Junior Woodchucks

Junior Woodchucks

The Junior Woodchucks of the World are the Scouting organization to which Huey, Dewey, and Louie belong. They have a uniform with a coonskin cap. The Junior Woodchucks were created by Carl Barks in 1951, in the story "Operation St. Bernhard" (Walt Disney's Comics and Stories #125). Later stories introduced a similar organization for girls, Junior Chickadees, to which Daisy Duck's nieces, April, May and June belong. A hallmark of the Woodchucks are exalted titles and ranks (Huey, Dewey, and Louie being promoted to become Ten Star Generals in the 1952 story of that name) and the awarding of buckets of badges, along with severe ideals as to decorum. In this way Barks poked gentle but pointed satire at aspects of the Boy Scouts.

The Junior Woodchucks also have Scoutmasters. This role is usually taken by Donald, or Launchpad McQuack in the Ducktales cartoon, where they also had a baseball team, which Launchpad also coached. In some Italian stories the scoutmaster is a tall, strong and wise (but that fears flight) goose called gran mogol (the great moghul), whose name is Bertie McGoose.

Junior Woodchucks always carry with them a copy of the Junior Woodchucks Guidebook, a fictional guidebook filled with detailed and pertinent information about whatever country or situation the Woodchucks find themselves. Its depth of coverage is remarkable, considering that it is a small paperback book.

Don Rosa wrote and drew a story regarding the origin of the Junior Woodchucks Guidebook, "Guardians of the Lost Library", which Comics Buyer's Guide mentioned as possibly the greatest comic book story of all time. Rosa's later story W.H.A.D.A.L.O.T.T.A.J.A.R.G.O.N. tells of how Huey, Dewey, and Louie came to join the Junior Woodchucks.

In 1971 Carl Barks drew a model sheet of the nephews, with some of the drawings showing them in their Junior Woodchuck uniforms, for the Disney studio's publications department.

Most of the early Junior Woodchucks stories appeared in Walt Disney's Comics and Stories. They also appeared in Donald Duck and in Uncle Scrooge. In 1966, they got their own title, Huey, Dewey, and Louie and the Junior Woodchucks, published by Gold Key Comics for 62 issues, and then continued by Whitman Comics for another 20 issues until 1983. The stories which Carl Barks wrote for this comic book, among the last comic book stories he scripted, were drawn by Kay Wright, John Carey and Tony Strobl. More recently Daan Jippes has been commissioned by Egmont to redraw these stories emulating Barks' style and drawing inspiration from the sketches of Barks' storyboard-like scripts.

Disney Comics published a Junior Woodchucks four issue mini series in 1991.

Comedian Jeff Foxworthy once claimed, in his TV show, to have been a member of the Junior Woodchucks in his childhood.

In some episodes of the comic strip Big Nate, Nate Wright and his Middle-school friends are members of the Junior Woodchucks.

In the 1970s Bob Rozakis called his fellow young fans turned DC Comics editorial employees Junior Woodchucks and they referred to themselves as such in the pages of the pro-zine The Amazing World of DC Comics which they co-edited.

Read more about Junior Woodchucks:  The Chickadees, Junior Woodchucks Guidebook, International Versions

Famous quotes containing the words junior and/or woodchucks:

    Never burn bridges. Today’s junior prick, tomorrow’s senior partner.
    Kevin Wade, U.S. screenwriter, and Mike Nichols. Katharine Parker (Sigourney Weaver)

    Once I went so far as to slaughter a woodchuck which ravaged my bean-field,—effect his transmigration, as a Tartar would say,—and devour him, partly for experiment’s sake; but though it afforded me a momentary enjoyment, notwithstanding a musky flavor, I saw that the longest use would not make that a good practice, however it might seem to have your woodchucks ready dressed by the village butcher.
    Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)