COMICS
REVIEWS
All
in Your P.O.V.
Contractual
Desperation!
F'reeze
a Jolly Good Fellow!
Louie's Ristorante
Shine a Little
Light
Voodoo Baloo
The Volcano of
Gold
The Why of the Beholder
All in Your P.O.V.
(short)
(1 out of 5 Krakatoa Specials)
Feb 95, Vol. 5, #4
Cover: X-Men (cartoon)
Summary
Gidget: While
Wildcat tampers... er, tinkers with the engine, Baloo is fishing off the H4H dock. Suddenly, he gets a bite!
("Nibble! Nibble!")
(as Baloo) Not now, Becky! I'm tryin' ta catch a big
one!"
Rebecca: (seductively) So am
Cody: Well, that would have made this comic more
interesting.
Anyway, Baloo reels it in --- a good-sized
blue fish. Baloo is just about detach the hook when an evil-looking alley
cat dashes by, snatching the fish in its
mouth. Still attached to the hook and reel, the poor fish is dragged along
the pier, and still holding onto the rod, Baloo.
Gidget: I wouldn’t get too
attached to that fish…
Cody: Bah-dum-ching.
"Hey--!!" The pilot shouts as he's dragged up and down the docks.
"Whoa--!!"
Kit passes by and sees the commotion. He goes up to the mechanic and asks,
"Wildcat, what's Baloo doing?"
"He's, uhh... cat fishing?"
Gidget: Ba-dum-ching!
Cody: Being stupid is more like it. (pauses) But that's normal,
ain't it?
Gidget: I hate to say it, but… yeah.
Comments
Gidget: Obviously,
this is meant to be cute. I call it lazy. I really
don't like these two-page comics. There's no room to build an interesting
story, and the joke --- if you can call it that --- it’s lame-o. The artwork
is very good, however, so it gets one Krackatoa Special from the Angry Prom
Queen.
Cody: I agree. It's stupid. Really stupid. The artwork
was all right --- the colors were a little off and the buildings had the usual
cartoon slant to them that isn't visible in the show.
Gidget: Like the doomed fishie, this one was dead in the water.
May 2003
Contractual
Desperation!
TaleSpin #4
Written by Bobbi JG Weiss
Pencilled by Oscar F. Saavedra
by Guest Reviewer
Cynthia Gardener
5 out of 5 Krakatoa Specials
Cyndi:
Rebecca comes home to find Baloo off to get lunch but hasn't returned
yet. (what else is new?) Kit
goes outside and waits for Baloo who has found a new client for Rebecca.
He thinks that by doing this, he will get a promotion into management, but the
contract -- from a T. Bone Picker (where did
they come up with that name?) -- has a catch that if Baloo doesn't return with
the cargo by 10 am, H4H is his.
Gidget:
At least it wasn't 'Nose' Picker...
Baloo
leaves to pick up the cargo, taking Wildcat -- who's been working on some
invention --- with them. (if you read the comic through, you see Picker's
henchmen, (both dogs) stashing a crate into the hold of the Sea Duck. The
first part of the delivery goes smoothly, but then things start messing up on
the return flight. Wildcat fixes everything, including his invention, a
portable engine comes in handy when he has to put a pontoon back on the plane.
Time
marches on toward 10 am and Baloo stops at Louie's for a good cry.
Gidget: Heh-heh... that's a great scene. I like Louie's
comforting words:
Louie: There, there, Big Daddy!
Cyndi: It's then that Wildcat runs into the club carrying a
monkey caught in a board. Louie reveals that it is a 'pieces' monkey
"as in it takes things to pieces" -- quote from Louie. The cargo
is nothing but old suits and coats and Picker is revealed to be the culprit.
Baloo and
Louie catch the rest of the monkeys and devise a plan to get Picker away from
H4H. Baloo comes back and tells Rebecca he had to round up a bunch of
people, because if Picker runs the business he gets to handle all the debts.
The cloaked people walk up shouting "bills, bills!" and Picker and his
cronies run to their plane. Rebecca demands to know what was going and
Baloo reveals the 'bill people' to be Wildcat, Louie, and Kit along with two
others in disguise. In the end frame we see the pieces monkeys tearing
Picker's plane apart.
Commentary
Cyndi:
I give this comic 5 Krackatoas because I thought it was pretty good.
Although the storyline sounded like something I had heard somewhere before.
The comic was well written and well drawn. I did have a few quirks about
it though. Why did Rebecca leave Baloo in charge of H4H while she was
going to the bank? She knew he was going to screw everything up and yet,
here we see that she left him in charge. At least Kit had sense enough to
take the phone messages or Rebecca wouldn't have known who had called. I
can only imagine what she would have done if Baloo had taken a few messages for
her. Yikes!!
The fact that she nearly wanted to fire him for getting a contract without her
permission was classic enough, especially in one scene where you can almost see
steam shooting out of her ears. (This was where Picker tried to calm her
down. Baloo looks really embarrassed here.)
Gidget: I know! I just love her reaction when she finds out
just how badly he screwed up:
Rebecca (draws him aside to whisper as Picker waits nearby):
Despite the fact that I should have known better, I left you in charge of Higher
for Hire while I was gone, Baloo. Legally, your signature had the
power of my signature during that time... (pause, then strangles
him, Homer style) But you weren't supposed to sign anything!!
Cyndi: It was also good to see Baloo show some remorse when he
thought he had actually lost H4H. Overall, like I said, pretty good and
well-written. I thought it was pretty funny when they said the name of the
critter was a "pieces monkey." It also made me wonder what would
have happened if Baloo had succeeded in getting a contract with no strings
attached to it. Would Rebecca have to move him into management? One
may never know.
January 2005
A
Tale Spin Comics Review by Guest Reviewer jb
4
out of 5 Krakatoa Specials
Tale
Spin
#6, November 1991, W.D. Publications, Inc.
Writer:
Bobbi J.G. Weiss
Pencillers:
Oscar F. Saavedra and Hector Saavedra
Inkers:
Ruben Torreiro and Robert Bat
Letterer:
Bill Spicer
Colourer:
Jo Meugniot
Cover
Art
Penciller:
Jim Mitchell
Inker:
Gary Martin
Colourer:
Gail Bailey
Summary
The Higher for Hire crew is taking a rare Saturday off with Baloo
planning to snooze the day away (as usual) while doing babysitting duty with
Molly listening to Danger Woman on the radio in her makeshift costume;
Kit going on a hike with some of his schoolmates and Rebecca taking a day cruise
around the surrounding
Rebecca is festively dressed up
in a button-downed blouse, flamenco-styled skirt, heels and bolero hat with
bangles along the rim and her hair is put up in a bun, which she proudly models
for the others. While Kit and Molly shower her with compliments, Baloo can only
muster up a snide comment much to his employer’s chagrin with: “So…where
are yer castanets?”
Baloo bemoans the fact that her outing is nothing more than to find her
“Mister Right” on some fancy day cruiser and suggests she looks for a real
man at Louie’s instead. The businesswoman then questions her pilot’s
behaviour as a thinly-disguised bout of jealousy, which he staunchly denies,
disappointing her somewhat.
jb: Well, duh! Wasn’t this
scene kind of obvious between these two?
As she puts on a fringed shawl, grabs
her purse and prepares to head off the cruise ship plus drop off Kit en
route, Rebecca warns Baloo to take good care of Molly, to which the pilot
nonchalantly replies that her offspring will be too preoccupied with the all-day
Danger Woman radio marathon now playing. After they leave, Baloo prepares
to catch up on his forty winks just as Molly hears the radio sponsor’s ad for
her favourite dessert, Frosty Pep Ice Cream. She then jumps on Baloo’s
stomach and begs him to buy some later on, making him realize this isn’t going
to be as easy as it looks…
Gidget:
Welcome to the
Cody:
Yeah, I always need to pop a few Valiums before I go there.
jb:
Some people just aren’t meant to deal with children…;3
Meanwhile, Air Pirate leader Don Karnage prepares to celebrate his
twenty-ninth birthday – for the umpteenth consecutive year – by listening to
his favourite radio programme: Danger Woman, until Mad Dog enters his
quarters to tell him they’ve got everything on his wish list for his
“surprise” birthday party for tonight except the cake and ice cream. Just
when his lackey questions where to get some after some unsuccessful raids, when
Karnage overhears the radio announcer mention the weekly cargo supply to
Back at Higher for Hire, Molly’s
quietly listening to the latest episode of the marathon and Baloo is still sound
asleep when the announcer interrupts with the news that the Frosty Pep
cargo plane has been hijacked by unknown perpetrators, horrifying the cub. She
quickly wakens the pilot to tell him the news in the hopes they can track down
the plane and recover the ice cream. Baloo tries to resist the little girl’s
pleas, but eventually caves in.
The Air Pirates have successfully
taken control of the Frosty Pep plane and is readying to toss out the two
pilots overboard when Gibber mutters in his leader’s ear to get a musical band
for tonight’s entertainment, to which he places Mad Dog in charge of finding
one. Pondering where he’s going to get the cake, Gibber whispers another
suggestion that leads to another idea before the two of them shove the cargo
pilots overboard with one parachute to share and take off in other direction in
search of a bakery to make his cake.
Baloo and Molly scour the skies in the Sea Duck for the missing Frosty
Pep plane without much luck. The pilot comes up with an idea to head for Louie’s
Place for some ice cream, promising the despondent little girl a big
Krakatoa Sundae Special that Molly suddenly becomes enthusiastic over.
Closer to the
At that moment, Mad Dog’s squadron
happens to be in the same area as the Festivia and finds their acquired
target. Just as the band is about to honour Rebecca and Taddy’s request, the
Air Pirates make their move by throwing grappling hooks and ropes and hauling
off the bandstand, musicians and Rebecca by mistake, who was standing on the
stage at the time. Slipping and losing her balance, she falls off the stage but
is rescued by the quartet just in the nick of time and now ponders their fates
as they head off to
Louie greets the two newly-arrived bears at his nightclub and tells them
of a catering job at the floating gambling casino at Pair-O’-Dice Island (jb:
Not that original a name, but I love it!J),
complete with a fireworks display that he’s providing. The simian then asks
for a Krakatoa Special. In a frantic whisper, Louie tells the pilot that his own
ice cream shipment didn’t come in either due to the skyjacked Frosty Pep cargo
plane, but placates the child with a Pie-To-The-Sky Fruit Delight with whipped
cream and a cherry on top.
jb:
Whipped cream?? Doesn’t he care about this kid’s fat intake? Look at Baloo!;3
Gidget:
Maybe
he’s fattening her up for Thanksgiving.
Cody:
She’d give everybody diabetes.
jb:
More
good reasons to go vegetarian.
Don Karnage and his minions then barge
in, making everyone prepared to defend themselves. The lupine leader announces
his peaceful intentions and orders a large ice cream cake for his birthday which
he supplies three generous crates of ice cream that he plundered from the Frosty
Pep plane. Baloo gets incensed and begins to confront him, but is stopped
when Karnage offers payment, telling the doubting orang-utan rather
threateningly to have cake and twenty sundaes ready by five o’clock today or
else. Louie then comes up with a plan to give Karnage a well-deserved
birthday “‘spankin’’ he’ll never forget” with the two bears’ help.
That evening, the captive Rebecca and the Festivia
quartet forced to perform for the Air Pirates in the mess hall party at
The pirate leader praises Mad Dog for
bringing the band and dancing girl for his party and in a smitten mood he orders
his vassal to bring Rebecca to him. In the kitchen, the hippopotamus chef places
the last of the birthday candles on top of the tall ice cream cake, unaware by
anyone that Baloo and Molly are hidden inside the hollowed centre. Shivering
with cold, the pilot feels a sneeze coming on to which the young cub tries to
stop in order for Louie’s plan to work.
In the mess hall, Rebecca tries to
resist Karnage’s advances as the cake is readying to be rolled out.
Blindfolded, he drags the petulant she-bear by the wrist to the centre of the
room and the pirates sing in honour of their fearless leader. But Baloo
violently sneezes enough to blow off the cake’s top just as the blindfold is
whipped off of Karnage’s eyes. Stunned silence fills the room as the two bears
are exposed to the world in general, bring out a roll-call montage of Baloo,
Molly, Rebecca and Karnage, all of them unexpectedly surprised by the turn of
events.
Enraged by these uninvited guests, the
lupine commander orders them to be captured. The pilot trashes what’s left of
the cake as a stalling point against the pirates, grabs Rebecca and Molly and
zooms out of the mess hall with the kidnapped musicians soon following them.
Running through
Charging into the treasury, Mad Dog
orders Baloo to drop the coin bags. As he refuses to, the young she-cub gives
the command to spill pearls at the oncoming pirates. While they’re slipping
and falling, the fugitives then charge at them, dropping a large tapestry rug on
top and make a mad dash for the docking bay.
Confronted by more pirates along the
way, Molly accidentally discovers a large trolley cart in a side tunnel that
they all clamber aboard and smash their way through Karnage’s search party and
into a large guard at the end of the ride that brings them back to the mess
hall, where Baloo executes the final stage of Louie’s plan.
The Air Pirates search the tunnels for the runaways when they hear
Baloo’s voice coming from the mess hall. Barging in, they find a deserted
place and lit candles on the sundaes making a strange hissing sound. Before they
know it, the firecrackers explode and splatter the room and the brigands with
ice cream.
Shaking with cold and fright, Karnage
looks at the scene and finds the motive highly unusual for Baloo to commit until
Mad Dog warns of a lit firecracker atop a large wrapped birthday present from
Louie himself. As he boldly attempts to put it out, the leader learns to his
shock it’s just a hollow stick attached to a longer fuse that goes directly
into the box and starts to rumble quite loudly…
Baloo and
Afterwards, a fireworks display erupts
from
Quibbles
& Quips
-
On the cover, Baloo’s fur is about a grey shade lighter and the frills on
Molly’s underpants are lessened in comparison to the comic.
Gidget:
I hate cartoon girls with frilly panties showing. There’s something
distasteful about it, IMO. And it looks like their clothes don’t fit.
Cody:
I hate frills, period.
jb:
I sympathize with you, two, really. But back in the 1930s, girls’ briefs were
purposely oversized to prevent wear, which probably explains why the original
Minnie Mouse’s skivvies looked the way they did (even with the modern version
now, which is still silly). On the whole, it is rather odd and sexist to be
doing them in this post-feminist era, not to mention saccharine-inducing to the
eye >_<. But IMHO, whether a woman wants to wear lacy underwear or not,
that’s their prerogative.
-
The opening panel has Higher for Hire’s rooftop flag is coloured yellow
instead of its customary red, the Sea Duck isn’t parked on the front
landing and Wildcat’s floating shack is missing (page 1).
-
There’s a constant fluctuation on the objects around Rebecca’s bolero hat,
one panel show they’re tassels, the next bangles throughout the comic.
-
Rebecca’s hair bun is missing on the bottom left panel of page 2, plus her
shawl looks too stiff when she removes it from her desk chair.
-
Baloo’s head looks shrunken and chinless in upper right panel of page 2.
- Second tier of staircase missing in centre-left panel; reappears on bottom-left panel (page 3).
-
Karnage’s head looks a little compacted as he admires himself in the mirror on
centre-left panel on page 4; his private quarters (Gidget: LOL!) looks rather toned down when it’s been shown as
being lavishly decorated and wooden floorboards appear only once (lower left
panel, page 4).
-
If the Air Pirates captured the Frosty Pep cargo plane (page 7), whey
isn’t there the usual grappling hooks and lines on it like they did in
“P&L Part 1” and later when they kidnap Rebecca and the musicians?
- Dumptruck’s muzzle is missing some colour on the lower jaw in centre-right panel, (page 7).
-
The Frosty Pep logos on boxes missing white circles except for one (first
lower right panel, page 7) and the logo is not the same as the original seen in
“It Came From Beneath the Sea Duck.”
-
Molly seems to have earned some height in the centre-left panel, then drops down
to regular level in the next panel (page 9).
-
Lower panel has the quartet’s bassist hair is blond and trumpeter bandleader
is brown, then is reversed for the rest of the comic and the guitarist’s
guitar is grey, then white afterwards (page 9).
-
The Festivia’s stairwell is beige (where Taddy kisses Rebecca’s hand)
in the background while it’s white throughout (page 10).
-
The quartet’s jacket colour is turquoise in upper left panel and then is green
in the remainder of the comic (page 10).
-
On the lower right panel of page 10, bassist looks like he had elongated
eyelashes like a female character on one eyelid and the percussionist’s
pointed hand is missing it colour (page 10).
-
There’s a microphone stand that suddenly appears on the upper left panel all
of the sudden, as the Air Pirates hoist the bandstand above the ocean as the
bandleader throws the cord out to Rebecca – it wasn’t there before the chaos
happened (page 11).
- Taddy’s pencil-thin moustache kind of disappears in the upper-right panel (page 11).
-
‘Toon physics defy real life: how can the Air Pirates lift the bandstand
upwards and onwards away from the Festivia and keep it balanced all the
way back to Pirate Island? Same illogic on their raid on Shere Khan’s plane in
“P&L Part 1” (page 11).
-
Colour missing on percussionist’s muzzle; guitarist’s ear looks like a grey
hairpiece (consistent thorough comic) and not an ear; plus a poorly-drawn bass
turner on when they’re pulling up Rebecca back onto the stage (page 11).
-
Louie’s holding a rather large rocket (looks like a big dynamite stick!);
he’s more brown-coloured than usual reddish-brown and his lei is pink
(lower panel, page 11).
-
Baloo’s palm colour missing on upper central and lower right hand panels (page
12).
-
Why do half the customers at Louie’s Place look like gangsters? (I know
it’s a rough place, but it’s not Gangster Central, either, for crying
out loud!)
Gidget:
Well, it is rather disreputable, compared to
jb:
You never know what Louie’s putting
in those drinks, anyway. :)
-
Rather odd-looking snarl on Karnage’s face as he shuts up Dumptruck (page 13).
-
Karnage’s eyeball colour missing (upper left panel, page 14).
- Molly’s spatula appears for the first time in Louie’s Place (lower left panel) and a fourth Frosty Pep ice cream crate appears on the trolley as the pirates unload it – there’s only three in the beginning (page 14).
-
Rebecca’s bun matches the colour of her fur in upper right hand panel (and
again in centre-right panel) and Karnage looks more bored at her than
lustful in upper panel (page 15).
- Rebecca’s front hair bang appears under her hat, then disappears afterwards; Mad Dog’s party hat missing, then reappears again (upper right panel, page 16).
-
Trumpeter bandleader looks a little drowsy (is that supposed to be a worried
look?) when Rebecca’s being dragged along with Karnage; plus her feet and
shoes look tiny (page 16). Rebecca: If you’d been wearing those heels
all damn day, buster, your feet would shrink too!;)
-
Why does Rebecca’s hat have a jaunty tilt then placed perfectly on top again
(middle-centre panel, page 18)?
-
Molly’s toe colour is missing and Rebecca’s skirt is missing colour on the
first and second tier – looks like she’s wearing an extra large blouse
(lower right panel, page 18).
Rebecca:
I had to borrow one of Baloo’s blouses. They make great nightshirts!
Baloo:
Hope ya dry cleaned it afterwards, Becky. An’ no starch on the collar
like last time!;3
-
For an upset mother, Rebecca doesn’t show her anger much when she’s lashing
out at Baloo when they’re running from the pirates (page 19).
-
Why does the guitarist look overjoyed when Baloo’s shoving coins into the
first bag (lower left panel, page 19)for? Weird…O_o (Gidget:
He’s getting free money, isn’t he?)
-
For an evening sky, it looks like it’s daytime and a pretty under-coloured
fireworks display from
Neat
Little Details
-
No debate – with the exception of those clunky-looking heels – Rebecca’s
Latin-inspired outfit looks great on her.
-
Rebecca does a really neat pirouette down the H4H stairwell (upper left, page
2).
-
Love the way Karnage leans to hear Gibber’s suggestion in the upper-right and
the co-pilot’s shocked look on his face and hand clasped over his mouth with
his eyes on the pilot when he calls him “crazy” for doing this for his
birthday party (centre panel, page 8).
- Cute father-daughter moment in the Sea Duck (centre panel, panel 9).
-
Trumpeter bandleader tossing cord to Rebecca as she tumbles off the stand is a
good action scene (third panel, page 11).
-
The encased, blue-tinged cutaways of Baloo and Molly hiding inside the cake
scenes.
- One of the pirates grabbing onto a flag streamer above his head to avoid the cake that Baloo dumps on them and a sharp-looking silhouette of Rebecca looking on (lower left panel, page 18).
-
Excellent move of Baloo grabbing Molly under his arm and Rebecca by the wrist as
they flee the mess hall (lower right panel, page 18) and when they leave again
linked in a hand chain (upper left panel, page 23).
Gidget
(Baloo): Me Baloo, you Jane!
Rebecca:
Oh, goody! I can break out that leopard print outfit I wore in “A Star Is
Torn”!
Baloo:
Hot diggity!!! Let’s go play
“Rumble in the Jungle,” Becky!
jb:
I’ve heard of swinging couples, but this is ridiculous! ;D
Funny
Stuff/Dialogue
-
Rebecca approaching Baloo to get his say on her ensemble:
Rebecca: Well, Baloo? I
didn’t hear you offering a comment!
Baloo: So – where
are your castanets?
Rebecca:
Hmph!
jb: Gee, and she complains about Baloo having a large ego?
-
Rebecca’s reaction to Baloo’s almost indignant denial:
Baloo:
“Jealous? Now why would I be jealous?
”
Rebecca:
(disappointed) “Oh, no reason! Never mind!”
-
Molly: (after jumping on
Baloo’s stomach) Baloo, you’ll buy some Frosty Pep Ice Cream today, won’t
you, huh? Please oh please oh pleeeease??
Baloo:
(groans) R&R…I think it’s gonna stand for run ragged!
-
Karnage: (singing) Happy
birthday to me! I’m as young as can be! If I never hit thirteeee – it
will never hit me!
-
Karnage getting in Mad Dog’s face when he’s about to report on his wish
list, believing it will be bad news.
-
Mad Dog looking a little miffed and crumples up the wish list when Karnage
patronizes him as he plots to skyjack the Frosty Pep cargo plane.
-
When Molly pleads with Baloo to search for the Frosty Pep plane, why do
her eyes look seductive at first, then by the next panel she kind of
looks…stoned? O_o
Gidget:
I noticed that too!
Esp. the ‘seductive’ part.
Baloo: Man, this kid is good.
She’s real good!
jb: Takes after her mother now, doesn’t she? (see “P&L, Part 4” and “My Fair Baloo” eye-fluttering scenes) :)
Molly:
(stoner voice) What do you think gives the “pep” in Frosty Pep, dude?
;3
jb:
Maybe it should be called Frosty PCP. ;3
-
Baloo’s contorted expression of surrender to Molly’s plea equals to looking
intoxicated.
Baloo:
Hey, I like Frosty PCP – er, Pep too, man!;3
-
Karnage is also a rabid Danger Woman fan too – who knew? And doesn’t
it seem kind of ironic for a villain to listen to a crime-fighter radio
adventure series? O_o
-
Karnage: (before he boots out
the Frosty Pep pilots off the plane) “I am not crazy – I am
just one heck of a fun-faluting guy, hee-hee!”
-
Taddy is a weird-looking canine. What did Rebecca see in that guy –
other than the contents in his wallet? ;)
-
Taddy gets a second thought in helping Rebecca after she’s abducted.
Taddy: Wait, what am I saying??
I’d ruin my suit!”
jb:
LOL! Some knight in shining armour… a “real” man would have gone to her
rescue.
Baloo:
Tol’ ‘er she shoulda gone to Louie’s, but does she listen to me? Noooo…
-
Karnage: (grabbing Dumptruck
after revealing his “age” at Louie’s) Remind me to shoot you
when we get home!
Dumptruck:
Err— sorry, Captain!
-
Karnage: So what is your name,
my prancing pigeon?
Rebecca:
None of your business!
Mad Dog:
Gee, that’s a funny name!
jb: Old
and corny, but classic a la Marx Brothers line.
-
Karnage: Where do you think you
are going, lovely one? You must stay with me for the grand finality!
jb (as
Rebecca):
I’ll give you a “grand finality” you’ll never forget, buddy – right
in the pantaloons!
Karnage:
(getting horny) Ooooh…the girl of my dreamboat!
Rebecca:
(sighs) Men!
-
Baloo’s explosive sneeze and the pirate’s party hats popping up in surprise.
-
Karnage has this simpering look on his face on centre right panel (page 17) –
or is he just intoxicated? O_o
Karnage: I am not the only one
who is liking Frosty PCP – um, Frosty Pep!;3
-
Molly’s cheeks look plumped up, almost cherubic in a comical style (third
upper panel, page 18).
Gidget:
Looks fat to me.
Cody:
She’s been hanging around with Baloo too much.
jb:
Time to lay off the Frosty Pep, I guess. Besides, don’t all
women have an extra layer of fat everywhere? (ducks space shuttles)
Gidget,
Cody, Rebecca, Molly:
Watch it, buster!!!
-
The roll-call montage at the fake cake revelation (reads like a Three
Stooges/Marx Brothers tribute):
Karnage: BALOO???
Rebecca:
Baloo!?!
Molly: Mommy!!
Baloo:
Becky?!?
Karnage: Becky??
Rebecca: Molly?!
Karnage: GET THEM!
- Molly’s plan of attack on the Air Pirates in the treasury cavern – humorously choreographed. :)
-
Baloo and Karnage colliding into each other (centre-left panel, page 21)
Baloo: Okay, maybe I need a
map!
Karnage: You
will need more than a map when I am through with you, you
uninvited party crasher!
jb: (singing old Kenny Rogers song) Every time two fools collide…;)
-
The trolley cart ride looks something like a tribute to the Indiana Jones and
the Temple of Doom tunnel escape scene. :)
Gidget:
For sure.
jb:
Call George Lucas’ lawyers (lawsuit!).
Baloo: (leaving the mess hall
again) Now, we make our getaway!
Rebecca:
But this is the wrong door!
Molly:
No, this is the right door, Mommy! He took the wrong door last time
jb: My favourite line here! :)
-
Karnage’s expression on his face in the mess room during the sundaes/present
melange:
Karnage: And who lit all the
little birthday fuses? (pauses, then realizes…) FUSES?!
Karnage: (In the aftermath of the sundae explosions) That was it? A few little boom-booms in the ice cream? That Baloo, he is one very estrange fellow!
-
The pirates’ looks on their faces when Louie’s “present” activates –
totally priceless.
Commentary
This story was a rarity in the TS comics collection, managing to do a
B&B- and Molly-centric tale rolled into one. It balances both the oft-kilter
relationship between the two adult bruins and the father/daughter bond Baloo has
with Molly in practically the same vein of the episode “Flight of the Snow
Duck.”
Among the many things in F’reeze that
it puts out Baloo’s feelings placed with Rebecca. In the opening scene at H4H,
he rants off about her wanting to meet decent men suggesting his own
place-of-call, Louie’s Place, instead of those of more sophisticated
tastes to her style. Seldom in the TV series did Baloo ever express jealousy –
with the possible exception of Captain Stansbury wooing Rebecca (“Her Chance
to Dream”); his somewhat emotionless “sympathy” to her when Covington’s
true nature is revealed (“Mollycoddled”) and open despair with the
possibility of her taking another date to the Pilot’s Ball (“Gruel and
Unusual Punishment”) – compared to his employer’s openly reactionary
behaviour in “A Star Is Torn.” F’reeze was the perfect outlet to
showcase this side of the pilot be seen and becoming verbally apparent in the
escape when he accuses her of holding hands with Karnage at the cake ceremony.
We see he is upset by this – and amused, is Rebecca only to be disappointed in
his denial at the office.
Gidget:
Baloo the romantic…
Rebecca:
(mutters) …Or unromantic.
Baloo:
Hey, I’ma pilot, not a poet.
While not an openly popular TS
character, Molly stands out in playing the heroine role that was constricted in
the TV series, seen as less precocious and more Nancy Drew-esque in wanting to
solve the disappearance of the Frosty Pep plane and give the bad guys their due.
As in “Mollycoddled,” her resourcefulness proves to be an asset to the
storyline and situation instead of being a liability (okay, even if she was a
bit more interested of getting her favourite brand of ice cream ;3).
Gidget:
Sort of like Baloo wanting to earn his diploma in order to be invited to his
reunion party.
jb:
Yeah, but in the end he really did learn something more than just to party, so
there’s some credibility there.
As rip-roaring an adventure it is, F’reeze
falls a bit short of being one of the best TS comics. There’s no further
explanation of the B&B relationship after their escape from the Air Pirates
and into Baloo’s jealousy (what a missed opportunity!); Rebecca’s continued
shallowness with her gains for materialism and prestige (hooking up with a guy
named…“Taddy”? What’s up with that?? ;P); the aforementioned
artwork flaws (see Quibbles and Quips) and a somewhat mediocre colour
scheme except for the cover art, but that can be blamed on the Disney
Company’s part in the early 1990s by dismantling the Gladstone publishing
division and running it themselves cheaply.
Gidget:
I agree… it was a missed opportunity to explore the possibility of
change in the B&B relationship.
Only a passing mention of his jealousy and then it gets snowed under the
theft of ice cream!
It really could have had more dimension, even for a comic book.
Cody:
I’m the odd one out.
I really don’t care for this comic.
It’s too silly and I don’t care about B&B or Molly.
The only good part about this particular one was Karnage singing “If I
never hit 30, it’ll never hit me.”
jb:
(sighs) There’s one in every crowd…;)
Failing a point from greatness, F’reeze A Jolly Good Fellow! gets 4 Krakatoa Specials out of 5, yet it remains a highly enjoyable read for all TS fans, both of TV and comics alike.
April
2006
Louie's Ristorante
(short)
A
Disney Adventures TaleSpin Comics Review by
Guest Reviewer jb
3 ½ of 5
Krakatoa Specials
Disney
Adventures Magazine
#1,
November 1990 (cover: Rick Moranis & Baloo); also reprinted in Colossal
Comics #2 (both W.D. Publications)
Writer:
Bobbi J.G. Weiss
Penciller: Cosme Quartieri
Inker:
Robert Bat & Ruben Torreiro
Summary
It’s
just another night at the popular pilot’s refueling stop/water hole, Louie’s
Place, with an old-fashioned bar brawl has broken out, caused by Baloo over
some khaki outfit-clad boar’s atrocious table manners.
Baloo and Kit make taillights back to
Busted
by the awaiting Rebecca at Higher for Hire, she berates him on his constant
visits to the nightclub and then grills him on what makes him go there all the
time. Fumbling between half-truths that he can’t explain it to her; she
demands that she be taken there tomorrow night for dinner.
Realizing
that if she discovers that it’s really a rough-and-tumble nightclub instead of
a restaurant as she believes it to be, he’s sunk so he warns Louie ahead of
time to “expect” a special guest with him tomorrow.
The
next evening, Baloo and Rebecca look very much like a couple on a night out with
the pilot in a bomber jacket, dress shirt and tie (!) and the businesswoman
decked out in a strapless gown, a mink stole, matching heels and purse.
Gidget:
A big improvement over that horrible pink mess she wore in ‘My Fair Baloo’
and ‘Gruel and Unusual Punishment’.
jb:
Agreed. But if you’d notice, the dress in “Gruel” is the same one used in
“Her Chance to Dream.” Damn, those designers at Disney are so lazy! :-)
Rebecca:
Err…budget cuts?
Edna
Mode (from The Incredibles): Next
time, dah-ling, call me.
Obviously
nervous about what she might find, Baloo suggests that she tone down the flashy
jewelery “because Louie’s may be a little…”
Gidget:
Lice-infested? ;)
Louie:
Hey, I do all the delousing around here myself!
Baloo: Yeah…see the hair salon in the
back? :-)
Cody (as Louie):
I don’t have a business license for that yet, so keep it quiet.
But
before he can finish his sentence, the ursines enter the establishment to
discover…an upscale Italian (to the best of its ability) restaurant.
Everyone’s in their best threads and behavior – even Louie’s wearing a
suit – and the house band’s playing soft music associated with eating
places.
After
being seated, Rebecca’s impressed and apologies to her pilot, but little do
they realize that two suspicious characters, one suave wolf in a three-piece
suit and his heavy-set bear partner in a trench coat, have entered the place
with their eye on Rebecca.
As
a relieved Baloo heads to the bar for a couple of drinks for them, the wolf
makes his move on the she-bear, working his charms on her and easily persuades
her to take a moonlight stroll with him outside.
jb:
How do you like that? Some date she is. A few frilly words and she’s ready to
count ceiling tiles! :-)
Gidget:
LOL!!
Cody (as Becky): I was not!
(muttering) He would have had to show me some green before I’d be ready
to do that!
Gidget:
Becky’s a Supertramp!
Kitten
Kaboodle: Hey, I’m
the original Supertramp around here!
jb,
Gidget, Cody, Becky: No
arguments there! ;3
As
they head out the door, the wolf’s partner rises to follow, only to be
aggressively confronted by other concerned patrons.
When
the pilot returns with their drinks, he discovers to his surprise that the booth
is empty. Louie then informs him that his employer stepped outside with “some
shady-looking Don Juan [that had just] come in…and swept her right outta
here.” With that, Baloo makes a quick dash for the exit and things begin to
get ugly with the other patrons and the bear partner inside…
Meanwhile,
the wolf pitches his woo over Rebecca on the pier to which she falls hook, line
and sinker, only to have her necklace violently lifted off her, much to her
shock and horror.
Ridiculed
over her foolishness and helpless position, her shock quickly turns to fury.
Baloo runs to her rescue, she then gives the mugger a good wallop with a nearby
bucket (jb: Oh, how convenient), which surprises the pilot.
The
enraged mugger then flicks a switchblade and threatens to cut up the she-bear.
As she screams in fear, the large bear charges at the would-be assailant in a
football-style slam into the mugger like a freight train, sending the lupine and
knife into the water.
Rebecca
rushes toward Baloo in relief over saving her, then confesses that she
“maneuvered” (jb: why not just
use the word “tricked” or “lied”?) him to taking her to Louie’s
out of loneliness without realizing its unruly environment and didn’t want to
look like it was a date “date” thing with him.
Gidget: Poor little lonely businesswoman… *sob* ;)
jb:
Well, maybe if she wasn't such a hard case all the time and loosened her
chastity belt once in a while... ;3
Gidget (as Molly): Hi!
Quibbles and Quips
-
In the opening bar fight scene,
there’s a group of private dancers in the background seemingly dancing to a
slow beat (one couple in particular look pretty intimate) while the fight goes
on. Now it’s always been known that once a bar fight goes on, it spreads like
wildfire – as it does in the last panel – but not here. Why doesn’t this
occur?
-
Louie’s Hawaiian shirt is red, as
opposed to the usual green colour, not to mention an ugly
colour on his lei.
Gidget:
I hope you mean his flower necklace… ;)
jb:
Yes, you perv. Boy, do you need to
get out more often!
:-)
Gidget:
That’s what I keep telling the people in the white coats, but they
won’t loosen these darned restraints! ;)
jb:
Which ones…the straightjacket or chastity belt?;3
-
Why did Baloo pick on the boar’s
table manners for? His table etiquette isn’t exactly out of Emily Post either.
-
Kit’s silhouettes at
Gidget:
Um… Baloo doesn’t let him eat?
Cody:
(as Baloo) Hey, food’s expensive
and I’m a growin’ boy! The kid
can
Kit:
That’s it. I’m calling Child Services.
- At Higher for Hire, there’s a mélange of pipes, boxes and junk lying about. For someone as meticulously tidy as Rebecca is, she sure let the place go.
-
Throughout the story, Baloo never
uses the nicknames “Becky,” “Beckers” or “Boss Lady” (but does call
her boss at the end).
Gidget:
I never noticed that!)
-
Some H4H scene drawings make Baloo
look like he’s intoxicated.
Gidget:
LOL! I gotta check this out!
I suppose he had googly eyes and a lolling tongue?
jb:
Only when Rebecca wears sexy dresses.
;-)
Cody:
You mean she actually owns something sexy? ;)
-
Rebecca’s got her own place, yet she
spends the night at the office, as we see her in that hideous purple bathrobe
and white fluffy slippers. Were Baloo and Kit that
late? She could have easily gone home.
Gidget:
I know. My complaint exactly
in War of the Weirds!
Cody:
Let’s face it. The woman
has no life. Waiting around for
Baloo is probably the highlight of her day.
-
Why does Baloo hope he has a tie? He hates
ties like the plague! (plus it’s pretty ugly too)
-
Lack of planes at Louie’s island –
even the Sea Duck is missing!
Gidget:
Wow. Didn’t see that
either.
-
Rebecca’s hair is longer than it
should be in “the next evening” panel before going back to its regular
length; her earrings, ring and bracelets are missing in a few panels; the ring
band is brown-coloured in “the next evening” panel and the pattern on the
bracelets disappears every few panels.
-
In the first “ristorante” panel,
Rebecca’s gown goes from strapless to some colouring near her shoulders that
makes it look like she has a plunging neckline gown with straps, and then
returns back to regular strapless number.
-
What’s with the cheesy Italian décor
in a Polynesian-themed nightclub? Besides it would be a very usual location to
place one in the middle of near-nowhere to be profitable (not that I’m against
the proliferation of Italian eateries…).
-
Tiger patrons tails are missing in
“ristorante” panel
-
Noticeably, Rebecca is the only woman
in the place as opposed to the private dancers in the first panel. What happened
to them – or is this a gay nightclub in disguise? Hmmm…;3
Gidget:
Well, it does have
cross-dressers… ;-)
jb
(as Baloo): Hey…what’s
that supposed ta mean?!
-
Rebecca’s nose and muzzle colour
missing as Baloo gets the drinks.
-
A really
goofy grin on Rebecca’s face as the wolf pitches his woo before snatching her
necklace; plus her purse disappears, and then reappears at the realization of
his true intentions.
-
When the mugger takes the necklace, it
a) looks like he’s lifted it over her head and b) the hook looks released.
Despite it being a thick one, he could have snapped it off her neck.
-
At the pier, the wooden bucket that
she uses to bonk the mugger with is filled with water, only to be bone dry when
she puts it to action.
-
The pier looks unusually wide in the
panel when the mugger pulls a knife on Rebecca.
-
Mugger’s tail is missing in a couple
of panels during the pier fight scene.
- As Rebecca rushes to embrace Baloo after the fight, his dress shirt is missing in the panel, then returns back after she confesses her real reasons for going out with him.
-
In the final scene, Rebecca has this
somewhat bemused look on her face as she sees the bar fight. Does any
woman find a bar fight that interesting (unless she’s participating in it)?
Gidget:
That bugged me too… she even has her hands clasped together as if
she’s enthralled!
jb: I
think it’s the way she’s holding
her purse, like she did with her briefcase in Mommy For a Day. After all – once robbed, twice shy.
Bones
of Contention
-
Since when did Rebecca acquire a small cleavage (and shapely figure),
when it’s never been shown on the TV series or in other comics? While it’s
true the strapless evening gown came out in the late 1930s, the strapless bra
wasn’t invented until circa 1951. Until then, women had to go around bra-less
and the gowns were fitted with a stiffening support in the chest area to give
support to the bustline, which is why some of those dresses looked stiff back
then (not to mention the faces J). Even so, Rebecca couldn’t achieve a chest cleft with her small
bust irregardless. Perhaps the penciller Cosmi Quarteti felt sorry for her and
wanted to give her one, I guess (plus the “cleavage” disappears and
reappears throughout).
Gidget (as Baloo):
Er, Becky… I dropped my pencil… would ya be a doll and bend over and
pick it up for me?
jb:
Gee, I hope she’s not wearing thong briefs.
Rebecca:
Only if I was Jennifer Lopez.
Baloo:
Yeah – an’ that baby’s got back!
Rebecca:
WHAT??!!
Cody:
jb, the fact that you know so much about lady’s lingerie is somewhat…
disturbing. ;)
jb: Why – jealous?;3
-
How did Rebecca go from hero to zero at the sight of the mugger’s
switchblade after hitting him, declaring she could defend herself pretty well
much to Baloo’s surprise. It just made her look more like a damsel in distress
and gave the pilot something heroic to do, but it just was plain contradictive
and sexist, given her tough stance in the series (see Commentary
for more on this).
Gidget:
I agree. Just put the mouse
ears and the pink bow on her head already…
Rebecca (singing): M-I-C-K-E-Y
M-O-U-S-E! :-)
-
Why, when she come clean on her real reasons for going out with Baloo,
says that she doesn’t know anybody around here when in TV ep The
Time Bandit claims she was born and raised in Cape Suzette? Doesn’t
anybody bother to study TS lore first before writing?
Gidget:
I noticed that immediately.
Cody: Me,
too. There are a few inconsistencies
in ol’ Becky’s history. In The
Time Bandit, the commentator also claims that she’s inherited ‘a small
courier service’ from her father where she ‘quickly learned to enslave the
workers.’ Yet in Plunder and
Lightning, she tells Baloo that she’d sunk her life savings into Higher
for Hire. Does that mean that she
actually had a business before she bought Higher for Hire?
And if so, what happened to it?
jb:
Probably she either a) inherited her father’s money combined with her savings
and plunked it into H4H or b) drove it into the ground with one of her
get-rich-quick schemes.;3
Nea
-
Got to admit, Rebecca does cut a
svelte figure in a strapless gown, fur stole (kind of ironic, a furred-covered
animal wearing another animal’s fur – but that’s the animal rights
activist in me talkingJ)
and pumps. Woo!
Cody: Actually,
I thought she looked like she raided Minnie Mouse’s closet. Those shoes were hideous!
jb: I don’t know. Compared
to the bathrobe and slippers she had on at H4H, her ensemble at Louie’s
was an improvement.
Rebecca: I resent that, Cody! I
took those shoes from Daisy Duck and the dress from
Daisy: So that’s where
my shoes are!
Rebecca: Uhh…I…needed to colour
co-ordinate with the dress?
Daisy: (rolling up sleeves) I’m
going to colour co-ordinate your bruises, bruin…
jb: Don’t
you just love catfights?;3
-
Patches on “ristorante”
tablecloths are quaint with a touch of tacky.
-
Only the waiter and one “patron”
wink at Baloo to know about the ruse.
Gidget:
I love the ‘wink’!
-
Devilish features on the wolf mugger
when he snatches the necklace are totally priceless.
Gidget:
He was freaky!
-
Silhouette imagery of B&B on the
pier in the fight’s aftermath is almost romantic in a sense.
Gidget:
*sighs*
jb:
Only thing missing is a mandolin and a gondola.
Don Karnage:
I can be doing that – did it in P&L Part 2! But I charge a big fee,
yes-no?
Baloo
and Rebecca: Uhh…we’ll take a rain
check.
Funny
Stuff/Dialogue
-
The opening fight scene, one canine pilot swings a fox patron around to
knock-out three other patrons.
Boar:
Where’d that fat bear go?! (jb:
Look who’s talking. He could lose a
few pounds himself! :-))
Louie:
Out the back door…if he’s smart!
“Just calm down, cuz! How ‘bout a root beer on the house!
Boar:
I don’t wanna go outside! I want the bear – and the drink – in here!
Kit:
You shouldn’t have picked on his table manners, Baloo!
Baloo:
But, Kit, he ate like a –
Kit:
I know, but you shouldn’t’ve said so!
jb:
LOL! That’s my favourite line here.
Cody:
Those first couple of panels were the only good things about this
comic.
-
When Baloo escorts Rebecca to Louie’s,
she notices: “Baloo! I didn’t think you owned a tie!”
“I
didn’t.”
jb:
So where’d that tie come from?
Gidget: Probably some dead guy.
-
After being seated in the Ristorante, Rebecca says while studying the menu:
“Well, maybe apologies are in order.”
“Uh,
okay…I’m sorry.”
“No,
silly, I mean I should apologize to you!
This place is fantastic!”
jb:
An oldie, but a goodie – and it works here, too.
- All the mugger’s “romantic” lines (sample: “…and when your
hair catches the moonlight, you become a silvery dream of loveliness”)
jb:
Yuck!>_< Where’d he pick his material from…a Harlequin romance
paperback?
Gidget:
What’s really embarrassing is
that she bought it!
Cody:
(as Rebecca) Well, it’s better than Baloo’s ‘You look better than a
bag of doughnuts’ line.
Gidget: LOL!!
-
In the close-up panel of B&B coming to an understanding, it looks like the
pilot’s looking down at Rebecca’s chest instead of meeting her eyes.
Gidget:
*giggles*
jb:
What for? She’s really got nothing to look at down there.
Baloo:
You can say that again, bub!
Rebecca:
Hey!!!
jb:
Sorry – but you got to call a spade a spade.
Rebecca:
And maybe I got to call a black eye a black eye!!!
jb:
And maybe I should quit while I’m behind! :-)
-
Look closely at the last panel to the left and you’ll see a silhouette of
Louie in the background aggressively holding a club! 0_o
Cody:
Guess the bouncers had the night off.
Commentary
Judging
by the pace and characters of the story, Ristorante
probably takes place sometime shortly after the events of Plunder & Lightning, for there seems to be no judgmental
attitude on Rebecca’s prejudices over Louie’s
that, more or less, dulls over time even though Baloo’s overextended visits to
the nightclub interferes with company matters.
Then
there’s the ever-complex B&B relationship here. We see the establishment
of the two growing beyond employer/employee and becoming friends that would
later be demonstrated in the TV series (A
Star Is Torn; War of the Weirds; My Fair Baloo, etc.).
One
of unfortunate things about Ristorante
is that out of the comic series, this story and to a certain degree the
full-length F’reeze A Jolly Good Fellow!; is the only one to focus on the two
ursines’ relationship. Why the artists/writers didn’t work on that theme
more is a wasted opportunity (and mystery), but it does make for interesting
speculations in the TS fandom.
Like
most B&B stories, Rebecca’s humanity comes to the surface of being single
and alone in a large metropolis, we see that she has needs for contact like the
rest of us, instead of the usual harried, ambition-driven businesswoman and
devoted mother to her daughter.
Why
does she try to hide this from Baloo instead of just asking him to take her out?
Most women in the 1930s, hardened by the Depression, changes to the status quo
in between the two World Wars and societal norms (the advent of jazz to Mae
West’s sexual brashness on- and off-screen); wouldn’t have been that shy in
making the first move on men back then.
Gidget:
Because not all women were that ‘modern’.
Even in the 70s, it was considered forward and unladylike to do the
chasing. And Becky, despite being a
modern woman for the time, is still a romantic.
It’s unlikely that she would feel comfortable in asking a man out
unless there were business contacts at the other end.
Notice how methodically she calls each guy on that list in My
Fair Baloo --- she probably wouldn’t do that for a date-date.
Cody:
I’m with Gidget on this one. Becky
is a romantic---she’s not the type to aggressively chase after men.
Look at the type of guys she falls for (
jb: If she wants to be swept off her
feet, then give her a broom. (*snickers*)
Rebecca: Good idea. (Smacks broom over jb’s head) Take that, you smart-aleck!;3
One
could joke that she was desperate, but on the other hand the love-hate
relationship starts to become more protagonistic and less antagonistic that is
warm, but cordial at this point in time.
With Baloo, he’s kind of surprised to see a different Rebecca who likes to dress up
and isn’t totally a business case (and can look better in a dress than him!
:D), as he thought she was in the initial
first impressions that he’s carried about her – and Rebecca learns too that
her pilot can be graceful and a gentleman on occasion.
Gidget:
Yup!
jb:
She should be so lucky. Another guy would have been peeved and said: “You’re
lonely? Get a dog! You’re swimming
home tonight, baby!” Sheesh! ;p
The
major weakness of Ristorante is the
state of helplessness Rebecca shows after slamming the mugger with the bucket,
contradicts her strong woman persona. Although she has her average frailties,
this display of the damsel-in-distress is difficult to accept.
It’s
also the most violent TS comic shorts made with fist fights galore, the use of
objects for weapons, choking, threatening to use a deadly weapon and the
victimization of women is highly uncommon here, even in the full-length comic
books and/or TV series.
There
has to be kudos given to the innovative resourcefulness of Louie to protect his
best friend and customer to be able to pull a con job over Rebecca, however as
good comedies of this magnitude to keep up the pretense for very long with good
timing.
While
not one of the better TS comic or B&B-themed stories – the artwork and
plot are okay – Louie’s Ristorante
is an entertaining story about relationships, the complexities involved and a
possible beginning of a B&B romance. So that’s why it gets 3 ½ of 5
Krakatoa Specials – could have gotten 4 if the “hero to zero” Rebecca
wasn’t used here.
January 2005
Writer: Cherie Wilkerson
(0 out of 5 Krakatoa Specials)
Disney's Holiday Parade #1
Cover: A really ugly cover with several Disney characters singing Christmas
carols, including Baloo, Rebecca and Kit. Rebecca's hair looks barely attached to her scalp.
Reviewed
by Gidget and Cody
Some
Thembrians are decorating for Christmas. Spigot
is freaking out over the preparations…
Spigot
Are
you sure this is the biggest tree in all of Thembria?
A man of my stature must have the biggest and the best!
Gidget
(Shrek voice): Ye
think he’s tryin’ te compensate for somethin’?
Cody:
Yeah! He’s
got a really small… brain! :D
Gidget:
Maybe he plans to be the ‘angel’ at the top.
That’s about the only reason I can think why he’d care about the size
of the tree. ;)
Dunder
Oh,
yes, Colonel Spigot, this tree towers over all others --- just as you do!
Gidget:
Oh,
just give him a great big kiss and marry him, you big suck-up.
Cody
(as Dunder):
He’s out of my social ranking. Too
bad. Having my very own air
conditioner in the winter would have been nice…
Spigot
Bring
it more this way! Do I have to tell
you everything?
Gidget:
Pillow talk? You
smooth-talker, you…
Dunder
But
Colonel --- it’s leaning!
Gidget:
*laughing too hard to comment*
Cody:
*muttering* Stupid While You Were Sleeping
flashback…
Spigot
(interrupting)
Do it!!
WHUMP!
The tree falls on top of him.
That’s
it! The holidays are cancelled!
Colonel Spigot has spoken!!
Gidget:
Aww… he’s so cute when he’s being dictatorial!
But how come the High Grand Marshall doesn’t get a say in this?
Cody
(as Spigot):
Because I am Spigot! Perhaps
you’ve heard of me? And if you
haven’t… you will be shot!
Unfortunately,
Colonel Spigot isn’t the only
one who has no love for the holidays…
At Higher
for Hire, the gang is also decorating the office.
Rebecca
It
would be so much more fun if Baloo would join in, Kit!
The holidays aren’t just for kids!
Kit
(decorating Baloo with lights)
Oh,
he’s sort of getting into the holiday spirit, Miz Cunningham.
(phone
rings)
Rebecca
Higher
for Hire!
Gidget:
Sure, he might get shot or brained by a falling bathtub, but hey…
Cody:
And who'd really care if he was? :D
Gidget:
Yeah, it's not like he'd lose much with brain damage. :D
Baloo
(wakes up and finds himself bear-deep in tinsel)
Did
someone mention my --- hey! Becky, I
didn’t sign on to be no Christmas tree!
Soon
after…
Baloo
Stupid
holiday! Who invented it, anyway?
Gidget:
You know, I would actually think Rebecca
would have been the Scrooge, not him. Khan,
definitely.
Cody:
I know. But it's just one inconsistency in a whole string of stupidity.
This comic was written for an alternate universe y'know.
Mr.
Fox (an elderly client who helps Baloo load the cargo)
Please
be very careful to make sure these arrive safely.
They are for my family for the holidays.
Gidget:
It’s a bomb!!
And
sometime later…
Baloo
(flying the Sea Duck)
Heck,
what’s there to be careful about? This
flight is a piece of cake! I got the whole runway to myself!
Gidget:
As big as he is, why is that a surprise?
Cody:
And why didn't Kit come along for this mission?
Gidget:
Yeah, that was strange.
Baloo
(suddenly notices something’s wrong)
Hey, what the ---?!? Get outta my
way, you bozos! Swell!
Just my luck to run into a bunch of deaf bellboys!
Gidget:
LOL! Actually, the Thembrians
do look like bellboys! Never
thought of that before…
C’mon,
Seaduck! Let’s get this puppy off
the ground! Hey!
Quit with the bullets already! You’re
ruinin’ the paint job!
Ooops!
Gidget:
Baloo let one go?
Whump!
Gidget:
Baloo let one drop?
Baloo
All
right! The world’s best pilot has
done it again! The intrepid Baloo
leaves his pursuers in the dust!
Gidget:
Okay… how’d he learn about the word ‘intrepid’?
That’s way too big a word for him!
Cody:
Had to be the Rick Skye comics...
Twang!
The Sea Duck gets caught in a tennis net and Baloo is captured by the Thembrians
(again).
Baloo:
Huh??
Who put this stupid thing here?
Gidget:
And how come a tennis net can do what pirates can’t?
Cody:
Tennis net has more brains.
Spigot
A
net to spot criminals! Wasn’t that
clever? I thought of it myself!
Cody:
The net 'spots' criminals, huh? That's a new one.
Gidget:
New, but not clever. *sigh*
Cody:
Not really a surprise here, though, is it?
Baloo
I
should have known you were behind this, Spigot!
What’d I do this time --- forget to brush my teeth??
Gidget
(as Rebecca):
Yet again…
Spigot
You
have disobeyed my order – no holiday, no gifts, no celebration!
But I am in a good mood --- I will not exterminate you!
I will just take your plane until you give much, much money!
Gidget:
Ooga-booga! Me Spigot, you
Jane!
Soon, at
the home of Mr. Fox’s son and his family…
Father
Fox
Now
that private holiday celebrations are banned, I don’t know what to do!
Baloo
Ya
think you’ve got problems? I’m
stuck here for a whole week until Becky can come up with the money!
Father
Fox
We
don’t have any gifts to give anyone!
Gidget:
Not even… *sniff* … love?
Sarah
(little fox girl)
But
we can still make things, Daddy. (to
Baloo) I decorated this handkerchief for you, Mr. Baloo.
Gidget
(as Baloo, unenthusiastically): Oh, boy, --- a
square piece of cloth. How did you know?
Have you been readin’ my diary?
Baloo
Aw,
Sarah, ya shouldn’t have! I’ll
keep it in my pocket forever, li’l honey!
Or at least until I wash this shirt --- whichever comes first.
Hey, what’s this?
Gidget
(as Rebecca):
He’s the same way about his underwear… when he bothers to wear it at
all.
Cody:
I didn't think Baloo owned any underwear.
Gidget: Except in 'My
Fair Baloo'... and even then, just an undershirt.
Cody:
You sure he owned that?
Gidget:
Probably
not.
Baloo
(cont.)
How’d one of Kit’s ornaments get in my pocket?!
And it sounds like there’s something in it!
Hey, it’s oil! There’s
some oil left!
Gidget:
Why is there oil in an ornament?
And wouldn’t you notice a big bulging ornament in your pocket before
now?
(as
Joanna):
Hey, Iron Paws… is that an ornament in your pocket, or are you just
glad to see me?
Cody
(as
Baloo):
Didn't you hear? It's an oil filled ornament that for some reason is
magically in my pocket.
(as
Big Al:
Besides, Janey, that's kinda high up for that kind of joke, isn't it?
Gidget: (as Joanna): Hey... I'm
that good. ;)
Sarah
It’s
beautiful! Thank you, Mr.
Baloo!
Gidget:
This kid’s easy to buy for.
Who needs Christmas? Just
give her some bubble wrap to pop.
Cody:
I always liked boxes. Especially appliance boxes. They made nice
hideouts.
Gidget:
They did. Especially the ones for stoves.
Father
Fox
There’s
only enough oil for one night, but we can enjoy it while it lasts!
Gidget:
LOL!!! Oil for one night…
*dirty laugh*
But, the
next day…
Sarah
Look!
The lamp’s still burning!
Gidget:
Oh, sure, let a lamp burn all night!
It’s only a fire hazard, after all.
Baloo
Well,
Sarah, if it can hang in there, so can I! I’m
gonna fight this holiday ban!
Gidget
(as Rebecca):
He fights Ban tm, period. It’s
like he and deodorant are mortal enemies.
Kids
Fox
boy
Great!
Sarah
Yayy!
Gidget
as Sarah:
I’m the favorite. I’ve
got a name.
Father
Fox
I
wish you the best of luck, Baloo, but I’m afraid Colonel Spigot isn’t going
to like this.
Gidget:
What a wimp. His wife could
do so much better.
Thus, at
Colonel Spigot’s…
Baloo
(storms upstairs to Spigot’s office)
No
problem! If my cool voice of reason
doesn’t change his mind, I’ll just stomp him!
Gidget:
Me Baloo, you pancake!
Cody
(as Donkey):
And if that doesn't do it, your breath will certainly get the job done!
Gidget:
LOL!
Some
guy (crowd with family)
You
tell ‘im, Baloo!
Baloo
goes boom down stairs until he goes THUD!
Ouch!
Ouch! OUCH!
Sarah
Isn’t
he stomped yet, Baloo?
Gidget:
Sarah is special…
Cody:
Well, she is the only vixen in Thembria...
Gidget:
Besides Mrs. Fox, you mean?
Cody:
Oh, yeah. Forgot about her.
Gidget:
It’s a natural mistake. J
Spigot
Me? Get stomped?
No one has a big enough foot!
Why are you sitting on my steps, Baloo?
I’m going to have you arrested!
Kids
throw apples (that splash like tomatoes)
You oughta be arrested!
Gidget:
Oooh, zinger!
Spigot
Ow!
If you’re going to be that way about it, I order you to ignore what I
just said!
Several
days later…
(Baloo
and the Fox family are still standing around the table, drooling over the stupid
lamp)
Fox
Boy
So
have you come up with a plan yet to save the holidays?
Gidget:
Does any member of this moronic fox family have a working brain cell
among them? They even voluntarily
live in Thembria! On purpose.
Baloo
I’m
thinkin’, I’m thinkin’!
Gidget
(as Rebecca):
Sometimes that takes all his energy.
I’m lucky if I get any.
Sarah
Even
after all this time, the lamp still hasn’t quit!
Gidget:
Oh, just give her a piece of used dental floss to play with.
It’ll keep her busy for months.
Baloo
And
neither have I! I’m gonna write an
I.O.U. to Spigot and get my plane, and go get ya some holiday stuff!
Gidget:
Just steal the toilet paper off the trees from last Halloween.
Thus…
Baloo
Yoo-hoo! Anybody home?… Guess not.
Well, I think I’ll just mosey on over and see how my plane’s doin’.
Seems
to be doin’ fine! But ya never can
be too sure about these things. I’ll
just take it for a little spin and--- hey! Who’s
the wiseguy turned on the sirens?
Spigot
What
is the meaning of this I.O.U.? You
can’t give me a little piece of paper for your plane!
Baloo
So
what’s the meaning of all these lights and sirens?
Didn’t ya know ya can’t celebrate the holidays?
Spigot
Oooh,
how dare he talk to me like that! Troops,
get him!
Baloo
I’d
love to stay and chitchat, but I think I hear my mother calling me!
Gidget:
Bionic ears?
Cody:
Or he's a medium. I thought his mom was dead.
Gidget:
In Jungle Book. But in On
a Wing and a Bear, he tries to bribe the she-cop by offering to buy tickets
for his mom to the Air-Police Ball.
Cody:
I didn't take that seriously---just another Baloo excuse, like all those sick
aunts he has in Idol Rich.
Armed
Thembrian guards chase him.
Dunder
Stop! Come back!
Baloo
Not
on your life! Or my life!
Or anyone else’s life for that matter!
Gidget:
Guess you told him.
Don’t
shoot! I’m just an innocent
bystander!
Guard
(Dunder)
Shoot you? We’re trying
to help you escape! For once,
we’re on your side! Happy
holidays!
Gidget:
Awww, they didn’t shoot him. That’s
the greatest gift of all… life!
Cody:
*gags*
Thus,
later…
Baloo
Thanks
to my big mouth, Spigot turned
off all the electricity! Everyone
gets just one candle!
Gidget:
*dirty laugh*
Sarah
Cheer
up, Mr. Baloo!
Gidget:
Somebody please give her a piece of string to shut her up!
Or better yet, solder and a blowtorch!
Fox
Boy
Yeah,
even after all these days, we still have the light from the lamp!
Gidget:
Wow! He’s as special as
Sarah! Let’s give him a name!
He’s earned it.
Cody:
‘Moron’ has a nice ring to it.
Gidget:
Doesn’t it, though! Morons
who discovered fire!
Baloo
Hey---that’s
it! The holidays are for sharing,
aren’t they? Well, I’ve got a
great idea!
And, that
evening…
People
are lining up inside the Fox home to donate to the cause.
Thembrian
Matron (adding a few coins to the paltry poker piles of coinage on a table)
Please
accept these few coins to help you get your plane back.
Gidget:
Hey, there’s how Baloo could buy his plane from Becky!
Go begging in the streets of Thembria!
(raises glass) To Baloo, the richest bear in town!
Kit
Wow! Guess we didn’t
need to bring you the money after all!
Gidget:
If Baloo couldn’t get his plane, how the hell did the H4H gang get to
Thembria?
Kit
(Cont.)
But I
thought holiday celebrations were banned in Thembria!
Baloo
Yep,
but ol’ Spigot said we could all have a candle and we’re gonna
let it shine!
Spigot
What
lowdown traitorous imbecile said these people could have candles?
Dunder
(holding candle!)
Why,
you did, sir… and if you’ll excuse us, we have an important – uh—meeting
to attend!
Gidget:
Oooh, subtle!
Baloo
Peace
on earth, good will toward men!
Rebecca
And
women!
Kit
And
kids!
Wildcat
Why
be so chintzy, man? Happy Holidays
to everybody in the entire universe!
Gidget:
That covers the Martians…
Cody:
And Tribbles!
The
End
End
blurb: Journey into high-flying adventure with Baloo and Kit
Cloudkicker every month in TaleSpin.
Quibbles
and Bits
Gidget:
Okay, how can a tennis net catch a sea plane?
It would’ve been torn right through, especially with propellers.
Why is there oil in a glass ornament?
And why is this fox family so freakin’ thrilled over a burning lamp?
jb: As to while the oil continued to burn with so little in it, did it
not occur to anyone that perhaps the Foxes were Jewish and it was a slight
undertone to Hannukah, according to the story? All in all, Shine A Little
Light did suck, now reflecting on it now.
Gidget: I'm not
familiar with all the rituals of Hanukkah, but I've seen South Park, so I've
heard of the daedal, the Menora (nine candles) and the eight days of
celebration. ;)
Cody:
Why are there foxes at all in Thembria? And why was Baloo all buddy-buddy
with them?
Gidget:
And why don't the foxes eat the warthogs?
Also,
Dunder
is genuinely surprised that Baloo runs away from the armed
guards in a panic before he assures him that they’re on his side.
(as
Rebecca, shivering): Maybe
I could sell matches…
Gidget:
Grandpa Fox not only supervises, but helps Baloo load the cargo for
Thembria. Isn’t that unusual?
Where’s Wildcat and Kit? Why
are they letting an old man risk injury? And
since his family didn’t get their presents, wouldn’t H4H be liable?
Funny
Stuff
Gidget:
Other than Baloo’s comment over his hanky present, nothing really.
Cody:
This comic was a complete waste of paper and ink.
Gidget:
I agree. A lot of poor helpless trees and baby squid died in vain. *sniffs
and blows nose*
Quotes
Gidget:
I liked it when Baloo gets shot at by Thembrians.
Baloo:
Hey! Quit with the bullets
already! You’re ruinin’ the
paint job!
Gidget:
Baloo:
I’ll keep it in my pocket forever, li’l honey. Or at least until I wash this
shirt --- whichever comes first!
Gidget: Then he shoves it into his pocket to join the lint and moldy sandwiches that
probably live in there.
Commentary
Gidget:
Sickly-sweet Sarah mades me barf. Foxes
in Thembria is just plain wrong.
And what are those generic ‘Disney dog’ characters doing in there? It’s
like they plugged in a few TaleSpin characters, added Carl Banks’s rejects and
mixed well. If you want a good
TaleSpin holiday story, watch Jolly Molly
Christmas instead.
Soup Nazi voice: Back of the line! No Krackatoa Specials for
you!
Cody:
Or just make up your own. Both holiday stories are pretty sickening.
Personally, I'd like to see one where a 50-foot fanged gingerbread man attacks
Cape Suzette and squashes Molly like a bug.
Gidget: You're so good with
children. :)
Cody:
*sticks
out her tongue*
May
2005
A
Tale Spin Comics Review by guest reviewer jb
4
½ of 5 Krakatoa Specials
Originally
published in Disney Club Vacanes
(Edi-Monde/Hachette Presse), circa February 1992; reprinted in “Disney
Club” #4 (Dargaud) in France/European Union and Disney’s Colossal
Comics #5 (W.D. Publications), 1992 in
Writer:
Regis Maine; translated from the French, Super
Baloo: Le Volcan D’Or by Dwight Decker
Dialogue:
Bobbi J.G. Weiss
Art:
Comicup Design Studio and Mario Cortes
Lettering:
Bill Spicer
Colouring: Isabelle Lebeau
Summary
“Wo-oh-wooh!
I got those aviator blues!
Wo-oh!
All the way down to my shoes!
Flyin’
broke my heart, ‘cause my plane fell apart – ”
Louie
is busily sweeping his nightclub in the morning and singing the blues when he
hears Baloo moaning and crying the real blues, going on about losing the Sea
Duck and Higher for Hire over a humongous mistake of his own doing...
Gidget:
Gee, that’s
never happened before!
Cody: What originality.
Sitting
down, he regales in a flashback about a shipping contract he got in the mail
which he signed and delivered back for an order of two thousand fir trees to
ship to
After
delivering the trees to the tropical climes of the Asia-Pacifica entrepot,
Baloo and Kit finally meet their mystery client arriving by helicopter to be…Shere
Khan!
He
presents the copy of the signed contract through his subsidy S.K.I.N. (Shere
Khan Imports and Novelties – clever initialsJ)
to Baloo, promising them to be in mint condition upon arrival for Christmas. The
business magnate decides to test the trees, already withering in the heat; with
his helicopter’s wind force that blows off all the brittle and dry pine
needles, rendering them useless and a breech of contract – which demands that
he be compensated with a ridiculously high sum – therefore threatening
Rebecca’s ownership of Higher for Hire and impounding the Sea
Duck; unless the pilot can pay the penalty in one week’s time.
Gidget:
Khan is such a dick…
jb:
I’m assuming you mean he’s a private investigator, G. ;3
By
the time he finishes his hard luck story, Rebecca’s voice angrily bellows out
his name. Baloo panics and begs his best friend to hide him quickly. The petite
businesswoman storms into Louie’s,
demanding that the nightclub owner reveal the whereabouts of her pilot.
Louie
feigns ignorance, so she decides to wait out and plays the jukebox not knowing
that Baloo’s hiding inside it. When a record gets stuck inside his mouth and
makes no sound play, the ursa gives the contraption a swift boot, causing it to
explode and exposes the huge bear out in the open.
Louie:
Hey! Somebody’s gotta pay for that!
Rebecca:
Shut up, you walking hairy carpet or
I’ll give you a swift kick in your jukebox!!
Louie:
(backs off nervously) Ulp! Uhh…never
mind, never mind, sweet cheeks… ;3
The
businesswoman rains fire and brimstone on Baloo’s incompetence as the orangutan
tries to be a peacemaker between the two until a voice from beneath a table
tries to order another round. Louie picks up the straggler off the floor, a
handsome light grey bear who then gets macho around Rebecca and
drops a gentlemanly kiss on her hand, introducing himself as the famous news
journalist Ted Burrows from the NBCBS Radio Network – then faintly collapses
back onto the floor after telling them in horror that he’s returned from
“The Inferno.”
When
he regains consciousness a minute later, Burrows recalls his latest assignment
south of
Deciding
to retire in disgrace, he gives the trio a journalism award to pay his bar tab
and the contract in bringing back the story, then departs. While Louie questions
the worth of the trophy’s value, Rebecca looks over the contract and finds the
monetary worth in getting the von Cockpit story is enough to pay off Khan’s
penalty.
Proposing
they go out and get the story, the pilot is heavily reluctant to go on this
adventure citing they have no camera or plane to get to Mount Fogtop, until
Louie “saves” the day by loaning his camera from Aunt Louise for his
birthday and to repair the old junker that Baloo’s been trying to fix for a
month, much to the pilot’s dismay. By the next day, Baloo and Kit have
repaired the plane to the best of their abilities, while Rebecca leaves a
disappointed Molly in Louie’s care while their gone. Soon, the three bears are off and southbound to
Gidget:
(Rebecca): Hey,
I ditched the kid again!
Let’s party!
Little
do they realize that Air Pirate Gibber has overheard the Higher for Hire’s
mission to save their business and informs Khan about his findings at his
high-rise office building. He’s less than pleased, revealing to the surprised
brigand his dastardly plot to run the independent air cargo businesses in
Arriving
near Mount Fogtop, Rebecca become wary over the place when Baloo explains his
real fears in coming, claiming the mountain is cursed with “all the spooks on
Earth hang out there” according to folklore. Preparing to land, the plane is
then water-bombed by Karnage in order to crash into the jungle below. Despite
having to fly blinded by water and some opaque “material” covering the
windows, the team survives – and discovering a triple threat of problems
facing them: 1) Their plane is beyond repair due to the crash and being clogged
with jellyfish that must have been fished up in the Air Pirates’ water bomber
tank; 2) they’re near a graveyard of planes (jb:
oh, how fitting) and 3) they’re
surrounded and captured by the local Scrap Pirates.
Hanging
upside down by their ankles after Rebecca antagonizes their leader by plopping a
jellyfish on his head when he called her “Cutie Pie,” the team plan their
getaway as Kit pulls out his hidden Swiss Army pocket knife to cut their ropes.
Accidentally dropping the knife from out of their reach, the situation looks
hopeless when out of the jungle appears Molly who retrieves the knife and helps
them escape.
After
a distance away from the pirates’ camp, her mother demands what she is doing
here, which the males patch up her story in stowing away in their now-crippled
plane to which they all praise her for her bravery and
cleverness.
Gidget:
And her amazing ability of not wetting her pants.
Cody: Don't forget the helmet hair.
jb: Isn’t
it kind of strange that Molly constantly disobeys her mother and doesn’t get
punished at all?
Gidget
(as Rebecca): Go to your closet and pray!
The
businesswoman suggests they rest up before they reach
Waking
up in a thick fog, Kit calls out to his companions and wanders about until he
falls though a trapdoor and pummels down below, knocking him unconscious.
Awakened by Molly, the navigator finds himself with the others in a cell until
their Native captors orders them to be seen by their god-like leader known as
the Great Krakatoo. Marching through bright, hot tunnels, the bears discover a
secret civilization living inside
Hustled
into a dark cavern, they face an imposing masked figure sitting on a throne,
introduced as the Great Krakatoo. Demanding the reason for their presence, Baloo
tries to explain their dire situation which the Great Krakatoo accuses them of
being after the lost city’s Treasure of the
Some
time passes, the prisoners are then visited by a lion stranger who claims to be
a friend who is met with scepticism, until he dons the Great Krakatoo’s mask
and reveals himself as the long-lost ace pilot Klaus von Cockpit. He explains
that he crashed into the crater thirty years earlier and was rescued by the
Natives who deem him as a god, thus deciding to stay on as their protector of
their well-kept secret of the Treasure of the
Gidget
(Rebecca): Last
one in’s a rotten egg! *dives into the lake*
Von
Cockpit: Augh! Our golden idol has been tarnished!
Baloo:
It’s gonna be hell to clean out the bear fur outta that
lake.
Rebecca:
C’mon in! The lava’s fine!
All:
Ahhh – pass. J
Just
then, the Air Pirates – thanks to being tipped by the Scrap Pirates – invade
the lost city and Karnage marches the bears and von Cockpit to the lava lake,
gloating over in capturing the team for Khan and gaining the biggest booty of
his pirating career. Deciding to destroy the totem pole with a bazooka, he
unwittingly causes a chain reaction that invokes the volcano out of dormancy,
ready to explode. The pirates flee for their lives, while von Cockpit and the
Natives prepare the evacuation of the lost civilization and themselves with an
enormous Hercules-like cargo plane, the Ark
of Krakatoo.
Taking
the controls of the plane, Baloo skims along the lava lake surface – thanks to
the lava- and fireproof coating beneath the
Ark
– flying upwards and away from the volcano, just as the golden lava explodes
into a fiery blaze, sending it all into the atmosphere and beyond. Saying
goodbye to von Cockpit and the Fogtop Natives, the Hire for Higher team
parachute themselves from the plane and make the long trek home.
Arriving
in Cape
Gidget:
(Khan, stamping his feet):
No fair!
jb:
So? You can always get another one, Mr. Moneybags.
Khan:
(pauses) Mmm, yes. But first,
I must send a lawyer to sue for damages.
jb:
Yeah, but it’ll be hard to send a subpoena to demigod. ;3
Leaving
a medium-sized pool right at the onlookers’ feet, Baloo deducts there’s
enough gold there to pay off the contract penalty and his employer’s bills for
about a year, leaving the magnate bewildered by what had just happened and being
foiled again as the pilot states triumphantly: “Face it, Khanny – you’re a
mover an’ shaker in the business world, but somebody up there can move an’
shake the whole world! The Great Krakatoo!”
Quibbles
and Quips
-
Opening
narration: “Ah, springtime in
Cody: Or a writer high on... caffeine!
-
For a place that (supposedly)
serves non-alcoholic beverages, why was the “Flappy” character that Louie
asks to raise his feet to sweep in one panel, looks intoxicated – and
wouldn’t be a little early to be hitting the bottle in the morning? O_o
Cody: Hey, whatever helps get you through the day!
Baloo:
Whaddya think I down those Krakatoa Specials for? ;)
- Baloo, deeply depressed, becomes offended that he lost everything in a card game: “What kinda lousy remark was that?! You think I’m irresponsible or somethin’?!” Is that supposed to be a trick question? ;3
- The Sea Duck’s big, but how can it hold 2,000 medium-sized fir trees? O_o
-
“An hour later, when the cargo
was delivered…” From the looks of the pick-up place, it looks like
- Why would Baloo and Kit still be wearing their bomber jackets when they arrive back home? It would be too warm to wear in it in the tropics.
-
Khan’s helicopter is too
modern-looking for the 1930s, unless Buzz built another Quazanark that quickly.
Khan: Why do you think I make my employees work twelve hours a day?
;-)
Cody: They didn't have hamburger
places until after WWII, but that didn't stop 'em there either!
-
Khan:
“I ordered Christmas trees, after all;” “I’ve come to inspect the
merchandise that you are to deliver five months from now…”
Check your calendar, Khanny – if it’s spring according to the storyline,
Christmas wouldn’t roll around for eight to nine months
from now. Do they celebrate Christmas in the
Khan: (menacingly unsheathes his claws) When you’re this rich, you can celebrate Christmas any time you want.
jb: (nervously) Uhh…yes, Mister Khan, sir!;3
- Red colour missing on exclamation dot on “VLAM!” when Rebecca charges through Louie’s door.
-
Sound missing from Baloo’s scream
when jukebox explodes.
Cody: ??Your comic makes sounds? ;)
jb: Yeah, and it cost a bundle to get it, too! ;3
-
Louie:
“Now, now, Reb – let’s talk about this over a cool Papaya Fizz!”
jb: Reb??! Since when he
got into nicknaming Rebecca? That’s Baloo’s job.0_o
-
How could a tough, macho journalist
like Burrows brave the elements and Scrap
Pirates be too afraid to investigate von Cockpit’s disappearance after
being spooked by the ghost plane at
-
Burrows’ platinum award trophy is
coloured gold here. O_o
-
What was Gibber doing at
Louie’s for and how’d he acquire speech? He’s usually an ear-mutterer.
O_o
Gidget:
Or a Karnage-whisperer. J
-
Why didn’t Wildcat work on
Louie’s plane and why does Louie need one for? Other than in “A Touch of
Glass” and “For Whom The Bell Klangs,” he doesn’t do that much flying.
Gidget: Don’t forget “The Old Man and the Sea Duck”.
-
Why would Gibber inform Khan,
believing he’d be pleased about it? Did he expect some kind of reward?
Gidget
(Khan):
When you’re this wealthy, everyone wants a piece of you
*adjusts prosthetic arm*.
-
There’s an intercom on Khan’s
desk. These things weren’t around in the 1930s – and why’d he contact his
secretary for Karnage’s services instead of demanding it from Gibber right in
front of him?
-
Those two-way communicators Khan
and Karnage used wouldn’t be invented until 1941
and they were huge compared to the current compact walkie-talkies and cellular
phones; plus the range on those things wouldn’t be powerful enough to speak to
each other clearly. But then again, Khan is one ahead of his time.
Gidget:
What about Dick
Tracy and his two-way wrist radio in the ‘30’s?
jb:
Khan must have stole – er, acquired
the plans for it then. J
-
Rebecca plucks off a jellyfish off
the plane with her bare hands. This is something no one should do – there are
certain species in the Asia-Pacific region, namely the irukandji;
that are lethally poisonous within a couple of hours of their stings.
Gidget (Baloo): Good to know…
-
Kit holds an unusually oversized
Swiss Army pocket knife.
jb:
Now that’s a knife! (Sorry,
Crocodile
Kit: Hey, it’s not what size’s a man’s got, it’s what he
does with it! ;D
- When hanging upside down, how come Baloo has to hold onto his hat with one hand while Kit’s cap stays firmly on his head?
-
Rebecca looks taller when she’s
hung upside next to Baloo – she’s almost as tall as he is.
Rebecca: Hooray! Finally, some height!
Baloo: Yeah, but still no build.
Rebecca: I’ll take what I can get, Fly Boy!
Baloo: Then buy some elevator shoes, Becky. ;)
-
Why did Kit call Louie’s trashed
plane the Sea Duck? It’s impounded
back at
-
Baloo’s constant heroic/cowardly
moments appears too many times in the story than the average norm.
-
Why did the Fogtop Natives only
capture Baloo, Rebecca and Molly in their sleep and left Kit behind only
to fall into some booby trap?
Gidget: Come on... wouldn't you?
-
Kit:
Do you know who captured us?
Rebecca: No – we were couldn’t see them in the fog!
jb: Um, weren’t you captured in your sleep just a couple of sentences ago? Was
- If
this is the Asia-Pacific area in the Tale
Spin world, why do the Natives look like Incas? Are they a long-lost tribe?
-
This may be a comic, but even logic
and physics should know 1) It’s impossible to sustain a living society or
vegetation inside a live volcano, 2) no amount of spring water could produce
that amount of steam to cover the top of a mountain and 3) no stone totem pole
can withstand boiling lava.
-
Kit becomes impulsive and decides
the unmask Krakatoo/von Cockpit when they’re surrounded by spear-toting
natives. Isn’t he usually the cautious (
Gidget: or cowardly ;)
) type, while Baloo ventures where angels fear to tread?
-
After meeting with the Great
Krakatoo and sent back to their holding cell, Baloo calls the situation
hopeless. Since when did he become a defeatist (except in “A Bad Reflection On
You” Part 2)?
-
Why would the Scrap Pirates inform
Karnage on the H4H team’s whereabouts? Pirates are usually territorial types
– unless Karnage paid them off.
- How could von Cockpit, an engineering expert, know the volcano would erupt with one rocket-propelled grenade? Does he hold a degree in geosciences too?
- How come nobody warned Karnage not to destroy the totem pole before he knocked it out (not to mention a pretty modern-looking grenade launcher for the 1930s)?
- Von Cockpit says he sent the natives to get the necessary plane parts to create the Ark of Krakatoo from the Scrap Pirates. Wouldn’t they have been suspicious to figure out why they need the parts and if they were paid in gold?
-
In the cockpit of the Ark of
Krakatoo:
Baloo: Good grief! I’ve never flown anything like this!
Von Cockpit: Who has,
Baloo?
jb: Excuse me, ace pilot – have you already forgotten larger planes like the Spruce Moose (My Fair Baloo) and the Titanium Turkey (Bearly Alive)?
-
Strange that Rebecca and Molly have
been reduced to air stewardess roles as the Ark
of Krakatoo begins its take-off (Sexist!!).
Gidget:
I noticed that
too. And
how come the natives all look like canine fugitives from
Duckburg?
jb:
Budget cuts?... ;3
Cody: Livin' near all that lava disfigured them and
turned them into hideous mutants?
- Molly’s nose colour missing as she assists a Native woman with her vine seatbelt.
- Narration: “High in the sky, the time has come for a tearful farewell…” yet, nobody’s crying in this panel.
-
Molly’s allowed to have her own
parachute as they jump out of the plane. Wouldn’t it have been more
responsible for Rebecca to strap both of them together instead?
Gidget
(Rebecca):
Sorry, kid.
I’ve been meaning to drop a few pounds anyway.
Baloo: ‘Bout time ya went on a diet. I get tired of havin’ ta lift ya up all the time when we’re dancin’, Beckers. ;3
-
Why didn’t von Cockpit drop them
off closer to
-
Why is H4H located on a tropical
island? What happened to the
-
Khan’s helicopter pilot looks
more canine. Doesn’t he usually hire panthers to fly his personal aircraft?
Khan: Affirmative action lawsuit. Damn civil rights lawyers. ;3
-
Tale Spin’s set in the
Asia-Pacific tropics, yet as the gold meteorite pummels
toward Earth, why does it look like it’s heading toward the European
continent?
jb: The comic was made in
Cody: I thought it was made in France.
jb: See
the Commentary section for this one.)
-
How could Baloo calculate
that the remaining molten gold at their feet would be enough to pay off Khan’s
contract penalty and Rebecca’s bills for a year? He’s
a pilot, not an accountant.
Neat Little Details
- Kit looks at Baloo indignantly over his ignorance over the fine print of the S.K.I.N. contract as he tries to find it on his person.
-
Good action sequence of Burrows’
quest toward
-
A
good perspective of Molly
presenting the pocket knife back to Kit and she looks cute from this angle. (You
Mollyphobes may now retch in disgust) ;D
Cody: *gags*
Louie:
(grabs bucket) Hold it! I need that for my special sauce in my chili!
All: EEWWWWWWW!!! ;D
-
While the bears sleep on Mount
jb: Aww, isn’t that sweet?
(Mollyphobes can retch again) ;D
- Neat psychedelic effect in the panel when Kit regains consciousness in the Native’s jail cell.
-
Gorgeous cloud formation of the
Great Krakatoo totem pole over H4H and Cape
Funny
Stuff/Dialogue
-
Baloo slaps Kit on the back
hard as he’s sipping his hot cocoa, causing him to spew all over the place.
jb:
Well, it’s a good thing it didn’t go out of his nose. Ouch! 0_o
-
Khan going nose to nose with Baloo
on the cargo holding deck on the “first inspection on the fir trees.
-
Rebecca grabbing Louie by the
lapels.
Rebecca: “If you’re lying, I’ll jam that hat down your
throat!”
Louie: “Why would I lie? heh-heh.”
-
Rebecca:
“Louie, tell me where Baloo is before I really
get mad!”
jb: Aren’t you really mad now?
0_o
-
Baloo hiding in the jukebox and
getting abused by the machine when Rebecca tries to play her selection.
Gidget:
How the heck did
he get into the jukebox?
Baloo:
‘Mazing how one can get inta small places when under stress now, ain’t
-
Baloo looks intoxicated rather than
dazed after the jukebox explodes when Rebecca discovers him.
-
Baloo finding all kinds of excuses
not to go to Mount Fogtop, only to be countered by Louie’s help...
Baloo: Afraid? Me? ‘Course
not! It’s just, uhhh, we don’t have a camera!
Louie: No sweat, cuz! My Aunt Louie sent me one for my B-day! You
can have it!
Rebecca’s face show delight, Baloo’s in shock.
Baloo: Louie! I thought we were friends!
Rebecca: Okay, let’s go!! We got an expedition to organize!
Baloo: But the Sea Duck’s been impounded!
Louie: Take the old heap I
got! Y’know, the one you’ve been tryin’ to fix all month?
Baloo: Louie, who’s side are you on?!
-
Khan crushing the model plane on
his desk in intimidation and anger with his bare paws after hearing the news
that H4H has got a new plane.
-
Baloo’s censored profanities
after Karnage water bombs him and screams into Karnage’s headphones.
jb: LOL! My favourite scene!
-
Karnagese moments…
“Augh! That abominating bear ouchied my tender eardrums!”
-
“Attention noble pirates of
the Iron Vulture! Your incredibly good-looking captain has an announcement!”
jb: LOL! What an ego!
- *si
Baloo, Kit, Rebecca & Molly: “Don Karnage!!”
Karnage: “In my flesh! I am delighted to announce that I have just
conquered this
charming land!”
- “Run for your hides!!!” (After destroying the totem pole)
Cody: Karnage always gets the
best lines...
Karnage:
That’s because I am so
marvelloussimo, si? ;3
- While hanging upside down by the Scrap Pirates:
Baloo:
“It’s gonna be tough gettin’ out of this!”
Rebecca: “Not only that, but my hair will look awful!”
Gidget:
Those
sexist comic writers…why don't they just sew a big pink bow to her scalp?
jb: I agree. They’re trying to capture the type of comedy “written” for TS’ time period. But, 1) who’d want to fuss over their hair at a time like that and 2) who did you expect to write this – Alan Alda? ;)
- After
their escape from the Scrap Pirates:
Rebecca:
“Now we’d better get some sleep! We’ll be in rough day tomorrow!”
Kit: (spotting the Scrap Pirates coming after them) “Tomorrow?! I think we’re gonna get our rough day early! Look – !!”
-
Baloo putting up his dukes before
being frightened by a near-miss by one of the
Scrap Pirates’ spears, then sprinting faster than the others.
Baloo: Alright – enough runnin’! You’re just a bunch of guys carryin’ pieces of
junk anyway! (After
the spear chuck)
Kit: What did you say?
Baloo: I said junk like that
can hurt ya! LOL!
- In the volcano:
Kit: (pointing to totem pole) I wonder what that totem pole out there in the lava is supposed to mean?
Baloo: I dunno – but I’d hate to meet the guy who modelled for it!
-
Khan’s helicopter gets demolished
by the golden meteorite and him getting defeated by the H4H crew with revelling
looks on their faces.
Commentary
A
slight remake of the Tale Spin #4
comic Contractual Desperation!, Volcano of
Gold is a much better version and one of the best Tale Spin comics made. It has all the points for a TS story: action,
adventure, comedy, friendships and family – the basic components concerning
the ursine unit of sticking together and seeing things through like they did in
episode “The Incredible Shrinking Molly” and the return of the strange
bedfellows’ axis of Khan and Karnage as seen in “On A Wing and A Bear.”
Had
it not been a comic before, Volcano
would have been the primary example of a TS fan-fiction story, paying tribute to
the series by amalgamating all the aforementioned elements and references,
turning it into a genuine and original story, so to speak. There’s the
constant battle between big and small businesses in the continuing war of
competition and dominance in capitalism that show in the words Rebecca stated in
Feminine Air:
“The
better businessperson will always
prevail.”
The
artwork is highly superior in structure and colour, all done in the aesthetics
of European comics’ artistry, like Albert Uderzo and René Goscinny of Asterix
and Obelix. The faces and body language/movements convey a full range of
emotions while maintaining the Disney-style traditional art form, done by the
Spanish-based Comicup Design Studio in
Even
more astonishing is Dwight Decker’s masterful interpretation and TS comic
writer Weiss’ dialogue clean-up to the script for TS fans to relate to make it
more adaptable to North American/English readers.
Volcano
of Gold, however, gets
half-a-demerit from achieving a 5 Krakatoa rating, mainly due to the artists’
failure to check the composites of
Gidget: I agree. Though the artwork is a bit quaint for my taste
(not the clean lines of the cartoon, but the detail is marvelous), I adore this
comic. It's also a good-sized comic (over 40 pages, I think) and takes up
about half the book.
jb:
41 pages, actually – I counted.
Gidget:
*coughanalretentivecough* Still, it's well worth buying for the serious
collector.
September 2005
A review by Gidget and Allie Ann
3½
Writer:
Bobbi JG Weiss
Artists: Jorge Sanchez / Roberto Bat
Lettering: Stan Sakai
Colouring: Tom Luth
Colossal Comics #6 (reprint)
Summary
Allie Ann: Reminds me a
little of Destiny Rides Again. I
almost expected Una to pop out of one of the shops.
Rebecca: Isn’t this fun? Oh, I want everything!
Baloo: Oh, c’mon, Becky… y’mean you’re not done yet?
Rebecca: Baloo, we just finished a very profitable delivery job. This is our reward!
Baloo: Lady, What kinda reward is bein’a pack mule?!
Kit: Give it up, Baloo!
Allie Ann:
If Rebecca always goes on a shopping spree after a profitable
delivery, it's amazing H4H isn't in constant financial trouble.
Maybe that's why she's always trying to line up extremely well-paying,
but dangerous, jobs.
Gidget: That’s
a good observation. Sort of
like Baloo checking out the ol’ job board in P&L (big bucks if the job is
nasty enough). I like
Becky’s cute hat and sunglasses.
Allie Ann:
Better than that ugly snood and eye shade she wore in The Balooest of the
Blue Bloods.
Gidget: *shudders* Get thee to a Victoria’s Secret shop…
pronto!
Allie Ann (as Baloo): Victoria sells secrets at her shop? Now I've seen everything.
(as
Yakko Warner): *kisses
hand* Good night, everybody!
Allie Ann:
And the B&B bickering is always good!
(as Kit): Says you.
You don't have to listen to it.
Baloo spots a group of male tourists gathered around and laughing at something, so he and Kit take off to shake off Becky’s girl cooties.
Allie Ann (as Baloo): *scratching* That explains this itchy feelin'.
Gidget: LOL!
Allie Ann: Hearing
some strange music, Rebecca is lured to a booth hocking voodoo dolls.
Though we as readers are shown that the voodoo doll is a hoax, Rebecca
honestly believes that it will make Baloo an employee of the month.
Armed with the doll plus some personal articles of Baloo's - fur,
fingernail clippings, and a button from his shirt - she sets to weave her spell
over her lazy employee. She'll do anything
to make a profit.
Coincidence after coincidence increases Rebecca's faith in the voodoo doll's powers. Baloo agrees to fly a man-eating Hokspitui jungle cat to the island of Longweyov after Rebecca straps the doll into the pilot's seat, he punches the jungle cat right after Rebecca hits the cat with the doll, and he falls out of a tree after Rebecca drops the doll. It's not only until the very end, when the Hokspitui eats its own voodoo doll does Rebecca learn her lesson.
Quibbles
& Quips
Allie Ann: I liked these lines:
(Baloo):
"I don't haul around anything that wants me between two big sesame seed
buns!" and "You play dirty pool, lady."
Allie
Ann: I liked the punny
names - Longweyov and Hokspitui. And
the line: "Maybe that your hocus was pocus all along."
Was
Rebecca's line "I'm closing! I'm
closing!" a ref to "I'm running! I'm
running!" from The Bigger They Are...?
Gidget:
Makes sense to me!
Allie
Ann: "Don't trouble
yourself with trouble" - a ref to P&L?
Gidget:
Has to be.
Allie
Ann: Liked Karny's line - "No, no, you are wider than I.
I insist you stand in front." The
fearless pirate, Don Karnage. :P
Commentary
Gidget:
So, out of 5 Krakatoa
Specials, I give it a 3½
Allie Ann:
*nods* I'd give it 3 out of 5 Krakatoas. Even though the artwork was first rate, "Voodoo
Baloo" didn't cast a mesmerizing spell over this Spinner.
It started out with a good premise, but the potentially magical storyline
vanished when the H4H gang stumbled upon a plot by Don Karnage and crew, thus
shifting the focus towards the pirates.
Gidget: I have to agree with you there. I feel like saying, “Enough with the bloody pirates already! Can’t we have a really cool Raiders-like adventure like in Colossal Comics #5?" I can’t believe I remember that…
Allie Ann: The Volcano of Gold, according to your review page. There pirates are in that one too. They're everywhere!
(as Karnage):
*modestly buffs nails* But of
course.
Gidget:
I want an adventure with magic, intrigue, death-traps, giant ants!
Allie Ann: Um,
minor point - the ants were in The Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, not Raiders.
;)
Gidget: (clamps
hand over Allie Ann's mouth) Very
minor. ;-) Genuine danger instead of pratfalls? I
like them in the right setting – say, the sky or Pirate Island, but Karnage
and his crew just aren’t that formidable compared to their debut in P&L.
Allie Ann:
True. Most of the time, they're
comic relief and not very threatening.
Gidget: Maybe I should just watch Raiders again and get my swashbuckler fix that way. :-)
Allie Ann:
*cracks whip*
Gidget:
*yelps off-stage*
Allie Ann: Sorry! *drops whip like a hot potato* Yeah, as I was saying, "Voodoo Baloo" was cute, and there were a couple of good lines, but I was kind of disappointed in the plot. I mean, they could have done more with the voodoo aspect, but since it was meant for kids, it couldn't have gotten any darker. What did you think of it?
Gidget: I liked the beginning (Becky making Baloo carry packages for her, pulling his hair, clipping his nails and his button! The B&B exchanges were good, but as the story got more complicated (pirates, Kit, natives that stepped straight out of a Carl Banks comic) it was weakened and didn't really go anywhere. I think it would have been cool if voodoo actually worked on Baloo, making him a model employee until Becky feels guilty for stripping him of his free will.
Allie Ann: I think it would have taken her days, maybe weeks, before feeling guilty for using voodoo on him, especially if he turned into the employee of her dreams. But you're right.
Gidget: Always! ;-)
Allie
Ann (gives Gidget a stern look): … that would have been more interesting
than bringing in pirates and natives, etc. I guess you could say the moral
of the story is that those who do voodoo might end up crying boo-hoo.
August 2008
The
Why of the Beholder
(short)
Writer: Bobbi JG. Weiss
Penciller: Horacio Saavedra
(3 out of 5 Krackotoa Specials)
Colossal Comics #3
Summary
This is a very simple story.
Wildcat is busy tightening a wrench in the Sea Duck's engine. When he's
done, wipes his greasy paws on the rag and puts his tools away. and
hangs it up in front of his houseboat, with the rest of his laundry. As he
puts his tools away, a passing customer --- a chubby bespectacled canine (who
resembles one of Don Rosa's generic dog characters) happens to see the rag
hanging, which is covered in paint, dirt and greasy and God knows what else.
The stains resemble abstract art, and the man is so impressed that he insists
(in mime) on paying Wildcat lots of Shaboozies for his 'masterpiece'. He
walks away, holding the rag by the edges, obviously excited by his latest
'discovery'. Bemused but much richer, Wildcat watches him go.
The final panel takes place at the Cape Suzette Museum of Modern Art.
Baloo, Rebecca, Kit, Molly and of course the artist himself looking at the now
handsomely-framed rag, dubbed, "The Great Unwashed". Nobody gets
it --- Baloo, Rebecca and Wildcat all have these expressions that plainly say,
'what-the-hell-is-that-supposed-to-be?' Kit looks embarrassed and Molly
gives her honest opinion by blowing a big raspberry.
Commentary
You may wonder why I gave this three
Krackatoas; it's not a great story by any means. If you've seen as much TV
as I have, you can pretty much see this gag coming a mile away. It's an
old joke that artists can use body paint, splattering or just puke on a piece of
canvas and pronounce it 'abstract art'. The art community will study it,
analyze it and declare the artist a genius, especially after he dies --- then
it's worth millions. This reminds me of an old Murphy Brown episode where,
she hangs up a doodle by her two-year-old son in a gallery as a joke.
Everyone raves about the artist's passion and anger, blah, blah, blah and a
particularly obnoxious patron declares that he will buy it from Murphy --- the
artist's 'representative', as it were --- $20,000.
Deciding the joke has gone far enough, Murphy tells him, "Sir, I should
tell you that this is the work of a child."
He insists on buying it, giving her a scornful look. "You know...
everyone was right. You just don't get it."
Shrugging, she takes the money. "Oh, I think I do."
They scorn 'ordinary' people
who react like the H4H gang and see a mess. The artwork is very good and
the colors deep and vibrant. This short comic has a modest ambition and
succeeds on a small scale --- it completely relies on conveying its story in
pictures without dialogue.
May 2003