The Good Duck Man
The mastery of Carl Barks
People ask who should I study to learn how to make comics? Carl Barks labored for Disney in relative obscurity for many years, with a free hand to write and draw Donald Duck and Uncle Scrooge comics. Barks created Uncle Scrooge. His work is among the most brilliant in the genre. Although they’re suitable for children, they often contain serious subtext. No sex. Very little violence. But a deep understanding of human nature and how to make a story.
There’s not a wasted word or panel in any of Barks’ work. He often included trenchant social satire. You can gaze at his full page splashes of ancient Mayan civilization or the pyramids for hours. Barks wasn’t much of a traveler. He lived most of his life in Oregon and California, but he subscribed to National Geographic, which sparked his imagination.
I discovered his comics off a spinner rack in Mitchell, South Dakota, where I grew up. At the ripe age of twelve I tracked him down. I wrote to Gold Key. I wrote to Walt Disney. Finally someone told me he lived in Oregon and gave me his address. I wrote Mr. Barks that I was a big fan and could I please have a drawing of Scrooge. I never dreamed that he would respond. A couple weeks later he sent me this inked drawing of Scrooge. I have it still. When I was at the University of Wisconsin, a friend and I formed the Society of the First Dime dedicated to his works. My friend wrote for a piece of art and Barks responded with a priceless full page splash of Scrooge in his money bin holding the dime. I wish I had a picture of that.
AT LAST... I thought I was the only one left!
When I was a child, my parents believed Comics and Candy would combine to create mushy minds; we were inundated with National Geographics and U. S. News and World Reports. Being 7, I still found my eye wandering to Comics at the checkout stand and at last I was allowed Archie comics and exactly ONE Scrooge McDuck cartoon, in a 'Disney Digest'
I absolutely ADORED that thing. So much so, my Father, Space engineer that he was, declared it Idolatry and snatch it from my hands. But if only he had read it, he would have seen the absolute skillcraft of Comics and the wonder found in the writing. The glory of Adventure was evident in Carl Banks work -
great Discoverers can also be Great Ducks💖
Barks later moved to Goleta, California. When my family moved to Santa Barbara, we had to drive through Goleta to get there. I was very disappointed to learn that Barks had moved away two years earlier. I did, however, manage to obtain a model sheet of Huey, Dewey, and Louie that he'd done when he worked as an animator for Disney. I have no idea what happened to it.