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.

Christmas on Bear Mountain

The Complete Carl Barks Disney Library Vol. 5: Christmas on Bear Mountain was released by Fantagraphics in November 2013.

The illustrations that make up the cover of this book are from Three Good Little Ducks (top image) and Christmas on Bear Mountain (bottom image).

This edition of the Carl Barks library is 210 pages, and it includes 17 stories that were published in 1947. There are also some supplement sections with a short biography on 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. 5 is available in hardcover and Kindle\Comixology versions. A link to buy this book can be found at the end of this review.

This volume is also available coupled with Carl Barks Library Vol. 11: A Christmas For Shacktown as a Christmas Treasury Box Set.

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

Included Stories

There are 17 Disney Duck stories included in Christmas on Bear Mountain:

• Christmas on Bear Mountain

• Fashion in Flight
• Turn for the Worse
• Donald’s Posy Patch
• Donald Mines His Own Business
• Volcano Valley
• Magical Misery
• Ring Wrongs
• Adventure Down Under
• If the Hat Fits
• The Waltz King
• The Masters of Melody
• Donald Duck and the Ghost of the Grotto
• Fireman Donald
• The Terrible Turkey
• Three Good Little Ducks
• Machine Mix-Up

Christmas on Bear Mountain was the debut of Scrooge McDuck. Donald receives a letter from his Uncle Scrooge to stay in his mountain cabin for the holidays. This is all a part of Scrooge testing his relatives to see if any of them are brave enough to receive a present from him. The cabin resides on Bear Mountain that is known for it’s Bear population. Scrooge plans on making sure that they see a big grizzly bear by wearing a bear costume and visiting the cabin. Unbeknownst to any of the ducks, a real bear cub was living in the tree that Donald cuts down for his Christmas tree. Mama bear finds out that her bear is missing and visits the cabin looking for her cub. By the time Scrooge arrives at the cabin, the nephews are chasing the baby bear around the cabin, and he finds big mama bear passed out from eating all of the food in the fridge. Donald faints next to the sleeping bear, and Scrooge is then under the impression that Donald fears no bear and is worthy of a present. The Duck family are invited to Scrooge’s Mansion for a Christmas feast. The present that Donald receives from Scrooge is a bearskin rug which makes Donald faint again.

Fashion in Flight is a one page story about Donald upgrading his car with a visor that ends up giving him the power flight…right into a tree.

Turn for the Worse is another one page story about an insurance man looking for a Donald Duck, and Donald playing a trick on him.

In Donald’s Posy Patch, Donald tries to win a contest for the growers of the best flower garden in Duckburg. Donald wins the cash prize, but the prize is for having the healthiest boys in Duckburg.

Donald finds a treasure map for a lost fold mine in Donald Mines His Own Business. The only problem is Huey, Dewey, and Louie made that map when they were playing a game of pretending to be gold prospector. Donald takes his nephews on an adventure for gold, but the nephews don’t discover that it is their map until the end.

Volcano Valley is a longer Barks’ story where Donald thinks he buys a model plane for his nephews, but it was actually a real plane from the war surplus. He sells the plane to a man from the country Volcanovia. This is a country known for siestas. The only way out of Volcanovia for Donald and the boys is to do something heroic.

Huey, Dewey, and Louie perform a magic trick for their Uncle Donald in Magical Misery. When Donald can’t figure out how they did the trick, Donald is out to prove he is the best magician in the family by performing some magic tricks of his own.

Donald is hypnotized to think he is a kangaroo in Ring Wrongs.

Donald shops for a hat for his donkey in If the Hat Fits.

Donald and Daisy enter a Waltz contest in The Waltz King. The only thing standing in their way of winning is that Donald does not know how to waltz. He stays up all night studying the dance moves, but his exhaustion leads to amnesia and forgetting the steps.

Donald wants his nephews to learn a skill in The Masters of Melody. Except learning to play musical instrument is not as fast and easy as Donald thinks it should be.

Donald and the nephews are kelp collectors in Donald Duck and the Ghost of the Grotto. There is a legend amongst the islanders that every 50 years on the same night a little boy is kidnapped off the island by a knight. This story takes place on that night. Are Huey, Dewey, and Louie safe?

Donald becomes a volunteer firefighter in Fireman Donald. He starts off in a role as the first hoseman on the ladder truck, and he gets demoted several times for being late to the fire or for making mistakes.

We are treated to a Thanksgiving story with The Terrible Turkey. Donald wants to hunt for his family’s turkey dinner in his local forest. Huey, Dewey, and Louie follow him into the forest to trick him with turkey tracks, gobble sounds, and turkey tails.

We get our second Christmas story in this book with Three Good Little Ducks. On Christmas Eve, Huey, Dewey, and Louie start to get worried about not getting any presents this year after they think about all of the pranks they pulled on Donald that year. They try to make up for it by doing good deeds for Donald, but each attempt to be good has the opposite results.

Donald has a new kitchen in Machine Mix-Up. When his quick freeze is next to his washer machine, what could possibly go wrong in this one page story?

Final Thoughts

If you are planning to read through the Carl Barks Disney Library collection, this is a great place to start. This volume is volume 5 in the library collection, but volumes 1-4 have not been published yet. The historic debut of the character Scrooge McDuck is the title story in this volume. This volume is worth owning just to have that story, but the rest of the book is filled with charming Donald Duck stories that you will enjoy.

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. 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 links:

The Complete Carl Barks Disney Library Vol. 5: Christmas on Bear Mountain

Walt Disney’s Donald Duck Christmas Gift Box Set (The Complete Carl Barks Disney Library)

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