Issue: Donald Duck and Friends #354
Release Date: May 19, 2010
Letterer: Jose Macasocol, Jr.
Covers A & B: Mike DeCarlo (Colors: Magic Eye Studios)
Publisher: Boom! Kids
Who doesn’t love the wacky adventures of Donald Duck? This isn’t the buffoonish jerk portrayed in the cartoons that our parents and grandparents grew up with. This title is loaded with preposterous plotlines and ridiculous intrigue that’s just fun to read.
Before the Premiere Part 2
Writer: Fausto Vitaliano
Artist: Giorgio Cavazzano
The main story, “Before the Premiere, Part 2,” concludes the story of the Agency’s daring secret agent Double Duck. His mission is to protect the Agency’s former Chief (who had his memory voluntarily wiped and is now serving as a world famous orchestra conductor). The evil Organization wants to kidnap the former Chief, un-wipe his memory, and steal all his secrets. As if that wasn’t crazy enough, to protect the former Chief, Donald has gone undercover as a professional triangle player. All of this setup occurred in the first part. Part two of the story centers around the true diabolical purpose behind the Organization’s nefarious scheme. Can our hero foil the discordant plans before they crescendo into an unharmonious climax of untold evil?
Don't be a snob, read the comic!
Souvenir de Paris Part 1
Writer: Marco Bosco
Artist: Vitale Mangiatordi
The backup story is equally ludricous and zany. A female cat-burglar (duck-burglar?) is stealing secrets from a government think-tank… Donald is playing video games instead of shopping (which is getting Daisy pretty mad). Next thing we know, Daisy’s debating non-stick coating with the cashier and Donald’s just received a secret note from “Jay J” (the Agency’s second-in-command). Donald dumps Daisy and rushes off to his secret life as Double Duck. He’s quickly briefed on the cat-burglar and the stage is set for our next issue.
Eat your heart out, Ethan Hunt.
As I said before, these stories are just fun to read. They’re ridiculous and both writer/artist teams have a good grasp of the subject matter. None of the creators are taking themselves too seriously, but neither are they talking down to the audience. The artwork is solid and engaging.
Rating: 4 / 5 Stars
About the Author
Harley Jones first discovered geekdom by dismantling portable TVs and wiring them into his GI Joe base. He began programming at age 10 (on a C-64) and was an assistant computer teacher at the local university while still in middle school. When most kids were guffawing at Saturday Night Live, Harley was hi-jacking the family TV for Doctor Who on public television. He's a huge Tolkien-ite and classic cartoon fan. He earned an English Lit degree (Studio Art minor) and used it (successfully) to break into the exciting world of IT consulting.He leans towards authors with middle initials (Robert E Howard, Phillip K Dick, J R R Tolkien, George R R Martin, Stephen E King, etc). He reads comics and plays role-playing games. He dreams of talking apes who ride the sand-worms of a magical kingdom which resides in his bottom dresser drawer and is ruled by fluffy little clouds.
Like most people of quality, Harley is a geek. He's married to a closet-geek (she won't admit it, but she can quote every word of Buffy), and is raising two mini-geeks (fun-sized!) Perhaps his proudest geek moment was when his son crawled into bed and asked to watch TV. Harley asked, "Sponge-Bob?" and his son (who could barely talk at the time) squeaked, "Doctor Who, please."