The Pixilated Parrot

Carl Barks delivers another superb collection of clever plot twists, laugh-out-loud comedy, and all-around cartooning brilliance. Donald gives Uncle Scrooge a parrot for his birthday but the feathered troublemaker escapes with the combination to Scrooge’s safe holding “ninety tons of money.” Hijinks ensue as Donald and his nephews set off on an unexpected adventure to recover the lovesick bird. Then, Donald and the boys are shanghaied by a mysterious stranger, who whisks them off to face perils in the desert in “Ancient Persia,” where they uncover a lost city—and its reconstituted inhabitants! And Barks cuts loose from his regular panel designs to deliver one of his finest stories, “Vacation Time” (it has its own Wikipedia page), as Donald displays unusual depths of courage and heroism when he has to rescue Huey, Dewey, and Louie on a wilderness outing gone wrong.