THECLICHESTORY

Carl Barks did not seem to have many interests besides his all-consuming Disney duck work, which he practiced for more than 50 years within the fields of comic books and paintings. In relaxed moments he would sit down playing solitaire, or he would visit acquaintances with his wife, but he did not own a TV set until his last years. For thrills Barks would go to local cinemas, where his preferred type of entertainment was Western films, allegedly because of their simple message of good and evil.
Barks made several stories and painted many paintings with Western motifs, but in FC0199 Sheriff of Bullet Valley from 1948 he poked fun of the transparent heroism by stuffing his story with both real and phony references to the popular genre. No doubt, Barks had a heyday making this particular comic book. This is the story.

TEXT
Examples of pompous narration and funny dialogue presented as they appear in the story.

Narration: The wild and woolly West! Land where long-horned cattle roamed, and bow-legged desperadoes lived by the speed of their six-guns! Where every traveler was the victim of highwaymen, and every fat steer the prey of rustlers!

From the start of the story Donald sees himself as a heroic lawman. On meeting the local sheriff for the first time he is being turned down as a helper, though. His reaction: That's what they told Sagebrush Savage in the picture 'Blistering Bullets', but he cleaned up the gang singlehandedly. And in 'Gunsmoke Gulch' Wild Bill Carson trapped sixty rustlers in a box canyon!

The sheriff argues that modern rustlers are smart, a statement that has little effect on Donald: There was a gang like that in the picture 'Gory Gap', but Trigger Trueshot found 'em hiding in a haystack! He put 'em through a baler and hauled 'em to the sheriff in bales, two tons at a time!

The sheriff capitulates and appoints Donald deputy in order to catch some rustlers, and the wannabe responds: I'll do like Ramrod Ransom did in 'Gunfire on the Rio'! I'll catch 'em with their brandin' irons in the fire!

Riding off town: I bet I look just like Rimfire Remington when he rode out of Abilene in 'Carnage on the Cimarron'!

Shortly after Donald is conned by the rustlers and heads back to town: I begin to smell a plot! There was a mix-up like this in the picture 'Fagin's Fangs'! Horace Mustang jailed hundreds of innocent men before he discovered that the leader of the rustlers was his kindly old grandmother!

Donald happens to find the rustled cattle furnished with new branding marks: I saw the same trick in the picture 'Shuddering Saddles'! Stumpalong Hoppity brought the culprits to justice!

Narration: The badlands! Skulking place of birds of prey, of the vicious sidewinder and breeding places of fear and hate, and its ugly rocks dark with the stain of crimes forever unrecorded!

Donald rides out for a showdown with Blacksnake McQuirt, the chief rustler: Reminds me of the chase sequence in 'Powderburns on the Powderhorn'!

On arrival Donald holds up the badman, who demands a fair fight. Donald replies while holstering his six-guns: Okay! I'm no coward! Rimfire Remington always does this in his pictures! Blacksnake immediately shoots Donald through his holsters: Swell! But Rimfire Remington can shoot faster than you can, punk! And so can Blacksnake McQuirt!

After having outgunned Donald Blacksnake rides along singing: I'm an old cowthief and I loves my beef! Barks refers to an old standard titled I'm a Old Cowhand from the Rio Grande. A bit later Blacksnake continues merrily: I'm an old cowpoke, an' I loves my joke!

After having only been stunned by the shots, Donald catches up with Blacksnake and decides to scare him this time: I'll haunt him like Trigger Trueshot haunted the villain in 'Ghost of the Gunnison'!

A fierce gunfight ensues during which Donald manages to fire at least 17 rounds with his two six-guns without reloading, while yelling: Move around so you'll get in the way of my bullets! After having forced Blacksnake on a hasty retreat Donald's very potent six-guns run dry: That never happened in Trigger Trueshot's pictures!

Narration: In the glow of the Western twilight, two horsemen ride from the shadows of the terrible badlands!

Donald has captured Blacksnake: A job well done! In a single day deputy Duck rounds up the rustler gang! Not even Trigger Trueshot could do better...

Donald is appointed sheriff of Bullet Valley, but when the bank is being robbed, he is indisposed. The nephews get the last word: He's at the Red Saddle Theater. Carson Sage is there tonight in 'Law of the Roaring Winchesters'!

EXTRA

You may have sleuthed out some of the names of real Western heroes (that Barks placed in the story in his own variations), and whom he undoubtedly had watched in the darkness of the cinemas. In a few other of his Western themed stories Barks scattered more hero names around as he did in FC0328 In Old California!, where the nephews express their admiration for the romantic hero's lassoing skills: That guy is as good as Autry Mack Brown Rogers, which is an easily identifiable reference to the real Western heroes Gene Autry, Johnny Mack Brown, and Roy Rogers (see more on them all HERE).
Also, Barks may have dreamed up the very title of his story, Sheriff of Bullet Valley, by watching the 1946 Western titled Sheriff of Redwood Valley featuring hero names such as Red Ryder, Little Beaver, and The Reno Kid.

GALLERY Examples of pastiche panels relating to standard Western film scenes.