After nearly a decade of unfulfilled hope (and a few extra hours of website overload), at long last the Monkey Island franchise has officially been resurrected with today's release of Tales of Monkey Island: Chapter 1 - Launch of the Screaming Narwhal.

The first of five episodes from Telltale Games, Screaming Narwhal ushers in the return of Guybrush Threepwood, his wife Elaine, and the evil pirate LeChuck. As Guybrush attempts to put an end to LeChuck once and for all with a cursed cutlass, something goes dreadfully wrong when he's forced to concoct a homemade formula of his own. With predictably disastrous results, Guybrush instead unleashes a nasty pox that infects his own hand and threatens to spread all throughout the Caribbean if he can't reverse the curse.

The PC version of Tales of Monkey Island is sold as a full-season puchase, and the first episode is available for download now directly from Telltale, along with a free playable demo. The episode will soon be coming to WiiWare as well, where it will be sold as a standalone episode.

For more information about Launch of the Screaming Narwhal, check out our review of the game.