Carl Barks

Carl Barks (March 27, 1901 – August 25, 2000) was an American cartoonist, author, and painter. He is most famous for his Disney comic book work, where he wrote and drew the first Donald Duck stories and invented Scrooge McDuck. For most of his career, he worked without public credit; his admirers later nicknamed him "The Duck Man" and "The Good Duck Artist." In 1987, Barks became one of the three original inductees into the Will Eisner Comic Book Hall of Fame. Barks spent time at Walt Disney Productions and Western Publishing, during which he built the town of Duckburg and populated it with characters like Scrooge McDuck (1947), Gladstone Gander (1948), the Beagle Boys (1951), the Junior Woodchucks (1951), Gyro Gearloose (1952), Cornelius Coot (1952), Flintheart Glomgold (1956), John D. Rockerduck (1961), and Magica De Spell (1961). Animation historian Leonard Maltin called him "the most popular and widely read artist-writer in the world." Will Eisner described him as "the Hans Christian Andersen of comic books." Starting mainly in the 1980s, Barks’s artwork and stories became a major inspiration for animated shows like *DuckTales* and its 2017 reboot. Born near Merrill, Oregon, to William Barks and Arminta Johnson, Barks had an older brother named Clyde. His paternal grandparents were David Barks and Ruth Shrum; his maternal grandparents were Carl Johnson and Suzanna Massey. Little else is known about his ancestors, though he was a descendant of Jacob Barks, who traveled from North Carolina to Missouri around 1800. The family lived in Marble Hill, Bollinger County. Jacob’s son Isaac was the father of David Barks. Barks described his childhood as fairly isolated. His parents owned a square mile of farmland, and the closest neighbor lived half a mile away—more an acquaintance than a friend. The nearest school was about two miles off, and Barks walked there daily. The rural area had few children; his school had only eight or ten students. He praised the education he got there, often saying, "Schools were good in those days." Classes ran from nine in the morning to four in the afternoon, after which he returned to the farm. He recalled having no one to talk to, as his parents were busy and he had little in common with his brother. In 1908, hoping to boost the family income, William Barks moved them to Midland, Oregon, north of Merrill, to be near new railway lines. He started a stock-breeding farm and sold to local slaughterhouses. Nine-year-old Clyde and seven-year-old Carl worked long hours. Carl later remembered being struck by the crowds at Midland’s market—something he wasn’t used to. He was especially drawn to the cowboys, with their revolvers, odd nicknames, and humor. By 1911, the family had saved enough to move to Santa Rosa, California, where they grew vegetables and set up orchards. But profits fell short of William’s hopes, and financial strain likely triggered his first nervous breakdown. After he recovered, the family moved back to Merrill in 1913. Barks was then 12 but, due to constant moving, hadn’t finished grade school. He resumed his education and finally graduated in 1916. That year was a turning point. His mother, Arminta, died. His hearing, already poor, worsened to the point where he struggled to follow his teachers. He didn’t yet have a hearing aid; later in life, he couldn’t function without one. The nearest high school was five miles away, and with his hearing problems, he decided—much to his disappointment—to stop his schooling. Barks then tried a string of jobs: farmer, woodcutter, lathe operator, mule driver, cowboy, and printer. He later said these jobs taught him how eccentric, stubborn, and unpredictable people, animals, and machines can be. He worked alongside colleagues who faced their worst troubles with satire. Barks believed that without a little humor, they would have gone insane—an attitude he adopted. He later said it came naturally to satirize the secret yearnings, pompous styles, and disappointments of his characters. This period, he felt, shaped his best-known creations: Donald Duck and Scrooge McDuck. Donald’s drifting from job to job, and his usual lack of lasting success, came directly from Barks’s own experiences. Even when Donald succeeded, a mistake or chance event would bring another failure—something Barks knew well.