Walt Disney’s Donald Duck “The Pixelated Parrot” is Volume 9 in Fantagraphics’s The Complete Carl Barks Disney Library. The book collects comic book stories and a one-page gag from May 1950 – November 1951 starring Donald and his nephews: Huey, Dewey, and Louie. It concludes with “Story Notes,” annotations by a team of writers; “Carl Barks: Life Among the Ducks,” a biography by Donald Ault; and a Covers Gallery.
Buy Walt Disney’s Donald Duck “The Pixilated Parrot”: The Complete Carl Barks Disney Library Vol. 9In the opening story, the boys bring home the titular bird, Polly, a parrot who doesn’t talk but squawks figures. Donald sees it as a great pet for Uncle Scrooge’s birthday. However, the bird gives a safe combination to a couple of Beagle Boy-looking thieves, but he escapes before Scrooge finds out. Donald and the boys search for the bird, which takes them to the island of Tropicania. Once in a port, Polly flies off to find romance but the joke is the gal has a family so he races back. The story has what’s supposed to be a funny conclusion of all the ducks having to wash dishes at a restaurant because Scrooge forgot to bring money. But surely the restaurant owner knows Scrooge is richest man in the world. Hard to believe he wouldn’t allow Scrooge to leave Donald and the boys behind so he could go get money. Later in the book is a gag where a “Talking Parrot” only repeats Donald’s foul language.
Donald and lucky cousin Gladstone are “Wild About Flowers” because whoever finds a daisy gets to have lunch with Daisy. Gladstone keeps foiling Donald’s efforts in funny ways, but then things get harrowing when the dam breaks and floods the town.
An even more harrowing adventure occurs “In Ancient Persia” when Donald and the boys are kidnapped by a creepy neighbor, identified only as the scientist. He shanghais the four ducks to the Middle East in search of the lost city of Itsa Faka. Barks make great use of light and shadow as they walk the interiors of the ancient structures. The scientist brings people back to life from centuries ago who “were dried completely into dust” because he wants to learn the formula so he can rule the world. Not only is it wild he is able to bring them back, but even wilder is Donald resembles Prince Cad Ali Cad who was betrothed to the daughter of King Nevvawaza but he jilted her. Once rehydrated, the King intends for the ceremony to continue against Donald’s wishes. Matters get confusing when the boys bring back the actual Cad who still has no interest in matrimony. Good twists and turns in the story as different parties get the upper hand.
Donald and the boys gets “Vacation Time” and camp in the Eagleclaw Mountains. (At times, Donald’s Duckburg seems to be Anytown, USA but then Barks will insert Los Angeles references such as when Donald talks about “the corner of Wilshire and Vermont.”) Barks draws epic nature settings of trees, rocks, waterfalls etc. amidst the mountains. Donald wants to snap a picture of a big buck deer, a familiar premise, but the goal is complicated by a troublemaker who smokes and doesn’t tend to his campfire, which has dire consequences as the ducks get trapped.
The next couple stories have uncredited scripts. “Donald’s Grandma Duck” is featured in a story about the boys visiting their great grandma on her farm. They learn tending to animals ain’t easy and have trouble adjusting to quiet country life. Gus Goose’s laziness and absentmindedness nearly gets her property foreclosed, but the boys reveal their kindheartedness by trying to help as best they can. Donald is “Camp Counselor” but the boys don’t take him seriously. He tries to look brave with a bear rug, which does not go well for him.
When “The Magic Hourglass” of Uncle Scrooge runs out of sand, a string of bad luck begins. He gives Donald a leaky, rusty fishing boat and the boys the hourglass. They need sand from an oasis in the Sahara Desert for the hourglass and, only in comics, Donald ends up tying two sharks to the boat to make it workable. With his fortune continuing to dwindle, Uncle Scrooge meets them in Morocco and proving himself to be a rather unsavory character, puts a bounty on them when they escape. Lost in the desert and desperate for water, Donald and the boys learn a valuable lesson about what’s really important. Uncle Scrooge’s greed makes him oblivious.
Donald gets caught up in “Big Top Bedlam” when the circus come to town. Wanting to attend but short on funds, Donald decides to hock daisy’s old heirloom brooch, thinking he could get it back a few days later on payday. Naturally, he loses it just before Daisy shows up wanting it back. He says he was robbed and Daisy assumes it was circus people. Although unsure how to get out of his lie, fate steps in as Donald finds a circus performer with it. Trouble is, the man is a quick-change artist and stays a step ahead of Donald. Barks inserts Donald into a number of circus acts and inserts good plot twists into the story.
Closing the book is a Christmas story, “You Can’t Guess.” The boys want a building set and ask Donald. He makes it a game and if they can guess what he wants, he will get them the set. They seek help from Daisy, a mind reader, Uncle Scrooge, a hypnotist, and Grandma Duck. The holiday puts the Ducks into a charitable mood and Donald and the boys get unintentionally spoiled rotten.
Many of the stories in “The Pixelated Parrot” find Barks able to strike a great balance of adventure and humor, and he makes the impossible believable due in part to his artistic talent. Every setting, from rooms of a house to locales around the world, looks authentic because of his attention to detail. This volume serves as good as entry point into Barks’s Duck comics as any.
