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TaleSpin Comics: The Volcano Of Gold Rant

Reviewed: 09/18/2016
Additional Commentary: 12/23/2025

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

Original Release: 09/00/1992 (English Version), 09/00/1991 (Original Super Baloo Comic Release).

Whoops; almost typed "Volcano Of God" there for a second. Although you could almost say that this was accurate after reading this. Here's the plot according to INDUCKS: When Higher for Hire is on the edge of being turned over to Shere Khan, the crew go to an expedition which will lead them to solving the mystery of the disappearance of a legendary aviator, on a volcano made of gold. Now, "Volcano Of Gold" is a special case because it didn't debut in North America first. It was originally released in France as part of the Collection Disney Club #4 in 1991. Then was translated and localized into English for Disney's Colossal Comics Collection #5 in 1992. (2025 Gregory Weagle Says: The name of the story is basically translated from French to English.) There are a surprisingly large amount of comics written in France for this series; but "Volcano Of Gold" was the only one that was released officially translated and localized. (Probably due to Walt Disney Animation France's presence more than anything else.) "Silence, You Cheater!" wasn't officially released in North America, but Steet was kind enough to fan translate and localize that story. Steet also has "The Wrong Culprit" and a small children's book called "Baloo & The Flying Carpet" (English translation and localization names translated by Steet and myself); but neither of those are translated officially by Disney, and probably never will since Steet has been working on other things as of late. (Although multiple non-English comics have been released in English thanks to the Disney Afternoon omnibus collection, albeit none from the Super Baloo comics yet.) How does this epic story fare? Let's rant on shall we...

"The Volcano of Gold" was written by Regis Maine with artwork done by Mario Coate and English translation and localization done by Bobbi JG Weiss. Mario Cotres according to lambeik: Mario Cortés is a Spanish comic artist, who has worked through Barcelona-based studios like Comicup (1990s) and Comicon (2000s). He started out drawing comic stories based on the Disney TV series 'Talespin', including a long adventure called 'The Volcano of Gold' (1991). He is responsible for the art of many comic adaptations of Disney films for Disney Europe in the 1990s. These include adaptations of new films like 'Hercules' (1997), 'Mulan' (1998), 'Tarzan' (with Andrea Nicolucci, 1999), 'Peter Pan: Return to Neverland' (2002) and 'Treasure Planet' (2002), but also revised adaptations of earlier films, such as 'Bambi' (1993), 'The Aristocats' (1994), 'Sleeping Beauty' (1995), 'Peter Pan' (1996), 'The Lady and the Tramp' (1997) and 'Cinderella' (1998). Regis has written comic movie adaptations of Bambi, Snow White, Sleeping Beauty, Cinderella, Jungle Book, The Little Mermaid and 101 Dalimatians among others, according to Comic Vine. Regis worked on Ducktales: Like A Hurricane, Uncle Scrooge comics, Mickey Mouse 300 Mickeys, among others.

Opening Moment #1: Baloo, Kit and Rebecca are shown running away from an violently errupting volcano. Just there though as you'll see later on. (Yeah, this comic story is about to get wacky as I just hope Kit isn't buried as much as he was in other Super Baloo comic stories I have seen so far.)

The Volcano Of Gold: We begin this one inside Louie's as Louie is sweeping the floor of his bar with a broom and singing the flying blues. The artwork is beautiful here as Louie has no shoes despite singing about it. (Imagine Walt Disney Animation France's artwork in comic form and you are almost there.) He lifts a dog furry's legs in order to sweep underneath him. That dog furry in the trench coat has a wine bottle and wine glass and looks legit drunk. So, if anyone thinks that Louie doesn't sell alcohol in this joint, this is the episode that proves them wrong. Besides; there is a good story line reason for Louie's to stock fruit juice instead of alcohol: Air taxis are hard to come by and almost all of his customers are pilots who fly complex pieces of machinery. So, it makes sense to not stock up on a lot of alcohol because you don't want pilots to be drunk. In other words, you can get away with the no alcohol rule here. (Some people just love to think drinking and driving means that they are men. A bunch of toxic manchildren is more like it.) The narrator here is talking about perfume and birds giving voice to a thousand calls. (That localization sounds like the AI Burt Reynolds from "That's What I Call Wrestling." I can just imagine this in Burt's voice right now.) Well; in comes Baloo sobbing the blues literally as he claims that he wants to die! Louie is confused as he bails to get a towel while Baloo sits down on the chair. He sobs in the towel as Baloo calls himself a first class jerk. (Wait, that would mean Rebecca is a special class jerk by proxy according to the bigots.) Baloo proclaims that he is responsible for losing Higher For Hire and the SeaDuck. (According to fanfic fanon: That means Kit Cloudkicker is Shere Khan's property now. That's uber creepy.) Plus, Rebecca is going to kill him. Jeepers; the references of death are starting to kill me now. (Molly is like: Is my mommy going to scream past 194 dbs?! If so, that'll kill Rebecca too, along with everyone else. Now, Pop-A-Bear is just making up stuff!) Louie asks if he was gambling by playing cards with Honest Bob again. (Sadly, we never got to see Honest Bob, nor an angle on it in any episode.) Baloo really blows him off for accusing him of being irresponsible. Geez; if you were responsible; why did you lose Rebecca's business so easily?! (This is what we call DAVRO~!)

Well; Baloo has an explanation for this because it was a stupid job he got. WE HIT THE FLASHBACK~! TaleSpin didn't do these often enough in the television series and they are done even less in the comics. We head to a dock somewhere in the snowy peak mountains as Baloo is signing his name on the clipboard wearing a fur coat. (Sadly, this one isn't done in two-tone 1930's style flashback that Whistlestop Jackson, Legend did thought.) Kit is wearing a blue coat for some reason as a dog furry wearing winter gear and shoes. Baloo and Kit aren't wearing pants nor boots here by the way. The dog furry tells them to deliver two thousand fir trees to Cape Suzette as a rabbit furry and a wolf furry wearing blue coats, orange pants and blue hats run in as the dock operator tells them to load up the cargo. (Must be Christmas in July 1937, judging by the cargo.) Baloo grabs Kit and runs into a small bar as they sit down at the counter and drink hot cocoa from red tea cups. This area also seems to have alcohol bottles as well. Kit is drinking and not amused by this as Baloo asks what is wrong. Kit asks why someone would order fir trees in the spring time and asks who the client is. (Believe it or not: "Christmas In July" was invented in 1933, in a girl's summer camp in North Carolina by Fannie Holt. Even though it's possible for this event to exist, it wasn't popularized until after 1940 due to a movie inspired World War II gift drives later on. In other words, Kit thinking that this is suspect is understandable since the writer probably thought "Christmas In July" didn't exist back then. While the writer is ultimately wrong, I cannot hate the writer for it since the popularization of the notion wouldn't be until after this episode would have existed in the time line. Kit is not an idiot here. Don't worry, he will do some really amteur stupid things later on in this story.) Baloo admits that he never saw him as the order came through the mail and came with a thousand dollar cheque. Kit is shocked to hear this, asks what the company name is and it's initials; which now that part Baloo has forgotten. Baloo calls it a legit contract and smacks Kit in the back causing Kit to splash hot cocoa in his face in the process. (Ouch! That would be child abuse in any other universe. Don't do that to anyone, much less children. Third degree burns are less funny than even concussions!)

So, remember, Baloo didn't read the contract, nor actually do research on this deal. I'm guessing that they either return to the docks of Cape Suzette or a check point dock an hour away from the first docking site. It's hard to tell despite the beautiful artwork in this comic. (Sometimes, the rush job is exposed in the background despite the beauty in the front.) The SeaDuck is already docked as the trees are being unloaded as Baloo is watching on with Kit. Baloo comments about the trees frying in the sun and hoping the client meets with him. Kit notices a colored helicopter approaching as it lands, forcing Baloo to duck the blades in the process. I just love how Baloo tells Kit to duck even though Kit's less than half the height of Baloo and thus the blades wouldn't come even close to hitting him. (This is the old wrestling botch where someone does a move off the top rope and misses so badly that the guy doing the move would have missed the guy taking it, even if the guy taking it doesn't move at all.) The doors open which -- by the way -- the pilot looked similar to Wilbery from Baloo Thunder. Out comes Shere Khan who thinks their bowing is pointless. (Reminder to boot lickers: Masters don't like their boots much less their feet licked. Just so you want to know.) Khan is here to inspect the trees Baloo needs to deliver five months from now. Baloo stammers as Khan is the client who ordered the trees and Kit is not happy to hear this. (Of course Kit isn't happy. He knows the screwjob fix is in.) Baloo digs into his pockets looking for the contract. Khan shows him the copy he signed and returned to him to Baloo. Baloo sees that the company in question as is called SKIN Inc.: Shere Khan Imports and Novelties. ($20 that it's a shell company. Lots of those in video gaming, even today.) That was amusing enough as Kit reads in the contract writing that the trees must be delivered by Christmas in perfectly fresh condition. (There it is, the fix is in, because...) Which is completely impossible even in 2016 since fir trees usually keep a month tops! What a dick Khan is?! Khan reveals that if there is a failure to deliver on the terms "agreed" to; they have to pay a steep penalty. Which judging by their reactions is a lot of money which involves selling Higher For Hire to Khan.

Khan gets into his helicopter and is about to take off. However, Baloo asks Khan again, Khan basically says "screw you" and proclaims that the delivery assumes the trees past the first inspection, which begins right now. Uh-oh! Khan tells the pilot to turn on the engines, the pilot sells as the helicopter blades destroy the fir trees and then the helicopter leaves. (Donald Trump wishes he was as biggly stable genius as Super Baloo's version of Shere Khan, who is more unhinged than television show Mr. Khan.) Khan gives them seven days to pay up and the SeaDuck has been impounded as well as stated in the contract. Kit calls him a "dirty rat" in response. (I would have called him an "orange goblin", although that would run afowl with Hogan's trademark and Kit has nothing in his name to sell if Kit loses the lawsuit.) We return to reality (no, not really) as Louie proclaims that he is in way deep now. NO?! REALLY?! Louie asks if Rebecca knows about it and Baloo says "not yet". (That would prove to be a bald-faced lie...) Baloo's not sure how to say it, but then we hear Rebecca's scream as Louie is Shaggy to Baloo's Scooby, which is always amusing. At least it's not Kit getting the spot as Baloo actually thinks Kit told her anyway. (I betcha that's the only part that might be true, although the Occam's Razor would be that Shere Khan told her back at the docks since the SeaDuck was impounded and that would have been a clear clue.) Baloo wants to hide as he bails just as the door slams open and here comes the greatest WRAITH OF BECKEY in the series. Really, I'm torn here because on the one hand: Khan's deal should be illegal and probably will not be if Donald Trump is president come November of 2016. (Ditto now, and Donald is so unstable that violating MAD is possible now!) However; Baloo didn't bother to read the contract once and figure that this might be a setup. He looks like a gullible fool and since it was his gullibility that caused this; then I can fully understand Rebecca being pissed off and her anger is certainly justified here. However; it's not going to help her regain her business and she cannot fire Baloo because her business is gone anyway. (Yeah, this anger is pointless. Understandable? Yes. Justifiable? Yes. Will it get the business back? Sadly, no.)

Louie is goldbricking as Rebecca threatens to jam the straw hat down Louie's throat. (Okay, now Rebecca is going too far here. If you want to take Baloo's hat and shove it down his throat, be my guest. Keep Louie and Louie's out of this! The last thing you want is LOUIE's to go out of business inspite of what Baloo has done. Backup plans to work for Louie would be better at this point, despite your problems with Louie L'Amour's conduct on this show.) Louie is sweating when he says "Would I lie?". Geez; Louis, you're not even trying anymore. (Louie would have been better off giving up Baloo and be done with it. The business would thank him later.) Rebecca proclaims that she'll wait for him and goes over to the jukebox to put in some coins. Baloo is hiding inside the jukebox and a record grabber shoves a record in Baloo's mouth. (Okay, that was funny and talk about foot neatly inserted into his mouth. You would think that after Contractual Desperation that Baloo would realize that business is not his forte?! Nope! Now, Higher For Hire is screwed and the babyfaces are done. Kit might live on since he was a runaway, but everyone else is wrecked basically.) Rebecca has the Gruffi pose on as she is angry about the jukebox not working and kicks the jukebox so hard that the cord fizzles and the jukebox literally explodes causing Baloo to fly out and land. Oh, snap! You know the WRAITH OF BECKEY is on when she's destroying people's properties with impunity. (Although it's not much different than kicking a vending machine. At least she's smart enough not to headbutt to get free product like Goldberg was with a Surge vending machine. Question: Was that a shoot or was the Surge vending machine gimmicked?! Both answers are valid at this point.) To be fair; Baloo did screw up the jukebox, which is a perfect punchline for his inability to read a contract. Baloo is screwed as he falls over a chair on his back and somehow this chair doesn't break. Rebecca is giving it to Baloo; including slapping his belly and yelling at him about it. Louie runs in to break this up and offers Rebecca a papaya fizz as Rebecca blows him off for distracting her. I think she implied "making her drunk"; but I must be hearing things in my head for that to happen. (Somehow, I wouldn't put it past Louie to use a date rape drug at this point. Thankfully, it didn't happen.)

Now, someone falls over a table and it looks like a grey bear wearing a multi-pocket green coat, yellow pants, shirt, belt and red hanky around his neck. The bear blows off the service as Louie helps him up and walks him towards the exit for some fresh air. Then the bear shoves Louie aside as he sees Rebecca and puts a stop to this before anyone else gets wrecked. The grey bear kisses her hand --which she doesn't mind -- as the guy is named Ted Burrow, roving reporter for the world famous NBCBS Radio Network. (Rebecca is like "That gray bear is my future date away from this failure of Baloo!".) Remember the A.S.S. thing from Ducktales?! Well; here's TaleSpin's version of it: National Broadcasting Corporation Bull Shit~! Also, the grey bear reporter proclaims he's come back from...wait for it...THE INFERNO~! A nice way of saying, "Hellfire"! (Yup, although Bobbi sort of dances around it some more later on. Strange since Hunchback Of Notre Dame didn't dance around that word.) I mention this because Ted Burrow slams chest first into the floor and is knocked silly for about a minute before being back in his chair. Ted screams THE INFERNO~ again as he explains he was investigating the disappearance of legendary aviator Klaus Von Cockpit, who tried to fly over Mount Fogtop thirty years ago. Okay; here's the first mistake from Bobbi: TaleSpin takes place in 1937/1938/1939ish; so the incident took place in 1907/1908/1909; which puts it around the same time the Wright Brothers were flying their planes in real life. That makes no sense. You couldn't change that to twenty years or even ten years?! It's a minor logic break; but it annoys me. (There is a worse one within this scene later, actually.) We then HIT THE FLASHBACK~! So, he is going through the jungle in a rainstorm cutting through plants and kicking pirates with spears and radio transmitters. This is the point where we discover that there are Scrap Pirates as well; which is the third pirate group in the series. Yes; we have Air Pirates, Scrap Pirates and even Cape Suzette has Street Pirates. You know who's missing from this?! Regular pirates! You know; the ones who sail ships on water. (I betcha if this series actually continued, we get that one. Each with an element: Wind, Water, Metal and Concrete! That last one would be Daddy Pig's soulmate. POW! OUCH! Ummm...)

Anyhow; he is about to reach the volcano. When suddenly a white ghost like seaplane comes down and Ted is forced to turn and run away like a coward. There is also a large cloud over the mountain as well as we return to reality (no, not really). Ted goes through his out of nowhere grey backpack proclaiming that he's finished and is a disgrace. (Compared to Baloo, he was in fact close.) He offers Louie the award he won for best reporting. (And calling him barkeep during this despite this clearly being Louie's. Also, the comics are not pretending that Louie's is a bar even though BS&P stepped in on that one a year before this was released.) Huge logic break that is Bobbi's fault: Bobbi's localization claims that the trophy is made of pure platinum. Ummm; hello? The trophy is gold colored! So, you mean pure gold! How did Bobbi make that kind of mistake?! (This was a bad one because it played into the actual story and it wasn't like the plot wasn't given away in the title of the story. Just stupid.) It's to pay his tab as Ted gives Rebecca a red/blue ribbon contract paper for exploring Mount Fogtop and then runs out proclaiming that he is retiring from reporting. He is such a coward; what a shocker?! Louie inspects the trophy while Rebecca inspects the contract. Rebecca isn't sure about the trophy, but the contract is legit as we discover that the amount Burrow was supposed to bring back is more than enough to pay back Mr. Khan. Baloo looks panicky though as Rebecca points out that they can deliver on this deal for Burrow. (Because the TaleSpin family delivers the goods, even if it isn't on time nor intact.) Baloo calls Rebecca crazy because they are going to Fogtop Mountain near the Cocobonga Jungle. Rebecca accuses Baloo of being afraid and Baloo blows it off while stammering like an idiot. (At this point, Baloo has zero right to be afraid because he's the one who created this crazy setup in the first place! Might as well accept the deal and get wrecked before Khan wrecks them. It would be no worse for them!) Baloo comes up with the excuse of not having a camera as Louie points out that they can use the camera he got from his birthday from Aunt Louise. So there you go Aunt Louise lovers; there was her only mention in the comics. (Probably the only time Louie was happy to get anything from his auntie in this show methinks.) Baloo blows Louie off for taking Rebecca's side and Rebecca breaks that up as there is an expedition to organize.

Yeah; you only got seven days left to stop Khan from screwing your business over and if anyone is going to fire Baloo, it's her. (Hey, I can live with that.) Baloo points out that the SeaDuck is impounded. (Which is a valid reason to refuse the deal right now. However...) Louie counters that there is a old heap of a plane they can use since they were working on it for months before this, causing Baloo to blow off Louie yet again. Why is Baloo so afraid to do this job?! Particularly after he caused them to lose Higher...For...Hire in the first place! Meanwhile, we see Gibber in shadow looking on and he walks away as he is going to inform Shere Khan about this. Even more amazing; Gibber actually speaks for the first time in this series. No whispering into someone's ear here! Gibber actually said a word under a normal volume. Now; this sounds like a logic break until you realize that in storyline, he never was near Don Karnage at all in this story. In fact, the closest he was to anybody was Mr. Khan. So, in storyline in this series, he's not comfortable talking to Don Karnage and the Air Pirates; but is perfectly fine with talking to Shere Khan despite the fact that Khan is supposed to be the scarier guy of the two just by his mere presence. (That's an interesting detail that I'm shocked the television series nor the comic did more of.) Gibber wasn't scared at all when he showed up in Khan's office. More on that later as we head to the docks outside Louie's as Kit is hammering and repairing the tail section of a green plane which looks really patched up as it's the next day. So, they have six days left to pay up the deal as Rebecca is telling Molly she cannot come and must stay at Louie's because it's too dangerous. Molly groans as she walks to Louie and then we scene change to Baloo coming out of the Patch Duck. (That's my booking name for it and I'm sticking to it! Besides; Bobbi is going to make another localization mistake later on in this story.) Baloo has a blue towel as he wants to take off before Patch Duck falls apart again. (No wonder Baloo was not feeling this. The Patch Duck is liable to break apart on it's own. No WildCat Puma in this story either, despite WildCat being in other Super Baloo comic stories. Now that I think about it: Will WildCat and his boathouse be Shere Khan's property if the babyfaces fail?! Former self never took that into consideration either! Wow, the stakes are extremely high here!)

Rebecca wants to say goodbye to Molly before they go and Molly is nowhere to be found on the docks. (Uh-oh! I think we all know where this is going...) Rebecca looks around and then gets into the back of the Patch Duck proclaiming that she is probably pouting somewhere. That somewhere is probably in the Patch Duck, knowing what happened in Plunder and Lightning. Baloo and Kit do a halfway house flight check as Baloo proclaims that it's time to pull chocks and Kit calls him "Captain" as the Patch Duck takes off into the air and that is that. (I see Kit still needs to get the Air Pirate brainwashing out of his head at this point.) We head inside Khan's office with Khan at his desk with a model of a blue airplane as Gibber is sitting in a chair in front of the desk. Khan asks about Baloo finding a way to pay Khan and Gibber asks if he pleased. Yes, Gibber does speak in a normal volume here. Khan blows him off as he proclaims that he wants Higher For Hire to go bankrupt because he wants to destroy competition from the independent airlines. Not only that; he claims that it's better for Cape Suzette! He's acting like everyone wants to see these indies destroyed. I have heard gamers use the same excuse against independent developers in video games and it's a terrible one at that. It's often a sign that the indies are gaining traction on the marketplace. In other words, Khan is basically trying to smeer their reputation by making an example out of Higher For Hire. This is mobster mentality that puts them well below a mere CEOHole; and puts them into psychopathic CEOHole. (Well, this is the old "I am God" attitude. It never ends well for anyone.) He calls Rebecca stubborn, takes the model airplane and crushes it. Khan wants the Patch Duck removed from life and orders Gibber to contact Don Karnage as he has a little job for him. Considering that the last job ended with Khan sending a letter bomb to Don; why would Don want to do business with him?! (Because in the Super Baloo comics, Shere Khan is a full on heel CEO, instead of a tweener to heel Scrooge McDuck on television.) Answer: You'll see. Just like Baloo's reasoning for being afraid of going to Mount Fogtop. We head to the Cocobonga Jungle as we see Mount Fogtop which is dead ahead as the Patch Duck is approaching it. Rebecca admits that it doesn't look all that inviting.

This causes Baloo to finally reveal why he doesn't want to do this job: Mount Fogtop is cursed, you see. (This show was cursed in general. Bad luck does that to this kind of show.) No one knows exactly what is in the fog on the mountain. However, some claim that all spooks hang out there. In other words, it's considered a hangout for the dead! Ooooookkkkkkaaaayyyy. (Hey, I have heard worse theories from the right wing Nazi's out there. This is kind of amusing to me at least.) Baloo looks down and doesn't know how to land the Patch Duck because he needs water in order to land. Which is a logic break because in the television series, the SeaDuck has a landing gear. I would change this to "The SeaDuck has a landing gear at least and we can land anywhere. This plane needs a little water..." because that makes more sense. (Bobbi's localization is far from flawless, but this is the best Super Baloo story so far.) So, then a waterfall's worth of water splashes right onto the Patch Duck as a yellow plane comes into view over the Patch Duck. Come to think about it; it might be a yellow version of the SeaDuck! (A decoy plane?! I wouldn't put it pass Shere Khan to try something like this.) Baloo is swearing legit and I know this because the balloon shows explosive symbols being used instead of dialogue. I'm guessing he said "Fuck it!" here. (Baloo has already in the television series say "It fucking worked!", and someone later on in the Super Baloo comics said "dammit", so the whole "explosive symbols" thingie is pointless. However, since Disney wouldn't allow anything else, I can see why they used it here.) We see in the cockpit, Don Karnage with headphones on taking a transmitter. Don Karnage greeting Baloo about the little bath. (Sadly, the water isn't red colored to symbolize a bloodbath, which I doubt Disney would allow anyway.) Baloo grabs the transmitter and decides to lay the screaming so thick on Don that the headphones explode right on cue. OUCH! I could hear dogs wailing for four thousand miles with that scream. (And you accused REBECCA of being the screamer of this outfit?! Bigot.) Don calls this abominating bear ouchies and asks Mad Dog how much water is left in the tanks.

Mad Dog (his co-pilot) proclaims that they have plenty as the yellow plane flies up above the Patch Duck and throws more water from the trapdoor below on it. (Will, the real second mate gets screwed again! I betcha in the TaleSpin reboot, this will be a full-on running gag until the series is over.) The windshield does the blinding cascade effect as Kit panics while Baloo swears in DUBBED ANIME STYLE (doggone). Kit wants the wipers on; but no go. Huh?! Water shouldn't be an issue here as Baloo claims something is stuck to the windshield. (I guess too much water overloaded the wipers. Or, more realistically; the windshield fogged up from the inside and Bobbi Weiss missed that nuance.) Kit panics again pointing to the altimeter as they are nose diving to the ground. Cut to the cockpit of the yellow plane and we hear a loud crash as both Mad Dog and Don Karnage cheer for victory on this one. I assume the Patch Duck crashed violently onto the ground. Don goes to a radio transmitter and Khan is Tiger-Shark while he is Daredevil of course. (Fun fact: In the pre-production materials, the Iron Vulture was called the Sky Shark and had massive shark fins.) Mission complete as they say and Khan congratulates Don Karnage for a job well done. (At least in theory.) We head in the jungle as the Patch Duck is wrecked. However, Kit, Baloo and Rebecca walk out unharmed as Baloo is relieved of that. Kit points out that it's not so relieved as they turn around to notice that there is an airplane graveyard nearby. Kit then realizes that this is the home of the notorious Scrap Pirates. (I'm going to guess that Kit has worked for them, too. Either he was a slave to them and left; or there was an exchange of personnel between Don Karnage and them with Kit understanding the assignment, if you will.) Rebecca then takes out a jellyfish as it appears that the Air Pirates took their water from the ocean and it was filled with jellyfish oil which caused the windshield to go opaque. (Hey, that's better than the windshield fogging up and it's sticky. Bobbi Weiss actually got this one right.) Baloo then points backwards as in comes the Scrap Pirates with their spears as they are basically Air Pirates who deal with scrap airplanes. Wow; there is an amazing terrorist network in this series. These comic rascals sometimes...

The babyfaces are now surrounded as a red haired blond wolf furry -- wearing a red cap and armor that makes him look like a gladiator -- comes in and greets them. He claims that the babyfaces have two choices: Surrender peacefully or they get nasty on them. Rebecca asks what they will do if they choose "surrender" and the wolf gladiator explains that they then have two choices again: Pay a ransom (Impossible in this case since the babyface have no money and a wrecked plane.), or become their slaves. (Yup, only two choices: Slavery or death basically.) He also promises "cutie-pie" -- that's Rebecca in case you sexist ass-clowns don't understand why Rebecca becomes pissed off after this -- not to work her so hard. Rebecca tells him off and slams the jellyfish on his head for his troubles as the wolf is ticked off and the urge to hang catfish is rising. (That turned out to be a bad move on Rebecca's part, because...) So, it's AFTER HAPPY HOUR (after dark) as the babyfaces are tied upside down like catfish on a railing by the ankles. (Kit Cloudkicker: First time?!) I see the Scrap Pirates are stupid to not tie their hands nor knees up. (Kit Cloudkicker: Don was smart enough to at least do that to me when I stole his key to the Lightning Gun!) Worse, Baloo being upside down by one rope is just logic breaking by itself. (This would be changed completely if it made television. The physics in this scene for Baloo are absurd.) Baloo is blowing off Rebecca for the jellyfish slamming while Rebecca doesn't like being called cutie-pie. Baloo proclaims that it's going to be tough getting out of this as Rebecca is complaining about her hair. (The comics don't care about physics, but the shirts and hair are working according to gravity, although Kit's baseball cap is still intact for some reason.) Kit then somehow brings out his knife and these Scrap Pirates are so stupid that they forget to check to see if Kit had any weapons on him. Although; maybe they took his airfoil since we never see it in this story. The wind apparently picks up as Kit twirls in the wind and drops the knife onto the wooden plank. Kit apologizes for the gaffe as Baloo blows him off for being clumsy. Hey; let Kit do stupid things, Pop-A-Bear! At least that will get the Mary Sue thing off his back! (Then watch me get mad when the Super Baloo comics take this advice to heart later on, even in this comic!)

Then we hear a small girls' voice and here comes Molly with the knife telling them to shut up, because it will wake up the Scrap Pirates. (I wish she literally said "shut up" to Kit, because that would be a perfect clapback to Plunder and Lightning Part III.) If Brendala thought Molly was awesome in "The Long Flight Home"; this tops it! (By the way, the scene looks like something out of the gallows. They were probably going to hang them by the neck in the morning to execute them, so good on Molly for finding them, then!) Rebecca is asking how she got here, Molly gives Kit the knife back and promises to tell them later when they get out of here. Literally two minutes later we see the babyfaces in shadow running into the jungle for a bit. It's too bad they did a jump cut here. Because apparently, Kit cut Baloo free and Baloo landed on his head again. (Considering that in the comics, Baloo did a spinning top spot on Kit, this might have been glorious payback for that spot.) Kit blows him off for being hypocritical; causing Rebecca to tell them to shut up. (Yup, that was the reason. Great spot, but still, it's Kit's brain we are talking about.) So, they run long enough and stop as Rebecca gets in Molly's face as she has some explaining to do. Oh; this should be fun to hear! Molly is about to confess, but Baloo cuts her off and guesses that she got bored at Louie and sneaked aboard the Patch Duck. Which Molly says yes. Here's Bobbi's next localization mistake: Baloo says "SeaDuck" here even though the SeaDuck is impounded at Cape Suzette! (Keep in mind: Bobbi Weiss kept the SeaDuck impounded thing intact!) So, there's no way that green patched plane is the SeaDuck. (Which is why I have been calling it the "Patch Duck" throughout the comic book in order to clear up any confusion. Bobbi Weiss is trying to do a proper localization, but you cannot afford to make mistakes like this, even if the show is a rushjob.) Baloo pats her on the head and calls it nice work as Rebecca agrees with her and everyone thanks her for saving them. Yip; she has outperformed her performance in "The Long Flight Home" now. (Too bad Bobbi Weiss' performance isn't as good though. She's still a better translator and localizer than I am or even Steet; so I shouldn't complain...)

Rebecca wants to rest now. (Which is another bad idea right now...) However, Kit panics because the rough day is coming much earlier since the Scrap Pirates do their run in and the red haired galidator is angry about this. Geez; I wonder why?! Maybe something to do with being stupider than a six year old, I don't know. (That's pretty much it, former self.) Kit, Molly and Rebecca bail stage right while Baloo puts up his dukes and taunts them for having weak sauce weapons. So, one of them fires a spear which misses Baloo's neck by two inches and sticks into a conveniently placed tree. (This is par for the course on Baloo's part to be dumb. At least the writer has restraint when it comes to making Kit dumb. Don't worry, that will be pissed away in future comics in France only.) Baloo panics and runs faster past the babyfaces stage right. Kit asks what he said and Baloo claims that this junk will hurt ya. An accurate statement that is also a lie at the same time. More running and chasing as the babyfaces are actually slower than the Scrap Pirates while the leader thinks they got them. (The old "Storm must slower than Earl Fucking Herner~!" The referee who was part of the Montreal Screwjob in 1997 WWE!) Then the leader stops in his tracks and everyone bumps into him. He panics because the GHOST PLANE OF DEATH arrives out of the volcano above Mount Fogtop and all the heels turn around and sprint away ala the Beautiful People after seeing a giant spider. Only this ghost plane is much more believable than that. TNA everyone! (Hey, the Beautiful People must be the ones who complained about Mister Skinnylegs to the Australian broadcasters about Peppa Pig. The timeline almost fits in fact!) Only the babyfaces stand there watching the plane because it shows just how desperate they are to pay back Khan when they aren't afraid of a ghost plane at all. Well; except for Baloo as he doesn't want to hang around here any longer. (Because some babyface has to play the role of Shaggy and Scooby at the same time.) Rebecca suggests going to Mount Fogtop and climb the volcano to escape the Scrap Pirates. Sounds reasonable; but Baloo is still scared because the mountain is cursed, CURSED HE SAYS~! (Hey, there is no other option now that the Scrap Pirates want them all dead, so why not take a chance with some ghost?!)

We cut to them lying down and sleeping next to a small grass cliff on Mount Fogtop. Molly is sleeping on Baloo's belly as the fog drifts down onto the babyfaces. Kit suddenly wakes up and is shivering at the damp fog as he gets up and looks around. He cannot see a thing. Then he calls for Baloo and Rebecca; but there is no answer. Kit pushes on and falls through some trapdoor we do not see, due to the fog of course. Kit slides down a slide and then Kit is knocked silly because the next thing we and he knows is that Kit's in a prison cell with the other babyfaces lying on hay while Molly is waking him up. (That was more bad luck and fog, so Kit wasn't an idiot here.) Rebecca explains that they were captured in their sleep. However, Kit somehow managed to escape, then fell down on his own and was found and put in the cell later. (Kit didn't even know where he was due to the fog. He didn't escape, he just reacted.) Kit asks if Baloo knows who captured them and Baloo isn't sure since they couldn't see them in the fog. Molly goes to the cell door and hears someone coming. The prison door opens and in comes two dog noses in native gear wearing feathers that make them look like stereotypical court jesters; only they are black and white. The two guards with spears tell the babyfaces to come with them to the throne room because the Great Krakatoo wishes to see them. All right; at least we're advancing the plot more. (This would prove to be the second time in DTVA history that a cult angle was done, only this one is much closer to the religious angle than the Cola Cult in Rescue Rangers was. Gargoyles, I believe this the third time and that was in Chronicles and that second season sucked!) The babyfaces are lead through a golden cave as it's getting hot and bright. Then the golden light engulfs them and Baloo swears in DUBBED ANIME STYLE (Holy Moley!). Everyone is shocked since they are on a look off inside a giant volcano containing a village with a waterfall attached inside. It looks like a lake with a dock containing the white ghost plane. The lake looks like molten gold as there are huts dotted along the area. (An awesome payoff to the title actually!) Baloo notices the ghost plane while Rebecca notices the spring pouring into the lava lake causing the fog. (That looks nothing like lava Rebecca, trust me on that one!)

Which Kit claims that the lava glows bright as day here. (It's not lava, Kit; Occam Razor doesn't apply here!) Baloo and Kit deduce that the plane is not a ghost at all as Kit notices the totem pole with the mask on, which is a guy wearing a mask with a crown on his head. Kit wonders what this means and Baloo hates to see the guy they modeled for it. One of the guards opens a pink curtain leading to another hallway and Baloo blows him off for not calling him Mister Stranger. (Considering that this looks like a cult, I would not be blowing them off Pop-A-Bear.) The babyfaces walk down as the place is now dark with light in the background and you can barely see. Kit tells them to let their eyes adjust to the light as we finally head to the throne room. Which is really simple with vases of fruit, two guards with torches and sitting on the throne appears to be a panther wearing royal robes, pink skirt and the mask with the crown which Baloo helpfully points out that the totem pole is similar to the guy sitting on the throne. One of the guard tells them to bow before "the god of the belly of the earth" and "the heart of the sky": "The Great Krakatoo". That's the first time in the series -- televised or comics -- that the word god was used in a context that isn't in vain in TaleSpin. This is god reference #5 for the series overall. (Ponder that for a moment considering how the word in that context is used so freely in both Tad Stones' productions bookending this show!) Everyone bows, except for Kit as he gets his ass threatened by a spear before Kit sells it. The Great Krakatoo demands to know what evil desires they have for annoying his people. Baloo admits that they are short on cash and the Great Krakatoo calls this sacrilege because they seek the great treasure of the "Lake Of Fire". Yes folks, that is what he said and anyone who has read the bible: The "Lake Of Fire" is a literal description of Hell. So, this is considered Hell. (Wow, just wow. It gets even more wild later on.) Baloo is in shock hearing this as Kit has had enough of this stupidity because he jumps right at the Great Krakatoo demanding to know who this clown is. More chants of sacrilege from the guards as Kit is pulled off of Great Krakatoo and Great Krakatoo orders the infidels back to their cell while Great Krakatoo alone will determine their fates. Kit; you are having a really stupid day; aren't ya? I guess the chants of Gary Stu are getting to him, the poor guy.

Oh; and I think this is one of the few instances of the word infidel in a DTVA series. I have heard it in Batman The Animated Series though; so it must be the usual wonky BS&P thing. (A word that was censored in Final Fantasy V's Pixel Remaster!) We head to the Iron Vulture over Mount Fogtop as we head inside to the catwalk with Don Karnage speaking to his heels with his voice, of course. He informs Dumptruck and Mad Dog -- along with three other pirates no one cares about -- that the Scrap Pirates told them that the babyfaces are hiding on Mount Fogtop. Thus proving my theory of a terrorist network in this world. Don wants to tie the babyfaces up and send them to Shere Khan. I realize that Don is doing this to get that MONEY, MONEY, YEAH, YEAH; but what does Shere Khan want with them anyway?! (Maybe Shere Khan has a taxidermy fetish or something, former self?! Wouldn't surprise me at all.) The pirates cheer as Dumptruck asks a question: Why do they have to help Khan?! Don answers that it's for the MON-EY~! Sounds reasonable enough as Don wonders why he hired such idiots in spite of being such a genius. Well; I guess your charisma doesn't discriminate with someone's IQ, Karnage. That's the best answer I got on me. We head back to the cell as Kit is pacing around wondering about the Great Krakatoo. Baloo tells him to stop trying to find a way out of there because it's hopeless now. Rebecca is hugging Molly as I figure Baloo might as well had said; "You're having a terrible day, Li'l Britches!" and it wouldn't be any different then what he said here. (Sadly, this applies to everyone now.) Then the cell door opens and in comes a blond panther in a purple sunflower skirt and native gear as it's clearly the Great Krakatoo. Kit asks who he is as the Great Krakatoo claims that he's a friend. Baloo blows him off; so Great Krakatoo puts the mask back on to show that he's the Great Krakatoo as Baloo is shocked. The Great Krakatoo then proclaims that he's no idol nor a god as the locals only believe he is. (God reference #6 for this series.) Kit asks again who he is and he addresses himself as Klaus Von Cockpit. Which I love as a name as Baloo is shocked. Baloo calls him the blind ace of flying who disappeared thirty years ago in Mount Fogtop, so it's impossible for him to live.

Klaus claims that he's alive as he crashed when he tried to fly over Mount Fogtop -- which the Iron Vulture had no trouble doing -- as we see Klaus in his early years in front of his crashed plane in the water as three natives bow before him. Klaus explains that they were rescued by this unseen tribe and he would repay their kindness by humoring them to be their god Krakatoo since the natives thought he was a fallen god from the sky -- ala Kit from Knight Fright by the way -- and became the protector. (God reference #7 for this series.) Klaus also answered to Rebecca about the ghost plane as it was used to scare treasure hunters away from the volcano because the lava is made from molten gold. On a more interesting note: Molten lava is liquid between 700-1200*C; while molten gold is liquid over 1000*C; so it's well within the range to make this story believable. The cell door slams open and in comes Don Karnage as we meet and greet with shock and appalled. Sadly; there is no awe in this as Don proclaims that he has conquered this land. I thought he wanted to bind the babyfaces and send them back to Mr. Khan?! (Don Karnage turning on Shere Khan?! Perish the thought that they weren't really allies from the start since they are supposed to be in the Super Baloo comics!) Oh; well, doesn't matter anyway. Since Mad Dog comes in with a bazooka as the natives have surrendered after one firing of the bazooka in the air. Don is pleased and he even offers Baloo to go first. What a generous dick Don Karnage is?! Don looks at the village and notices the totem pole as it's a lake of gold and he likes it. However, the totem pole is ugly and it has to go. (This is so stupid that only Don Karnage wouldn't see the value of it.) Don steals the bazooka from Mad Dog and aims to boom-boom it to smithereens. Don fires and destroys the totem pole and that proves to be a costly error because Don cuts a promo before being cut off by rumbling in the volcano and demands answers to this. Klaus points out that Don has provoked the volcano. (I'm guessing the concussion of the blast caused the rumbling, because otherwise this makes no sense. No need for a god there, Klaus.) Kit asks if it's an earthquake and Klaus points out that the volcano is about to erupt.

This causes Don Karnage and Mad Dog to bail stage right, with Don saying "run for your hides!"; that was funny. The Air Pirates get into their CT-37's and fly away out of the volcano as Baloo pumps his fist in outrage calling them chickens. Kit isn't thrilled about this as Klaus knew this would happen one day and he has a plan to release the Ark Of Krakatoo~! Okay; so now we start getting biblical all of a sudden as the wall opens and out comes a giant wooden ark like airplane with the mask on it, being pulled by the natives. Baloo asks how they built that thing and Klaus claims that he's a fair engineer as they sent the natives to get the neccessary parts from the Scrap Pirates. Again; I would redub that to "Airplane Graveyard" since the Scrap Pirates betrayed them if that was the case. (No crap, Sherlock! Betcha the cult doesn't suspect a thing either.) Baloo asks if it will fly and Klaus asks: "Can one be sure of anything in life?" This sounds like a logical statement; but this is not the time for such logic when lives are on the line here, Klaus. So everyone gets in and sits down. Baloo, Kit and Klaus are sitting in the cockpit while Rebecca addresses the native to fasten their seatbelt; made of rope vines by the way. There is a cute spot where Molly asks if one of the female natives needs help fastening the seatbelt; and Molly's nose literally turns white in that panel. Baloo channels Charlie Brown in the pilot's seat as he's never flown an ark before as Klaus asks who has?! Even in the bible; that would be a real comment that wasn't supposed to be a real comment. Baloo starts the engines and wants to make this baby fly as the ark heads for the lake of gold as it rises up causing Baloo to panic. Klaus then points out that he insulated the airplane's belly to reinforce it to resist the molten gold which he invented. Although my confidence does reduce a tiny bit, since he hopes it works. (I realize that this is needed to make the stakes higher, but that was not needed. The stakes are at maximum effect without such details.) Baloo flies the ark on the gold and then pulls up into the sky and out of the volcano. As they fly away, there is a loud explosion. Kit wonders what that giant red blob of lava is as it's the molten gold shooting up from space. Remember that for later because this story just has to have a deus ex machina finish planned. (This one is even more glorious than Mach One For The Gipper's finish, trust me on that one.)

Anyhow, we head to the back of the ark as all the babyfaces except Kit are saying their goodbyes. Baloo shakes hands with Klaus and wishes him good luck with the people of Krakatoo. Klaus proclaims that there are still places to go where there is peace for them. I doubt that is going to last long. (Yeah, because peace and death go hand and hand. I hope they find better life than peace at this point.) Klaus goes into the cockpit to take over the ark. Guess who was piloting the ark all this time?! Come on; guess! It's too shocking! SURPRISE! It's ANTONIO INOKI~! POW! OUCH! Ummmm...Okay; it's Kit Cloudkicker, of course. I betcha he'll be whining now that he has to leave the giant ark plane now. (Probably accurate former self.) Kit comes back in as Baloo, Kit, Molly and Rebecca put on parachute packs, jump out of the ark and open their parachutes into a lush jungle and that is that. We head through the jungle for several days -- which according to story line is four or five days -- as Baloo is carrying Molly on his back and everyone looks tired. Baloo then notices that they are just outside Cape Suzette and run quickly to the docks to Higher...For...Hire. Baloo wants to get inside quick and bang out a story about this adventure and sell it to the NBCBS Radio Network. Kit checks his watch as they just have enough time to pull this one off. (Yeah, the babyfaces win. Or do they?!) However; when they get there, there is a white sign on the door that says: "Property of Shere Khan Industries, No Trespassing"; which angers Baloo. Down comes Khan's helicopter as it lands which he calls this business and hopes he will understand. You are not Sataru Iwata Mr. Khan; get over yourself! (TESTIFY~!) Baloo shows a pocket watch and proclaims that Khan is jumping the gun because there is two hours left. Yeah; Baloo seriously thinks that he can write a story in two hours and sell it to the network to get enough money to buy back Higher For Hire. He's kidding no one because Khan admits that he jumped the gun as one of the wolf furries with a yellow hat and green jacket does the Gruffi pose. (Shere Khan being an absolute asshole here is amazing and it makes the finish all the more awesome in hindsight.)

Khan asks what can happen in two hours. Yeah; Pop-A-Bear; what can you do in two hours now?! It's all over for the babyfaces and this series is over.... (This moment by Mr. Khan would prove to be his final mistake because this is a cartoon and in a cartoon, ANYTHING can and will happen! Shere Khan is about to get wrecked in the most glorious and awesome fashion!) Oh wait; remember "Mach One For The Gipper"?! That episode when Baloo broke the sound barrier with the jet engine?! Well; here's the finish the French writer booked and Bobbi merely translated and localized the thing: Cut to a shot of Planet Earthia -- which looks like a stylized version of Earth -- as the golden lava stone has solidify and is rotating around the planet. (Sadly; the narrator still calls it the Earth, although I expect that mistake from them anyway.) The giant golden lava stone deflects off a conveniently placed meteor. It free falls down into Earthia. it melts into the atmosphere and then the molten gold bonks into Khan's helicopter and destroys it. This causes Khan and the pilot to bounce away from it. The helicopter is completely destroyed and all that is left is helicopter junk and a carter of molten gold. Khan demands answers to this outrage as Baloo explains that it's what is left of the gold from hell. ("Lake of fire" reference #2 for the story by the way.) Khan is shocked and appalled as Baloo proclaims that this should be enough to pay the penalty and Rebecca's bills for the company for a solid year or so. Baloo tells Khan to face the facts that he might be a mover and shaker in the business world. However, someone up there moves and shakes the world: The Great Krakatoo. In other words; Baloo's referencing "Great Krakatoo" as "the one true God"; not merely "a god." Wow; just wow. Khan and his pilot gulp as we see a cloud of the image of the Great Krakatoo. The artwork continuity in the final shot is shot so to speak and that ends the story right there. Wow; this story was awesome in spite of it's unusual quirks. (Gibber talking normally, Bobbi's sometimes wonky localization and some really wonky artwork continuity during the ending.) However, the story is epic and the finish was awesome karma for Khan's screwing Higher For Hire over. It was glorious and victorious so to speak. **** 1/2 (90%).

THE REVIEW LINE

So, our final epic adventure story was probably the best French story in the series. (Still is and it's sad once again that this didn't make television. I would even keep most of the quirks and re-edit it a bit in other to fit the television show.) Yes; it has the most absurd ending in history. However, is it any more deus ex machinia of an ending as say: Mach One For The Gipper?! (The Volcano Of Gold was much better because the whole religious cult thingie only works in cartoons. Mach One's was silly in comparison.) Yes, Kit was stupid in this one; but at least those moments were funny and Kit even got to fly the giant ark. (Compared to later Super Baloo comics, Kit was mostly smart and unlucky.) TaleSpin rarely dabs into religious cults. (DTVA almost never does this, in fact.) However, this one was a friendly example of it and the Scrap Pirates were really cool for their only appearance. Of course; it's all Baloo's fault because he cannot read a contract. However, Khan's was one evil CEOHole in this one as they even gave him a motive to want to screw Higher For Hire: The illusion that "One Company Nation" is the best and that competition sucks the customer dry. Untrue; but that is his motive as a heel here. Don Karnage was his smart, glorious self and Molly was awesome in her role as well. The artwork was awesome for the most part and it felt like a story you could put on television easily. Plus; TaleSpin got to say small "g" god instead of big "G" God in this series for a change and even referenced hell twice. (Something you see in Darkwing Duck and Rescue Rangers from Tad Stones.) Overall; this was a lovely episode with a silly ending and Gibber talking normally for no reason. Next weekend should be interesting; as I have already put up the Doctor Doyen's Robotic Revenge rant up and already posted four of the seven Random TaleSpin Comic Rants. (Doctor Doyen is for Christmas Eve by the way as I am typing this.) Number five is planned to be posted tomorrow; and number six and seven for next weekend before Legend Of The Chaos God and I'll be doing a transcript and rant of The Wrong Culprit and Baloo & The Flying Carpet. That will end the comics and any leftovers will be saved for the 30 Years Of Spin celebration. I need to wrap up this thing before the end of this year and clean up the rest of it to make it more presentable. (Which is what I am doing now.) So...

Thumbs up for the entire story. I'll see you all again next time.

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