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TaleSpin Comics: The Long Flight Home/Catch Of The Day Rant

Reviewed: 12/29/2013
Additional Commentary: 12/19/2025

Welcome To The Wacky World Of TaleSpin Comics, Part Five!

Original Release: 12/00/1991 (The Long Flight Home/Catch Of The Day).

Well, it's official. I have decided to officially consider the comics as canon. Not every comic book though; just the ones that at least make sense in terms of happening in the TaleSpin world. So no; that comic involving humans does not count in anyway. Although despite not being canon in my eyes, I'll review it anyway for fun. (2025 Gregory Weagle Says: Mission Maybe Sort Of A Little Impossible, everyone. Which I have finally ranted on and that'll be on this website soon. It is as messy as everyone says it is.) I decided to start with one of the most interesting stories of the entire comic book run which is TaleSpin #7, which is also known as "The Long Flight Home". What is this story you may ask? Take Kit and Molly having a second babysitting adventure. Only this time we make it more global, have Kit be so paranoid about losing his family, dive through just a sample of Kit's back story and even add a debate on Molly's father and what might have happened to him. I know Brendala has reviewed this story and she thinks it's the best one she has ever seen; and with the two massive angles in all this, it's not hard to see why. (It's the kind of story that makes you want to see origin stories of other characters and make even more connections with Kit's past as well. Sadly, the comics imploded before more could be seen.) "Catch Of The Day" is basically a story of the TaleSpin crew outsmarting Don Karnage in an attempted theft raid. It is hilarious how Kit and company got out of this, too. What do I think of these stories?! Let's rant on shall we...?!

The Long Flight Home is written by Bobbi JG Weiss which pops the bubble that this was written by the television side of the TaleSpin team. The artwork was done by Horacio Saavedra, Oscar F. Saavedra, Robert Bat and Ruben Torreiro. Catch of the Day is written by Bobbi JG Weiss and artwork is done by Larry Mayer. According to Lambiek: Larry Mayer worked for the American production of Disney comics for foreign publications since the late 1960s. He did various covers, and worked as an inker of Tony Strobl's work. He worked as a penciller on stories with characters like 'Scamp' and 'Chip 'n' Dale'. He also worked as an inker for the newspaper comics. He briefly inked Floyd Gottfredson's 'Mickey Mouse' in the 1970s. He then had a long run on Sparke Moore's 'Winnie the Pooh' daily, before he inked Pete Alvarado's daily 'Donald Duck' strip in the late 1980s. He continued working with Disney comics at Gladstone until the 1990s. I do know that some of the stories are television episodes that were adapted to the comics; but Bobbi has not done TaleSpin television episodes at all. (2016 Gregory Weagle Says: I do know at least one Ducktales television writer who worked on TaleSpin comics; but that is the extent of it.) However; Bobbi has done DTVA episodes on television before and Bobbi is one hell of a writer by comic book standards. Bobbi did a really great job in terms of writing the comic books in spite of some of the continuity errors. She captured the characters pretty well for the most part. Although they can go to the extremes sometimes; but at least those can be written off as mere quirks. (Also, some of it is hilarious to watch. Rebecca's motive to go with Baloo in Flight Of The Sky Raker was hilarious.) Timon & Pumbaa is her DTVA debut on the television side doing two episodes; and also did four episodes of Pocket Dragons along with doing all three movie scripts for the Doomsday Trilogy. She also worked as a production secretary for The Golden Girls. The stories were edited by David Weiss which is mostly editing for Disney comics. Bobbi has a website and here is her official resume, along with David's as well: https://www.weisswriters.com/resume.

Opening Moment #1: Kit and Molly are shown with the CHEST OF DEMONS labelled with various place around the TaleSpin world in a tropical forest at night with various moster heels wanting to kill and torture these kids with clubs judging by their faces. The labels show Cape Suzette and Thembria for the obvious destinations. There are two other destinations that aren't part of the story though! (I believe one of them was Port Tarboad and the other sticker appears to be Poaustark or something among those line. Neither one is very clear though.)

The Long Flight Home: We begin this one inside Rebecca's apartment as Kit is complaining about babysitting Molly. This surprises Baloo because he thought he liked being with Molly. Then again; It Came From Beneath The Seaduck was not exactly one of Kit's better days. (Let's see: nose stepped on, a squid battle, the Air Pirate almost succeeded in kidnapping Molly, Rebecca thinking Kit was irresponsible and Kit corpsing when he said no to klonking his head on the chairs again.) Kit is upset because Baloo and Rebecca are going to Winger City without him, since Winger City has a huge aviation museum there. I must say this that this is one thing that the modern era of cartoons would have shunned since it's considered an "educational place". How dare Kit Cloudkicker think that kids would suddenly like to go to an "educational place"?! Kit should be wanting to go to the Winger City fair or something like that instead. (Because the execs want kids to relate to them completely, and it means from the place of rich, white, old male business "people".) But no, he wants to gain more knowledge on airplanes. Baloo tries to point out that this is a business trip, but Kit does the Gruffi pose and is not buying this since it's going to take a full weekend to meet one client. Brendala in her review claimed that she thinks Kit believes that this is merely a ruse for an overnight date. Even if that's true; so what?! I thought Kit wanted a family. Sometimes the adults want time together to have fun. (Brendala did say it in jest, but I put nothing past this show to do something like that behind Kit's back.) Baloo points out that there are moments where you have to do stuff you don't like to do, which Kit blows off because he keeps doing these moments every single day. Before this argument becomes heated; Molly comes out of the room and Rebecca comes after her with her coat telling Kit that the money is on the table. Rebecca also tries to dodge the obvious, which fails because Molly claims that it is for ice cream. Sadly; they don't mention Frosti Pep which was the brand of ice cream in It Came From Beneath The Seaduck which was Kit's first babysitting job. Rebecca tells Kit that Wildcat will come over later to spend the night with them -- which is a really good choice here -- and she thinks they will be both fine by then.

Both adults leave as Molly states that she will have a lot of fun with Kit. (You don't say, Molly?! I don't doubt you for a second.) Kit isn't so happy about that; but he has no choice; so there you go. After the door closes; Molly is so giddy about spending two days with Kit. So much so that she asks if Kit wants to cosplay a big brother. Kit isn't thrilled, but accepts anyway. Oh; this is going to be fun to mock. (Considering that they act like long lost siblings from the start of Plunder and Lightning Part II, even better.) Molly grabs Kit's arm and proclaims that she wants to play "Sibling Rivalry". (Molly is not going to allow him to be "broken into" this babysitting job. At least she didn't sneak up from behind like in the first babysitting job.) The rules of engagement are that Kit pretends to break Molly's toys and they pretend Rebecca is yelling at him. (I love sick burns that aren't supposed to be sick burns!) Brendala stated that Molly's worldview on what a brother is; to say the least is warped. Actually; if you recall, in Plunder and Lightning Part III; during Kit's fake heel turn to save his new family, he ripped the head off of Lucy's doll to get the Sub-Electron Power Amplifier out, then yelled for Molly to shut up, making her cry. So, this was a shout out of sorts to Plunder and Lightning. Also, this would be not the last time in this story and yes; this is funny and not as warped as Brendala thinks it is. Kit ignores the idea as Molly then wants Kit to cosplay Baloo with her as Rebecca Cunningham yelling at him. Okay; that is warped. (That is Molly's second sick burn on Kit and Kit don't care anymore because he's not amused by doing these jobs anymore.) Kit then blurts out that this is not fair. See, he's tired of being bossed around which never happened before which is odd since in the television series; Kit didn't mind responsibility. Sure; he had this attitude in Flight School, and even Stormy Weather; but not for petty stuff like this. I think if this made television, this would have to be edited a bit. Molly tells him that he's not alone in this and then we hear a knock on the door. (Molly is saying this because she knows how it feels as a kid and Rebecca is a bossy character. I think Kit was more appalled that BALOO was being bossy than Rebecca being herself actually.) Molly goes to answer it; but Kit stops her. See; it's bad form to open the door without at least peeking through the eye hole to see who's there.

Kit bails and returns with a pink chair and stands on it. He looks into the eye hole and then panics. See; there is a brown suit, brown hat dog nose at the door with a striped tie and a white enevlope, which sadly changes to almond color later on. Kit addresses him as Mr. Witherspoon. (Uh-oh! The beginning of the paranoia is seeping into Kit now because they have met before.) We then HIT THE FLASHBACK FROM HELL~! It's a two tone color effect -- which is neat -- as we see Mr. Witherspoon without the wrinkles on his face at his desk in his office with papers doing some sort of radio message. I'm guessing Kit was hiding behind the window at the time; otherwise, this flashback makes no sense. (This is what Whistlestop Jackson, Legend got right and Molly Coddled got very, very wrong.) Anyhow; he warns that all hobos found without airplane tickets will be sent to jail. More importantly; he hates little hooligans on the street so much that any orphans found en route will be sent to the orphanages. (If anyone thinks CPS never existed in 1936, history sides with me. To be fair, it doesn't mean CPS was never corrupt, even today actually.) We return to reality (no, not really) as Molly asks who it is and Kit calls Witherspoon a salesman who sells brushes which he needs none. Kit races to the phone and tries to call Wildcat; but there is no answer. Why is Rebecca's apartment filled with pink objects?! I get that this show is supposed to attract the female audience as well as the male audience; but pinkifying the scene is not the way to do it. I'm just saying. When Cubbi was a pink Gummi Bear; people respected him because he had a likable personality in spite of the pink color. And Cubbi's a boy. Okay?! (By the way, the French version of all the TaleSpin comics really used toy like colors like they were trying to make the comic appeal to toddlers. Which is a total fool's errand. Most of the other languages for the most part kept the original, or colorized them to within the boundaries of good tastes.) Kit tells Molly to get the wagon because they are going to Higher...For...Hire. Molly asks why. Kit yells at her like a bossy boss. Molly isn't exactly amused by this; but decides to go; calling Kit awfully bossy. I was hoping she would say "ironically bossy" since this is a form of irony and projection on Kit's part.

However; I do not know if Molly has the ability to understand the word irony without thinking "iron" as in metal or the iron used to press pants and shirts. (Considering that she understands the word "kill", I think she can understand the word "iron" at least.) We head to Higher...For...Hire as Kit and Molly make it in the red wagon. Molly is complaining about not bringing her toys and only having Lucy with her, which is a neat shout out to Plunder and Lightning Act II/III. Kit offers to make breakfast for both Lucy and Molly; and Molly asks why they cannot have breakfast at home. Kit just states that he thinks it's a better idea to have it here. (Somehow, I don't think Molly is buying anything Kit is selling right now.) They head inside the kitchen as we see Kit making oatmeal on the stove while Molly is at the table with Lucy. Apparently; Wildcat left some dounuts on the side table in a blue bowl; and Molly wants that instead. Kit simply pours oatmeal into the bowl and gets off the educational line of the comic stating that oatmeal is better. Oatmeal is better for low fat, low carb diets in general. However; dounuts have higher iron, vitamins and minerals amount; although in most cases the difference is too small to be worth it. Except for iron. If you have low iron in the body; you might as well eat the dounut and then exercise the bad stuff out later. (Because iron supplements are bad, former self?! Methinks there is hypocrisy in our mists.) Kit tells Molly to stay put as he'll go outside to talk to WildCat. Molly agrees to that; because she really wants to steal Wildcat's dounuts. (I don't blame her. Kit is being extremely sus in his attitude right now.) Kit goes over to the door thinking about what to say; and then gasps in horror because Mr. Witherspoon has followed him to the docks. Kit is so panicky that he hears Mr. Witherspoon's voice in his own head telling him that he won't hurt him and this leads to the PTSD FLASHBACK FROM HELL~! I know Brendala was surprised that Disney allowed this; but this is really mild compared to the PSTD most soldiers and real people suffer in real life when trauma occurs. Kit is basically around seven years old at this point and he isn't even wearing the green sweater at this point.

Mr. Witterspoon is ordering his men -- both dog noses wearing pants, shoes and sweaters. One had a punkish style haircut for some strange reason -- to grab Kit; which they succeed. I love how he acts so concerned about not hurting Kit; since he acts like a meanie the rest of the scene. Kit is struggling hard; but manages to escape stage left as they go after him. Wow, just wow. Even though this scene is awfully tame in terms of PSTD episodes; it's still a bit of a surprise that Disney allowed this. Then again; Disney BS&P was probably looser with comics compared to the television series considering that this is the same comic brand that allowed a TaleSpin story of a race of hounds be as close to being legit Nazis as they could without actually being legit Nazis, something Disney did their darnest to avoid in the television series. The story was "The Hounds Of War" I do believe and maybe I can review that one later. (The story as I and Luara Ann Trombley have pieced together is as follows: When the show was in writing and production, Danny Mann was supposed to be the voice of Colonel Spigot as seen in several memos Steet obtained for the beat notes regarding Gruel & Unusual Punishment. According to Laura and Michael Gough who was the voice of Colonel Spigot, Michael was brough in because has had to redo the lines of Danny Mann's Colonel Spigot because the original plan was that the Themberians were legit Nazis. Yes, they were already in development on Gruel & Unusual Punishment (which was late into the series) with the notion that the Thembrians were Nazis. This was changed to vague Russians and Cold War references, even though several uniforms wore by the Thembrians were similar to Nazi's even in the final product! Danny Mann got no heat for this despite the change because he didn't write anything. How this got even that far is unacceptable! Sadly, Doug Gray didn't get the memo on "No more Nazis" in the comics either. It was a total mess.) Oh; and there is even a short Jewish holiday story using the Thembrians too! TaleSpin comic stories are nuttier than the television episodes. This was more in line with a television episode by the way.

On another related note; I think I get what is going on here. I think Kit saw Witherspoon giving this edict while hiding behind a window of his office because that actually makes the next flashback make even more sense. In fact; that is how I pictured it going if this made television. Sadly; they didn't show Kit's face in the first flashback with Witherspoon; because if they did; then it's easy to figure out how he was found out by Witherspoon and his squad of "Aviation Temperance". We return to reality (no, not really) as Kit runs up to his bedroom proclaiming that Mr. Witherspoon will never put him in an orphanage again and no one is going to tell him or make him go there ever again. He goes to his bed and takes out some stuff saying that Wildcat can look after Molly when Rebecca comes back. The irony of this is that if she does come back with Baloo; Baloo is going to notice Kit is gone and go after him. Because if you recall in Stormy Weather; without Kit around; he is one miserable guy and is only half of the being he usually is. Kit changed his life and Baloo is not going to let that one slide away from him. (This is another example of Kit Cloudkicker having a hard time trusting adults because to him, the law would be on Witherspoon's side of things because of the old "what's best for the child" angle.) Kit finds the blue airplane model and twirls the props as he proclaims that he finally got is wish to gain his freedom back; and he's not thrilled about it either. Kit is stuffing a CHEST OF DEMONS with stuff as he is not amused by the fact that he has never gotten so much stuff which is a great sign of the difference between him before he met Baloo and after he met Baloo. Kit goes to the window and yells for rope as we see Molly noticing him and looking confused. (Kit is in such a fluster that he has no idea that Molly is onto him and is not going to let Kit run away without her being involved.) We head outside as Kit pulls the CHEST OF DEMONS down to ground level of the office. In the background; we hear Wildcat telling Mr. Witherspoon that Rebecca and Baloo will not be here until tomorrow night. Witherspoon is not happy about this; but he off-screen tells WildCat to give this envelope to them when they return.

We see Kit dragging the CHEST OF DEMONS away and struggling more than usual. He gets another flashback of him saying that he has no family and no home, we get Baloo saying to forget about it as they are partners and a team. Which is a shout out to Plunder and Lightning act III. I would say that this was glossing over Kit's air pirate past. However, as you'll see later, that was not the case. (Bobbi Weiss knew how to write a serial series well. Better than anyone from The Adventure Of Teddy Ruxpin. Problem is, TaleSpin is episodic and a rush job.) Kit realizes that he's to the right side of a green car which the driver is Mr. Witherspoon. Thankfully; there is a cheese colored van which Kit hitchhikes into the back and somehow the idiot of the van doesn't have the back locked up since Kit gets in easily. We get a short scene of the van driving side by side with Mr. Witherspoon's car and we head to the Cape Suzette Air Field; from the Freight entrance. We already jump cut to Kit looking at a purple plane. Kir looks around and sees a ">" symbol encircled on the side of the plane and Kit sees this as a great sign. (This is very important for the entire story and the ending.) We overhear someone addressing an anthro named Carl, who would appear to be an albino beaver of sorts in an all blue bodysuit with his tools talking to a nameless dog nose wearing a blue fur coat with blue boots and pants along with pilot goggles and a large scruffy beard. Carl informs him that the plane is refueled and ready to go. Kit drags the CHEST OF DEMONS through the side door. (Kit's security might be weak as hell right now, but his body is clearly strong when he knows how to do judo.) The door closes and the plane flies into the sky as Kit proclaims that he doesn't need anyone to take care of him; he can do it before and he can do it better this time. (I'm not so sure this time, since it's been awhile since you trained your street smarts, going to book smart tactics since Rebecca was around.) He does give one last goodbye to Poppa Bear and it appears that he's shedding tears for him. (This shows that this goodbye is very different from the old times Kit had to leave: Kit feels like he has to betray him again to save himself and his own found family. Kit didn't want to leave Baloo because Baloo, Rebecca, Molly, WildCat and Louie all accepted him. There is a lot more to this, but we have trouble...)

However, that is interrupted by the sound of the CHEST OF DEMONS thumping around. Then a familiar voice is protesting this outrage; so Kit opens the CHEST OF DEMONS and it's Molly Elizabeth Cunningham. Geez; what a shock that is?! Kit asks what she is doing here and Molly claims that she got bumped a lot. Heh. (Damn, she should not be getting concussions at six years old.) Kit stammers as Molly also claims that she get rid of most of his stuff just to get inside and fit in. HAHA! (That's sick burn #3 for Molly in this episode.) Kit is not happy about this; but Molly does give Kit the blue model airplane because she knows Kit likes it. HAHA! (That's sick burn #4!) Kit slumps down next to the wall of the airplane groaning because Molly isn't supposed to be here. (Neither should Kit be here, but paranoia sucks and then he might die...) Molly asks why he is going away and also has an inkling that it has something to do with Mr. Witherspoon with Kit did something horrible to him. Or something. (Well, I guess not submitting to Whiterspoon would qualify as doing something horrible to him, Molly.) Kit states that he didn't do anything to him. (Riiiigggghhhhhttt Kit. Running away from his own "best interests" wasn't doing anything to him.) Kit explains that the man who was talking to Wildcat is the one who looks for hobos who stow aboard planes and any that are considered orphans are taken to the orphanage. (Considering that there is ample evidence in real life of child abuse in orphanages in any year, to put it mildly, I can see why Kit thinks orphanages are worse than jail!) So, to Jymn Magon: they existed in the 1800's which is much earlier than in TaleSpin time period. Just because Disney BS&P hates you doesn't make them false. (Wait a second, former self?! If BS&P hates him, then you're basically saying Jymn Magon hates himself?! Come on, now; that is totally absurd!) With that said; Kit not being in an orphanage actually makes more sense now than it did when I originally wrote commentary on the mystique of Kit Cloudkicker. So, my fanfics are pretty much useless now. Kit thinks Whiterspoon is here to take him to one as Molly gleefully points out that he lives with them; so he should stop freaking out and tell him that he lives here. HAHA! (More on that in a moment because both sides have a valid argument here.)

Kit cuts her off proclaiming that this is his only option now because he is sick of doing stuff on everyone else's terms but his. (Kit still thinks he's 21. I wonder where Simon Squirrel and Brenda Bear got their attitudes from?! No worries, that lead to an awesome finish during a rollerskating event in Peppa Pig.) Kit proclaims that he refuses to be in an orphange and he has made his decision. Then he points at Molly and tells her that she's going back to Cape Suzette causing Molly to stand her ground and refuse. Now THIS is sibling rivalry at it's best. HAHA! Brendala loved this and I do too; but Brendala misspoke that "she really is Rebecca's daughter". Actually; what she meant was: "She really is Rebecca Junior". HAHA! (Both arguments are valid former self.) Brendala also brings out an important and good point here: Kit's actions do have a considerable amount of justification behind them although his use of "freedom" as an excuse is so worn out at this point that it makes him look like a whiner. Here's the thing: Kit Cloudkicker is not exactly in a safe working environment nor a safe place with Higher For Hire. His job is in fact dangerous and that is before the cloud surfing and even the danger of Air Pirates comes into play. (Kit Cloudkicker being a former air pirate also factors into this. That alone would kill the found family dead.) I think Kit realizes that it's not enough to just simply standing up for himself and telling Witherspoon "I live here. I have a parent. Go away." that is going to solve this problem. That's because Kit probably realizes that Baloo would probably not have custody of him and Witherspoon would have very good reasons not to allow it to be granted. Kit believes that if he is going to have to part ways with Baloo; he'll do it on his own terms. Unlike Stormy Weather and even Flight School where Kit left on his own terms because of Baloo's jealousy towards him or Dan Dawson; this one is more of self-preservation than anything else. Kit -- like Baloo is miserable without them together -- and in his mind; Witherspoon doesn't give a damn about it simply because he has a cause to deliver and he doesn't want to look like a hypocrite. Molly simply cannot fully understand that because Kit is very complex and his back story here just demonstrate it. (Oh, great ready because later on, the backstories become even more tragic.)

I can only imagine how this would come off on television if Michael Eisner wasn't such an idiot in milking Baloo, Louie and Shere Khan; and focused on making new characters who can be milked that Eisner could call his own even if he had little to no input on the direction of the production at all. (Yeah, like Disney's Adventures Of The Gummi Bears for instance.) Angles like this is what made TaleSpin stand the test of time; and I love that Bobbi Weiss understands that. Kit and Molly are having a brother/sister squabble when suddenly the scruffy orange bearded pilot turns around from the cockpit and notices that there is a brother and sister argument in his cargo hold. Kit proclaims that they are not really brother and sister; which Molly responds that they are. Now that is funny! I love real comments that aren't supposed to be real comments. (That is sick burn #5 from Molly Cunningham and the biggest one so far.) The pilot claims that someone is wrong here; and my money is sadly in Kit being wrong. Kit addresses himself as Cloudkicker and the pilot is in shock as Kit is mentioning that he is going to Freeport. The pilot asks if he is Kit Cloudkicker; and Kit states that he is. The pilot is so happy to see him because apparently someone named Grammy Gumpshin told him about it. Wow; that is almost sounds like Grammi from Gummi Bears. Sadly; while she has a similar personality to Grammi, they are clearly not the same character as you will see. Molly asks if they are going to go thrown out of the plane; and the pilot finally explains the "circular <" symbol; which is the symbol that this is a hobo friendly aircraft. Therefore they will not turn the hobos over to the police. The pilot decided to modify the flight plan a little bit; and it's all Kit's fault of course. It is because Kit is coming home to Freeport as he mentioned Grammy and someone named Gummer; which must be the father of Gunner & Murphy! AHHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! (What a bad father then?!) We head to an airfield outside of Freeport, which is next to a restaurant called "Good Eats". (This has to be a rib on me, somehow. It's not.) The pilot, Molly and Kit are already on the air strip as Molly asks if this is where he used to live and Kit states that before joining the Air Pirates, he lived here when he wasn't traveling around.

There is a forest to the west and Kit states that the hobo's camp is in that forest. Sadly; the pilot doesn't have time to visit with Kit and Molly, so he tells Kit to say "hello" for him when he meets up with Grammy. Both kids thank him and sadly; we get our first coloring mistake of the comic story as Kit's baseball cap is completely red. We finally head in the forest as we see a camp of sorts as a gray female bear wearing a pink apron like dress with glasses on is sitting in a chair and knitting. I swear to god that it is Baloo's mother. (Wow, I forgot about this former self. It would have been completely amazing to end the series if Baloo's mother had enough of the royal family like Baloo did and disappeared.) Beside him there is a brown panther like fury with white sideburns who has vision problems holding a cane sitting down. He is wearing a green vest with an orange shirt on. Then a white rabbit wearing a blue vest is running in and I was disappointed when I found out that he wasn't the White Rabbit from Alice In Wonderland. In fact; if this episode made TV, I betcha he would cameo here. It would not be out of place since Jock from Lady & Tramp (A Bad Reflection On You Act II; Don refers to him as Scottie) and Elliot the Dragon from Pete's Dragon (Bullethead Baloo - and yes, there is a story about a dragon in the Talespin comics) also cameoed in the television series. (Just pretend it's the white rabbit's son and move on, former self.) The rabbit runs in as I discover later on that his name is Grapevine; announces that Kit Cloudkicker has returned. Kit runs in and he addresses the gray bear as Grammy; so the brown panther is indeed Gummer. I'm guessing Grammy hugs Kit in between scenes since the comic strip shows it as Grammy doing the embrace pose. Gummer asks how the little pirate is doing which means that they already knew about is which doesn't make a lot of sense when you consider later on. (Not really. I think Don Karnage allowed Kit to write to them to inform them where he was going to be to make sure none of them bothered him. That would make sense.) Kit states that the pirate thing didn't work out so well. He is so damn modest as Gummer blows him off and calls him a stubborn cuss for not listening to him. Then he tells him to never change. HAHA! (Well, he sort of changed because his depature from Baloo is not because Baloo lost Kit's trust.)

Grammy sits down to do some further knitting as she states that Grapevine informed them about Kit's relationship with Baloo and asks how he has been treating him. Molly runs in claiming that Kit has ran away which stuns Grammi. She asks who started that rumor as Kit introduces Molly to Grammi. Molly explains that Mr. Witherspoon is after him as Gummer and Grammy mock him as a busy-body. (What a shocker?!) Kit decides to change the subject and wouldn't you know it, he asks for someone called Bushwah Beacon out of nowhere. This is why Kit's back story is so intriguing; because there is so many ideas to crib from this alone, and it would be fun to see how much of it the writers do screw up and don't. Sadly; this comes as a huge risk to splintering the audience when it comes to canon. TaleSpin is not an easy show to write about; the fact that Bobbi Weiss did a great job of it; shows how good she is as a writer. If this show was an easy show to write about; then why did they choose the ducks and chipmunk shows over it?! (Because kids just want comedy according to the jealous Warner Brother lusting execs. I'm getting the impression that Bushwah and Kit were partners like Kit is with Baloo, given how easily Kit was willing to talk about him.) Gummer blows Bushwah off because he hasn't been seen nor heard in a long time. Then we see a dog like furry (I think; I cannot tell with that orange/brownish hair style he has on his head) wearing a blue/white striped shirt with purple vest on walk in and accuse Bushwah of claiming all these wild adventures; but then bumming a ride and going weeks on end without being seen nor heard of. Grammy blows off Bushwah's adventures as mere tall tales as Gummer asks Kit if he wants to be a hobo again and even offers Molly a chance at the lifestyle. Kit proclaims that as soon as he can hitch a ride back to Cape Suzette. I discover that the dark furred dog (I think) is addressed by Grammy as Roy Boy Rudder. (That name sounds sort of familiar - could it be the booking name Dan Green used in Thicker Than Water?) Roy Boy Rudder tells us that the only way back this week is a flight to Kane Island first to drop off some cargo and then back to Cape Suzette.

Gummer orders Kit not to take the flight as Grammy points out that hobos have never come back; and the police refuse to investigate because they are hobos see. And fans of iCarly are SHOCKED when we point out how beyond the pale offensive hobo jokes are?! (Or the torture porn on Freddie in "imeetfred".) Grammy tells them all to stay away from the island as Rudder blows it off as a tall tale of Bushwah for crap and giggles. Grammy invokes the KNITTING NEEDLE OF DEATH to reinforce the point that she is right about this and doesn't poo-poo the fact that Kane Island is a bad ticket. (Poo-poo means she doesn't bullshit the facts. It's a informal logical fallacy, which explains Rudder scoffing at the notion.) You know what; I was wrong. I originally thought poo-poo in Fish Hooks was silly; but here's 1990 and a 65 year old woman is using the phrase in a slightly different context. So, having a poo-poo day is not silly at all. What a fool I am?! (I'm glad someone like former self will admit time and time again how wrong he can be.) Kit proclaims that he has no choice because he has to get Molly back to Cape Suzette before Rebecca shows up from her client meeting. All Grammy says that he is a free spirit; but he has heard the facts now and the decision is up to him. I just love how they come out and say that to a 12 year old kid as if he was an adult because in today's world; kids cannot give consent, let alone misinformed consent. Although in Grammy's case; it wasn't exactly misinformed. (In fact, she was right that this was a bad ticket. However, it led to some amazing stuff about Kit and Molly.) We scene change to Wildcat's boathouse as Wildcat looks at the package which is now officially almond in color with a white tag on the front. Wildcat was of course cleaning poop and stuff from the plumbing pipes and almost gets some of that crap on the envelope. Which is another shout out to Plunder and Lightning Act 2 when WildCat was introduced to Rebecca Cunningham. I didn't even realize it was poop that was on Wildcat's hands until I saw enough modern cartoons to know that they these things were not unusual. (Now that was the literal feeces version of "poo-poo".) Wildcat goes into the office and places the envelope on the desk wondering what is inside since Witherspoon was so interested in talking to Miz Cunningham. And yes; even in story line, Witherspoon addresses Rebecca as "Miz" Cunningham.

Also; Witherspoon's first name is Julius by the way. We head to Kane Island which has a number of building down near the coast and a long paved airstrip. Then in another HOLY CRAP moment; on the left side of the airstrip, there is some symbol cut from the sugar cane area. HOLY CRAP! That's the anarchist symbol! Wow; just wow. Has Gargoyles ever used that symbol, because this is the first time I have ever noticed it in DTVA in any form; television or comic. A red prop plane starts to land as Kit notices that they are on Kane's Island as Molly points out the anarchist symbol and calls it funny. Kit notices it and panics and proclaims that they are in big trouble. We cut to inside the cargo hold as the side door opens up and Kit orders Molly to hide behind the cargo while they are unloading the cargo. Sadly; it's clear that they were noticed because the cat furry in the blue bodysuit (without the cap) is signing papers with a dog furry pilot; and is in the clear line of sight to see the kids. Molly is confused and asks why. Kit points out that the island has a different mark which is a mark of warning. Yeah; it's the mark of the anarchist Kit! That's not good. (Probably used because Disney are not allowed to use confederate nor Nazi symbols anymore, which is for the best.) Also, it makes no difference as the cat, wold and warthog furry -- all wearing light blue guard suits; with the wolf and warthog wearing hats -- surround Kit and Molly as they jump off the plane through the side door. They mock Kit for not listening to Grammy and then we head to an open camp. We see two dog noses sitting down at the campfire while a bird furry wearing mechanic gear is using a red wrench on some bale harvester truck of some kind; which has a banana yellow conveyor belt. Man; Kane's taste in equipment are awfully heelish to me. One of the dog noses has black hair and wears a blue shirt, brown pants and shoes. While the other one has blond hair, pilot hat goggles, and is wearing an almond coat, almond pants, a blue sweater and shoes. Kit instantly realizes that they are Bushwah and Runway. I should also point out that they have a brown slender looking dog sitting with them. The cat without the hat furry brings in the CHEST OF DEMONS while the other two drag Kit and Molly in by their arms (OUCH!) and then shove them in front of the dog noses. The warthog guy calls this reunion touching. If only sir; if only.

Next, I discover that the bird furry fixing the cane baler/harvester is known as Props as Bushwah Beacon is responsible for the new recruits and demands Props to fix the cane baler because someone named Trodmire wants it ready for the fields tomorrow. Kane's island is a sugar cane plantation. (So racist, so racist.) I realize that the blond haired guy is Bushwah Beacon as he blows them off for being such bullies. The insult he uses is "Go soak your big head in a small tub" which is a new one on me. The dogs growls in outrage in the background as Bushwah and Kit exchange notes and greetings. Bushwah is supposed to be an Aussie Stereotype (He says "Crikey" at one point.); but otherwise sounds normal. In fact; "Boyo" means boy, but it isn't slang in the land down under, it is supposed to be Welsh or Irish in original. Interesting and I think it's used in Japan as well. (Probably a form of Engrish.) Bushwah isn't too happy that he put that anarchist symbol on the field because Kit still couldn't avoid it in time since they touched down on Kane's Island anyway. Well; that was pointless. Molly asks if they are Hobos and Runway introduces everyone as I discover that the dog is named Throttle; who is friends with Bushwah. Kit wants to know what is going on at the scene of the slave farm. Bushwah explains that Grammy doesn't know where he is because the hobos are prisoners on this island, including Kit and Molly. Molly gasps in horror as Bushwah explains that the island is owned by Kane, but he hasn't been seen in months. Then this bastard named Trodmire -- who was the foreman -- took over and cut labor costs by denying the hobos from escaping. See; Trodmire is the law in this island. (Geez; this doesn't sound like Citizen Khan in anyway; no siree.) and he makes them work the fields until they make enough money to leave the island. Except that Trodmire keeps raising the cost to leave, which is really, really corporate stereotypical monster heel heat. (Yeah, this is serfdom at it's absolute worst.) Yes Props got the cane baler thing working during this exchange. Bushwah proclaims that there is nothing anyone can do and it'll be dark soon. So, they can have chow and bed down according to Beacon. Kit isn't thrilled at all of this occurrence, but accepts it anyway. And now comes the reason why this comic story is considered canon by a lot of people; myself included...

Now, we head to the campsite AFTER HAPPY HOUR (After dark) as the scruffy older men are in their sleeping bags and are sleeping. Molly and Kit are sitting in front of the fire with blue blankets on. Neither of them can sleep as Kit tells Molly not to worry because he'll get Molly back to Cape Suzette somehow. Molly refuses because she's not leaving without Kit coming home. Kit refuses that because he thinks he's better off alone. Considering how long Kit has been alone; Molly has an uphill climb ahead to convince him. While I agree with Brendala on Molly being awesome because she has no fear of scruffy older men being around her; this has been well known since Molly Coddled in her shin kicking skills against the raccoon crooks and Convington on Skull Island. (Convington is a handsome man to boot; who are worse than scruffy older men due to the deception of charm.) Kit changes the subject and shows off the model blue airplane as he asks a sniffling Molly if he ever told the story of how he got this airplane. Molly states that he didn't; so we HIT THE FLASHBACK~! We head to a local carnival as the Seaduck lands on the air strip.. (Which is not out of place here in Nova Scotia; I have seen carnivals like this that are set up for a few weeks on barren ground near where I walk in Dartmouth when I go to work.) Kit explains that they were on a cargo run and landed at a carnival near Tippitoah. We see Baloo at the ring toss event as the grand prize is the model blue airplane. Kit wanted the airplane and even offered to play for it; but Baloo insisted that he do it as a favor to Kit. Baloo spends money like crazy trying to throw the ring around the pole; but he misses badly. He missed EVERY TIME~ which is more than when TNA misses dives on PPV! (Even Keith Mitchell couldn't miss like Pop-A-Bear could.) However, since he spent so much money trying to make the shot, he spent enough money that the mustache dog nose with a striped shirt just gives him the model airplane because he basically bought the plane from him. Kit cannot resist a smile giggle on cue. HAHA! (Now that was funny and it's a safe gag.) We return to reality (no, not really) as Molly giggles and calls Baloo silly. He might be silly; but he got the model blue airplane Molly. There is a method to his silliness. Kit admits that he'll miss him. Then we come to a big character development moment in this series, and I quote:

Molly: Baloo's like a daddy, huh? You know who I miss sometimes? My daddy, since he di--... when he...*sniff*...I'm the only one to take care of mommy now.

Yes, folks; Molly has finally revealed that she did have a father at one time. That isn't the surprise. The surprise is that Molly does know what happened to him in some way. The bibles of TaleSpin are mixed in that one bible claims that Mr. Cunningham is dead; while another claims that it's a divorce. On a stranger note; according to some of the materials Ocean Glide gave me, it stated that it didn't matter if he is separated or dead, all that mattered is that he couldn't exist so Rebecca/Baloo could meet together. This is one of the big angles in TaleSpin that the writers didn't want to explore because it involves a lot of character development that most writers could not pull off without splintering the audience in terms of canon. (Yeah, and remember that this show was for 6-12 year olds, according to the execs. This would have got well pass the heads and creates truama not needed. TaleSpin is dark enough as it is.) To me; Molly basically blurted out the answer to this mystery: Mr. Cunningham separated and died basically. How?! Canon-wise, I don't know. (Although you can argue that this is not Disney Canon, but the ravings of a bunch of mad men and women.) Jymn Magon has flip-flopped on the issue of widow/separated in regards to Rebecca Cunningham for many years now. (His position now is he refuses to speak of the issue unless he gets paid a huge sum of money as per the Long Beach Comic & Horror Con; which at least started with TaleSpin as a subject unlike the San Diego Comic Con.). However, the way Molly words it, it sounds like this may have been a combination of both because if he died or divorced only. Molly would have not said "...when he..." after saying the implied "Daddy has di...". This indicates to me that Mr. Cunningham separated from Miss Cunningham for a while -- and was not a total divorce -- and then was killed for some reason. This actually is similar to my fanfic Unforeseen Impact now that I think about it. Then this revelation actually leads to Kit playing with the model airplane, which leads to another big angle, and I quote:

Kit: I never knew my mother. Or my father.
Molly: Not ever?
Kit: Nope. I grew up in Freeport; but I did a lot of traveling with the hobos. That's how I learned to navigate.
Molly: How did you become a pirate?
Kit: [We flashback to the inside the back of a plane as Kit is hiding behind boxes and has his green sweater on by this point; which sadly we will never know how he got it. Don Karnage is already inside coming from the side door with Mad Dog; who looks awfully weird in B&W; and his weird steampunkish gun and Dumptruck behind him. The pilot is a dog furry with a lot of white clothes on and boots; along with the pilot's goggles. He's scared as you would expect when meeting the feared Don Karnage.] That was kind of an accident. I was bumming a friendly flight back to Freeport when the Air Pirates attacked the plane that I was on. [We then see that Kit is caught by Dumptruck and Kit is struggling and seemly wanting to punch Dumptruck in the face. Don seems awfully amused, Dumptruck not so much.] I'd never thought about joining the pirates before; but Karnage liked me, I guess. He told me I'd like being part of a family. [We return to reality (no, not really) as Kit and Molly are now sitting near the fire on the log.] Some family! I was better off alone! So I left.

Well; there is the second big angle which is how Kit Cloudkicker became an Air Pirate and it makes perfect sense. After seeing the narration from Kit and the scene itself; it is pretty muddy and leans more towards Kit making the decision of joining on his own. A lot of Kit fans believe that Kit was kidnapped and it was Stockholm Syndrome that made Kit regret the decision since Kit blamed himself for whatever happened during that year with Don Karnage. However; I think most Kit fans say that because I think they cannot see that Kit can make really ill informed choices and actually fooled himself. It's not like Kit hasn't been in that position before as I can relate to watching Stormy Weather. The first law in science is not to fool yourself and you are the easiest to fool. I think this applies to Kit here. Second; even if you don't believe in the concept of children not being able to give informed consent; that doesn't mean there is no such thing as misinformed consent. Which Don Karnage is a master of using to lure Kit in. The real thing to take away from is that while Kit's decision was misinformed; he still decided to join. However; he was able to admit his decision was ill advised -- and that's putting it mildly considering what the Air Pirates are -- and that's why Kit left when he did; even screwing the pirates over in Plunder and Lightning. (Since it wasn't mentioned here, I'll mention it right now: Kit never knew his mother nor his father point blank here. My working theory now (compared to my "Kit is God's successor" nonsense) is that Kit is Bongo the Bear's born son since the comparisons between the two are uncanny. Kit probably never knew her mother because she died while giving birth to Kit and Bongo was so distraught that Lulubelle died because of the child being born that he disowned him since Bongo believed that Kit was "the devil" and abandoned Kit somewhere to leave Kit Cloudkicker to die. However, someone from the air hobos found him and the air hobos took care of him until he was old enough to be on his own. It's a straight forward angle that is dark, tragic and it made sense. It's not a good look for Bongo though, but it wouldn't be anything Disney hasn't done before. I think a TaleSpin reboot could get away with it, actually.)

Molly points out that he shouldn't worry about it because he has Baloo, Rebecca and Wildcat. Which is a nice implication that Molly is still trying to tell him to stop freaking out and come back home; only she's being more and more subtle about it. Molly has a vested interest in Kit coming home since she has already lost her father and she finally found her big brother in Kit Cloudkicker. However, she doesn't want to lose him because of that pain. Kit probably doesn't want to go either; but Witherspoon has forced his hand in his own mind and like real life, he knows what the "TaleSpin world" is really like first hand. (It's not the fluffy plots that execs expected.) Then Kit panics because he realizes that they forgot that Wildcat is supposed to be at the apartment to check on them. Oops! We scene change to see Wildcat come out of the elevator and walk to the door of Rebecca's apartment calling for Kit and Molly because he is going to make them fried banana sandwiches for dinner. That sounds reasonable as he opens the door and there is no one there as everything has turned blue now. (Sometimes, I wonder what the color ink people are thinking when they paint these scenes.) Wildcat is confused by this absence as we return back to the camp on Kane's Island in the morning. Molly is feeding the dog Throttle as Kit is having soup on a log. Bushwah and Runway exchange notes and feel really bad for Molly and Kit since they are so young. (A fair and resonable response from the scruffy older men.) Molly is greeting Throttle and it pulls on Molly's overalls. Molly wants the dog to let go. Then Molly realizes that Throttle might be trying to tell her something. Molly follows Throttle to a really small hole in a large rock which seems to only fit Molly and Throttle. Huh. Throttle crawls in with Molly following as Molly calls the cave "dark and dirty". Then they rise up and Molly gets off the first "golly" of the comic story as they are underneath some building now. Throttle pokes through the boards and they are opened. Molly and Throttle appears to be in a small room with a door which has a key attached to it. Molly somehow grabs the key -- despite being about three feet too high to reach -- and opens the door to reveal a small bedroom with a roughed up bed and desk filled with books and dishes.

We see a dog nose with a white mustache wearing a purple shirt and blue pants along with brown shoes in a rocking chair reading a book. Molly gasps as the man wants to know who they are. We then hear them whisper yell. (I know this because the speaking balloons are using broken lines here.) The man wants to know who she is and how she got in there. Molly explains what they did; and the man is happy to see that she came. Molly asks why he was locked up here and the man tells her that he has no time to explain and wants to get the hell out of here. They open the door to outside as it looks like a bamboo house despite being wooden planked inside. Bad logic break there, guys! Anyhow; the man asks if Molly came from the hobo camp and Molly proclaims that she has. Apparently; the guards are so stupid that they forgot to guard the place thinking he wouldn't escape. (Heels being stupid is not unusual and fine. Hobos being stupid in the next scene is a whole different kettle of fish!) The man wants Molly to take him to the camp at once. We head back to the camp as we see Kit, Molly, Bushwah, Runway and Props as we discover that the man who Molly rescued is indeed Kane himself. See; he became partners with a guy called Trodmire to run the plantation; but then Trodmire turned on him and turned the plantation into a slave camp. (Yes, it was officially called that, so my theory was true all along.) Kane proclaims that he wants the plantation back and needs help from the hobos. Bushwah and company proclaims that they would like to, but they cannot even escape from Trodmire due to way too many guards. Runway points out that more of them tried, but no dice. Kit asks how many hobos are on the island and Bushwah claims that he never counted. However, there is a lot of them. Kit is surprised that they all worked separately and refused to band together to overthrow the slave driver. (When Kit Cloudkicker, the 12 year old hobo is thinking, that means the adults have failed the kids in a major league way.) Props is confused as hell as Kit sighs because he cannot understand why hobos would not work together and everyone just looks out for themselves. (Uh-oh! Kit is slowly starting to understand why he made the error and he's about to correct this full force.)

Brendala proclaimed that hobos are stupid; which is true in this case and ironic because Kit Cloudkicker was a hobo himself and can see this problem first hand in Plunder and Lightning. You know humanity is screwed when the twelve year old hobo can see the obvious problem here. Bushwah points out that if they work together; they lose the free spirit, their ties and their entire point of being a hobo. (Ah, the old "moral stance" defense of words meaning things. It does not work in a world where reality doesn't give a shit, period. Kit Cloudkicker is about to blow that theory out of the water! Sure, it makes Kit look like a hypocrite, but screw that! The real world cannot understand anything, much less hypocrisy and abysses.) Kit blows that off because they are not free spirits; they are prisoners. (Preach, Kit! Preach!) As long as they don't band together and fight back; they will continue to be prisoners. If the hobos rallied to stand up to Trodmire; he wouldn't stand a chance. (Well, there is the gun thingy thing to consider since TaleSpin doesn't adhere to the "guns shouldn't be in children's cartoons" morality most modern cartoon are today. Kit will have to outsmart these creeps.) The hobos look dumbfounded by this as Kit wonders about a plan and asks what Baloo would do in this situation. Molly answers that he would jump on the bad guys and tie them up. (Baloo has no regard for his safety when it comes to gun. Even Baloo's not that suicidal.) Kit is about to nicely blow it off; but then recoils and thinks that this is a wonderful idea. HAHA! These two are awesome; and why they never got more episodes together just boggles my mind at this point. (The answer: The television series had an excuse of voice talents being actual children. The comics don't have an excuse, period. Outside of the implosion of the comics of course.) So...

Narrator: Three hours later...

We see Bushwah sitting in the driver seat of the bale making truck as Kane is sitting on the part between the yellow conveyor belt and the harvester. Runway is carrying Molly on his shoulders as Props arrives with his wrench on retainer. The hobos all gather and this is where the disconnect between TaleSpin on television and the comic is most obvious: I get that dog noses do exist in the TaleSpin world; as well as pigs and birds like in Ducktales during these background scenes. However; I have watched TaleSpin enough times to know that most of the furries are not the makeup of Ducktales characters. This bothers me because it only further proves that no one was making sure to contact the staff at television to make sure that everyone was on the same page. If it wasn't for Bobbi's great writing, these comic books would be an absolute disaster. (Sadly, true.) Anyhow; Bushwah tells everyone that Molly rescued Kane from being a prisoner and is the rightful owner of this island. (Hey, Bushwah giving props to Molly, but not Throttle as well. That was kind of mean to the dog.) Bushwah proclaims that if he's free, then they want their freedom too, which causes the hobos to all back Kane and want the downfall of Trodmire. Now the obvious question is: Who is Mr. Trodmire?! Well; we finally get our answer as a bulldog furry wearing a blue suit and cowboy hat arrives demanding answers to this outrage. He also brought his blue bodysuit guards from earlier with their BS&P'ed guns in hand. (Another comic book story of TaleSpin with guns coming out, what a surprise?!) The hobos chant "Down with Trodmire" in unison. It's so ironic that the main heel of this story is wearing a white hat. (He literally thinks he's the babyface hero here. He's about to get rightfully wrecked for his slavery/serfdom attitude.) Bushwah tells Trodmire that if he has issues with the hobo; then he can take it up with Kane. Trodmire sees this as a fight and tells him that he'll have a private chat with Bushwah after he deals with Kane. Yeah; I think you know what he's talking about here. (Kane is probably going to be shot dead unless Trodmire is stopped in his tracks.) Kane is standing on the conveyor belt and Trodmire gets on it, pretty much admitting that he was the one behind Kane's disappearance.

Kane blows him off as Trodmire orders the goons to deal with the rabble-rousers. Notice that someone is missing in this scene. Hmmm; some little boy bear cub who is so awesome he gets heat simply by moving?! (Trodmire at leasst has the excuse of not seeing Kit nor Molly at any point during his time on panel. The rest of them, no excuse whatsoever.) Then from the trees comes Kit Cloudkicker swooping down on his airfoil as he nails Trodmire from the side and he falls into the bale harvester. Runway pulls the lever (JESUS~!) and yawns as Trodmire is spat out the other end tied up with bamboo shoot; protesting this outrage. I know a lot of people were calling this a BS&P decision. However, at least there was an angle to this and thus the BS&P deal didn't look so contrived. Molly runs in with glee as Bushwah and Kane's mob squad chases after the other heels who run like scalded cats and ham, despite the fact that they had guns in their hands the entire time. My guess is that a panel is missing where Kit knocked the guns out of their hands to please BS&P. Otherwise; this makes no sense. I don't understand why they would be afraid of that since Kit almost got shot in the head in Plunder and Lightning Part II. (Compromise or space constraints, or both. I guess.) We scene change to all the heels being tied up in the corner next to the bale harvester as Kane thanks them for saving his plantation from being another slave farm. Kane feels bad for hiring Trodmire to be the foreman. I don't think they need an apology because I think they knew something was wrong when Trodmire showed up and not Kane as mentioned earlier. Kane proclaims that they are free to go. However, he still has an offer to anyone who would like to be a foreman and a mechanic. Runway and Props look at each other and proclaim that they would accept being as such under the correct conditions of course. Kane then asks if Mr. Beacon would like to be the foreman. However, he refuses because he is a free spirit and thanks him for the offer anyway. However; Bushwah then thinks that Kit Cloudkicker has a point about free spirits being lonely and decides to return to see Grammy and Gummer. Good booking there overall; as he offers Kit and Molly a chance to see them again. Kit embraces Molly and no sells the deal wanting Bushwah to inform them that he's returning home to Cape Suzette.

It's little things that this show did that made me care about the characters and their situations. They could develop as characters and then their quirks can simply bring them back to the start and then we start again since the situations are dictating how the characters react instead of the characters themselves. That makes for more believable characters because it's similar to real life. We return to Higher...For...Hire as we are at the docks as Kit has finished explaining everything to Wildcat and Wildcat proclaims that they could have gotten themselves in a lot of trouble; which Molly gleefully states that they actually did. HAHA! (Sick burn #6 of the episode for Molly, for those who are keeping track.) Kit wants Wildcat to never tell anyone what happened because dealing with Witherspoon is hard enough. Wildcat decides to agree with him just as we see the SeaDuck come down and land. We see Rebecca and Baloo come out as they meet and greet Kit and Molly. Wildcat comes in with the envelope and basically states that it's from Mr. Witherspoon and Kit is in a panic. Which causes Wildcat to realize that he screwed up. HA! Rebecca opens the envelope -- which I mentioned earlier, has turned from white to almond color -- and there is a piece of paper in which we discover that Julius Witherspoon is looking for a charter plane to take him to the Hihawaiia Islands next week with his wife because the passenger airplanes are overloaded. He doesn't even care if there is cargo on board. Oops indeed, Little Britches! Kit cannot believe that Mr. Witherspoon is not interested in him at all and just wants a plane to go somewhere nice. Which Molly gleefully points out how he shouldn't jump to conclusions. HAHA! Well; that is the after effects of PTSD, so I don't know if Molly should be harsh here. We see the adults walking towards the office as Wildcat tells Rebecca that nothing happened while they were away. Molly and Kit walk over to the platoon of the SeaDuck. Molly has a red crayon and creates the symbol of the Air Hobos on the platoon. Baloo and Rebecca do some retorts about Baloo's eating fetish as Molly ends the story saying "Welcome Home Big Brother" which is really a great way to end the story. I agree with Brendala that these are the best siblings in Disney history. Only I knew that before this story; it was just that they had TWO episodes on television to work with together. I do have a few issues with this comic book story though:

[1.] Kit goes more overboard with the "freedom" thing than usual; and he ends up being bossier than normal. If this made it on television; that aspect would be toned down a bit.

[2.] As per many DTVA comic books during this period; it is done by people who has a lot of familiarity with the Ducktales world than with the actual TaleSpin world which is clearly not the same world. While dognoses do exist in the TaleSpin world (Destiny Rides Again having the most); they are very rare. This story is as if they are really common. The disconnect is more apparent when there are pigs and birds in background scenes; which is usually the makeup for the world of Ducktales. This is basically a sense of not having people on the ball and paying attention to the details of the world of a show that is not similar to the world that they usually like. (Or the artists think background characters are easier if they are dognoses.) That's why we saw a lot of Darkwing Duck/Ducktales comic stories and not many TaleSpin ones; even though there was much more material that they could have made and not make it cliche for the TaleSpin stories in general.

[3.] Some of the dialogue with Kit meeting Grammy and Gummer seems to not make all that much sense. Because they act as if Kit told them that he joined, but considering Don Karnage's MO it doesn't seem all that likely. This would be changed if it made television. (I would say that they got Kit's letter he sent to them of his decision as evidence.) Sadly; this story left out how Kit got his green sweater, which I betcha would have been a great flashback subplot to add if it made television too.

Now with that said; everything else was great in this. Molly being Rebecca Junior for one and all the small signs of back story is slowly coming to the forefront. Baloo winning the blue plane from Kit Cloudkicker was a great flashback and it is nice to see the writers actually taking Kit seriously as a dramatic character and his interactions with Molly. This makes three stories where Kit/Molly had excellent, mind blowing chemistry together. While I think it would be a bad idea for them to become a married couple; them as tight knitted friends is dead on perfect. (Remember, Kit was originally going to be Rebecca's son in some of the early scripts before the dynamics of the characters changed to what they are in the final product.) Maybe even surrogate brother/sister. Although that one will wear thin when Kit and Molly reach the age where sibling rivalry becomes pointless to both of them. (Ducktales 2017 completely disagrees with you former self.) This is a **** 3/4 (95%) story and it's a damn shame that it didn't make TV, even if it would have to be modified to go 22 minutes or so. Then again; this goes back to the point that Eisner wanted to milk Baloo for all it's worth. Baloo only appears for what would be even less screen time than in Flight School Confidential.

Catch Of The Day: We begin with one in the air as the Iron Vulture has used the JAWS OF HALF LIFE to capture the Sea Duck...AGAIN! Don Karnage, Mad Dog and Dumptruck come down onto the roof of the SeaDuck as Baloo blows them off because he already told them there is nothing to steal here on the radio. Don Karnage doesn't care as he is going to ransack the plane because he is the ever plunderful pirate. We see Don Karnage inside as we see Molly is wearing an emerald green bodysuit with pink trim on the collar and a pink pocket in the middle. Rebecca is wearing purple shorts and a SWANK black shirt with red sploshes on it. She is also wearing a pink hat with yellow trim. Rebecca blows off Don Karnage because you see; they are going on a fishing trip to the Island of Lootie-Bootie. Don Karnage doesn't buy her and her flimsy disguises. He has a point there Miss Cunningham; I mean the island has the word Loot in it; plus since when did you like going on a fishing trip?! (Ooooh, former self and Don Karnage thinks this fishing trip is completely sus. Sadly, it wasn't and Don Karnage is going to pay for it in a hilarious way.) Anyhow; Don finds the conveniently placed toy box and grabs the "Jack-in-The-Box" as Molly protests this outrage. See, Don is not buying that these are mere toys and they are hiding treasure in them which Kit is instantly amused by. (Because Don Karnage is a stupid idiot, you see.) Mad Dog and Dumptruck return with fishing gear and they think Baloo is telling the truth as Molly's green bodysuit has turned completely purple now. (Wow, that was a wacky version of Carron's "change colors when wet" pink pjs.) Suddenly; Kit gets up on the blue crate and proclaims that the jig is up because they found their super secret government spy equipment. Don and Baloo are as confused as I am right now. Kit has to be hatching an awesome plan here; there's no other way to explain it. (Former self is completely right here and Don Karnage wishes he wasn't.)

Kit throws stuff to Baloo as he points out that as he has a net which is called the "Electro Magnetic Bullet-Proof Body Net" which is a kick ass booking name that someone might have already stolen at some point. Baloo then realizes the plan quickly and plays along, calling the fishing rod the "Ultra Sensitive Nano-Ergometrical Booster Radio Antennae". What is this; literal English translations of Japanese booking names?! (No, but it sounds like it and I love it!) Rebecca offers the "Jack-In-The-Box" to Don Karnage, which is called the "Miniaturized Stratospheric Secret Code Transmitter". Yeap; this is an attempt to see who can give moronic execs the quickest heart attack first. (Sadly, almost all of them did not have heart attacks because they completely ignored it and did not care.) Don Karnage accepts it and is giddy since he never got secret spy equipment to plunder before. Then all three babyfaces tie up Don Karnage, net Mad Dog and Rebecca uses the Jack-In-The-Box to allow the spring loaded puppet head to MURDER Dumptruck in the face. (Meaning Molly doesn't get involved, sadly.) Which Dumptruck proceeds to sell. I guess she got him on the bridge of the nose; which is a lot more painful than the rest of the face. (Because Dumptruck head is made from solid bone, thus no effect.) Then, the heels are tied to the JAWS OF HALF LIFE outside as the jaws are released and the SeaDuck is free. Baloo thanks Kit for calling that audible, but is disappointed that the catch was so puny that they had to send it back. HAHA! That is the end of that short story. Pretty funny segment there as Kit outsmarts the pirates again with literal Japanese translations of simple objects. (Now, that is a complete and hilarious burial of the Air Pirate's hijacking airplanes, and I loved every frame of this! Minus the obvious artist mistakes, of course.) I give **** (80%) for the segment.

MailSpin #4: Finally there is the MailSpin segment hosted by WildCat and that alone makes it a riot regardless of the crappy letters sent to him. Most of the stuff is the usual bullshit praise of the show which I believe was fake because everyone knows that TaleSpin was a disgrace to Disney back in 1990. Right? Right?! The most fake letter in my opinion was the one where Joey Marchase from Clark, New Jersey claimed to be a Disney comic historian -- red flag #1 in my view -- claiming that the Old Man & The SeaDuck is the best Disney comic ever. BWHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! (Sir, watch the television version, it's better. Trust me on that one.) Brendala has the full comic on her Live Journal and you can read the section here: http://brendala.livejournal.com/267931.html

Seriously; it sounds like DISNEYBOY from TV.com doing the TaleSpin reivew and for your viewing pleasure; here it is:

Like the big manly bear it stars, Talespin is a strong, powerful show with a unique premise that has been copied time and time again since. A beautiful hairy, cuddly, old bear lives the experience of loss of power in this moving cartoon from the mastermen at Dinsey animation. It’s been said that you never forget your first time. I'll never forget TaleSpin. Through beautifully composed images and frank, candid dialogue, TaleSpin explores the truth behind the idea of commercialism and pilotting the blue skies for profit. Old Baloo and beautiful young Disney animals share the exhilaration, vulnerability, and untainted excitement of what makes the journey from innocence to experience in the business world so utterly unforgettable. Discover the secrets of the jungle folk as they speak freely about their individual experiences and see how lessons learned help to shape their future identity. In an informative narrative, a single mother and her lonely child offer their own unique perspectives on the issues facing a small jungle community including safer flying and growing up with no worries. Once you’ve experienced the compelling stories from this toon, you will indeed find them impossible to forget.

You know what I considered to be the biggest red flag here: No one uses the word "mastermen" in any context and can be taken seriously. No one. (The definition of purple prose Brendala thinks.)

THE REVIEW LINE

So, all of the TaleSpin Main comics are completed and we got two great stories in "The Long Flight Home" and "Catch Of The Day". I'm not going to say anymore of them since the rant I originally wrote more than said it for me. MailSpin #4 was hilarious due to WildCat and while I'm not happy that the comics ended at seven with only six major new stories (since one of them was a television adapation of a story), all of them were great in their own way. Flight of The Sky Raker was a great lead in two parter, Idiots Abroad was probably the best story involving Trader Moe and the goons, although Golden Sprocket of Friendship is damn close. Contractual Desperation was the weakest story, but almost well done, F'reeze A Jolly Goodfellow was one of the best birthday stories in the early Disney Afternoon shows with some small development on the Danger Woman character. And of course, "The Long Flight Home" was the Kit and Molly show of excellence! A great way to end a short run. However, we are FAR from done because the random other comics are still left to be done. Kit and Baloo face a dragon! Legend Of The Chaos God, which sadly we never got a tease Ducktales 2017 run in with adult Kit and adult Molly! A three part surreal trip to Shambala! Rebecca learns Kung-fu and looks so great, she even scares Kit! Kit meets a nameless girlfriend with a horrible ending! Kit buries the Air Pirates like a pack of Gummi Bears burying Gummi tradition! And much, much more! Heck, there is even a rabbit who thinks he stepped out of the Sakura Wars 3 set! Also, the Super Baloo comics are wacky and 1980's wild! So...

Thumbs up for The Long Flight Home and Catch Of The Day and a thumbs up with me laughing on the MailSpin part. If only for the hilarious letter from Joey in Clark, NJ. I'll see you all again next time.

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