A Guidebook to the Carl Barks Universe

Backstage: During his visit to Holland in 1994, Barks was shown the at that moment most recent comic album "Beste Verhalen"-album No. 74. His reply, broadcasted on Dutch television, was: "Let's see. Something about it looks a little familiar. Yeah, I kinda remember this, something about litterbugging. That is an example of stories that just come up from various new laws we get in the States about throwing litter out on the highways, and how Uncle [Scrooge]... er, Donald gets in a jam, from somebody else's litter..." (grins)

Sources | image: © [Walt Disney Productions]

W WDC 271-01 A Stone's Throw From Ghost Town

Barrier: MBAC-186
CBL: 10B-449
Type: story
Art: Carl Barks
Script: Carl Barks
Hero: Donald Duck
Submission: 1962, August 11
Publication date: 1963, April
Issue: Walt Disney Comics & Stories 271, Vol. 23, No. 7
Pages: 10

Sources

W WDC 272-01 Spare That Hair

Barrier: MBAC-186
CBL: 10B-459
Type: story
Art: Carl Barks
Script: Carl Barks
Hero: Donald Duck
Submission: 1962, August 15
Publication date: 1963, May
Issue: Walt Disney Comics & Stories 272, Vol. 23, No. 8
Pages: 10

Sources

W WDC 273-01 A Duck's-eye View of Europe

Barrier: MBAC-186
CBL: 10B-469
Type: story
Art: Carl Barks
Script: Carl Barks
Hero: Donald Duck
Submission: 1962, August 27
Publication date: 1963, June
Issue: Walt Disney Comics & Stories 273, Vol. 23, No. 9
Pages: 10

Sources

W WDC 274-01 Gall of the Wild

Barrier: MBAC-186
CBL: 10B-479
Type: story
Art: Carl Barks
Script: [unknown]
Script rewriting: Carl Barks
Hero: Donald Duck
Submission: 1962, October 10
Publication date: 1963, July
Issue: Walt Disney Comics & Stories 274, Vol. 23, No. 10
Pages: 10

Additional credits: In his 1969 list of work for Western, Barks wrote about this story: "This was a nine page office story that I stretched."

Sources

W WDC 275-01 Zero Hero

Barrier: MBAC-186
CBL: 10B-489
Type: story
Art: Carl Barks
Script: Carl Barks
Hero: Donald Duck
Submission: 1962, October 29
Publication date: 1963, August
Issue: Walt Disney Comics & Stories 275, Vol. 23, No. 11
Pages: 10

Sources

W WDC 276-00 lifeguard and girl ducks

Barrier: MBAC-186
CBL: 10B-435
Type: cover part, illustrating «Beach Boy»
Art: Carl Barks
Script: [unknown]
Hero: [none]
Submission: 1963, February 21
Publication date: 1963, September
Issue: Walt Disney Comics & Stories 276, Vol. 23, No. 12
Pages: 0 1/3

Sources

W WDC 276-02 Beach Boy

Barrier: MBAC-186
CBL: 10B-499
Type: story
Art: Carl Barks
Script: Carl Barks
Hero: Donald Duck
Submission: 1962, November 13
Publication date: 1963, September
Issue: Walt Disney Comics & Stories 276, Vol. 23, No. 12
Pages: 10

CBL-notes: Fish skeleton and undefinable plant added in panel 8.6.

Sources

W WDC 277-00 animal parade

Barrier: MBAC-186
CBL: 10B-437
Type: cover part, illustrating «The Duckburg Pet Parade»
Art: Carl Barks
Script: [unknown]
Hero: [none]
Submission: 1963, April 4
Publication date: 1963, October
Issue: Walt Disney Comics & Stories 277, Vol. 24, No. 1
Pages: 0 1/3

Sources

W WDC 277-01 The Duckburg Pet Parade

Barrier: MBAC-186
CBL: 10B-509
Type: story
Art: Carl Barks
Script: Carl Barks
Hero: Donald Duck
Submission: 1963, March 7
Publication date: 1963, October
Issue: Walt Disney Comics & Stories 277, Vol. 24, No. 1
Pages: 10

CBL-notes: In panel 3.2, Donald's speed-lines are retouched with very thick lines.

Sources

W WDC 278-00 dancing donald and daisy

Barrier: MBAC-186
CBL: 10C-520
Type: cover part, illustrating «Have Gun, Will Dance»
Art: Carl Barks
Script: [unknown]
Hero: [none]
Submission: 1963, May 8
Publication date: 1963, November
Issue: Walt Disney Comics & Stories 278, Vol. 24, No. 2
Pages: 0 1/3

CBL-notes: Blurry reproduction.

Sources

W WDC 278-02 Have Gun, Will Dance

Barrier: MBAC-186
CBL: 10C-523
Type: story
Art: Carl Barks
Script: Carl Barks
Hero: Donald Duck
Submission: 1963, April 11
Publication date: 1963, November
Issue: Walt Disney Comics & Stories 278, Vol. 24, No. 2
Pages: 10

Additional credits: Malcolm Willits' idea for a ten-pager about top-secret weapon plans became "Have Gun, Will Dance".

In an April 20, 1963 letter to Malcolm, Barks wrote: "I used the story idea you sent of the "lost" secret plans from the Pentagon. Sort of used the formula of the old-time Atom Bomb story from the Cheerio giveaway. You will find it very much like the 1940s style of writing, I think." (Malcolm Willits had sent Barks a copy of the Cheerio giveaway in November 1962.)

Correspondence:

April 20, 1963 letter from Carl Barks to Malcolm Willits

Sources

W WDC 279-00 carnival booth

Barrier: MBAC-186
CBL: 10C-520
Type: cover part, illustrating «Once Upon a Carnival»
Art: Carl Barks
Script: [unknown]
Hero: [none]
Submission: 1963, July 1
Publication date: 1963, December
Issue: Walt Disney Comics & Stories 279, Vol. 24, No. 3
Pages: 0 1/3

CBL-notes: Blurry reproduction.

Sources

W WDC 279-01 Once Upon a Carnival

Barrier: MBAC-186
CBL: 10C-533
Type: story
Art: Carl Barks
Script: Carl Barks
Hero: Donald Duck
Submission: 1963, July 1
Publication date: 1963, December
Issue: Walt Disney Comics & Stories 279, Vol. 24, No. 3
Pages: 10

Congruences:

QMU 1938-?11: shooting gallery with targets that cannot be knocked down.
W WDC 75-01 raffle turkey pet: shooting gallery with targets that cannot be knocked down.

Sources

W WDC 280-00 donald sees scrooge in mirror

Barrier: MBAC-186
CBL: 10C-520, 10C front cover
Type: cover part, illustrating «Double Masquerade»
Art: Carl Barks
Script: [unknown]
Hero: [none]
Submission: 1963, August 5
Publication date: 1964, January
Issue: Walt Disney Comics & Stories 280, Vol. 24, No. 4
Pages: 0 1/4

Sources

W WDC 280-03 Double Masquerade

Man! For that kind of surfin' I'll double my donation to the Christmas fund!
-- visitor of surfing exhibition

Barrier: MBAC-187
CBL: 10C-543
Type: story
Art: Carl Barks
Script: Carl Barks
Hero: Donald Duck
Submission: 1963, July 15
Publication date: 1964, January
Issue: Walt Disney Comics & Stories 280, Vol. 24, No. 4
Pages: 10

Appearances: beach (1.1); Sailin' Surfers (1.3); Duckburg Christmas Fund (1.5); Captain Ramrod and her troop of Junior Chickadees (3.6); Chickadee Christmas Fund (3.7); Santa Claus's Doll Factory (4.5); banking district (5.1); Mr. Goldsox, who gave hundred dollars to the Chickadee Christmas Fund (5.5); Mr. Jinglepurse, who gave fifty to the Chickadee Christmas Fund (5.5); Uncle Scrooge's private ski mountain (6.3); Uncle Scrooge's ski chalet, at which Donald worked a chair lift when Scrooge entertained big business tycoons there (7.1, 7.3); Uncle Scrooge's old mine tunnel, in which bears live (9.4); Duckburg steam rooms (10.6).

Backstage: Barks: "In "Double Masquerade" I used the seashore of Duckburg -- not too out of place for Burbank, which is a half-hour drive from the ocean. There was quite a fad for surfing at that time. The Beach Boys songs were very popular on the radio. Please don't be disturbed by the antics of a fictional surfing club. They 'kidnapped' their reluctant members in order to put up a united front for a good surfing show. I used their strong-arm methods as a menace to Donald's safety, a mere story gimmick."

The Beach Boys came from Soutern California and started in 1961. Up to Barks' submission, most or all of The Beach Boys hits were about surfing: "Surfin'" (1962), "Surfin' Safari" (1962); and "Surfin' USA" (1963).

Congruences:

W OS 203-02 in "The Golden Christmas Tree": Gold Christmas tree. (In "Double Masquerade", panel 4.6, one Chickadee mentions that she wants a "solid GOLD Christmas tree".)

Questions: In Barks' story, the surfing club is called the "Sailin' Surfers" and he seems to use a surf 'dialect' of that time:

"Cowabunga! Dig those curlers, surfers!" /
"Real gassers for hot-dogging and shooting the tube!" (1.2)
"Where's your surfboard, Ducko, old surfer?" (1.4)
"We've got a spare one and some baggies in the woody!" (6.8)
"Donald Duck is shooting the tube with a one-foot stand!" (8.7)
"Now he's WALKIN' THE NOSE!" (8.8)
"And HANGING THREE with a one foot stand!" /
"That Duck is the MOST!" (9.1)

In panel 5.7, Donald-as-Scrooge answers the Sailin' Surfers that he was just "foolin'" (note the apostrophe). I guess that the real Scrooge would have pronounced "fooling". Maybe Barks makes a gag here by showing Donald unconsiciously using the surf dialect when seeing the Sailin' Surfers?

Sources

W WDC 281-00 snowball with lighted fuse

Barrier: MBAC-187
CBL: 10C-520
Type: cover part, illustrating «Fued and Far Between»
Art: Carl Barks
Script: [unknown]
Hero: [none]
Submission: 1963, September 6
Publication date: 1964, February
Issue: Walt Disney Comics & Stories 280, Vol. 24, No. 5
Pages: 0 1/3

CBL-notes: Blurry reproduction.

Sources

W WDC 281-02 Fued and Far Between

Barrier: MBAC-187
CBL: 10C-553
Type: story
Art: Carl Barks
Script: Carl Barks
Hero: Donald Duck
Submission: 1963, August 26
Publication date: 1964, February
Issue: Walt Disney Comics & Stories 280, Vol. 24, No. 5
Pages: 10

Landmark: Donald's early 1940s neighbour Mr. Jones appears for the first since «lost ten-dollar bill», not counting the unpublished «christmas caroling at peoples' doors».

Appearances: Papa [Jones] (6.4, on photo/painting); Maw [Jones] (10.3).

Backstage: A December 11,1960 letter to Larry Ivie shows that Barks had forgotten about this character: "You mentioned Mr. Jones. Glad to have him recalled to memory. I shall certainly use him again if a suitable plot suggests itself. Thanks, too, from Mr. Jones."

Research: The story's title is a pun on the idiomatic expression "Few and far between", the word "feud" having the same vowel sound as "few".

Cross-references: Donald says about his new neighbor: "I hope he's not like Jones who lived there long ago! Remember old Jones?" (1.2) The nephews comment: "You and neighbor Jones were in only one fight while he lived there! / That was from the day he moved in until he moved out!" (1.3) These are some of the story's cross-references to the 1940s stories with neighbor Jones [classic appearance]. Later in the story, Donald says: "If that's Jones, he'll be a sucker for my famous "fake injury" gag!" (5.7) This must be a cross-reference to a similar trick, in «borrowed putty» (8.4).

Correspondence:

December 11, 1960 letter from Carl Barks to Larry Ivie

Sources

W WDC 282-00 boxing donald, beagle boys flee for madam mim

Barrier: MBAC-187
CBL: 10C-519
Type: cover in two parts, illustrating Barks story "Bubbleweight Champ" and a non-Barks story
Art: Carl Barks
Script: [unknown]
Hero: [none]
Submission: 1963, September 16
Publication date: 1964, February
Issue: Walt Disney Comics & Stories 281, Vol. 24, No. 5
Pages: 1

Additional credits: Illustrated non-Barks story (possibly titled "The Amazing Mad Madam Mim Meets the Beagle Boys"), is a 8-page Mad Madam Mim story by an unknown writer, penciled by Tony Strobl, and inked by Steve Steere. (Inducks: W WDC 282-05)

Landmark: Appearance of Mad Madam Mim in Barks' work.

Sources

W WDC 282-01 Bubbleweight Champ

Barrier: MBAC-187
CBL: 10C-563
Type: story
Art: Carl Barks
Script: Carl Barks
Hero: Donald Duck
Submission: 1963, September 9
Publication date: 1964, February
Issue: Walt Disney Comics & Stories 281, Vol. 24, No. 5
Pages: 10

Details: The high wasted belt gag (panel 8.8) is basically the same as in Al Taliaferro's August 11, 1939 Donald Duck daily strip.

Sources

W WDC 283-00 broken mast and exploding ship

Barrier: MBAC-187
CBL: 10C-522
Type: cover part, illustrating «Cap'n Blight's Mystery Ship»
Art: Carl Barks
Script: [unknown]
Hero: [none]
Submission: 1963, October 31
Publication date: 1964, April
Issue: Walt Disney Comics & Stories 283, Vol. 24, No. 7
Pages: 0 1/3

CBL-notes: Blurry reproduction.

Sources

W WDC 283-01 Cap'n Blight's Mystery Ship

Barrier: MBAC-187
CBL: 10B-573
Type: story
Art: Carl Barks
Script: Carl Barks
Hero: Donald Duck
Submission: 1963, October 29
Publication date: 1964, April
Issue: Walt Disney Comics & Stories 283, Vol. 24, No. 7
Pages: 10

Sources

W WDC 286-01 The Olympian Torch Bearer

Barrier: MBAC-184
CBL: 10C-583
Type: story
Art: Carl Barks
Script: Carl Barks
Hero: Donald Duck
Submission: 1963, December 3
Publication date: 1964, July
Issue: Walt Disney Comics & Stories 286, Vol. 24, No. 8
Pages: 10

Sources

W WDC 288-00 finger in dike

Barrier: MBAC-187
CBL: 10A-004, 10C-521
Type: cover, illustrating «Hero of the Dike»
Art: Carl Barks
Script: Carl Barks
Hero: [none]
Submission: 1964, March 18
Publication date: 1964, September
Issue: Walt Disney Comics & Stories 288, Vol. 24, No. 12
Pages: 1

Sources

W WDC 288-01 Hero of the Dike

Barrier: MBAC-187
CBL: 10C-593
Type: story
Art: Carl Barks
Script: Carl Barks
Hero: Donald Duck
Submission: 1964, March 6
Publication date: 1964, September
Issue: Walt Disney Comics & Stories 288, Vol. 24, No. 12
Pages: 10

Research: This story is built around an American story of a Dutch boy sticking his finger in a dike to prevent a village from being flooded, written by Mary Mapes-Dodge (1831-1905). The boy had no name in the story, but in the same book there is another Mapes-Dodge story about Hans Brinker and the Silver Skates. By error, the dike-boy is usually called Hans Brinker. There is a statue of Brinker in the small town of Spaarndam, near Haarlem in the Netherlands.

Questions: Where does the tradition of the sea dragon originate from?

Sources

W WDC 289-00 arrow through pancake

Barrier: MBAC-187
CBL: 10C-604
Type: cover part, illustrating «Unfriendly Enemies»
Art: Carl Barks
Script: [unknown]
Hero: [none]
Submission: 1964, April 22
Publication date: 1964, October
Issue: Walt Disney Comics & Stories 289, Vol. 25, No. 1
Pages: 0 1/2

Landmark: Appearance of Mr. Jones on a Barks cover.

CBL-notes: Blurry reproduction.

Sources

W WDC 289-02 Unfriendly Enemies

Barrier: MBAC-187
CBL: 10C-605
Type: story
Art: Carl Barks
Script: Carl Barks
Hero: Donald Duck
Submission: 1964, April 6
Publication date: 1964, October
Issue: Walt Disney Comics & Stories 289, Vol. 25, No. 1
Pages: 10

Sources

W WDC 290-00 football in soup

Barrier: MBAC-187
CBL: 10C-604
Type: cover
Art: Carl Barks
Script: [unknown]
Hero: [none]
Submission: 1964, May 15
Publication date: 1964, November
Issue: Walt Disney Comics & Stories 290, Vol. 25, No. 2
Pages: 1

CBL-notes: Blurry reproduction.

Sources

W WDC 291-00 occiput mask

Barrier: MBAC-187
CBL: 10B back cover; 10C-604 (blurry)
Type: cover
Art: Carl Barks
Script: [unknown]
Submission: 1964, May 29
Publication date: 1964, December
Issue: Walt Disney Comics & Stories 291, Vol. 25, No. 3
Pages: 1

Sources

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W WDC 291-01 Delivery Dilemma

Barrier: MBAC-187
CBL: 10C-615
Type: story
Art: Carl Barks
Script: [unknown]
Hero: Donald Duck
Submission: 1964, May 25
Publication date: 1964, December
Issue: Walt Disney Comics & Stories 291, Vol. 25, No. 3
Pages: 10

Additional credits: Though Barks' records indicate that he did not originate this story, a full "shooting script" in his holograph survives, showing that he reworked the original idea so much as to make it his own.

Surviving material: Non-Barks shooting script.

Trivia: Scrooge thinks of Donald as his heir: "Never mind what YOU want! As my nearest of kin, it's your DUTY to carry on for good old McDuck unlimited!" (panel 2.3)

Sources

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