Share This “In the age of mighty warriors he was the clumsiest of all!”

There’s so much work that goes into a Disney comic that it’s difficult to unpack it all, but we thought we’d take a quack at it with a look at everyone’s favorite mad mallard, Donald Duck. You’ll soon be able to go on a new adventure with him in Donald Quest—a 5-issue mini-series showcasing Donald in a medieval world, where he fights beasts like you’ve never seen before. Stefano Ambrosio, the writer behind Donald Quest as well as the beloved Wizards of Mickey saga, gave us an inside look at this new series.

Fear not, if you were worried that your favorites wouldn’t be in this storyline. Donald’s nephews: Huey, Dewey, and Louie, and Scrooge McDuck are along for the journey, as are Mickey and Minnie. As Ambrosio cryptically put it, “the plot starts from a big Mickey mistake …” That’s about all we got, but we can’t wait to find out more.

New to the Disney world though are the BeastBusters who, as you might imagine from their name, help Donald defeat villainous beasts. As with any story, comics often undergo multiple stages of development both for characters and for the art itself. The BeastBusters were originally drawn riding fantastical animals in lieu of vehicles, as can be seen below.

However, the writers realized there needed to be a clearer differentiation between those who are good and those who are bad—and as the villains control giant monsters that are like wild animals, the BeastBusters riding similar animals was scrapped. Talented Italian artist Andrea Freccero, the first person brought onto the Donald Quest project, put a lot of work into the look of the BeastBusters to make them humorous and lovable, so we’re happy his artwork gets to be seen here!

Unlike any other medieval fantasy world you’ve seen before, typically with forests, swamps, and kingdoms grounded on something like Earth, this comic takes place in Feudarnia which is, in fact, a galaxy. Yes, the forests and swamps are there but on giant floating islands in the void of space—how cool is that?! Ambrosio described each island or “berg as having their own peculiarity; like rivers on Waterberg, farmers like Grandma Duck on Quackberg, and of course, Duckberg, where Scrooge McDuck rules and business is plentiful.” The Meteormaster’s Base is even located on the Moon of the Dragon (which is also Ambrosio’s homage to a certain Japanese cartoon that fueled his passion for storytelling).

If that wasn’t exciting enough, Ambrosio also dropped references to some of the monsters Donald will encounter, the silly-looking Busterbot vehicles, and a very special hammer weapon to be used by Donald—all of which you can take a look at below:

Ambrosio thinks that kids especially will love these Meteorbeasts: giant animals that spit fire and acid slime. If that isn’t a terrifying danger, we don’t know what is!

Busterbots are the funny vehicles driven by the BeastBusters (trying saying that five times fast). There are different kinds of Busterbots but all of them look like a hoot to ride.

In the image above you can see the special Dragonite Hammer, which “glows purple when Meteorbeasts are close”. What we love most about this image is that although Donald Quest promises to deliver new adventures galore, you can still see the classic Donald traits that are so beloved. Sure, he may be “unlucky” (that hammer blow probably hurt a little) and gets frustrated at times, but he also is willing to put in all the effort necessary to reach his goal and be a hero.

These comics are not about changing the way we view these classic characters, but rather providing “whole new universe[s] to explore.” In Ambrosio’s own words, Donald already has a 360° personality and it’s about “pick[ing] what is already inside the character,” and expanding upon it. If you haven’t yet been convinced of all the fun to be read in Donald Quest, we leave you with this fun description, “in the age of mighty warriors, he was the clumsiest of all!”

Issue #1 of Donald Quest is now available. Click here to explore more and find out where you can buy near you!

Posted 2 years Ago