Confessions of a Comic Book Guy is a weekly column by Steve Bennett of Super-Fly Comics and Games in Yellow Springs, Ohio. This week, Bennett looks at the premiere of the new DuckTales “movie,” and the DC Universe Animated Original Movie Batman and Harley Quinn.
That and I’d like to establish DuckTales isn’t so much a remake/reboot as an update for a modern audience. These days kids cartoons almost seem required to have a complex mythology, as well as at least one character with a mysterious background which gets gradually explored (Steven Universe, Star Vs. The Forces of Evil, etc.). Well DuckTales does those series one better by exploring one of the greatest mysteries of the Disney Universe; the parentage of Huey, Dewey and Louie. Of course we know (at least I do, after looking it up online) that their mother was Donald’s sister Della, but where is she? Who’s their father? We may finally find out, because kids today, they don’t take “don’t worry about it” for an answer.
Much has been made of the fact that in this iteration Huey, Dewey and Louie actually have personalities of their own, but Scrooge has also undergone some changes. Like, while the Carl Barks version of the character was almost perpetually sour and dour, it’s clear from the way he faces down danger with a maniacal grin that in this series Scrooge absolutely loves every minute of his life. Which is as it should be, because when it comes to cool Scrooge basically has Batman beat; for one thing, Scrooge doesn’t have to work nights.
As previously established, when they first announced the revival of DuckTales I completely underestimated how big an impact the original series had. There’s a great piece on the Vanity Fair story by Darryn King, “The Story of the DuckTales Theme, History’s Catchiest Single Minute of Music” which along with recounting how the title song was written and recorded, gave me some much needed context for the series’ success. Like in this paragraph about just how popular the show has been all over the world:
"DuckTales aired in more than 100 countries in 25 different languages. It was the first American cartoon broadcast in the former Soviet Union after the Cold War; in Hungary, those born in the early-to-mid 80s are known as ‘the DuckTales generation’ (Kacsamesék generáció)."
But for the record, it’s not the “mature” content that bothers me as much as the uneven tone. It somehow manages to simultaneously come across like both a lost two-part episode of Batman: The Animated Series and a Family Guy spoof of one. It’s ostensibly not a comedy, and there are plenty of indicators going in that we’re supposed to take the proceedings seriously (like references to the DCU that include, but are not limited to appearances by Sarge Steel and, I swear, Swamp Thing’s psychedelic yams). But the story keeps abandoning the plot to indulge in digressions ranging from fart jokes to musical numbers.
Batman and Harley Quinn comes loaded with low moments but the competition for the lowest is between two scenes. One where Harley strips down to her underwear, gives the viewer a good long view of her rear end, then has just barely consensual sex with a tied up Nightwing. After which she dismissively tells him she’ll call “if she runs out of batteries or something”. In the other during a massive fight set in a bar exclusively intended for villain henchmen (a concept that seems more appropriate for The Tick), words start appearing on the screen that emulate the pop art sensibilities of the 60’s Batman TV series. Except instead of “Pow!” we get “Ow, My Balls!”
The opinions expressed in this column are solely those of the writer, and do not necessarily reflect the views of the editorial staff of ICv2.com.