THEINTERLUDE

In 1943, when Barks started working for Western, he was asked to do a series of comic stories besides those from his duck universe. The stories - which he only illustrated - were mainly published in the magazine called Our Gang and were all built on non-Disney characters from funny animal cartoon shorts from various studios. Barks drew 33 of these stories in the following years. Needless to say, he was not exactly enthusiastic about the arrangement, as he was working intensely with his ducks at the same time, but he managed anyway to turn these stories into small gems.

Barney Bear started in 1939 at MGM Studios. For the first few years he was accompanied by a gopher until Benny Burro came along. In the comics he is often feuding with his troublesome neighbour Mooseface McElk.	Benny Burro was born in 1942 at MGM Studios but he was only called The Lonesome Burro in the animated shorts. He was much later teamed up with Barney Bear.
Porky Pig originated at the Warner Bros. Studios in 1935. He was not very popular until the far more lively Bugs Bunny entered the scene. Petunia Pig was added in 1937 but her character was never properly developed. Bugs Bunny debuted in 1940 and became an instant success, which has not faded till this day. His primary antagonist in the comic books is Porky Pig.
Andy Panda from 1939 was the brainchild of the Walter Lantz Studios. The little fellow never became successful with the audience because of his week character.	Happy Hound started in 1943 from the MGM Studios under the name of Droopy. His adversary in many cartoons is a crooked, jailbreaking wolf known as 3B909664780 alias Houdini Wolf alias Killer Diller Wolf alias Torpedo Wolfie Boy alias Lobo the Louse.