AT214 Paperinik e il dramma ciclico page 35 - Duck Avenger, Beagle Boys

I don't know how many times I re-read this story as a kid... it wasn't the first printing (Almanacco di Topolino 214, 1974) but its first reprint (Super Almanacco di Paperino 26, 1982) that I still own.

The story is about Uncle Scrooge being kidnapped by Rockerduck and his henchmen (the Beagle Boys) so he can't participate in an auction. Needless to say, Duck Avenger will discover the evil plot and intervene.

This page sees Duck Avenger stopping RK's henchmen's attempt to flee. Note: the story was originally drawn on 4 strips but, with some cut and paste and retouching (you can see it on the scan), it was reassembled on 3. That was not unusual, at that time.

The very first version of Duck Avenger, written by Guido Martina was about a masked avenger, devoid of superheroic ambitions, a sort of vigilante, who even acts as a thief, in contrast with Donald Duck because the latter usually never got what he wanted.
Duck Avenger allowed Donald Duck to show off his hidden abilities, without however distorting himself and maintaining at least in part the buffoonery and simplicity of the duck dressed as a sailor; the Avenger's barely justifiable actions were however the logical reaction to the deceitful ways of Scrooge, Gladstone, and in the later stories Rockerduck and the Beagle Boys.

In an interview, Martina reported that:
«The Giussani sisters had had great success with Diabolik and Gentilini asked me to develop a "Superman" version of Mickey Mouse, maybe a "Topolinik". I said no to Mickey Mouse because he is a boring character, I would even say unpleasant, predictable. So I suggested doing "Duck Avenger", the secret identity of the unfortunate Donald Duck, certainly more likable and human than Mickey Mouse. The idea was well received: Duck Avenger is the revenge of Donald Duck, the avenger of the injustices he suffered. He is a decidedly likable character and one that readers like a lot.»

The idea that Donald Duck could have a sort of redemption from daily suffering represented the common mirage of the modern man rising from his own petty and ordinary condition.

Later, Duck Avenger's character took a different direction, definitely more towards superheroes, but the full 70s saw the vigilante duck get his well-deserved redemption in so many stories. I still love those stories: yes, they mostly work because of how Martina used these characters, on the extremes (so much differently from Barks and today's stuff), but I consider them as a sort of alternative reality, and they were incredibly fun.

Thanks to Little Nemo!


Paper size: 25 x 35 cm