| Carl Barks | |
|---|---|
| File: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, Magica 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
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The Barks family. Carl, Klyde, William and Arminta.
Often dubbed as the ‘Good Duck Artist’ or ‘the Duckman’, Carl Barks was born March 27, 1901 near Merill,
Carl Barks, 18 months old.
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
In San Fransisco. At 19 years old, he worked as a printing press feeder.
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
Carl in the 1920s.
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
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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.
Barks' gag in "Modern Times".
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.
Carl Barks in the 1930s.
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.
His last published text was the following:
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Creations
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Scrooge McDuck
Scrooge can easily be attributed as Barks' greatest creation, both concerning the impact it had on popular culture, as well as an excellent plot device who lead the ducks from Duckburg to the four corners of the world and back.
The legendary tightwad made his first appearance in 'Christmas on Bear Mountain' (1947) and started making sporadic appearances until he ended up having his own comic book series (Uncle Scrooge) in 1952. While 'The Magic Hourglass' (1950) can be considered the point from where he started gaining the protagonistic role, he lead expeditions to foreign countries as early as 'The Old Castle's Secret' (1947).
'A Poor Old Man' (1952) finalized his character, while 'Back to the Klondike' (1953) started to craft his mythos. Indeed, other than a fabulous skinflint, Scrooge stands as a romantic figure of the Klondike Gold Rush, the Wild West and more, symbolizing the reward that comes from hard, but 'square' work.
Duckburg
Both the city of Duckburg and the state of Calisota, as well as a lot of the town's history (such as the invention of Cornelius Coot) can be attributed to Barks.
Moreover, he has also created 'Duckburg' in the way that he has set a specific cast of heroes within strict geographical borders and maintained a status quo throughout their adventures.
Gyro Gearloose
The absent-minded inventor and his Little Helper, were also first introduced by Barks.
Gyro makes his first appearance in 'Gladstone's Terrible Secret' (1952), and was a frequent protagonist of the Duckman's 10-pagers.
Gladstone Gander
The exact opposite of Scrooge, Gladstone is a young and lazy duck who relies completely on his luck to make by, genuinely hating the idea of working.
As Donald's handsome cousin, he constantly comes at odds with him. Sometimes over Daisy Duck's attention.
The Beagle Boys
The 'terrible beagle boys' is a criminal gang operating within Duckburg and frequently attempting to rob Scrooge of his money.
First appearing in the 'Terror of the Beagle Boys' (1951), the beagles are comically similar and always seem to wear the same uniforms, with a conveniently equipped with neat prisoner numbers.
Magica De Spell
As her name suggests, Magica is a witch. An Italian, in fact, witch, who schemes in order to steal Scrooge's Number One Dime and melt it in Mt. Vezuvius, in order to achieve the touch of Midas.
Her first appearance was- you guessed it! 'The Touch of Midas' (1961).
According to Geoffrey Blum, "she is [...] the only recurring villainess in the duck comics. As such, she melds and intensifies stereotypes which the artist drew on for years, ones that might otherwise have stayed scattered more discreetly among a variety of characters."
Flintheart Glomgold
Flintheart Glomgold, a Boer multibillionaire from South Africa, can be perceived as Scrooge's alter ego.
He's (almost) just as rich as Scrooge, as cheap as Scrooge, and he even has an identical Money Bin! The difference is that while Scrooge plans on "making it square", Glomgold despises fair play, often resorting to cheating or even murderous rage, in order to reach his goals.
Barks first created Glomgold for 'The Second Richest Duck' (1956) and used him two more times as the villain.
John D. Rockerduck
Essentially a minor one-shot character for Barks (Boat Buster, 1961), Rockerduck is a rich businessduck who rose to fame through the work of Italian creators.
Junior Woodchucks
Starting as a simple body of body scouts (Carl Barks never got to be one), but then evolving into an enormous organization, issued with guidebooks containing what seems to be pretty much everything, the Junior Woodchucks appeared as early as "Operation St. Bernard" (1951).
Huey, Dewey, and Louie are depicted as Junior Woodchucks who eventually progress through the ranks all the way up to 10-star-generals.
Themes
There is a variety of themes that Barks tends to showcase in his stories.
Archaeological Treasure Hunt
Barks' most widely recognizable theme, is without contest, the treasure hunts Scrooge leads with the help of Donald and his nephews. In earlier stories, it is just Donald and Huey, Lewey and Dewey that do the treasure hunting.
Middleclassman
A premise of a lot of stories is Donald Duck being ridden over and shouted at, by pretty much everyone. Until he loses it. And punches everyone on sight.
Weird Science
Gyro is often used as a plot device for weird science gags. Barks' presentantion of science is inaccurate and Gyro's methods equally unorthodox. More often than not, Barks takes a somewhat scientific concept ingrained into popular culture (such as Dr. Frankenstein), and plays with it, often showcasing new facets of the issue.
Enviroment
Not only in his late Junior Woodchuck scripts, but also as early as the 'Land of the Pygmy Indians' (1957), Carl has sometimes introduced various enviromental issues into his stories. Considering that most of them were written in the 50s, or the 60s, that is quite progressive for that time.