Scrooge, Launchpad, and the boys to stop him before he causes massive trouble.

In the backup story, "The Lost Crown of Genghis Khan", it's a classic comic story from the old Scrooge McDuck comic by Carl Barks, as Scrooge is on the hunt for the lost treasure of the legendary Chinese leader.


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This was a fun first issue, as it basically adapted the same episode of the television series into comic book form.  The Jaime Diaz Studio did an exceptional job of adapting the story art-wise to the comic book page, giving it the cartoon feel.  The Carl Barks Scrooge McDuck story was from a previous issue of the character's own book from back in the day.  It would be a running theme throughout the series' entire 13 issue run.  It's a shame they didn't go further, as it seemed to have a chance to do more than just adapt the episodes from the TV show, but for what it was worth...it was a great way to introduce the kids to the characters.