The Drunk Duck Quackcast Ozoneocean

This isn't really a special episode! It's a Quackcast about them. Not PSA episodes though. Our topic was inspired by those weird special non-sequitur episodes in anime and manga like the famous bikini episode where all the characters head off to the beach, water park, hot springs or something and get into their bathing suits. It doesn't usually forward the story too much, if at all, but it's a chance to have fun with the characters, outline and explore any underlying love themes, and show off skin.
There are other kinds of special episodes like the festival ones, Christmas etc. In American stuff Christmas and thanksgiving are popular for that, also new years. And this is reflected in comics too! On Drunk Duck we have our Secret Santa tradition where we do special Christmas art for people but we also often incorporate that into our comics. Probably the most import special episode art we do though involves our annual comic awards! At the moment people are already submitting art for the red carpet intros.
On this subject, one of our own DDers was a part of one of the most famous of these things ever: the Star Wars Holiday special. He actually helped introduce the world to Bobba Fet via the animation work he did on that project. That was the first the world ever saw of Bobba Fet, so specials are good for something afterall!
Do you like non-sequitur episodes centred around special events and things? (they're not always non-sequiturs). How about the infamous beach bikini episodes? Love ‘em or loathe ’em?
This week Gunwallace made up a theme inspired by The Magpie - Such weight! This electronic piece weighs down heavily with the super powered gravity of a neutron star, crushing down with the mass of its brilliance and beauty.
Topics and shownotes
Links
Red Carpet news https://www.theduckwebcomics.com/news/2024/may/10/roll-out-the-red-carpet/
John Celestri - https://www.theduckwebcomics.com/user/JohnCelestri/
Featured comic:
Jack of AllTrades - https://www.theduckwebcomics.com/news/2024/may/06/featured-comic-jack-of-alltrades/
Featured music:
The Magpie - https://www.theduckwebcomics.com/The_Magpie/ - by BonesMcKay, rated M.
Special thanks to:
Gunwallace - https://www.theduckwebcomics.com/user/Gunwallace/
Ozoneocean - https://www.theduckwebcomics.com/user/ozoneocean
Tantz Aerine - https://www.theduckwebcomics.com/user/Tantz_Aerine/
Banes - https://www.theduckwebcomics.com/user/Banes/

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We recorded the Quackcast on the 4th of May, which of course means that it was “May the fourth”, the Star Wars celebration date! So we decided to talk about Star Wars, but instead of our usual rants about what we think could be done better we kept it to mainly positive stuff, focussing on what we loved about the films, mainly original series, which are the best ones.
My fave version of Luke is the first one with the shaggy hair and wild eyes. I Love the mecha, the costumes, the armour, and the ships, especially the awesome Star Destroyers. My fave characters are the original Boba-Fet (not the modern fat, bald version), Darth Vader, Lando Calrission, Han Solo, and C3PO, Gand Moff Tarkin. My fave Star Wars films in order are: The Empire Strikes Back, Star Wars (it wasn't called :new hop or episode 4 till years later), ReTrun of the Jedi, Rogue One, Solo, Caravan of Courage, and Battle For Endor. And I love the Mandalorian series. 
 
What are your fave things about Star Wars? The light sabers, the AT-AT walkers, the spaceships, the characters? Or do you dislike it all? 
 
This week Gunwallace was pressed for time so I've chose one of my favourite themes: Tomb Busters - Compelling, regal, atmospheric, steel guitar country rock, this is a triumphant epic that will swallow you whole and leave you gasping for air. 
 
Topics and shownotes  
 
Links 
 
Tantz Aerine's newspost on May the Fourth - https://www.theduckwebcomics.com/news/2024/may/04/may-the-4th-be-with-you/ 
 
Featured comic: 
Lonely Planets - https://www.theduckwebcomics.com/news/2024/apr/30/featured-comic-lonely-planets/ 
 
Featured music: 
Tomb Busters - http://www.theduckwebcomics.com/Tomb_Busters/ - by StorkStudio, rated T. 
 
Special thanks to: 
Gunwallace - http://www.virtuallycomics.com 
Ozoneocean - https://www.theduckwebcomics.com/user/ozoneocean 
Kawaiidaigakusei - https://www.theduckwebcomics.com/user/kawaiidaigakusei 
Tantz Aerine - https://www.theduckwebcomics.com/user/Tantz_Aerine/ 
Banes - https://www.theduckwebcomics.com/user/Banes/ 
 
 
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“Passing the mantle” is an interesting phrase. Many claim it comes from a biblical origin; the prophet Elijah was said to have passed his mantle to Elisha when he ascended to heaven, thereby symbolically transferring his authority… but honestly that seems a little silly and elaborate of an origin story, the sort of thing bad bible scholars in America loved to come up with in the 19th century. Mantles of office were commonly worn by kings, statesmen and even lord mayors today and the passing of those symbolises them gaining office and authority. It's a very ordinary, commonplace secular tradition.
But why am I even talking about it at all? Well it's a way of transitioning to a new protagonist, often with the same role and traits as the previous one, but not always. It's a great way to retire an older character and reinvigorate things with a younger successor. The greatest example I can think of in comics is The Phantom. He's one of the oldest superheroes, predating batman and superman… The Phantom (in the story), comes from an unbroken lineage of heroes dating back to the golden age of piracy when his ancestor was betrayed and shipwrecked on an African coast. He was taken in by the local people, nursed back to health and taught their secret ways, becoming “the ghost who walks”. Ever since then the sons have taken that role from their farther.
You can see a similar theme in a lot of older stories or stories set in the past, like Zorro, the pirate Doctor Syn, even The Dread Pirate Roberts from the Princess Bride. These people don the disguise of their forebear and BECOME the same character. Modern superheroes play a little with that too, though they usually revert back to the old characters again and just use the mantle passing as a sneaky way of introducing a new character. But it's been popularly done with characters like Antman, The Flash, Green Lantern, Captain Marvel, Spiderman, and many others.
In the Quackcast we have a discussion about how this method would have been a better way of introducing Rey in the Star Wars sequels and maybe a good way to fix Indiana Jones (though I disagree).
Do you have any fave examples of a passed mantle? The Phantom still wins for me.
This week Gunwallace made up a theme inspired by Old Dogs - The burning of an old fire, glowing red hot amongst the black coals and charred, ashen, grey wood. This is a gritty ode to grizzled, aged, experience and time. It’s prickly, with a taste of rock and bourbon, like a good BBQ sauce.
Topics and shownotes
Links
Banes' mantle newspost - https://www.theduckwebcomics.com/news/2024/apr/25/the-mantle-theory/
Featured comic:
The Outbreak - https://www.theduckwebcomics.com/news/2024/apr/22/featured-comic-the-outbreak/
Featured music:
Old Dogs - https://www.theduckwebcomics.com/Old_Dogs/ - by JCorrachComics, rated A.
Special thanks to:
Gunwallace - http://www.virtuallycomics.com
Ozoneocean - https://www.theduckwebcomics.com/user/ozoneocean
Tantz Aerine - https://www.theduckwebcomics.com/user/Tantz_Aerine/
Banes - https://www.theduckwebcomics.com/user/Banes/

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What happens when the hero dies? Especially when it's early on in the story… do things fall apart or does someone else take over? Our topic is about a story style where you establish that a character is the hero or chief protagonist, only to do a bait and switch and swap them out with a less likely character like a sidekick. This makes the audience rethink the way things are going, instead of sticking to an expected formula you force the audience to wake up and wonder what will happen next. This can be very effective!
Some notable examples of this trope are “the Other guys”, the anime “The legendary hero is dead” (cover pictured), and Mystery Men but there are many others. The seemingly main hero doesn't even have to die, they just need to be replaced by a character you wouldn't expect for the role, as in My Hero Accademia where Almight is replaced by Deku at the beginning, of Steve Rogers in the first Captain America film becomes the hero even though his friend Bucky Barnes better fits the hero architype.
Have you ever used this trope? What are your fave examples?
This week Gunwallace has given us a theme inspired by Animal Society - Don’t cross at the red light… traffic signals flash. Make way for the zebra at the zebra crossing! This is a flashy cityscape sound with a touch of the jungle.
Topics and shownotes
Links
Tantz Aerine's newspost on sidekick heroes - https://www.theduckwebcomics.com/news/2024/apr/17/the-understudy-hero/

Featured comic:
GRM - https://www.theduckwebcomics.com/news/2024/apr/16/featured-comic-grm/
Featured music:
Animal Society - https://www.theduckwebcomics.com/Animal_Society/ - by CressidiasComics, Rated T.
Special thanks to:
Gunwallace - http://www.virtuallycomics.com
Ozoneocean - https://www.theduckwebcomics.com/user/ozoneocean
Kawaiidaigakusei - https://www.theduckwebcomics.com/user/kawaiidaigakusei
Tantz Aerine - https://www.theduckwebcomics.com/user/Tantz_Aerine/
Banes - https://www.theduckwebcomics.com/user/Banes/

VIDEO exclusive!
Become a subscriber on the $5 level and up to see our weekly Patreon video and get our advertising perks!
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Even at $1 you get your name with a link on the front page and a mention in the weekend newsposts!
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This week it's a short cast because my computer broke and we wasted time trying to fix it!
We're chatting about teachers in fiction, a topic inspired by Banes' newspost on the subject. There have been many memorable teacher based fictional stories, To Sir with Love most famously, The Sound of Music, Blackboard jungle, Goodbye Mister Chips, Assassination Classroom, Educating Rita, My Fair Lady, the Mighty Ducks, Dead Poets Society, Kindergarten Cop, Welcome Back Kotter, and so much more!
What are your faves?
This week Gunwallace made up a theme inspired by Curse of the Office Werewoman - This is a cool cruise into the bright sunlit waters in the south Mediterranean where warmth and calm abide, sipping a cocktail on the lido deck while dressed all in white, soaking up the sun and drifting off into a pleasant dream…
Topics and shownotes
Links
Banes' teacher newspost - https://www.theduckwebcomics.com/news/2024/apr/10/top-five-tales-of-teaching/
Featured comic:
Bunyan Mk7 - https://www.theduckwebcomics.com/news/2024/apr/08/featured-comic-bunyan-mk7/
Featured music:
Curse of the Office Werewoman - https://www.theduckwebcomics.com/Curse_of_the_Office_Werewoman - by CorneliusCool, rated T.
Special thanks to:
Gunwallace - http://www.virtuallycomics.com
Ozoneocean - https://www.theduckwebcomics.com/user/ozoneocean
Tantz Aerine - https://www.theduckwebcomics.com/user/Tantz_Aerine/
Banes - https://www.theduckwebcomics.com/user/Banes/

VIDEO exclusive!
Become a subscriber on the $5 level and up to see our weekly Patreon video and get our advertising perks!
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Even at $1 you get your name with a link on the front page and a mention in the weekend newsposts!
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Tantz came up with this week's topic: Exposition! It's because she's well on her way into starting her latest comic, Verdant, and working out ways to introduce the story, the world, characters, culture, magic systems, religion etc without doing a massive text dump, which people generally don't like too much. So how do you exposit in a good way?
One popular way is through a dialogue; characters give overly verbose and entirely unnecessary explanations about how things work during ordinary conversations, telling people things that they would already know from childhood, just so the reader can be informed in a “natural” way, which isn't natural and it actually really terrible, eg: “Hello my friend David Prowse who I have known since high school but have had a big falling out with since you slept with my wife. Could you hand me the energy cell please? Of course you know that all machines now are powered by energy cells which are miniaturised nuclear fusion reactors, so that we have unlimited, cheap power always.”
Another way is to have a character in a classroom, being taught particular concepts like history or politics so they and the reader “learn” together. This can be terrible but it can also be pretty good if you handle it right. Even text dumps can work ok if they're done correctly, but that's rare.
The best way to do exposition is to introduce the audience to only the concepts they need to know for now, in a basic way, with plenty of context in ways that are fully and easily relatable. Like showing a small, slow stakes scene that introduces key concepts and shows the character's reaction to them. If most of the stuff is easily relatable then the audience will focus more on the few isolated weird new things you introduce and they can learn about them from seeing how the characters react to them and how they fit into the context of the world, that way you don't need to explain them. A great example of this is the new comic by Marcorossi, Bunyan Mk7, it's a perfect example of quick, minimal exposition through story.
From here we started talking about how in anime often an entire first season of 13 episodes is devoted to this sort of expository introduction, which I find extremely pleasant because the focus of that kind of storytelling is not “conflict” but instead “progress”, which is something not well understood in modern storytelling anymore. The interest the audience gets from the story isn't that a character wants something or needs to fight to get it or resolve an issue, instead it's the linear consumption of knowledge that builds to the goal of finding out more about something. You specifically don't care about resolving anything, rather the learning is fun for its own sake. “Progress” can also be anything that builds towards a goal. I find people still like to rationalise this as “conflict” but you need to stretch the definition too much that it makes the concept useless and no longer logically understandable.
How do you do exposition? With a text dump? Via dialogue? A classroom? An introductory prologue? Or do you just throw the audience in the deep end and expect them to sink or swim? That said, the more familiar and relatable the story offering is, the less work on the exposition you have to do.
This week Gunwallace has given us a theme inspired by Cafe Strange - A melancholic jazz revere on times past and times yet to come. Off-time percussion, a gently plucked double bass, evocative piano and an electric violin play a tune of loneliness and possibility.

Topics and shownotes
Links
Exposition examples in comics:
Verdant, by Tantz_Aerine - https://www.theduckwebcomics.com/Verdant/
Bunyan Mk7, by marcorossi - https://www.theduckwebcomics.com/Bunyan_Mk7

Featured comic:
Prisoner of Paint - https://www.theduckwebcomics.com/news/2024/apr/02/featured-comic-prisoner-of-paint/
Featured music:
Cafe Strange - https://www.theduckwebcomics.com/Cafe_Strange/ - by Synwells, rated