THENEIGHBOUR

Although Carl Barks lived a fairly secluded life with his wife Garé in Grants Pass, Oregon, he knew quite a number of comic book artists. He would occasionally meet other giants such as Burne 'Tarzan' Hogarth and Harold 'Prince Valiant' Foster at comic book conventions, and Garé and Carl were also friends with Hank 'Dennis the Menace' Ketcham and Henning Dahl 'Ferd'nand' Mikkelsen (known as Mik). But the one who lived closest to the couple for many years was the world-famous comic strip artist Russell Myers*. This page will tell you a little about the two men's relationship.

* Mini biography:
Russell Benton Myers was born on October 9, 1938, in Pittsburg, Kansas. After graduating from university in 1960 he worked for the Hallmark Company illustrating greeting cards. In 1970 he started his life's project when he - after an idea from writer Elliott Caplin - began writing and drawing the unique newspaper comic strip Broom-Hilda (see more HERE). During his career Myers has always been a treasured guest at different comic book conventions. He still lives in Grants Pass with his wife, and they have two children.

TITBITS

What we know of the two men's relationship chiefly comes from their correspondence that was kept up untill Barks died. In it they discussed several subjects such as their craft, the comic book business, and life with editors as well as 'reports' from many vacations. Here are a few snippets from some of Myers' letters:

The first contact:
Myers made the first contact. This happened in 1970 when he still lived in Kansas City, Missouri. The introductory letter started: Dear Mr. Barks, For almost 20 years I have been a great admirer of yours without ever knowing your identity. Then, a few weeks ago, a friend passed your name and address along after reading your interview in the comic fan publicities.
Then Myers goes on to talk about his favourite stories and the fact that his own comic strip, Broom-Hilda, was about to be published in several newspapers. The letter ends: Thanks again for many hours of entertainment and inspiration in my own work.

From day one Myers had declared his interest in Barks' comic book work, and he decided to take collector's action by going directly to the horse's mouth:
I have decided to try to fill in some of the gaps in my Barks comic collection and would like to do it the cut rate way whenever possible. Many of the earlier WDC&s and Scrooges were reprinted in later issues and I would like to buy the missing ones in reprint form. Do you know a reputable dealer in Barks comics who might have some way of coordinating such a project? He would have to be able to translate the early numbers into the reprint numbers and then supply same of supply leads to same. I'd appreciate any leads you could supply.

In 1983 Myers was about to lose his strip in the Los Angeles Times making him canvas for its continued existence:
In my 13 years of doing B-H this is far and away the most aggravating thing that has happened and any comments I may make about the Times will be strongly biased and quite grumpy. ... At this point we still do not know what is going to happen. I know for a guaranteed fact that they have received a minimum of 300 to 500 responses so far. When we see each other I'll tell you the whole frantic and amusing story. But the Times is the Times and tends to do what it wants. ... Aside from losing a lot of money and one of the two most important papers I have, the real sticker is to be replaced by one of the growing army of amateurs that seem to be taking over the comic pages. ... I apologize for having had to bug you to respond to the Times. This whole thing couldn't have happened at a worse time, assuming there is ever a good time. So many thanks for your efforts and I hope they bear fruit.

Apparently, Myers was at one point called in for jury duty, a public service that is usually not optional:
The jury duty story had a happy ending. The trial was to be a murder trial that was expected to last 4 weeks. I leapt to my feet and was one of the first to plead job conflict. The judge was not too impressed that drawing a comic strip was an essential industry but he did agree that a month was a long time to take off work without any advance notice so he excused me.

Possible retirement plans (1995):
If it seems I'm pooping out early remember that I've been drawing steadily since age 5 or so. Most people begin to think of retirement after 35 years, don't they? But thinking and doing are two different things. My accountant advises me to confine it to the thinking stage at this point. My wife and children concur. When outnumbered one must pay heed.