A Carl Barks Moment

When I was a little kid reading the giant stacks of comics in my dad's warehouse of used comic books, I would fixate on certain books for varying periods of time. First it might be for the cover art. Then it could be for my fascination with the principle character. After a while I reached a point in which I sought out stories illustrated by specific artists whose work I appreciated over that of other artists.

When I began to read various Walt Disney comics I gravitated toward stories with Donald Duck and his family--Uncle Scrooge; Huey, Dewey, and Louis, and supporting cast. I didn't care for Goofy or Mickey Mouse or Pluto, etc. It was the raucous, angry, impetuous Donald Duck I liked, and of his stories I began to discern that one artist stood out above all the rest. I didn't know the guy's name, but I sure as shit knew what his style of art was like.

So I'd go into the warehouse or back room where my dad was storing the comics to replenish his stock of used books and I'd pick through them and raid them for the ones I wanted to take home to read. For a while I targeted only Disney books and I'd look for covers I'd never seen and open them up to see if the "good artist" had illustrated them.

Around this time--eight years old--I was also reading books avidly and had realized that some writers were a hell of a lot better than others. I could depend on Ernest Thompson Seton, Ray Bradbury, and Jim Kjelgaard to deliver the kind of story I wanted to read. This had me wondering if the guys who drew the comics I liked the most were actually writing them.

What I began doing was looking through the comics to see if I could find a clue how the stories were produced. I asked my parents, and they didn't know. Marvel Comics and DC Comics often labeled the creators (sometimes falsely, I later discovered, as in the case of the lying shill, Stan Lee). This was one way that I knew that sometimes one person wrote the stories and another guy drew them. But with the Disney comic books there was no such method and a total lack of evidence. All I knew was that there was one "good artist" who drew the Duck stories and the other guys sucked in comparison.

I remained ignorant of this good artist's name for some years, but what I began to do was look for clues to whether or not this same guy was also writing these amazing stories. And then, one day, sitting at the dining room table reading a story that featured Donald Duck and Uncle Scrooge, I came to the last panel. Today all I can recall about the story was that it had, as a principle foil, an elephant in the storyline. I seem to recall that Uncle Scrooge ended up with the pachyderm and Donald did not. That final panel featured Donald. Nothing strange about that. The last panel should feature the title character.

But...

...off in the corner of that final scene, on the horizon, was the silhouette of the elephant being led away by Uncle Scrooge using his cane as a kind of tether that the elephant was grasping with his trunk. This image was terribly small. Donald dominated the scene in the foreground, but the panel had been illustrated in such a way that your wandering eye led you to see these tiny silhouettes off in the distance.

And in that instant I realized that the guy who was drawing these amazing images was also spinning these wonderful yarns. No mere writer of scripts could possibly have included such an engaging and funny detail! Therefor, the guy drawing that story was also the man writing it!

It was only much later that I learned that the "good artist" was a fellow named Carl Barks and that he had been hand-picked from the animation department at Disney specifically to oversee the production, writing, and illustrating of all of the Duck stories for Dell Comics (and, later, Gold Key). Walt Disney himself chose Carl Barks, because back in those days Disney comic books published by Dell sold well over a million copies per issue! Each and every month. Disney knew that millions of kids would be seeing these comic books and reading these stories and it was important, almost paramount, that only the best of the best should produce the kind of comic books worthy of the Disney logo and trademark.

So...here's to Carl Barks, the "good artist" whose work I picked out of the crowd, and who also made me realize that the guy who was drawing those wonderful tales was also writing them.

Donald Duck, as portrayed flawlessly by the brilliant Carl Barks.

TUBBY

When I was a kid I began to recognize the writing and art of what I came to conclude were the "best" creators in the comics that I was reading. In the superhero genre it was Jack Kirby and Steve Ditko who were creating, writing, and illustrating my favorites. But at the same time I was also reading a lot of funny animal and cartoon-inspired comics. And my two favorite creators there (and I didn't know their names at that point, only how to recognize their styles) were Carl Barks (doing the Disney Duck comics), and John Stanley, who did a host of amazing titles and characters, mainly working for Dell Comics.

Among my favorite John Stanley books were Little Lulu and the various spinoff and associated titles. These were comics that I found to be genuinely engaging and actually funny. So I kept going back to them, searching for issues that I had not read. Most of the John Stanley comics in my dad's warehouse were older than I was, but as I entered the late 60s, Stanley was still creating new books for Western Publishing.

One of the titles I quite liked was TUBBY. He was one of the major characters from LITTLE LULU and the stories of the various rivalries and friendship between the pair always kept me entertained. Because there was little continuity in the tales, you never knew what was going to come from Stanley next.

I pick up old LITTLE LULU and TUBBY issues when I can find them at the right price. Fortunately, in mid and lower grades they are exceptionally affordable--far less than the price of a sandwich. So I nab them when I can. And this week I picked up a small stack of them and will peruse them when I find the time.

TUBBY #41

TUBBY #42

TUBBY #43

TUBBY #44

 

TUBBY #45

TUBBY #46

TUBBY #47

Uncle Scrooge #13

Another day and another addition to my comic collection. Although I have been focusing on Silver Age comics by Jack Kirby, I still keep my hand in on other types of old comics. Today I got a copy of UNCLE SCROOGE #13. This book straddles the line between the Golden Age of comics and the Silver Age. Technically speaking, it's (barely) a Silver Age book. But it's classic Golden Age Disney.

I got this issue at a good price on Ebay. However, the seller is a novice and has absolutely no idea how to ship a collectible comic. The package arrived ravaged and bent. But the book is relatively unscathed from the damage, but only by some miracle. All it takes to keep this from happening is to add some sturdy cardboard. It doesn't add to the cost of shipping and only takes a few minutes. I'll know to steer clear of that seller in the future.

When I was a kid, this was one of my favorite Barks Duck stories. It features Uncle Scrooge, Donald, and the nephews as they go below the crust of the Earth when Uncle Scrooge becomes paranoid about earthquakes. Below, they discover a vast cavern of immense proportions and are introduced to some of the most clever creatures of Barks' imagination: The Terries and the Fermies. These roly-poly creatures are the cause of most of the earthquakes on the planet as they engage in duels much like those of Bighorn sheep. They smash into one another, thus causing earthquakes.

A great story ensues as Scrooge and the lads try to extricate themselves from the world of the Terries and the Fermies. When I was a kid this story was probably my favorite of all of the brilliant Barks yarns. It's nice to have the original (March 1956) in my possession once again.

My copy of UNCLE SCROOGE #13.

How one tells a Fermie from a Terrie.

Two interesting things about this back cover: First of all, that Dell (and Disney) thought it important to include what amounts to a very short story on the back cover. They did this often in those days. Often Dell kids comics had a clever little joke of a tale on the back cover. Second is that Dell Pledge to Parents. This was in the worst part of the anti-comics paranoia being generated by the likes of John L. Goldwater (owner of Archie Comics) and the equally slimy asshole, Frederic Wertham (SEDUCTION OF THE INNOCENT). Dell wanted the parents to know that their comics were wholesome and safe!

When Comics were Great!

Man, they don't make 'em like this anymore. Back in the day when there were all kinds of comic books for all kinds of kids. Back in the day when people were still readers. Alas!

My copy of TUROK #8. I simply could not believe this cover when I was a kid. All I could do was stare at it. Looking at that cover stalled me from reading the book for quite a while.

My copy of TUROK #9.

I see this cover reproduced quite often. After this one, the style of art on the cover changed a bit. They were still painting, but they obviously switched to a different artist who wasn't quite as skilled as this guy.

Do You Really Need to Take This Trip?

Almost every comic collector I know carries a want-list around with him. This is, of course, the smart thing to do. Because my collection is relatively small and centered on a limited axis, I've never written up a comprehensive want list. However, a couple of recent things have made me decide to create a decent list.

I do collect EC Comics in a small way. I only pick them up occasionally, and only when I can get a really good deal on the book. Thus, my collection of EC comics is rather small. No need, really, for a want list. But a little over a month ago I managed to do something that I would have thought most improbable:

I bought an EC comic book that I already have! It's a great book and I won't have any trouble selling it or trading it away, but just the fact that I bought a book that I already had when I don't own that many of the title (or even that publisher)...well, it made me realize I need that list. And soon.

Because this week I came very close to buying another comic I already have in my collection: TUROK #6. This book has a most memorable cover and an even more memorable scene. It has a giant gorilla on the cover and in the story! How could I NOT recall that I already have that issue? Well, I had forgotten that I own it, and came with a lizard's whisker of buying another copy. That I don't need.

And that was it. I've already started work on a comprehensive want list.

Whoa! I almost bought this book when I already had this perfectly good copy!

LITTLE LULU and TUBBY ANNUAL #2.

Well, I lucked out and nabbed the second LITTLE LULU & TUBBY ANNUAL. Now I've got them both.

Front cover. Stories all written and illustrated by John Stanley.

Back cover. From the days when the back cover had to have gag art, too.

Latest Addition:

Latest addition to my collection is a John Stanley classic, LITTLE LULU & TUBBY ANNUAL #1. I also bought a #2 of that book but it hasn't arrived yet.

Stanley was a brilliant writer and artist. He knew what kids liked to read and how to tell them a good story and a funny one. He is missed. We have no one like him working in comics today.

Front cover. The condition is about very good. It's a nice, solid copy with a square spine that is intact and unbroken. It's hard to find the square-bound comics in good condition.

The back cover.

When Reprints Attack

In the years I was away from the collectible comic book marketplace, one weird thing occurred that affected my ability to gather up some very old comics that I wanted to collect. And that was the influence of certain reprints on the collectible value of some titles. Specifically, Golden Age Disney comics.

All during the years I was a dealer in old comics, the Disney titles written and illustrated by Carl Barks were among my favorites. I loved finding them and hated selling them. And sell them I did, because it seemed that there was a HUGE customer base for the sale of his classic books.

Fast forward to 2004 when I started to get serious about buying old comics for my own pleasure. One of the things that I discovered was that the old Barks books actually went DOWN in value. Now, this may have bugged the hell out of someone who had invested in these books hoping to see them increase in price, but for me it was a blessing. I found that I could actually afford some of the books that I had feared would be far out of my price range. But now I found that these books were mainly quite affordable. Some of them had become even cheap!

And why was this?

It's because the Disney Corporation has vigorously reprinted almost all of the works of Carl Barks in many different formats. Therefore, if you really want to read his classic stories, you don't have to shell out big bucks for rare back issues. Thus, the market for the old books shrank, sometimes tremendously.

And this made it very easy for me to pick up the hard-to-get issues that I dearly wanted to own.

Since I started collecting again I've seen the prices and market for the old Barks books ebb and flow. Sometimes I have competitors wanting the same books and the prices go up a bit. But usually I find that I can land the ones I want for the prices I feel like paying. For me, it's a boon, and I've been able to slowly build my Barks collection to a respectable level.

Will they once again increase in value? Maybe so. Maybe not. Time will tell.

My copy of Four Color #282: "Donald Duck and the Pixilated Parrot"! One of Carl Barks' masterpieces of wit and slapstick.

Melvin the Monster

One of the greatest of John Stanley's creations was the humor comic book MELVIN MONSTER. I don't know if Dell Comics called upon Stanley to create something to capitalize off of the TV monster craze of the mid-60s, or if the creator approached Dell with the project first. However it came about, he ended up penning one of the funniest kid's comics I read as a youth.

Melvin chronicled the adventures of the title character, a little monster boy who lived in Monsterville with his Baddy and Mummy and their pet crocodile,  Cleopatra (who was forever trying to eat Melvin).

Here was Stanley at his finest. He could capture with a few deft lines what so many cartoonists could not duplicate with the most detailed effort. Here was humor that a little kid could understand and enjoy. The book enjoyed modest success and the title ran for ten issues as a quarterly publication. Of course the tenth and final issue was just a reprinting of the first issue, so that there were only nine full issues of original stories of Melvin and his cohorts.

When I started reading these books at the age of nine I found them slightly familiar. That was because I had read and adored Stanley's Witch Hazel yarns that appeared as backups in the Little Lulu titles he was creating for Dell in the older 1950s-era books that I was gathering up from my dad's vast collection. I'd already encountered Stanley's wry take on misfit horrors, but this was something new and benefited from his growing skill as a writer and artist.

I've been trying to complete a full set of MELVIN for some years and have yet to do so. I'm still missing issue numbers 3, 6, and 7. I'll keep searching for them.

MELVIN MONSTER #5.

TUROK back issues!

I've got a couple of writing projects coming up that will require a lot of attention, so I'm going to have to lay off the comic collecting for a while. I really have enjoyed collecting comics, so I want to keep it up. But the last few purchases I've made will probably be the only ones for the next month or so while I buckle down and pay exclusive attention to my writing.

I'd never thought much about it, but even a hobby as simple as collecting comics requires a certain amount of specific attention to detail. I just don't have the time to devote to it for the next few weeks.

So, the last few old comics I've purchased are some very early issues of TUROK, SON OF STONE, the very cool comic book originated by Dell Comics. I've covered the title before, so if you're curious, just look up those installments of the blog. I also landed a Golden Age book that I'll cover in a couple of days. I'll leave that one for later.

These two issues of TUROK were good ones for me. Adding them to the collection give me the first six issues of the title, which is a bit of a landmark and good place for me to pause for a bit. So, here they are:

TUROK #3. This is the first issue that the book was numbered on its own. The first two Turok books were tryouts in Dell's FOUR COLOR title.

The back cover. Sometimes with Dell comic books, the story would actually continue onto the back cover. Or they'd save it for a feature of some type. This back cover also shows the Dell "Pledge to Parents" that they set up so that they wouldn't have to be a part of the Comics Code Authority.


TUROK #6 had a story featuring a giant Kong-like gorilla. As DC Comics editors Mort Weissinger and Julius Schwartz had learned, if you put a gorilla on the cover, sales would be good. This issue shows up often at comic conventions, which leads me to believe that it sold relatively well.

My Latest Golden Age Disney

Here's the latest pickup of a Golden Age Disney comic for my collection. These old Dell Comics are amazing on so many levels. In this instance, we have a book written and illustrated by Carl Barks. Walt Disney thought that the comic book representations of the Disney characters was so important that he hand-picked Barks to do the lion's share of the Duck stories in comic book form. The ducks had become the most popular of his characters in every form of media that Disney was producing, and he wanted the kids buying the comics to have the best stories and art possible. In Carl Barks, what we got was one of the most talented guys to ever create comic book stories for kids.

For ten cents, a kid got a 28-page Barks epic, followed by a 20-page story by a couple of other journeymen Disney artists Paul Murry (pencils) with inks by Carl Buettner, along with one-page gag strips on the inside front and back covers. And with not a single ad in the book! It was all stories and illustrations from cover to cover! Yes, I know a dime went a lot farther in 1950 when this book was published. But, please! What a deal!


Four Color #300, featuring Donald and his nephews in a grand adventure!

TUROK COLLECTION

Another issue of TUROK with an exceptionally kickass cover. Dinosaur buffs from my era always appreciated illustrations of dinosaurs rarely used in mass media. I had a few Dimetrodon toys and there were some good paintings in my favorite dinosaur and evolution texts, but by and large you rarely saw this animal depicted in popular media. True, there were always monitor lizards and young alligators dressed up to somewhat resemble this animal, but this cover was one that instantly grabbed my imagination the first time I saw it.

It also came out the year I was born! 1957!

That year there were still dozens of science fiction and fantasy magazines on the newsstands. A few radio dramas and comedies were clinging to life, but soon TV would kill off the pulp fiction magazines, and radio drama, and most comic book lines.

Alas.

Here are the latest additions to my TUROK comic collection:

TUROK #4. Not a great cover, but decent. It possesses the drama of the better covers, but lacks color and, of course, a really cool extinct animal. I love mammoths, but kids want to see dinosaurs!

"Kill it Turok! Kill it likes it's a TV executive!"

To my way of thinking, this is one of the last of the great Turok covers (#22). After this, they just weren't quite as good as the ones that came before. However, the interior art and stories improved shortly before this, so the book's quality remained balanced.

Turok #25. One of my least favorite covers. I never liked this one very much.

Hard-to-Find Turoks

The two latest additions to my comic collection arrived today. I was very happy to locate the Turok #2 (Four Color 656) which is considered widely to be the hardest to locate number from the Dell Comics run.

Also, I landed a nice copy of #8 which has what I feel to be one of the most spectacular covers to appear on the book. #10 might actually be slightly more dramatic, but this one's at or near the top.

Four Color #656, aka Turok #2. (Note the "Dell's Pledge to Parents". This was Dell's way of avoiding submitting to the hated Comics Code Authority.)

Turok #8...to my way of thinking, probably the most dramatic cover to appear on the comic (with the possible exception of #10).

Turok, Son of Stone!

I know almost nothing about the creators involved in the comic book title TUROK, SON OF STONE. The premise was pretty simple and pure magic for a kid looking for a great fantasy book that was filled with dinosaurs. It involved two Native Americans from a time never actually stated who end up being trapped in an enclosed world where dinosaurs and other supposedly extinct animals hold sway over the land. Turok and Andar do encounter other humans in this world--but they are always more primitive people who lack the superior technology of the bow and arrow, flint tools, and usually the ability to make fire. In addition, the two heroes have located a potent poison that they use on their arrowheads to keep them safe from the hoards of roaming dinosaur predators.

At one time or another I'm pretty sure that I read every issue of TUROK. And while the stories could sometimes grow rather repetitive, this dinosaur buff never got tired of them.

TUROK, SON OF STONE #5, the latest addition to my comic collection.