The first of two stories is Old Monteplumage Had a Chicken by Joey Cavalieri and finds the trio in possession of a golden chicken in a golden cage they find in an ancient temple.  Once let out of it’s cage the chicken comes to life and begins to grow and terrorize our heroes, well mostly Donald who it mistakes for an egg and tries to hatch. They manage to return the chicken to its cage after feeding it some enchanted cacao beans which shrink it back down to size.  They tested the beans on Donald who shrank down in size.  It was a bit of a jerk move on the part of Scrooge and Della to use Donald as a guinea pig, but you get the impression this treatment is not out of the ordinary. The story ends with Donald still teeny and the others joking about how their next adventure would be to get Donald back to normal size. The artwork of Gianfranco Florio captures the iconic looks of the characters and the world of Duck Tales in general.  The spirit of adventure and fun is there just as it was watching the original animated series as a kid.
The second tale, A Viking at My Door, also by Cavalieri follows a similar pattern to the first story.  The trio are out adventuring, get into trouble, and a solution is found which also has disastrous side affects on Donald. The trio find themselves investigating sheep mysteriously appearing in random refrigerators.  Clues lead them to a lost village of Vikings long hidden from the world.  Scrooge and company help the Vikings, and once more do so at at the unwilling expense of Donald, who is understandably unhappy at the end of the story. I can see why Donald would have stopped adventuring with Scrooge one day as he really is treated poorly. The art team of Antonella Delena, Andrea Greppi, and Roberta Zanotta delivers work that fits in seemlessly with the other story and keeps the established feel of the world of Duck Tales.
It was a fun read and brought me back to happy childhood memories. Â The only real criticism would be toning down the abusive behavior towards Donald. In a world where bullying is a real problem giving kids the message that being a bully is ok by having Scrooge and Della bully Donald might not be the best example to set and did greatly impact my opinion of the book.
Story: 2.5
Art: 3
Overall Rating: 2.75
[yasr_overall_rating size=”large”]
(W) Joey Cavaleri (A) Antonello Dalena, Andrea Greppi, Roberta Zanotta, Gianfranco Florio (CA) Marco Ghiglione
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