Walt Disney's Donald Duck: Mystery of the Swamp

The Complete Carl Barks Disney Library #3

by Carl Barks

From the Everglades to the Grand Canyon, danger and intrigue at every turn! Carl Barks’s first foray into his signature series of adventures in “lost civilizations'' takes the Ducks deep into the Everglades, where they find themselves bedeviled by the enigmatic Gneezles, who have escaped detection from outsiders since the days of Ponce de León ― and want to keep it that way. Then, the fun comes fast and furious as Donald invents a radar detector to track the nephews, the boys open their own detective agency, an ice-skating race, a water-skiing race, the nephews fall into the Grand Canyon (!), and Donald decides to build the largest kite in the world! Barks’s only Mickey Mouse mystery, “Mickey Mouse and Riddle of the Red Hat.” As we circle back to Carl Barks’s earlier stories, the Good Duck Artist delivers another superb collection of surprise, delight, comedy, adventure, and all-around cartooning brilliance. 215 pages of story and art, each meticulously restored and newly colored. Insightful story notes by an international panel of Barks experts ― including internationally famed cartoonist Freddy Milton (Donald Duck, Woody Woodpecker). Full-color illustrations throughout

Genres: Comics, Graphic Novels, Fiction, Humor, Childrens

240 pages, Hardcover

First published August 20, 2024

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 5 out of 5]

Back to the Complete Carl Barks Disney Library...
The third volume still in the forties, the early stories of the great Mr. Good Duck.

So it's mostly 10 pages gigs, only one long story and a surprise for me, A Carl Barks's Mickey Mouse adventure..

So let's see the stories:


Mystery of the Swamp (4.5 Stars)
This story is a Seed of a theme will be get into more stories later. The lost mysterious tribe who lives in the hide of the woods or hidden places in the world. Many to come will be like this one...but even much better.

The Tramp Steamer (3 Stars)
Jobless Donald buys a boat and use it to delivershipments, but he keep spoiling his shipments AND try to capture a huge whale at the same time.

The Long Race to Pumpkinburg (3 Stars)
A bet between Donald and the kids to ice skating race and of course Donald cheat....to lose.

Webfooted Wrangler (2.5 Stars)
Donald trying to be a cowboy.. failing in everything.

The Icebox Robber (2.5 Stars)
Donald sleepwalking and stealing the food from the fridge and accusing the kids every morning.

Pecking Order (5 Stars)
Like this famous old Donald's cartoon, Donald is trying to take a photo of a smart woodpecker rare bird who keep outsmart him. Another different of the cartoon that it was that this time he stole the idea from the kids.

Taming the Rapids (4.5 Stars)
Donald and the kids at the Great Canyon, the kids slipped but when Donald tried to rescue them it start to be a disaster journey all because of Donlad clumsiness.

Days at the Lazy K (5 Stars)
Donald & the kids at a Ranch. After seeing a movie about taiming a baby donkey, Donald decided to tame a wild baby horse with Love but it turns out harder than he thought... the kids tried too but they got a funny twist by the end.

Eyes in the Dark (3.5 Stars)
Donald watches the kids by a Radar set so they won't sneak to the circus and make some home chorus.. but they do eventually.

Thug Busters (5 Stars)
The kids playing detectives and Donald keep misleading them all the way...to a very funny twist by the end.

The Great Ski Race (5 Stars)
First ever direct 10 pages gag sequel, after the kids has too much money for catching the Thug from the prev. story, Jealous Donald enter a Ski Race but the judge hates Donald after he showed him off in a training.

Ten-Dollar Dither (2.5 Stars)
The kids find a 10$ & Donald insists to return to its real owner.

Donald Duck's Best Christmas (4 Stars)
A Christmas Trip to Grandma house that goes wrong because of the snow storm but ends well for everyone.
Grandma Duck's first appearance in Barks'.

Donald Tames his Temper (3 Stars)
Donald's New Year Resolution is Taming his Temper after losing it on Daisy who convinced him doing so. But the kids benefited that grandly till they drive him mad.

Singapore Joe (4.5 Stars)
The kids got a parrot called Singapore Joe who made pranks on Donald that turned his day into hell.

Master Ice Fisher (3 Stars)
Another competition, this time on Ice Fishing, between Donald & the kids...and a big fish.

Jet Rescue (3.5 Srars)
The kids bought jet motors instated of putting it in the bank as Donald's suggested...and eventually these motors saved Donald & a new character, the blonde rich duck; Miss Swansdown Swoonsudden!

Donald's Monster Kite (3.5 Srars)
Donald accepted challenging the kids in flying kites, and makes a huge one for an unexpected trip.
I've read it first as the cartoonist who wrote the Foreword suggested.

The Firebug (4.5 Srars)
After hitting his head, Donald suddenly want to make fire everywhere. But at the same time the city get in fire itself and the police is after Donald...A real mystery story with smart nice twist.

Mickey Mouse and the Riddle of the Red Hat (3 Stars)
Last story in this volume is the First, and Only Carl Barks's story for Mickey Mouse...It was okay, bit misunderstanding leading to adventure and a rescue mission. And it all started with a silly red hat Minnie liked.

And to the next Volume soon.

Mohammed Arabey
From 18 Apri, 2026
To 3 June 2026

[Nicholas Driscoll · Rating 4 out of 5]

I (almost) always love these collections and look forward to each release with hot anticipation. This book collects some of Barks' earliest tales, most of which I had read before--but the title mystery was new to me (and had some charm). Most of the stories here are shorts, and not the longer adventures that Barks would arguably become more famous for (though his ten-pagers are also often masterpieces). So much of this book is just sheer nostalgia love. The entire series has fresh meaning for me because I read so many of them while I was in the hospital a few years ago, and they helped keep me sane. I really love these books, and while the commentary in the back continues to only partially fulfill, it's not so bad--sometimes I get some really interesting tidbits or surprising edits.

[Scott · Rating 5 out of 5]

Carl Barks is one of my favorite artists/writers and I love the hardcover "Complete Carl Barks Library", I try to get at least one and sometimes two a year and they never fail to amaze. The quality of the actual book is as great as the quality of the stories, the art, the humor - beyond compare. This one was as good as any other that I've ever read and even includes a Mickey Mouse story at the end. I do love humor comics, everything from Donald, Mickey, Uncle Scrooge, Archie, Sad Sack, Richie Rich and the list goes on - I wish they were more of "a thing" these days but until that happens, I'll keep reading the old ones.

Great stuff! Carl Barks is a genius.

[David Corleto-Bales]

The legendary Carl Barks, (1901-2000) drew Donald Duck and his universe for Walt Disney from 1942 to 1966. In this book are cartoons from 1945 and 1946, including the only Mickey Mouse story that Barks did for Disney from 1946. Donald is typically striving for some money making venture, but also always in competition with his three enterprising nephews and trying to keep Daisy happy, (easier said than done.)

[Steven desJardins · Rating 5 out of 5]

Carl Barks hasn't quite hit his stride in this collection of early Duck comics, but everything he did was great.

[Eric · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not as great as his later work, but it has some fun stories and terrific art

[Charlie R · Rating 4 out of 5]

It’s great to see this era of Barks, where his artwork has settled in and his storytelling chops are developing. While there aren’t really many long tales, getting so many ten pagers is a treat!

[KingDanOfNewTrails · Rating 5 out of 5]

9.2/10
Not as great as Carl Barks’ later work, but I still think it’s incredible.Also this volume features the only Mickey Mouse story he ever worked on.

[Jameson · Rating 4 out of 5]

Early and late Barks are still fun, if not great fun, and this volume gets better as it goes along. And by the end even though Donald’s neck is still elongated, the stories are pretty good.

[Ondra Král · Rating 3 out of 5]

Jedny z prvních Barksových příběhů ještě dost připomínají animované grotesky a synovci jsou často pěkní parchanti.

Příjemná nostalgie, hodně příběhů vyšlo v devadesátkách i česky.

[Periplus Bookshop · Rating 5 out of 5]

Unboxing Walt Disney's Donald Duck "Mystery of the Swamp": Vol. 3 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=70GNb...