(I was actually disappointed when DW's dramatic freefall was broken in tongue-flapping, slapsticky fashion. DW's apparent decision to sacrifice his life for the sake of the others was even more impressive, with our hero completely foregoing any alliterative amplification of his daring deed and proceeding in an almost deadpan manner. Thanks to Gos' completely unexpected transformation into Gosmoduck, DW got quite a lot of help with the 'heavy lifting,' but I still cherished seeing him and LP eschew fancy gadgetry and deck The Steerminator with that tooth-loosening 'two-fer' punch.

DW, Gosalyn, and Launchpad, which is what we really wanted to see all along. (Perhaps Negs' apparent alliance with Magica De Spell had its roots in Negs' getting Magica's magical help to escape from the pokey.) Once Megavolt made his 'positively shocking' move, however, the 'knob contingent' receded into the background (or through the floor) and we were left with Taurus vs. Indeed, we never did find out what happened to Negs after Taurus Bulba's Crimebots arrested him. Well, we did get our heroes-and-villains 'cooperation sequence,' but without Negaduck getting involved. We also get frankly chilling call-backs to a couple of terrible DuckTales eps, but such is the quality of this miniseries that it actually gets some useful mileage out of them. Canard- Duckburg connection, which was barely explored in the TV series apart from Gizmoduck's occasional teamups with DW, will continue to feature in the future - and we get a 'bonding moment' between DW and Gosalyn that's every bit as good as the best such moments in animation. As a bonus, several more DuckTales regulars make appearances - one hopes that the burgeoning St. Ian Brill and James Silvani pilot the remarkable ' The Duck Knight Returns' safely into port with a slam-bang, surprise-filled final issue that segues perfectly into the start of the continuing series.

Darkwing Duck, Vol. 2 by Ian Brill