Ducktales comics read online in Russian. Who Invented Duck Tales? The comics that started it all. Why you should read Duck Tales
The nineties can be remembered in different ways. For some, this is a dashing era of "wild capitalism" and crimson jackets. And for some - the time of a cozy childhood, games on Dendy and Sega and Disney cartoons on weekends. And the first to break into the screens of our country were perky ducks. Their massive popularity in Russia, as, indeed, in America, began in 1987 with the animated series "Duck Tales", but the first comics about Donald and his nephews appeared in the early thirties. In this article, we invite you on an exciting journey through the "duck" universe. Zigzag, backwater!
It all started with Donald
The hot-tempered drake in a peakless cap was born in June 1934 in the cartoon "Wise Little Hen" and in the fall of the same year he made his debut on the pages of newspaper comics. Early Donald lived in the country, was much more emotional and carefree: he had neither a girlfriend, nor nephews, nor a rich uncle.
THE FIRST APPEARANCE OF DONALD, THE CARTOON "WISE LITTLE FEMALE". THE LAZY DRUG DROWNED FROM THE WORK, BUT RUNNED TO THE GIFT TREATMENT
At first, Donald remained a minor character in the Mickey comics, but eventually came to the fore in the Silly Symphonies strips. In 1937, Donald had nephews Huey, Dewey and Louis (known to us as Billy, Willie and Dilly). Uncle looked after triplets, whose father ended up in the hospital after their next prank. At first, the guys were inveterate hooligans and always made fun of their uncle, but over time their character improved. The nephews were supposed to return home when dad got to his feet, but in the end, the three stayed with their uncle, and their parents were no longer remembered.
DONALD AND HIS NEPHIES IN NEWSPAPER STRIPES
By the way, the names of heroes are localized not only here. In Finland, where Donald is so popular that he is sometimes voted for in elections in protest, the drake's name is Aku Ankka. And in Italy he is known as Paperino.
YES, IN EARLY NEWSPAPER COMICS, DONALD WAS YELLOW
And in 1942, Donald's finest hour came: Western Publishing received a license for comics about Disney characters. The plot of the first story "Donald Duck is looking for a pirate treasure" was invented by the studio's scriptwriters, and the drawing was entrusted to the artist Karl Barks. Karl was then working as an animator for Disney, but he was oppressed by a studio system that kills creativity. He was considering quitting and starting a duck farm. Fortunately, Barks also liked to draw ducks - he took a new order from Western and at the same time offered to finalize the script. The result impressed the editors so much that from the second issue Karl was also entrusted with the work of the screenwriter. The next thirty years for "Duck Tales" became the era of Karl Barks.
Donald at Barks remained a hot-tempered, boastful lazy person, but he learned to take responsibility and began to speak clearly. He took care of his nephews, although this made him break away from his beloved idleness. The tenacity with which Donald sought a job can only be matched by the persistence with which he lost it.
"Donald is sometimes the villain in my stories, but he's mostly a good guy, even though he makes stupid mistakes like a typical person."
Karl Barks
BARKS WAS VERY CAREFULLY ABOUT THE DRAWING. FOR EXAMPLE, FOR ILLUSTRATIONS WITH SUNNED VESSELS, HE WAS STUDYING NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC ISSUES
Scrooge takes the stage
In 1947, in the comic "Christmas on Bear Mountain," Donald had an eccentric millionaire uncle living in a secluded manor in the mountains. In this story, intended as an allusion to A Christmas Carol and Citizen Kane, Scrooge wanted to
go over Donald and his nephews to see if they deserve to inherit his fortune.
IN "CHRISTMAS" SCRUGE STAR, BEARDED, RELIES ON A CANE AND WEARS GLASSES
“Scrooge from Christmas on Bear Mountain was my first version of a rich old uncle. I made him too old and weak - and only then I realized that he should be more mobile. The decrepit old man could not have accomplished everything I had planned for him. "
Karl Barks
Scrooge was invented at once, but the old curmudgeon liked the public, and Barks began to use him again in stories about Donald, sometimes even as a villain. Noticing the popularity of the character, the publishing house offered to build the plot of another story around him. So in 1952, the comic strip "Just a Poor Old Man" was published in Four Color. From that moment on, Scrooge began to pull the blanket over himself. Now he became the main adventurer, and Donald and the company were left with the role of not always volunteer assistants.
Good duck artist
Karl Barks got his start at Disney drawing short films about Donald. But he gained real recognition when he began to draw comics. Barks created about 500 "duck stories". It was he who invented Uncle Scrooge and most of the minor characters in the cycle. As a rule, he alone did all the work: he wrote the script, drew sketches and painted illustrations.
For many years his name remained unknown - Disney rules forbade specifying artists and screenwriters. Generations of fans only knew Barks by nicknames like The Good Duck Artist. The secret of his identity was revealed only in the late 1960s, when Barks retired. He died in 2000, just before he was 100 years old.
“Rereading my own stories, I realized that I had laid in them philosophical ideas that I had not even guessed at that time. I think the philosophy in my comics is conservative: in my opinion, civilization reached its peak in 1910. Since then we have been rolling downhill. The old culture has qualities that the remake cannot achieve. Take a look at these wonderful cathedrals and palaces! Now this is not being built. I think we should keep the old ideals and methods of work - honor and honesty. We must allow others to believe in their own ideals, we don’t have to cut everyone with the same brush. That's what I don't like about the modern political system: it tries to make everyone the same. "
Karl Barks
The life and times of Don Rosa
DON ROSA. IF BARKS CREATED THE "DUCK STORIES" AS WE KNOW THEM, THEN ROSA ORDERED THEM
The Life and Times of Don Rosa In 1984, Western went bankrupt, but the ducks did not find a new home for long: Gladstone was licensed. They mostly republished old comics, but they were looking for fresh blood as well. Gladstone hired a young artist, Don Rosa, who attracted the editor with his unshakable belief that he was destined to revive Duck Tales.
THE LIFE AND TIMES OF SCROOGE McDUK INSPIRED NIGHTWISH LEADER TOUOMAS HOLOPEINEN TO WRITE TO THIS SOUNDTRACK COMIC. THE COVER OF THE ALBUM WAS DRAWED BY ROSA HIMSELF
Like Barks, Rosa was self-taught and learned to draw from idols. Rosa's first works for Gladstone are a clear imitation of Barks: he invented the plots himself, but redrew the background and poses of the characters from old comics. Rosa considered only Barks stories canon and was guided by them. He moved the action to the 1950s and 1960s, when the Good Duck Artist comics took place, and wrote a number of sequels to his stories. Over the years, Rosa himself has acquired a cult status. He regained interest in ducks and did a great job organizing Barks comics. After analyzing Scrooge's chatter about family and past adventures, Rosa compiled his family tree and wrote a biography of a rich drake - the graphic novel The Life and Times of Scrooge McDuck.
IN HIS FIRST "DUCK" COMIC "SON OF THE SUN" ROSA INTENTIONALLY COPIED BARKS'S DRAWINGS
ALTHOUGH DONALD IS MORE FAMOUS FOR SPRING, SCROOGE WAS NOT A FOOL TO FIGHT IN YOUTH
MCDUCK IN THE DARK "ERA OF INITIAL ACCUMULATION OF CAPITAL" IN THE WILD WEST
The Life of Scrooge (Chronology of Don Rosa)
1867. Scrooge was born in Glasgow to Fergus McDuck and Downey O'Drake. He was the eldest child, later he had sisters Matilda and Hortense.
1877. To make money, Scrooge becomes a shoe shiner. The first customer cheats the boy by paying with a dime, useless in Scotland. Scrooge will keep the coin for life as a symbol of success and vow that no one else will be able to cheat him.
1880. 13-year-old Scrooge leaves for the USA and gets a job as a cabin boy on the river steamer of his uncle Angus McDuck. Angus soon retired and gave the ship to his nephew, but the Gavs Brothers gang destroyed the ship. Scrooge decides to try his luck in the Wild West.
1896–1899. After unsuccessful attempts to find gold, Scrooge comes to the Klondike, and luck smiles at him. On the Klondike McDuck meets the owner of the saloon Goldie Gold. He will keep his love for her for life.
1902. Scrooge becomes a billionaire and moves to the hamlet of Duxburg, Calisota.
1930. McDuck becomes the richest drake in the world, but in pursuit of profit forgets about his family and finally quarrels with her.
1942. Falling into depression, Scrooge decides to retire and fences himself off from the whole world in his manor on Bear Mountain.
1947. Scrooge meets with his nephew Donald and his great-nephews Billy, Willie and Dilly. An interest in life awakens in him, and together they set off towards adventure.
1967. Non-canon Date - Like Barks, Scrooge dies at the age of one hundred after a life of adventure.
THE MACDAC FAMILY TREE FROM DON ROSA
DuckTales
THE UNFORGETTABLE MAIN THEME OF THE MULTISERIAL WRITTEN BY MARK MUELLER, AND WITHOUT IT NOW IT IS IMPOSSIBLE TO PRESENT THE "DUCK STORIES". EVEN IN THE RESTART IT WAS SAVED
In the mid-1980s, Disney decided to invest heavily in television cartoons for syndication. What does this term mean? Usually studios produce content for a specific channel, which has the final say. Low ratings, bad reviews, disliking management - and the show is closed. But if the show goes to syndication, the studio can directly sell the broadcast rights to dozens of channels around the world.
The show could be syndicated only after breaking a certain barrier - for animated series it was 65 episodes. Disney needed to film them before they could start talking to buyers. It was a big risk: if it failed, the studio could lose $ 20 million. It was necessary to understand what to bet on.
IN THE CARTOON, MONEY HAS BEEN SERVED TO SCROOGE AS A NOSTALGIC REMINDER OF PAST ADVENTURES. HE COULD REMEMBER HOW I EARNED EACH OF HIS COINS
Duck Tales was not an obvious choice: Disney was initially going to release it as an hour-long series on one of the major channels. But syndication chief Bob Jakumin saw the show's potential and snapped Disney CEO Michael Eisner's permission to do Duck Tales himself.
The animation production was transferred to Asia - the Taiwanese studio Wang Film and the Japanese Tokyo Movie Shinsha. For this, the American press accused Disney of trying to shoot cartoons at a cheap price, although in reality it did not work out to save money - the falling dollar rate only increased costs. Each episode of "Duck Tales" cost 300 thousand. But time has confirmed Disney was right. Now "Ducks" are considered classics, and the level of their animation is the standard.
Experienced actors were involved in the dubbing of the series. The role of Scrooge was entrusted to legendary comedian Alan Young (1919–2016), whose career began in the 1940s. Young returned to this role more than once: the last time he voiced Scrooge four months before his death, in an episode of the animated series "Mickey Mouse".
The plot was based on Barks' comics, but not everything was followed to the original source. One of the key differences was the almost complete absence of Donald, who was sent to serve in the Navy in the story. With Barks, he played an important role, but Jakumin decided that in "Duck Tales" Duck would appear sporadically, and the focus would be on the relationship between Scrooge and his nephews. There are several reasons why Donald was pushed into the background. First, the studio did not want to "waste" one of the most popular characters, putting him in a secondary role. Secondly, Duck talks a lot at Barks - and in cartoons he speaks slurred. The vacant space was filled with new characters: the gallant pilot Zigzag McCruck, the prim butler Duckworth, the wise housekeeper Mrs. Kluvdia, her granddaughter Ponochka and the dumbass Bobblehead.
The premiere took place on September 18, 1987. At first, the press was skeptical about "Duck Tales", accusing the series of poor quality, whitewashing Scrooge and not respecting the spirit of comics. But the audience was delighted. The ratings were so high that Disney ordered additional episodes - in the end, "Ducks" lasted four seasons.
What is the reason for the success? From the opening chords, the Duck Tales screensavers carried viewers into a world full of adventure. A world where the dreamer Scrooge invited every week to go in search of the crown of Genghis Khan, Atlantis or the Lost World. Young viewers were shown the richness and diversity of the world and encouraged to explore. You can't learn the history of the Great Geographical Discoveries, the American Civil War or the Klondike Gold Rush from Duck Tales, but the series showed that learning and learning new things is interesting. No wonder Scrooge said that he owed his outlook to books.
The series unobtrusively preached family values \u200b\u200band business ethics. Scrooge earned his fortune by honest work, not deviating from principles. If in comics McDuck loved money most of all, then in the animated series he was more interested in the treasure hunt itself. And most important to Scrooge was family. More than once McDuck was forced to choose between wealth and nephews - and each time he chose a family. At the same time, morality did not harm the fascination - all the series today look in one breath.
BARKS'S COMICS INSPIRED THE AUTHORS OF INDIANA JONES. AND THE CREATORS OF THE "TREATMENT LAMP" LEFT IN THE PICTURE A LOT OF REFERENCES TO "INDIANA"
The success of Ducks marked the beginning of the era of the Disney renaissance. They were followed by other successful series: "Chip and Dale", "Miracles on the bends", "Black Cloak". In the wake of Disney's success, they tried to shoot a full-length cartoon "Duck Tales: The Coveted Lamp." If successful, he could become the first in the series: according to rumors, there were other feature films in development about both ducks and about Chip and Dale. However, "The Coveted Lamp" did not "shoot" - it seemed to critics and spectators that it just looked like a lengthy series of "Duck Tales". At the box office, the cartoon earned only $ 18 million - not a failure, but they put an end to the plans to transfer the animated series to the big screen.
THE BLACK CAPE ACTION TURNS IN THE WORLD OF DUCK STORIES, BUT WITH THE EXCEPT OF THE ZIGZAG AND THE TECHNODAK (ALSO SUPER CRACK) BETWEEN THE SERIES IS ALMOST NO CROSSING
And soon the "Duck Tales" ended. In the fall of 1990, the last season of eight episodes was released, ending with an epic finale, where the heroes saved the world from a golden apocalypse.
Ducks in Russia
"Duck Tales" became the first TV series shown in the Soviet Union, and comics followed in the USSR. Since 1989, Egmont Publishing House has started publishing the Mickey Mouse comics, and in the early nineties, Duck Tales, Mikkidetective, The Little Mermaid and Aladdin joined the publishing line. For several years comics were sold in all newsstands, but since the second half of the 1990s, their popularity has faded. The return of Scrooge had to wait almost twenty years - since the fall of 2016, AST has been releasing collections of classic comics Barks and Dew.
"Black Cloak" (Darkwing Duck)
Duck Tales needed a replacement, and producer Ted Stones remembered Duck Two Zeros. This was the working title of the spin-off "Duck Tales", based on two episodes: in one, Zigzag tried on a white tuxedo and the role of a secret agent, and in the other, Scrooge became a masked avenger. Stones planned to make "Duck Two Zeros" a parody of spy films, and saw Zigzag as the main character. But it turned out that the rights to the “Two Zeros” brand had already been registered by another company, and the Zigzag obviously did not pull on a central role. So the parody of spies was replaced by a parody of superheroics, Zigzag was demoted to an assistant, and a new hero - Black Cloak - was invented for the main role. The premiere took place on September 8, 1991, with a total of 91 episodes.
SPECIAL AGENT DUCK TWO ZERO WAS SUPPOSED TO WEAR A WHITE TUXE AND BLACK MASK
The black cloak lived in the city of Saint-Canar, a clear parody of Gotham. At night, he defended the city from crime, and during the day he led the life of an ordinary person named Quack Lapchaty. In the series, it was never revealed where Quack worked in ordinary life and where he got money from for his gadgets. Perhaps he was paid a salary in the secret organization SHUSHU.
"DUCK STORIES" BECAME THE FIRST AMERICAN MULTISERIAL SHOWED IN THE USSR, AND THE "BLACK COAT" - THE FIRST IN NEW RUSSIA
Each episode parodied images from superhero comics, tabloid detectives, or spy movies. Black Cloak himself made fun of the superheroes of the Golden Age of comics - mostly, of course, Batman, but also the Shadow, the Green Hornet and even Zorro with the Lone Ranger. His signature lines like "I am the horror flying on the wings of the night!", "Sniff the gas, villain!" and "Well, from the screw!" went to the people. And his enemies, supervillains, seemed to come out of DC comics and Bond films: a duck-plant, an evil clown, a rooster with a steel beak ... From Black Cloak, Russian children learned about the superhero genre and its cliches before they got acquainted with the parody subject itself.
But the Cloak also had unique features. Unlike his colleagues, he was terribly vain, stubborn and narcissistic and did everything to become famous. However, the huge ego of the state of emergency was also controlled in the form of Gusena's daughter. She pressed on the best sides of Quack's character, forcing him to make the right decisions.
"Quack-Bryak" (Quack Pack)
In the mid-1990s, animators turned their attention to Ducks again. The series "Team Goofy" has just ended, where one of the "big three" Disney characters has been successfully modernized. They decided to repeat the experiment with Donald: producers Kevin Crosby Hopps and Toby Shelton undertook to modernize it. They decided to abandon the Barks comics, threw out most of the heroes of the "duck" universe, and added age to the rest.
According to the plot of the animated series "Quack-Bryak" the nephews again live with Donald, forgetting about Scrooge. Donald retired from the Navy and became a cameraman - he travels the world and shoots for the Around the Planet program. From energetic children, the brothers have turned into lazy, arrogant teenagers who are ready to do anything to avoid school and housework. Nothing worthwhile comes out of their antics, and the trinity is forced to go out of their way to correct their mistakes.
IN "KRYAK-BRYAK" NEGOTIERS ARE FINALLY DIFFERENT. EVERYONE HAS HAVE HOBBY, THEY DRESS SEVERAL DIFFERENTLY, ALWAYS KEEP FAVORITE COLORS
The experiment turned out to be a failure - the series was canceled after the first season. In the mid-1990s, the studio's animation department changed leadership, and Ducks were not in favor. The new bosses switched to producing TV add-ons for hits like Aladdin, The Little Mermaid, and The Lion King. Fans of "Duck Tales" could only hope for comics, but even with them in those years, everything was sad: the rights passed from hand to hand, and the publishing houses went bankrupt one after another.
Ducks in games
Duck Tales, 1989
In 1989, Capcom released the DuckTales platformer for the NES (known as Dendy in Russia). The game is still considered one of the best representatives of the genre thanks to its bright graphics, non-linear gameplay and catchy design. Well, and Scrooge's ability to jump on a cane. In 2013, a remake of Duck Tales Remastered was released for modern platforms with completely redrawn graphics and dialogues, voiced by the actors of the animated series.
Darkwing Duck, 1992
In a similar style, a game about the Black Cloak was made by the same Capcom. Only instead of exotic ruins, the action took place in the back streets of gloomy Saint-Canar, and instead of jumping on canes, the player could make the villains "sniff gas" from a pistol that shoots a variety of shells.
Return of the ducks
We had to wait almost 20 years. In September 2017, new Duck Tales launched on Disney XD. Producers Matt Youngberg and Francisco Angones grew up on the original and have long dreamed of making a new version. They tried to stick to the spirit of the original sources - not only the series, but also comics and short films about Donald. Already in the pilot episode, you can find many references to Barks (his paintings hang in the Scrooge estate), and to various Disney series (Cape Suzette, Spoonerville and Saint-Canard are mentioned - the scene of Miracles on the Curves, Team Goofy and "Black Cloak" respectively). This is not without reason - there are persistent rumors that the new "Black Cloak" will be released in 2018.
Stylistically, the new "Duck Tales" are more similar to "Gravity Falls" than to the old "Ducks". You should not be surprised at such a similarity - in the credits of these two series, many names coincide. But the cult song of Mark Mueller from the opening cutscene has survived, except that now it is sung by Felicia Barton, not Jeff Pessetto. The characters of the characters changed slightly: Scrooge became even softer, Donald turned into a seasoned adventurer, nephews began to differ from each other, and Mrs. Kluvdia and Ponochka - much more actively participate in events. From the new reading, at first glance, the Zigzag lost: it was a dumbass before, and now it has completely turned into a walking misunderstanding. But in the pilot episode, he got several vivid lines, allowing him to come to terms with the new interpretation of the hero.
IN THE NEW "DUCK STORIES" FOR THE FIRST TIME SHOWED THE PICTURE OF THE MOTHER OF THE TWINS
The main intrigue of the animated series is why Donald and Scrooge did not communicate for so many years. Judging by the pilot, this is due to the mysterious "Spears of Selene" and the disappeared sister of Donald - the mother of triplets. So far, this mosaic lacks pieces, and it is all the more interesting to wait for new episodes, especially since the Russian Disney Channel will begin showing the series in November. We look forward to continuing!
"Duck Tales" in Russia, as well as in America, most people know from the 1987 animated series. However, it all started much earlier - with comics that arose back in the early thirties. In this article and its sequel, we invite you on an exciting journey through the history of the "duck" universe. Zigzag, backwater!
It all started with Donald
The hot-tempered drake in a peakless cap was born in June 1934 in the Walt Disney cartoon "Wise Little Hen." In it, a lazy drake shied away from work, but rushed to a free treat. In the fall of the same year, Donald made his debut on the pages of newspaper comics.
Donald's first appearance, "Wise Little Hen" cartoon
Early Donald lived in the country, was much more emotional and carefree: he had neither a girlfriend, nor nephews, nor a rich uncle. At first, Donald remained a minor character in the Mickey Mouse comics, but eventually came to the fore in the Silly Symphonies strips.
Yes, in early newspaper comics, Donald was yellow
And in 1937, Donald had nephews Huey, Dewey and Louis (known to us as Billy, Willie and Dilly). Uncle looked after triplets, whose father ended up in the hospital after their next prank. At first, the guys were inveterate hooligans and always made fun of their uncle, but over time their character improved. The nephews were supposed to return home when Dad got to his feet. However, in the end, the trio remained with their uncle, and their parents were no longer remembered. For the first time in almost a century, they were brought up only in the new animated series in 2017.
Donald and his nephews in newspaper strips
By the way, the names of heroes are localized not only here. In Finland, where Donald is so popular that he is sometimes voted for in elections in protest, the drake's name is Aku Ankka. And in Italy he is known as Paperino.
And in 1942, Donald's finest hour came: Western Publishing received a license for comics about Disney characters. The plot of the first story "Donald Duck is looking for a pirate treasure" was invented by the studio's writers, and the drawing was entrusted to the artist Karl Barks.
Karl was then working as an animator for Disney, but he was oppressed by a studio system that kills creativity. He was considering quitting and starting a duck farm. Fortunately, Barks also liked to draw ducks - he took a new order from Western and at the same time offered to finalize the script. The result impressed the editors so much that from the second issue Karl was also entrusted with the work of the screenwriter. The next thirty years for "Duck Tales" became the era of Karl Barks.
Barks approached the drawing very carefully. For example, he studied National Geographic issues to illustrate sunken ships.
Donald Barks has changed for the better. He remained a hot-tempered, boastful lazy person, but he learned to take responsibility, stopped being overly emotional and began to speak clearly. He took care of his nephews, although this made him break away from his beloved idleness. The tenacity with which Donald sought a job can only be matched by the persistence with which he lost it. However, the drake did not lose heart. Unlike his famous uncle, who did not know how to stop in time, Donald needed a small one for complete happiness, for example, a slice of pizza or a glass of soda.
Donald is sometimes the villain in my stories, but mostly he's a good guy, even though he makes stupid mistakes like a typical person.
Karl Barks
How Scrooge appeared
In 1947, Barks released the comic strip Christmas on Bear Mountain. Here Donald has an eccentric millionaire uncle who lives in a secluded estate in the mountains. In this story, conceived as an allusion to both A Christmas Carol and Citizen Kane, Scrooge wanted to mock Donald and his nephews to see if they were worthy of inheriting his fortune.
In "Christmas" Scrooge is old, bearded, leans on a cane and wears glasses.
Scrooge from Christmas on Bear Mountain was my first version of a rich old uncle. I made him too old and weak - and only then I realized that he should be more mobile. The decrepit old man could not have realized everything that I had planned for him.
Karl Barks
Scrooge was invented at once, but the old curmudgeon liked the public, and Barks began to use him again in stories about Donald, sometimes even as a villain. Noticing the popularity of the character, the publishing house offered to build the plot of another story around him. So in 1952, the comic strip "Just a Poor Old Man" was published in Four Color. From that moment on, Scrooge began to pull the blanket over himself. Now he became the main adventurer, and Donald and the company were left with the role of not always volunteer assistants.
Scrooge is stingy, grumpy and irritable, but he earned his fortune absolutely honestly
Good duck artist
The writers cared little about creating a single chronology of stories about ducks, so there were often disputes among fans about whose plots were considered canon. Most agreed that the real canon is only the work of Karl Barks.
Karl Barks. The Man Who Made The Duck Tales As We Know Them (Photo: Alan Light | CC BY-SA 2.0)
Karl always wanted to become an artist, but poverty got in the way. To make ends meet, Barks took on any job: he was a farmer, lumberjack, mule driver, rivet maker and printer. But he devoted all his free time to self-education. Karl studied the paintings of his favorite artists, trying to copy their style and find his own.
In 1935, Barks was hired as an animator at Disney, where he shot 36 short films about Donald. But Karl was dissatisfied with this work, believing that studio restrictions kill creativity. In 1942, he left for Western, which was soon licensed for Duck Comics. Here he found his true calling.
Barks created about 500 "duck stories". It was he who invented Scrooge and most of the minor characters - Vinta Razboltylo, Gladstone Gander, Flinhart Glomgold, Magiku de Hypnosis and the Haws brothers... As a rule, Karl did all the work alone: \u200b\u200bhe wrote the script, drew sketches and painted illustrations.
For many years his name remained unknown - Disney rules forbade specifying artists and screenwriters. Generations of fans knew Barks only as the "Good Duck Artist." The secret of his identity was revealed only in the late 1960s, when Barks retired. He died in 2000, just before he was 100 years old.
Rereading my own stories, I realized that I had laid in them philosophical ideas that I had not even guessed at that time. I think the philosophy in my comics is conservative. In my opinion, civilization reached its peak in 1910 - since then we have been rolling downhill. The old culture has qualities that the remake cannot achieve. Take a look at these wonderful cathedrals and palaces! Now this is not being built.
It seems to me that it is worth keeping the old ideals and methods of work - honor and honesty. You need to allow others to believe in their own ideals, you do not need to cut everyone with the same brush. This is what I don't like about the modern political system: it tries to make everyone the same.
They say the Vanderbilts and Rockefellers are villains because they made their fortunes by exploiting the poor. And I believe that everyone should be able to climb as high as they can, if he does not kill or torture anyone. And a little exploitation is natural to us. This can be seen in the behavior of animals - everyone exploits everyone to some extent.
Karl Barks
The life and times of Don Rosa
After Barks retired, Western Publishing continued to produce Scrooge and Donald comics. But with the departure of the "old guard", the quality of the stories fell, and the editors often reprinted old stories. This could not go on forever, and in 1984 Western went bankrupt. But the "ducks" did not look for a new home for long. Shortly before that, Barks fans Bruce Hamilton and Ross Cochrane founded Another Rainbow publishing house, opened the Gladstone imprint, and bought a license to print ducks.
Mostly Gladstone republished old comics, but they also looked for fresh blood. It was then that they hired a young and completely unknown then artist Don Rosa. He attracted the editor with his unshakable confidence that he was destined to revive "Duck Tales".
Don Rosa. If Barks created Duck Tales, Rosa turned it into an ordered universe. (Photo: Darrenmambo | CC BY-SA 3.0)
In his first comic, Son of the Sun, Rosa purposely copied Barks' style.
Like Barks, Rosa was self-taught and learned to draw from idols. Rosa's first works for Gladstone are a clear imitation of Barks: he invented the plots himself, but redrew the background and poses of the characters from old comics. Rosa considered as canon only the history of Barks and was guided by them. He moved the action to the 1950s and 1960s, when the Good Duck Artist comics were taking place, and wrote a number of sequels to his stories.
Over the years, Rosa himself became a cult comics artist, comparable to Barks. His contribution to Duck Tales is enormous. He regained interest in ducks and did a great job organizing Barks comics. After analyzing Scrooge's chatter about family and past adventures, Rosa compiled his family tree and wrote a biography of a rich drake - the graphic novel The Life and Times of Scrooge McDuck.
The Life and Times of Scrooge McDuck inspired Nightwish leader Tuomas Holopainen to write the soundtrack for the comic. The album cover was painted by Rosa himself.
Scrooge's Life: A Chronology of Don Rosa
1867 Scrooge was born in Glasgow to Fergus McDuck and Downey O'Drake. He was the eldest child, later he had sisters Matilda and Hortense.
1877 To make money, Scrooge becomes a shoe shiner. The first customer cheats the boy by paying with a dime, useless in Scotland. Scrooge will keep the coin for life as a symbol of success and vow that no one else will be able to cheat him.
1880 13-year-old Scrooge leaves for the USA and gets a job as a cabin boy on the river steamer of his uncle Angus McDuck.
1882 Angus retires and gives the ship to his nephew, but the Gavs Brothers gang destroys the ship. Scrooge decides to try his luck in the Wild West.
1896–1899 After unsuccessful attempts to find gold, Scrooge comes to the Klondike, and luck smiles at him. On the Klondike McDuck meets the owner of the saloon Goldie Gold. He will keep his love for her for life.
1902 Scrooge becomes a billionaire and moves to the hamlet of Duxburg, Calisota.
1930 McDuck becomes the richest drake in the world, but in pursuit of profit he forgets about his family and finally quarrels with her.
1942 Falling into depression, Scrooge decides to retire and fences himself off from the whole world in his manor on Bear Mountain.
1947 Scrooge meets with his nephew Donald and great-nephews Billy, Willie and Dilly. An interest in life awakens in him, and together they set off towards adventure.
1967 Non-canon Date - Like Barks, Scrooge dies at the age of one hundred after a life of adventure.
The McDuck family tree by Don Rosa
Ducks in Russia
"Duck Tales" was one of the first Disney TV series shown in the Soviet Union. And then comics entered the USSR. Since 1989, Egmont has been publishing comics about Mickey Mouse, and in the early nineties, the lineup was replenished with Duck Tales, Mickey Detective, The Little Mermaid and Aladdin. For several years comics were sold in all kiosks, but since the second half of the 1990s, their popularity has faded. The return of Scrooge had to wait for almost twenty years - since the fall of 2016, AST has been releasing collections of classic comics Barks and Dew.
And in 1987 "Duck Tales" experienced the main event in its history. Disney studio began to produce an animated series based largely on the comics of Karl Barks ... But that's another story.
Those of us who spent our childhood in the 90s remember the countless weekends we spent with Uncle Scrooge, Donald, Billy, Willie and Dilly, Ponochka, Mrs. Kluvdia, Zigzag McCruak, Bobblehead and Vint Razboltailo. Ducks went on dangerous journeys and visited many outlandish places. They opened for us the Klondike and the Wild West, Ancient Greece and medieval Scandinavia, Atlantis and even the lost world with real dinosaurs.
But not everyone knows that Donald Duck first appeared on the silver screen in the animated short film "Wise Little Chicken", and the rest of the duck family owes its appearance to comics (except for Zigzag McCruak - this character made his debut in the animated series). From the mid-1930s, Donald Duck and the rest of the ducks took more and more prominent place on the pages of newspapers and magazines, until finally, whole series of comics devoted exclusively to duck stories appeared on store shelves.
Why read Duck Tales?
1. Dizzying adventures"Duck Tales" is full of dangers travel of Uncle Scrooge and Donald to the most exotic corners of the globe, search for ancient treasures, races and chases, mysteries and secrets ... Real adventure stories in the spirit of Jules Verne, Maine Reed and Mark Twain.
2. Broaden your horizons and encourage learning
Our heroes often find themselves in the most interesting and unusual corners of the Earth. They are looking for lost worlds, lost civilizations and ancient secrets. Of course, reading "Duck Tales" is not a substitute for a history or geography lesson, but some vivid details can awaken in young readers a desire to learn more about the described places, events or heroes.
3. Set the right example
Scrooge McDuck is the richest drake in the world, who made his fortune through his own hard work. The stories about him teach that in order to achieve a result, one has to work, work and work again.
4. Raise important ethical and environmental issues
What is more important: wealth or family? Can you cheat to achieve your own goals? How to behave correctly in the forest? Why should you be careful with nature? Authors often bring up important topics in their comics that they care about.
5. They teach that the family is the main thing
Ducks can constantly quarrel with each other about anything. But they always go on adventures together, take care of each other and forget about any contradictions in the face of real danger.
Many worthy artists and screenwriters have worked on comics about ducks at different times, but two deserve special attention - Karl Barks and Don Rosa. The long, eventful and simply amazing life of Karl Barks deserves a separate story (which you can read). Now we will only mention that it was Barks who turned Donald Duck from a noisy annoying friend of Mickey Mouse into an independent character, a brave adventurer, a tireless, albeit not always lucky, hard worker, and a loving, albeit sometimes hot-tempered family man. It was Karl Barks who gave the readers Uncle Scrooge, the Gavs brothers, Vint Razboltaylo, Magica de Hypnosis and many other well-known heroes. Carl Barks comics have served as a source of inspiration for many generations of boys and girls. For example, the composer, musician and leader of the popular band Nightwish, Tuomas Holopainen, has written an entire album based on the comics The Life and Times of Scrooge McDuck.
Karl Barks' comics had a huge impact on the young Don Rosa, and the boy himself decided to become a comic book artist. He grew up with the absolute conviction that he was destined to become the next greatest Duck Tales storyteller after Karl Barks. And Rosa's confidence was justified one hundred percent: many fans of "Duck Universe" consider him the only worthy successor to the cause of Karl Barks.
During his long career, Karl Barks has written over seven hundred stories about Ducks. Don Rosa's contribution to The Duck Universe is much more modest - Don wrote about ninety stories.
How can an unprepared reader navigate all this diversity?
The complete collection of comics by Karl Barks (which in the USA publishes "Fantagraphics") has thirty volumes, another ten volumes contain the stories of Don Rosa.Where do you start? In what order to read?
In the case of Don Rosa, the answer is much easier to find. Since Rosa considered himself the first and only true follower of Karl Barks, his stories take place in the same time period as Barks, and some comics are a direct continuation of his plots.At the moment, the following volumes of Don Rosa have been published in Russian:
- Uncle Scrooge and Donald Duck. Return to Dire Valley
- Uncle Scrooge and Donald Duck. The last of the McDuck clan
- Uncle Scrooge and Donald Duck. The richest drake in the world
- Uncle Scrooge and Donald Duck. Universal solvent (summer 2018)
It turns out that the action in the comics "The Life and Times of Scrooge McDuck" unfolds before all other stories about Scrooge and company and covers eighty years of life. On the pages of these volumes, Scrooge searches for gold in Australia and the Klondike, surfs the Pacific Ocean and walks the Mississippi, travels to South Africa and Indonesia, quarrels with American shamans and meets the 26th President of the United States Teddy Roosevelt and, finally, founds his own business. an empire in the fictional American state of Calisota.
In theory, “The Last of the McDuck Clan” and “The Richest Drake in the World” can be read before reading all the other duck comics, but then some of the charm will disappear from these stories. The biography of Scrooge McDuck is interesting in that it tells how many adventures and trials he went through before becoming himself. It shows how Scrooge went from being a poor shoe shiner to the richest drake in the world. And it is better to first get acquainted with such a character at the peak of his fame, and then learn about his formation. And that brings us directly to Karl Barks.
The following volumes by Karl Barks are now available in Russian and are being prepared for publication:
- Donald Duck. Lost in the Andes (H2 2018)
- Donald Duck. Unicorn footprint (second half of 2018)
However, it is for this reason that reading the stories of Donald and Scrooge in chronological order is not a good idea. Karl Barks did not immediately reach his high level, Uncle Scrooge did not immediately become himself, and the first stories about him can confuse unprepared readers or even discourage the desire to get acquainted with the new adventures of the heroes.
The chronological order is good for longtime fans or academic researchers of the author's work. We advise everyone else to start reading with the most interesting, cult stories, and only then expand their acquaintance with the duck family. It is curious that the publishers themselves adhere to this approach, who first published the seventh, twelfth and eleventh volumes by Karl Barks. The first five volumes of the series, containing the earliest works of Barks, have not yet appeared even in English.
The most appropriate volume for acquaintance with Uncle Scrooge is considered "Just a poor old man." The comic strip of the same name from this volume is the first story with Scrooge McDuck in the title role. It is here that the richest drake in the world from a minor character in the Donald Duck comics turned into the protagonist of his own stories. This volume also includes the no less cult comic "Return to the Klondike" - one of the first journeys into Scrooge's past, in which he is shown not as a decrepit multi-billionaire, but as a beggar, a young and energetic adventurer, capable of love and compassion.
But those who are more interested in Donald, who was an independent adventurer before Uncle Scrooge, should start with The Secret of the Old Castle and continue with Christmas on Bear Mountain, in which Donald's rich, grumpy old uncle first appears. Karl Barks initially viewed Scrooge as a passable one-off character, but Scrooge ended up in comics for seventy years.