While at Disney, cartoonist Carl Barks was no quack, although his characters were. Called “Duck Man” by many, Carl’s name is synonymous with Disney ducks, to whom he dedicated his comic book career, including Donald, his nephews Huey, Dewey, and Louie, and Uncle Scrooge McDuck.
Ironically, in 1935, when Carl joined The Walt Disney Studios and met Donald Duck for the first time, his initial impression of the cantankerous character was that he was “an unintelligible troublemaker that would find very few roles suitable for his temperament.” In time, however, Carl says he gained an affinity for Donald and never again judged the Duck by his ruffled feathers.
Born March 27, 1901 and raised on an Oregon farm, Carl worked a variety of jobs, ranging from logger to factory worker, before he became a freelance artist in the 1920s. A self-taught cartoonist, influenced by the Mickey Mouse newspaper strip, Carl caught wind that The Walt Disney Studios was hiring artists and beat tracks… read more
While at Disney, cartoonist Carl Barks was no quack, although his characters were. Called “Duck Man” by many, Carl’s name is synonymous with Disney ducks, to whom he dedicated his comic book career, including Donald, his nephews Huey, Dewey, and Louie, and Uncle Scrooge McDuck.
Ironically, in 1935, when Carl joined The Walt Disney Studios and met Donald Duck for the first time, his initial impression of the cantankerous character was that he was “an unintelligible troublemaker that would find very few roles suitable for his temperament.” In time, however, Carl says he gained an affinity for Donald and never again judged the Duck by his ruffled feathers.
Born March 27, 1901 and raised on an Oregon farm, Carl worked a variety of jobs, ranging from logger to factory worker, before he became a freelance artist in the 1920s. A self-taught cartoonist, influenced by the Mickey Mouse newspaper strip, Carl caught wind that The Walt Disney Studios was hiring artists and beat tracks to Hollywood, joining the animation department in 1935.
Within a few months, Carl moved to the story department where he helped write stories for cartoons, including the Donald Duck shorts, Modern Inventions and Timber. In all, Carl collaborated on three dozen Donald Duck cartoons and even helped create Huey, Dewey, and Louie for the 1938 short Donald’s Nephews.
In 1942, he began developing comic books starting with Donald Duck Finds Pirate Gold and continued creating comic books until his retirement in 1966. Probably his most memorable creation over the years is Donald’s wealthy uncle, Scrooge McDuck, who debuted in the 1947 story Christmas on Bear Mountain. In 1952, Uncle Scrooge was given his own comic book series, which became a top-seller in the market.
After more than 25 years of chronicling the adventures of Donald and his feathered friends and family, Carl retired from full-time comic book work, but continued in a new medium – oil painting. At that point, Carl’s “Duckburg U.S.A.” clan, which were featured in 122 paintings followed by a series of lithographs, entered the world of fine art.
Still, it’s Carl’s comic book work for which he is most famous. His canon of comics continue to live on in one of the most popular animated television series of all time, DuckTales, while his comic books have become highly collectible. On October 22, 1991, when honored at the Disney Legends Awards, the 92-year-old artist won a laugh from the audience when he said, “I want to thank all the kids that bought my comic books for a dime and are now selling them for $2,000.”
Carl Barks died on August 25, 2000, in Grants Pass, Oregon. —Disney Legends
