CP09 Christmas in Duckburg

Barks often incorporated personal bits of information in his stories, although they were rarely spotted by the average reader at the initial times of publishing. Apart from the fact that he formerly had many very diverse jobs that gave him insight which could be used especially in the 10-pagers with Donald, he also drew several familiar locations as well as mentioned many names of family members and friends.

WDCS165 'The Way to Stardom'

Barks always liked music but he never listened to it while he was working. He never was especially interested in the latest novelties in the audio market and he only owned a CD player in his last years because some friends bought it for him. Barks' taste in music tended to be the work of composers like Steven Foster and singers like Perry Como (performing here in Donald's TV) and Bing Crosby.

FC0422 The Gilded Man

In this story Barks placed his ducks in British Guiana to enable them to meet El Dorado, the legendary figure of a gilded man. However, Barks was mistaken when assuming that the figure was from the modern British Guiana; the figure is supposed to come from Guyana, an enormous area which originally covered almost all of the northern area of South America from coast to coast.

MOC41 Race to the South Seas

Barks paid tribute to Mickey Mouse artist Floyd Gottfredson by naming Scrooge's good lawyer Sylvester Shyster, which was the name of Gottfredson's evil lawyer character. Gottfredson never 'retaliated'.

The Smoking Barks

Barks was a pipe smoker for many years, but he managed to quit the habit before his retirement. The cartoon shown above was made by colleague Charles 'Chuck' Couch during the Disney years.

WDCS092 'Child Upbringing'

Donald's beak changed appearance many times over the years. Barks later admitted that its length to a great extent depended on other people's personal opinions and casual remarks.

FC0159 The Old Castle's Secret

Barks managed to press an astonishing 73 death related references (the word Death, graveyard, ancestors, ghosts, and so on) into this scary story despite the fact that any kinds of references to Death was banned from the Disney comics!

Peggy Barks

One of Barks' few contributors was his eldest daughter Peggy. She came up with basic ideas for 5 - later published - stories when she was in her thirties, and her father paid her the handsome sum of 10 dollars per idea.

WDCS165 'The Way to Stardom'

Barks did not own a television set until he was in his mid 70s. As a young man he was dedicated to his work at the drawing board to such an extent that he had no use for a TV. He later admitted that he found it boring, anyway.

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Some of Garé's first work for her husband

Late in 1952, on their second date, Carl and Garé were in a car accident which injured Garé's back and forced her into convalescence for several months. From the bed Garé was unable to pursue her career as a painter and Carl suggested that she could help him with his work instead. Headers for the 10-pagers constitute Garé's first inking work.

FC0275 Ancient Persia

Barks was increasingly interested in ancient times. This was reflected in his many adventure stories based on stories from Greek and Nordic mythology, as well as other ancient lands. Barks was also moderately interested in archaeology. He once named the ancient realm of Persia as one of his favourite spots.

Russell Myers

Barks met several well-known comic book artists outside the Disney universe over the years; Hal 'Prince Valiant' Foster, Mik 'Ferdnand', and Mort 'Beetle Bailey' Walker are examples. A good friend was Russell 'Broomhilda' Myers who lived in the neighbourhood, and who also attended Barks' funeral as one of the pallbearers.

U$29 Island in the Sky

In 1983 Floyd Gottfredson and Barks were interviewed together and asked to name their own favourite story. Gottfredson chose his opus Island in the Sky. Then Barks announced: The one I like best now is Island in the Sky! Barks was referring to his own story which, by pure chance, had the same title as Gottfredson's story...

Yellow-billed Magpie

Barks actually lived with the Beagle Boys for many years! The fact is, that Garé kept, in a large cage on the covered patio, a half-dozen tame, tropical American yellow-billed magpies which she called The Beagle Boys.

WDCS201 'Super Dye'

When Barks invented Gyro Gearloose he was only supposed to be an occasional character in the stories. Later, Barks expressed his vexation that he had not drawn him in a simpler way, i.e. without hair, hat, spectacles and waistcoat.

Detroit Electric

Grandma Duck is driving the only car that Barks took from the real world - an electric car from the Detroit Electric Company. Originally, it first showed up occasionally in Al Taliaferro's newspaper strips but Barks used the vehicle quite often.

FC0263 Land of the Totem Poles

Although Barks never went abroad himself before his European tour in 1994 (apart from occasional visits to neighbouring Mexico) he actually once journeyed to British Columbia in Canada to research for authentic scenery. The result was presented in this story from 1950.

Barks' toolshed in 1974

Barks was always fond of working with wood in his spare time. At one point he stated that he would have liked to be a restorer of antique furniture! In 1951 his wife Clara had her leg amputated at the knee, and Carl showed his skills by constructing a wooden leg for her.

'San Jacinto Valley Register' Oct. 1948

In interviews Barks expressed that he would have liked to have been a successful inventor if all else had failed. In this statement lies the seed to his astonishing inventiveness. This cartoon which appeared on the front page of the local newspaper is one of his early achievements.