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126-467: Darkwing Duck is an American animated superhero comedy television series produced by Disney Television Animation (formerly Walt Disney Television Animation) that first ran from 1991 to 1992 on both the syndicated programming block The Disney Afternoon and Saturday mornings on ABC . A total of ninety-one episodes were aired. It features the adventures of Darkwing Duck, who is the superheroic alter-ego of ordinary suburban duck Drake Mallard. Though it
252-520: A space opera story where the team goes to another planet to oppose the imperial forces of Blackfire and then return to Earth only to get involved in a relatively realistic urban crime story about runaways . The mythologies of many ancient civilizations feature pantheons of gods and goddesses with superhuman powers, as well as heroes such as Hanuman , Gilgamesh , Perseus , Odysseus and David and demigods like Heracles . Real life inspirations behind costumed superheroes can be traced back to
378-494: A " rogues gallery " of such enemies. One of these supervillains might be the superhero's archenemy. Superheroes will sometimes combat other threats such as aliens, magical/fantasy entities, natural disasters, political ideologies such as Nazism or communism (and their proponents), and godlike or demonic creatures. Some superhero fiction portrays discrimination against superheroes, such as by the way of "Registration Acts" that mandate registration of superpowered individuals with
504-479: A "Superhero Registration Act" is passed, that requires superpowered individuals to not only register with the government, but to make themselves available to be drafted to respond to emergencies. The backlash against superheroes and metahumans in JLA: The Nail series has been compared to the real-life moral campaign against comic book superheroes in the mid-1950s. In an essay Ethan Faust argued that
630-474: A compendium of several of the BOOM! Studios Darkwing Duck stories, including "The Duck Knight Returns", "Crisis On Infinite Darkwings", and "F.O.W.L. Disposition". Aaron Sparrow's story credits were not only restored, but he and Silvani created an all-new 3-page introduction, and Brill's dialogue was replaced with original dialogue by Sparrow. On October 22, 2014, comic news website Bleeding Cool announced that
756-482: A direct-to-video feature about Brer Rabbit called The Adventures of Brer Rabbit . Stones directed, produced and co-wrote with Mike Mignola , Hellboy: Sword of Storms the first of two direct-to-video animated films based on Mignola's popular comic book series Hellboy . Stones, a long time comic book reader, had worked previously with Mignola on developing Atlantis: The Lost Empire into an animated series. Hellboy: Sword of Storms made its television debut in
882-568: A global audience. The first original major shared superhero universe to develop on the Internet was Superguy , which first appeared on a UMNEWS mailing list in 1989. In 1992, a cascade on the USENET newsgroup rec.arts.comics would give birth to the Legion of Net. Heroes shared universe. In 1994, LNH writers contributed to the creation of the newsgroup rec.arts.comics.creative , which spawned
1008-467: A letter column of the pulp magazine Thrilling Wonder Stories , the word superhero was used to define the title character of the comic strip Zarnak by Max Plaisted. Historians point to the first appearance of Superman , created by Jerome "Jerry" Siegel and designed by Joseph "Joe" Shuster , in Action Comics #1 (June 1938) as the debut of the comic-book archetype of the superhero. Outside
1134-525: A lot of homages to other Disney shows: Magica's powered up form in #7 has emblems that reference film villains like Hades and Jafar, someone holds a sign saying "Bring Back Bonkers " in the background of #6, and #3 shows Launchpad tried to get a job with Gadget Hackwrench of the Rescue Rangers from Chip 'n Dale Rescue Rangers . The eighteenth issue, which shipped in October 2011, was the end of
1260-436: A masked vigilante superhero wearing a purple uniform and cape. The name "The Masked Mallard" became an epithet often used in the new show to refer to Darkwing himself. Tad Stones was directed to come up with a series for The Disney Afternoon around the premise of Double-O-Duck , as an executive liked the title Double-O Duck as a spoof of James Bond and felt Launchpad McQuack would take the starring role. It turned out that
1386-639: A moral crusade in which comics were blamed for juvenile delinquency and the United States Senate Subcommittee on Juvenile Delinquency began. The movement was spearheaded by psychiatrist Fredric Wertham , who argued in Seduction of the Innocent , that "deviant" sexual undertones ran rampant in superhero comics . In 2012, his methodology was reviewed and his results were found to be misleading if not falsified. In response,
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#17327794965961512-545: A more somber tone. Superboy ran from 1988 to 1992 in syndication. In the 1990s, the Power Rangers , adapted from the Japanese Super Sentai , became popular. Other shows targeting teenage and young adult audiences that decade included Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman . In 2001, Smallville retooled Superman 's origin as a teen drama. The 2006 NBC series Heroes tells
1638-409: A nostalgic treatment in the 2004 Disney / Pixar release The Incredibles , which utilized computer animation . Original superheroes with basis in older trends have also been made for television, such as Disney's Gargoyles by Greg Weisman and Cartoon Network 's Ben 10 franchise and Nickelodeon 's Danny Phantom . Beginning 1940s, the radio serial Superman starred Bud Collyer as
1764-428: A number of original superhero shared universes. Magazine-style websites that publish superhero fiction include Metahuman Press , active since 2005, and Freedom Fiction Journal . Superhuman fiction has also appeared in general science fiction / speculative fiction web publications, such as the weekly Strange Horizons , a publication that pays its contributors. Two examples there are Paul Melko's "Doctor Mighty and
1890-565: A relatively minor Marvel Comics character that premiered at over $ 100 million in February, a time of year generally considered poor for movie audience interest . It was an observation further confirmed in 2018 when Black Panther was an even grander success with a $ 235 million debut in the same time of year, and later became the first superhero film to be nominated for the Academy Award for Best Picture . Avengers: Endgame became
2016-614: A secret identity; such characters as the Green Hornet and the Scarecrow of Romney Marsh , would follow. Likewise, the science-fiction heroes John Carter of Mars , Buck Rogers , and Flash Gordon , with their futuristic weapons and gadgets; Tarzan , with his high degree of athleticism and strength, and his ability to communicate with animals; Robert E. Howard 's Conan the Barbarian and the biologically modified Hugo Danner of
2142-537: A special release called Witcheroo! Seven VHS cassettes containing 12 episodes of the series were released in Australia and New Zealand. Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainment released a three-disc DVD box set entitled " Darkwing Duck - Volume 1" on August 29, 2006. It included 25 episodes, plus the two-part pilot "Darkly Dawns the Duck", as opposed to the uncut version's release on VHS. The second volume, containing
2268-522: A spoof of his voice actor, Jim Cummings; who reprises his role as the character alongside Michael Bell as Quackerjack. Other references include St. Canard's name being stated in the premiere episode and the name of the evil organization F.O.W.L. appearing as Easter eggs. Additionally, both F.O.W.L. and S.H.U.S.H. appeared in "From the Confidential Case Files of Agent 22!" The end-credits theme of Darkwing Duck appears in "The Last Crash of
2394-406: A supernatural weapon, Penny dreadfuls , shilling shockers , dime novels , radio programs , and other popular fiction of the late 19th and early 20th centuries featured mysterious, swashbuckling heroes with distinct costumes, unusual abilities and altruistic missions. The 1903 play The Scarlet Pimpernel and its spinoffs further popularized the idea of a masked avenger and the superhero trope of
2520-604: A supervillain to advance the plot. Comic book writer Gail Simone has coined the term " Women in Refrigerators " (named after an incident in Green Lantern #54 where Kyle Rayner 's girlfriend Alex DeWitt is murdered by the supervillain Major Force and stuffed into Rayner's refrigerator ) to refer to this practice. Many works of superhero fiction occur in a shared fictional universe , sometimes (as in
2646-579: A television series based on the original film. In 1994, he co-wrote, produced and directed The Return of Jafar , a direct-to-video sequel to the 1992 film Aladdin . He also directed and produced a second sequel to Aladdin in 1996, Aladdin and the King of Thieves . The film marked the end of the Aladdin films and the Aladdin animated series. In 1998, Stones served as executive producer of Hercules: The Animated Series . Two years later, he directed
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#17327794965962772-514: A wide variety of story genres such as Fantasy , Science fiction , Mystery , Horror , Crime fiction etc. that put superhero characters in a vast variety and combinations of story settings and fiction tropes with their presence the major common element. As such, it has become an expected element to superhero fiction for the heroic characters to be placed in nearly any story situation, including relatively down-to-Earth drama with their personal lives out of costume. For instance, The New Teen Titans
2898-502: Is Sarutobi Sasuke , a superhero ninja from children's novels in the 1910s. By 1914, his abilities included superhuman strength, chanting incantations, appearing and disappearing, jumping to the top of the highest trees, riding on clouds, conjuring the elements (water, fire and wind), and transforming into other people or animals. In 1938, writer Jerry Siegel and artist Joe Shuster , who had previously worked in pulp science fiction magazines, introduced Superman . (Siegel, as
3024-464: Is " Hot Spells ", which was never re-aired after its initial broadcast on ABC because of its religiously sensitive subject matter. Darkwing Duck was one of the first American animated TV series to be officially broadcast in syndication in the former Soviet Union . The show formerly aired on Disney XD in international territories such as the Netherlands and Germany. The show is available on
3150-526: Is a subgenre of speculative fiction examining the adventures , personalities and ethics of costumed crime fighters known as superheroes , who often possess superhuman powers and battle similarly powered criminals known as supervillains . The genre primarily falls between hard fantasy and soft science fiction in the spectrum of scientific realism. It is most commonly associated with American comic books , though it has expanded into other media through adaptations and original works. A superhero
3276-636: Is most often the protagonist of superhero fiction. However, some titles, such as Marvels by Kurt Busiek and Alex Ross , use superheroes as secondary characters . A superhero (sometimes rendered super-hero or super hero) is a type of stock character possessing "extraordinary or superhuman powers" and dedicated to protecting the public. Since the debut of the prototypical superhero Superman in 1938, stories of superheroes—ranging from brief episodic adventures to continuing years-long sagas—have dominated American comic books and crossed over into other media. The word itself dates to at least 1917. A female superhero
3402-430: Is rarely permanent, as characters who die are often brought back to life through supernatural means or via retcons (retroactive changes to the continuity), the alteration of previously established facts in the continuity of a fictional work. Fans have termed the practice of bringing back dead characters " comic book death ". Another common trait of superhero fiction is the killing off of a superhero's significant other by
3528-637: Is sometimes called a superheroine (also rendered super-heroine or super heroine). In the United States, the term "SUPER HEROES" is a registered trademark co-owned by DC Comics and Marvel Comics . By most definitions, characters do not strictly require actual superhuman powers to be deemed superheroes, although terms such as costumed crime fighters or masked vigilantes are sometimes used to refer to those such as Batman and Green Arrow without such powers who share other common superhero traits. Such characters were generally referred to as "mystery men" in
3654-576: The DuckTales reboot, Darkwing Duck plays a major recurring role. At first, it appeared as an old television show which Launchpad McQuack is a fan of. The show itself first appears in the episode "Beware the B.U.D.D.Y. System!", which depicts Darkwing fighting Quackerjack, the Liquidator, and Megavolt. While watching the episode, Launchpad states that the actor portraying Darkwing is "an old school actor who did all his own stunts" named Jim Starling –
3780-598: The Darkwing Duck episode "It's a Wonderful Leaf" was released together with the Goof Troop episode "Have Yourself a Goofy Little Christmas" on one VHS cassette as a special release called Happy Holidays with Darkwing Duck and Goofy! On September 3, 1996, the Darkwing Duck episode "Ghoul of My Dreams" was released together with the Chip 'n Dale Rescue Rangers episode "Good Times, Bat Times" on one VHS cassette as
3906-538: The Disney+ streaming service, which has been on the streaming service since its launch on November 12, 2019. The entire series (including the episode "Hot Spells") is currently available for purchase on Amazon Prime Video and on Disney+ in Germany. The first season (comprising the show's first two seasons) is available in six volumes while the second season (comprising the third season) is available in one volume. On
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4032-439: The Disney+ streaming service, with the exception of the episode "Hot Spells". Four VHS cassettes, each containing one or two episodes (a total of 6 episodes) of Darkwing Duck , were released under the title Darkwing Duck: His Favorite Adventures in the United States on March 23, 1993, individually titled "Darkly Dawns the Duck", "Justice Ducks Unite!", "Comic Book Capers" and "Birth of Negaduck!". However, most countries around
4158-668: The Feature Animation training program three days after his college graduation in 1974. After animating a scene in The Rescuers , Stones moved into the story department on The Fox and the Hound . A brief stint at Walt Disney Imagineering followed, where he worked on Epcot 's Transportation pavilion and the Imagination pavilion. Stones worked at Walt Disney Television Animation since its formation in 1984. He
4284-539: The Silver Age of comic books . The Flash , Green Lantern , Hawkman and several others were recreated with new origin stories. While past superheroes resembled mythological heroes in their origins and abilities, these heroes were inspired by contemporary science fiction . In 1960, DC banded its most popular heroes together in the Justice League of America , which became a sales phenomenon. Empowered by
4410-642: The X-Men , and the Justice League , have been published, often marketed in association with TV series , as have Big Little Books starring the Fantastic Four and others. In the 1990s and 2000s, Marvel and DC released novels adapting such story arcs as " The Death of Superman ", " Planet Hulk ", " Wonder Woman: Earth One ", " Spider-Man: Birth of Venom " and Batman 's " No Man's Land ". Original superhero or superhuman fiction has appeared in both novel and short story print forms unrelated to adaptations from
4536-570: The animated series Darkwing Duck and producing Chip 'n Dale: Rescue Rangers , Disney's Adventures of the Gummi Bears , Aladdin , Hercules , and Buzz Lightyear of Star Command . He was a storyboard artist on Bob's Burgers when it premiered in January 2011. Born in Burbank, California , Stones started with Disney training under animation veteran Eric Larson . He entered
4662-516: The comic-strip hero The Phantom , starting with 1943's Son of the Phantom . The character likewise returned in 1970s books, with a 15-installment series from Avon Books beginning in 1972, written by Phantom creator Lee Falk , Ron Goulart , and others. Also during the 1970s, Pocket Books published 11 novels based on Marvel Comics characters. Juvenile novels featuring Marvel Comics and DC Comics characters including Batman , Spider-Man ,
4788-530: The government , or laws that regulate extra-legal vigilante activity. For example, in the alternate universe of the Watchmen , first published in 1986, a backlash against superheroes leads to the passage of the "Keene Act", a federal law that prohibits "costumed adventuring" except by superheroes working for the government. A similar device was used in the Marvel Comics universe in the mid-2000s, where
4914-419: The highest-grossing film of all time . In 2017, the film Sign Gene featured about deaf superheroes who use sign language . Several live-action superhero programs aired from the early 1950s until the late 1970s. These included Adventures of Superman starring George Reeves , the action-comedy Batman series of the 1960s (often interpreted as being campy ) starring Adam West and Burt Ward . In
5040-426: The review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes , the first season holds an approval of 83% based on 6 reviews, with an average rating of 7.00/10. Nigel Mitchell of CBR.com stated, "He was the terror that flapped in the night. He was the fingernail that scraped the blackboard of your soul. He was Darkwing Duck, and he made a generation laugh and thrill with his crazy adventures. Following the success of "Ducktales,"
5166-612: The " masked vigilantes " of the American Old West such as the San Diego Vigilantes and the Bald Knobbers who fought and killed outlaws while wearing masks. The character of Spring Heeled Jack , who first emerged as an urban legend of the early 19th century, was re-conceived as a masked and costumed adventurer during the 1890s. The hero's journey is a well-known archetypal story type in which
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5292-585: The 1940s with the first film adaptation of a comic book superhero being The Adventures of Captain Marvel in 1941. The decline of these serials meant the death of superhero films until the release of 1978's Superman , a critical and commercial success. Several sequels followed in the 1980s. 1989's Batman was also highly successful and followed by several sequels in the 1990s. Yet while both franchises were initially successful, later sequels in both series fared poorly both artistically and financially, stunting
5418-424: The 1940s. When Fawcett Comics went out of business as such, DC Comics, which had been embroiled in a bitter copyright dispute with Fawcett Comics over Captain Marvel, bought out the copyright to not only the character but also his ancillary "Marvel Family" of heroes and villains. During World War II , superheroes grew in popularity, surviving paper rationing and the loss of many writers and illustrators to service in
5544-433: The 1960s, superhero cartoons have been a staple of children's television, particularly in the U.S.. However, by the early 1970s, US broadcasting restrictions on violence in children's entertainment led to series that were extremely tame, a trend exemplified by the series Super Friends . Meanwhile, Japan's anime industry successfully contributed its own style of superhero series, such as Science Ninja Team Gatchaman . In
5670-420: The 1970s however, the genre would find a newfound credibility in the medium with the original series, The Six Million Dollar Man and its spinoff, The Bionic Woman , being sustained successes. This led to direct adaptations of comic-book superheroes such as ABC / CBS drama series Wonder Woman of the 1970s starring Lynda Carter . The Incredible Hulk of the late 1970s and early 1980s, however, had
5796-580: The 1980s, the Saturday morning cartoon Spider-Man and His Amazing Friends brought together Spider-Man , Iceman , and Firestar . The following decade, Batman: The Animated Series , which was aimed at somewhat older audiences, found critical success in mainstream publications. This series led to the successful DC Animated Universe franchise and other adaptations such as Teen Titans , which Marvel emulated with X-Men and Spider-Man: The Animated Series . Comics' superhero mythos itself received
5922-532: The 1992 TV show "Darkwing Duck" was one of the first action-oriented shows on Disney's block, and wasn't like any other show on TV." Amanda Dyer of Common Sense Media rated the series 4 out of 5 stars, writing, " Darkwing Duck is a 1990s Disney animated comedy that has slapstick cartoon violence (including weapon use) and mild name calling. It follows the heroic yet self-serving antics of cartoon duck superhero Darkwing Duck as he battles various wacky supervillains with his sidekick, Launchpad McQuack." Darkwing Duck
6048-508: The 2011 comic book series DuckTales makes reference to Darkwing Duck and features various villains from the series. A crossover between the Darkwing Duck and DuckTales comics occurs in issues 17–18 and issues 5–6, respectively, of each. A reboot of the series is in development for Disney+ . Darkwing Duck tells the adventures of the titular superhero, aided by his sidekick and pilot Launchpad McQuack (from DuckTales ). In his secret identity of Drake Mallard (a parody of Kent Allard,
6174-623: The American comics industry, superpowered, costumed superheroes, such as Ōgon Bat (1931) and the Prince of Gamma ( ガンマ王子 ) (early 1930s), were visualized in painted panels used by kamishibai oral storytellers in Japan. They both anticipated elements of Superman and Batman. Prince of Gamma, for example, had an extraterrestrial origin story and a secret identity (his alter ego was a street urchin ), much like Superman. An earlier example from Japan
6300-818: The Case of Ennui" and Saladin Ahmed's "Doctor Diablo Goes Through the Motions". The web serial Worm began publication in 2011 and completed in 2013 while its sequel, Ward , began in November 2017 and completed in May 2020. Tad Stones Edward T. " Tad " Stones (born May 28, 1952) is an American animator , storyboard artist, screenwriter, producer and director, best known for his work for The Walt Disney Company , where he worked from 1974 to 2003. His most notable credits for Disney include creating, writing and producing
6426-817: The Coast Discoveries imprint, 2008); Austin Grossman's Soon I Will Be Invincible ( Pantheon Books , 2007); Lavie Tidhar 's The Violent Century (Hodder & Stoughton, 2013), David J. Schwartz's Superpowers: A Novel ( Three Rivers Press , 2008); Matthew Cody's Powerless ( Knopf , 2009); Van Allen Plexico 's Sentinels series of superhero novels (Swarm/Permuted Press, beginning in 2008); and Marissa Meyer 's Renegades trilogy. Collections of superhuman short stories include Who Can Save Us Now?: Brand-New Superheroes and Their Amazing (Short) Stories , edited by Owen King and John McNally (Free Press, 2008), and Masked , edited by Lou Anders (Gallery, 2010). With
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#17327794965966552-590: The Duck. By July 3rd with the kickstarter concluded, they had 344k pledged. One reward in the 150k stretch goal for backers was a limited edition cover drawn by Tad Stones for a upcoming Darkwing Duck series scheduled for the fall of 2024. Dynamite Entertainment announced November 22nd, a new run of the Darkwing Duck comic would start February 2025. The first issue would start with a Darkwing Duck cover drawn by Tad Stones , followed by being written by Daniel Kibblesmith and drawn by Ted Brandt and Ro Stein. In
6678-602: The Golden Age and the Sub-Mariner , from Marvel Comics (then called Timely Comics and later re-branded Atlas Comics ), and Plastic Man and Phantom Lady from Quality Comics were also hits. Will Eisner 's The Spirit , featured in a comic strip , would become a considerable artistic inspiration to later comic book creators. The era's most popular superhero, however, was Fawcett Comics 's Captain Marvel , whose exploits regularly outsold those of Superman during
6804-530: The Julius Schwartz Flash , as well as The Lone Ranger and Zorro . The fictional city of St. Canard is a direct parody of Gotham City . ("Canard" is the French word for "duck".) Darkwing Duck was developed as a last-minute replacement with concept artwork by Michael Peraza for a proposed reboot of The Rocky and Bullwinkle Show , when the management team realized that Disney did not own
6930-656: The Justice Ducks would be released in December written by Roger Langridge and illustrated by Carlo Lauro. Dynamite Entertainment started a kickstarter in June 2024 with the goal of 25k, easily reaching the goal and surpassing it within minutes. Reaching 100k pledges before the night was over. Selling three omnibuses's featuring the classic Darkwing Duck Comics along with their 'The Justice Ducks' and Negaduck's comics under Heroes and Villains, Cowl and Fowl, and Darkly Dawns
7056-492: The Never Land Pirates episode "The Pirate Princess" which aired June 17, 2011. Although Darkwing Duck is a spin-off of DuckTales , Stones stated in a 2016 interview that he considers the two shows to exist in alternate universes. Stones voices the executive on the phone who pitches Chip and Dale the prospect of their own show in the Chip 'n Dale: Rescue Rangers film released in May 2022. Stones will be
7182-528: The Sunchaser!" as part of the show-within-a-show. In "Friendship Hates Magic", Launchpad and Mrs. Beakley watch a Darkwing Duck episode based on an actual episode, "The Haunting of Mr. Banana Brain", featuring Paddywhack. Darkwing's first major role is in "The Duck Knight Returns", with Drake Mallard ( Chris Diamantopoulos ) replacing Jim Starling as Darkwing in a movie produced by Scrooge McDuck . After an insane Starling's attempt to kill Mallard results in
7308-586: The United States on October 28, 2006 on Cartoon Network . Hellboy: Blood and Iron , the second film in the Hellboy animated series , was screened on television in 2007. Stones completed the screenplay for a third film in the series, ' The Phantom Claw " based on a story by Stones and Mignola but it remains unproduced at this time. Stones was the Supervising Producer and Director on another DVD at Film Roman Studios, Turok: Son of Stone based on
7434-525: The Vampire Slayer , Angel , The Phantom Captain Nice , Mr. Terrific , The Green Hornet , Electra Woman and Dyna Girl , The Greatest American Hero , Dark Angel , No Ordinary Family and Alias . In the 1940s, Fleischer / Famous Studios produced a number of groundbreaking Superman cartoons, which became the first examples of superheroes in animation . Since
7560-555: The alter ego of the Shadow ), he lives in an unassuming suburban house with his adopted daughter Gosalyn, next door to the dim-witted Muddlefoot family. Darkwing struggles to balance his egotistical craving for fame and attention against his desire to be a good father to Gosalyn and help do good in St. Canard. Most episodes put these two aspects of Darkwing's character in direct conflict, though Darkwing's better nature usually prevails. The show
7686-560: The armed forces. The need for simple tales of good triumphing over evil may explain the wartime popularity of superheroes. Publishers responded with stories in which superheroes battled the Axis Powers and the patriotically themed superheroes, most notably Marvel's Captain America as well as DC's Wonder Woman . Like other pop-culture figures of the time, Superheroes were used to promote domestic propaganda during wartime, ranging from
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#17327794965967812-404: The banned episode " Hot Spells ". They are listed in 6 separate volumes (with Seasons 2 and 3 individually representing the last two volumes), which on the iTunes Store can also be bought in a pack other than individual purchases or a complete series pack at the price of $ 40 for all 90 available episodes. In addition, the series (with the exception of the episode "Hot Spells") can also be viewed on
7938-534: The best animated series themes of all time. Disney Comics published a four-issue Darkwing Duck comic book mini-series in late 1991, right around the time of the show's syndicated premiere. This mini-series was an adaptation of a draft of the script for "Darkly Dawns the Duck". Like the TaleSpin comic before it, it was meant to spin off a regular comic series, but the Disney Comics implosion happening at
8064-691: The bulk of their properties to the copyright owner's, Disney , to its own streaming service, Disney+ . DC series include Shazam! , The Secrets of Isis , The Flash (1990 TV series) , Birds of Prey and Gotham . Arrowverse series include The Flash (2014 TV series) , Supergirl , Legends of Tomorrow and Constantine . Marvel series include The Amazing Spider-Man , Spidey Super Stories and Mutant X . Netflix series include Daredevil , Jessica Jones , Luke Cage , Iron Fist and The Defenders . Japanese tokusatsu series include Ultraman , Spectreman and Kamen Rider . Other series include- Buffy
8190-428: The case of the character Gizmoduck . Darkwing Duck creator Tad Stones has also publicly credited Sparrow as bringing the character back in a 2010 BOOM! Kids "Get A Sketch" panel at San Diego Comic-Con . Sparrow continues to make public appearances with Silvani and Stones, and Brill does not. In a 2011 livestream interview Tad Stones admitted he was unhappy with later issues of the series, and particularly criticized
8316-476: The cases of the DC and Marvel Universes ) establishing a fictional continuity of thousands of works spread over many decades. Changes to continuity are also common, ranging from small changes to established continuity, commonly called retcons , to full reboots , erasing all previous continuity. It is also common for works of superhero fiction to contain established characters and setting while occurring outside of
8442-549: The classic Gold Key comic book series. He has also written "Pyramid of Death", one of the two stories in the first volume of the Hellboy Animated comic book adaptation. He wrote and illustrated another young Hellboy story in the second volume which featured another creation of Mike Mignola's, Lobster Johnson , "The Menace of the Mechanical Monster." He also illustrated a story written by Todd Dezago in
8568-559: The comic book industry adopted the stringent Comics Code . By the mid-1950s, only Superman , Batman and Wonder Woman retained a sliver of their prior popularity, although effort towards complete inoffensiveness led to stories that many consider silly, especially by modern standards. This ended what historians have called the Golden Age of comic books . In the 1950s, DC Comics , under the editorship of Julius Schwartz , recreated many popular 1940s heroes, launching an era later deemed
8694-681: The creative team, with R. Janice Orlando, who worked on The Definitively Dangerous Edition, returning as Assistant Editor. Darkwing Duck is now wearing a purple necktie instead of his usual turtleneck. The first issue debuted on April 27, 2016. Titled "Orange is the New Purple". The comic was cancelled after eight issues due to poor sales. On July 25, 2018, it was announced that the Boom! Studios would be reprinted in Disney's Afternoon Giant . The first issue will be released in October 2018. Throughout
8820-410: The depiction of superheroes in the 2004 film The Incredibles is used to examine societal attitudes towards those with disabilities, first by showing them through the prism of ableism in providing unwanted help to people they view as unable to help themselves and later as those forced to hide their differences that are now an object of discrimination. A supervillain or supervillainess is a variant of
8946-489: The direct-to-video film Buzz Lightyear of Star Command: The Adventure Begins . The film served as pilot episode to the 2000 television series Buzz Lightyear of Star Command , which Stones also produced. In 2003, he directed Atlantis: Milo's Return , the direct-to-video sequel to the film Atlantis: The Lost Empire . Stones worked at Disney for almost 30 years before leaving the company in 2003. In 2004, he started working at Universal Cartoon Studios , where he produced
9072-754: The election arc, which he "tried to talk them out of". When questioned on whether he had read the entire comic series he stated: "Not the later stuff. I applaud what James tried to do. I hear he saved them but I thought the central premises were wrong." Sparrow served as moderator at the 2013 Comic-Con panel "25 Years of the Disney Afternoon: The Continuing Legacy", which featured Tad Stones, voice actors Jim Cummings and Rob Paulsen, TaleSpin creator Jymn Magon, and Darkwing Duck comic artist James Silvani, associations which would seem to further corroborate his version of events. In 2013, Disney European publisher Egmont Group released
9198-480: The episode "A Duck by Any Other Name" had Drake suggest "Double-O Duck" as his new secret identity and Launchpad remarked that it "seems kinda silly".) Where most prior Disney Afternoon series included at least some preexisting animated characters, Darkwing Duck featured a completely original cast. Even the DuckTales characters it reused had no counterpart in early Disney shorts or the comics. The only exception
9324-471: The few to also publish superhero poetry, ceasing to do so as of 2011. Superhero poems there included Philip L. Tite's "Brittle Lives", Mark Floyd's "Nemeses", and Jay Macleod's "All Our Children". Novels with original superhuman stories include Robert Mayer's Superfolks ( St. Martin's Griffin , March 9, 2005); James Maxey's Nobody Gets the Girl ( Phobos Books , 2003); Rob Rogers's Devil's Cape ( Wizards of
9450-539: The first 16 issues and the annual, omitting the final "Dangerous Currency" crossover with DuckTales , seeming to further call into question Brill's claims of sole authorship. On January 18, 2016, Joe Books Twitter feed reported that Darkwing Duck would be returning to monthly comics beginning in April 2016 with Sparrow and Silvani at the helm. According to Silvani's Twitter account, "Dangerous Currency" has been declared non-canon by Disney, and will not be referenced within
9576-472: The first 16 issues of Darkwing Duck would be packaged together and published in an omnibus by Joe Books. On his Tumblr account, Silvani stated that the omnibus would be a remastered edition, featuring revised art, a new epilogue, and that the script had been "painstakingly rewritten" by Sparrow. It was also announced that the omnibus would lead into a new monthly series written by Sparrow and drawn by Silvani, with no involvement by Brill. The omnibus only collects
9702-523: The game. This has changed due to popular franchises: The Silver Age -inspired Freedom Force (2002), City of Heroes (2004), Infamous series and Champions Online (2009), a massively multiplayer online role-playing game (or MMORPG), all of which allow players to create their own superheroes and/or villains. In the 1980s and 1990s, the Internet allowed a worldwide community of fans and amateur writers to bring their own superhero creations to
9828-484: The growth of superhero films for a time. Hit films such as 1998's Blade , 2000's X-Men and Unbreakable , and 2002's Spider-Man have led to sequel installments as well as encouraging the development of numerous superhero film franchises in the 21st century, both successful (such as 2005's Batman Begins , a reboot of the Batman film series ) and unsuccessful (such as 2004's Catwoman ). With that resurgence,
9954-473: The idea of bringing the series back, but assisting him in ghost-writing much of the series and changing a lot of the concepts Brill brought to the series following Sparrow's departure from BOOM! Studios. This seems to be further corroborated by the fact that Sparrow and Silvani have both stated they did not write any of the final arc of the series, "Dangerous Currency", which was largely panned by fans for having many glaring character inconsistencies, particularly in
10080-693: The main canon for those characters. Crossovers often occur between characters of different works of superhero fiction. In comic books, highly publicized "events" are published featuring crossovers between many characters. In previous eras, especially in the Bronze Age of Comic Books , Marvel and DC had dedicated series in which their marquee characters such as Spider-Man and Superman would meet various characters in single stories such as Marvel Team-Up and DC Comics Presents . However, that publishing fashion has fallen away in favor of occasional limited series and guest appearances in regular series when
10206-400: The major comic-book companies. It has also appeared in poetry. Print magazines devoted to such stories include A Thousand Faces: A Quarterly Journal of Superhuman Fiction , published since 2007 in print and electronic form, and online only as of 2011 and This Mutant Life: Superhero Fiction , a bimonthly print publication from Australia , published since 2010. The latter magazine was one of
10332-503: The names National and All-American at the time, received an overwhelming response to Superman and, in the years that followed, introduced Batman , Wonder Woman , The Green Lantern , The Flash , The Hawkman , Aquaman , and The Green Arrow . The first team of superheroes was DC's Justice Society of America , featuring most of the aforementioned characters. Although DC dominated the superhero market at this time, companies large and small created hundreds of superheroes. The Human Torch of
10458-628: The new series. A new comic book series based on the show, which is written by Amanda Deibert and illustrated by Carlo Cid Lauro instead of the team from the previous comic, began publication at Dynamite Entertainment in January 2023. In addition, Dynamite will re-release the original 1991 comic book run. Dynamite Entertainment revealed a new comic series in June 2023 featuring Negaduck would be released in September written by Jeff Parker and illustrated by Ciro Cangialosi. Dynamite Entertainment announced another comic series in September 2023 featuring
10584-419: The next 27 episodes, was released on August 7, 2007. The sets do not contain any special features. It is currently unknown if Disney has any intentions of releasing the remaining 37 episodes on DVD. No official releases have been made outside of the United States and Canada. As of September 2019, the majority of the series is available for purchase on the iTunes Store and Google TV , with the lone exception of
10710-416: The novel Gladiator , were heroes with unusual abilities who fought sometimes larger-than-life foes. The word " superhero " itself dates to at least 1917. The most direct antecedents are pulp magazine crime fighters such as the masked and caped Zorro (introduced by Johnston M. McCulley in 1919 with The Curse of Capistrano ) with his trademark "Z", the technologically advanced "Black Sapper" (1929),
10836-413: The only difference between the two is that the hero uses his extraordinary powers to help others, while the villain uses his powers for selfish, destructive or ruthless purposes. Both superheroes and supervillains often use alter egos while in action. While sometimes the character's real name is publicly known, alter egos are most often used to hide the character's secret identity from their enemies and
10962-407: The parent show DuckTales and began to use a number of Carl Barks characters like Magica De Spell (allied to Negaduck in the second story) and cameoing Scrooge McDuck and Gyro Gearloose. A 4-part crossover story with Disney's DuckTales , titled "Dangerous Currency", was released with parts 1 and 3 for DuckTales #5 and #6, and parts 2 and 4 for Darkwing Duck #17 and #18. The comic also made
11088-533: The pilot film for the show, Darkly Dawns the Duck , which premiered in April 1991. After the success of the pilot, Stones served as writer and producer of the show until the end of its run in late 1992. According to an interview, the character of Gosalyn Mallard was partly based on what he believed his then two-year-old daughter would be like when she grew older. Following Darkwing Duck , Stones served as executive producer, story editor, and director in Aladdin ,
11214-638: The preternaturally mesmeric The Shadow (1930), the "peak human" Doc Savage (1933), and The Spider (1933), and comic strip characters such as Hugo Hercules (1902), Popeye (1929), the Phantom (1936) and Olga Mesmer (1937). The first masked crime-fighter created for comic books was writer-artist George Brenner 's non-superpowered detective the Clock , who debuted in Centaur Publications ' Funny Pages #6 (Nov. 1936). In August 1937, in
11340-549: The price of keeping such a secret. In addition, this narrative trope can allow fantasy characters to be in occasional realistic stories without the fantasy element of the sub-genre appearing. With supervillains, by contrast, the duality of their identities is kept a secret and closely guarded to conceal their crimes from the general public, so that they may inflict greater harm on the general public, and to enable them to act freely, and hence illegally, without risk of arrest by law-enforcement authorities. Death in superhero fiction
11466-493: The protagonist undertakes a quest to achieve both material advantage and psychological and ethical maturity, and is generally considered to function as a metaphor and guide for children transitioning to adulthood or from egoism to altruism as the core concept of the self . Antecedents of the superhero archetype include such folkloric heroes as Robin Hood , who adventured in distinctive clothing, and King Arthur , who possessed
11592-426: The public. With superheroes, the duality of their identities is kept a secret and closely guarded to protect those close to them from being harmed and to prevent them from being called upon constantly, even for problems not serious enough to require their attention. This can be a source of drama with the superhero being forced to devise means of getting out of sight to change without revealing their identity, or bearing
11718-413: The purchasing of war bonds . Following superheroes's popularity during this time, those characters' appeal began to dwindle in the post-war era. Comic-book publishers, casting about for new subjects and genres, found success in, particularly, crime fiction , the most prominent comic of which was Lev Gleason Publications 's Crime Does Not Pay , and horror . The lurid nature of these genres sparked
11844-483: The return of the superhero at DC, Marvel Comics editor/writer Stan Lee and the artists/co-writers Jack Kirby , Steve Ditko and Bill Everett launched a new line of superhero comic books, beginning with the Fantastic Four in 1961 and continuing with the Incredible Hulk , Spider-Man , Iron Man , Thor , the X-Men , and Daredevil . These comics continued DC's use of science fiction concepts ( radiation
11970-427: The rights to the characters (Disney merely held home video rights to the series). The show was a spin-off of the very successful series DuckTales . Darkwing Duck entered production roughly one year after DuckTales ended. Darkwing Duck was inspired by two specific episodes of DuckTales : " Double-O-Duck " starring Launchpad McQuack as a secret agent, and " The Masked Mallard " in which Scrooge McDuck becomes
12096-400: The rise of e-book readers like Kindle and Nook, a host of superhero stories have been self-published, including R. R. Haywood's Extracted (2017), R. T. Leone's Invinciman (2017), and Mike Vago's Selfdestructible (2018). While many popular superheroes have been featured in licensed video games, up until recently there have been few that have revolved around heroes created specifically for
12222-463: The run of BOOM! Studios ' Darkwing Duck comic series, there was controversy as to who was responsible for the series. Editor Aaron Sparrow is largely credited with the idea to relaunch the property and has claimed to have plotted the first arc and come up with many of the concepts for following story arcs. This has been publicly disputed by Boom and credited series writer Ian Brill. However, artist James Silvani has publicly credited Sparrow not only with
12348-526: The series due to BOOM! Studios prematurely losing the Disney Comics license. Darkwing Duck Vol. 5 "Dangerous Currency" crossover, released in November 2011, was the final printing. On January 20, 2016, it was reported that the series would be returning to the comic book format. Writers Aaron Sparrow and artist James Silvani, both of whom worked on the previous Darkwing Duck comic book that was published by Boom! returned to this comic. Additionally Andrew Dalhouse, Deron Bennett and Jesse Post assumed their roles on
12474-560: The set's explosion and the former's presumed death, the movie is canceled. However, Launchpad convinces Drake to become a real superhero, while Starling, having secretly survived the explosion, becomes Negaduck. Drake later reappears in "Moonvasion!" to help thwart the Moonlanders, and at the end of the episode, F.O.W.L. plots to eliminate Scrooge and his family following the trouble they essentially caused; with Steelbeak ( Jason Mantzoukas ) among their ranks. Darkwing features prominently in
12600-489: The short-lived action comedy, Misfits of Science . In the 2010s, Warner Brothers created a successful adaptation of the Green Arrow , Arrow , that began the successful Arrowverse television franchise. Marvel meanwhile had a successful television spin-off of their Marvel Cinematic Universe franchise Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. , while creating a number of series on the streaming service Netflix , before moving
12726-590: The show in September 1993, and it was replaced by Sonic the Hedgehog . All episodes remained in syndicated reruns on The Disney Afternoon until 1995 and then returned to the lineup from 1996 to 1997. Starting on October 2, 1995, Darkwing Duck was rerun on The Disney Channel as part of a two-hour programming block called "Block Party" which aired on weekdays in the late-afternoon/early-evening and which also included TaleSpin , DuckTales , and Chip 'n Dale Rescue Rangers . On September 3, 1996, Darkwing Duck
12852-403: The so-called Golden Age of Comic Books to distinguish them from characters with super-powers. Normally, superheroes use their powers to counter day-to-day crime while also combating threats against humanity by their criminal counterparts, supervillains. Long-running superheroes such as DC's Batman , Superman and Wonder Woman and Marvel's Spider-Man , Captain America and Iron Man have
12978-410: The story of several ordinary people who each suddenly find themselves with a superpower. The British series Misfits incorporates super-human abilities to undesirables in society. In this case, young offenders put on community service all have super powers and each use them to battle villains of sorts. In the 1980s, an unsuccessful attempt was made to realize this last concept in the United States with
13104-418: The subgenre has become a major element of mainstream film production with outstanding successes like 2008's The Dark Knight , 2012's The Avengers and The Dark Knight Rises , 2013's Iron Man 3 , and 2015's Avengers: Age of Ultron attracting major revenue and critical plaudits. This trend was reinforced in 2016 with the outstanding success of the critically lauded Deadpool , a film adaptation of
13230-463: The superhero archetype. Superheroes occasionally have been adapted into prose fiction , starting with Random House 's 1942 novel The Adventures of Superman by George Lowther . In the 1970s, Elliot S! Maggin wrote the Superman novels, Last Son of Krypton (1978) and Miracle Monday , coinciding with but not adapting the movie Superman . Other early adaptations include novels starring
13356-495: The supervillain often possesses a genius intellect that allows him to draft complex schemes or create fantastic devices. Another common trait is possession of considerable resources to help further his aims. Many supervillains share some typical characteristics of real-world dictators, mobsters, and terrorists and often have aspirations of world domination or universal leadership. Superheroes and supervillains often mirror each other in their powers, abilities, or origins. In some cases,
13482-519: The third issue of "The Perhapanauts" published by Image Comics. He has also written for The Super Hero Squad Show and Generator Rex . He worked as an artist on Neighbors from Hell and Bob's Burgers . He has also contributed a script for the first annual of the comic book run of Darkwing Duck . After quitting the Universal Studios, Stones returned to Disney to direct the Jake and
13608-559: The time prevented that plan. However, Darkwing Duck stories were regularly printed in Disney Adventures magazine between the November 1991 and January 1996 issues. Additionally, Darkwing Duck stories were also regularly featured in Marvel Comics ' short-lived Disney Afternoon comic book. On March 13, 2010, BOOM! Studios announced that they would be releasing a four-issue Darkwing Duck miniseries, titled "The Duck Knight Returns", starting in June of that year. The series
13734-575: The title Double-O Duck could not be used as the Broccoli family owned the 'double-o' title. A new name was selected, "Darkwing Duck". Thus, Stones designed a new character for the lead, Drake Mallard , while selecting McQuack as the sidekick. This name would result in a new look (Double-O Duck was to wear a white tuxedo and black domino mask). Other elements of the show, such as Darkwing's habit of coining new catchphrases every time he announced himself, would be invented during production. (As an in-joke,
13860-539: The titular hero. Fellow DC Comics stars Batman and Robin made occasional guest appearances. Other superhero radio programs starred characters including the costumed but not superpowered Blue Beetle , and the non-costumed, superpowered Popeye . Also appearing on radio were such characters as the Green Hornet , the Green Lama , Doc Savage , and the Lone Ranger , a Western hero who relied on many conventions of
13986-475: The tradition of Carl Barks' work in the Disney comics. By contrast, every episode of Darkwing Duck is laden with references to superhero, pulp adventure, or super-spy fiction. Darkwing Duck himself is a satirical character. His costume, gas gun and flashy introductions are all reminiscent of pulp heroes and Golden Age superheroes such as The Shadow , The Sandman , Doc Savage , Batman , The Green Hornet and
14112-422: The two-part episode "Let's Get Dangerous!", which introduces new incarnations of Gosalyn ( Stephanie Beatriz ) and Taurus Bulba ( James Monroe Iglehart ). In the series finale "The Last Adventure!" Drake and Gosalyn attend Webby Vanderquack 's birthday party before assisting the Duck family in their final battle against F.O.W.L., during which the pair battle Steelbeak. Superhero fiction Superhero fiction
14238-418: The villain character type, commonly found in comic books, action movies, and science fiction in various media. They are sometimes used as foils to superheroes and other heroes. Whereas superheroes often wield fantastic powers, the supervillain possesses commensurate powers and abilities so that he can present a daunting challenge to the hero. Even without actual physical, mystical, superhuman or superalien powers,
14364-405: The world only received releases of "Darkly Dawns the Duck" and "Justice Ducks Unite!" Each video came with two "glow-in-the-Darkwing" trading cards . Featured on the cards were Darkwing Duck, Launchpad, Gosalyn, Honker, Negaduck, Bushroot, Megavolt, and Taurus Bulba. The videotapes also included a Darkwing Duck music video which played at the end of each tape. Additionally, on September 28, 1993,
14490-544: The writer, actually created the central and supporting characters; Shuster, as the artist, designed these characters, and gave Superman the first version of his now-iconic uniform.) The character possessed many of the traits that have come to define the superhero: a secret identity , superhuman powers and a colorful costume including a symbol and cape. His name is also the source of the term "superhero", although early comic book heroes were sometimes also called mystery men or masked heroes . DC Comics , which published under
14616-410: The writers felt the character's presence was justified. Intercompany crossovers , between characters of different continuity, are also common. Over the history of the comic book genre, writers for major characters' series were required to produce material to strict regular publishing schedules that often ran for years. As such to fulfill this strenuous creative requirement, superhero stories have used
14742-608: Was a common source of superpowers) but placed greater emphasis on personal conflict and character development. This led to many superheroes that differed from predecessors with more dramatic potential. For example, the Fantastic Four were a superhero family of sorts, who squabbled and even held some unresolved acrimony towards one another, and Spider-Man was a teenager who struggled to earn money and maintain his social life in addition to his costumed exploits. Superhero films began as Saturday movie serials aimed at children during
14868-419: Was a mainstream superhero series which had characters that were a mix of fantasy ( Raven , Wonder Girl ), science fiction ( Cyborg , Starfire , Changeling , Kid Flash ) and crime fiction ( Robin ). Furthermore, their series had such a variety of stories, such as in a year-long period of 1982-3 where in rapid succession, the team would face Brother Blood , a costumed supervillain cult leader, then promptly have
14994-688: Was a preview-run of the series before it aired on The Disney Afternoon . The two-part episode " Darkly Dawns the Duck " originally aired as an hour-length TV special on September 6, 1991, as part of a larger syndicated TV special, The Darkwing Duck Premiere / Back to School with the Mickey Mouse Club . The film served as the show's pilot. Seasons 1 and 2 were aired simultaneously in the autumn of 1991. Season 1 aired in syndication as part of The Disney Afternoon block of shows. Seasons 2 and 3 aired on Saturday mornings on ABC . The final episode aired on December 12, 1992. ABC stopped airing reruns of
15120-495: Was dropped from the beginning of the block when Goof Troop was added to the end. The series was last seen in the U.S. on Toon Disney on January 19, 2007, as part of the Toon Disney Wild Card Stack. Certain episodes from the show's original run rarely re-aired while the show was on Toon Disney. These episodes appear to have been removed for content reasons. The most prominent of the rarely seen episodes
15246-418: Was named the 93rd Best Animated Series by IGN , calling it "one of the many reasons why after-school cartoons rule." "Torgo's Pizzeria Podcast" gave a favorable retrospective review to Darkwing Duck in April 2012; the podcast did however note some weaknesses with the series. Nick Caruso of TVLine lists the theme song from the series, performed by longtime Disney Afternoon veteran Jeff Pescetto , among
15372-640: Was one of the creative forces behind many of the Disney Afternoon shows of the late 1980s and early 1990s. He was a writer for the cartoon Sport Goofy in Soccermania . He was one of the writers and producers of Chip 'n Dale Rescue Rangers and Disney's Adventures of the Gummi Bears (third season only). In 1990, Stones was asked to develop an original concept inspired by two episodes of DuckTales ; he illustrated what would eventually become known as Darkwing Duck . Stones wrote and produced
15498-491: Was originally thought by some fans to be a spin-off of the 1987 DuckTales series, creator Tad Stones stated in a 2016 report that the two shows exist in different universes. Despite this, supporting characters Launchpad McQuack and Gizmoduck appear in both series in similar roles, and Scrooge McDuck is mentioned in the Darkwing Duck episode "Tiff of the Titans", and thus established a relation to both shows. Additionally,
15624-495: Was the episode "In Like Blunt", which featured cameo appearances by the Beagle Boys , Flintheart Glomgold and Magica De Spell . Darkwing Duck first aired on The Disney Channel on March 31, 1991, as a "sneak preview", and then from April 6 into July 14 of that year as a regularly scheduled run on weekend mornings, as it was advertised to be "The newest animated TV series exclusively to The Disney Channel". In reality, this
15750-541: Was the first Disney Afternoon series to emphasize action rather than adventure, with Darkwing routinely engaging in slapstick battles with both supervillains and street criminals. While conflict with villains was routine in earlier Disney Afternoon shows, actual fight scenes were relatively rare. Darkwing Duck was also the first Disney Afternoon property that was produced completely as a genre parody. Prior shows would contain elements of parody in certain episodes, but would otherwise be straight-faced adventure concepts, this in
15876-442: Was written by Aaron Sparrow (uncredited), Ian Brill and drawn by James Silvani, and was set one year after the end of the show. BOOM! later announced that due to positive fan reaction, the comic series would be extended indefinitely as an ongoing title. This first trade paperback collection of the initial four issues of the comic was released in the fall of 2010 Unlike the original show, the comic strengthened Darkwing Duck' s ties to
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