Carl Barks seems to have been somewhat fascinated by elephants during his adult life*. At least these pachyderms were recurring subjects in some of his Disney artwork. Early in his career Barks was involved with an Elmer Elephant cartoon short that was never finished (see more HERE, section 2). And late in his life Elmer Elephant was suddenly present in three painting sketches (see more HERE). On this page you are presented to examples of Barks' use of elephants in his comic book stories.
* Barks' political views were those of the Republican party. Their mascot is an elephant, but surely that is a coincidence...!
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STORIES Barks only drew 3 nails on the elephants' feet in his stories. The correct number of nails for the Asian elephants are 5 on the front legs and 4 on the back legs, whereas the African elephants have 4 and 3. |
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 MOC20 Darkest Africa - 1948 Donald is a butterfly hunter who goes to Africa to collect the world's rarest butterfly with a villainous competitor following him. But in the end Donald succeeds in getting rid of the villain by making hundreds of elephants stampede... |
 WDCS200 'Pet Service' - 1957 Donald establishes a pet service and the nephews have to look after the customers' strange pets; hungry hummingbirds, a playful giant dog pup, a timid anteater, an old spider, a large number of flesh-eating fish - and an enterprising elephant... |
 FC1095 Tale of the Tape - 1960 (1-pager) Gyro wants to know if he snores so he sets his tape recorder to work all night. During this a circus parks outside and an elephant power-snores at the garden window. In the morning Gyro is flabbergasted to hear horrendous snoring from the recorder... |
 U$57 'Elephant Cup' - 1965 (1-pager) A poor man asks Scrooge for 5 dollars for a cup of coffee, which is normally a dime a cup. The explanation is that the coffee is meant for the man's elephant. |
 FC1161 The Whole Herd of Help - 1961 Scrooge gives Grandma an elephant that can do all the chores at her farm. Packy proves a fine helper, but the farm animals have nothing to do... |
 WDCS277 Duckburg Pet Parade - 1963 The Duckburgians are busy training their pets for the great parade. Donald feels confident that he will win first prize with his trained elephant... |
 FC1010 The Flying Farm Hand - 1959 Dumbo the flying elephant is good at scaring the crows from the corn at Grandma Duck's farm but it is a bit harder to prevent the mischievous Brer Fox from stealing the corn. |
 U$64 Treasure of Marco Polo - 1966 Scrooge is at the harbour to collect a precious jade elephant from Unsteadystan but he only encounters a mysterious stowaway. As it turns out the elephant is hollow and can be operated from within... |
 U$54 The Billion Dollar Safari - 1964 Scrooge's zoo is failing and in order to get some more guests he will pay a billion dollars for a speckled elephant with a square trunk! In the end panel Barks treats us to an impressive elephant ballet! |
| FILLERS In several stories diverse types of elephants are present in single panels: |
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 MOC04 Maharajah Donald - 1947 |
 FC0300 Bigtop Bedlam - 1950 |
 U$19 The Mines of King Solomon - 1957 |
 WDCS212 'Around the World' - 1958 |
 U$26 Krankenstein Gyro - 1959 |
 WDCS308 The Beauty Business - 1966 |
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EXTRA |
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At the start of their combined comic book teamwork
Carl's new wife, Garé, paid tribute to his affection for elephants by
suggesting a written joke that was promptly incorporated in the above
story. |
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http://www.cbarks.dk/THEELEPHANTSTORIES.htm |
Date 2016-07-15 |
