Ah, the Disney Afternoon. Back in the early 90s there was no place better for a kid to get his daily dose of cartoon goodness. With shows like Ducktales, Rescue Rangers, and Tailspin the animation block dominated the airwaves. Following the success that all three of those shows had, Darkwing Duck aimed to steal a slice of that pie.

Darkwing Duck found its home inside the universe of Ducktales. If you think of the show like a spin-off then you're on the right track. It didn't feature Scrooge McDuck, the nephews, or Duckburg, but somehow Gizmoduck and Launchpad McQuack made their way into the fold. Because it was a fresh take on a familiar concept (talking ducks, beagles, etc) the change in attitude felt a little disjointed.

Like many spin-offs Darkwing Duck never met the same level of popularity that its inspiration had. Maybe it had something to do with the different atmosphere or the fact that it catered towards a more adolescent male audience thanks to the overabundance of action. Unlike the widespread success enjoyed by the other Disney Afternoon shows, this one garnered more of a cult following. Whatever the case, the series stuck around for three seasons and 91 episodes.

Disney released the first volume of Darkwing Duck just about a year ago. The boxed set featured the first 27 episodes and offered the introduction of Darkwing Duck along with his twisted, dark world. With a heavy dose of inspiration coming from Batman, Darkwing Duck took on one bad guy after another with a certain degree of camp through into the mix. He teamed up with Gosalyn and Launchpad McQuack to form a crack crime fighting unit. Together they took on the likes of F.O.W.L. (Fiendish Organization for World Larceny), Steelbeak, Dr. Reginald Bushroot, and Megavolt. In the second installment of Darkwing Duck the adventures only get better (and sillier).

This time around we are once again treated with 27 episodes of Darkwing goodness. Throughout this collection the adventures are kept entirely episodic unlike the first set which featured "Darkly Dawns a Duck Parts" and "Just Us Ducks" as multi-episode story arcs. Like most shows on the Disney Afternoon, some of the episodes here are easy enough to take or leave. The quality varies and you really have to take into consideration the fact that this is a children's show. No matter how old you were when you originally watched it, your impressions of many episodes will no doubt vary later in life.

The weaker episodes from this collection aren't poor quality for just one example in particular. For whatever reason the ideas weren't as inspired and the writing was not as good as some of the other episodes you'll find here. "The Secret Origins of Darkwing Duck", "Let's Get Respectable", "Dances with Bigfoot", "All's Fahrenheit in Love and War", and "Darkwing Doubloon" stood out in my mind as the least favorable experiences in this boxed set. I suppose for me personally it was the content of each episode that left something to be desired. For instance, in "The Secret Origins of Darkwing Duck" a janitor from the future tells the tale of Darkwing Duck at a museum. I appreciate the attempt to do something different and break from formula but the writing here just wasn't capable of holding up to the premise.

Those five episodes were the roughest patches in this collection and once you get past them the rest of the material is very entertaining. Like the first boxed set (and other Disney Afternoon shows) you have to leave your brain at the door in most circumstances. These episodes are aimed at children and as such never become very engaging. If you can appreciate comic book characters and light entertainment you'll be quite pleased.

A prime example of Darkwing Duck at its best is easily "Life, the Negaverse, and Everything". In this particular episode Darkwing Duck is fighting against the Fearsome Five when he stumbles into another dimension. Like all good comic books he meets his evil twin, NegaDuck, in this alternate universe. For my money NegaDuck was always the best Darkwing villain because, after all, he was an evil counterpart to our hero. In the end Darkwing Duck has to team up with the Friendly Four in order to defeat NegaDuck and get back to his own world.

"Time and Punishment" was another fun, well-constructed episode of Darkwing Duck. In this adventure Gosalyn inadvertently gets drawn into the future with MegaVolt and Quackerjack. Once there they realize that things have turned out much differently than expected. Darkwing Duck has become a Dark Warrior and his crime fighting mentality has been taken to the extreme. He rules St. Canard and has taken the pursuit of justice to a severe degree all because Gosalyn disappeared some time ago (when she traveled into the future).

A few other examples of Darkwing Duck's quality are "Dead Duck" (where Darkwing dies and pursues MegaVolt before Death can get him), "Planet of the Capes" (which features a superhero planet in trouble), and "Twitching Channels" (MegaVolt sends Darkwing to the human world where Darkwing Duck is a TV show). Throughout this collection there are many episodes that personify the kind of show Darkwing Duck was. The series was an irreverently comical spoof of superheroes and to this day much of it remains timeless. Some of the writing could be better and due to some lapses in quality the show is not as widely endearing as it should be.

In the end if you ever found yourself glued to the TV during the Disney Afternoon, or just appreciated other shows like Ducktales and Rescue Rangers, you'll want to check out Darkwing Duck. It's a throwback to a golden age of children's cartoons and is almost as entertaining today was it was back then. If you were a fan of the show or ever had a love of comic books you owe it to yourself to check out the second 27 episode collection of Darkwing Duck.