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 #3 published by Dynamite comics.

Release Date: March 15th, 2023

Writer: Amanda Deibert

Artist: Carlo Cid Lauro

Letterer: Jeff Eckleberry

Editor: Nate Cosby

Main Covers by: 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: Darkwing Duck…retired?! Mild-mannered Drake Mallard has had a crisis of conscience, and decides to hang up his cape and cowl in order to be a good dad to daughter Goslyn. But non-superhero life is not an easy thing for Drake to slip into…especially since he’s convinced the conniving MORGANA to settle down with him into (boring) suburban living!

My Review

Let’s talk covers…

I really enjoyed David Nakayama’s two issue run as the main Cover A artist for Darkwing. David has been killing it on his Gargoyles comic series covers, and it was great to see his take on Darkwing. Leirix is the new Cover A artist, and their cover art involves Darkwing Duck in dangerous situations and activities. I have been picking up multiple covers for each issue, but I personally recommend Trish Forstner’s covers for the rest of the issues as her cover art designs most closely resembles the characters from the classic animated show. You can also never go wrong with a cover from the Dynamite Comics Gargoyles comic illustrator, George Kambadais, or the special retailer incentive cover by Carlo Lauro with the surprising pairing of Moloculo and Launchpad.

I love the action figure variant incentive covers for this Darkwing Duck comic series done by Carlo Lauro. Darkwing Duck #3 features Morgana Macawber on the cover. We never did get a Morgana figure from the classic Playmates Darkwing Duck action figure line as planned series 2 figure line was cancelled before it went into production. I wish this figure on the cover was real. Please somebody make this figure!

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

The official title of this story without a title page is “Mallard Family Values”.

The last issue left us with Drake Mallard making a quick decision to retire from crime fighting and settle down to his dad gig. This issue starts off with with a crisis of gardener proportions. All of the gardeners of St. Canard have gone missing. There’s is only one person that Mayor Owlson can call for the job, and it is not the Ghostbusters. Although we do get a nice Ghostbusters reference later. Owlson puts up the DW Duck signal, but Darkwing is not available to answer the call because he is on a camping trip with Gosalyn in Transylvania to visit with Morgana. Drake has been filling his new free time with a hobby of being an inventer. So he has made inventions such as a robot to help with the camping, a Ghostbustersesque proton pack out of his gas gun, and breakfast that pretty much cooks itself like from the Darkwing Duck episode”Darkly Dawns the Duck”. I have to give Drake credit because the gas gun proton pack is pretty epic. Dynamite, I would buy a Darkwing Duck Ghostbusters crossover comic miniseries…just saying.

Meanwhile, Launchpad has found a new person to sidekick for, and that person is none other than Morgana’s dad, Moloculo. Carlo Lauro’s cover with Launchpad and Moloculo hanging out makes so much more sense now and it is definitely a must buy as Moloculo’s first ever comic cover. This is definitely an odd pairing, but it works.

Morgana shows up after Drake accidentally on purpose zaps her ghost cousin Jordie with his proton pack particle thrower/gas gun. Morgana looks stunning as ever by the way. Drake tells Morgana that his DW days are over, but he promises to wear the cape for her whenever she likes. Morgana travels back to St. Canard with Drake and Gosalyn to live the suburb life. You can tell that Drake misses his glory days which was only one issue ago. He shows Morgana a room of his greatest moments. Everybody should have a room of Darkwing Duck’s greatest moments in their house. The room contains many portraits fighting members of the Fearsome Five and more importantly all of Darkwing’s Duck Merch! There are a few specific items that fans may be able to point out like the original Darkwing Duck Funko POP! as well as the Ratcatcher and Thunderquack by Playmates.

Darkwing heads to the school to do his volunteer work as the community garden, but it doesn’t last long as Morgana gets a school from the principal that Drake has been suspended for untested inventions. As Morgana and Drake leave the school, we see the school is being taken over by vines. Gosalyn is also currently at the school along with Honker who a few pages earlier had been turned into pudding by Morgana which is of course a spell from the legendary “Just Us Justice Ducks” episode. Throwbacks to previous Darkwing Duck adventures are always great and appreciated. Gosalyn, Pudding Honker, and…Pirate Steven are being held captive by plant roots. I am always forever grateful for the cameos, and I hope that Bushroot does not destroy Pirate Steven to keep his cameo streak alive. To be continued in Darkwing Duck issue #4.

I really enjoyed this issue of Darkwing Duck. Carlo Lauro’s artwork has come a long way since his work on the first issue with the masked mallard only two issues ago. His comfortability and confidence with the characters has really improved and grown with each issue. Stai andando alla grande e sono orgogloso di te amico.

The writing has also been getting better with each issue as Amanda Deibert gets more playtime with our favorite characters. Darkwing Duck #3 would definitely convince readers who have been on the ride so far with issues #1 and 2 to anticipate the next issue and continue their subscriptions. Amanda’s story was entertaining even without having Drake suit up as Darkwing and even without a classic Darkwing Duck villain. We already know that the next issue of Darkwing Duck is going to be a Bushroot heavy issue. I am hoping that Bushroot has a solid motive for his actions as we really didn’t get to see what Megavolt and Quakerjack’s motives were in their issues. Overall I like how the Darkwing Duck puzzle is coming together.

Some constructive criticism, because no comic is perfect, would be to include the story’s title on the first page and to correct Gosalyn’s eye color to green. Also, we need some “Keen Geer!’ from Gosalyn.

We are half way through this Darkwing Duck six issue story adventure and sales of the books from this series have been dangerously impressive so far. I hope Dynamite notices what we have all known all along, that Darkwing Duck is as great as the character thinks he is and the fanbase craves and deserves more Darkwing. Make Darkwing Duck your new Red Sonya. A Morgana vs Vampirella spinoff practically writes itself. A mini series for each Darkwing Duck villain in the Fearsome Five would be so dangerous! New villains would be fun too. A Justice Duck series… I could go on forever with ideas. Also, can we please get some Chip ‘N Dale Rescue Rangers and TaleSpin next.

This Dynamite Comics Darkwing Duck series is currently limited to six issues. If you want more Darkwing Duck content and Disney Afternoon goodness 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. Also, please make sure to support the Dynamite Comics Gargoyles series while you are out buying Darkwing Duck.

Darkwing Duck #4 is tentatively scheduled for April 19th , 2023.

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

Let us know what you thought of Darkwing Duck #3 in the comments below. What cover(s) did you get?

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