Carl Barks and the Disney Comic Book: Unmasking the Myth of Modernity

Great Comics Artists Series

by Thomas Andrae

For over twenty-five years, Disney artist Carl Barks (1901-2000) created some of the most brilliant and funny stories in comic books. Gifted and prolific, he was the author of over five hundred tales in the most popular comic books of all time. Although he was never allowed to sign his name and worked in anonymity, Barks's unique artistic style and storytelling were immediately evident to all his readers. Barks created the town of Duckburg and a cast of characters that included Donald Duck's fabulously wealthy Uncle Scrooge, the lucky loafer Gladstone Gander, the daffy inventor Gyro Gearloose, the roguish crooks the Beagle Boys, and the Italian sorceress Magica de Spell.

Carl Barks and the Disney Comic Unmasking the Myth of Modernity is the first critical study of Barks's work in English. From a cultural studies perspective, the author analyzes all phases of Barks's career from his work in animation to his postretirement years writing the Junior Woodchucks stories.

Andrae argues that Barks's oeuvre presents a vision strikingly different from the Disney ethos. Barks's central theme is a critique of modernity. His tales offer a mordant satire of Western imperialism and America's obsession with wealth, success, consumerism, and technological mastery, offering one of the few communal, ecological visions in popular culture. Although a talented visual artist, Barks was also one of America's greatest storytellers and, Andrae contends, lifted the comic book form to the level of great literature.

Genres: Comics, Biography

272 pages, Paperback

First published July 1, 2006

Reviews

[Summer · Rating 3 out of 5]

Carl Barks is interesting, his work is excellent, and this critical biography explores Barks's critiques of imperialism and modern society. What the book doesn't need to appeals to the questionable authority of people like Freud, whose half-baked, completely unscientific theories have very little to do with fictional ducks in ten-page comic books. No, Donald is not suffering vagina dentata anxiety every time a character has a large-ish mouth. Postmodern criticism really kills me sometimes.

[Anna · Rating 4 out of 5]

Donald Duck was just... a not-so-bright duck in ugly clothes for kids until I discovered DD by Carl Barks. His beautiful drawings create a compeltely different atmosphere and mood, with a lot more social awareness.

[Mark · Rating 2 out of 5]

Bouncing between dry academia and bristling biography, this book both informs and tests one’s patience. A contradiction - but then so was Carl Barks and so were his amazing comic book creations. This is really only for the very hardest of hard core fans - or most likely, someone doing research for a masters degree. Still, I did learn a lot about Barks and his great art.

[Dominick · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a moderately decent analysis of Barks's Disney comics. It's a bit of a mixed critical bag, with bits and pieces of various critical approaches rubbing shoulders. Some of the readings seem forced, and few are supported by in-depth reading, but there are some useful insights.

[Andre Carvalho · Rating 5 out of 5]

Deep and precise, Professor Andrae unmasks the life and times of one of the greatest comics artists in world history. His vision and interpretation over Carl Barks' work is a guide to understand how the 9th Art contributed in the making of the XX century.