"Dangerous Currency" is a four-part comic book story that is a crossover between DuckTales and Darkwing Duck. Written by Ian Brill and illustrated by James Silvani and Jose Massaroli, it was published across the final two issues of the DuckTales and Darkwing Duck comic books published by Boom! Studios. The four parts of the story were published in the following issues:
Part 1 - DuckTales #5
Part 2 - Darkwing Duck #17
Part 3 - DuckTales #6
Part 4 - Darkwing Duck #18
The story was published without approval from the Walt Disney Company, and it received negative reception from fans, including backlash from former Boom! Kids editor Aaron Sparrow (who plotted the first arc, "The Duck Knight Returns" before being fired). For these reasons, the story arc is not considered canon, and as such, it is the only story arc from the Boom! Studios Darkwing Duck comic that was not reprinted in Darkwing Duck: The Definitively Dangerous Edition. Sparrow had planned to write a new Darkwing Duck/DuckTales crossover in the comic's continuation under Joe Books, but Disney cancelled the comic before such a story could see print, and later fired Sparrow from the next Darkwing Duck comic by Dynamite Entertainment; as a result, this story is now the only true Darkwing Duck/DuckTales crossover set in the original continuity, despite having been wiped from canon (unless one counts "The Legend of the Chaos God").
Somewhere in the shadows, a manipulative force has spread chaos throughout the cities of Duckburg and St. Canard and it's caught the attention of their two most famous residents, the trailblazing tycoon Scrooge McDuck and the daring do-gooder Darkwing Duck! Can these two larger-than-life luminaries work together to discover the source of the mayhem, or will all be lost in the pursuit of “Dangerous Currency”?
Trivia[]
Due to Boom! Studios losing the "core four" Disney comic book license earlier in 2011, this was notably the last comic book story featuring Scrooge McDuck, the Phantom Blot, and many of the characters from the Disney duck comics or DuckTales to be published in the United States until IDW Publishing resumed publication of the "core four" Disney comic titles four years later. However, between this story and IDW picking up the license, Daisy appeared in the comics published in Minnie & Daisy BFF Magazine, and Donald appeared in comic adaptations of the 2013 Mickey Mouse shorts, published in the Disney Comic Zone Summer 2013 Special. Scrooge also had a cameo in the newly-produced epilogue for Darkwing Duck: The Definitively Dangerous Edition.
This story is also notably, to date, the only appearance of Gandra Dee in any comic book story, and also M'Ma Crackshell's only comic book appearance until issue #20 of IDW's DuckTales '17comic.
This story was originally planned to be a light parody of Marvel Comics' Secret Invasion arc. This plotline was dropped when Christopher Burns departed from his position as editor in charge.
Warren Spector, who wrote the DuckTales comic's previous arc, was credited as a co-writer for this story. In actuality, however, Spector's only contribution to the story was the idea of Magica teaming up with Cinnamon Teal, Camille Chameleon, and Ammonia Pine to form the League of Eve-il. He had actually planned to use the League of Eve-il for a different story arc, but his idea was instead incorporated into this crossover.[1]
The "A" cover for Part 2 depicts Darkwing surrounded by Ma Beagle and the named Beagle Boys from DuckTales, along with Grandpa Beagle, but the story instead uses generic Beagle Boys like those from the original Uncle Scrooge comics.
The "A" cover for Part 3 prominently depicts Flintheart Glomgold swimming in Scrooge's Money Bin with Megavolt, Quackerjack, Liquidator, Magica, and Steelbeak, implying that he is working alongside the other villains. In the actual story, Glomgold is only briefly seen when Donald tells the people of Duckburg to take action against the slime, and he does not appear to be working alongside the villains.
The "A" cover for Part 4 is an homage to the comic book Uncanny X-Men Vol. 1 #101, which featured an image of the cosmic being Phoenix emerging from Jamaica Bay with some of her fellow X-Men. The cover of Darkwing Duck #18 places Gizmoduck in a similar pose (and position relative to the other characters) as Phoenix held.
In-jokes[]
Huey, Dewey, Louie, and Honker's monstrous transformations result in them turning into Chernabog, Monstro, Maleficent's dragon form, and Willie the Giant, respectively.
When Scrooge zaps Huey with the antidote, he is using his cane as a pogo stick, referencing the DuckTales NES game.
In the headquarters of the villains sit the skull and raven seen in Queen Grimhilde's secret witchcraft laboratory, and also the haunted Grandfather Clock from The Haunted Mansion (though it is miscolored as light orange, making it hard to spot).
Continuity errors[]
Drake acts as though he and Fenton have never met before in their civilian identities, but they previously met when Fenton came to stay at Drake's house in "Tiff of the Titans".
Huey, Dewey, Louie, Webby, Launchpad, and Gyro seem to be well aware that Fenton is Gizmoduck's secret identity, despite that they never actually learned of it on the show. Conversely, M'Ma Crackshell acts like Fenton never told her that he was Gizmoduck, despite that he already told her in their first appearance (and she has even worn the Gizmosuit herself at least twice).
_Issue_5A.jpg "DuckTales (Boom! Studios) Issue 5A.jpg (319 KB)")
_Issue_6A.jpg "DuckTales (Boom! Studios) Issue 6A.jpg (256 KB)")
_Issue_6B.jpg "DuckTales (Boom! Studios) Issue 6B.jpg (186 KB)")
