unused cover idea

RARE MATERIAL

"Donald Duck Tells About Kites"

An art-only story Barks drew in 1954. This story was printed in a retouched form in the Carl Barks Library. To give the real Barks fan a chance to see the story how it originally was printed, the story can been seen here. The scans were taken from the D.O.N.A.L.D.-internal magazine "Mitteilungen für Mitglieder" (bulletin for members of D.O.N.A.L.D.) edition of October, 1982. Obviously, the art is taken from b/w xeroxes of the original "Pacific Gas and Electric Company" giveaway comic.

"Bongo on the Congo"

A story Barks wrote and drew in 1960. This story was printed in a censored form in the Carl Barks Library (set 4, page 449). Mostly the text was altered. On panel 7 of page 7, however, the heads of the natives have been changed. Instead of curly black hair, they now have punk hairstyles and horned helmets. (Interesting to note is that Barks himself did the redrawing of this panel, at the request of the Carl Barks Library editors.) On panels 1 and 3 of page 8, the bone through Old Boogerbooboo's nose is removed. In panel 2 of page 8, the two Qwak Qwaks have bald heads instead of curly hair. Besides the censoring, panel 7 of page 10 was also altered. During the inking of the story Barks accidently gave Donald glasses in this panel (one of the very few instances such a thing happened), they were removed by the Carl Barks Library editors.

To give the real Barks fan a chance to see the story how it originally was printed, the story can been seen here temporarily. The scans were taken from colour xeroxes supplied by a kind collector from Germany. Since page 1, 3 and 9 were not altered, they were not among them. To present a complete story, these pages were taken from the Carl Barks Library.

"Looter of the Lake"

A story Barks wrote in 1970, after his retirement in 1966. This and the other 23 stories he made for the "Huey, Dewey and Louie Junior Woodchucks" comic book series, were drawn by other artists (mostly Tony Strobl and Kay Wright) who were not familiar with Barks' smooth expressive style. For this reason the stories were more or less forgotten until the Dutch weekly "Donald Duck Weekblad" asked Daan Jippes (who can draw in a style which is called being "more Barkish than Barks himself") to re-ink the stories, working from the original scripts as they were published in "The Carl Barks Library" (except for two lost ones). This story, "Looter of the Lake" is one of the stories which are (still?) not re-inked. It is shown here as it was originally roughly pencilled by Carl Barks, who originally drew it in 12" x 9" format. The art is taken from set 6 of "The Carl Barks Library (page 190) where it's printed in a very small size. To give a much more comfortable reading, it is shown pretty enlarged here.

For a comparision of styles, take a look at three different versions of art taken from Junior Woodchuck story "Bad Day for Troop A".

curlers on dog

Art-only cover for "Walt Disney Comics and Stories" No. 110, rejected by the editor. The art is lost, but a very small print can be seen of it as part of an advertisement distributed in the autumn of 1949, soliciting subscriptions to the magazine. It is shown enlarged here. Published in Michael Barrier's "Carl Barks and the Art of the Comic Book" (page 200).

nephews playing matador

Unused cover-idea from the early 1960s, later inked at the request of a fan. Published in set 8 of "The Carl Barks Library" (page 83).

ducks lying in hammocks

Unused cover-idea from the early 1960s, later inked by Ulrich Schröder. Published in German fanzine "Der Hamburger Donaldist" 50 (December 1984) and on the cover of Dutch weekly "Donald Duck Weekblad" 44 of 1992.

desert bank

Unused cover-idea from 1961. Published in set 8 of "The Carl Barks Library" (page 530).

automatic headscratcher

Unused cover-idea. Published in Comicbook Marketplace 34, April 1996. It was later inked by William Van Horn and published as the cover for "The Carl Barks Library of Gyro Gearloose Comics and Fillers in Color" 6. Both the sketched and the inked version can be seen here (one at a time by clicking on them).

wide load! make room

Rejected cover-idea. Published in set 1 of "The Carl Barks Library" (page 510). It was later inked by an unknown artist and published as the cover for Dutch weekly "Donald Duck Weekblad" 52, 1982. Both the sketched and the inked version can be seen here (one at a time by clicking on them). Notice that the text on the Dutch cover is changed into a happy newyear greeting, which is very kind but spoiling the gag.

first fan foto / drawing

Photo and sketch. On July 25, 1961, Malcom Willits met Carl and Garé Barks (Carl's wife) in Seattle, Washington. This is a memorable moment because this was the first time Barks met a fan. Photos were taken and Carl Barks made a sketch in one of Malcolm's leather-bound comic book volumes. Taken from "Comic Book Marketplace" 34, April 1996 (page 34)

advertisement using Carl Barks art

This October 1963 advertisement (US 45) contains two drawings by Carl Barks. Scrooge is taken from "The Case of the Sticky Money" (US 42).

a guy who likes us

Drawing for a fan, made somewhere in the 1960s. Published in set 3 of "The Carl Barks Library" (page 7).

"Hang gliders be hanged"

Story outline, made in/around 1974. Made into a comic-book story in the 80s, in which the outline was altered by including a scene of angry eagles while dropping the fishline idea. Code: D 6886, published in the USA in Donald Duck No. 259. The story outline itself is published in set 1 of "The Carl Barks Library" (page 132).

"Go slowly, sands of time"

Story outline, made after retiring. Made into a comic-book story in the 80s. Code: D 6856, published in the USA in Uncle Scrooge No. 216. The story outline itself is published in set 5 of "The Carl Barks Library" (page 364).

A different version of this story - including 12 color illustrations - was made for the Celestial Arts book "Uncle Scrooge McDuck: His Life and Times" (1981).

"King Beowulf"

1979 non-Disney lithograph.

"Xerxes and harem"

1979 non-Disney lithograph.

Maharajah Donald

Unused cover-layout from about 1989, inked by an unknown artist. At one point, Barks considered drawing a "Maharajah Donald" cover for the slipcase of set 6 of "The Carl Barks Library". The sketch by Barks is shown in this set (page 3). As inked, the cover shows some differences on the fore- and background.

"Invasion of privacy"

1995 watercolour, published as lithograph.

"Children in Need" drawing

On November 27, 1996, German broadcasting company RTL ran a 24-hour collection campaign "Children in Need". A crayon painting by Carl Barks, exclusively done for this campaign, also came to auction. Unfortunately, only a rather bad copy is available, but hopefully an impression comes through.

Carl Barks celebrating Scrooge's 50th birthday

1997 photo by Oliosi, published in Italian comic book "Zio Paperone" No. 99, December 1997.

Carl Barks at work

1997 photo by Oliosi, published in Italian comic book "Zio Paperone" No. 99, December 1997.

"Great Adventures in the Long Ago and Faraway"

1997 pencil sketch, published in Italian comic book "Zio Paperone" No. 99, December 1997.

"I May Have to Spend Some of this Stuff"

1997 colour pencil, published in Italian comic book "Zio Paperone" No. 99, December 1997.

"No Peeking! Opening Date, April 12th, 1997"

1997 colour pencil, taken from eBay.

"Sherrif of Bullet Valley"

1997 colour pencil, taken from eBay.

"Outback down under" / "To the High Pastures of the Unicorn" (sketch)

Sketches for the "Barks Treasury" colour drawings, taken from eBay. They measure 4,5 x 3,5 and 4 x 5 inches approximately and were sold at the San Diego Comic Book Convention in 1997.

"Black Gold, Yellow Gold! They keep a guy from getting old"

1995 lithograph (only 210 were produced), given to people who attended a Barks banquet. The litho included a photo of Barks presenting the litho plus a facsimile letter by Barks (dated Jan 30, 1995) about the lithograph.


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