The Complete Carl Barks Disney Library

Fantagraphics launched the Complete Carl Barks Disney Library with Lost in the Andes in December 2011. Since then, they have released two volumes each year. The volumes in this library are numbered chronologically, but they are being released in a different order. For example, the first volume released, Lost in the Andes, is volume 7. Carl Barks Disney comics were published between 1942 and 1966. When the Complete Carl Barks Disney Library is completed, it will have around 30 volumes. Carl Barks is in the Eisner Comic Book Hall of Fame, and he is a Disney Legend which makes this library essential reading for Disney Duck Fans as well as all Disney and comic book fans.

Trick or Treat

The Complete Carl Barks Disney Library Vol. 13: Trick or Treat was released by Fantagraphics in October 2015.

The illustrations that make up the cover of this book are both from the Trick or Treat story.

This edition of the Carl Barks library is 236 pages, and it includes 18 stories that were published between 1952 and 1953. There are also some supplement sections with a section about Carl Bark’s life as well as behind the scenes pictures and stories about each and every story that is included in this edition. It is full of great and interesting information. I am glad that it is included in this volume and every volume of the Carl Barks Library.

Carl Barks Library Vol. 13 is available in hardcover and Kindle\Comixology versions. A link to buy this book can be found at the end of this review.

The next book in this series Carl Barks Library Vol. 20, The Mines of King Solomon, will be released in April 2019.

Included Stories

There are 18 Disney Duck stories included in Trick or Treat:

• Trick or Treat

• Hobblin’ Goblins
• A Prank Above
• The Hypno-Gun
• Omelet
• A Charitable Chore
• Turkey With All the Schemings
• Flip Decision
• My Lucky Valentine
• The Easter Election
• The Talking Dog
• Worm Weary
• Mug Ado About Quackly Hall
• Some Heir Over the Rainbow
• The Master Rainmaker
• The Money Stairs
• Bee Bumbles
• Frightful Face

The classic Donald Duck animated short Trick Or Treat has always been my favorite Halloween entertainment treat. I was delighted to find out that Carl Barks worked on a comic version that was published at the same time as the animated short. He had to work off of storyboards that he was given to work on the print form of the story. In the story, Witch Hazel helps Huey, Dewey, and Louie trick or treat at their Uncle Donald’s house. Donald is more into the trick part in trick of treating. The 8 minute animated short did not provide enough material to make a 32 page comic so Barks added a few things. Dewey is given the task to secure the whiskers from a billy goat which is needed for Witch Hazel’s spell. In another scene, Witch Hazel transforms herself into a sexy duck in an attempt to get the candy from Donald. Barks also create a new character that was an eight armed orge named Smorgie the Bad. Hazel sends Smorgie to get all of the candy from Donald. That scene was cut from the comic before it was published so that the comic would match the cartoon. The Smorgie scene was added back into the story for the Carl Barks Library.

Hobblin’ Goblins also takes place on Halloween. Gyro invents a device to foil goblins’ plans. Goblins are invisible creatures that cause troubles. Huey, Dewey, and Louie try out the new invention, but it doesn’t appear to work as the invisible goblins work overtime to cause trouble for the boys on Halloween.

In A Prank Above, Donald and the boys are looking to pull pranks on Halloween night. It is suggested by someone to put a buggy on top of a roof as a trick, but the trick is on them as the person that suggests the prank gets free labor to get the buggy on top of his antique shop. This story is a one pager.

In The Hypno-Gun, Huey, Dewey, and Louie get their toy hypno-gun taken away by their Uncle Donald. Donald thinks the toy is real, and he goes to try to hypnotize Scrooge to try to get a bag of money out of him. Scrooge plays along like he really is hypnotized. Scrooge ends up shooting Donald with the hypno-gun, and it really hypnotizes Donald. Scrooge decides to use this opportunity to his advantage by making Donald collect money on a bill from someone who is not interested in paying.

In Omelet, we get to hear the story about how a town called Pleasant Valley changed its name to Omelet thanks to Donald Duck and his chicken farm on a hill.

We are served a delightful Thanksgiving story with A Charitable Chore. Donald signs up for Daisy’s Good Neighbor program where he will have someone come to his house who is poor to have Thanksgiving Dinner. The name that he draws from the box is Gladstone Gander. Donald is determined to get out of the deal so that he will not have to host his cousin for Thanksgiving, but by the time Gladstone’s luck is done with him, Donald needs to put his name in the poor box for the next holiday.

It is Christmas time with Turkey With All the Schemings. Donald has remembered to complete his long list of Christmas to dos for everyone else, but he forgets about himself. In order to get the turkey dinner that he deeply desires for Christmas, he decides to trick Scrooge into inviting him to dinner when he disguises himself as a wealthy duck that wants to do business with Scrooge. The only problem is that Scrooge doesn’t want to pay for the dinner either.

Donald becomes a flipist in Flip Decision. A flipist is a person who lets a coin decide his/her decision by flipping a coin. This can’t possibly lead to disaster…right? Hold on let me flip a coin. It was heads.

Donald’s new job is a special delivery postman in My Lucky Valentine. He has to deliver a Valentine to Daisy Duck from Gladstone Gander in a blizzard.

Donald and Gladstone face off against each other to see who can get the votes from the children of Duckburg to become the Grand Marshall of Daisy Duck’s Club Easter Parade In The Easter Election.

Donald Duck wants to be selected to go on to a tv show for the chance to answer a question to win $1,000 in The Talking Dog. The show’s producer tells Donald that he only puts newsworthy people on his show. Donald tries to pull publicity stunts to get famous. Huey, Dewey, and Louie get a dog from Gyro that talks thanks to a voice box that he invented. The talking dog makes Donald famous, but a cat that sings using the same voice box technology make Huey, Dewey, and Louie more famous.

Donald goes fishing to catch fish for the big fishing derby in Worm Weary. The fish are not big fans of his worms. Gyro lets Donald have some special worms that he farms that can go out and catch the fish and haul the fish to shore themselves. Does Donald go overboard with the worms which could end up ruining fishing for everyone?…Yes, yes he does.

In Mug Ado About Quackly Hall, Donald is a realtor who is trying to sell an abandoned house that Huey, Dewey, and Louie are currently using for their clubhouse. They have several traps all over the house to help discourage he sale, but the potential buyer loves a fixer upper.

In Some Heir Over the Rainbow, Scrooge McDuck uses a rainbow that appears in Duckburg to help him decide which relative(s) will be the heir(s) to his fortune. He hides three pots of money worth $1,000 at various points of the end of the rainbow for Huey, Dewey, Louie, Gladstone, and Donald to find. A few weeks later he follows up with them to see who used the money the wisest.

In The Master Rainmaker, Donald has a job making it rain on crops. Unlike most of his jobs, he is quite skilled at this one. He forms the clouds with his biplane in the desired layout and then sprinkles the clouds with the ingredients to make it rain. With great powers comes great responsibilities, and Donald ignores all responsible thinking by using his mastery to wreck Daisy and Gladstone’s date with bad weather.

In The Money Stairs, Donald tells Scrooge that he can do anything better than he can. Scrooge disagrees because he has money that can help him best Donald anything. Several contests occur with the finale being who can climb Old Demon Tooth mountain.

Huey, Dewey, and Louie become bee farmers for the Junior Woodchucks in Bee Bumbles. Donald is left taking care of the bees which aggravate both Donald, the neighbors, and all of Duckburg when Donald walks them around town. Huey, Dewey, and Louie win 1st prize at the fair for the honey that the bees make, and Donald feels like a proud parent.

Frightful Face is a one page story about Donald trying to scare Daisy with Halloween masks which has no effect on her. Later she is frightened by Donald’s actual face.

Final Thoughts

I love Halloween and holiday Donald Duck stories in general. This volume is full of holiday stories. Out of the 18 stories generously included in this volume, 8 are holiday related: 4 Halloween, 1 Thanksgiving, 1 Christmas, 1 Valentines Day, 1 Easter. The 32 page Trick or Treat story is definitely my favorite from this volume. It is definitely something that I would want to read yearly around Halloween in addition to watching the animated short to get me and my family into the mood for the holiday.

The bonus content on Carl Bark’s life and the behind the scenes content on each story really completes this volume for a comprehensive experience. The reader is also treated to comic covers that Carl Barks created. I can’t wait to read through the rest of the volumes in the Carl Barks Library.

As a reminder: It would take a lot of time and money to compile a comic collection that included all of these stories. Anything that takes a lot of time and money would not be approved by Scrooge McDuck.

Thank you to Fantagraphics for allowing us to go through this Disney Duck journey. I feel smarter for increasing my Disney Duck knowledge base by reading this volume.

HIGHLY RECOMMEND!

You can order the book at the following link:

The Complete Carl Barks Disney Library Vol. 13: Trick or Treat

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