With inking done on issue 8, I have begun the arduous process of tonework with the aid of my trusty Wacom Graphire tablet -- a darned affordable and indispensable piece of artsy equipment, I'll tell you what. And I just did! Though, confidentially, soon's I find myself with an extra $3k, I'm gonna grab me a Cintiq LCD tablet and experience the freedom of being able to assume the classic head-down, nose-to-the-paper nerd posture in a purely digital environment.

Following yesterday's post on Disney animated series, I have learned one thing -- that everybody I've spoken to since has at least one favorite pet series from the Disney Afternoon genus, and I just totally offended them when I said I didn't like any of 'em but "Duck Tales." (although I can happily report that nobody, as of yet, has tried to defend "Goof Troop." I was also told by my good friend Caroline that Pauly Shore was involved in some capacity with "The Goofy Movie," and if she wasn't just yankin' my chain, then I'm somewhat amused but not at all surprised.)

Anyway, having thought on it a bit more, I think my loathing of "Goof Troop" clouded my judgement a bit on the whole Disney Afternoon lineup. Not saying any of 'em were classics, but most weren't quite so wretched as to deserve such an offhand dismissal.

"Duck Tales," o' course, is the gem of the bunch, though remaining fair-handed I must note that it is a tarnished gem, with the occasional booger stuck to it. Nevertheless, it did draw directly, and often, from the works of Carl Barks, and as such it served as something of a tribute long overdue.

"Chip 'n' Dale's Rescue Rangers" was the second Disney Afternoon series, as I recall (having done no actual research!), and while it certainly played fast and loose with the original premise of the characters, well, Chip 'n' Dale were lame characters to begin with. Can't polish poop, so the saying goes, but you can't really make it that much worse, either. All I can really remember them ever doing in the old cartoons was typical chipmunk activities -- food-gathering, mostly, and getting Donald Duck's dander up. As it stood, the addition of Monty Jack, Zipper, and... Gadget? Gidget? Anyways, it was a lateral move, if anything, so no harm done. Presuming we exclude internet fan-fiction and illustrations from the equation.

"Tale Spin" was one I never really watched much at all. I don't know, maybe there was a scheduling conflict with "The Tick," or "Eek! The Cat." It may have been a masterpiece, who knows?

"Darkwing Duck" was, with the exception of Launchpad McQuack, a wholly original work, and as such is ineligible for inclusion with the rest of the Classic Disney Character Revisionist Cartoon Series. I remember thinking it was all right at the time -- even though the licensed NES game was incredibly hard, resulting in me never making it past the power plant level.