Carl Barks is one of the most influential American cartoonists. Dubbed The Duck Man or The Good Duck artist by his fans, Barks is known for his work in Disney comic books, as the writer and artist of the first Donald Duck stories and the creator of the iconic and rich duck, Scrooge McDuck.
If Scrooge McDuck is his most famous creation, he is not the only one as Barks is the architect of Duckburg, located in the fictional U.S. state of Calisota, and many of its inhabitants such as Gladstone Gander, Donald’s cousin and The Luckiest Person in the World; the Beagle Boys, the family clan of organized criminals who try (and fails) to rob uncle Scrooge; Gyro Gearloose, genius inventor and friend of Donald; Magica De Spell, the Italian sorceress; and more. Let’s simply say that if Disney created the Donald Duck universe, Carl Barks really built it–and for this reason, Don Rosa called it the Barks Universe.
Like many European people, I grew up with the Duck clan (and other classic Disney comics), and those stories were and still are popular in Europe. It was one of those things that most households had, with Asterix and Tintin.
If those comics seem to not have the same iconic status in the US as in Europe, readers can at least now enjoy all of Carl Barks’ amazing Duck work with the ongoing collection The Complete Carl Barks Disney Library by publisher Fantagraphics. It’s an amazing way to read Donald Duck, Uncle Scrooge, Huey, Dewey, and Louie’s adventures.
The Complete Carl Barks Disney Library: Donald Duck and Uncle Scrooge Reading Order Guide:
When Fantagraphics began the collection in 2011, they first published volume 7, Lost in the Andes, as they opted to publish the most popular stories first to attract more readers. For the moment, the first four volumes have not been released, but the collection will offer a chronological order of Barks’ stories when all will be published.
- The Complete Carl Barks Disney Library Vol. 5: Walt Disney’s Donald Duck “Christmas On Bear Mountain”
Collects stories from 1947. Includes Uncle Scrooge’s first appearance, Volcano Valley, Adventure Down Under, Ghost of the Grotto and more. - The Complete Carl Barks Disney Library Vol. 6: Walt Disney’s Donald Duck “The Old Castle’s Secret”
Collects the entirety of Barks’s 1948 output. Includes The Old Castle’s Secret, the first full-length 32-page adventure instigated by Scrooge McDuck (in his second-ever appearance); The Sheriff of Bullet Valley, the less-known In Darkest Africa, Wintertime Wager (the first appearance of a not-yet-lucky-but-still-obnoxious Gladstone Gander), Spoil the Rod, Rocket Race to the Moon, Gladstone Returns, Links Highjinks and five more stories… plus a half-dozen hilarious one-page gags. - The Complete Carl Barks Disney Library Vol. 7: Walt Disney’s Donald Duck “Lost in the Andes”
Collects stories from 1948–1949. Includes Lost in the Andes (Barks’s own favorite, Race to the South Seas, The Golden Christmas Tree, Voodoo Hoodoo, Toyland, The Crazy Quiz Show, Truant Officer Donald, plus: over a dozen more classic Donald Duck stories and gags. - The Complete Carl Barks Disney Library Vol. 8: Walt Disney’s Donald Duck “Trail of the Unicorn”
Collects stories from 1949–1950. Includes Donald Duck, Huey, Dewey and Louie’s perilous expedition to bring back a rare unicorn for Uncle Scrooge, Luck of the North, Land of the Totem Poles, Serum to Codfish Cove and more. - The Complete Carl Barks Disney Library Vol. 9: Walt Disney’s Donald Duck “The Pixilated Parrot”
Collects stories from 1950. Donald, Uncle Scrooge, and the nephews go on a wild parrot chase. Then, Donald and the boys are shanghaied by a mysterious stranger, who whisks them off to face perils in the desert in “Ancient Persia,” where they uncover a lost city—and its reconstituted inhabitants! And in Vacation Time, Donald must rescue Huey, Dewey, and Louie on a wilderness outing gone wrong. - The Complete Carl Barks Disney Library Vol. 10: Walt Disney’s Donald Duck “Terror of the Beagle Boys”
Collects stories from 1951. There are sea monsters, millionaires, spies, and more in this volume introducing the villainous Beagle Boys and the virtuous Junior Woodchucks. - The Complete Carl Barks Disney Library Vol. 11: Walt Disney’s Donald Duck “A Christmas For Shacktown”
Collects stories from 1951–1952. Includes the classic A Christmas For Shacktown, but also a quest for a relic in The Golden Helmet, a hunt for a rare stamp in South America in The Gilded Man, ten of Barks’s smart and funny 10-pagers, including a double whammy of yarns co-starring Donald’s insufferable cousin as well as another nine of Barks’s rarely seen one-page Duck gags.
- The Complete Carl Barks Disney Library Vol. 12: Walt Disney’s Uncle Scrooge “Only A Poor Old Man”
Collects stories from 1952–1954. Includes Only a Poor Old Man, the first big starring story for Uncle Scrooge, but also Tralla La, Back to the Klondike, The Secret of Atlantis, and over two dozen more shorter stories and one-page gags. - The Complete Carl Barks Disney Library Vol. 13: Walt Disney’s Donald Duck “Trick or Treat”
Collects stories from 1952–1953. Includes Trick or Treat, a comic-book version of the classic Disney animated short, but also Omelet, one of Barks’s own personal favorites telling the story of Donald’s slapstick misadventures as a chicken farmer. And also Nineteen stories, plus bonus features. - The Complete Carl Barks Disney Library Vol. 14: Walt Disney’s Uncle Scrooge “The Seven Cities of Gold”
Collects stories from 1954–1955. Includes the famous story that inspired Raiders of the Lost Ark, but also The Mysterious Stone Ray (with a gimmick that was later used in Goldfinger) and more. - The Complete Carl Barks Disney Library Vol. 15: Walt Disney’s Donald Duck “The Ghost Sheriff of Last Gasp”
Collects stories from 1953–1955. Uncle Scrooge sends Donald and the nephews to the jungle; the nephews solve a Western ghost mystery; and there are 10,000 hungry baby turkeys to deliver. Plus more stories with Barks favorites, including the wacky inventor Gyro Gearloose, the irritatingly lucky Gladstone Gander, and the ever-glamorous and sensible Daisy Duck. - The Complete Carl Barks Disney Library Vol. 16: Walt Disney’s Uncle Scrooge “The Lost Crown of Genghis Khan”
Collects stories from 1956–1957. A volume full of underground civilizations, exotic locales, and a race for pirate gold - The Complete Carl Barks Disney Library Vol. 17: Walt Disney’s Donald Duck “The Secret of Hondorica”
Collects stories from 1955–1956. The Disney Ducks go on a perilous jungle quest, start a risky business, and the Junior Woodchuck boys are challenged by the Chickadee Patrol girls. - The Complete Carl Barks Disney Library Vol. 18: Walt Disney’s Donald Duck “The Lost Peg Leg Mine”
Collects stories from 1956–1958. A volume with a spooky lost mine, a runaway train, and a trip to the stars! - The Complete Carl Barks Disney Library Vol. 19: Walt Disney’s Donald Duck “The Black Pearls of Tabu Yama”
Collects stories from 1957–1958. Donald, Uncle Scrooge, and the nephews are searching for rare black pearls on a remote island, then, Donald and the boys head off to the uncharted jungles of the Amazon rainforest. Also, Gyro Gearloose invents a rocket to enter an “Around-the-World-in-80-Minutes” race, and Donald agrees to pilot the ship!
- The Complete Carl Barks Disney Library Vol. 20: Walt Disney’s Uncle Scrooge “The Mines of King Solomon”
Collects stories from 1957–1958. Uncle Scrooge discovers the fabled lost treasure of King Solomon! Also, the Beagle Boys come calling again and more oddball inventions of the ever-eccentric Gyro Gearloose! - The Complete Carl Barks Disney Library Vol. 21: Walt Disney’s Donald Duck “Christmas in Duckburg”
Collects stories from 1958–1959. There’s an impossible Christmas wish, a noble fireman, and a race to the South Seas! - The Complete Carl Barks Disney Library Vol. 22: Walt Disney’s Uncle Scrooge “The Twenty-four Carat Moon”
Collects stories from 1958–1962. Uncle Scrooge and Donald Duck space race to a moon of gold, discover the secret of a ghost ship, and go on a perilous quest for ancient treasure! - The Complete Carl Barks Disney Library Vol. 23: Walt Disney’s Donald Duck “Under the Polar Ice”
Collects stories from 1959-1960. Donald and the nephews are stranded in the Arctic and face peril in the jungle! Then Donald takes the nephews to South America, and faces numerous perils — including a sheer mountain cliff, a raging river, and a swarm of crocodiles. - The Complete Carl Barks Disney Library Vol. 24: Walt Disney’s Uncle Scrooge “Island in the Sky”
Collects stories from 1959-1960, 1990. Uncle Scrooge wants to store his money on an asteroid, the Beagle Boys construct an unstoppable mechanical behemoth to crack open Scrooge’s Money Bin, and Scrooge, Donald, and the nephews set sail on a windjammer to collect $10 million in gold – but there be pirates on the high seas! - The Complete Carl Barks Disney Library Vol. 25: Walt Disney’s Donald Duck “Balloonatics”
Collects stories from 1960-1961. When Gyro Gearloose invents a ten-story-tall Donald Duck balloon ― bigger than anything ever seen at the Macy’s Parade! ― Donald decides to take a ride. But Gyro’s “new balloon gas” is stronger than he thought it was, and Donald finds himself out of control, sailing higher and higher, until… - The Complete Carl Barks Disney Library Vol. 26: Walt Disney’s Uncle Scrooge “The Golden Nugget Boat”
Collects stories from 1960–1962. Uncle Scrooge laughed when the mysterious woman offered him one dollar for one of his dimes. But she might just have the last laugh because the dime he accidentally sold her was his lucky Number One Dime — the first dime he ever earned! — and now she’s about to melt it down for one of her strange spells! - The Complete Carl Barks Disney Library Vol. 27: Walt Disney’s Donald Duck “Duck Luck”
Collects stories from 1963–1963. Donald Duck decides to enlist Gladstone Gander and his unfailing good luck to prove a fortune cookie wrong when it warns, “You can’t do anything right today.” (Good luck with that!) Next, it’s off to the roaring North Seas, on one of Uncle Scrooge’s schooners, where Donald and the boys compete to bring in the most fish. But they’re falling behind — until Donald unlocks Scrooge’s “Secret Device.” - The Complete Carl Barks Disney Library Vol. 28: Walt Disney’s Uncle Scrooge Cave of Ali Baba
Uncle Scrooge, Donald, and the nephews are approached by a wayward archaeologist bearing fragile clay tablets that point the way to Ali Baba’s lost cave, the hunt is on for the most fabulous treasure of the ancient world! And Scrooge will soon discover how true his words really are! Then, Scrooge shields his Money Bin in an indestructible glass that defies the efforts of Magica de Spell and the Beagle Boys to crack it. What could possibly go wrong?
The Complete Carl Barks Disney Library: Box sets
A double dose of Ducks! Fantagraphics also released the Carl Barks Disney Library in box sets. It collects two volumes presented in a colorful box set.
- Walt Disney’s Donald Duck Gift Box Set: “Christmas On Bear Mountain” & “The Old Castle’s Secret”: Vols. 5 & 6
- Walt Disney’s Donald Duck Gift Box Set: “Lost in the Andes” & “Trail of the Unicorn”: Vols. 7 & 8
- Walt Disney’s Donald Duck Gift Box Set: “The Pixilated Parrot” & “Terror of the Beagle Boys”: Vols. 9 & 10
- Walt Disney’s Donald Duck Holiday Gift Box Set: “A Christmas For Shacktown” & “Trick or Treat”: Vols. 11 & 13
- Walt Disney’s Uncle Scrooge Gift Box Set: “Only A Poor Old Man” & “The Seven Cities Of Gold”: Vols. 12 & 14
- Walt Disney’s Donald Duck Gift Box Set: “The Ghost Sheriff of Last Gasp” & “The Secret of Hondorica”: Vols. 15 & 17
- Walt Disney’s Donald Duck Gift Box Set: “The Lost Peg Leg Mine” and “The Black Pearls of Tabu Yama”: Vols. 18 & 19
- Walt Disney’s Uncle Scrooge Gift Box Set: “The Lost Crown of Genghis Khan” & “The Mines of King Solomon”: Vols. 16 & 20
- Walt Disney’s Donald Duck Gift Box Set: “Chrismas in Duckburg” & “Under the Polar Ice”: Vols. 21 & 23
What to read after The Complete Carl Barks Disney Library?
After Carl Barks, Don Rosa has continued Donald Duck, Uncle Scrooge, and the nephews’ adventures in comic form and Fantagraphics has published a complete library of Don Rosa’s Disney comics.
Last Updated on February 23, 2024.