Synopses & Reviews
Disney artist Carl Barks (1901-2000) created one of Walt Disney's most famous characters, Scrooge McDuck. Barks also produced more than 500 comic book stories. His work is ranked among the most widely circulated, best-loved, and most influential of all comic book art.
Although the images he created are known virtually everywhere, Barks was an isolated storyteller, living in the desert of California and preferring to labor without public fanfare during most of his career.
He created work of such exceptional quality that he was accorded the greatest autonomy of any Disney artist. He is the only comic book artist ever to receive a Disney Legends award.
The influence of Barks's work on such filmmakers as George Lucas and Steven Spielberg and on such artists as Gottfried Helnwein has extended Barks's significance far beyond the boundaries of comics. After Barks's death at the age of ninety-nine, Roy Disney praised him for his "brilliant artistic vision."
Carl Barks: Conversations is the only comprehensive collection of Barks's interviews. It ranges chronologically from the very first one (with Malcolm Willits, the fan who uncovered Barks's identity) to the artist's final conversations with Donald Ault in the summer of 2000. In between are interviews conducted by J. Michael Barrier, Edward Summer, Bruce Hamilton, and others. Several of these interviews are published here for the first time.
Ault's friendship with Barks, ranging over a period of thirty years, provides an unusually intimate resource not only for standard Q&A interviews but also for casual conversations in informal settings.
Carl Barks: Conversations reveals previously unknown information about the life, times, and opinions of one of the master storytellers of the twentieth century.
Review
"Barks may be history's most widely read anonymous storyteller....In keeping with Barks' obscurity, the 24 interviews collected here come from small-circulation fanzines or are first publications....He probably would have been bemused yet impressed by this tribute to his work's lasting significance." Gordon Flagg, Booklist
Synopsis
Interviews with the Disney artist who created Scrooge McDuck and many well-loved comic books Disney artist Carl Barks (1901-2000) created one of Walt Disney's most famous characters, Scrooge McDuck. Barks also produced more than 500 comic book stories. His work is ranked among the most widely circulated, best-loved, and most influential of all comic book art. Although the images he created are known virtually everywhere, Barks was an isolated storyteller, living in the desert of California and preferring to labor without public fanfare during most of his career. He created work of such exceptional quality that he was accorded the greatest autonomy of any Disney artist. He is the only comic book artist ever to receive a Disney Legends award. The influence of Barks's work on such filmmakers as George Lucas and Steven Spielberg and on such artists as Gottfried Helnwein has extended Barks's significance far beyond the boundaries of comics. After Barks's death at the age of ninety-nine, Roy Disney praised him for his "brilliant artistic vision." Carl Barks: Conversations is the only comprehensive collection of Barks's interviews. It ranges chronologically from the very first one (with Malcolm Willits, the fan who uncovered Barks's identity) to the artist's final conversations with Donald Ault in the summer of 2000. In between are interviews conducted by J. Michael Barrier, Edward Summer, Bruce Hamilton, and others. Several of these interviews are published here for the first time. Ault's friendship with Barks, ranging over a period of thirty years, provides an unusually intimate resource not only for standard q&a interviews but also for casual conversations in informal settings. Carl Barks: Conversations reveals previously unknown information about the life, times, and opinions of one of the master storytellers of the twentieth century. Donald Ault, a professor of English at the University of Florida, is the author of Narrative Unbound: Re-Visioning William Blake's The Four Zoas and Visionary Physics: Blake's Response to Newton. His work has been published in Studies in Romanticism, The Wordsworth Circle, Modern Philology, and The Comics Journal.
Synopsis
Interviews with the Disney artist who created Scrooge McDuck and many well-loved comic books
About the Author
Donald Ault, a professor of English at the University of Florida, is the author of Narrative Unbound: Re-Visioning William Blake's The Four Zoas and Visionary Physics: Blake's Response to Newton. His work has been published in Studies in Romanticism, The Wordsworth Circle, Modern Philology, and The Comics Journal.
Table of Contents
The duck man / Malcolm Willits, Don Thompson, Maggie Thompson -- A conversation with Carl Barks / J. Michael Barrier ... et al. -- Writing to please myself : an interview with Carl Barks / Paul Ciotti -- Carl Barks, telling it like it is / Donald Ault -- Carl Barks : on his life and career ; Carl Barks and his ducks / J. Michael Barrier -- Of ducks and men : Carl Barks interviewed / Edward Summer -- An interview with Carl Barks, Duckburg's true founding father / Donald Ault, Thomas Andrae, and Stephen Gong -- An interview with Carl and Garâe Barks / Klaus Strzyz -- Views from Carl Barks / E.B. Boatner -- Fortune favors the bold : an interview with Carl Barks / Edward Summer -- Interview with Carl Barks and Floyd Gottfredson / Bruce Hamilton and Bill Blackbeard -- Carl Barks interview / Bruce Hamilton -- Conversation with Carl Barks / Gottfried Helnwein -- Reluctant cult hero : Carl Barks / Michael Naiman -- Carl Barks speaks with the Finnish press / Markku Kivekas -- When Donald Duck turned 60 / Erik Svane -- Carl Barks at Disneyland Paris / Sâebastien Durand and Didier Ghez -- Carl Barks remembers "A perfect life" / Donald Ault and Lynda Ault -- Carl Barks : on Floyd Gottfredson -- Leonardo Gori and Francesco Stajano -- "Those things that came along in the 20th century and became obsolete" : Carl Barks on the past, present, and future of comic books / Donald Ault -- Living the stories : the Carl Barks genius / Donald Ault ... et al. -- Ideas flowing like waterfalls : some reflections from Carl Barks at 98 ; Carl Barks : spools of memory / Donald Ault.