THEHUMANSTORIES

Occasionally, Carl Barks graphically portrayed many of the secondary characters in his comic book stories as real humans. This is especially true during the years 1949 to 1951 when many, and sometimes all, of the secondary characters were drawn as real humans. Gone were the bird beaks, the dog noses, and the pig snouts. With this deliberate decision Barks ventured through an otherwise closed door which his publisher, Western, would have had preferred remained closed. The editor stated that such characters were not natural ingredients in comic books with funny animals, and we must admit, that he had a point. In general, Barks did not pursue his special idea; in fact, he much later remarked in an interview about FC0328 In Old California!, that: I would have preferred to have drawn the characters as real humans, but I was warned against using humans when I submitted 'Dangerous Disguise' 4 months earlier.
This page's first section shows the few stories he made, in which all of the second characters were real humans. But Barks did manage to sneak in a great variety of real humans in quite a few of his stories, some of which are shown in the second section. And you will be able to find more stories, in which he did the very same thing.

This website contains several pages, in which humans - in varied anthropomorphic stages - are presented. The most representative is The Metamorphoses.

FC0263 Trail of the Unicorn - 1950

Synopsis:
Scrooge wants a unicorn for his Zoo so Donald and the nephews are sent to the Himalayas after the fabled animal which they know does not exist. Or does it?

Comments:
This story is truly remarkable insofar that it only contains ONE secondary foreground character despite the fact that the ducks travel around the world - the beautiful Hindu woman in this panel. So it must be included in this section...

CP2 You Can't Guess - 1950

Synopsis:
Donald's family tries to discover what he wants for Christmas, because that is the only way for the nephews to get what they want...

Comments:
This story is frequently forgotten when this page's topic is discussed. But all of the ladies (a mind reader, a millionairess (left)) and all of the men (a hypnotist, Scrooge's butler, tradesmen, delivery boys) are humans.

FC0300 Big Top Bedlam - 1950

Synopsis:
Donald is going to return Daisy's heirloom brooch but it proves very difficult as a certain circus artist gets involved.

Comments:
Although slightly caricatured it is plain to see that Barks drew real humans throughout this story: Circus performers, staff members, circus audiences, banquet goers...

FC0308 Dangerous Disguise - 1951

Synopsis:
Donald stays at the French Riviera where he is contacted by a sinister looking man. A major spy story unfolds...

Comments:
This is the story that everyone remembers! It is simply teeming with real humans of both genders in a variety of roles: Riviera guests (one of them even resembles Barks (left)!, spies, an agent, train drivers, and a slightly caricatured detective. Barks said: I somehow couldn't visualize these master spies from all the different nations as being dogfaces and pigfaces. I visualized them as looking like they do in the movies; suave-looking characters and beautiful girl spies.
And he continued: As soon as I took 'Dangerous Disguise' in, and Carl Buettner (Western's editor-in-chief at the time - Editor's remark) took a look at it, he said, 'That doesn't go good, having real humans. It takes the ducks out of their own world.'

FC0159 Adventure Down Under - 1947 All Aborigines	WDCS094 'Coast Patrolman' - 1948 Female Smugglers	WDCS107 'Super Snooper' - 1949 Girl, Messenger Boy
WDCS108 'Frog Hunting' - 1949 Barks-look-alike Waiter	CP1 Letter to Santa - 1949 Herman and Wife, Santa Claus	MOC41 Race to the South Seas - 1949 All Island Inhabitants
FC0238 Voodoo Hoodoo - 1949 Theater Attendant, Professor, All Natives	FC0256 Luck of the North - 1949 All Inuits	FC 0263 Land of the Totem Poles - 1950 All Indians
FC0275 Ancient Persia - 1950 Professor	FC0291 The Magic Hourglass - 1950 All Beduins	DD46 Secret of Hondorica - 1956 Shop Keeper, All Indians
U$20 City of Golden Roofs - 1958 Policeman	U$39 'The Beauty Contest' - 1962 All Starlets and Swimmers	WDCS257 Movie Mad - 1962 Ice Skating Girls