A Guidebook to the Carl Barks Universe

Additional credits: The same idea - but a different drawing - was used for the cover of Walt Disney Comics & Stories 256, Vol. 22, No. 4, 1962, January.

CBL-notes: Blurry reproduction.

Sources

W WDC 342-00 hair dryer and popcorn

Barrier: MBAC-189
CBL: 10C-706
Type: cover
Art: Carl Barks
Script: [unknown]
Hero: [none]
Submission: 1968, August 28
Publication date: 1969, March
Issue: Walt Disney Comics & Stories 342, Vol. 29, No. 6
Pages: 1

CBL-notes: Blurry reproduction.

Sources

W WDC 350-00 seasickness and candy

Barrier: MBAC-190
CBL: 10C-721
Type: cover
Art: Carl Barks
Script: [unknown]
Hero: [none]
Submission: 1969, April 12
Publication date: 1969, November
Issue: Walt Disney Comics & Stories 350, Vol. 30, No. 2
Pages: 1

CBL-notes: Small, rather dark greyscale picture. The editors first thought the cover was not made by Barks, an error caught in time to include it on the greyscale "Errata" page, together with Barks' explanation of the awkward look.

Backstage: Especially the art of Donald's face has an awkward look. In or before 1990, Barks explained that he was in the process of moving when asked to draw this cover. He had dismantled his light table, and in order to ink the drawing had to place his pencil sketch against a windowpane, superimposing a sheet of Strathmore paper and to work vertically.

Sources

W WDC 351-00 hidden turkey

Barrier: MBAC-190
CBL: 10C-706
Type: cover
Art: Carl Barks
Script: [unknown]
Hero: [none]
Submission: 1969, May 6
Publication date: 1969, December
Issue: Walt Disney Comics & Stories 351, Vol. 30, No. 3
Pages: 1

Landmark: Barks' last original artwork for a cover of "Walt Disney's Comics & Stories".

CBL-notes: Blurry, bluish reproduction.

Sources

W WDC 355-PP head scratching machine

WDC 355 - head scratching machine

Barrier: ---
CBL: ---
Type: illustration
Art: [unknown]
Pencil: Carl Barks
Script: [Carl Barks?]
Hero: Gyro Gearloose
Submission: [unknown]
Publication date: 1970, April
Issue: Walt Disney Comics & Stories 355, Vol. 30, No. 7 centerfold (poster?)
Pages: 1
Intended issue: [Gyro Gearloose One Shot ?]
Intended publication date: [none or unknown]

Additional credits: Previously unpublished cover idea pencil. A guess could be that the pencil was made in the late 1950s or early 1960s, and intended to be used as Gyro Gearloose One Shot.

Inked by an unknown artist. Since the arm on the scratching machine reaches up into the corner, this inked version apparently was never meant as a comic book cover, because the arm would have collided with the titles.

Years later, William Van Horn inked a new version.

Surviving material:

CRI 12 head scratching machine [cover idea]: Pencil sketch. Published in b&w in "Comic Book Marketplace" No. V2#34, April 1996.

Other views:

larger picture: Colour. (height=1628 width=1000 size= ±441kB)
Reprint in Danish "Anders And & Co." 1971-06: Colour. (height=1266 width=850 size= ±250kB)

Questions: Who is the artist? Is this the first publication?

Sources | image: © [Walt Disney Productions]

W WDC 405-00 bucking bronco

Barrier: MBAC-192
CBL: 10C-706
Type: cover
Art: one of Western's staff artists [Grote: Garé Barks]
Pencil: Carl Barks
Script: Carl Barks
Hero: [none]
Submission: date not available; [1974?]
Publication date: 1974, June
Issue: Walt Disney Comics & Stories 405, Vol. 34, No. 9
Pages: 1
Painting version: Webfoot Tenderfoot
Based on: bucking bronco [painting layout / cover idea]

Additional credits: According to Johnny A. Grote, the artist of this cover is Garé Barks.

CBL-notes: Blurry reproduction.

Sources

CR WDC 96 super bubble soap [alternate version]

Barrier: MBAC-172
CBL: 08C-736
Type: cover
Art: Carl Barks
Script: Carl Barks
Hero: [none]
Submission: [none or unknown]
Publication date: 1989, July
Issue: Walt Disney Comics & Stories 540
Pages: 1
Intended issue: [Walt Disney Comics & Stories 96, Vol. 8, No. 12]
Intended publication date: [1948, September]

Additional credits: Alternate version of the cover published in "Walt Disney Comics & Stories" No. 96, 1948.

Surviving material: Original art, which Barks in 1995(?) hand-coloured with coloured pencils at the request of a collector. This coloured version has been published in "Walt Disney Comics & Stories" No. 627, 1998.

Backstage: In a January 8, 1983 interview with Bruce Hamilton, Barks said: "I drew the cover twice because I didn't get the proportions right the first time. I had the tub too high in the picture and needed more room to show the nephew and what he was doing."

On the published version, Donald's body is the eye-catcher. In the earlier drawing, it is lost in a mass of bubbles and shadow. In the published version there are also fewer bubbles, and a left hand extends outward from the body, so that more of Donald himself is visible. The shadow is gone, and the result is that Donald seems to float higher above the tub. To strengthen this effect, Barks raised the lower edge of his picture to cut off our view of the floor and show only the surface of the bath; he also lowered the window so that its sill is close to the edge of the tub. Now we seem to float with Donald, looking down. Eliminating the shadow and shifting the position of the window also enabled Barks to clarify the nephew's position and action. Now the curtain is visible on both sides of the aperture; and to leave no doubt that it is a window, Barks drew in the upper pane. He also extended the figure of the nephew to show his feathered tail, strengthening our impression that the kid is leaning forward.

Congruences:

W OS 367-00 santa donald rides a toy train: Original art hand-colored with colored pencils by Carl Barks in 1995.

Questions: As published in WDC 627, the date of Barks' signature at the left bottom corner isn't shown entirely. The signature seems to read "Colored by Carl Barks 1995". As only the top half of "Carl Barks 1995" is visible, it's a principal matter of debate if the date really is 1995. Is there someone who knows the date for sure?

Sources

CS WDC '57 "The Milkman"

Some mornings it's a wonder I don't forget who takes cottage cheese on alternate Tuesdays!
-- Donald Duck

Barrier: MBAC-202, 211
CBL: 10C-679
Type: story
Art: Carl Barks
Script: Carl Barks
Hero: Donald Duck
Submission: 1957, September 19
Publication date: 1990, August
Issue: Walt Disney Comics & Stories 550
Pages: 10
Intended issue: [Walt Disney Comics & Stories 215, Vol. 18, No. 11] ?
Intended publication date: [1958, August] ?

Changes: This story was shelved in the 1950s. It would have appeared in or around "Walt Disney's Comics and Stories" No. 215. The intended issue number is difficult to guess, because Western was by this time publishing Barks's stories out of order. Barks's comment in his work records is that "this story was shelved because Donald was too mean to the villain." Detailed information

Status: The entire story has survived and was first published in Holland in 1974. It made its debut in the USA in "The Carl Barks Library - Set X"; and "Walt Disney Comics & Stories 550.

Backstage: About dairy products, Joseph Cowles wrote in a August 4, 2000 e-mail:

Along with Carl's legion of allergies, he was lactose intolerant. and unable to properly digest dairy products. He loved milk in his cereal, however, and on the occasion of one of my visits was trying as a substitute, Loma Linda soy milk. I don't think he cared very much for it.

Sources

ARC WDC 597 painting towards door

Barrier: ---
CBL: ---
Type: cover
Art: William Van Horn
Pencil: [Carl Barks]
Script: [Carl Barks]
Submission: [none or unknown]; [1995?]
Publication date: 1995, June
Issue: Walt Disney Comics & Stories 597
Pages: 1
Based on: CRI 13 painting towards door [cover idea?]

Description: Donald and a nephew paint the floors of two adjacent rooms. Having individually worked their way out of one room each, with their backsides towards each other, they suddenly realize that they both have been painting towards the same door opening. As a result, they are trapped together, on an island of unpainted floor.

Congruences: