Carl Barks Has Gone to Duckburg

Saw it in the paper just a few minutes ago. The great comic-book artist and cartoonist Carl Barks, creator of Scrooge McDuck and former animator for Walt Disney, has passed away at the age of 99 in his home in Grants Pass, Oregon.

Read the story here. (There are other stories available on Yahoo. Have it search for Carl Barks (which will give you a list of Carl Barks websites, naturally), then click on “Related News.”)

Rest in peace, Carl. Have a relaxing swim in Scrooge’s money bin for us, okay?

:frowning:

Double :frowning:

Those were GREAT comics. I remember the nephews as Junior Woodchucks going to King Solomon’s mines, the lost mines of the Incas, and all over the place. And the Junior Woodchuck manual that could decipher ANY language, living or dead! :slight_smile:

Rest in peace, Mr. Barks.

:frowning:
Life is like a hurricane here in Duckburg…

Race cars, laser, aeroplanes/
it’s a Duck-blur/
You might solve a mystery/
or rewrite history/
Ducktales/
Whoo-ooh/
Everyday they’re out there making/
Ducktales/
Woo-ooh/
Tales of daring-do, bad and good luck tales/
D-d-d-danger, lurks behind you/
there’s a stranger out to find you/
What to do/
Just grab onto some Ducktales/
Woo-ooh/
Everyday they’re out there making Ducktales/
Woo-ooh/
Tales of daring-do, bad and good luck tales/
Not only tales, not phony tales nor (?) tales, no/
Ducktales/
Woo-ooh

RIP

–Tim

I love the work of Carl Barks and am saddened by the news of his passing. But I must admit my first thought to this thread was “Carl Barks was still alive?!”

Yes, he was still alive, he died this week at age 99. He was still giving interviews and meeting with fans.

I’m convinced that Carl Barks was the person who motivated me to become an avid reader: his stuff was so good, it grabbed my imagination every issue. I didn’t know his name, of course, he was just “the good artist.” We didn’t learn his name until much later, late 60s or early 70s, I think.

But, IMHO, he stands there amid the comic-artist greats: Walt Kelly, Al Capp, and a handful of others. He wrote stories that were engaging, well-written (not dumbed-down for kids), incredibly imaginative, and brilliantly drawn. Example: the ducks (Donald, Uncle Scrooge, and the boys) parachuting out of an airplane. First reaction: Barks conveys an intricately complex sense of motion as the plane moves forward, the ducks somersault out. Such motion is difficult to convey in a one-panel comic, but Barks (like Kelly) constant illustrates complex motion. Second reaction: It’s absurd, of course; these are ducks, after all; but the art work is so compelling that the reader never stops to question the reality.

One of my favorite Barks memories is when the gang find the lost cities of Cibola, destroyed by a huge booby-trapped rock… a concept later used in homage (acknowledged in interviews) by Spielberg in RAIDERS OF THE LOST ARK.

Or the great money contest between Scrooge and Flinthart Glomgold to see who is the world’s richest duck, resolved by unwinding string through Africa. (They were tied in everything else.)

Or learning that earthquakes are caused by the Terries and the Fermies having their bouncing contests far underground.

Or meeting Goo, the Abominable Snowman.

Or sailing to Colchis in search of the Golden Fleece, when Scrooge decided that he needed a replacement for his red broadcloth coat.

Or…

OK, enough. Barks brought enormous entertainment to the comic-book readers in the period (about 1945 to 1966), and we lament his passing.

The line about burrowing in the money like a gopher etc was, of course, directly from Barks’: Who’s richer, Bill Gates or Scrooge McDuck?

Little Nemo said

<I love the work of Carl Barks and am saddened by the news of his passing. But I must admit my first thought to this thread was “Carl Barks was still alive?!” >

He does live on in our memories and the countless stories he told.

RIP

I’ll ditto that. I also credit Barks with my interest in world travel. He had those ducks going to the four corners of the globe, from Tibet, to Timbuktu. As a kid, that really sparked my imagination and gave me a strong desire to see all of the places he described so fancifully.

One thing I’ve noticed over the years: anytime you strike up a conversation with someone about the favorite comic books of their youth, a mention of the duck comics always gets an enthusiastic reply. It’s a tribute to Barks, and his ability to bring life and joy to his characters.

Barks may be gone, but his creation Scrooge McDuck will be swimming around in his moneybin for generations to come.

:frowning: