THESTORYIDEA

When Carl Barks stopped writing and drawing duck stories in 1966 his files were still full of material for many more stories! There were countless scraps of paper containing loose ideas, plotlines, and short synopses as well as sketchy drawings and research material in the format of clippings from magazines. A few of Barks' ideas almost made it to the drawing board but were scrapped for different reasons (see one example HERE). And a few were transformed into stories by other artists with Barks as an interested and energetic consultant (see more HERE).
But when Barks passed away this option ceased. All the material was locked down, but a string of Internet auctions brought it forward and it has now been spread all over the world to happy and dedicated fans. Some of it has been published 'as is' (this website has numerous pages containing a fraction of the various material), but it was only recently that one artist tried his hand in transforming one of Barks' sketchy synopses into a published story. This page shows a glimpse of the frontrunner's work. Hopefully, more stories will be added by gifted writers and artists.

Jippes and Barks in the VNU-building

THE ARTIST

The first artist to have a story based on a sketchy synopsis published after Barks' death is Dutch cartoonist Daniel Jan 'Daan' Jippes. To Barks fans he has long been known for his fine emulation of The Good Artist's drawing style, and he drew and redrew numerous stories, while Barks was still alive. He also made a series of astonishing front covers depicting Barks stories, some of which can be seen HERE.
During Barks' triumphant European tour in 1994 Jippes and Barks met at the editorial office of the Dutch Donald Duck magazine. The De Geïllustreerde Pers BV (VNU) building is situated in Haarlem west of Amsterdam in Holland. The meeting took place on the 13th of July.

THE SYNOPSIS

It is commonly known that story ideas came to Barks around the clock, and he had to quickly jot them down in order not to forget them. When at home he had access to sheets of paper and notebooks, but when he was out he would usually grab the first piece of paper he could lay his hands on.
Such was the case with this story. On the last day of 1963 Barks visited the Old Mountain Nursery (a plant shop) when he conceived the overall idea. Resolutely, he jotted down a short synopsis on the back of the invoice. Here it is, but it would take almost half a century before it turned into a story...

THE PRODUCT

Jippes wrote the Gyro Gearloose story as a normal 4-pager, and he had, of course, to fill it in with more gag ideas. This resulted in a solid product entirely in Barks' spirit. Jippes' inked version of the first page is presented to the left, ready for mailing to Egmont Publishing. As you can see, the story received the code D2010-007 and the title The Doorman Doormat. When the pages were ready Jippes signed them all, thus preparing them for sale later on. It is interesting to see that Barks and Jippes used the same method of cutting the large sheets of paper into halves, enabling an easier management of the material, before it was rejoined with tape.
To the right you can see the corresponding, published page. So far the story has only been published in Denmark, Norway, and Sweden, and you are viewing the Danish edition. The title is Den Mageløse Måtte, which loosely translates into The One-of-a-kind Mat, and both Barks and Jippes have been credited for the story.