"I drive a Volvo. It's beige."
So yesterday afternoon I went home early from work -- rather in a hurry, truth be told, as the four-day-old leftover vegetable lo mein take-out that I'd had several hours earlier for lunch did not appear to be agreeing with me. I'm feeling "better" in the strictest sense of the word today, although I've got that ooky, bleary, dazed, vaguely-nauseous feeling that comes from spending a twenty-four hour period (minus sleep) sucking down ginger ale and crackers and watching Nicolas Cage movies.
(This is not a comment upon Nicolas Cage's acting abilities, which I find to be quite well-developed; but rather, this is a comment on the inadvisability of watching television for said twenty-four hours in a row (minus sleep). Just so we're clear that this is not a Cage slam.)
(Besides, if watching Sean Connery light Dr. Cox on fire is not a cure for Bad Stomach, I dunno what is.)
(This is also not a slam against John McGintey/Ginty/Guintiy/whatever. I'm simply stating a fact about the inherent amusement of such a set-up.)
(... also, re: my subject heading -- See?? SEE?!?! VOLVOS ARE NOT COOL. Master Cullen, take notes.)
Anyway, upon completing the second issue of "The Duck Knight Returns" a couple of weeks ago, I became absolutely convinced that I had correctly figured out who the mastermind behind Quackwerks actually is. And with Issue #3 coming out next week, it occurred to me that I better get said prediction up on my LJ already if I wanted to be able to have claimed to have seen it coming.
So.
As if the evidence that is the awesomeness of "The Duck Knight Returns" was not proof enough, I have read and listened to enough interviews with Ian Brill (the writer of the new comic line) to see that he is a huge "Darkwing Duck" fan. And more, actually. Because, yes, he loves the source material, it's easy to pick up on that. But Brill doesn't just love Darkwing and his world. He does two things that are actually more important than that, as someone who gets to write the material: he _respects_ the source material, and he _understands_ it. Respecting it and getting it do not necessarily go hand-in-hand with loving it (surely the Mary Suethors have taught us that!), but the excellence of the writing in the first two issues -- and the passionate way Brill talks about the characters and their world in interviews -- is enough to see that he's managed the trifecta and has all three important qualities.
Alright, so Brill's a big fan. What does that have to do with figuring out who the villain (because it is assuredly a villain) behind Quackwerks is?
Let's imagine that you are a huge fan of "Darkwing Duck" (this will take less imagining for some of you than others), and you have just pitched a "Darkwing Duck" comic book line to your publishers. And they've given you a green light, and now _you_ are going to get to write a "Darkwing" storyline. There is a catch, though: they are only promising you a mini-series. Four issues. If the issues sell well, okay, they'll consider making it an ongoing series, but all they are giving you for certain is a four-issue storyarc. As a loving, understanding, respectful fan of the original show, what villain are you going to choose as your criminal mastermind for the storyline?
What's the one loose end the show didn't have a chance to tie up?
Ever since hearing about the miniseries, I had been vaguely hoping for the return of one specific villain. I say "vaguely" because I felt it foolish to get my hopes up too high. And then I started to read a couple of articles and interviews about both the miniseries -- and, a few weeks before the first issue came out, about the plans for future ongoing story arcs (because the series had gone permanent) -- and I arrived at two conclusions. One, that Negaduck was going to show up in the _second_ story arc, after the completion of "The Duck Knight Returns;" and two, that Quackerjack was the primary villain of TDKR miniseries.
In a way, this latter conclusion made sense. (The former probably does too, but that has no bearing on my theory here so we'll leave it be for now.) Several interviews with the writer and artists discussed Quackerjack and Brill's handling of him -- I remember one artist, I think Silvani himself, saying something like, "The show's version of Quackerjack was very Ceaser Romaro, but Ian's version of him is Heath Ledger." I remember thinking that, if part of the hope in bringing in a new audience to "Darkwing" was to play up its Batman similarities, it made sense to choose Quackerjack as the main villain for the miniseries -- Quackerjack, who in terms of MO is the most similar to the Joker out of all the villains of Darkwing's rogue gallery. And, heck, "Quackwerks" sounded like a name Quackerjack might dream up, right? So that certainly seemed to be where things were headed ... or at least it did throughout the first issue.
But then I noticed a few things.
First, there was the (fairly obvious) news in the beginning of Issue #2 that Quackerjack has no great love for Quackwerks, that he's in fact teamed up the rest of the Fearsome, well, Four to wreck whatever havoc they can against the company. So he can't be the mastermind behind the company.
(I will insert here that I am very, VERY eager to find out why Quackerjack went all Dog Day Afternoon on the ass of one of the Quackwerks robots for mentioning the name "Negaduck." Call me crazy, but I sense some bad blood there -- and I'm looking forward to finding out the cause behind it.)
(... I will also insert here that I of course thought for five seconds that the Big Bad was Steelbeak, until the silhouette turned out to be one of the band guys instead. And was that awesome or WHAT?? Talk about a shout-out to fans!)
Then there was the one-page sequence with Honker in the Quackwerks jail. And the way that disembodied voice -- a voice that Honker recognized -- spoke. "Foolish child" and "You will find your answers in time" ... there's something familiar about the cadence of the way those lines are worded. Even how poor Honk gets greeted -- "Hello, Honker Muddlefoot" -- we heard something similar upon a particular character's return, didn't we? ("Hello ... Gosalyn.")
And then I realized that the Quackwerks robots ... have clawed hands. Four-digited, circular, very specific -- and very _familiar_ -- robotically-designed hands.
It was the shape of the hands that made me certain. And when I spotted it, on the second-to-last page of Issue #2 (as a claw is reaching for Darkwing while he yelps, "I remember this"), I couldn't believe how long it had taken me to notice it. Given how many many MANY times I've watched that episode. But that has to be it. The claws _cannot_ be a coincidence. It has to be a clue.
And it just ... makes perfect sense, y'know? If you're a loving, understanding, respectful Darkwing fan, who only had one guarenteed shot at writing in the world of "Darkwing Duck," how could you choose any other villain but the one who promised to return but never had the chance?
If you're a fan like that, you just gotta make your villain Taurus Bulba.
So. Yeah. We'll see if I'm right about that. And next time I come back, we gotta have a talk about "The Sorcerer's Apprentice." Because I saw it, and I fell head over heels, and ... I appear to be the only person on Earth who has done so. So, yeah, gotta talk about that.
Whas new with 'choo guys?
(This is not a comment upon Nicolas Cage's acting abilities, which I find to be quite well-developed; but rather, this is a comment on the inadvisability of watching television for said twenty-four hours in a row (minus sleep). Just so we're clear that this is not a Cage slam.)
(Besides, if watching Sean Connery light Dr. Cox on fire is not a cure for Bad Stomach, I dunno what is.)
(This is also not a slam against John McGintey/Ginty/Guintiy/whatever. I'm simply stating a fact about the inherent amusement of such a set-up.)
(... also, re: my subject heading -- See?? SEE?!?! VOLVOS ARE NOT COOL. Master Cullen, take notes.)
Anyway, upon completing the second issue of "The Duck Knight Returns" a couple of weeks ago, I became absolutely convinced that I had correctly figured out who the mastermind behind Quackwerks actually is. And with Issue #3 coming out next week, it occurred to me that I better get said prediction up on my LJ already if I wanted to be able to have claimed to have seen it coming.
So.
As if the evidence that is the awesomeness of "The Duck Knight Returns" was not proof enough, I have read and listened to enough interviews with Ian Brill (the writer of the new comic line) to see that he is a huge "Darkwing Duck" fan. And more, actually. Because, yes, he loves the source material, it's easy to pick up on that. But Brill doesn't just love Darkwing and his world. He does two things that are actually more important than that, as someone who gets to write the material: he _respects_ the source material, and he _understands_ it. Respecting it and getting it do not necessarily go hand-in-hand with loving it (surely the Mary Suethors have taught us that!), but the excellence of the writing in the first two issues -- and the passionate way Brill talks about the characters and their world in interviews -- is enough to see that he's managed the trifecta and has all three important qualities.
Alright, so Brill's a big fan. What does that have to do with figuring out who the villain (because it is assuredly a villain) behind Quackwerks is?
Let's imagine that you are a huge fan of "Darkwing Duck" (this will take less imagining for some of you than others), and you have just pitched a "Darkwing Duck" comic book line to your publishers. And they've given you a green light, and now _you_ are going to get to write a "Darkwing" storyline. There is a catch, though: they are only promising you a mini-series. Four issues. If the issues sell well, okay, they'll consider making it an ongoing series, but all they are giving you for certain is a four-issue storyarc. As a loving, understanding, respectful fan of the original show, what villain are you going to choose as your criminal mastermind for the storyline?
What's the one loose end the show didn't have a chance to tie up?
Ever since hearing about the miniseries, I had been vaguely hoping for the return of one specific villain. I say "vaguely" because I felt it foolish to get my hopes up too high. And then I started to read a couple of articles and interviews about both the miniseries -- and, a few weeks before the first issue came out, about the plans for future ongoing story arcs (because the series had gone permanent) -- and I arrived at two conclusions. One, that Negaduck was going to show up in the _second_ story arc, after the completion of "The Duck Knight Returns;" and two, that Quackerjack was the primary villain of TDKR miniseries.
In a way, this latter conclusion made sense. (The former probably does too, but that has no bearing on my theory here so we'll leave it be for now.) Several interviews with the writer and artists discussed Quackerjack and Brill's handling of him -- I remember one artist, I think Silvani himself, saying something like, "The show's version of Quackerjack was very Ceaser Romaro, but Ian's version of him is Heath Ledger." I remember thinking that, if part of the hope in bringing in a new audience to "Darkwing" was to play up its Batman similarities, it made sense to choose Quackerjack as the main villain for the miniseries -- Quackerjack, who in terms of MO is the most similar to the Joker out of all the villains of Darkwing's rogue gallery. And, heck, "Quackwerks" sounded like a name Quackerjack might dream up, right? So that certainly seemed to be where things were headed ... or at least it did throughout the first issue.
But then I noticed a few things.
First, there was the (fairly obvious) news in the beginning of Issue #2 that Quackerjack has no great love for Quackwerks, that he's in fact teamed up the rest of the Fearsome, well, Four to wreck whatever havoc they can against the company. So he can't be the mastermind behind the company.
(I will insert here that I am very, VERY eager to find out why Quackerjack went all Dog Day Afternoon on the ass of one of the Quackwerks robots for mentioning the name "Negaduck." Call me crazy, but I sense some bad blood there -- and I'm looking forward to finding out the cause behind it.)
(... I will also insert here that I of course thought for five seconds that the Big Bad was Steelbeak, until the silhouette turned out to be one of the band guys instead. And was that awesome or WHAT?? Talk about a shout-out to fans!)
Then there was the one-page sequence with Honker in the Quackwerks jail. And the way that disembodied voice -- a voice that Honker recognized -- spoke. "Foolish child" and "You will find your answers in time" ... there's something familiar about the cadence of the way those lines are worded. Even how poor Honk gets greeted -- "Hello, Honker Muddlefoot" -- we heard something similar upon a particular character's return, didn't we? ("Hello ... Gosalyn.")
And then I realized that the Quackwerks robots ... have clawed hands. Four-digited, circular, very specific -- and very _familiar_ -- robotically-designed hands.
It was the shape of the hands that made me certain. And when I spotted it, on the second-to-last page of Issue #2 (as a claw is reaching for Darkwing while he yelps, "I remember this"), I couldn't believe how long it had taken me to notice it. Given how many many MANY times I've watched that episode. But that has to be it. The claws _cannot_ be a coincidence. It has to be a clue.
And it just ... makes perfect sense, y'know? If you're a loving, understanding, respectful Darkwing fan, who only had one guarenteed shot at writing in the world of "Darkwing Duck," how could you choose any other villain but the one who promised to return but never had the chance?
If you're a fan like that, you just gotta make your villain Taurus Bulba.
So. Yeah. We'll see if I'm right about that. And next time I come back, we gotta have a talk about "The Sorcerer's Apprentice." Because I saw it, and I fell head over heels, and ... I appear to be the only person on Earth who has done so. So, yeah, gotta talk about that.
Whas new with 'choo guys?