#corinna ducklair

[patemi-pk]

Happy father's day to everyone!

#father's day #father #everett ducklair #pk #pkna #duck avenger #juniper #corinna

[blyanten]

THE DUCK AVENGER PK2: #11 THE WEIGHT OF MEMORIES

This issue could be named Constant Internal Debates With Myself: The Issue. But it’s finally time for some backstory! Geena Onair opens this issue introducing their brand new program: What the Fuck is Everett Ducklair’s Deal?

Yeah, we’re all wondering that, so this should be fun. Also, the program has the much less accurate, but much more poetic name “the Weight of Memories”.

It opens with a recreation of a scene that took place many years ago. During a storm, Everett Ducklair was washed ashore at Goose Beach, half-dead and with no memory except his name.

I dig the hair.

Angus is visiting the place to interview the locals, starting with the man who rescued Everett, Eardin McEloin. Unfortunately, Eardin seems to have a case of stage fright, and the interview is cut short after Angus has to tell everyone who was rescued when Eardin fails to answer the question of who he saved that night.

Angus tells Donald, who’s been brought along as bodyguard/cameraman. He’s not happy to be stuck with Angus, and is wondering why Lyla felt the need to make him do this.

Or maybe he’s worried about Angus.

Well, it turns out that Angus is pissed over how the live interview with Everett went, and has decided to really start digging. Hence, Goose Beach, where Everett made his first known appearance and where he started building his fortune. Lyla was worried that might end badly, so she sent Donald along to make sure it didn’t.

Donald tries to look on the bright side. He might learn something useful! Provided Angus doesn’t get into a fight with the tavern keeper and his baseball bat.

Rough place, Goose Beach.

Donald tries to get out of the fight, mentioning that he has a green belt in quack fu.

…I have a green belt too, and I’m still not stepping between some asshole and a baseball bat. One of many reasons why I’m unsuited to be a superhero, I guess.

Luckily, a mystery woman decides that this fight is not on. Not until she knows why they’re asking questions about her father.

Tavern keeper suddenly changes his mind, and Donald is genuinely surprised that the quack fu line worked. Then Korinna steps out of the kitchen, asking to leave as she’s done for the day, and suddenly the entire incident makes a lot of sense.

I would like to remind everyone that this woman can read minds. Think louder, Donald, louder!

A bit later, Donald pretends to go to bed for the night, hesitating for a second as he feels like he’s being watched. Luckily for… either him or Korinna, depending, he decides it’s because he’s been spending too much time around Angus and goes to change into the Duck Avenger outfit.

Outside, Korinna decides it’s time to act.

Inside, Angus is surprised at how good the TV is. Looks like junk, but has every channel ever. He’s working on the interview he made earlier that day, with Everett’s adopted parents.

They look nice.

Anchor and Evinta ask if Agnus thinks Everett will watch their interview, and Angus s sure of it.

When Everett washed up on the beach, the two took him in as they had a free room and always wanted a son. And Everett was such a good kid.

This turns into a flashback of the first time they bring Everett home. It’s a pretty sweet scene, with just the right touch of awkwardness.

I love the hippie look.

Everett asks for something to do, and Anchor decides to take him along to his repair shop the next day. In three or four years, Everett will know everything he does.

A few days later, Everett somehow turns a B&W television into a colour TV. A few days after that, he pretty much does all the work, to Anchor’s annoyance. They close shop early, and head home in the rain.

*laughs helplessly at this mess*

I really like this page. Everett tries, but he doesn’t have a clue, and Anchor is probably starting to realize that he’s out of his depth. On top of that, if you know where this is going, or maybe even if you put the clues together, you also know that Everett is a) a grown (though probably young) adult at this point, and b) has two kids, and yet he’s slipping into the role of a teenager, no problem. 

Like, what the fuck are that standards for “mature adult” at your planet anyway? Because I think I disagree with them.

It’s nobody’s fault, but it’s still messed up on every level, and it’s not going to get better.

In the present time, the Avenger is following Korinna, and considering whether he should approach her. They’re both fighting Everett, so he takes the chance that they might be able to work together, and flies down, right in front of her.

The already on edge Korinna does not take it well.

Word of advice to... well, everyone. Do not jump in front of people in the middle of the night, especially while carrying weapons.

She uses her powers on him, and he finds himself waking up from the nightmare she put him in much later, at the docks. When he asks where Korinna is, a cranky sailor comments that there’s always a woman involved.

In another flashback, Everett nearly show up late for the opening of another repair shop, in a different town, as Anchor is expanding the business. Everett’s been looking for information about himself, but, obviously, he’s finding nothing.

Sometimes I think it might have been better for Everett if he didn’t recover his memory. Would suck for many other people, though.

In the present… well, in the present time, in the recording Angus made of the interview, Evinta explains that Everett was still not satisfied, needing to know where he came from.

There’s a brief interlude where Donald falls over with the camera, as he’s too tired to stay awake.

Evinta then says the next thing that happened was something no one could expect.

Angus has fallen asleep watching the interview, but is awoken by the tavern keeper, who drugs him and says he’ll take Angus to Profunda.

The Avenger arrives moments later, noting that something’s off. Angus would never leave footage unguarded like that. He presses play, and the interview continues.

The old couple explains that Everett had refused to go near the sea after he arrived. Nearly drowning does that to you. Unfortunately, one day there was a storm that hit unusually fast, and Earidan McEloin was stuck out at sea, with no one willing, and really, no one able, to go rescue him. It was that bad.

Everett refused to accept this, and took a water scooter to go rescue him.

Listen, there’s no need to glare at other people just because they’re not crazy.

This is very Everett. Not listening to anyone else, taking an enormous risk, quite possibly making everything worse… and it’s done with the best intentions.

So of course it goes wrong. Evinta calls it the worst moment of her life.

These poor people.

In Angus’s room, the Avenger finds himself surrounded by the villagers. Profunda wants to see him. The Avenger escapes them easily, though he does break a window in the process.

In a real flashback, rather than an interview flashback, because now we’re onto a part of Everett’s story that nobody knows, Everett is drowning. His last thoughts are of his adopted parents. Then he’s rescued.

Convinient place for the second attempt at drowning.

In the present, Korinna is pissed. The villagers failed at capturing… I assume Donald, because he was busy, and when the villagers tell her they wanted to capture the other, masked, stranger, she says that he wants to take her back to her father, and that’s not happening. The villagers want to help, and the Avenger is rather confused at what Korinna actually wants.

In the flashback, Everett is waking up to an AI calling him Zardoz. He’s rather confused about… everything.

Not sure how I feel about finding Everett adorable.

He gets up and finds a toy that triggers some memories. He starts walking, repeating the word “no”. The ship’s AI tells him he’s fine, but that for his own sake he should not go in that direction.

In the present, Korinna is leading the villagers towards the ocean. She shouts that the ocean will welcome them, and that she’ll show them the way to reach a better world.

The Ducklair family is not overly burdened with sanity.

At the beach, the Avenger block the villagers from getting into the sea and drowning themselves. Korinna offers the Avenger the chance to join her army, trying her mind tricks again, but the Avenger resists her this time.

Except that it was all a distraction. Korinna dives into the sea, telling him that she doesn’t need anyone. The Avenger follows, using the shield to create a mini-sub to protect himself from the elements.

In the flashback, Everett ignores the AI telling him he can still turn back.

And sanity takes another hit in three, two, one!

This issue aims directly for heartbreaking.

In the present, Korinna turns out to be an incredible swimmer. (A possible explanation for why Everett survived drowning twice? It’s an alien thing?) She reaches the same ship that saved Everett the second time and heads inside. The Avenger follows.

Korinna tries to activate the spaceship, but it’s been underwater for 17 years, and it shows.

The Avenger interrupts, mocking her about not knowing how submarines work.

She turns the mocking right back at him, asking if he doesn’t recognize a Coronian spaceship. He’s rather shocked at the news that he’s in one.

The ship starts leaking heavily, and the Avenger decides to put that on hold in favor of getting out of there. Korinna agrees, but decides they can talk while they walk. There’s something the Avenger should know.

The Ducklair family comes from the planet Corona. Everett abducted them when the girls were just children. Everett, in his cowardice and selfishness, separated them from their mother. Juniper and Corinna were put in hibernation, but something went wrong. The crashed, and Everett abandoned them. When he returned… well, we saw that.

The way Korinna tells this is so simple, yet very subjective. There’s no why it happened, only how it happened, and how she feels about it. I don’t think that’s something she left out on purpose, exactly, but more how she, who was a small child when it happened, remembered it and how she, now more grown up, tries to put it into context. She is missing several pieces, but you can’t blame her for not going to Everett and asking about it. Based on what she knows and what happened last time they met, that seems like a bad idea.

I’d also like to note that, while telling Korinna the truth would obviously be difficult, Everett haven’t told Juniper the truth either at this point. We know she’s recovered a lot, and some conversations are really necessary to have as soon as possible. “Why I kidnapped you from your mother" is definitely one of them.

Meanwhile, the flashbacks are the real story, but of course we don’t get all the information at this point, so we’re still in the dark about most of what happened before they crashed on Earth. All we know is that Everett felt they needed to be removed from their mother, while the girls clearly don’t feel the same.

Korinna asks the Avenger how he can be friends with her father after he stole their childhood, how can he think of returning her to him?

The Avenger focuses on the most important part.

Late to the party. I mean, this was revealed to you pages ago.

It’s facinating how the Avenger’s mind sometimes. Korinna tells him they’re all aliens = jokes. Korinna asks hard questions = wait, Everett’s an alien? It’s like he’s... deflecting? He’s not dealing with the alien reveal right now, so he gathers info via jokes. He’s apparently not willing to answer Korinna’s questions, so he decides to process the earlier reveal.

And it is a pretty good question. Why is he, if not friends, but at least going fairly easy on Everett? Considering everything, including the rather fond face he makes at the thought of Everett at the very end of the issue... seems like he’s not over that friendship.

Their conversation is interrupted as the old spaceship can’t handle the pressure anymore and a wall collapses. The Avenger starts to drown, but Korinna will only help if he promises to help her.

The flashback continues as Everett swims back to shore, to the delight of the entire village, but especially his parents. The delight turns to confusion as he gets to land and gives everyone the cold shoulder, accepting a blanket, but just walking off afterwards.

Evinta and Anchor gives him space, promising that they won’t abandon him.

He’s already lost to you, by his own choice.

In the present, Korinna decides to help the Avenger even if he’s currently unable to promise her anything back. She’ll call in a favor later. She activates the shield’s mini-sub and sends him on his way.

And that’s why I know how to fly an airplane. It’s Earth tech!

Korinna knowing how to use the shield is also interesting, because it suggests that they were somehow taught a bunch of stuff while in cryo.

The ship collapses right after, falling deeper into the depths of the ocean.

The Avenger reaches land safely, if a bit… well, half-drowned. The village recovers their minds, and heads back to the tavern. They leave Angus behind, because no one likes him. The Avenger gets him back to his room, before going to get some well deserved sleep himself.

Angus wakes up, having no idea what just happened, and goes back to work. We then get the last part of the interview.

Evinta and Anchor tells Angus that after the storm, Everett had changed. He was only focues on making money, and he was good at it. But the most important part is that their son turned bad. He abandoned them, and haven’t been back since.

The show then turns into a summary of Everett’s life since then, the busy businessman who seems to be surrounded by mysteries.

This transitions into Donald back at Duckmall, having watched the show with Rupert, who’s impressed that he managed to stand Angus for a weekend. Rupert also notes that Everett seems really determined, a hard guy.

Leading straight into the last page.

I really like this issue. It hits the emotional points really well, presenting both Everett and Korrina’s sides of the issue, even if Everett’s gets the “objective” treatment, being flashbacks rather than told by a character like Korinna’s is. But I think helps both characters. With the number of people Korinna hurts, getting her side is necessary. The facts build under that, showing that while it was an accident... well, if somebody accidentally runs you over with a car, that doesn’t mean they didn’t fuck you up for life. Being angry and wanting to stay away at all costs is a fair reaction, you know? 

Even if, of course, she takes it too far, because if she didn’t... well, we’d probably be all on her side, and it might be foreshadowing about how she and Juniper thinks about people in later issues, when we know for sure they’ve both recovered from the cryo.

But by keeping the flashbacks to what happened after they came to Earth, it still leaves the question of whether Everett was right in taking them away.

And I think that, to a certain degree, it also shows that Everett had other options. He had people who might have helped. Regular, stable people who clearly wanted what was best for him. And he decided not to trust them, and deal with everything on his own.  Focusing on making a ton of money, which would be very useful in protecting himself, his kids... sure, why not? That can only help, but considering the way he went about it involved pushing away everyone.

Again, he probably meant well, for everyone. Involving Anchor and Evinta might put them in danger. Might put the Ducklairs in danger too, because your son telling you that “btw, I am an alien and also an adult. With two children” would be a lot to deal with for anyone. 

Which is another strenght of this issue, IMO. Much of this is up for debate, with maybe no right answers. It’s emotional, messy and allows you to sympathize with both sides.

#PKNA #duck avenger #PK2 #comic #review #sort of #for fun