Comic Book / Double Duck

A parking ticket leads Donald Duck to realise he's actually a former sleeper agent for Cloak and Dagger Government Agency of Fiction, The Agency. However, one of their agents has become a Double Agent and taken a MacGuffin; the world isn't going to save itself, so he's back on the job as Agent Double Duck!

Created in Italy, the storyline was introduced in April, 2008; it was written by Marco Bosco and Fausto Vitaliano. It has proven popular enough to become its own separate canon... Until a 2016 crossover story confirmed several ties to Paperinik New Adventures universe.

Not to be confused with "Double-O-Duck", the DuckTales (1987) episode featuring Launchpad McQuack in a spy pastiche.

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Double Duck contains examples of:

• Action Girl: Kay K.
• Adaptational Intelligence: If Papernik is the most badass adaptation of Donald, Double Duck is surely the smartest. Indeed, the Agency used his brain to create the AI (who is the Agency's Big Boss) because of his "lateral thinking".
• Adventure Duo: Donald and Kay K are this, except technically Donald is The Hero and Kay K The Lancer.
• Agents Dating: In the story "Hong Island", while in Bangkok, Thailand, Donald and Kay K, before going to search for their Gadgeteer Genius, Gizmo, have dinner. At the end of the dinner, they get the restaurant check, which includes an envelope with two plane tickets for Krabi, in the southern part of Thailand.
• Alliterative Name:
  • Everyone in The Agency has one. Well, except for the secretary Liz Zago, Gizmo, The Agency's resident Gadgeteer Genius, and Bruce Wong, the hand-to-hand combat instructor.
  • Two agents also have them with their real names: Double Duck (alias Donald Duck) and Kay K (whose first and middle name are Arianna Adelaide).
• Badass Biker: Kay K often rides a motorcycle.
• Benevolent A.I.: The Agency's big boss. He is an AI based on Donald's mind.
• Betty and Veronica: Daisy is the Betty (in spite of her Tsundere tendencies) and Kay K/Red Primerose the Veronica for Donald Duck.
• Bruce Lee Clone: The Agency's hand-to-hand combat instructor Bruce Wong. Like the original, he's a Combat Pragmatist, and will teach his victims-er, apprentices, the same mindset - the first time we see him, he announces Donald he'll fake hitting him with a punch and then kicks him across the gym. He then gives him the first lesson: never trust an enemy.
• Clingy Jealous Girl: Daisy, every time she catches Donald with Kay K.
• Consummate Liar: Every good spy, but especially Donald.
• Corrupt Corporate Executive: Marlo Burke, who even in his public guise is considered a "notorious financier". Turns out his private life is even worse, as he likes to indulge himself in a spot of theft in order to get access to secret organisations, so he can blackmail his way to get even more access to other secret organisations.
  • John Rockerduck reprises his role from the PIA stories.
• Continuity Cameo: Kind of:
  • The PBI ("Paperal Bureau of Investigation"), which is also in Paperinik New Adventures.
  • Another huge PK cameo is in the "Code Olympus" story arc, featuring the Republic of Belgravia (a People's Republic of Tyranny), complete with mentions of the characters Nestor Grimka (the former president) and his son Grigorji (the current one. He didn't get better from his appearance in PK), and Paperinik's Extransformer shield in Gizmo's lab. When Belgravia is mentioned, Donald remarks he's familiar with them.
• Crossover: The story Pk vs Double Duck: Time Crime, with Paperinik New Adventures.
• Dolled-Up Installment: Double Duck and Kay K are saved by Wilson, an agent of SHUSH. But in the original Italian version states he's working for "PBI", an acronym for "Paperal Bureau of Investigation" - where "Paperal" is a pun on "Papero", Italian for "Duck" (which would be "Duck Bureau of Investigation" in English). However, the twist remains the same.
• Donald Grabs a Gun: Sometimes, but he generally prefer use Gizmo gadgets. Also in the first cover.
• Double Agent:
  • Agent B-Berry is this until it turns out he's a Fake Defector, as well as Agent B-Black, who were trying to flush out the real mole... Kay K. Turns out she'd been Stealing from the Till, as well as being Classy Cat-Burglar Red Primerose on the side.
  • Jay J also turns out to be this in a later story. Then it turns out that he too is a Fake Defector.
• Double Standard: Sure, Daisy can throw Donald over and go to a fancy event with Gladstone Gander, but if she spots him spending time with another woman, then that's just wrong!. And Donald's remark about this?
  Donald: "Hey, I'm not the only one who has something to explain! You dumped me and ran off with Gladstone!"
  Daisy: "Don't change the subject!"
  Donald: "Sometimes there's no point in questioning feminine logic."
• Expy: Marlo Burke. Just look at him and try not shouting "It's the Kingpin!"...
• Face–Heel Revolving Door: On a country level with Belgravia. They first debuted in Paperinik New Adventures as a People's Republic of Tyranny bent on world conquest, then in their last story president Nestor Grimka announces they'll get out of the spreading chaos business and he's going to retire, and when Belgravia reappears in "Double Duck" with Grimka's son in charge they're back at their tricks.
• Family-Friendly Firearms: Averted. As typical of Italian Disney stories, characters casually wields and use realistic firearms.
• Femme Fatale Spy: Kay K; in her first appearance she has no qualms about using her beauty to manipulate male characters like Donald. She was the criminal Red Primerose, who introduced herself in the Agency by secretly replacing the director Jay J. After all, she did say that all good spies lie and that Red Primerose wasn't necessarily a man...
• Gadgeteer Genius: Gizmo, who provides all the gadgets to the Agency.
• Gentleman Thief: Abel Konnery, Kay-K's father.
• Heel–Face Turn: After being arrested by Donald, Kay K eventually joins The Agency for real and becomes their best agent, working often with Donald.
• Imported Alien Phlebotinum: Turns out that the Agency's technology was partially reverse-engineered from a time-displaced Extransformer shield, which is Coronian technology.

• Jerkass: Gladstone yet again. He never misses an opportunity to brag about his luck and mock his cousin and is pissed when Donald totally ignores him in a story.
• Large and in Charge: Both Jay J and Marlo Burke qualify. Jay J eventually steps down.
• Laser-Guided Amnesia: Standard procedure for anyone wishing to retire from The Agency.
  • Happen also to Daisy at the end of "Agent Zero". After learning of Donald's secret double-life, she gets her memory of the entire adventure wiped.
• Latex Perfection: Done by Donald in one story, by assuming the identity of Axel Alpha, Agent Zero, a former member of the Agency and ex-boyfriend of Kay K.
• Living a Double Life: Donald has to deal with his super-spy missions and his dates with Daisy. Compared to this, his work as Duck Avenger seems easy... Or would be if he didn't have to juggle that too.
• MacGuffin: Quite a few of these, some of them playing with the trope itself; Donald's first on-page mission involves obtaining a briefcase which contains Kay K's tuna sandwich (in all fairness, it was a test). Later on, Marlo Burke is after what he thinks is the registry containing all the names of The Agency's operatives. It's actually the file which would allow him to bypass the encryption of the registry, which is in the basement of The Agency. His own Playful Hacker assumes it's all nonsense, so he calls the whole thing off.
• Master of Disguise:
  • Kay K as seen in "Souvenir de Paris", where in a second she disguise herself as one of Organization's men.
  • Also, the former Agency member Agent Zero is said to be one, and actually proves it when he shows up. Except it was actually Donald disguised as Agent Zero disguised as Donald.
• Mistaken for Cheating: Every time Daisy sees Donald with Kay K. And this naturally is followed by use of I Can Explain and Blatant Lies.
• The Mole: After her Heel–Face Turn, Kay K works for the Agency and becomes the mole into the Organization.
• Ms. Fanservice: Kay K is a really attractive woman with an Impossible Hourglass Figure. Many of her outfits show off her cleavage. In a few issues she also appears in bikini.
• Music Can Do Anything: In "Before the Premiere" the Organization want to use the orchestra crescendo's power (combined with their tecnology) to hack an Agency's satellite and sabotage elections in a country.
• Names to Run Away from Really Fast: The evil syndicate that debuted in "Reboot" is named Actinia, after these radioactive metals.
• No Celebrities Were Harmed: Like many other Italian stories, there some duck versions of Real Life vips. For example the Pole Position story has, among its characters, Paperonso, the duck version of F1 driver Fernando Alonso.
• Non-Mammal Mammaries:
  • Kay K is pretty... forthright for a character in a Disney comic. Then again, it seems Disney Italy has a record for that sort of thing...
  • In the first story-arc, when she's wearing a classy opera dress, even the flat chested Daisy gets cleavage. Yes. Daisy. However this is more a case of Depending on the Artist.
• Obstructive Bureaucrat: The Direction is a whole intelligence organization of them, not out of malice but out of sheer, mind-boggling incompetence and refusal to at least try and act as spies. Sadly, they have replaced the Agency...
• Pragmatic Villain: John Rockerduck takes over funding the Agency because there's a need for someone to keep organizations such as The Organization, The Division, and Actinia at bay before they can take over or destroy the world-but he's also the one who created Actinia as a tool for corporate warfare before losing control of them.
• Punny Title: A story concerning The Olympics is titled Olimpici Code, an obvious Shout-Out to The Da Vinci Code. Sadly, it doesn't quite work in English.
• The Resenter: B-Black to Donald at first, because in the past he caught Donald looking through his desk drawer locker.
• Resignations Not Accepted: Subverted, in that Jay J was okay with Double Duck resigning, but things got too hot for The Agency to handle without him, so it had to turn into a Mandatory Unretirement.
• Sarcastic Confession: Twice.
  • The first time, tired of lying to her, he admits to Daisy he's a spy. Daisy, who previously fell for Donald's immense bullshit, believes it's a joke.
  • In the "Agent Zero" storyline Donald confesses to being Paperinik (Duck Avenger) to Daisy, also with Kay K present. Doesn't count for Daisy, who gets her memory wiped immediately after, but for Kay K and the Agency...
• Secret Test of Character: The entire plot of Hunters and Prey turns out to be a complicated simulation created by the Big Boss to test his agents, especially Donald.
• Ship Tease: Kay K often seems very affectionate to Donald and sometimes flirts with him. Especially after her Heel–Face Turn, which makes her become one of the heroes working often with Donald, her official "partner". Naturally she claims to Daisy that they are Just Friends, but then again, she is a good liar.
• Shout-Out:
  • The series has quite a few shout-outs to James Bond films:
    • The password the bouncer of the bar where B-Black entered reveals to Donald (even though he shouldn't have) is Goldfinger.
    • The Hong Island scene features an underwater lair/laboratory that is located under a volcano, which might remind you of Blofeld's lair in You Only Live Twice.
    • And, of course, one of stories (and the prologue to one of the story arcs) features the films of James Tond. Whose actor got replaced by an enemy spy.
  • There's also a lot of shoutouts to Paperinik New Adventures, which makes sense considering the team making Double Duck is mostly composed by people who previously worked on that.
    • The most blatant one is the country of Belgravia, which first appeared in PKNA (with a map to show it's location), then returned in Double Duck (with an identical map), with mentions of president Nestor Grimka (who appeared in the final PKNA Belgravia story, admitting he was about to retire) and his not-so-smart son Grigorji (who here has succeeded him). All the PKNA and Double Duck stories featuring Belgravia were created by writer Francesco Artibani.
    • A less blatant one is Bruce Wong's training - It's similar to a scene from PK2, but it differs in that Lyla Lay gets thrown by her instructor (rather than kicked), who then tells her to never trust anyone (essentially the same message, but phrased differently).
  • One of the exclusive covers for the Boom edition (on Donald Duck and Friends 250) is a reference to the first cover of Incorruptible, published by the same editor.
• Spy Catsuit: Kay K wears a purple spy catsuit in some stories.
• Stealth Hi/Bye: Kay K is very good at these.
• Sweet Tooth: It turns out B-Black is one. Donald takes advantage of this by giving him a bugged licorice dispenser as a gift.
• Then Let Me Be Evil: How Kay reacted to the Direction holding her criminal past against her and forcing her out of the counter-espionage business: by returning to her past life of crime.
• The Trouble with Tickets: Donald finds his 313 car has been given a ticket and he's pretty ticked off - after all, he's never even been to that part of town before! Turns out he was there, retiring from The Agency. Throughout the first story arc, he tries to get out of paying it, but the Vast Bureaucracy stumps him and he finally pays the fine.
• Wham Episode: Three of them:
  • The "Timecrime" crossover establishes that the series is set in the same continuity as Paperinik New Adventures and the PIA series (a series of stories where Donald and Fethry worked as secret agents to protect Scrooge's economic empire). It also shows that PKNA's Organization was created by Axel Alpha and a traitorous Time Cop, and named after its Double Duck counterpart.
  • "Reboot" may not be a literal reboot of the series, but changes everything: the Agency has been officially disbanded, with some of their members, including Donald and led by Liz Zago, continuing their activity illegally anyway; the Direction, the criminally incompetent replacement of the Agency, is not only completely ineffective, but has revealed to the public the identities of the Agency's spies except Double Duck before forcing them into being glorified security guards and has driven Kay back to crime; Head-H has faked undergoing the Total Reset Button and betrayed the Agency's loyalists to the Direction, before the remnants of the Agency hits him with the real TRB; Donald arrests Kay; the Organization is apparently taken down for good, or at least made harmless, partly thanks to the help of the new spionistic organization Actinia, that has also recruited Kay; the Agency remnants are now fully independent from the government and rely on an anonymous backer for funding.
  • "Enemies as Usual" gets rid of Actinia-and reveals that the anonymous backer is none else than Rockerduck, who also created Actinia to begin with.
• Wham Line: During a talk with Daisy in "Agent Zero", Donald drops one that establishes what parts of Disney's continuity are part of this series:
  "I am Paperinik too."
• Where Does He Get All Those Wonderful Toys?: Very much subverted: when Gadgeteer Genius Gizmo equips Donald for his first mission back with The Agency, he takes Donald on a quick tour of his lab, showing him all the recent developments, including "laser pens, radar pencils and sonar markers" (Donald asks if they can write), but as Donald's taking minimal equipment with him on this mission he gets... a cell phone. It doesn't even get great reception...
• The Worf Effect: A villain example in the crossover Timecrime. Alex Alpha, thanks to help of T-32 and his device, takes down the leaders of the "Organization" and "Division" and delivers them to the Agency to show off his power.
• Xanatos Speed Chess: Both Donald and the Agency's big boss are this, the former due his experience with Scrooge, creditors and the unexpected, and the latter because he's an AI based on Donald.

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