"Pecking Order"

It's man--er, bird--versus bird--er, non-anthropomorphized bird--in a classic story from 1945! Let's look in, shall we?

There's BIG PRIZE MONEY for anyone who can take a photograph of a rare woodpecker.


Topical--an obvious allusion to the ivory-billed woodpecker, the last known specimen of which died in 1944. Don't even get me started on how much humans suck.


Ten men! Gone crazy! Seems hyperbolic, but this is kind of how these things work--it's ALWAYS a serious situation. I'm not going to go into more detail about how this represents a modernist cultural milieu. I think I've beaten that dead horse sufficiently. But keep it in mind. IT IS TRUE. Insofar as there IS "truth" hereabouts. I would say that there is, more or less. That may change later on in Barks' run, but for now, we're okay. I'm done now.



As you can see, the dialogue here is a little stilted--it actually reminds me a bit of Mark Trail, and I apologize for making such an unfair comparison. I read somewhere that Barks, who lacked much formal education, studied grammar books as an adult because he knew this would be necessary for a cartooning career. The difference between his writing at this point and that from his late-forties-mid-fifties prime is really incredible.

In spite of that, this is a fast, fun little story, filled with manic action. Instead of a detailed play-by-play, let's just give the people what they really want: a montage of pictures of Donald being injured.


















Not bad for ten pages!