Disney Moby Dick starring Donald Duck

Disney Moby Dick, Starring Donald Duck by Francesco Artibani
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

A duck named Ishmael joins the crew of the Pequack and finds that Captain Quackhab is consumed with an obsessive desire to kill Moby Dick, the white sperm whale who swallowed his most prized possession: the first dime Quackhab ever made...

I'm one of those people who have successfully avoided reading Moby Dick for years, though I know all the beats of the plot since Moby Dick has saturated our pop culture over the years. On the heels of reading some Carl Bark's Uncle Scrooge, I decided to pick this up.

As you can tell by the title, this is basically Moby Dick starring Disney Characters. Donald Duck is Ishmael, Scrooge McDuck is Captain Ahab, and the nephews are Huqueg, Luqueg, and Duqueg. The Beagle Boys are also in attendance as crew members aboard the Pequack.

Two things surprised me about this. Firstly, it wasn't nearly as jokey as I thought. While there were jokes, they didn't overshadow the seriousness of the plot as much as I thought they would. Francesco Artibani managed to give Scrooge/Ahab some gravitas, not an easy feat considering we're talking about anthropomorphic ducks.

Secondly, the artwork is much more detailed and moody than I thought it would be. I was expecting someone doing their best Carl Barks impression. The artwork is more detailed and uses more blacks in the inking than I expected. Also, the use of perspective is on par with most super hero comics. There's a worm's eye view panel of Ahab standing at the mast of the Pequack with most of his crew hanging on it that's shades of Jim Steranko in its composition.

I can't think of anything bad to say about Disney Moby Dick, Starring Donald Duck. It was a nice read on a Saturday afternoon. Four out of five stars.

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