A Guidebook to the Carl Barks Universe

Additional credits: Barks's list shows one page of art only, intended for Uncle Scrooge 47, February 1964, as submitted on August 19, 1963; however, the two half-page gags included in Uncle Scrooge 47 were almost certainly submitted on September 24, 1962, and this page is the likeliest candidate for the August 19, 1963, submission.

Sources

W US 62-00 wild girl and wild dog

YEEKS! Advance
to the rear! It's
THE QUEEN
OF THE WILD
DOG PACK

Barrier: MBAC-152
CBL: 05C-494
Type: cover, illustrating «The Queen of the Wild Dog Pack»
Art: Carl Barks
Script: Carl Barks
Hero: Uncle Scrooge
Submission: 1965, April 1
Publication date: 1966, March
Issue: Uncle Scrooge 62
Pages: 1

Layout:

Contains a promotional text.
Logo in upper right.

Surviving material:

CR US 62a wild girl silhouette
CR US 62b wild girl lifts car
CR US 62c ducks battling wild dogs

Backstage: Western's editors took longer than usual to decide on the cover for Uncle Scrooge 62, out of reluctance to show the wild girl (although this was eventually done), and even considered a straight gag cover of the kind used on most of the Dell issues. (July 9, 1965 letter from Chase Craig to Carl Barks)

Correspondence:

July 9, 1965 letter from Chase Craig to Carl Barks

Sources

W US 62-02 The Queen of the Wild Dog Pack

Barrier: MBAC-152
CBL: 05C-519
Type: story
Art: Carl Barks
Script: Carl Barks
Hero: Uncle Scrooge
Submission: 1965, May 12
Publication date: 1966, March
Issue: Uncle Scrooge 62
Pages: 24

Sources

W US 63-00 glowing in dark

It's spooky! It's kooky!
It's Scrooge and the Beagles in the scary HOUSE OF HAUNTS!

Barrier: MBAC-153
CBL: 05C-543
Type: cover, illustrating «House of Haunts»
Art: Carl Barks
Script: Carl Barks
Hero: Uncle Scrooge
Submission: 1965, September 12
Publication date: 1966, May
Issue: Uncle Scrooge 63
Pages: 1

Additional credits: A letter from Chase Craig makes reference to a series of roughs for this cover, commenting that the drawings were "all swell!" As far as known, only a rough sketch of the published version has surfaced.

Layout:

Contains a promotional text.
Logo in upper right.

Surviving material: glowing in dark [rough sketch]

Correspondence:

August 31, 1965 letter from Chase Craig to Carl Barks

Sources

W US 63-02 House of Haunts

Barrier: MBAC-153
CBL: 05C-545
Type: story
Art: Carl Barks
Script: Carl Barks
Hero: Uncle Scrooge
Submission: 1965, August 3
Publication date: 1966, May
Issue: Uncle Scrooge 63
Pages: 24

Changes: The original title was "His Shining Hour", it was changed to "House of Haunts" by the editor.

Surviving material: Original art of all 24 pages.

Status: The synopsis has never surfaced.

Backstage: When Barks submitted a synopsis for this story, which showed the Beagle Boys learning new crime techniques in prison school, Barks received a worried letter (dated 9 July 1965) from Chase Craig, his editor. Detailed information

Correspondence:

Updates: NAFS(k)uriren #32 contains a picture of Göran Broling and Carl Barks, holding a frame with the original artwork of page 14. The page was shown during a 1994 meeting with Barks in Sweden.

Questions: At this moment, I have no idea on the exact whereabouts of how Barks submitted his material to his editors. So, I don't know if this was the only occasion in which a synopsis was altered. This is the only occasion of which I've read that Barks submitted a synopsis before drawing a story. If you can tell me more, please let me know.

Does the original art show traces of the title change? Or did Barks make the change in order of the editor?

Sources

W US 64-00 sedan chair [inked version]

Neither spies,
elephant flies nor
bad guys can keep
Uncle Scrooge away from
THE TREASURE OF MARCO POLO

Barrier: MBAC-153
CBL: 05C-544
Type: cover, illustrating «Treasure of Marco Polo»
Art: Carl Barks
Script: Carl Barks
Hero: Uncle Scrooge
Submission: 1965, December 23
Publication date: 1966, July
Issue: Uncle Scrooge 64
Pages: 1
Based on: sedan chair [pencil sketch]

Additional credits: Front cover.

Layout:

Contains a promotional text.
Logo in upper right.

Surviving material:

CR US 64 bullets and jade elephant
sedan chair [pencil sketch]

CBL-notes: The cloud on the right is added to fill in the space of the original logo layout. (The cover as originally published only contains the left cloud.) Promotional text is removed.

Sources

W US 64-02 Treasure of Marco Polo

Barrier: MBAC-153
CBL: 05C-569
Type: story
Art: Carl Barks
Script: Carl Barks
Hero: Uncle Scrooge
Submission: 1965, October 13
Publication date: 1966, July
Issue: Uncle Scrooge 64
Pages: 24

CBL-notes: Lots of dialogue is censored. Any reference to dictator, rebel, civil war or revolution is changed to general, soldier, or war. Panel 2 of page 16 and panel 7 of page 21 are changed. In both, the garrotte Soy Bheen is about to strangle a rebel with, is removed.

On 29 July 1998, Gladstone art-director Gary Leach wrote about the censoring:

A point or two about "Treasure of Marco Polo":
The "cheap watches made by McDuck Enterprises" line was one we came up with to replace the "worker's paradise" reference, in order to make the story palatable to those at Disney charged with defending the "Disney Index" (presumably to the death). This, among other changes, rendered it approved for publication in the original Carl Barks Library.
The story had been on the "Disney Index" for a number of years by the time the staff of Another Rainbow (original identity of what is now The Bruce Hamilton Company, current parent company of both Another Rainbow and Gladstone) began ramping up to produced the Barks Library. The lines referring to revolution and worker's paradise and the like had been part of the reason it had been banned, possibly due to the intense political sensitivities aroused in the U.S.A. by our recently, and badly, concluded "involvement" in Vietnam.
The infamous "strangulation" scene: I don't know about anybody else, but I feel that Barks' editors were out to lunch when they let that through in the original publication. Or maybe they were just disarmed by all the James Bond/Man from UNCLE/Avengers tomfoolery running rampant in the Sixties (which, don't get me wrong, I loved!). Whatever the reason, the editorial standards of the day, had they been engaged in this instance, would almost certainly have caused that scene - or at least that wire - to be excised before the story saw print. I'm not saying we did what Western should have done, but I am implying it.
Hmm...that didn't come off very humble, did it. Oh, well...

Sources

W US 65-00 flying saucer on beak

Tiny green visitors give
Scrooge a chance to make a billion dollars in
MICRO-DUCKS
FROM OUTER SPACE!

Barrier: MBAC-153
CBL: 05C-593
Type: cover, illustrating «Micro-ducks from Outer Space»
Art: Carl Barks
Script: Carl Barks
Hero: Uncle Scrooge
Submission: 1966, January 27
Publication date: 1966, September
Issue: Uncle Scrooge 65
Pages: 1

Layout:

Contains a promotional text.
Logo in upper right.

Surviving material:

CR US 65a flying saucer and buckshot
CR US 65b flying saucer and hand
CR US 65c flying saucer on closed beak
CR US 65d flying saucer on open beak

Sources

W US 65-01 Micro-ducks from Outer Space

Barrier: MBAC-153
CBL: 05C-595
Type: story
Art: Carl Barks
Script: Carl Barks
Hero: Uncle Scrooge
Submission: 1965, December 7
Publication date: 1966, September
Issue: Uncle Scrooge 65
Pages: 24
Animated adaption: Microducks From Outer Space

Backstage: In this story, cigars and especially the unhealthy smoke coming from them, have an important role in the story. Joe Cowles, who visited Carl Barks for the first time in the second half of October 1960, wrote in a August 2, 2000 e-mail: "Barks, who had been a smoker for many years, had foregone the habit by the time I knew him."

Research: On the Disney comics Mailing List there was a discussion on logical flaws in this story. Detailed information

Sources

W US 66-00 sleek race horse

A horse runs amuck with a duck out of luck...
THE HEEDLESS HORSEMAN

Barrier: MBAC-153
CBL: 05C-594
Type: cover, illustrating «The Heedless Horseman»
Art: Carl Barks
Script: Carl Barks
Hero: Uncle Scrooge
Submission: 1966, March 21
Publication date: 1966, November
Issue: Uncle Scrooge 66
Pages: 1

Layout:

Contains a promotional text.
Logo in upper right.

Sources

W US 66-02 The Heedless Horseman

Barrier: MBAC-153
CBL: 05C-619
Type: story
Art: Carl Barks
Script: Carl Barks
Hero: Uncle Scrooge
Submission: 1966, February 15
Publication date: 1966, November
Issue: Uncle Scrooge 66
Pages: 24

Sources

W US 68-00 mermaid in underwater cave

Exciting adventure:
HALL OF THE MERMAID QUEEN!

Barrier: MBAC-153
CBL: 05C-643
Type: cover, illustrating «Hall of the Mermaid Queen»
Art: Carl Barks
Script: Carl Barks
Hero: Uncle Scrooge
Submission: 1966, July 20
Publication date: 1967, March
Issue: Uncle Scrooge 68
Pages: 1

Layout:

Contains a promotional text.
Logo in upper right.

Surviving material:

CR US 68 ducks fighting merman

Sources

W US 68-02 Hall of the Mermaid Queen

Barrier: MBAC-153
CBL: 05C-645
Type: story
Art: Carl Barks
Script: Carl Barks
Hero: Uncle Scrooge
Submission: 1966, April 13
Publication date: 1967, March
Issue: Uncle Scrooge 68
Pages: 24

Sources

W US 69-00 helicopter and longhorn steer

YIPPY-KY-YI! Scrooge and
his cowducks ride high in
THE CATTLE KING

Barrier: MBAC-153
CBL: 05C-644
Type: cover, illustrating «The Cattle King»
Art: Carl Barks
Script: Carl Barks
Hero: Uncle Scrooge
Submission: September 30, 1966
Publication date: 1967, May
Issue: Uncle Scrooge 69
Pages: 1

Additional credits: Front cover.

Layout:

Contains a promotional text.: Right side top half logo.

Sources

W US 69-02 The Cattle King

Yoo, hoo! Hoo! Hoo! I'm a cheating teen from Abilene!
-- nephew (disguised as a siren of the purple sage)

Barrier: MBAC-153
CBL: 05C-669
Type: story
Art: Carl Barks
Script: Carl Barks
Hero: Uncle Scrooge
Submission: 1966, May 27
Publication date: 1967, May
Issue: Uncle Scrooge 69
Pages: 24

Landmark: Last story written and drawn by Barks.

Congruences:

W OS 199-02 in "Sheriff of Bullet Valley": Looks of horses are changed.
W WDC 102-02 pize spring dude ranch: Looks of horses are changed.

Sources

W US 70-00 sinking life raft

It's bad luck in big bunches when
Scrooge buys THE DOOM DIAMOND!

Barrier: MBAC-153
CBL: 05C-693
Type: cover, illustrating «The Doom Diamond»
Art: Carl Barks
Script: Carl Barks
Hero: Uncle Scrooge
Submission: 1966, May 21
Publication date: 1967, July
Issue: Uncle Scrooge 70
Pages: 1

Additional credits: Front cover.

Layout:

Contains a promotional text.
Logo in upper right.

Surviving material:

CR US 70a diamond and scared people
CR US 70b radio and diamond on ship

Sources

W US 70-02 The Doom Diamond

Keep after those thieving jays while I'm gone, clerky! And don't give them a minute's rest!
-- Scrooge McDuck

Barrier: MBAC-153
CBL: 05C-695
Type: story
Art: Carl Barks
Script: Carl Barks
Hero: Uncle Scrooge
Submission: 1966, May 19
Publication date: 1967, July
Issue: Uncle Scrooge 70
Pages: 24

Congruences:

W US 28-01 and the "Paul Bunyan" Machine

Sources

W US 71-00 ancient civilization

Scrooge has
a battle royal
in the royal palace
of Ancient Sagbad...
KING SCROOGE THE FIRST!

Barrier: MBAC-154
CBL: 05C-694
Type: cover, illustrating «King Scrooge the First»
Art: Carl Barks
Script: Carl Barks
Hero: Uncle Scrooge
Submission: 1967, January 18
Publication date: 1967, October
Issue: Uncle Scrooge 71
Pages: 1

Layout:

Contains a promotional text.
Logo in upper right.

Surviving material:

CR US 71a lance and treasure room
CR US 71b treasure room and angry witness

Sources

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W US 71-01 King Scrooge the First

Come inside! Let the mystic wisdom of old Sagbad X-ray your futures!
-- Swami Khan Khan

Barrier: MBAC-154
CBL: 05C-721
Type: story
Pencil: Tony Strobl
Ink: Steve Steere
Script: Carl Barks
Hero: Uncle Scrooge
Submission: 1966, June 22; [1966? 1967?]
Publication date: 1967, October
Issue: Uncle Scrooge 71
Pages: 21
Based on: king scrooge the first [pencil script]

Additional credits: Barks' list indicates that "King Scrooge the First" was written as a twenty-four page story; however, the story's dialogue in his pencil script is identical with that in the story as published, and covers only twenty-one pages." In a February 24, 1972 letter to Michael Barrier, Barks wrote: "This is a mystery to me, too, I got paid for 24 pages."

Investigation of scripts.

Surviving material: king scrooge the first [shooting script]

Remakes: In the late 1980s(?), Ulrich Schröder has worked on a redrawn version of the story, using Barks' style while following Strobl's art. Of this project, only an inked half page has been published. It visualizes the alternate final confrontation between Khan Khan and Scrooge, as Barks described it in king scrooge the first [shooting script].
The 3 or 4 original pages Schröder drew for the story got destroyed by a big fire in his home in Aachen, Germany. No copies of this art exist, but fortunately Schröder seems to have said in September 1997 that he had restarted working on the story and that he now intends to complete it (he draws comics only in his spare time).
In a December 21, 2000 e-mail to the Disney Comics Mailing List, Luca Boschi answered the question if Daan Jippes has redrawn the story: "NO. He shall not do it. Ulrich Schroder begun to do it, some years ago, but when his job was quite on, a big fire in his house, in Aachen, destroyed these and othe original artworks. Now he started to draw it again from the beginning, but he has a lot of work to do in Disney France and stopped it again his project (I don't know at which stage)..."

Trivia: Reference to death. The 4000-year-old Swami Khan Khan takes antidote to immortality powder. (page 21)

Congruences:

W US 16-02 in "Back to Long Ago!": Ducks imagining themselves being in another, earlier time. In "Back to Long Ago!" they "levitate persons back in mind" (panel 2.4), though during the story they start to believe they actually have been these persons (panels 6.8 and 8.5). In "King Scrooge the First" they are the "near-reincarnation" of their ancestors in the sense that they carry their genes (panels 2.4, 2.5, 8.1, 8.2 and 8.3).

Correspondence: