TaleSpin Comics: It's A Plunderful Life/Welcome To Gumbeaux: Bubble Gum Captial Of The World/The Why Of The Beholder

Return to 50 Webs

Disclaimer#1: All images, characters and material is (C) 1990/1991 Walt Disney Company and is being used without permission. The web master has made sure that no money was made in the creation of this web page and that all material used here is used with the up most affection and respect to the Walt Disney Company and the Tale Spin Team.

Disclaimer#2: The views expressed here are solely the views of the web master and no one else. The web master has no intentions to change anyone's minds about a particular subject and respects the views of the viewers. Comments about this and other editorial can be E-Mail at gweagle@eastlink.ca or signing the Cloudkicker guest book.

TaleSpin Comics: It's A Plunderful Life/Welcome To Gumbeaux: Bubble Gum Captial Of The World/The Why Of The Beholder Rant

Reviewed: 09/18/2016
Additional Commentary: 12/22/2025

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

Original Release: 09/00/1991 (It's A Plunderful Life!), 11/00/1994 (Welcome To Gumbeaux!: Bubble Gum Captial Of The World!), 05/00/1992 (The Why Of The Beholder).

Now, we head to another major story in the TaleSpin comics as Rebecca has had enough of Baloo being late and is very close to firing him. (2025 Gregory Weagle Says: Which seems to be a montly occurance in this show, depending on the mood and the writer.) However, she doesn't and has a devious plan to make Baloo suffer it seems. While this is going on; Don Karnage and his pirates are dressing like gentlemen as they will rob Cape Suzette blind again, only with more discreet. This plan also hinges on Baloo moonlighting to prove to Rebecca that he isn't a liability while Don Karnage plans to use him to smuggle out their stuff that they stole. This is mostly notable for what happens near the end of this and not much more than that. Then from there, it took some searching from Ann29 of TaleSpin Animation Source; but I finally found one comic that I missed from the early sweep: "Welcome To Gumbeaux! Bubble Gum Capital Of The World". One of about four or five comic stories without Kit Cloudkicker in them. (Also, one of the biggest stories actually.) The plot is that Baloo and Molly go to the bubble gum capital of their world as Molly befriends a bat who bounces and spits bubble gum at singers. Ummm; yeah. Finally, we have a bonus sight gag featuring WildCat and a MailSpin that I missed earlier. "Welcome To Gumbeaux! Bubble Gum Capital Of The World" debuted in 1994 in the Disney Afternoon Comics #1. "It's A Plunderful Life!" debuted in Disney Adventures Volume 1.11 in 1991 with "The Why Of The Beholder" debuting in 1991 in TaleSpin #1. How do these stories fare?! Let's rant on shall we...?!

"It's A Plunderful Life!" is written by Bobbi JG Weiss and art was done by Luciano Gatto and Romano Scrapa. (At the time, Romano Scrapa doing a TaleSpin was a major deal even though it probably was a nothing something to those outside of Italy.) "Why of the Beholder" is written by Bobbi JG Weiss with artwork done by Horacio Saavedra and Robert Bat. "Welcome to Gumbeaux! Bubble Gum Capital Of The World" was written by Janet Gilbert and artwork is done by Andres Klacik and Joe Messerli. Andres according to lambiek: Andrés Klacik has worked on the newspaper strip 'Gunner' in the 1980s. Affiliated with Jaime Díaz Producciones in Buenos Aires, he was involved in animation projects like the Hanna-Barbera series 'Wildfire'. He drew comic stories with 'Darkwing Duck' and 'Talespin' for Marvel's short-lived The Disney Afternoon title in 1994 and 1995. He has served as an inker on Continuity titles like 'CrazyMan', 'Armor' and 'The Hybrids'. In 2002, he teamed up with writer Chuck Dixon to create the graphic novel 'The Vanishers'. His work has also appeared in the Italian magazine Lanciostory and Skorpio. He has been affiliated with studios like Bardon Art and Creaciones in Barcelona. He is also credited as Andrew Klacik and André Klacik.

Romano Scarpa according to lambiek: Romano Scarpa is by many considered the grandmaster of Italian Disney comics. He cancelled his commercial studies to devote himself to his passions: graphics and animation. After World War II, he co-founded an animation studios, where he animated some fairytales of Hans Christian Andersen. He joined the Italian Disney publisher Mondadori in 1953, where he started out doing stories with 'Topolino' ('Mickey Mouse'), strongly inspired by the atmosphere and suspense of the old Gottfredson newspaper strips. He has worked a lot with the talented scriptwriter Guido Martina, but he has also written various stories by himself. Although mainly a 'Mickey' artist, Scarpa has also drawn various classic Italian 'Donald Duck' stories. During his long and versatile collaboration with the Italian Disney production, he has added several characters to the Disney universe, such as Atomino Bip Bip, Trudy, Brigitta, Filo Sganga, Plottigatt, Paperetta Yè Yè and Bruto. His work has been an inspiration to several generations of Italian Disney artists, including Giorgio Cavazzano, who developed the modern Italian Disney style. In 1954, Scarpa completely left the animation field to spend all his time creating comics. In addition to his Disney work, Romano Scarpa has also illustrated stories with such characters as 'Lupo' (for the German Kauka Verlag), 'Angelino' (in Girandola TV), and 'Yogi Bear' (in Mondadori's Braccobaldo). Romano Scarpa died in April, 2005, at the age of 78. I just noticed that he was the creator of The Adventures Of Marco & Gina.

Luciano according to lambiek: Born in Venice, Luciano Gatto began his career at the advertising animation studios Alfa. In 1956, he was introduced to the Italian Disney artist Romano Scarpa by a neighbor. Gatto had always been fascinated by comics and the Disney characters, so he decided to show some of his artwork to Scarpa. In June of the same year, Gatto succeeded to sell three of his stories to the publisher Bianconi publishers. Later on, he was assigned by this publisher to illustrate the adventures of 'Raviolo Kid'. He drew this series for four years, as well as others series, like 'Okey Papero', 'Mao Duebaffi', 'Geppo', 'Nonna Abelarda' and his own creation 'Pietrino'. In addition, Gatto assisted Scarpa on some of his Disney stories for Topolino for about a year. In 1958, Gatto became a mainstay Disney artist, and has made numerous comics with Disney characters since. After having worked on scripts by others, he began writing some stories himself in 1988. In addition to his Disney work, Gatto illustrated a couple of episodes of 'Sempronio, Felicino e Arcibaldo' for Editrice Universo's Il Monello magazine, starting in 1960. Throughout the 1970s and 1980s, he also worked for foreign publishers. For the British publisher Williams, he illustrated stories with 'Dastardly & Muttley' in 1973, and for the German Kauka Verlag, he provided artwork for stories with 'Fix und Foxi', 'Lupo', 'Knox' and 'Eusebia' between 1979 and 1986. Afterwards, he contributed stories with 'Pif le Chien' and 'Placid et Muzo' for the French magazine Pif Gadget (1986-1989). In the 1990s, his name appeared in other Italian publications then only the Disney ones, such as Topo Gigio (1994-1996) and Prezzemolo.

It's A Plunderful Life: It's A Plunderful Life!: We begin this one inside Don Karnage's bedroom on the Iron Vulture as Don Karnage is wearing gentleman's clothes and a fake mustache admiring himself. He claims that his looks can devastate and he's an evil plate of fashion as we hear a knock on the door. (Word, Don.) The door opens and in comes Mad Dog in gentleman's gear, which I cannot take seriously. He needs to replace that stupid hat of his. Don asks how he looks thinking he is devilishly debonair. However, Mad Dog thinks he's not himself which prompts Don to blow him off. Mad Dog wants to be someone else. (He wishes he were somewhere else like Kit is at this point, but he's too cowardly to pull it off.) We head inside the wheelhouse as we see Don walking in with Mad Dog, Dumptruck, Gibber and Ratchet in gentleman's gear which somehow makes them look like even bigger tools than they already are. Basically, Don is holding a cane while proclaiming that this is the biggest caper ever caped. However, he doesn't reveal the plan and wants phase one to start at once. The stipulation for this caper is "no bungling ups". That should be the stip for every plan in existence at every phase for that matter. We head to the docks of Higher For Hire as Rebecca is yelling at Baloo because he was late delivering cargo yet again. According to Rebecca, this was unacceptably late this time. Baloo is trying to explain; but nothing going because Baloo is a liability. This is the last straw according to Rebecca and she is forced to do something about it. She storms back into her office telling Baloo to save his breath. Rebecca is acting like a jerk here because -- other than what was said, they didn't show why Baloo was late -- which means I cannot tell if Rebecca is justified in her behavior or not. Also of note, I doubt Rebecca will fire Baloo because that would be stupid in terms of the storyline since in that storyline, all male pilots except for the employees of Higher For Hire are sexist douchebags. That leaves Airplane Jane and Mary Lamb available, but they have their businesses to attend to. (Kit and Molly are like 6-12 years away from obtaining their pilot's licenses and Kit would likely take Baloo's side of thing for other business.) Baloo doesn't know if this means he's fired. (As we'll see later, he wasn't.)

We head into Cape Suzette harbor as a yellow tugboat enters the harbor with a large crate inside, and it contains Mad Dog according to the narration. Under the water is the Air Pirates' submarine -- which has been repainted into bright colors -- making the heels look like total idiots. Gibber is panting and riding a bicycle inside as Ratchet is reading the newspaper and blowing off Gibber for having bad breath. (Ratchet is the smartest Air Pirate in the biz, what a shocker?! He might be the next to turn on Don Karnage if Kit's defection was any indication.) Cut to a fishing sailboat with a cross like thing on the roof as we see Dumnptruck hiding in the fish and hating the smell. Cut to the Iron Vulture as Don is flying a white plane that spirals as Don cuts a painful promo and lands in a tree upside down. Once again; the Cliff Guns are out to lunch since the scene took place above the Cliff Guns. This is exactly what happened in A Baloo Switcheroo, only in broad daylight. (Yeah, the logic of this is not limited to the comics. Bobbi can only do so much when the artists are not helping her in the logic department.) We head back to the docks as Kit and Baloo are sitting down as Baloo is sulking and Rebecca won't talk to him for more than a day. Kit takes it as Rebecca is not planning to fire him. (I cannot argue that overwhelming logic there, Kit. It's like Kit has been in court before, not counting the Thembrian People's Court.) However, Baloo states that he's not flying because he's a liability according to Rebecca. (This is not going to help Baloo get out of this in anyway.) Kit then suggests earning the $20,000 back to prove Rebecca wrong. Baloo now calls that a thought. (That isn't a thought, it's an action to save your ass, Pop-A-Bear!) Kit Cloudkicker: Always the one who knows how to get out of the doghouse. (Of course! Because having Molly Cunningham and Della Duck bury Kit is much, much funnier than having him Peter Griffin'ed into a doghouse.) Baloo: Always the one who cannot stay out of it. AHHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! POW! OUCH! Ummmm...We head to Cape Suzette Central Park as the heels are together with the kids playing around them. Apparently, Dumptruck is smelling like a fish farm. Mad Dog is absent for some reason as Don Karnage blows off Dumptruck for smelling like a dead fish. I love real comments that aren't supposed to be real comments.

Anyhow; phase two begins as Dumptruck must take a bath first. (Good luck on that one since Dumptruck's brain is solid bone and being a dirty dog is a heel move anyway.) Dumptruck asks where Mad Dog is. Ratchet proclaims that Mad Dog will be at the post office and brings out a crowbar which he proclaims Mad Dog will use to get out of the crate. Don panics because Ratchet is a complete moron and Ratchet realizes that he just screwed up royalfully this time. We cut to the postal station as a rooster furry and a dog furry are debating where to send the package because the Air Pirates writing sucks badly on the address. (Wow, a cock is crowing in English! POW! OUCH! Ummmm...) Mad Dog is thinking for them to just get this over with as the dog furry in overalls and an orange shirt puts the crate in the back of the truck and it speeds off. Mad Dog then realizes that there is no crowbar in the crate and screams. We head inside the office of a heyna furry dressed in a purple suit and bow tie with a horse's mane for hair while we discover that this is the office of Adrax Gornvishe, who is a freelance employment agent. (Employment agenices were allowed as early as the 1600's.) Kit and Baloo are standing in front of his desk as Adrax states that Baloo is a pilot looking for night work and he'll see what he can do. Baloo is grateful as he would like to keep this discreet. Adrax asks if this means Baloo wants to keep this a secret from Rebecca and Baloo states that he catches on quick. Adrax thinks Baloo is as transparent as glass before stating that he'll arrange for a meeting with a discreet employer at the Puree de Venus. (What kind of glass, Adrax?! Inqurining minds would like to know.) We see Baloo and Kit leave the office as Kit is questioning this because the fee is too high. (Because now Kit cares about profits over people now by cutting costs?! The Rebecca effect is affecting him now.) Baloo proclaims that he wants to leave a first impression. Howeverm he cannot advertise without Rebecca noticing, and the job board cannot get him more than ten thousand dollars. (Sounds like a tangled web that Pop-A-Bear is going to weave. Now that's what I call TaleSpin!)

Besides; if he loses his job, he loses the SeaDuck -- and if you believe at least one fanfic, Kit as well. Kit agrees that it is worth it. (Even though losing Kit to Rebecca is fanon, that is a big incentive for Baloo to succeed here.) Cut to inside the office as Don Karnage is standing in front of Adrax as he notices him as Mr. O'Carny! I just love how Baloo insults him with that name. And yetl; here he is using it as a disguise. So hypocritically hilarious of him. (Don Karnage truly has no shame in his game. That's why he a cool heel.) We head inside the post office on a convyer belt as Mad Dog is bumping around pushing on the box and somehow managing to pop some of the nails out. The officers notice this as a dog nose wearing blue overalls, white shirt and glasses runs over and proclaims that they misread the address and it is supposed to go to the north end of town. A dog furry with brown hair and green overalls runs in with a hammer and hammers the nails down to seal the box again. Mad Dog is not happy about this as he is carried away into a mail truck speeding down the street to the west as Mad Dog screams that this is not fair. (Mad Dog wishes he was Jitters. Or not.) We head into the streets as Ratchet, Mad Dog and Dumptruck run into various banks and other stuff. Don Karnage then walks into the Puree de Venus as one of the waiters -- a bird furry wearing orange pants, a black jacket, yellow vest and red tie -- tells Don to head this way as Don walks to the table seeing Baloo and Kit having hamburgers in the ritzy restaurant AFTER HAPPY HOUR (after dark). (I think the Puree de Venus is the ritzy resaurant. I'm guessing the puree didn't agree with the tastebuds with Baloo and Kit. Evie from Peppa Pig would have called them wimps on that one.) Baloo introduces him and Kit to O'Carny as O'Carny shakes hands and introduces himself tipping the hat. I betcha that alone made Don Karnage feel so dirty inside. Thankfully, he no sold it and continued on with his promo. Baloo notices the Irish accent and Don almost blows his cover with the Spanish accent. Baloo asks about him being hired for deliveries and Don says "less or more"; which should have blown his cover right there, but it doesn't. Next, we get a long montage of Baloo and Kit outside Higher For Hire loading boxes from a red truck and putting them in the SeaDuck; then flying over to Louie's and landing on the docks of Louie's.

Baloo and Kit bring out a wagon of these boxes as Louie appears dressed in a green night shirt and night cap. Anyhow, O'Carny is basically telling them to haul dictionaries for natives in Bori Dori to a warehouse at Louie's that he rented and Baloo will get $15,000 for it when the job is done. Louie calls this deal weird as Baloo and Kit explain that they are being paid a bundle to haul them here. (Behind Rebecca's back of course. Kind of like when Grandpa Pig was buying stamps behind Granny Pig's back in Peppa Pig, although the males are doing this to gain money, not for something trivial like stamp collecting.) O'Carny giggled when Baloo put their dinner on his tab no less! (These bears are so stupid. No wonder Don called them silly-bear type people! ) Louie calls being rich rough and thinks Baloo and Kit are nuts doing this moonlighting gig. See; R.J. Williams shouldn't have been Cavin after all. I trust Louie in his keen sense of wisdom. I cannot believe I actually said that! (Yeah, he's a phone call away from a member of the "Me too! fanclub!".) Anyhow, Louie hopes that Rebecca appreciates what they are doing as the SeaDuck flies off stage right as Baloo hopes the same. HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! That's a good one! (And watch Rebecca prove former self right and all the bigots are licking their chops seeing this. Although, Volcano Of Gold would be much lower than this, mostly because Rebecca almost committed actual violence despite being rightfully pissed off! I believe that comic book story is the next rant and it's the first official Super Baloo comic and only one that was officially localized by Disney!) Two hours later we head back to the docks of Higher...For...Hire as Kit and Baloo are sleeping in beds outside. Yes, Rebecca has literally thrown them out of their bedroom. This is the lowest point in Rebecca's career right there as she comes in with a tray of coffee and a newspaper screaming at Baloo to get up. He has three minutes to enjoy coffee and the newspaper; and wants them to get into her office right at the three minute mark. (That was the low point, former self.) Rebecca storms off as she has not fired them; but Baloo is afraid of her now.

Apparently; there are two cups of coffee, so I'm guessing Baloo has two of them, or Kit is allowed to drink coffee. (Knowing Kit Cloudkicker, I wouldn't put it past him to drink coffee. It's still better than alcohol though despite being very hot.) Anyhow, the newspaper headlines read that robberies are occurring in Cape Suzette's major businesses. Which the police have no clues as to why. Huh. (Have they been gaslit into believing Don Karnage is a pirate and not really a robber?! TUNE INTO SOFT COPY TO FIND OUT~! That would make for a kickass radio show and I mean that in the nicest way possible.) We head inside the Puree de Venus as the heels minus Mad Dog are eating and giggling. Don Karnage is eating mash potatoes and one of them hits Gibber right in the left eye. (Don Karnage eats what is basically potato puree. Take that you silly bear type people wimps!) Don wants a toast of orange wine to the life of a pirate; and he remembers to whisper yell it. (Hey, it's supposed to be a high end resturant, so orange wine makes sense here.) Gibber whispers into Don's ear and Don responds claiming that he hopes Mad Dog is having fun too. This leads to the red postal truck driving in the street with Mad Dog screaming for help. (Dumptruck's bone brain is beating Mad Dog's toadie brain in this episode. I need a drink of sparkling orange soda now.) We head inside the office of Higher For Hire as Rebecca continues to lay on the jerkass routine much, much thicker than she normally does on a groggy Baloo and Kit. The narrator tells us that this is the following morning after the second all-night run. Basically, Rebecca tells them to deliver toothbrushes before the Choco Company Candy run. Yes, Choco is the name of the company that sells the Choco Thriller candy bar we saw in Bearly Alive. (Great clapback to Bearly Alive, even if that episode was a mess.) Baloo and Kit cannot sell, so Rebecca yells at them. (The WRAITH OF BECKEY is on almost full blast here. It's getting more and more difficult to take this in hindsight because this comic book story is basically a cry for help when it comes to crunch. It's getting to absurd levels, even in real life now.)

Baloo wakes up and both bears bail out of the office like a bunch of desperate fools. Rebecca pounds on the desk saying that she never was warned about these kind of employees in business school as the newspaper states that the daring robberies continue unmolested basically. Baloo and Kit can barely keep awake as they are delivering boxes to Louie's and Kit and Baloo are laying on them now. One of the deliveries involves sending binoculars to Tansminia. They say business is booming as we return to a round table inside the Puree de Venus. (Business is booming while crunch is at an all-time high. We might have at least two dead bodies at this rate...) Don Karnage and the heels minus Mad Dog toast and tap glasses in celebration. Don proclaims that this is the last night here as he doesn't want to overstay their lack of welcome. Don wants to take a prize he has always wanted. He wants to empty something called the :Dead Letter Office:. The...WHAT?! (Considering all the crunch that probably existed during the production of TaleSpin itself due to it being a rushjob because the execs hated B-Players so much and the crunch that is happening in storyline, this all makes storyline sense now. It's just all a WTF moment if I ever saw one.) And yes; even the brainless piles of mayhem are saying the exact same thing I just said. Don wants them to think about it for a minute. BWHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! Good luck on that one, O'Carny! Don admits that he knows it's hard for them to try; but, he asks Dumptruck what happens to letters that were lost in the mail. Dumptruck answers that they uses them as fertilizer. HAHA! Don blows him off because they go to the Dead Letter Office and so they are going to empty it in order to real everyone else's mail. Now, that's a dickish assholish heel move if I ever saw one. That was great. (Because you see, Don Karnage is going to read into people's private lives and use it against them to make them his slaves. What a monster heel move if this works?!) Don takes a sip of orange wine as he tells us that Baloo will deliver this next package and while he does; the pirates will escape in the SeaDuck. We head back to a warehouse as the mail truck has arrived. This explains the next spot actually as Kit and Baloo are talking about how O'Carny has a lot of warehouses.

They are yawning a lot as they load up the mail cargo off-screen and head into the skies with the SeaDuck flying. There is a rain storm coming down with lightning as Kit proclaims that the lightning is bad and they should turn back. Baloo no sells because this is the final run and if they fail, O'Carny won't pay them. I would be more concerned about the police finding out that you are aiding a terrorist then what O'Carny pays you, Pop-A-Bear! Lightning then strikes the tail section of the SeaDuck as we gets the "Holy" swear. Baloo tells Kit to go back to check the cargo. However, Kit already sees the Air Pirates inside. Then we get a classic Bobbi JG Weiss moment (Yes, this was clearly not the artist's fault this time.): Mad Dog appears, but that's fine because they showed the mail truck in the warehouse. All the heels were hiding in the back of the SeaDuck and they blew their cover. All of them call their names and Ratchet is called Hacksaw! Even though Hacksaw was never in this story to begin with! How could anyone make that kind of mistake?! The wolf with the red/blue hat is not Hacksaw, Bobbi! Dammit! (Bobbi was doing so well, too.) Don Karnage screams at everyone to shut up; but it's too late. Someone Kit teleports from the back to his seat. (SUZY SHEEP~?!) Don enters the cockpit with his sword doing his silly Irish promo as Baloo cannot believe Don duped him. Don wants them to smuggle them out of here as planned. Then a bunch of colored seaplanes arrive as the radio is on because it's the Shore Patrol demanding the SeaDuck to verify cargo and plane. Don is angry because the area was tighten up and he whisper yells to Baloo to answer them with no foolishness. Baloo gets on the radio and informs the Shore Patrol that it's the SeaDuck and has only broken boxes and...pirates. Uh-oh! That's a no-no, Pop-A-Bear! Dumptruck and Ratchet grab Baloo and Kit and force them to the back as Don threatens to cut them into bite size pieces after they fly away. One of the Shore Patrol orders the SeaDuck to turn back at once as Don takes over the radio and threatens to kill Baloo and Kit if they don't back off. The Shore Patrol orders the planes not to fire. However, they can still go after the SeaDuck. Don is fine with that as he flies the SeaDuck and leaves the Shore Patrol in his dust and out of the rain.

He finally figures out why Baloo always win since the SeaDuck handles like a pussygato. I'm not making this up! (Yeah, that one might be changed if it made television.) We head over Louie's with the SeaDuck flying around as Baloo was threatening Don with violence if he harms the SeaDuck. (Like you have the stones to take on gun shooting pirates, Pop-A-Bear!) Don is in the cockpit with the transmitters informing the Iron Vulture that he's coming aboard to play cat and mouse with the puny patrol ships. One of the pirates off-panel on the radio tells him that the Shore Patrol has surrounded the island. Baloo then runs in past Mad Dog and flicks a switch on the wall above the windshield causing the SeaDuck to take a nosedive towards Louie's. Don panics like mad as Baloo calls this payback for hijacking his customized plane. Everyone hangs on as Baloo points to a red button the windshield. Don no sells because he knows that red button equals screw job. Baloo calls it a panic button and Don dares to argue about it. (Don't push it Don! This is a cartoon and Occam Razor is someone called Occam who owns a razor and shaves a lot of nonsense hair.) Don finally pushes the button -- even saying that Baloo will pay for this -- and that is the ejection seat. (He pushed it. He's done...maybe.) Which has the talent of springing to the left, dumping Don out of the SeaDuck via the pilot's window. Of course! Baloo threatens them to get back as he takes over the controls and the Air Pirates pushes them to the pilot's seat. (They understand that Baloo is the ace of the base. Bunch of cowards who respond well to threats.) Kit appears to be the main pilot with Baloo the co-pilot! This image should have been flipped. (Are you sure about that?! It's not like Kit took the SeaDuck multiple times in the television series already. I'm not calling it a logic break, I'm calling it a clapback to A Bad Reflection On You Part Two and Destiny Rides Again!) Baloo takes over the controls and lands the plane on the water. Baloo and Kit bail out of the SeaDuck and get behind the boxes as the Air Pirates are shooting at the SeaDuck from their CT-37's. (Nothing changes in this world, sigh.)

Mad Dog, Dumptruck, Gibber and Ratchet grab onto ropes attached to the planes as Kit wants Baloo to do something since the pirates are escaping. Baloo proclaims that the Shore Patrol can handle them. However, he does have one person in mind. Don is grabbing a rope from a plane as he gets out of the water, proclaiming that he's gonna feed Baloo to piranhas and he's pissed off. However, before he can say anything about what he is going to do to Kit, Baloo tackles him down next to the rock. (Yup, just like that. After all the dogfights on this show, a simple tackle captures Don Karnage. Just peachy!) We head to the beach of Louie's as Louie, Kit and Baloo are with the dog nose police officers; in which Don is standing there in handcuffs. Yes folks; Kit and Baloo got Don Karnage arrested. Yes; this story teased the end to the Air Pirates. Can you smell the reset button being pushed here; or do I have to spell it out for you?! (We have already seen Mad Dog and Dumptruck as captain in "Stuck On You". It's horrible!) Louie cannot believe this happened as Baloo states that Kit helped as well. Here comes the Iron Vulture shooting missiles causing everyone to scatter. A rope ladder comes down as Don runs to it and gets on the ladder proclaiming that they are no match to him. Finally, Don fires Baloo by the way; like that makes any difference since I betcha Don would have killed Baloo before paying him anyway. Baloo sulks in defeat as we head back to Rebecca's office with Rebecca once again laying the jerk routine on thick as usual. Baloo and Kit try to explain what happened and she's not buying it. Baloo gives her the $25,000 from the reward for recovering the stolen loot Don stole as Rebecca is completely flabbergasted at this. Baloo proves that he's an asset from now on because who else gets no payment from working and still makes a profit. Kit sounds like he's rooting Baloo on during this and that ends the story. This is a fun story that had a few gaps of story that if they made television; they would be more fleshed out. Also, Rebecca's jerkass routine was just bothersome to me along with the usual logic breaks. This was a fine story otherwise. *** 1/2 (70%). (If you want another story involving politics, the crunch angle of this story is for you.)

Welcome To Gumbeaux! Bubble Gum Capital Of The World! - Geez; and you thought "The Bigger They Are, The Louder They Oink" was pushing the limits of episode titles?! (Compared to animation in Japan?! No.) We begin to proceed to kill the furry angle dead (AGAIN!) with the title card clearly showing a blond haired human boy and brown haired girl blowing bubbles in front of the TaleSpin logo. (This is forgivable since it's just a title card and humans otherwise don't appear in the actual story! The dog nose effect makes up for that though.) The SeaDuck lands on a dock of an island as Molly is in the navigator's chair for no reason that I can think of. Yes; this is a major comic story in which Kit is not involved in, that could have easily been penciled in for an appearance with Molly. While Kit (and even Molly's) lack of appearances in the televised series were due to the fact that the voice talents were children, they don't have that excuse here. (TESTIFY~! Plus, watching the bat spit gum in Kit's face to defend the honor of our favorite roaster Molly Cunningham is many buys! Seth Rogan: You guessed it.) Baloo asks Molly if she's ready for some bubbley and that sounds like Baloo wants to give Molly beer. (Yeah, that one would have been changed for television because it's too close to Chris Jericho's alcohol reference.) However, it's actually bubblegum because the island is known as Gumbeaux, which is the bubble gum capital of the world. (Yeah, that makes sense, but the bubbly reference is too close to certain drinks Molly should not consume.) Molly asks if the gum is free as there is a red haired female dog nose at the dock with a clipboard in a blue uniform and hat not amused when Baloo proclaims that he is loved here. (I doubt it is free, but I hope the pricing is low. Since I wonder what the trariff rate is in Gumbeaux if a certain Mr. Khan turns all Trump on this world?) The second Baloo gets on the dock, she is getting on his case. Geez; she sounds like Rebecca in the ears of bigoted people who think Rebecca is such a jerk. (Something tells me Baloo and this woman have a real nasty feud going on here...) Why is Molly carrying a bag? (Okay, now you are just JAQ'ing off, former self. Let Molly explain it for yourself before you ask questions.) Molly has her cranberry doll on retainer though.

Apparently; Baloo did something to the Gumbeaux King and apologized for it. Geez; it would help if they explained what happened here so I can see the justification for the uniformed dock operator to yell at Baloo. However, there's nothing to suggest that. (That would be something that would be added to television regardless of this were a 11 minute or 22 minute episode.) The dock operator simply tells him she's holding the shipment until a week from Thursday, snorts and storms off. (She really wants Rebecca to fire Baloo for some reason, even though this does not help the King of Gumbeaux in anyway. Might as well let Baloo do his job and then call Rebecca to never do business with the country again. If only Rebecca had the same forethought with Thembria...) Baloo whispers to Molly that there is trouble in paradise and he wants Molly to stay at the docks until he clears this up. Baloo leaves as Molly sits down and sings "Mary had a little lamb..." causing a bat to fly down and spit pink gum at Molly. Molly panics and bails as the bat stops being angry and bounces around. Molly tells him to go away because she doesn't play with monsters. I guess Henry is not a monster despite this bat being smaller and even less threatening than Henry. (Yes, this is Molly's second pet of this series not counting the shiny ostrich/Gorilla Bird in "Pet Project".) Molly calls it cute and we scene change to Molly and the bat playing hopscotch. How did Molly manage to paint the dock with white lines?! (With chalk which is from the 1000's.) And isn't this vandalism?! (Maybe, but Gumbreaux is a lot more benevolent than Thembria, so I doubt she will ever be charged with a petty crime.) Anarchism: Molly mentions Godzilla which didn't exist until 1954. We hear Baloo yelling as Molly hears him and stuffs the bat in her blue bag, thus justifying it's existence to start with. (See, you should have waited former self.) Baloo blows off the woman dock operator again carrying a crate over his right shoulder. He blows Gumbeaux off for not listening. (Hey, don't screw with a ruler unless you can commit regicide, Pop-A-Bear! Just saying!) Molly is about to show him the bat. However, Baloo drops the wooden crate in an awful fasion; because the left tail section fin is down again. (Baloo acting like a manchild, what a surprise?!) Baloo claims that he can fix this in two shakes. So, he takes yellow paper and four bolts to rivet the fin in place. Don't you need the fin to be moving in order to make it fly properly, Pop-A-Bear?! That doesn't sound like a good move. (Turns out former self was correct in this case...)

Baloo and Molly head into the cockpit of the SeaDuck as Molly is yawning and Baloo wants to blow the bubble gum stand. Damn; we'll never find out why Baloo pissed off the Gumbeaux King~! That would have been MONEY, MONEY, YEAH, YEAH! (Just like Main Event Money being in a local automobile commercial just after winning a bunch of rings for a four team tournment that saw them win on interference twice.) The SeaDuck takes off as Molly falls asleep. Baloo decides to turn the radio down low to let her sleep. However, the bat has great hearing and that means it flies out and spits gum in such an impossible angle that there is no way this lands in Baloo's mouth. It should land at Baloo's feet, which somehow manage to get in Baloo's mouth and he blows a bubble. It bursts all over Baloo's face in the process. HAHA! (I admit that this is hilarious, but the logic break makes it even more than it should be allowed by logic law.) Baloo wipes the gum from his face as he proclaims that it's a Gumbeaux Bouncing Bubble Bat on board. Apparently; it's gimmicks are to bounce, and blow bubbles when people sing. (Because it thinks singing is a horrible act that they deserved to be silenced with sticky gum in mouth. That's kind of gross.) Baloo is concerned Molly is going to get hurt and we get another out of character moment as the SeaDuck now has a legit auto-pilot switch. Since when?! So, the REDNECK AUTOPILOT OF DOOM is too dangerous in the comics anymore?! (I don't understand that one since even Ducktales 2017 was fine with it despite hating the guns which was a bigger problem than a crowbar.) Baloo goes into the back, breaks into song and takes a bubble gum spit in the face off-screen. HAHA! (You have no one but yourself to blame for that one Pop-A-Bear!) The bat appears off-screen and flies into the cockpit as Baloo declares that the music is over and the bat is going to be squashed as Baloo takes off his hat and waves it to catch the bat; before running towards the pilot's seat and smacking the bat into the hat with his hand. Baloo goes the pilot window, tells the bat to go bye-bye and tell the official Gumbeax to go to hell... (That was awfully mean of Baloo. Seems a little mean...) Well, he was about to say that, when Molly wakes up and yells at Baloo to stop since it's her pet. Baloo calls the bat a pest, consarned, dadgummed, dingbusted so and so. Basically; he found four different ways to swear in DUBBED ANIME STYLE.

Molly simply says that the bat is hers. Which causes Baloo to give up and he gives the bat back to Molly. On the condition that the bat stop bothering him. (I give 2:1 odds this condition will be broken before the end of this comic. All Baloo's fault, of course.) We hear a large creek as Molly asks what happened. Baloo's response is that they hit a hole the size of the greater Toledo -- not as bad as saying "Earth", but still annoys me a little -- or the tail section flap has broken up. The plane goes into making Baloo stutter as Molly asks if he's gonna crash. Baloo says "no" and decides to sing the "99 Bottles of Pop" on the wall. Well; it's not Binkie singing, but whatever. The bat is such a critic that he spits gum in Baloo's face again. (Literally three lines of text...) Baloo blows him off at first. However, Baloo then gets the LIGHT BULB OF BLOODY CLAIRTY as he goes outside to the tail section of the SeaDuck. Baloo sings while using the bat as a gun to spray bubble gum on the flap to seal it. It works so well that they can go home now. (I've seen more absurd solutions on this show than this.) We head to the docks of Higher...For...Hire as Baloo and Molly gets out with the cargo and bubble bat in that order. Rebecca comes down and yells at Molly to get away from the hairy monster bat this instant. (She's done with weird gimmicked monsters after Mommy For A Day I see. I sort of don't blame her, actually.) Baloo pleads his case for the bat as Molly chases the bouncing bat as Rebecca doesn't care and wants Baloo to return him back to Gumbeaux. Baloo is pleading that every kid needs a monster (2016 World: NO WE DON'T~! THAT'S TRUMPS' GIMMICK~!) and there's a song to that. Rebecca then proceeds to sing threatening to fire Baloo if he doesn't return the bat to Gumbeaux. This leads to the bat turning around and sprays bubble gum into Baloo's face. This makes no sense, but that was funny as Rebecca decides to let Molly keep him anyway. HAHA! That ends the story. That ending makes no sense because the bat sprayed it in Baloo's face with no indication that Rebecca ducked, since the bat should have nailed Rebecca with the gum since the gimmick is that the bat spits gum at the singer. Still; fun episode, but extremely fluffy as hell. *** 1/4 (65%). (It's a meaner version of a Peppa Pig episode with airplanes. I was disappointed that "The Lost Cargo Of Kit Cloudkicker" didn't have the Gumbeaux bat has a cameo because seeing it spit gum in Kit's kisser while Kit sings would have been hilarious!)

The Why Of The Beholder - This one is a simple dialogue less two page comic featuring a simple gag that debuted in TaleSpin #1 which I forgot to add to the Flight Of The Sky Raker Part One rant. Here's what happens: WildCat's overalls are dirty as he's fixing the engine of the SeaDuck on the docks. He cleans himself with a yellow towel and whistles while he works. He then goes over and cleans his clothes, hanging it on a clothesline. A bull dog furry wearing a blue suit, blue pants, black bow tie and shoes with a hat looks on in disbelief. Somehow the yellow towel is showing colors coming out of the black filth on the towel. The bull dog looks at the towel and gives WildCat a huge sum of money for it. The bulldog takes the towel and runs off. Cut to inside the Cape Suzette Museum of Modern Art as the towel is being display as abstract art called "The Great Unwashed". HAHA! (Now THAT's abstract art! The bull dog is our GEEK OF THE WEEK~!) Everyone is either confused, not amused, or in the case of Molly completely disgusted with it. (Of all the characters to be disgusted at this, it was Molly Cunningham. Who is the biggest friend of WildCat in storyline. Have Rebecca be the one disgusted, that makes a lot more sense. Great gag though.) That's it. This was dumb and nonsensical. (Which is WildCat's character to a T by the way, so it was a fun gag if nothing else.) However, it was cute and I can believe that only WildCat could pull this off without looking fake. ** 3/4 (55%).

MailSpin #5: Time for the next MailSpin segment as we get hard hitting questions such as:

[1.] What happened to Rebecca's husband? Which was not answered other than Rebecca knows what happened to him and doesn't want to talk about it. (To be fair, I can totally understand why since it would be too painful.) Of course; TaleSpin #7 provided an answer in "The Long Flight Home".

[2.] Exactly where is Cape Suzette? Answer: Somewhere in the South Pacific. Of course; it takes place in it's own world because the comic books have to lie in order to reassure fans that it's possible that this city is in the real world; when it clearly is not. (Word of advice: Never answer that question, you are just daring a lawsuit at this point. If you do answer the question: Tell the truth that it's not real and move on. You'll thank yourselves later.)

I just love the letter from David Stremienski talking about "Home Is Where The Heart Is" not being on television because the scene was in fact there on television. However, it only aired in the first run when it was a television movie. David is acting like the comics added that scene later on and the people who answered him claimed that it was in the television series. However, failed to mention that it was the television movie only, and the four part pilot had it cut out. Jeff B. Lips...ERR..I mean, Jeff B. Lui asks about why there isn't any jet craft which was easily answered to be that it didn't exist in the time period the show is in, which even in the Takeoff series was 1937ish. (Which is true since in storyline, the jet engine/over drive wasn't confirmed until Mach One For The Gipper, which could easily be pre-Plunder and Lightning with no modifications.) Note the mistake in answering Jamie's letter. He asked if Baloo has a last name and the comics say "no". Which is false. In the promotional materials; Baloo's last name is Bear. (Started right around the time of the Disney Channel preview promo.) In the television series; Baloo's birth name is Baloo Von Bruinwald XIII as mentioned in "The Balooest of Bluebloods". (In Ducktales 2017, Baloo Von Bruinwald is canon now, although the XIII part was excised. Probably for the best since XIII died due to being taxed to death, even in 1937.) Also, Shere Khan doesn't run Cape Suzette. However, Khan might as well be given his paws are in everything. Corporations are people in Cape Suzette, you see. (How very USA 2025 of Khan here!) The last letter is a TaleSpin comic love in and that is that. This was just there for a MailSpin segment.

THE REVIEW LINE

"It's A Plunderful Life!" is a solid story that is marred by Rebecca being a bigger jackass than usual and it felt like a 11 minute episode instead of a 22 minute epic battle since the climax battle looked weak. The story was all right and the heels were awesome in being dicks to each other, so it was fun if nothing else. But then again; Don Karnage can make a broomstick look awesome, so there you go. (I thought the issue of crunch was on full display here and I would love a TaleSpin reboot to exist to flesh out this story a lot more than they did. I could see this as a really interesting way to tell the horrible tale of such a thing.) The "Why Of The Beholder" is just a cute gag that made me giggle, but nothing more. The artwork was really good; so that helped it quite a bit. "Welcome To Gumbeaux!" was a cute story with Molly and a bat and it was as fluffy plot as you are going to get. It could have been a lot better if they had fleshed out the Gumbeaux King angle more and had Rebecca duck the final shot from the bat. There's not much to say about these stories and they were enjoyable if nothing else. Next up will be the "Volcano of Gold" featuring the Scrap Pirates and Rebecca being such a jackass; but at least she is totally justified in her behavior this time. (Albeit over the top in the process. Oh look, it's the first and only Super Baloo comic that was localized in English!) Then it's "Dr. Doyens Robotic Revenge" and that one I swear to god; Doctor Doyen looks like the long lost cousin of Ciseaux from Sakura Wars 3! An anime that takes places in almost the same time period as TaleSpin! (Sadly, the babyfaces are humans and the heels are mostly anthros/furries.) I'll explain that when we get there. So...

Thumbs in the middle for all stories. I'll see you all again next time.

Back to TaleSpin Rants!
Return to the Rant Shack!
Return to the Unofficial Kit Cloudkicker Homepage!