Scrooge McDuck Wikia
Register
Advertisement

Template:Wip

Carl Barks
Barks.png
'"The perversity of beasts, machines, and nature I knew by heart..."'
General Information
Full Name Carl Barks
Gender Male
Nationality U.S.A
Special Information
Residence Grants Pass, Oregon
Life March 27, 1901-August 25, 2000
Official Work 1942-1968 (creator) and 1970-1994 (writer, with pauses)



Carl Barks was an American comic book creator, undoubtedly one of the biggest figureheads of the 9th art, western or not. In the Duckverse, he is credited for the invention of Duckburg, Scrooge McDuck, Gyro Gearloose, Gladstone Gander, the Beagle Boys, the Junior Woodchucks, Magical De Spell, Flintheart Glomgold and John D. Rockerduck, although the latter’s character rose to fame mostly due to the work of the Italian School.

Childhood

Often dubbed as the ‘Good Duck Artist’ or ‘the Duckman’, Carl Barks was born March 27, 1901 near Merill, Oregon, USA, as the second child in the Barks family. Growing up in a secluded farm, he lived a lonely childhood, characterized from constant moving.

When it came time for him to create his own Grandma Duck stories, he would, in some ways, look back into his childhood as a source for the way a farmer would work. Afterall, he did by himself, care over kettle from 1908-1911 when his father, William, bought a feedlot in Midland, Oregon.

Early Life

Due to constant moving, Carl didn’t finish grad school until 1916. In the same year, his mother died and he started to study cartooning via mail with Landon Schools. Nevertheless, the United States soon joined the World War, and Carl moved on to various breadwinning occupations.

Among the job titles he’d receive would be “farmer, logger, riveter, muleskinner, pseudo-cowboy, printing press feeder”, as well as errand boy for a publishing house in San Fransisco. There, he’d start selling his cartoons to the press, but with limited success.

Among the magazines he’d work for would be ‘The Judge’,’Whiz-Bang’ and most notably, the ‘Calgary Eye-Opener’ where he worked until 1935.

The Eye Opener and First Marriage

That everchanging state of employment inspired Barks of Donald Duck’s constant change of jobs, and the little success with which they came. In the same state, he would marry Pearl Turner in 1921, and would have two daughers with her, Peggy and Dorothy Barks, born in 1923 and 1924, respectively.

Later, he’d be hired as an editor for the Calgarly Eye-Opener, but would divorce his wife in 1938.

Walt Disney Studios

Due to deteriorating conditions in the Eye-Opener, he would apply to work as a cartoonist for the Walt Disney Studios in November 1935, no more after a year after Donald Duck’s first appearance, in the Wise Little Hen.

Initially working as an inbetweener, he would frequently submit gags for cartoons. His talent would be recognize, and in 1937 he started working on the story department. His first contribution to the Studios would be a certain scene in Modern Inventions, where Donald tries the services of a robot barber.

Among the cartoons that he’d provide the storyline for would be:

  • Donald’s Nephews (1938), where Huey, Luey and Dewey are introduced for the first time,
  • Good Scouts (1938),
  • Donald’s Golf Game (1938),
  • Donald’s Lucky Day (1939),
  • The Hockey Champ (1939),
  • Donald’s Cousin Gus (1939), where Gus makes his first appearance,
  • Beach Picnic (1939),
  • Sea Scouts (1939),
  • Donald’s Penguin (1939),
  • Mr. Duck Steps Out (1940),
  • Bone Trouble (1940)
  • Put-Put Troubles (1940)
  • Donald’s Vacation (1940)
  • Window Cleaners (1940)
  • Fire Chief (1940)
  • Timber (1941),
  • Golden Eggs (1941)
  • Truant Officer Donald (1941)
  • Old MacDonald Duck (1941)
  • Chef Donald (1941)
  • The Village Smithy (1942)
  • Donald Gets Drafted (1942), a World War 2 propaganda film,
  • The Army Mascot (1942)
  • Donald’s Gold Mine (1942)
  • The Vanishing Private (1942), a World War 2 propaganda film,
  • Sky Trooper (1942)
  • Bellboy Donald (1942)
  • Donald’s Tire Trouble (1943)
  • The Old Army Game (1943)
  • Home Defense (1943)
  • Trombone Trouble (1944)
  • The Plastics Inventor (1944)

Second Marriage and Transition to Comics

In Minneapolis, he would meet Clara Balken with whom he would marry in 1938.

Due to the poor wartime working conditions at Disney as well as problems with the working place’s air conditioning, Carl quit the Walt Disney Studios in 1942.

Interestingly, his first comic book story (he would contribute to Pluto Saves the Ship a bit earlier) would be done shortly before he quit, as he worked with Jack Hannah on Donald Duck Finds Pirate Gold, which was adapted from an unproduced feature, and was published in October 1942, in Four Color Comics #9.

Nevertheless, that was not the first situation where Donald and his nephews would be written to find themselves in a treasure hunt. During his work with the Studios, in 1938, Barks had proposed a short where Donald narrates a fictional trip he had to Africa, supposedly discovering prehistorical dinosaurs and King Kong in the belly of an inactive volcano, which was a clear influence to the Forbidden Valley.

Unfortunately, the idea was dropped, as Donald’s cartooney voice did not make a good fit for a narrator.

Duck Stories Career

Barks was then hired by Western Publishing, where he scripted and illustrated his first 10-pager story, ‘The Victory Garden’. In 1947, in ‘Christmas on Bear Mountain’, he would introduce for the first time, Donald’s stingy Scottish uncle, Scrooge McDuck.

While initially intended as a one-shot character, he ended up being a recurring one, only to evolve to a full-fledged protagonist with a finalized form and personality by 1952. 1952 for Barks was the year marked by the creation of his now classic story ‘Only A Poor Old Man’ and the new series of ‘Uncle Scrooge’ comic books.

On the apex of his career, Barks divorced his second wife, Clara in 1951. However, he soon married for the third and final time, Margaret ‘Garé’ Wynnfred Williams, a landscape artist.

Late Life

Retirement

Carl technically retired in 1966, though his year of retirement is generally thought to have been 1967, since that was the year in which his last big pre-retirement stories were published. (Note that Scrooge’s canonical death date of 1967 coincides with Carl’s retirement).

Late Work as Writer

Despite his retirement as an illustrator, Barks provided the script for early Junior Woodchuck comic books. In July of 1971, he was granted a royalty-free license by the Walt Disney Studios in order to do oil painting commissions based on the Duck universe. Due to the excessive workload that that brought, he stopped accepting commissions by 1974 and started selling his work in auctions instead. In 1976, he and his wife, Garé, made their first convention appearance in the NewCon show at Boston.

Finally, Carl scripted two more Duck stories; 'Horsing Around with History' (1994) and 'Somewhere in Nowhere' (1997)

Death

Carl Barks passed away in 2000, aged 99, in Grant's Pass.

Advertisement