Darkwing Duck, Volume 1
"Let's get dangerous!" Indeed, Disney's delightful Darkwing Duck, a masked mallard superhero, can get very dangerous--though the biggest danger he presents, typically, is to himself. Darkwing (DW to his friends) is the well-meaning if flamboyant (and klutzy) protector of St. Canard, a city that looks suspiciously like San Francisco and even has a Golden Gate-like bridge in which the winged avenger has tucked away his secret headquarters. A publicity-seeking ham, DW doesn't possess any superpowers, but has some nifty gadgets and the determination to meddle with nefarious plans of high-profile villains. Among them are the fascinating Bushroot, a disillusioned scientist who turns himself into a plant and has the power to make flora do his bidding; Quackerjack, a cackling, Joker-like evildoer; Megavolt, a whining dog who controls electricity; and the Liquidator, another pooch who is made of, well, water.DW fancies himself a lone wolf, so to speak, but unlike Batman, he doesn't have the knack for controlling every detail of his life. As a result, this would-be loner acquires a sidekick, a fawning pilot named Launchpad, and an adopted daughter, the headstrong Gosalyn, neither of whom he anticipated. All together they are a family of sorts, and DW needs them more than he cares to admit. This boxed set includes the series' two-part pilot and the first 25 episodes, including the very clever "Hush, Hush Sweet Charlatan," in which DW mistakes a sci-fi movie production on St. Canard's streets for a real alien invasion, and "Duck Blind," in which the temporarily sightless hero refuses to let a loss of vision stand in the way of his derring-do.--Tom Keogh