Review: Darkwing Duck: Orange is the New Purple

Darkwing Duck: Orange is the New Purple by Aaron Sparrow
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Darkwing Duck: Orange is the New Purple is the first trade paperback collection of the (as of this writing) currently new on-going series of Darkwing Duck comics as being published by Joe's Books. With Aaron Sparrow writing, and James Silvani as the artist, the comics are part continuation of the on-going published by Boom! and part reboot of the series in general.

In this first trade, we're primarily dealing with an arc focused around the opening of a new prison in St. Canard that is apparently "escape-proof" and just so happens to play host to all of the Masked Mallard's Rogues Gallery. However, given the amount of publicity that the opening of this new prison is receiving, is it possible that it's all just a front for something much more dastardly? Will the terror that flaps in the night be able to fend off the fearless fiends? Or will the criminally conniving convicts prove too much for the new scissors of a ribbon cutting that is... DARKWING DUCK!

Okay, so I took a little bit of that from the blurb of the trade, but give me credit; trying to come up with awesome opening phrases for one of the best superheroes ever created is hard word. I am constantly in amazement at Sparrow's creativity in wielding the alliteration so favoured by DW. Sparrow's writing is consistently brilliant throughout the trade, keeping the tone of the original television series, while managing to keep the pace of tradition superhero comics and the wit fans of the terror that flaps in the night expect, and I found myself laughing at nearly every page. That doesn't lessen the drama when it appears, but there is a great balance within the stories that is largely well kept. I'll admit there's a couple of moments where the scales tipped in favour of the humour, but it's not necessarily a fault of the story, just a personal thing where I would have preferred more emphasis on the drama of those moments.

James Silvani's art is fantastic. I had been following his tumblr for a long time, and was delighted to hear that he was involved in this new on-going. The art of the book is very vivid, looking so much like the show but still managing to be recognisable as Silvani's work. Honestly, considering that this year we're getting a brand new series of Duck Tales (oo-oo!), I am awash with anticipation for the announcement of a brand new television series of Darkwing Duck because... well, because it would be really cool and maybe we can have a crossover episode. To make up for the now struck from canon 'Dangerous Currency' arc from the Boom! collection

Overall, I would say that Orange is the New Purple isn't quite a series that anyone could pick up - there's a lot of references to the last collection that could be easily missed - but that they would be remiss in not doing so because even with the references, it's very easy to pick up on what's going on and be taken along on the ride to find out what's going on with the Fascinating Fowl, his sidekick Launchpad, and the daring daughter.

After all, when there's trouble, you call DW!

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