In his comic book stories Carl Barks had his primary characters visit a number of both invented and real capital cities of the world. The geographic locations in themselves were not exactly capital ideas per say, as they never contributed much to the plotlines, but you will find several scattered around in more or less recognizable forms. However, it is not commonly known that Barks himself visited a number of capitals during his life, although he was known for his general reluctance to travel. Still, he managed to tour quite a few state capitals either as a private citizen or as a promoter for his work!
This page submits - in alphabetical order - brief information on the bulk of the capitals that Barks or his characters visited over time, and the examples are accompanied by relevant pictures.   

 

 

 


ATLANTA, Georgia
CB receives honorary citizenship in 1993
BAGHDAD, Iraq
U$50 Rug Riders in the Sky
BANG-SOCK, Unsteadystan
U$64 The Treasure of Marco Polo

BOSTON, Massachusetts
CB and Garé at the Newcon in 1976
CAIRO, Egypt
U$25 The Pyramid Hunt
CHICAGO, Illinois
CB at the Comicon Convention in 1996

COPENHAGEN, Denmark
CB visited Jun 9-13, 1994
DAMASCUS, Syria
U$10 The Fabulous Philosopher's Stone
DUCKBURG, Calisota
Homebase for CBs characters

GLASGOW, Scotland
U$29 Hound of the Whiskervilles
HAVANA, Cuba
FC0495 'The Horseradish Story'
HELSINKI, Finland
CB visited Jun 13-17, 1994

KHUNZA, Kingdom of Hunza
U$McD Go Slowly, Sands of Time
KINGSTON, Jamaica
FC0495 'The Horseradish Story'
LONDON, England
CB visited Jul 14-19, 1994*

MANILA, The Philippines
U$46 Lost Beneath the Sea
MINNEAPOLIS, Minnesota
CB lived in this apartment hotel 1931-1935
NEW ORLEANS, Louisiana
U$GTD 'The Fantastic River Race'

OSLO, Norway
CB visited Jun 3-8, 1994
PARIS, France
CB visited Jul 7-11, 1994


REYKJAVIK, Iceland
CB visited May 31 - Jun 3, 1994

ROME, Italy
U$36 The Midas Touch
SACRAMENTO, California
FC0328 In Old California!
SALEM, Oregon
CB receives honorary citizenship in 1995

SEATTLE, Washington State
CB drew most of FC0456 Klondike here
STOCKHOLM, Sweden
CB visited Jun 18-20, 1994
TRIPOLI, Libya
WDCS212 'Rocket Race'

VALHALLA, Norse Gods' Realm
U$34 Mythtic Mystery
VOLCANOVIA, Volcanovia
FC0147 Volcano Valley
WARSAW, Poland
CB visited Jun 20-23, 1994*
* When Barks' itinerary for his great European tour in 1994 was in the planning, two more capitals were scheduled:
Jun 21-23 BERLIN, Germany (but WARSAW, Poland was chosen instead),
Jul 14-17 ZURICH, Kanton Zürich, Switzerland (but LONDON, England was chosen instead).

 

 

EXTRA

TULELAKE
The capital that never was!

In his stories Barks made a few references to the small Californian town area of Tulelake. At the time Tulelake was well known for its fine potatos (Barks mentioned them as Taters in WDCS206 'Hotel Manager' and as Spuds in WDCS312 The Not-So-Ancient-Mariner), but it was very famous for producing 1/3 of the USAs combined harvest of horseradish. This earned the town the unofficial title of Horseradish Capital of the World!
It is plausible that Barks chose this special root in acknowledgement of his older brother Clyde who lived in Tulelake as a hotel owner, and these facts probably also triggered the choice of the plotline object in FC0495 'The Horseradish Story'...

 

 
http://www.cbarks.dk/THECAPITALS.htm   Date 2012-08-31