Make like your life is a hurricane, and blow to your local comic book shop! Ride a race car, laser, or air-o-plane, if need be, and pick up a copy of DuckTales # 0 from IDW.
Be a "duck-blur", or you might miss out... and never get that all-important chance to "solve a mystery", much less "rewrite history"! You wouldn't want that, would you?
 |
| Hmmm... I guess NOT! |
In it, you'll find two (Duck) tales of Donald Duck and reimagined versions of his nephews Huey, Dewey, and Louie, with all four ducks redesigned in what has become something of a contemporary standard angular-distorted style.
The creators behind these stories may seem unfamiliar to regular readers of the "traditional" IDW Disney comic books, as DuckTales appears to have emerged from alternative system vs. what we've become accustomed to in the more classic titles such as UNCLE SCROOGE, DONALD DUCK, and MICKEY MOUSE - but they look on track to become fan-favorites in their own right.
Beyond the redesign and reimagining, two things immediately leap out at me.
One: Uncle Scrooge McDuck, the undisputed star of the 1980s incarnation of DuckTales is completely absent from this issue.
 |
| Forget "Waldo" (WHO?), Where's SCROOGE? |
 |
| Yeah, yeah! We're "astonished" too, Scrooge! Let's move on! |
Indeed, if I may digress, I will refer to the previous series as "DuckTales Classic", and this series as "New DuckTales" for the sake of clear and easy differentiation. ...Wonder if that'll catch on like "Core Four"?
 |
| "DuckTales Classic" |
 |
| "New DuckTales" ...You all cool with it? |
Two: At the bottom of Page One, we are faced with this..
Wait! Let's dolly-in a little closer...
Liiii-tlllle clooooser... Almost there...
THAT'S IT, STOP!
"UNCLE" Donald?! "UNCLE" Donald?! "UNCLE"?!
Um, did Donald join the United Network Command for Law and Enforcement when we weren't looking?
It's not as if he's never been a secret agent before...
...Plenty o' times, in fact!
Elegant...
...And not-so-elegant!
So, even if he HAS somehow become an "U.N.C.L.E.", has he also become... an "UNCLE"?
He's been "UNCA" Donald, ever since Clarence "Ducky" Nash first spoke for the boys. Presumably, because that's how audiences may have heard it through Nash's "Duck-Speak".
Al Taliaferro carried it over to the printed page...
...Where it was furthered by Carl Barks and others...
...To the present day! (By William Van Horn)
Now, I've had my fun with this "Uncle stuff", but the fact is that, at this writing, I have not yet seen "New DuckTales", and honestly do not know HOW the nephews speak. Perhaps they ACTUALLY DO say "Uncle Donald"!
If so, then the comic is accurately referencing the show - and that's a very good thing. If not, I guess we'll all discuss it later!
...And, hey! Added bonus! Donald, here, looks kinda like the way Al Hubbard drew him in the sixties! How 'bout that!
Now, that you've been briefed on what to expect from "New DuckTales" (at least as far as its "Zero Issue"), let's move on to the stories!
"Big Trouble at Little Lake" 10 pages.
Donald is operating a small tour boat over and across "Little Lake", to a small island and back to port.
Check out the enthusiastic passenger...
"I love puns!?" ..."I LOVE PUNS"!???
Ladies and gentlemen, I can hardly believe my own eyes... but it's a SURPRISE CAMEO by yours truly, Joe Torcivia! ...Though I don't wear my pants quite that "high-up"!
Gosh, I don't even KNOW these people... but, it's really nice to find they're fans!
Back to what passes here for reality... Just remember what happens to those "small tour boats", especially if they're only out for a (Ahem!) Three Hour Tour!
 |
| "...A Thr-eee Houu-wer Touuur!" |
"The Nephews started playing rough! The tiny ship was tossed..."
...Well, you know!
And, so it's up to Donald and the boys to get themselves and their passengers off the island, facing some unexpected deterrents to swimming or rafting.
No spoilers on how they do it!
I am happy to say that I am VERY IMPRESSED with this story... as a DONALD DUCK story!
All the classic comics elements are there... Donald is good at something until fate or ego lays him low, a rivalry between Don and the boys, and even an absurd secondary character to liven things up.
And, at a length of TEN PAGES, this is a nice contemporary version of of the immortal "ten-pagers" Carl Barks created to lead-off decades worth of issues of WALT DISNEY'S COMICS AND STORIES! ...Well done!
I hope this is an indication of the type of "Donald and Nephews story" that "New DuckTales" will deal in. They can't go wrong, with a few like this!
"The Repeating Revenge of the Screaming Duck!" 10 pages.
Donald is fixing up an old hotel for a grand reopening, while the boys cut-up out of boredom...
Until they find an "Alfred Hitchcock parody character" who's been holed up INSIDE the hotel for ten years trying to complete his movie masterpiece... completely alone! Whoooo!
The boys try to assist the demented director, and inadvertently involve Donald in a sequence of slapstick events!
You would think, as a near-lifelong Hitchcock fan, that I would absolutely love this story... and, actually, I DO... for its FIRST SEVEN PAGES!
After that, it veers off in a direction that few comic book stories have ever been able to properly pull off... that of near-wordless sustained slapstick action.
 |
| Yes, Dewey... Comic book slapstick IS a sticky-wicket, isn't it? |
The comic book is a printed page of still images, and it has been long proven that "near-silent slapstick", while a successful laugh-getter in animation, rarely works "as-such" on the static comic page.
That's why so many famous animated characters, such as Donald Duck...
...Tom and Jerry...
...And The Road Runner were modified to become more verbal, and less "slapstick-y" for comic books!
A scant few, very talented artists like the great Harvey Eisenberg could pull off slapstick - not just successfully, but magnificently! As seen here, from TOM AND JERRY # 87 (1951).
And, to offer a Disney example, enjoy these energetically charged panels by the great Romano Scarpa, from "The Bodacious Butterfly Trail", in IDW's UNCLE SCROOGE # 28 (2017).
However, in a comic book, even animated-style art as great as these examples still needs dialogue to fully carry it off. ...Something to READ, or else you're just "looking at pictures"!
I will reproduce the entirety of pages 8-9 of this story as-is... more or less "wordless slapstick", and let you evaluate it for yourself. I say, it would make for a good cartoon, but not necessarily a good comic book. What say you?
Click to enlarge, for additional detail!
I'm not at all sure what the gratuitous Jack Nicholson parody at the bottom of this page adds to the story. Perhaps it works better in animation.
And, if you're going to "hit a door", you can probably do it funnier, more painfully, or both, than it is done here, in the weakest panel of the entire sequence.
Again, your mileage on this matter, as they say, will vary!
Once this sequence has passed, and Mallard Hitchcock yells "CUT!", we return to a more "normal" comic book story, with a good ending that I will not spoil! (...Do I ever?)
Overall, the slapstick sequence notwithstanding, I enjoyed DuckTales # 0! It offers two good Donald Duck stories steeped in the Carl Barks tradition, lively art, and great coloring!
I look forward to both future issues of this comic book series, and to the "New DuckTales" animated series itself!
Just remember, I do not speak for IDW, or anyone in its employ. I speak strictly for myself as both a long-time fan and as a dialogue creator – and those opinions are strictly my own.
Then, let's get a spirited discussion going in the Comments Section... because a dynamic Comments Section such as ours needs dialogue, just as much as an extended series of sequential panels of slapstick! ...See you there!
