In the city of Sp'too, deep under the sea,
Dread Pf'legmwad lies dreaming... of you and of me!
His dream is of our earth, you see...
But when he wakes, our world will cease to be!
Dread Pf'legmwad lies dreaming... of you and of me!
His dream is of our earth, you see...
But when he wakes, our world will cease to be!
The Call Of C'Rrusso is a foreign 2004 Donald Duck story notable primarily for parodying the Cthulhu Mythos while playing the cynical trends of the genre shockingly straight for a comic aimed at kids.
It was created in English, by writers Mark and Laura Shaw, for the pan-European publisher Egmont, but never appeared in an authorized English edition until IDW Publishing picked it up
for August 2016's American issue of Donald Duck.
This comic provides examples of:
- Bad Is Good and Good Is Bad: The eldritch being finds beautiful singing irritating and will be roused by it while horrible singing like Donald's usual voice lulls it back to sleep. This same sentiment is shared with the whole world, which the Ducks find beautiful but to it is abhorrent enough for it to want to wake up completely and dream up something new. Downplayed in the latter case, since one half of the creature's personality does find it beautiful.
- Cosmic Horror Reveal: Donald Duck wins in a singing contest before it's revealed that he's actually been recruited to wake up an Eldritch Abomination with his voice. The world disappears because it only exists when the monster is dreaming about it, and Donald and his nephews grow octopoid arms and legs as reality is reshaped in its image.
- Cosmic Horror Story: Donald tries out for a singing competition organized by a renowned musician, and gets successfully recruited by having his voice altered by an apparent twin of this musician. It's later revealed that the entire world is actually the dream of Pf'legmwad, a primordial cephalophoid monster which slumbers in the ancient city of Sp'too at the bottom of the sea. The two twins are manifestations of the monster's conflicting subconscious desires to either continue sleeping or wake up (which Donald's voice will make it do). When the creature does exactly that, the rest of the world vanishes as it no longer creates the world-dream, and everything in its vicinity shapes itself into its image, resulting in Donald and his nephews growing tentacles and stick eyes. It's eventually put back to sleep, but the story ends on a rather dark note as Donald contemplates everybody's existence as mere parts of the creature's imagination.
- Don't Wake the Sleeper: Donald and his nephews have to stop the villain from waking up a Chtulhu-like monster, as the world as we know it is controlled by the monster's dreams. Of course, it wakes up, and while it's awake, the Ducks' bodies mutate horribly. Donald manages to make it fall asleep again by singing a lullaby for it.
- Dream Apocalypse: The Ducks themselves turn out to be part of the imagination of the monster Pf'legmwad, who dreamt the world into existence. When it wakes up, they resolve to put it back to sleep to keep the dream going.
- Dub Name Change: The reality-warping octopus is called "Ar-Finn" in some European editions, but the American edition used "Pf'legmwad," the name created by original writers Mark and Laura Shaw.
- Eldritch Abomination: A giant octopus called Pf'legmwad sleeps beneath the depths in a sunken city (Cthulhu and R'lyeh, anyone?). Our reality (or at least Donald's) exists only because Pf'legmwad dreams about it. If he wakes up, the world will start to adapt to his image, with the architecture becoming more and more alien and the people more octopoid in appearance. It was awfully cynical for a Disney story, especially the ending, where Donald is horrified to find out that our whole existence is just a dream. Probably as close to Lovecraftian standards as Disney will come for the foreseeable future.
- Evil Takes a Nap: The comic revolves around an octopoid Eldritch Abomination sleeping in an ancient undersea city and dreaming the world into existence until someone wakes it up and causes the end of reality itself.
- Evil Twin: The great musician C'Rrusso is the evil twin to the rival musician D'Mmingo who looks exactly like him. For good measure, one wears black, and the other white. This is because they're really the same person, since both are embodiments of the monster-god Pf'legmwad's conflicting desires to either wake up or keep on sleeping and must battle each other for supremacy.
- Graceful Loser: C'Russo goes to extreme lengths to get Pf'legmwad to wake up, including pulling a gun on Donald when he gets cold feet. However, when D'mmingo's advice to the Ducks helps them put the monster back to sleep, C'Russo has no problem conceding his defeat.
- Literal Split Personality: C'Russo and D'mingo are both spawned from Pf'legmwad's mind, reflecting different aspects of the creature's personality: the part that wants to wake up and end the world, and the part that wants to keep sleeping and dream the world into being. They also exist only when Pf'legmwad is sleeping, retreating back into his subconscious when he's awake.
- Music Soothes the Savage Beast: Inverted. Donald encounters an Eldritch Abomination-type monster which dreams about the world so long as it remains dormant. Because its tastes are so alien, a beautiful singing voice will actually annoy it to the point of waking up and cause The End of the World as We Know It, but it finds a truly awful singing voice soothing and sleep-inducing.
- Named After Somebody Famous: C'Rrusso and D'mmingo are references to the real-life opera singers Enrico Caruso and Placido Domingo.
- "Ray of Hope" Ending: Inverted. The day is seemingly saved when Pf'legmwad is put back to sleep, and Huey, Dewey, and Louie hopefully glance at the sunrise. It still ends on a dark note as Donald realizes that he only exists inside the mind of a sleeping octopus and might one day vanish.
- Saved by a Terrible Performance: A beautiful singer's voice will wake up an Eldritch Abomination that will destroy the world. Donald, who is actually a terrible singer, receives a potion that causes his voice to improve and wakes it up. Later, when his terrible voice returns, it's also what puts the monster back to sleep.
- Schrödinger's Butterfly: The world is actually the dream of an ancient cephalophoid monster slumbering in a city at the bottom of the sea.
- Transformation Horror: Donald and his nephews are partially mutated into octopoids when Pf'legmwad wakes up from his slumber.
- The World Is Just Awesome: After Pf'legmwad goes back to sleep, Donald and his nephews stare out into the sunrise, marvelling at the monster's imagination.
