In the latest edition of Comics to Read Before You Die, Jessie Robertson looks at Carl Barks’ Uncle Scrooge Classics…
Carl Barks tried his hand at being an artist for Walt Disney Studios back in 1935, and began drawing there with a starting wage of 20 dollars a week. I won’t drone on with the details of his humble and hard-working life, except that he drew the first Donald Duck comic book released to the public, titled Donald Duck Finds Pirate Gold in 1942. From nearly that point on, Carl has been referred to as the “Duck Artist.” While doing Donald Duck comic books, he created a whole family and community of Duck characters to live and breathe in Donald’s world, such as his super-rich Uncle Scrooge, his 3 nephews, Huey, Louie and Dewey, constant troublemakers the Beagle Boys, and many others. If you’re like me, you know these names and faces mostly from the hit Disney cartoon Ducktales!
This doesn’t have any relevance on this article, I just wanted to get everyone humming this song!
Barks devoted his life and used all of his life experiences in drawing the stories for these characters, but none became more linked to him than the richest (and most miserly) duck in all of the world, Uncle Scrooge. Scrooge (obviously borrowing his name from Charles Dicken’s classic greedy character) was so rich he had an almost endless vault (called the Money Pit) in his mansion; so large in fact, he could dive into it like a swimming pool and do laps! Now, Barks celebrity came primarily from his work with Donald, portraying him in tough job situations where Donald’s temper explodes and how he has to deal with that, using humor and real life (that he often experienced himself) to give the books weight. But, for me, the adventuring, money-grubbing Uncle Scrooge stories were even more filled with wonder, excitement and tons of duck and bird puns to last a lifetime. Barks art style has influenced Disney artist, especially in the comic and animated series departments since he began drawing Donald greatly, and will most likely endure long from now.
I mentioned Ducktales, which was a revolutionary series from the theme, to the wacky, out of this world adventures and over the top characters, and seriously top-notch animation, Barks stories were full of this stuff, and most of the material from the show was notions and stories Barks had cooked up. One of the more famous collections is Uncle Scrooge: Seven Cities of Gold (Vol. 14). This book has an adventure story in it that directly inspired the creators of Indiana Jones when making Raiders of the Lost Ark (2 no-name movie schlubs, Lucas and Spielberg, I believe their names are).
Barks collected the greatest of these tales into a heavy bound collector’s book titled Uncle Scrooge: His Life and Times, which is the Holy Grail of his stories, including sketches, poems and other extras but the book is crazy expensive because it’s so revered and sought after.
There’s a lot of material out there, some in the general public’s eye, but others you may want to search for, but it’s definitely worth it. Disney sort of turns some adults off, even serious comic collectors, but these stories had more fun adventure, hilarious hijinks and iconic characters than most any other book you can pick up.
I want to leave you with one of Carl’s mottos in life, which he voiced through his greatest creation:
Next time: welcome back Frank, the Mob missed you!
Jessie Robertson
Originally published July 24, 2015. Updated April 14, 2018.
