By Carl Barks (Gladstone)
ISBN: 978-0-944599-04-4
From the 1940’s until the mid-1960s Carl Barks worked in productive seclusion, writing and drawing a brilliantly timeless treasure trove of comedic adventure yarns for kids, building a splendidly accessible Duck Universe filled with memorable – and highly bankable – stars such as Uncle Scrooge McDuck, Gladstone Gander, the Beagle Boys, Gyro Gearloose and Magica De Spell to augment the stable of cartoon properties from the Disney Studio. His most exciting works inevitably involved the rowdy, know-it-all nephews of Donald Duck: Huey, Dewey and Louie.
Although catalysts of comedic chaos in other situations when the mallard miser was around, the devilishly downy ducklings’ usual assigned roles were as smartly sensible, precocious and a just a little bit snotty kid-counterfoils to their “uncaâ€, whose irascible nature caused him to act like an overgrown brat most of the time.
Nevertheless, all too often the kids reverted to type and fell prey to a perpetual temptation to raise a ruckus…
Gladstone Publishing began re-releasing Barks material and a selection of other Disney comics strips in the late 1980s and this – still readily available – paperback album is another of the very best.
Whilst producing all that landmark comics material Barks was just a working guy, drawing unforgettable covers, illustrating other people’s scripts when necessary and infallibly contributing perfectly formed tales to the burgeoning canon of Donald Duck and other Big Screen characters. Barks’ output was incredible both in terms of quantity and especially in its unfailingly high quality.
Printed in the large European oversized format (278 x 223mm), this terrific tome reprints the lead tale from Dell Four Color Comics Series II #199 (October 1948) and draws much of its unflagging energy and trenchant whimsy from Barks’ own love of cowboy fiction – albeit seductively tempered with his self-deprecatory sense of absurdist humour. For example, a wanted poster on the jailhouse wall portrays the artist himself and offers the princely sum of $1000 and 50¢ for his inevitable capture…
Titular lead Donald Duck is also an expert on the Wild West – after all, he’s seen all the movies – so when he and the boys drive through scenic Bullet Valley, a wanted poster catches his eye and his imagination.
Soon he’s signed up and sworn in as a doughty deputy, determined to catch the rustlers who have been plaguing the locals. Unfortunately for him, the good old days never really existed and today’s bandits use radios, trucks and tommy-guns to achieve their nefarious ends. Can Donald’s impetuous boldness and the nephews’ collective brains and Junior Woodchuck training defeat the ruthless high-tech raiders?
Of course they can…
Also included here is a delightful comedy of farmyard errors from Daisy Duck’s Diary (Dell Four Color Comics Series II, #1150 December 1960), pitting the well-meaning old fussbudget against luck-drenched Gladstone Gander and consequently suffering from ‘Too Much Help’.
Donald and the nephews then return, finding themselves at odds with the self-same fowl of fabulous good-fortune in an untitled yarn from Walt Disney Comics & Stories #212 (May 1958), wherein our hard-luck hero and Gladstone race around the world in rocket-ships, cheerfully provided courtesy of that feathered modern Edison Gyro Gearloose. The diminutive ducky lads can only watch in nervous anticipation of inescapable disaster catching up to the feuding “adultsâ€â€¦
Even if you can’t find this specific volume (and trust me, you’ll be glad if you do) Barks’ work is now readily accessible through a number of publications and outlets and every one of his works is well worth reading. No matter what your age or temperament, if you’ve never experienced his captivating magic, you can discover “the Hans Christian Andersen of Comics†simply by applying yourself and your credit cards to any search engine.
Always remember, a fan’s got to do what a fan’s got to do…
© 1988, 1960, 1958, 1948 The Walt Disney Company. All rights reserved.
Win, you said this about the Mickey Mouse “Lair of Wolf Barker” album:
“This huge untapped well of work is only available in tiny snippets like these old Gladstone albums, but hopefully […] some bright spark will realise the potential of the artistic treasures they’ve been sitting on and we’ll soon seen a Gottfredson Mickey Mouse Epic Collection even if only as digital editions.”
But—but it’s been coming out for years, and I’m pleased to report I’m the editor…
http://www.fantagraphics.com/disney/walt-disneys-mickey-mouse/
We’re thrilled to be putting out Gottfredson’s entire Mickey adventure-story run—daily strips 1930-1955, Sunday strips 1932-1938—and to my own near-disbelief, we’re almost through.
Hi David,
I’m delighted to be corrected, and can’t believe that I’ve managed to miss them all these years. I’ll start acquiring copies ASAP!
In advance of that though, congratulations, thank you and Well Done, That Man. Material like this needs to be preserved forever.
Cheers
Win
Thanks so much!
Just to make sure you’re aware, both Fantagraphics and IDW are putting out lots of this stuff now—Fantagraphics has Carl Barks and Don Rosa Scrooge anthologies too, and IDW has various trade paperbacks and “Timeless Tales” hardbacks, which are collections of the domestic USA Disney monthly comics (recently compiled, but collecting international stories dating from the 1950s to the present).
My team and I (including Jonathan Gray, Thad Komorowski, Joe Torcivia, Maura McManus, and Gary Leach) are working with both publishers frequently—and on the translations too, so please give us a look!