Walt Disney's Donald Duck: Lost in the Andes

The Complete Carl Barks Disney Library #7

by Carl Barks

Carl Barks Donald Duck and Uncle Scrooge comics are considered among the greatest artistic and storytelling achievements in the history of the medium. After serving a stint at the Walt Disney studios as an in-betweener and a gag-man, Barks began drawing the comic book adventures of Donald Duck in 1942. He quickly mastered every aspect of cartooning and over the next nearly 30 years created some of the most memorable comics ever drawn as well as some of the most memorable characters: Barks introduced Uncle Scrooge, the charmed and insufferable Gladstone Gander, the daffy inventor Gyro Gearloose, the bumbling and heedless Beagle Boys, the Junior Woodchucks, and many others. Barks alternated between longish, sprawling 20- or 30-page adventure yarns filled with the romance of danger, courage, and derring-do, whose exotic locales spanned the globe, and shorter stories that usually revolved around crazily ingenious domestic squabbles between Donald and various members of the Duckburg cast. Barks s duck stories, famously enjoyed equally by both children and adults, are both evanescent celebrations of courage and perseverance and depictions of less commendable traits greed, resentment, and one-upmanship. Our initial volume begins when Barks had reached his peak 1948-1950. Highlights include: The title story, Lost in the Andes (Barks s own favorite). Donald and the nephews embark on an expedition to Peru to find where square eggs come from only to meet danger in a mysterious valley whose inhabitants all speak with a southern drawl, and where Huey, Dewey, and Louie save Unca Donald s life by learning how to blow square bubbles! Two stories co-starring the unbearably lucky Gladstone, including the epic Race to the South Seas, as Donald and Gladstone try to win Uncle Scrooge s favor by being the first to rescue him from a desert island. Two Christmas stories, including The Golden Christmas Tree, one of Barks s most fantastic stories that pits him and the nephews against a witch who wants to destroy all the Christmas trees in the world. In other stories, Donald plays a TV quiz show contestant and ends up encased in a giant barrel of "Shaky-Jell," a truant officer who matches wits with his nephews, and a ranch hand who outwits cattle rustlers. These new editions feature meticulously restored and re-colored pages in a beautifully designed, affordable format geared to the mainstream book buyer. Discover the genius of Carl Barks!

Genres: Comics, Graphic Novels, Humor, Adventure, Fiction, Comic Book, Fantasy

240 pages, Hardcover

First published December 5, 2011

About the author

Carl Barks was an American cartoonist, author, and painter. He is best known for his work in Disney comic books, as the writer and artist of the first Donald Duck stories and as the creator of Scrooge McDuck. He worked anonymously until late in his career; fans dubbed him "The Duck Man" and "The Good Duck Artist". In 1987, Barks was one of the three inaugural inductees of the Will Eisner Comic Book Hall of Fame.
Barks worked for the Disney Studio and Western Publishing where he created Duckburg and many of its inhabitants, such as Scrooge McDuck (1947), Gladstone Gander (1948), the Beagle Boys (1951), The Junior Woodchucks (1951), Gyro Gearloose (1952), Cornelius Coot (1952), Flintheart Glomgold (1956), John D. Rockerduck (1961) and Magica De Spell (1961).
He has been named by animation historian Leonard Maltin as "the most popular and widely read artist-writer in the world". Will Eisner called him "the Hans Christian Andersen of comic books." Beginning especially in the 1980s, Barks' artistic contributions would be a primary source for animated adaptations such as DuckTales and its 2017 remake.

Reviews

[Mohammed Arabey · Rating 4 out of 5]

A Nice Collection of the very early Donald Duck's comics by Carl Barks that back to the 1949

Uh Oh...Not that early.. :)
It's just early enough to see the Kids Huey, Dewey and Louie still 3 little immature brats sometimes...very kiddish -not as they later join the Junior Woodchucks.

And early enough to see Uncle Scrooge is that distant uncle who is not that close with Donald as the later adventures..He's even "extra" mean at these early comics.

As the Collection ...It's super..neat pages,colors..respect the reader as it present "comics encyclopedia" for the work of the "Duck Man" Mr. Carl Barks...the great founder of Duck Burg ,and the creator of the Duck Family.
The comics, the articles just perfect., just may be I didn't like those early one as the later ones Uncle Scrooge: Only a Poor Old Man may be cause I love the longer adventures more,and the fact that it was mixed with the one page comics..but in this case it's separated to 3 parts
THE ADVENTURES - THE SHORT STORIES - THE GAGS
So I felt that the adventures wasn't much like the first volume I've read.
I guess it'd way better if they made it by theme "there's 4 different length comics about Christmas separated.. 3 'sea adventures' ones..etc."

Anyway still love it, just prefer the later ones with the more Scrooge and mature kids
But of course there's Golden Treasures of amazing adventures and even short stories...and I'd choose those to gain "full 5 Stars rating :)"

The Adventures and Stories
*************************************
{Lost in The Andes!}

Like the later "Tralla La"..a journey into unknown place, weird, with strange utopia's laws.
Smart and funny

{Voodoo Hoodoo}

First time I've met that Zombey was with Don Rosa's Life and Times of Scrooge McDuck ,years after his first appearance in this funny full of adventures and twist journey.
The only bad thing was how Uncle Scrooge was very mean and his role here wasn't that big.

And from the short stories "The Crazy Quiz Show","Rival Beachcombers","Plenty of Pets" those are really smart and funny.

And to another Volume of Carl Barks' Treasures

Mohammed Arabey
From 16 Aug. 2013
to 8 Nov. 2013

[Dan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Walt Disney's Donald Duck: Lost in the Andes contains Donald Duck stories from 1948-1949, written and illustrated by Carl Barks.

In this volume Donald Duck and the nephews visit a lost city in the Andes mountains, go up against Gladstone Gander, save Christmas a couple times, and engage in a lot of other shenanigans. Oh, and the story of raising a sunken ship using ping pong balls that inspired an episode of Mythbusters is in here.

Barks changed comics with his Disney work, whether or not anyone knew it at the time. He's a master storyteller and influenced such diverse artists as Bill Watterson and Moebius. He started as an animator for Disney so his style has a similar feel. He knows what to draw and what not to draw to convey what is happening in a story. The art is minimalist but has a timeless quality.

Like this:


Walt Disney's Donald Duck: Lost in the Andes is a great example of the master in action. 4.5 out of 5 stars.

[Jayaprakash Satyamurthy · Rating 5 out of 5]

I'm thrilled that Fantagraphics is reproducing all of Carl Barks's Duck family stories in these handsome, durable hardbound editions. I've tended to remember only Barks' epic adventures, usually featuring Uncle Scrooge, but this series also includes the shorter 10-pagers and one-page gags, which is a good decision because it really brings out the range and depth of Barks' genius. Owing to Disney's policy of not naming the artists who work on their comics, Barks was for too long an unsung master of the form. Disney comic fans over the world already know about the greatness of the 'good Duck artist' and there have been past reprints by more niche publishers; hopefully this series of reprints will help him take his place alongside names like Eisner and Kirby as one of the greatest comics creators of all time.

[Sage LaTorra · Rating 5 out of 5]

With the exception of a few horribly racist remnants of the age these comics come from, it's a delightful collection of some of the best comics ever.

[Juho Pohjalainen · Rating 4 out of 5]

Scrooge is beginning to take form... after a bit of a false start with Voodoo Hoodoo, at any rate... and on the whole the stories greatly benefit from this.

[Ludwig Aczel · Rating 5 out of 5]

Edit. Apparently, Disney has notified cartoonist Don Rosa that two of his stories (one of which a chapter of Life and Time of Scrooge McDuck) will be banned from future reprints. These are his stories featuring the character of Bombie the zombie. The character first appeared in a 1949 story by Carl Barks contained in this Fantagraphics volume, Voodo Hoodo, which I assume is also going to be banned. It is a story with an early iteration of Scrooge, where Barks had yet to find the appropriate balanced characterisation of the character, between greediness and honesty. In the story we discover that in his past Scrooge had put an African village on fire to get their land. Barks played it as dark humour. Possibly also as a veiled criticism to Western colonialism, although in a way that is not very politically correct now, but was in 1949. Fifty years later, Rosa tried to make narrative sense of this act of evilness by young Scrooge, by portraying it as something utterly wrong. If they really ban the passage from future reprints of Rosa's work, they will erase the strongly anti-colonialist reinterpretation that Rosa had made in 1995. Quite the contradiction, if you ask me. And they will erase an important emotional moment from Life and Time.


ORIGINAL REVIEW:
9.5/10
This book collects the Donald Duck comics by Carl Barks that were published in between late 1948 and early 1949. The volume contains four long stories, of which the following three are masterpieces.
Lost in the Andes is the most iconic story by Barks. Simply a pillar of American literature.
Race to the South Seas! is arguably the best challenge between Donald and his annoying lucky cousin Gladstone Gander.
Voodoo Hoodoo is a zombie story, twenty years before Romero changed forever the meaning of the word in pop culture.
The rest of the volume contains a great sampler of Barks's ten-pagers, the hilarious short stories that the great Oregonian cartoonist used to create at industrial pace for the comic book Walt Disney Comics and Stories.

If you have to read only one Carl Barks book in your life, this is probably the one.

[Chas · Rating 5 out of 5]

I first discovered Carl Barks when I was in 1st grade, and I've enjoyed his unique storytelling ever since. Barks brought depth and humanity to Disney's characters, and created Uncle Scrooge, a character whose adventures people my age grew familiar with in the '80s cartoon Ducktales (which in turn had adapted many of its episodes from Barks' Scrooge comics from the '50s). I'm very excited that Fantagraphics is reprinting these stories in such attractive editions. Barks has had many fans throughout the years (George Lucas and Steven Spielberg being two of the more famous), and I hope these volumes will remind readers that his name ought to be mentioned with the same admiration people breathe for Herge, Will Eisner, Hal Foster, and Jack Kirby.

[Timóteo · Rating 4 out of 5]

Eu havia lido esse quadrinho há alguns meses e simplesmente esqueci de marcar aqui.

Esse volume compila diversas histórias de Carl Barks (o objetivo é ler todos os volumes da coleção), contendo algumas das mais clássicas, como "Perdido nos Andes" e "Donald na África". Ler Carl Barks é ler História das hqs. Os roteiros são relativamente simples, como devem ser, uma vez que são histórias destinadas para crianças, porém nos apresentam aventuras divertidíssimas de se ler e o desenho de Barks é agradabilíssimo.

As histórias infelizmente contém alguns resquicios sociais da época que foram escritas que eu não consegui dissociar muito bem, mas apesar de incomodar um pouco, são superáveis.

De resto, uma bela compilação de histórias quase obrigatórias para qualquer amante/colecionador de quadrinhos Disney.

[Melissa Koser · Rating 5 out of 5]

Loads of fun reading about Donald and his nephews! The analyses at the end of the book, however, are mostly dull, repetitive, and unnecessary. Who cares what deep lessons random So-and-so extrapolated from these stories? Not me.

[Matthew · Rating 4 out of 5]

When I was a child in the late eighties my imagination was captured by heroes of the comic page, especially Spider-Man, Daredevil and The Silver Surfer. I remember asking my mother if she read comics as a kid and to my surprise (which I still can't get over) my own mother who hates everything, including music, was once a comic book fan. She told me how she and her siblings enjoyed Disney comics.

Initially, I thought vary little of this, I mean Disney characters were primarily from an animated medium in my mind, and comics based on them weren't anything more than a way to squeeze a few extra merchandizing dollars from your property, right? I mean I was no stranger to licensed comics, those were the ones you avoided. (I know, I know! Larry Hama's GI Joe was one of several notable exceptions, I was a stupid kid and let's not get off topic.) But as she described the characters, many of which were not found in the golden age animated shorts, and the stories in depth and with great detail, I began to wonder if I wasn't missing out on something wonderful. A year later DuckTales began appearing on syndicated television and I immediately recognized the scenarios. This show was more than an extension of the golden age shorts. It was an adaptation of comic books, the ones for my mother's generation.

For all my life there's been a ten year old inside me that is still curious about the work of Carl Barks, celebrated as "The Good Duck Artist," author and illustrator of the (noteworthy) Donald Duck comics of the baby boomer era, and creator of the popular Uncle Scrooge character. I've kicked myself for passing by Gemstone anthologies that are now out of print, so I did not hesitate to snap up this first in a series of reprints by Fantagraphics. If I understand correctly the plan is to release two volumes a year alternating between Donald Duck and Uncle Scrooge with each volume until the entirety of Barks' duck work has been reprinted. Let's all hope Fantagraphics stays afloat until then.

The presentation of this hardcover is very nice. It's sturdy, white all over and waxy. There is no dust cover and nice examples of Barks' panel work are printed on the front. It has a fitting retro look. This is the kind of book you can feel proud to display on a mantel or a shelf.

"Lost in the Andes!" "Race to the South Seas!" "Voodoo Hoodoo," are adventure stories that have Donald and his nephews globetrotting and making all manner of strange a wonderful discoveries. The exotic locales really capture the imagination taking that reader to a more innocent and, I admit, more ignorant time when you could still believe that something no one's ever scene before might be found on the other side of a thick jungle. Unfortunately, "Hoodoo Voodoo" contains imagery that may not be considered politically correct by today's standards. Is it dated? Yes. Is it for kids? Yes, but It's rather well written which is a delight compared to some golden age Batman and Superman reprints I've read which aren't even competent. Besides these adventures are great fun.

"The Golden Christmas Tree" is a different animal altogether. It pits Donald against a witch and feels reminiscent of a golden age animated short, particularly "Trick or Treat" but Donaldis considerably more sympathetic here. Although the humor is more visual, mostly slapstick, Donald has his comic book personality which is distinctly different from the hot-headed personality from the golden age animated character "who gets stuck with all the bad luck." The shorter ten-page stories, "Toyland," "The Crazy Quiz Show," "Truant Officer Donald," "Donald's Worst Nightmare," "Managing the Eco System" and "Plenty of Pets" are from the same well as "The Golden Christmas Tree" they are primarily visual humor stories with the feel of an animated cartoon, but with the milder, comic book version of donald. He does become impatient at times in "Truant Officer Donald," (which is inspired by, but completely different than, a Donald Duck short of the same name) but its certainly understandable. "The Crazy Quiz" show reminded me of a similar golden age WB short starring Daffy and Porky. These humor stories are enjoyable, but didn't hold a candle to the more adventure driven content.

"Pizen Spring Dude Ranch," "Rival Beachcombers" and "The Sunken Yacht" are also shorter ten-page stories, but although humor is present, they are less based in humor and had a strong adventure element. I really enjoyed these on the same level as the longer adventure stories.

The book organizes its content with the four long adventure stories at the start, followed by the nine ten-page short stories and the single page comedy gags are all pushed to the back. I personally feel the read would feel more organic if they alternated throughout, like they did in the golden age anthology comics, but that doesn't matter much.

The One page comedy gags are similar material to Archie and Harvey comics as well as reprints of older comics like Little Lulu, I read as a kid. They do very little for me, but I would have enjoyed these when I was a child.

I can't praise Barks' artwork enough. I strongly dislike the amount of liberty given to modern comic artists to take with style. Barks is an absolute professional, always on model, which takes classic skill. He's a master of perception, expression and motion. The backgrounds are detailed and fleshed out, in some cases dazzling. There are background gags to find throughout this book, often funny, sometimes bizarre. (What is the deal with the picture on Donald's wall in panel 2, page 131?)

If you have a very poor memory you can read the "notes" at the end which will provide detailed descriptions of the comics you just read, but I advise you to skip them.

This is a major and important piece of comic book history. Nostalgic baby boomers, children and geeky treasure hunters will love this volume. I'm looking forward to the first volume of Uncle Scrooge which I already have on deck to be read.

[Kevin · Rating 4 out of 5]

When I was a kid I had (or someone near me had) a book of Barks' Donald Duck stories, and I loved it. Of course I proceeded to forget all about them, having not even known Barks' name at the time. Recently I read up on him and thought, "Man, I'd really like to revisit those stories" which is what prompted me to pick this up.

I just picked a collection at random and of course the story I really wanted to read - and which I can still only half-remember - isn't in here though it is referenced in the foreword. Doesn't matter, the rest of them make up for it, for the most part.

I'm probably not fit to critique art like this so I'll just condense it down to: "Barks is really good, especially if you've seen some of the other stuff that was being published at the time ... or heck, even today." Doesn't matter if it's this book or some other collection; if you've never read any Barks you owe it to yourself to do so.

[One thing that gave me pause was the racist caricatures in a few stories. The afterword tried to hand-wave some of this away without even really addressing it beforehand, saying, "Oh but look, in this story Bop-Bop was the one guy who had the real info, the one the ducks turned to to find out what was going on. He's not written as ignorant or anything." Yeah, I'm sorry, that doesn't dismiss the stereotypical wide-eyed black character with the big lips and "yes massa" dialect. I'd much rather have seen an acknowledgement from the editors along the lines of, "Well, this is how messed up things were back then, that it was okay to publish this, but we present it in the light of understanding what used to be okay and isn't any more" but hey, even that might be a cop-out. My point is that if they're going to mention it at all they need to go all the way.]

[Audrey Zarr · Rating 4 out of 5]

OOOOKKKKK

The Good: Some of the classic (at least to me) stories in the Barks cannon: Lost in the Andes (square eggs!), The Crazy Quiz Show (this would be the one that I would hand to anyone) and The Sunken Yacht. Serious, at least for me, if you like Barks' Donald here he is.

The Bad: Why oh why did they arrange the long stories first, then the short stories and then the one pagers. In the later volumes (or at least other volumes) they intermix them which is a much more enjoyable experience. The commentary in the back is just falling over itself to say how AMAZING OMG OMG every single thing Barks ever wrote. You do know it's okay to say this or that didn't work. Which leads me to...

The Ugly: Oh the 1940s racism. In addition the bend-over-backwards attempt by the criticism in the back to say, oh this isn't that racist because of X, Y, Z, is just :( The Voodoo Hoodoo story is in particularly bad (we NEVER condemn the fact that the witch doctor is going after Uncle Scrooge because he literally stole their land) but Lost in the Andes is also wince worthy at times.

[Nate]

More great stories of Donald Duck and the boys. This was actually the first Carl Barks Library volume to be published, even though it's the seventh volume chronologically. I think the idea was to start with popular stories so sales would begin strong. A little unusual, but oh well.

This book, featuring stories from 1948 and 1949, is split between long (20-30 page) adventures, 10-page shorts, and single page gag strips. There's not a dud in the bunch, but my favorites are "Lost in the Andes," "Race to the South Seas," "The Crazy Quiz Show," “The Sunken Yacht,” and “Managing the Eco System.” Gladstone Gander appears in two stories, while Uncle Scrooge pops up here and there.

Once again, I'm struck by Barks' storytelling ability. His art is so crisp and clear (he brings animation sensibilities to comics), while the writing is buoyant, clever, and funny. There's no over-narrated exposition anywhere. These comics go down easy, and they're a joy to read all these years later.

[Curtis Hempler · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great Carl barks art and classic duck stories, in a nice hardcover format. I love it when the cover image is printed right on the cover (no pesky dust jacket).
This is good, classic Disney comics, and a good mix of longer and shorter stories including few single-pagers. Carl Barks was a master cartoonist. I didnt get around to the editorial material yet, but it looks good too.
2 negative concerns:
- it would have been nice if Boom had collected the Christmas stories in their own volume, as this book had a Christmas story, and I see volume 2 is anchored by a longer Christmas tale
- Also, BEWARE of some racial stereotypes that were common at the time these comics were initially published. I don't think it ws atrocious, but there were certainly some cringe-worthy moments that you may not want to explain to a young kid.

[Matthew · Rating 5 out of 5]

I have always heard what a genius Carl Barks was and I am glad to finally get a chance to read a really good collection of his work. The writing and art are incredibly imaginative and well done, as good as I had heard and hoped. I hope that there will be more volumes coming soon.

[Travis · Rating 3 out of 5]

Great old school comics. The critical essays are a little over the top sometimes with their deep insights. I couldn't help but keep flashing back to watching DuckTales, though, which is based on later versions of these characters.

[Brian · Rating 4 out of 5]

very fun.
was pleasantly surprised to find myself reading the story that was the inspiration for the Mythbusters raising a sunken boat with ping pong balls.

[Michael · Rating 4 out of 5]

Some of the essays at the end make a little too much of things, but the comics are excellent. Looking forward to the Uncle Scrooge volume that comes out this summer.

[Joel Jenkins · Rating 5 out of 5]

Barks gave the Disney ducks far more character than they had in the Disney cartoons. I'm especially partial to the tales of Lost Cities.

[Norman Cook · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fantagraphics Books has obtained the rights to republish the body of work of Carl Barks, regarded as one of the greatest cartoonists in history. Barks worked in obscurity for most of his career because comic book policy throughout his tenure precluded creators from being acknowledged with bylines. Only after his retirement in 1966 did most fans realize the “good duck artist” was Carl Barks.

Although Barks didn’t create Donald Duck, it is his interpretation that probably resides in most people’s memories. Walt Disney’s Comics & Stories, where Barks’ duck stories were primarily told, was the top selling comic book in its heyday. Donald in the animated shorts was a hot-headed buffoon. Barks’ Donald was an actor called upon to play whatever role Barks needed: from exasperated parent to worldly adventurer.

It was Barks’ duck comics that spurred my early interest in sequential storytelling, and probably my love of reading in general.

The first volume from Fantagraphics presents one of Barks’ favorite stories, “Lost in the Andes,” three other long stories from 1948-1949, “The Golden Christmas Tree,” “Race to the South Seas!,” and “Voodoo Hoodoo,” plus nine 10-pagers and assorted one-page gag strips. This is the beginning of Barks’ strongest storytelling period, just after he had created Scrooge McDuck and Gladstone Gander. Along with the stories, the book includes introductory text and detailed story notes that broaden the appreciation for Barks’s background and what he accomplished in each story.

Barks got his start as an artist and story man on dozens of Donald Duck cartoons. He and his animation partner Jack Hannah wrote and drew the 1942 story “Donald Duck finds Pirate Gold,” and soon Barks was writing and drawing the ducks on a monthly basis, having almost complete autonomy to produce what he wanted without interference from the comic book publisher or from Disney.

Fantagraphics has gone back to the clean original drawings and recolored them in a way that closely matches Barks’ original intents. “Race to the South Seas!” is seeing its first pristine reprint from recently re-discovered originals.

“Lost in the Andes” concerns Donald’s quest to find the source of rare square eggs. Donald and his nephews Huey, Dewey, and Louie eventually find a hidden Peruvian culture that speaks English with a heavy Southern accent as a result of a previous visitor’s influence, one Professor Rhutt Betlah. Donald and the boys figure out in a few minutes what the natives haven’t in centuries, that the square eggs come from square chickens that look like rocks.

The other notable story is “Voodoo Hoodoo,” where an African witch doctor sends Bombie the Zombie to kill Scrooge. However, it took something like 70 years for the zombie to reach Duckburg, so it mistakes Donald for the young Scrooge it remembered, and hijinks ensue as Donald and the boys valiantly try to set things straight.

All of the other stories are well worth reading, although the very best duck stories are yet to come. I am eagerly awaiting future volumes in this series.

[K · Rating 4 out of 5]

As the first of these Carl Barks collections to be released by Fantagraphics, it comes with a slightly different format that I actually kind of prefer to the others I've been reading. The contents are split into three parts: full-length stories, 10-pagers, and 1-page gags. It appeals to my organizational side to know exactly how many pages I'll be encountering with each new story I turn to. It's a little jarring to read a 30-page, plot-heavy comic, then switch to a silly short gag, then head right back into a longer story...but that's probably just a quirk of my reading habits.

I don't know if that's why I enjoyed the seven shorter comics in this volume so much, or if these were simply a particularly excellent collection. The 10-pagers were great as well, with heart and humor mixing nicely with high-flung adventure and cozy domesticity. This is Barks at his most enjoyable. Although I'll admit I have a strong bias, because this collection includes "Pizen Spring Dude Ranch," which I love on a completely subjective level. I had four Donald Duck/Scrooge comicbooks when I was growing up - each of them so heavily read that the covers fell off - and this delightful dude ranch tale is included in that batch. I know every visual gag by heart and still love every second of it.

I was a little less impressed by the longform stories, unfortunately. I think this is partly because in the longer adventure tales, there's more room for Barks to stumble over some culturally insensitive material. "Voodoo Hoodoo" doesn't really require an explanation, yet it's the essay for "Race to the South Seas!" that actually comes across more tone-deaf than the comic itself. Referring to "natives" as "pure" and "innocent" is a fairly patronizing Western view. Then there's "The Golden Christmas Tree," which comes with a sugary-sweet moralizing conclusion that Barks was forced to squeeze into his story, while toning down some of the original violence.

It's funny that this is the one to start off the collection, when the introduction claims that "the stories he produced were rarely censored or edited in any way." I suppose "rarely" can still amount to quite a few when a man's body of work stretches to somewhere around 6,000 pages.

I quite enjoyed the lengthier biographical introduction to Barks. I want to look up the book of his interviews now, because so much of his creative process rings absolutely true for my own writing. I kept saying, "yes, that's exactly it!" each time he was quoted. It's weirdly affirming to know that your brain works even a tiny bit like that of an artistic genius. But I suppose that's part of what makes him such an inspiration to so many artists and writers; Barks is approachable, human, and absurdly, immensely talented. Perhaps even more importantly: intensely hardworking even in the face of incredible odds, like Donald is in so many of these stories.

[Jedidiah Martin · Rating 4 out of 5]

I am a big fan of Carl Barks and if you grew up on Duck Tales then you probably are too because most of that show was taken from the preceding 40 years of Barks penned Scrooge McDuck and Donald comics. The man invented most of what is in that show (including Duckberg, The Beagle Boys and Scrooge Mcduck himself) and even worked on the show helping translate his comics to the screen.
But this is not about that! This is about the collection "Lost In The Andes" which is probably my favorite classic Donald story. There was a volume that contained this story in my local library as a kid and I can't count how many times I checked it out and re-read it. Coming back to it as an adult I only appreciate it all the more. Bark's art is beautiful and as grand as the stories themselves. The quality of the book itself is also very high: shout out to Fantagraphics for putting together these absolutely beautiful hardcover collections. The paper inside evokes classic comics and showcases the colors perfectly. I just...I really like it a lot.
I'd be remiss if I didn't note that these comics date back to the 1940s which means there will be some problematic elements in some (not all but enough) of these stories, the worst offender probably being "Voodoo Hoodoo" which features Uncle Scrooge being an absolutely evil imperialist running Africans off of their land to make way for a rubber plantation (an act for which he shows no remorse and suffers no consequence), eventually leading to Donald and the boys travelling to Africa to have a Voodoo curse removed. You can imagine how sensitively all of these subjects are handled. There's analysis of each story in the back and the section on this story focuses primarily on the racism because, well, that's most of what this story is. The majority of this volume is a delight; this story is super gross.
As mentioned before, Carl Barks invented most of what my generation remembers from the 80s Duck Tales tv show and it's fun to see some of those elements in these volumes. Most notably, this volume contains very early appearances by a still freshly created Scrooge McDuck (something like his 5th and 6th appearances ever or something along those lines) and you can tell how unformed he still is here, mainly in that he is very distant from Donald and very, very mean. Gladstone Gander also makes a few appearances and is much more insufferable and less charming and likeable than he would appear on TV in the 80s.
Among the four main adventures are also a smattering of smaller stories (including one from 1949 entitled "The Sunken Yacht" which inspired the Mythbusters season 3 episode "Ping Pong Rescue") and even a number of one page gag strips as well, which really help you get a well rounded feel for what these old comics were like. It was just a really fun read all around and revisiting this volume after a good 30 years or more really made me feel like a kid again.

[Chris · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is another beautifully produced hardbound edition in Fantagraphic’s “The Complete Carl Barks Disney Library”. It is volume 7 of 22 and the second one I’ve added to my shelf. As it is with the previous volume, the reproductions of material from 1948 and 1949 seem flawless. The line art is crisp and the color is vibrant. Carl Barks was a great cartoonist. He packs a lot of expression in the faces and bodies of his characters. His stories are fun and engaging. Unfortunately, also like it’s predecessor, this collection is marred by some racial caricatures. I understand the commitment to showing Barks’ work as it appeared originally, but it does diminish my enjoyment of the material.

The title story is again the highlight and apparently Barks’ own favorite. It’s another globe trotting adventure tale, this time taking Donald and the nephews to a remote and mysterious kingdom hidden in the Andes. Circumstance contrives to elevate Donald from fourth janitor at a museum to its primary explorer. His mission? To discover the source of square eggs! Of course, being Donald Duck, victory is neither simple nor certain. This adventure to a faraway land is reminiscent of Hergé’s Tintin stories, though I can’t find evidence that either influenced the other.

Most of this book is fun for all ages. Then there is Voodoo Hoodoo. In this story we encounter ugly racist depictions of African people. Again I wonder why Barks couldn’t have stuck with three fingered anthropomorphic animals and left humans out altogether, but there they are, big lipped and wide eyed. They seem either sinister and menacing, or uneducated and foolish. The story notes in the back of the book don’t seem to acknowledge the extent to which this is disturbing. I give Mr Barks a pass as he belonged to his time and place, but I expected more from the notes.

There is also some racism in the preceding story, Race to the South Seas. The Polynesian natives are not distorted like the Africans, but they are shown as awfully primitive. Was it really this way in 1948? At one point a native spouts some obviously invented gobbledygook and another, some hokey broken English. “Him got white feet like you fella massa!” The notes actually praise the depiction of the natives and seems to ignore the more problematic aspects.

Like the previous volume, this book has story notes and some cover images in the back. This book also adds an introduction that focuses on Barks’ career history. The bulk of the book is divided into three parts: "The Adventures", "The Short Stories" and "The Gags". Barks’ shorter pieces are fun enough, but his longer form tales are where he really excels. I might have preferred a greatest hits collection of his best longer adventure stories.

[Emily · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fantagraphics is publishing classic Disney comics and this is early Donald Duck when Scrooge McDuck was a twinkle of a plot device in Barks' eye. The titular Lost in the Andes is the original story of Donald and the kids' adventure to Plain Awful! I always thought Professor Rhutt Betlah was lost in the mists of time and the high Andes, but this is the thing! It's early Barks yet, but Ducks eat square eggs and are imprisoned for round objects, as in future Plain Awful. Good stuff. All comics are reflected on in essays by important Barks scholars. And we have the fourth and fifth appearances of Uncle Scrooge! In Rosa's The Life and Times of Uncle Scrooge, he discusses at length the contradictions between later canon Uncle Scrooge, who made his fortune by being "tougher than the toughies and smarter than the smarties, and he made it all square," and this early Scrooge, in Voodoo Hoodoo: A zombie appears in Duckburg, and the academic explains, for those of us who weren't aware, that zombies are a traditionally African bogeyman whose associations with the African diaspora would have been obvious to comics readers in the '40s. The zombie is after Uncle Scrooge, and the boys visit him at his to mansion to find out why. Uncle Scrooge, good old Unca Scrooge, explains, "My eye fell on some wonderful land that I wanted for a rubber plantation! The owners were a tribe of ferocious savages that believed their voodoo gods prized the ground! They wouldn't sell, so I hired a mob of thugs and chased them into the jungle! I got the land, but boy, those savages were mad!" Rosa resolved this appalling piece of Scrooge's early history by invoking Bombie the zombie to haunt Scrooge through his post-Klondike adventures, although here the zombie hasn't seen Scrooge for seventy years and is after a young Scrooge, i.e. Donald. Barks present the voodoo practitioners sympathetically, just like he gives agency to the Awfultonians and twists our assumptions of the native islanders in Race to the South Seas!, but different times and all that. Or, holy shit, that's racist. Lost in the Andes is arranged with epic adventures first, then ten page gags, one page gags, and commentary, which is a queer descent but there are some greats, especially among the ten-pagers like Donald's nightmares and Santa's workshop, and some that are strictly of their time, like the truant officer and the quiz show.

Read this book: Barks fans, obviously. And everybody. Everybody should read Carl Barks. (Everybody might also read How to Read Donald Duck: Imperialist Ideology in the Disney Comics by Dorfman and Mattelart.)

http://surfeitofbooks.blogspot.com/20...

[Marcos Kopschitz · Rating 5 out of 5]

Coleções históricas Disney sendo publicadas

As diversas coleções históricas Disney atualmente existente podem ser encontradas na Amazon brasileira. As da Abril, integralmente, as da Fantagraphics, pelo menos em parte. Algumas em volumes individuais ou em caixas. Verifique sempre a disponibilidade.

Está indicado o primeiro volume de cada coleção. Neste volume, procure minha resenha, na qual estão listados os volumes e caixas publicados, com links para cada um.

1. “Os Anos de Ouro de Mickey”
Em português, tradução de original italiano, a cores, Editora Abril
> Mickey na ilha misteriosa *** R

2. “Walt Disney’s Mickey Mouse by Floyd Gottfredson”
Em inglês, em preto e branco, Fantagraphics (EUA)
> Race to Death Valley] *** R

3. “The Complete Carl Barks Disney Library”
Em inglês, em cores, em formato maior (aproximadamente 19 x 26 cm), Fantagraphics (EUA)
> Christmas on Bear Mountain*** R

4. “Coleção Carl Barks defintiva”
Em português, tradução da coleção da Fantagraphics, em cores, em formato reduzido (aproximadamente 16 x 24 cm), Editora Abril
> Perdidos nos Andes *** R

*** R – Álbum já resenhado por mim. Para ler minha resenha, role a página do livro até que ela apareça.

[Ruz El · Rating 4 out of 5]

I blind bought this one after having spent years hearing how amazing Carl Barks was and how great these stories are. In the annals of cartooning and comic books, few names are spoken more highly then Carl Barks and his work on Donald Duck comics.

It is all deserved.

The art is simple yet beautiful. The long form stories are fun, action pack adventures that are surprisingly thoughtful. The short stories are just as good and the single page gags are equally as strong. Donald is actually a nuanced character in these instead of the hot head from the cartoons, I can't think of a negative thing to say about this book.

This is the first of hopefully many volumes from Fantagraphics and they do their typical job of presentation. Everything from the intro and notes to the literal cover stock and paper is all top notch and perfectly presents the material. I avoided previous compilations since most of the nice ones were in black and white. These editions (I believe) have been re-coloured, but look absolutely authentic to what I would suspect they would of looked like on first publication. No modern touches has been given. Even their decision to start this with Volume 7 is a good choice. As much as I'm a stickler for chronological work, starting with volume one where Barks is figuring things out might of jeopardized the series. This volume features Barks firing on all cylinders, and supposedly on the cusp of getting even better. It's not like these stories all fit into a larger serial like a "Prince Valiant" or newspaper strip might. It's a great introduction to the work, coming from me were this is the introduction to his work.

I guess I found my negative: I want more and I have to wait for it.

So yeah, if you love tight adventure story telling that's suitable for all ages, this is for you. If you don't like this, you might not have a soul.

[Nathan Dehoff · Rating 5 out of 5]

I’d been meaning to read some of Barks’s Disney comics, and they’re currently being reprinted in collected volumes. This was the only one the library system had, but there’s also an Uncle Scrooge volume, and A Christmas for Shacktown is coming soon. Lost in the Andes includes some longer adventure yarns, ten-page stories, and one-page gags. Barks was responsible for fleshing out much of Donald Duck’s universe, inventing such characters as Gladstone Gander, Gyro Gearloose, and Scrooge McDuck himself. The DuckTales cartoon was largely based on his work. The stories in this volume are funny, and have rather intricate plots at times. In the title story, Donald is working as a museum janitor when he accidentally discovers that some square rocks are actually square eggs. Trying to track down the source of these eggs, Donald and his nephews travel to Peru and eventually find the hidden village of Plain Awful, where most things are square. The inhabitants speak English in Southern accents and sing “Dixie,” due to an earlier visit by a professor from Birmingham. One of the ten-page stories has Donald and his nephews raising Scrooge’s sunken yacht with ping-pong balls, a method that apparently actually works. These are definitely worth reading, and I look forward to future installments.

[Gijs Grob · Rating 4 out of 5]

The very first volume of the Fantagraphics Carl Barks Donald Duck reissue series wisely chooses 1949 as its starting point. This is right in the middle of the classic period (ca. 1947-1952) containing such classic tales as 'Race to the South Seas' (the first adventure to show Gladstone Gander's impossible luck, and the first to connect him to Uncle Scrooge), 'Lost in the Andes', with its bizarre square egg story, and 'Voodoo Hoodoo', which may be hampered by its racist stereotypes, but which contains one of the funniest quiz show sequences ever put on paper. Even better is the simply hilarious 'The Crazy Quiz Show', which is my all-time favorite Donald Duck ten-pager. Other great and classic ten-pagers are 'Truant Officer Donald', 'Donald Duck's Worst Nightmare', 'Rival Beachcombers' and 'The Sunken Yacht'. Only the two Christmas stories are weak compared to Barks's other Holiday specials. Barks's artwork is outstanding throughout, with wonderful staging and posing. Essential stuff for all comics lovers.

[Dominick · Rating 4 out of 5]

I can't quite give this five stars, for two reasons. First, much as I like the stories herein, Barks does have better ones. "Lost in the Andes" is fun and amusing but far from the best of the Donald Duck adventures, in my opinion. I'm also not entirely clear on the structural logic; this is a nice mix of long stories, ten-pagers (including several delightful ones) and gag strips that show off Barks's ability, but there doesn't seem to be an underlying unity to the selection. And, despite being generally exceptional, the colouring occasionally can't resist tweaking unnecessarily--one story especially features very distracting blue highlighting to suggest three-dimensionality for the ducks. Nevertheless, the production values are high, there are insightful but accessible essays about most of the stories, and the stories themselves are all very good to excellent examples of comics art at its finest. Recommended.

[Stefan Hoeppner · Rating 5 out of 5]

A beautiful collection of classic Barks stories, including the controversial "Lost in the Andes" story that fueled Ariel Dorfman's and Armand Mattelart's criticism of Disney comics being a tool of colonial power. While they may have a point, you will have a hard time coming by any more beautiful Donald Duck classics. Having grown up with the German translations (I taught myself reading with Donald Duck comics when I was five), it's still odd to me to read the original. Barks's German translator, Erika Fuchs, was so creative in adapting Disney Comics to (West) German culture (such as rendering Helloween as "Karneval", the German euqivalent of Mardi Gras) that it's still hard for me to believe that I have now read the original text!