Pawns of the Loup Garou [pencil script]

"Pawns of the Loup Garou" was the first product of Barks' arrangement with Western to write script-only stories in his retirement. The werewolf idea was provided by fan writer
Michael Barrier, who had recently begun corresponding with Barks. Barrier was considering submitting scripts to Western, and he wrote Barks for advice.

"Mike-" Barks wrote in a December 30, 1966 letter: "In one of your past letters you sent some ideas for criticism. One idea you mentioned was about using a Loup Garou as a menace or gimmick for plot interest.
I'm thinking of doing a 21-page script for Donald Duck, and the Loup Garou came to mind as offering an interesting gimmick for some of the gags. In the past I rarely bought any ideas, and my price was usually $10 for an idea as short as Loup Garou (two words). If you would care to let me use a Loup Garou in the Donald script, I'll gladly send you a check for $10. Can you let me know soon?"

Barrier at the time was a struggling cub reporter, and ten dollars was a sizeable sum. He accepted. Barks completed the script in March , Western assigned Tony Strobl to draw it, and the story was published in January 1968.

The plot is top-heavy with explanation, and the giant wolf does not amount to much of a menace. When Michael Barrier asked if the script had been edited so that the wolf in the story was not a real werewolf, Barks replied in a January 23, 1968 letter:

"The thing you noticed about my 'Loup Garou' story is the sort of business I like to forget. Always there were decisions to make. Could a loup garou be a real werewolf? Could a witch be a real witch? How far can I stretch the ridiculous without getting in trouble with the office? How far can I push pure fantasy before some sophisticated 5-year-old kid complains that Donald Duck is only a fairy tale character like Hans C. Anderson's people? I leaned toward logical explanations of phenomenons in everyday terms and mechanics - just to be safe. I hate to go back into those old stories and relive the struggles I had trying to make the explanations interesting and funny and not a dull let-down. Man! How I feel about a kid who yearns to make a career of writing and drawing comics - better, I say, he should take up something exalting and invigorating like sewer engineering."

The pencil script was returned to Barks and given, appropriately, to Barrier.

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