Ducks, Barks and Books

For the majority of his career, Carl Barks toiled anonymously creating comic books under the Walt Disney logo. His fresh take on the medium had many comic book readers noticing his inventive storytelling and highly skilled drawing ability. By combining quirky, children’s characters with stories from National Geographic, Barks created a globe-hopping masterpiece without ever leaving the United States.  His readership called him the “Good Duck Artist” and clamored to the comic stands to get each new issue from this unnamed hero.  Not only did he excel at making comics, but his creations in Donald Duck’s extended family (Scrooge McDuck, Huey Dewey, Louie, Gladstone Gander, Gyro Gearloose, etc) have sparked the imaginations of pop cultural titans like Stephen Spielberg and George Lucas in Indiana Jones and an entire generation with the animated series, Duck Tales.  Struggling with his own money problems, Barks made these stories (which focus primarily on Donald Duck and Scrooge McDuck) as a means to fulfill his own wishes and dreams.

In the 1980’s the public became aware of Carl Barks, then in his 80s, and finally gave him the accolades he so rightly deserved.  Another Rainbow Publishing, a publisher dedicated to printing Bark’s work, printed a large format, black and white omnibus collection of his Duck stories, so the fans that collected the comics as children could get them in a more substantial book form.  There are ten slipcovers with three hardcover books inside each (with content for the collection exceeding 7,000 pages).  The gold foil lettering on the spine, a clear numbering system, color covers and crisp page scans made this reprint hugely desirable for collectors.  After the 1980s and 1990s, these editions went out of print and, themselves, became collector’s items (fetching prices up to $4,000 on Ebay for the entire set).  Fans in Europe have enjoyed many reprints due to the much larger Barks fan base over the years.  These collections were also lovingly made for the middle-aged people trying to recapture some childhood magic.

Responding to a need in the United States, Fantagraphics gained the rights from Disney to re-print the entire collection under the moniker The Complete Carl Barks Library in 2011.  This Seattle-based comic book publisher saw this new collection as a chance to re-introduce a comic masterpiece to a fresh audience, update the colors and line art to their original state, showcase some rarely seen “special features,” discuss Bark’s personal history and conclude each volume with an academic-level analysis of each story featured in that particular volume.  “Meticulous” is the word that comes to mind when looking at the level of detail and care given the subject matter within.  These dissections of these comics feel like knowledgeable film historians discussing movies on Criterion Collection Blu-ray sets.   These are not just lovers of comics giving their opinion, but Professors from around the world, looking at the meaning behind each and every panel.  Historians discuss the subconscious critique on daily life while English Professors discuss Barks’ story arcs.  In many cases these substantial commentaries take up one fifth of each volume, prompting the viewer to go back to the comic panels and review what was missed.  The design of the books themselves reflects the highly saturated joy of comics with a tight uniformity when it is placed on the shelf (a must for any collection selling to the aesthetically savvy audience it desires).  The highlighted art gives the viewer an indication of what the main story is about without giving too much away or watering down Bark’s style.  It all just feels genuine...the typography, the colors, subtle textures and layout.  In its entirety, the collection will be 30 volumes long and take over a decade to release.

*From the Collection of Chase Quarterman*

Fantagraphics is making a bold statement about comics.  They should be taken seriously, revered as high art, and dispersed as important pieces of literature.  If the beautiful crafting and content of their books is any indication, Fantagraphics is absolutely right.