A Green Christmas For Uncle Scrooge

What better time than Christmastime to feature some Christmas art from Carl Barks? Here's a classic cover from Uncle Scrooge # 16 December 1956. In creating the character of Scrooge McDuck, Barks of course was inspired by Ebeneezer Scrooge in Charles Dickens' A Christmas Carol, using the Dickens character's last name as Donald's uncle's first. The difference between E. Scrooge and Uncle Scrooge is that, as seen in this cover art, Uncle Scrooge enjoys Christmas as long as it's done right. Speaking of Carl Barks, Peter Kylling's extensive Barks website has posted an interview I conducted with the "Good Artist." It's not necessarily Christmastime reading but then again 'tis always the season for the creator of Uncle Scrooge.

Fantagraphics To Publish Carl Barks

This news has been all over the internet since early this morning but it's worth repeating: After already announcing this past summer plans to publish Floyd Gottfredson's classic Mickey Mouse comic strip in hard cover volumes (the announcement was the news of the 2010 San Diego Comic-Con), that fantastic publisher of comics Fantagraphics got 2011 off to a ducky start by announcing today that they will publish the complete Disney comic-book work of master comics writer/artist Carl Barks. In a very wise move, Fantagraphics will start with Barks' top-of-the-crop work (rather than starting with Barks' still-evolving first stories), with Volume One (to be published this fall) spotlighting some of the epic Donald Duck book-length adventures and Volume Two to showcase Carl's first epic Uncle Scrooge adventures. For more details and an in-depth interview with editor Gary Groth about the Barks project hurry on over to Robot 6. This of course fits right in with my current Walt Disney's Comics and Stories postings, the past and future home of Carl Barks' Donald comic stories. More to come!

Walt's People And Me

Newly published, Walt's People Volume 8 is the latest edition in the extraordinary series of published interviews with artists, family members, Studio personnel, and others who knew and worked with Walt Disney. Edited by Disney historian Didier Ghez with caricatures by Pete Emslie (Hi Pete!) on the cover, this volume includes an interview I conducted with Carl Barks. (In a sense, mine is a cover story as Carl is one of the cover caricatures.) I'm in good company, as the other historians whose interviews are in this edition include John Canemaker, Jim Korkis, Dave Smith, Mike Barrier, John Culhane, J.B.Kaufman and many more. To read my interview with the great Carl Barks (and many others) order your copy of Walt's People Volume 8 here.