Barnyard Comics #21

Barney Rooster faces eviction when Prof. Bacon demands six years of overdue house payments, forcing the desperate rooster to scheme for quick cash—but his plans take a supernatural turn when his conscience and mischievous impulses, literally embodied as two tiny controllers on a cloud above his head, are split apart by a lightning strike, leaving his no-good self in complete control for six long years. When the two finally drift back together, Barney must grapple with the consequences of half a decade of laziness, trickery, and chaos as his better nature reasserts itself.

When Dizzy Duck is tasked with delivering a sugar cake to Uncle Willy, Barney Rooster has other ideas—and a relentless appetite for the treat. Through a series of increasingly wild schemes, Barney tries everything from playing the sympathetic friend to donning a disguise as a suspicious "diet specialist," all in hopes of getting his wings on the cake before it reaches its intended destination.

Barney Rooster's got a craving for corn, but Snooze has fortified the crib with traps and a warning to keep all roosters out. When Barney tries to outsmart his guard by planting a fake treasure map, the tables turn in a way neither bird quite expects. It's a battle of wits where the real prize might be right under their beaks all along.

Snooze the watchdog promises Uncle Goaty an innovative new protection system for his apple orchard—complete electrical wiring to shock any would-be thieves with 50,000 volts. When Hucky Duck arrives with a metal hand gadget to swipe apples, he quickly discovers Snooze's high-voltage defenses are very real, leading to a series of electrifying encounters as the determined duck tries to outsmart the farm's new security system. It's a clever battle of wits between a resourceful thief and a watchdog armed with surprising technical know-how.

Scatty's secret phobia of birds has finally been discovered by the neighborhood ruffians, but with help from a friend, he devises a clever scheme involving a stuffed eagle to convince them he's fearless—only to have his plan spectacularly backfire when a real eagle enters the picture. What follows is a wild case of mistaken identity and slapstick mayhem that just might cure Scatty of his affliction after all.

Oliver Owl keeps getting plagued by drafts in his home, and when he suspects his boys are fibbing about closing the bedroom window, he decides to teach them a lesson about dishonesty—only to discover the real culprit might be somewhere entirely different. This 1948 tale from Lynner Kapp plays out the classic clash between a parent convinced he knows what's wrong and the truth hiding in plain sight.

Clem McHedgehog buys a pair of oversized shoes at a bargain price, but they keep slipping off his feet at the most inconvenient moments—including during an unexpected encounter with an ambulance. After a series of comic mishaps involving the persistent shoes, Clem finally discovers an unconventional solution that turns his thrifty purchase into a perfect fit.