THEBRUTOPIANCONNECTION

Carl Barks made most of his comic book stories during the Cold War, and this state of affairs influenced his work to some extent. The term Cold War means a state of political tension and military rivalry between nations, and it usually applies to the political hostility that existed from 1945 to 1990 between countries led by the former Soviet Union (mainly known as Russia today) on the one side and countries chiefly led by the United States of America on the other. In the first years following the Second World War tension between the two dominating political systems of the world - Communism and Capitalism - was at its highest.
Barks took up a variety of subjects rooted in the friction and rivalry between the Soviet Union and his own country and turned them into story plots. Examples are atom bombs and arms races. It is plausible that the young readers who read the stories at the time just saw them as any other entertaining stories, but Barks' references to the epoch are plain to see and can be considered chilling commentaries on a time of unrest.

In three of his Cold War stories Barks used heavy satire when describing a fictional nation called Brutopia, which is an easily recognizable parody of the former Soviet Union. The name alone (a combination of Brutal and Utopia) leaves us with little doubt as to what kind of country this is. The eerie feeling is rapidly reinforced when we meet some of its pig-faced inhabitants: they are all criminals and spies. Barks explained: Whenever I invented a villain, he was a stinking villain. He even looked it. All those pig-faced villains, and all those guys were mean all the way through.

U$17 A COLD BARGAIN - 1957

Synopsis:
Scrooge buys all of the rare Bombastium in the world, but no one knows what it can be used for.

Comments:
At an auction sale Scrooge, the capitalist, and the Brutopian Ambassador, the communist, are fighting to get hold of a colour-changing substance that they may or may not find a use for. The substance is named Bombastium, and it is easy to see that it serves as a spoof of the ongoing arms race between the USA and the Soviet Union. Even the name has a 'bomb' in it! Apparently, Bombastium resembles radioactive material at one point; it has to be kept cold in order not to melt and self-destruct!
At long last, after hefty bidding, Scrooge emerges with the winning bid of 1 trillion dollars and 6 kitchen sinks (the Brutopian could only afford to pay 1 trillion dollars and 5 kitchen sinks)...
In the story Brutopia is portrayed as a workers' paradise filled with happy people. The parallel to the Soviet Union is easily recognizable, and Barks even lets his Brutopian Ambassador bear a striking resemblance to the Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev! Barks later denied the link, though, by stating: I should probably have given him the face of one of my sneering pig villains that appeared a lot in later years.

WDCS278 HAVE GUN, WILL DANCE - 1963

Synopsis:
The nephews have bought what they think is a toy model of the army's latest ray gun. But the weapon is very real!

Comments:
The Brutopians are at it again! This time they repeatedly try to steal an ingenious ray gun, that is a frightening weapon in the wrong hands.
This time we meet Brutopians and their sympathizers as chiefly being spies - and none of them resemble Krushchev! In the story they have placed a spy inside the mighty Quintagon (an easily recognizable version of real life's Pentagon, headquarter of the USAs department of defence), and soon Brutopian footsoldiers are alerted. Some of them find a truck loaded with ray guns and they commandeer it in the name of the revolution in Coco Nutsia. Although they (correctly) call themselves comrades, Barks made a minor slip by also letting them say Viva the Revolution at one point of time.
Whether or not Barks made another 'slip' in the story can only be speculated, but he seems to have made some sort of self-portrait picturing the Quintagon spy sitting at a drawing desk...

U$57 THE SWAMP OF NO RETURN - 1965

Synopsis:
A super teaching machine falls in the wrong hands. Meanwhile Scrooge and half of Duckburg run around aimlessly in the swamps. What is going on?

Comments:
The Brutopians are revived for the last time in Barks' stories (this time as Krushchev lookalikes again), and once more they are out to steal an object they can use in their own country, and it does not matter to them if the object is going to be used against the USA or against their own population.
This time they are after a super teaching machine that can command people to do whatever the owners wish. This could be a key object in the Brutopian leaders' handling of their own people! As the villain smirks when stealing the gadget: Imagine Brutopia's labor chief using that to get volunteers for the salt mines! Hyaaaa!
Barks made the most of the main Brutopian villain, the Ambassador, by portraying him repeatedly in almost the same hand-wringing posture throughout the story. The message is clear; beware of this world's Brutopians, kids!

EXTRA

As mentioned before, Barks made several references to the Soviet Union in other stories. One of the most notable came in WDCS126 'The Cyclone Money Crib' from 1951, in which he fantasized on capitalism vs. communism; what would happen if everyone in the country had sufficient funds and no one had to work again?
In a later interview Barks commented on the story: I'm sure the lesson I preached in this story of easy riches will get me in a cell in a Siberian gulag someday...