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!)
Dynamite Comics’ fourth comic series featuring the Terror that Flaps in the Night has arrived. Today, we will take a look at Darkwing Duck #1.
Release Date: March 26th, 2025
Writer: Daniel Kibblesmith
Artist: Brandt&Stein
Colorist: Dearbhla Kelly
Letterer: Fabio Amelia
Editor: Nate Cosby
Covers by: Tad Stones, Brandt&Stein, Ciro Cangialosi, Mark Bagley, Nicoletta Baldari
Official Synopsis:
After flipping the switch on Megavolt in last month’s debut issue, Darkwing Duck transforms here into the Terror That Claps in the Night when his adopted daughter Gosalyn is cast in a school play!
True, it’s only a small role (Gos and her friend Honker are portraying pieces of shrubbery), but it proves to be a pivotal part when the packed house comes under attack on opening night by the sappiest member of the Fearsome Five – BUSHROOT!
My Recap
*STOP READING HERE IF YOU WANT TO AVOID ALL SPOILERS*
The title for the story in this issue is “Bushwhacked”. Launchpad as the Dread Pirate Quackbeard has Gosalyn as the Princess tied to the mast of a pirate ship. Drake appears as the Crimson Chrysanthemum to save the Princess, but Gosalyn decides that she would rather play the lead role of the Crismon Chrysanthemum. So in a poof of smoke she switches parts with her dad to his dismay. This scene was all a part of Gosalyn practicing auditioning for her school play. Honker also gets his first appearance in this comic series, but he would prefer to just run the lights than to actually be a character in the play.
Darkwing and Launchpad get called to the St. Canard Home and Garden Center where some evil doer has stolen common hedge seeds. Meanwhile, Gosalyn is in class daydreaming about getting the Crimson Chrsanthemum role and making her dad Ultra-Mega-Proud. The substitute teacher, Mister Rushboot, walks in to the classroom just as his ominous music ringtone goes off. I wonder who this mysteriously wrapped in bandages character could be? Gosalyn auditions for the play, and she is disappointedly assigned to be Bush Number Three. Honker lands the role of Bush Number Four. Why are there so many bushes in a play about pirates? Honker’s brother, Tank, got the role of Quackbeard. We get to see Honker’s parents, Herb and Binkie Muddledoot. Herb mentions the need to buy a digital camcorder with 720×480 resolution. I love that this series takes place in the 1990s. Mister Rushboot breaks up a fight between Tank and Gosalyn. Gosalyn complains to him that no one wants to play a stupid bush. Mister Rushboot promises to help Gosalyn secure a bigger role in the play if she helps him fix up his garden. Gosalyn tells her dad that she got the lead in the play. Instead of going to bush rehearsals, she tends to the secret garden.
Darkwing stops a burglary at the local electronic store where he runs into Herb who is on his way to the play. Darkwing and Launchpad head to the play too, and they are confused as to why Gosalyn did not mention the play was today. The part of the Crismon Chrysanthemum went to a new kid character named Duckley. His parents sent him to the Cavanaugh School for Dramatic Teens. The school’s name is a nice tribute to the voice actor, Christine Cavanaugh, who provided the voice for Gosalyn Mallard in the Darkwing Duck animated series. Mister Rootbush rips off his bandages to reveal that he was Dr. Reginald Bushroot. He reveals that his motive was tied to kids complaining about playing a bush in a play, then his new bushes that Gosalyn help to grow will permanently replace and play the parts of the people in the theater. The bushes transform into all of the members of the audience including Launchpad and Darkwing who have to fight themselves as bushes. Gosalyn and Honker end up saving the day by drying out Bushroot and his bush army with the hot theater spotlight. Bushroot shrinks to the size of a baby root. Gosalyn is really sorry for lying to her dad, and we get a wholesome moment of Darkwing telling her that he is proud of her and calling her his princess and hero. Daniel Kibblesmith really gets the Darkwing and Gosalyn relationship. Gosalyn is going to use her new gardening skills to their full potential by growing Bushroot back to his former size so that he can go to jail and not easily fit through the prison bars.
Every third issue of this comic series will be a chapter from “The Secret History of Darkwing Duck” which will answer the question of how Darkwing became the hero he is today.
Review
This is going to sound overly dramatic, but this issue was perfect. This issue even had pirates. If this comic story was adapted to the animated series, then it would be a contender for my favorite episode of the show…until the inevitable Liquidator issue. Daniel Kibblesmith wrote Mister Rootbush, I mean Dr. Reginald Bushroot, authentically to his villain/non villain persona. I love how Brandt&Stein drew Bushroot and all of the Muddlefoot characters that made their first appearance in this series. This issue was full of genuine comedic moments in both dialogue and illustrations. This new Darkwing Duck series has the same laughs and feelings for me as I watched the show as a kid. I am obsessing about my favorite characters thirty four years later. This comic series is the reboot of the animated series that we have been teased about and begging for the past few years.
LET’S GET DANGEROUS!
Darkwing Duck enthusiasts will be thrilled to find this comic series to be authentically Darkwing.
The next dangerous adventure from Year One of the Daring Duck of Mystery and the Champion of Right will be available at your local comic book shop tentatively in April. Preordering your books at your comic book shop is always recommended. Be sure to check out the other current Dynamite Comics Disney releases: DuckTales and Zootopia.
You can read our interviews with the Darkwing Duck creative team below:
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 Disney comic news.
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