Skip navigation.

exploreopera

| Help

Sign up | Help

Tilla's corner of the Web

Donald Duck (2) - Carl Barks

, ,

You can't talk about Donald Duck and the rest of the that universe, without mentioning Carl Barks.

For those currently drawing Disney Duck comics, the influence of Barks cannot be overstated. He has been a great inspiration to many Duck-cartoonists, for instance Don Rosa (I have written a post about him recently - go back and look :smile:)

In November 1935, Carl learned that Walt Disney was seeking more artists for his Studio, and he decided to apply. He was approved for a try-out which entailed a move to Los Angeles, California. Carl was one of two in his class of trainees who was hired. His starting salary was 20 dollars a week. He started at Disney Studios in 1935, more than a year after the debut of Donald Duck on June 9, 1934 in "The Wise Little Hen."

Barks quitted his job in 1942 due to bad working conditions. He started to work with Western Publishing, who mainly wanted him to make duck stories. People who worked for Disney generally did so in relative anonymity; the stories only carried Walt Disney's name and (sometimes) a short identification number. However, through the sheer quality of his work, people started realizing that a lot of the stories were written by one person, whom they started referring to as the Good Duck Artist. Later it was discovered that the Good Duck Artist went by the name of Carl Barks. He drew Donald-stories at the Western Publishing for three decades, and he retired in 1966, but he kept writing stories for them for a while longer. He also started making oil paintings, and they are worth quite a lot today.
Barks' stories often exhibites a wry, dark irony, and that may be the reason why I like his stories so much!
Carl Barks was born in 1901 and died in 2000. All honour to his memory!

Don't believe in everything you hear...Biscotti

Comments

avatar
Very nice. :up:

By Dacotah, # 27. July 2007, 06:51:24

avatar
Thank you :smile:

By attilasoul, # 27. July 2007, 06:53:41

avatar
You are welcome :smile:

By Dacotah, # 27. July 2007, 07:34:34

avatar
You learn something new every day, huh? Thanks, that was a really interesting read. :D

By Spaggyj, # 27. July 2007, 08:09:22

avatar
Sounds like good old Walt was a bit of an egotist eh?

By Furie, # 27. July 2007, 09:41:33

avatar

:lol: sounds like taht Furie..

But it definitely was an iformative read.. who would have thought??

By hitesha, # 27. July 2007, 10:27:49

avatar
It's widely known that Disney was an egotistical jerk.

By Spaggyj, # 27. July 2007, 10:45:13

avatar
I might make a post about Walt some day, who knows :D

By attilasoul, # 27. July 2007, 11:23:35

avatar
i'll watch out for it!

By hitesha, # 27. July 2007, 11:24:07

avatar
I think the next comics post will be about a Danish Donald-drawer though. I have someone in mind already. But Walt will definately be up also :up:

By attilasoul, # 27. July 2007, 11:26:14

avatar
:yes:

By hitesha, # 27. July 2007, 11:26:57

avatar
Did you all hear the one where some people wanted to BAN Donald Duck because he wasn't wearing pants. WT...? As if real ducks wear pants. Gee whiz, some people. :lol:

By Dacotah, # 27. July 2007, 16:08:08

avatar
What annoys me is that he puts a towel round his waist after washing, but doesn't need trousers. :insane:

By Furie, # 27. July 2007, 16:14:46

avatar
The rumour says it was in Finland Donald was banned, but it's only a story.

I found this:

The story begins in late 1977, when the city of Helsinki found itself in a bit of a financial crunch. With monetary resources limited, Mr. Markku Holopainen, a local Liberal Party representative, proposed at a meeting of the board of youth affairs that the city economize by discontinuing its purchase of Donald Duck comics for youth centers in favor of hobby and sport publications. His suggestion was heartily approved.

A year later, while Holopainen was in the midst of an election campaign for a seat in the Finnish parliament, word was leaked to the press that he was "the man who banned Donald Duck from Helsinki." The chairman of the board of youth affairs failed to come to Holopainen's defense -- not surprisingly, since he himself was a candidate as well. Holopainen explained in vain that the decision to discontinue the purchase of Donald Duck comics with city funds had passed unanimously and was made solely for economic reasons. Holopainen lost his battle with the press -- and he lost the election to the now-silent board chairman.

When a similar incident had taken place in the Finnish town of Kemi a few years earlier, the international press had gleefully exaggerated the story with headlines such as "Finland Bans Donald" and "Donald Vanishes from Libraries," reporting that Donald's banishment was due to concerns over his lack of pants and questions about his marital status. As the foreign news reports about the alleged banning of Donald Duck filtered back to Finland (and neighboring Sweden), the local tabloids didn't attempt to verify the story -- they merely ran articles about the reaction it was receiving abroad. "Donald Not Married; Politicians Outraged!" and "Donald, Where Are Your Trousers?" were headlines in foreign papers, Finns were told.

Funny eh? :lol:

By attilasoul, # 27. July 2007, 16:33:33

avatar
nice story, thanks

By SqueakeyCat, # 27. July 2007, 16:35:06

avatar
You're always welcome Kim.

By attilasoul, # 27. July 2007, 16:36:37

avatar
1977. The year I was unleashed on an unsuspecting world.
:D

By Furie, # 27. July 2007, 19:33:05

avatar
How little did they know :left:

By attilasoul, # 27. July 2007, 19:33:56

avatar
lmao @ furie

By SqueakeyCat, # 27. July 2007, 19:47:02

avatar
:lol:

By Furie, # 27. July 2007, 21:40:01

avatar
:lol: one really does tend to get carried away..

By hitesha, # 28. July 2007, 05:51:26

avatar
Carl Barks was brilliant, I love his work. William van Horn is also a fantastic duck artist. Don Rosa is really great, but I find sometimes he crosses the line from agreeably whimsy to darkly un-fun.

By NFGman, # 29. July 2007, 01:03:56

avatar
very interesting review indeed. Thank you so much for your article.
Many people saw Donald as a kid's story, but numerous talented cartoonist give their hand to make the most famous duck to live.

thank you again :up:

By pfelelep, # 30. July 2007, 11:33:28

avatar
Alot of the cartoons we grew up on, predate television, some even predate The Second World War. They were used as 'shorts' in between feature films. But, I guess y'all already knew that. Anyway, hi, Atilla!:D

By H82typ, # 2. August 2007, 15:34:24

avatar
Hi H82typ ~ it's good to see you here also! :D

By attilasoul, # 2. August 2007, 18:39:54

avatar
My pleasure,yl!

By H82typ, # 2. August 2007, 20:45:02

Write a comment

You must be logged in to write a comment. if you're not a registered member, please sign up.