Daring duck of mystery
Champion of right
Swoops out of the shadows
Darkwing owns the night
Somewhere some villain schemes
But his number’s up

(3-2-1)

Darkwing Duck (When there’s trouble you call DW)
Darkwing Duck (Let’s get dangerous!)
Darkwing Duck (Darkwing, Darkwing, duck!)

Today, we will take a look at Darkwing Duck #2 published by Dynamite comics.

Release Date: February 22nd, 2023

Writer: Amanda Deibert

Artist: Carlo Cid Lauro

Letterer: Jeff Eckleberry

Editor: Nate Cosby

Main Covers by: David Nakayama, Mirka Andolfo, Leirix, Jacob Edgar, Trish Forstner, Carlo Cid Lauro, George Kambadais, Ken Haeser, and Cat Staggs

*STOP READING HERE IF YOU WANT TO AVOID ALL SPOILERS*

Official Synopsis: QUACKERJACK! Nefarious ne’er-do-well, and bane of Darkwing Duck’s existence! With his cadre of silly-yet-dangerous (but mostly silly) toy weapons, Q-Jack (as the kids call him) aims to reign terror upon the citizens of St. Canard! Normally, D-Wing (as no one calls him) is great at focusing on fending off the criminal element…but at the moment, he’s particularly overprotective of his daughter Gosalyn. SO overprotective, in fact, that he’s considering…RETIRING FROM BEING A SUPERHERO!?!?!?!

My Review

It’s Playtime!

Darkwing Duck #2 has a great assortment of covers. Some of the my favorite covers feature this issue’s villain, Quackerjack.

I love the action figure variant incentive covers for this Darkwing Duck comic series. Darkwing Duck #2 features Launchpad McQuack on the cover.

*STOP READING HERE IF YOU WANT TO AVOID ALL SPOILERS*

Drake Mallard takes Gosalyn to the grand opening of a new toy store in St. Canard. Drake mentions the Megavolt incident from the previous issue. So it looks like this comic series will all be connected into a six story arc. I noticed that a Pirate Steven duck was also in line for the Grand Opening of the toy store which is definitely true to life especially if there is new Darkwing merch.

Gosalyn is excited for a Quakolina doll, but Drake is even more excited about a gorgeous display of new Darkwing Duck merch. Wouldn’t we all be?

Drake claims it to be the most gorgeous toy display that he has ever seen. We then see a tower of talking Darkwing Duck figures that all come alive after Gosalyn pushes a button. The DW action figures catch phrase turns from “Let’s Get Dangerous!” to “It’s Playtime!” It was all a trap setup by Quackerjack. Drake gets into his DW disguise to some clever modern day “I am the terror that flaps in the night…” quips. Then DW, LP, and Gosalyn battle it out with the evil toys of the toy store that include: a giant stuffed bear, toy soldiers, a plush dog, a doll, and a lot of rubber duckies.

The rubber duckies multiply into a drowning sea of rubber duckies that even Quackerjack is not even able to control. I liked how three of the cover artists (Nakayama, Lauro, and Staggs) incorporated rubber duckies in their cover art designs.

Note: Be on the lookout for some hidden Easter Eggs in this issue in the form of rubber duckies designed as Darkwing, Donald Duck, Scrooge McDuck, Huey, Dewey, and Louie…Woo-oo!

Drowning in a sea of his own evil rubber duckies, Quackerjack is trapped by DW in a life preserver that turns into full body cuffs.

The President of St. Canard’s Bubble Bath Appreciation Society, Herb Muddlefoot, is able to give all of the Rubber Duckies a new home. We are now two issues into the series and Herb has been in both issues. Herb Muddlefoot fans rejoice!

Drake decides that the only way to keep Gosalyn safe from the villains of St. Canard would be to retire from fighting crime and focus on fatherhood. He might even get a job which makes Gosalyn inquire how has he been supporting them all of these years without a job? He has been supporting them from his 1990s investment of Quackiebabies of course.

We are left with a cliffhanger of what will happen next issue as LP needs to find someone else to sidekick and Drake and Gosalyn are left trying to find out what they are going to do next. To be continued…

I really loved Carlo Cid Lauro’s art and colors in this issue. You can tell from issue #1 to issue #2 that Carlo is getting more confident and comfortable with the characters in his own art style. Some of the facial expressions that Drake Mallard made in this issue made me laugh without even reading the dialogue. This was an entertaining issue of Darkwing Duck, it’s clear that Amanda Deibert had a great time writing for Quackerjack. I can’t wait to see what other classic and new characters she introduces in future issues.

This issue made me want to watch some classic Darkwing Duck on Disney+. So I watched the Quackerjack origin story episode Whiffle While You Work followed by Toys Czar Us. Inspired by the comics to consume more media from the characters is always a sign of a job well done.

This Dynamite Comics Darkwing Duck series is currently limited to six issues. If you want more Darkwing Duck content in the form of more issues, then the best way to show your support will be with your wallet by subscribing to the series at your local comic book store.

Darkwing Duck #3 which will have a lot of Morgana Macawber is tentatively scheduled for March 15th , 2023.

It feels great to get dangerous again with this new Darkwing Duck comic series.

Let us know what you thought of Darkwing Duck #2 in the comments below. What cover(s) did you get?

Don’t forget to follow @DuckTalks and @DynamiteComics for all of the latest Gargoyles and Darkwing Duck comic news.