Carl Barks - His Life and His Work
- ️Steve Ortman
- ️Sat Nov 15 2008
Confronting Death in the Disney Comic
Death was and still is a taboo topic in
Disney comics. 
Carl
Barks is known to have tested the limits of Disney guidelines on a
number of occasions. He drew beautiful, long legged girls, dangerous
weapons and very violent fights. Some of these were initially censored
and some were published at a much later date. The publication
of a
few gothic tales, however, was never touched by the censors. Of course,
there is the magic tale In Ancient Persia
(W OS #275) in which magic powder can resurrect the dead to
life
again. Barks skilfully conceived of an authentic Arabian environment in
which the past came back to life for a short time. However, life is
short for these people and they return to their everlasting peace. The
topic was even more pronounced in a tale Barks wrote but never
finished, called King Scrooge the First
(the cover
was drawn by Carl Barks) (US #71, 1967). 
The
final product was finished by Tony Strobl, another Disney comic
veteran. Nevertheless, the story still feels very much like a Barks
story. While the story begins like many classic Duck
adventures,
at the end we learn that the goal of the villain was actually to find
everlasting peace. While Uncle Scrooge can bathe in money, Khan Khan of
the Mongolduks, who had thought he would enjoy eternal life, finally
dies because he no longer can stand the loneliness of life without his
friends, family and slave girls.
If you want to read this story for yourself, you can buy a recent reprint of it at Amazon.com for only $6.95.
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Mousing
around with Mickey Mouse
Duckburg News: It is not a legend! Carl Barks really drew a Mickey Mouse tale in 1945.Titled "Riddle of the Red Hat," it is really a mysterious, yet outrageously funny story about a red hat that looks so unique but still can be mixed up. This story has been called "significant to Carl Barks aficionados“ by John Clark, Editor-in-Chief of the Gemstone line of Disney comic books. |
Newspaper Article Writes About Barks'
Oil-Paintings, Refers to Author of this Site By Hali Bernstein
Saylor
What started as a hobby for Pete Demyan has resulted in a treasure that
even Scrooge McDuck himself might envy -- an original Carl Barks oil
painting. |
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Uncle
Scrooge
in the Czech Republic -
Strycek
Skrblik
Carl Barks'
comics can be
found around the world. This set of images features comics from France
to Italy and from Indonesia to Germany. Other countries are Spain, the
United States, Great Britain, Denmark, Portugal, Norway and the
Netherlands. For the future I plan to add more comics as they become
available. Right now I am especially searching for a Chinese
translation. If anyone has a translation, please let me know: aisuru2001@yahoo.com |
In Memoriam
Carl
Barks
Carl Barks, 99, the cartoonist who drew Donald Duck comic books for three decades, turning the quacking, cranky waterfowl into an unlikely, universally loved everyman, died Aug. 25 at his home in Grants Pass, Ore. He had leukemia. (Washington Post, Saturday, August 26, 2000) A collection of newspaper articles and web sites can be found here! Remembering Carl Barks |
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Bugs
Bunny:
Why Barks Didn't Like the Rabbit
Barks drew only one Bugs Bunny / Porky Pig story called "Porky of the Mounties" which appeared in Four Color #48 in 1944. Almost all drawings were changed because the publishers didn't like what Barks had done with Porky Pig and Bugs Bunny. This story shows what Barks could do with other characters. See some art and read more about the comic! |
Scrooge
Speaks Swabian - Entahausener Entaklemmer Up to now, Carl Barks' comics have been translated into perhaps thousands of languages but this year the German publishers of Disney comics, egmont-ehapa, are trying out something new. Three Barks stories have been translated into Swabian and will appear on the market this September! To see some images from this funny translation click here |
Collecting is my hobby! This list contains all my American comics (sorry no international comic books) This list is made primarily for myself so that when I travel I can always see which comic books I already own but I also thought that it might be interesting to all other Disney comic fans. (Maybe I will one day have a list with all comics???). However, financial constraints will probably obstruct this goal. Get a nearly complete listing of Disney comics here: http://coa.inducks.org/
last updated 11/15/2008
Now also in Chinese