Thinking About Cartoon Ducks

Because, why not?

I was talking with my kids about some of the side characters in cartoon shows. I'm of an age that means I grew up with both Heathcliff and Garfield television shows. I'm not here to dig into that (yet, anyway), but...do you remember that both the Heathcliff and Garfield and Friends shows had B-stories, full of other characters that had their own little universes that were essentially separate from their titular characters?

Really, this conversation started because of Wade, a cartoon duck in the B-story farm-living characters from Garfield and Friends. These stories were based on Jim Davis's US Acres comic strip, in which Orson, a pig, is the lead character, and his world is rounded out with Roy, a loud mouthed rooster; Wade, a cowardly duck; and Booker and Sheldon, twin chick siblings with Sheldon never exiting his egg.

On the weekends we let our kids get up early, get breakfast themselves (or forage for snacks, as it turns into sometimes), and then watch cartoons. Or movies of their own choice. Occasionally I come out and force them to watch other stuff, and here is where Pluto comes in. Pluto is essentially broadcast television; it is a free app on our TV that streams a ton of channels, and they have commercials (remember when to go get more food? use the can?). But the channels are usually just for shows. We had a good time a few months ago with the I Love Lucy channel, and the Bob Ross channel. Even spent a few minutes with the Unsolved Mysteries channel. But on weekend mornings, if the kids end up on Pluto, it'll be on the Garfield and Friends channel.

So that's why they ever saw US Acres and Wade, and it was because of Wade that Cass ever asked about cartoon ducks.

We chatted about Wade, about how he was definitely not better than Donald Duck. Donald's MO of flying off the handle with rage, while funny, may not the best way to deal with his emotions; but it may still be preferable to the cowardly disposition of Wade. Cass then asked me who my favorite cartoon duck was. 

I answered quickly: eh, Donald. But it got me thinking. While my quick reaction was Donald, how does the chaotic-neutral Daffy fit in? I love the chaos. How about Launchpad McQuack? Or Darkwing Duck? Or Uncle Scrooge?

I decided to examine a few different ducks that I enjoyed from when I was my kid's age, but in order to not have the discourse be about mainly Duck Tales, I decided to limit it to one duck per company...universe...er, schema? So, no Launchpad or Darkwing, because Donald is the Disney choice. No Plucky Duck from Tiny Toons, even though Daffy is the obvious choice. Also: I never watched Baby Huey, so they're not here either.

I included Wade from US Acres, but otherwise here is the quartet, each representing the next step in the development of my sense of humor and my maturity as a dude:

When I answered so quickly about Donald as my favorite animated duck, it was because Donald could be my favorite animated character, full stop. As a kid I liked to make categories in my imagination, and often pitted animation characters against one another...maybe animation houses against one another.

The three main studios for me in my head were, in descending order (for me personally) 1) Disney; 2) Warner Bros.; 3) Hannah-Barbara. Disney had Mickey, Donald, and Goofy; Warners had Bugs, Daffy and Porky; Hanna-Barbera had Yogi Bear, Huckleberry Hound, and Snagglepuss. 

While the kid-me saw the quality of the animation dipping from Disney-->WB-->HB, that's not exactly fair to what was happening. The Disney shorts that I grew up with, like the early WB shorts, were all produced for cinema houses. The Hanna-Barbera studios were making both shorts later and for television as well as popular primetime television shows: Scooby Doo, the Flintstones, and the Jetsons. The aim had changed. Also, I'm ignoring Tex Avery and Fleischer's Superman shorts. Droopy Dog and Betty Boop were wildly popular, and Tom and Jerry helped frame the vocabulary for cartoon violence, and they dated back to the studio era.

Um...derailed myself there. Donald vs Daffy for me was about primacy and content. I was already predisposed to Donald, but his rage filled antics made me laugh so naturally. The Daffy I grew up with was more of the petulant, jealous-of-Bugs version, than the unbridled id version where he seemed to exist in the early years. Unbridled id is a classic state of being for an animated character, and I think the scene from Who Framed Roger Rabbit between Donald and Daffy is the perfect juxtaposition: unbridled rage vs unbridled id. It's only now, as an adult, that I realize that its disappointing I didn't grow up with the chaotic version of Daffy, rather the jealous foil for Bugs.

When my brother and I watched Garfield, I liked the US Acres scenes, but not as much as the Garfield scenes. I liked Orson and Roy, and Wade filled in the cracks by being the coward/perpetually terrified character. There's a place in group dynamics for the coward---think Shaggy and Scooby---because they often add to either the problem solving element of the group, or for the hilarity factor. I'm not sure I remember what Wade offered to the group in US Acres. The ongoing joke of his inner-tube's duck-head always matching his own expression and direction was amusing.

The last duck in that quartet represents the later years of my childhood, the cynical adult themed Duckman. Based on a comic book from 1990, Duckman aired on the USA Network from '94 to '97. Voiced by and aggrieved Jason Alexander, the titular character was a private investigator in a world where animals and people coexist. His assistant is Cornfed, a pig who sounds very similar to Jack Webb from Dragnet. 

Frank Zappa did the music, Dweezil voiced one of Duckman's kids, his status as a widower adds a dimension that is usually absent in animation. But, this was a primetime animated program aimed at adults. I enjoyed it as my sense of humor matured. I haven't yet shown more than an occasional clip to Cass.

My kids love Donald, and Cass has seen some of the old Daffy shorts, but it's been a while I'm sure. I think they enjoy US Acres, but the impact of Wade, beyond resembling Shaggy, remains a mystery. 

Sometimes all I want is to make pictures of disparate but connected things...

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