THEREJECTIONS

In his active comic book years from 1942 to 1966 Carl Barks wrote, drew and inked an astonishing 6,715 story pages and front covers. Although the figure is overwhelming in itself, it should also be noted that he always went the extra mile to polish and repolish his work. This was certainly not a common practice among the artists of that time!
Another astonishing feat is that Barks' work was almost always unconditionally accepted by his publishers. The rejections he experienced were few and far apart, and half of them were not even due to censorship; they most often happened because Western Publishing needed space for ads, which caused them to delete some of the panels in some of the stories.

But a few times Barks had stories and front covers rejected for other reasons. Most of the objections are not known anymore, but some of the artwork still exists.

THE REJECTED STORIES

During the time Barks drew his comic book stories the USA was swept with waves of morals codes which were intended to save the young readers from certain topics; no mentioning of death, no excessive violence, no unnecessary pain, no adult themes, no sex, and no showing of crooked lawmen, and many more.
Barks was always very careful not to cross the boundaries, but in a few instances his publishers felt he had.

In 1945 Barks drew a 10-page Christmas story (later known as 'Silent Night') intended for WDCS064, in which Donald Duck has quarrels with neighbour Jones while he and the nephews are attempting to sing carols.
In the closing scene Donald is tortured with an electric cattle prod. The editor found the story too violent and it was not published until 1990 when it appeared in the CBL (Carl Barks Library).

CBL 'Silent Night'

In 1952 Barks drew a 10-page story (later known as 'The Golden Apples') intended for WDCS144, but it was vetoed by the editor. It has been since lost. To the best of Barks' recollection it was built around the Greek myth of The Apples of the Hesperides. It took place during an apple festival at which Daisy appeared as a jealous and crusty virago and her temperaments got it rejected.

In 1957 Barks drew a 10-pager (later known as 'Bobsled Race'), which was never published. The plot circled around very heated discussions between Donald and the nephews, but it proved too violent for the editor. It is now lost.

WDCS550 'The Milkman Story'

The same year another 10-pager intended for WDCS 215 was shelved. It was simply archived as 'The Milkman Story' and it tells a tale about Donald being a perfect milkman, until he becomes extremely violent and revengeful towards a very irritating customer.
The story was finally published in WDCS550 in 1990 after having been published several places in Europe.

THE REJECTED FRONT COVERS

When Barks sketched down his visual ideas for covers he usually used pieces of tissue paper. These rough sketches would either go to the publisher for evaluation or be set aside as a less good idea. In either case, Barks was not always careful to put a date on his sketches which makes the chronological showing of the examples below somewhat difficult. Therefore, please take the order with an open mind.
Important notice: Barks would often send several versions of the same front cover gag to Western. The publisher would then choose one which Barks inked. These alternate versions are not discussed here! You are only presented with Barks-material that was later inked by other artists.

Date of sketch: 1949
Inked by: Walt Kelly
Published: WDCS111
Remarks: In 1949 Barks made a cover intended for WDCS110 but instead a cover by Kelly was used. It is not known why Barks' art was dismissed, because it actually appeared as back cover for WDCS113 two months later!!! To make things even more mysterious, Kelly was hired to redraw Barks' idea and it was published in WDCS111! However, Kelly substituted Daisy for Donald which seems quite odd, because the gag is about women's curlers. The Barksian art is shown here in a much later copy version from the Carl Barks Library inked and coloured by Bill Pearson.


Date of sketch: The 1950s Inked by: Volker Reiche Published: Danish Donald Duck paperback series Jumbobog No. 57 Remarks:


Date of sketch: 1960 Inked by: Ulrich Schröder Published: Dutch Donald Duck magazine 44/1992 Remarks:


Date of sketch: 1960 Inked by: see below Published: DELL Giant 39/1960 Remarks: It was then painted(!) by Norm McGary. Observe Donald's changed way of staring.


Date of sketch: 1961 Inked by: Daan Jippes Published: Dutch Donald Duck magazine 21/1992 Remarks: Barks received an idea which he then sketched. Unfortunately, the original sketch was not available for this page.


Date of sketch: 1961 Inked by: Daan Jippes Published: U$210 Remarks:


Date of sketch: The early 1960s Inked by: Team Tello Published: Danish Donald Duck magazine 18/1995 Remarks: Barks later inked the sketch for a friend. The published version features a real bull.


Date of sketch: The early 1960s Inked by: Published: Dutch album series Alle Klassieke Verhalen 17 Remarks: Unfortunately, the inked version was not available for this page.


Date of sketch: The early 1960s Inked by: Ulrich Schröder Published: Dutch Donald Duck magazine 36/1984 Remarks:


Date of sketch: The 1960s Inked by: William van Horn Published: The Carl Barks Library In Color, Gyro Gearloose 6 Remarks:


Date of sketch: The 1970s Inked by: Ulrich Schröder Published: Dutch Donald Duck magazine 13/1985 Remarks:


Date of sketch: The 1970s Inked by: Michel Nadorp Published: Dutch Donald Duck magazine 52/1982 Remarks:

EXTRA

Before his comic book career started Barks was earning a living in the animated shorts studios at Disney's. This gave him valuable expertise later in his professional life. Here are two examples of Barks' encounters with the cartoon industry - one from 1936 and one from 1955.

('Desert Prospectors')

In 1936 Barks wrote a 4-page scenario which he called Desert Prospectors. It featured Mickey Mouse, Goofy, and Donald Duck as gold hunters, but two years later the short was retitled Lost Prospectors starring Donald Duck and Gus Goose. After that it was shelved. However, Barks' original concept drawing for a cover has survived.

U$10

In 1955 Barks was asked by Disney's if he would be free to write a manuscript for a Scrooge cartoon. At the time Scrooge was a great success in the comic books and Disney now wanted to introduce the readers to him in cartoons as well. Not only was Barks free - just 6 days later he presented a 9-page script. But the script was never used, because Disney's soon after decided to concentrate on TV-shows instead. However, one idea from the story survived and the resulting drawing was used for the front cover for U$10.