In essence a comic book story is merely a string of continuous graphic panels bound together by plot line and dialogue. Carl Barks was an expert in 'knitting' together these elements into convincing and integrated masterpieces, but this page will confine itself into demonstrating how he worked on more specialized occasions. This has been done by simply choosing a few examples, in which Barks made story developments of highly different and unusual nature - both brilliant and not so brilliant!
| TRANSFORMATION | |
The inept lawyer Sharky talks in
what seems to be a self-invented, pompous nonsense Latin,
which he uses to impress his audience. Generously, he
always translates(!) the words into plain English. Here
are some examples (you will have to look up the
translations for yourself): |
| RESUMPTION | |||||
This is the only instance where Barks made some attempt to join together two of his stories to form a kind of a sequel. The first story ends with the nephews earning a big reward for the apprehension of a dangerous criminal, and in the second story they are wallowing in the reward money at the very beginning. |
| IMAGINATION | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
In U$26 Krankenstein Gyro Barks allowed himself a break when it came to crazy characters. Not only did he make some fantastic creatures, but he had Gyro in the role of a wannabe Frankenstein, the creator of nothing less than life itself. But, of course, Barks ended the story with his own disarming twist... |
| EXTENSION | |||||||||
Many of Barks' ideas were so subtle they were not always discovered by the readers. Here is an example from WDCS099 'The Radio Quiz Show': Donald is studying hard for participation in a quiz show. Observe that his continuous reading calls for thicker and thicker glasses. Another twist: in the last panel the prolongation looks as if Donald's pupils have moved inside his glasses! |
| ALTERATION | |||||||||
During the 1980s there were many TV and film comedies in which the funny background details were so numerous that one simply had to view the films several times in order to see them all! Just think of the American Naked Gun series starring the hopeless police detective Leslie Nielsen. Occasionally, Barks also added things to the background that had no bearing on the plot. This suite of panels are from WDCS271 A Stone's Throw from Ghost Town, in which a potted plant grows incredibly rapidly! See more examples HERE. |
| HALF-PAGERS | ||
Barks made a great
number of half-pagers in which different types of
continuations were apparent. Most of them were, of course,
dictated by specific actions, but once in a while Barks
sneaked in sequences of a more psychological nature as
demonstrated in these two examples. Notice how
convincingly Barks managed to illustrate the goings-on
without help from the dialogue! |
| ONE-PAGERS | ||
Barks also made a few one-pagers in which he masterfully managed to convey Donald's thoughts in a psychological manner. Again, the pictures speak volumes louder than words. Both examples show how Donald is gradually - and mentally - downtrodden by his own imagination and growing bad conscience. |
EXTRA
| DIS-CONTINUATION | |||||
Barks' stories were never meant to be sequels, which is probably why he did not always reflect over - or remember - all the details of the previous story. Here is an example. In the first panel (from WDCS160 'The Christmas Camel') Donald receives a sweater as that year's Christmas present from Grandma, but in the following story (WDCS161 'The Fix-it Shop') her present to him was a set of tools... |
| MIS-CONTINUATION | |||||
But Barks also occasionally forgot to check details in the same story! In U$46 Lost Beneath the Sea Donald works as a reporter. The interior of his editor's office changes in a number of ways, suggesting that Barks neglected to fully check his first rendering before drawing the second. |
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| http://www.cbarks.dk/THECONTINUATIONS.htm | Date 2010-02-26 |
