tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4357793224370188597.post8651306361686137766..comments2024-02-25T03:15:48.893-05:00Comments on News and Views by Chris Barat: A POST "DUCKTALES RETROSPECTIVE" PERSPECTIVE: "The City Under the Ice" (Gladstone DUCKTALES #12, March 1990)Chris Barathttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06845538037091279990noreply@blogger.comBlogger7125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4357793224370188597.post-15251919459307343952014-10-23T09:50:56.193-04:002014-10-23T09:50:56.193-04:00Dan,
"The ending of this story, with the spa...Dan,<br /><br />"The ending of this story, with the space alien arriving to take the heroes to safety at the destructive climax, and meting out justice (of a sort) to the villains (the escaping B-Boys do get loudly "zapped" by Inouk's ship), has always made me think of the Tintin comic Flight 714, in which a Russian scientist and his extra-terrestrial contacts show up to help Tintin and company escape an erupting volcano, and visit punishment on villains who are fleeing by sea. Given that Ice's author was French, and knowing Tintin's popularity in that country, I can't help but think that this part of the story was either consciously or unconsciously influenced by Herge."<br /><br />Ha! That never occurred to me, but it makes perfect sense!<br /><br />ChrisChris Barathttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06845538037091279990noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4357793224370188597.post-46929584416561699102014-10-23T09:49:19.444-04:002014-10-23T09:49:19.444-04:00Ryan,
If "The City Under the Ice" truly...Ryan,<br /><br />If "The City Under the Ice" truly was meant to be a one-shot, then I'm frankly surprised. France and other European countries had DUCKTALES and DISNEY AFTERNOON themed mags at the time; why couldn't LE JOURNAL DE MICKEY have produced more of this type of story to fill the international market? Or was it simply assumed that the "Curse of Flabberge" series was enough?<br /><br />One other interesting feature of LE JOURNAL DE MICKEY during the DUCKTALES era was a fairly lengthy series of one-page gags featuring Launchpad ("Flagada Jones"). These were probably the French equivalent of those Van Horn GYRO AND LAUNCHPAD gag stories. Perhaps I can reprint and translate some of those for my blog.<br /><br />ChrisChris Barathttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06845538037091279990noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4357793224370188597.post-6496958819198139652014-10-22T19:36:45.732-04:002014-10-22T19:36:45.732-04:00Very good review; I agree with Ryan about Launchpa...Very good review; I agree with Ryan about Launchpad being somewhat slighted in the story; in my opinion, he should been the driver during the wild snowmobile chase, not Walking Mountain--allowing him some in-character white-knuckle heroics to balance out the bungling he engages in throughout the story. <br /><br />Other than that, City Under the Ice is definitely the best of the non-Van-Horn stories published during Gladstone's Ducktales run; I recall acting out imitations of this game with my rubber Disney Duck figurines as a five-year-old fan; the ice-slide sequence (which would have looked great in animation) found its way into most of these ripoffs, the ice being represented by various living-room cushions. None of the Jaime Diaz Studios stories were "honored" in this way, so even at that age I must have recognized Ice's superiority. <br /><br />In re: the Beagles in this story; as Chris noted, they're amusingly in-character and are at the same time effective villains, showing that the Ducktales versions of B-Boys CAN work well, if handled right. I still recall being appalled by that Great Chase story, with Burger taking the lead, when I first read it--and I remember wondering how a grown-up story writer could make such a mistake when any Ducktales-watching kid could spot the mischaracterization in a moment. <br /><br />The ending of this story, with the space alien arriving to take the heroes to safety at the destructive climax, and meting out justice (of a sort) to the villains (the escaping B-Boys do get loudly "zapped" by Inouk's ship), has always made me think of the Tintin comic Flight 714, in which a Russian scientist and his extra-terrestrial contacts show up to help Tintin and company escape an erupting volcano, and visit punishment on villains who are fleeing by sea. Given that Ice's author was French, and knowing Tintin's popularity in that country, I can't help but think that this part of the story was either consciously or unconsciously influenced by Herge. <br /><br />Daniel J. Neyerhttp://filesofjerryblake.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4357793224370188597.post-36176661328258983432014-10-19T22:03:22.879-04:002014-10-19T22:03:22.879-04:00(cont.)
I remember being very pleased with how ac...(cont.)<br /><br />I remember being very pleased with how accurate the Beagles were in appearance and dialogue-wise. (Kudos to Dwight there.) Interestingly, though the story's original French printing was in 1988, they used the Bigtime-Burger-Baggy-Bouncer configuration, which actually didn't really become common on the series until the second season. By whatever act of fortune, that REALLY worked out well! <br /><br />I almost want to express some contention on how Launchpad is characterized as a klutz more than he should be (anticipating his dumbed-down <i>Darkwing Duck</i> reincartion, actually), but in the way he's drawn, that mix of swagger and bravado, a big heart, naivete, and aloofness that defined the original conception of the character really comes off. So overall, I approve. <br /><br />The absence of Webby and to a lesser extent Mrs. Beakley makes this not as first season adventure episode-esque as it could be, in all honesty. My more thick-headed, younger self would've said, "No Webby or Beakley? We're better off for it!" Really, my problem with Webby has always been more how she was used in the marketing and merchandising of the series, making it seem more childish than it actually was. (Some of the <i>Disney Adventures</i> comics followed suit, unfortunately.) The series itself, especially in the first season, found a good, tasteful place for them as part of the cast. If the creators of "City Under the Ice" HAD chosen to use them, I feel they would've achieved a similar balance. Webby and her "grammie" by no means made "Too Much of a Gold Thing" "girlie"; on the contrary, they functioned in at as full-fledged characters. There's no reason they couldn't have had a similar place in this story. <br /><br />For the record, despite their similar backgrounds, "City Under the Ice" seems to have been a one-shot production (its first printing: http://coa.inducks.org/issue.php?c=fr/JM+1881#c), whereas as "Curse of Flabberge" was part of a series of <i>Disney Afternoon</i>-based stories that appeared in a series of specials in Europe (but the special were printed in a different order depending on the country). I covered that series a couple of years ago here: http://ryanwynns.blogspot.com/2011/10/this-is-post-ive-been-intending-to.html <br /><br />-- RyanRyan Wynnshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00477919968924048814noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4357793224370188597.post-46308861797787444822014-10-19T22:03:00.467-04:002014-10-19T22:03:00.467-04:00Chris,
I'm really glad that someone has final...Chris,<br /><br />I'm really glad that someone has finally not just thoroughly covered this story (as you certainly have), but that it's actually been recognized AT ALL. (I've been meaning to review it on my blog literally for years now, but there's really little I could say that you haven't.) Usually, the narrative is "Gladstone did the Disney Studio and then the Van Horn stories, and then Disney Comics did the Wolfman/Quartieri and Langhans/Quartieri serials, which were closer to the TV show", and completely leave out "City Under the Ice". I've long felt it deserves recognition as the first REAL <i>DuckTales</i> comic to appear in the U.S., and now, thanks to you, that recognition has been made. (In my "History of <i>DuckTales</i> Comic Books" series, I specifically skipped past it because I was planning on following up with a post/review spotlighting it. I hinted at this at one point, but then that whole project fell in the rear-view mirror.) <br /><br />Though the stretchy, exaggerated art is more akin visually to the sitcom second season than the adventure-oriented first, the story itself is by all means deferential to the first. However, it's not stylized to the extent of some of the modern European stories (like some of those featured in Gemstone's digest) that draw the characters with a "boxiness" that brings to mind the <i>101 Dalmations</i> animated series. The liveliness and energy actually works pretty well as far as capturing the action-adventure dynamics the series was always going for, even if the art isn't as realistic and beautiful as gorgeous. The splash panels are striking and narratively on-beat anyway. I was eight when Gladstone's <i>DT</i> came out, and I distinctly remember being completely engrossed in this story, in true can't-put-it-down fashion. I remember that that month's Cross Talk noted something along the lines of, "The creators have done a good job of capturing the flavor of the series", to which mental reaction was akin to, "Boy, did they ever!" <br /><br />-- Ryan<br /><br />Ryan Wynnshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00477919968924048814noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4357793224370188597.post-46844873554560033562014-10-12T17:45:41.654-04:002014-10-12T17:45:41.654-04:00That "Offcharacter badass Burger" story ...That "Offcharacter badass Burger" story you mentioned looks more like artist by mistake drawn Burger in place of Big-Time and vice-versa (and maybe mistaken Bankjob for Bouncer)Pan Miluśhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01364446151493198587noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4357793224370188597.post-29567972850812944072014-10-09T22:10:52.753-04:002014-10-09T22:10:52.753-04:00Re: your second nit.... I did not understand Inouk...Re: your second nit.... I did not understand Inouk to say that the rescue vessel on the moon had been there all along (i.e. for ten thousand years), just that it was *now* there and was "waiting for my awakening." Not all that clear to me why they were waiting and unable to wake Inouk up themselves...but I still assume that they came to the moon to pick up Inouk relatively recently. (He said, in his earlier explanation of the past, that he expected his friends to come back for him eventually.) And he needs them to come back for him because he can't blast off from the planet himself. To blast off from a planet's surface, at least with their technology of 10,000 years ago, they needed someone to remain on the planet to work the launch controls. One assumes their technology has advanced over the last ten millenia, and they can now leave earth with Inouk without leaving someone else behind!Elainenoreply@blogger.com