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.
Terror of the Beagle Boys
The Complete Carl Barks Disney Library Vol. 10: Terror of the Beagle Boys was released by Fantagraphics in May 2016.
Both illustrations that make up the cover of this book are from the story Terror of the Beagle Boys.
This edition of the Carl Barks library is 225 pages, and it includes 15 stories that were published in 1951. 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. 10 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 in a set coupled with Carl Barks Library Vol. 9: The Pixilated Parrot. It is a great value and discount to buy the bundle.
The next new release in this series Carl Barks Library Vol. 20, The Mines of King Solomon, will be released in May 2019.
Included Stories
There are 10 Disney Duck stories included in Terror of the Beagle Boys:
Terror of the Beagle BoysDangerous DisguiseBillions to Sneeze AtOperation St. BernardNo Such VarmintA Financial FableThe April FoolersDonald Duck In Old California!Knightly RivalsPool SharksThe Trouble With DimesGladstone’s LuckTen-Star GeneralsAttic AnticsThe Truant Nephews
Terror of the Beagle Boys is the first appearance of the Beagle Boys. Scrooge finds out from the chief of police that the Beagle Boys have busted out of prison. Donald and Scrooge need to figure out a way to stop the Beagle Boys from stealing Scrooge’s fortune. They rig a canon to fire a canon ball at whomever opens Scrooge’s office door. It doesn’t work out too well for Scrooge. The Beagle Boys make their comic debut in the last frame of the story.
Donald and the boys are vacationing in the Mediterranean when they are all of a sudden thrown into a big spy adventure in Dangerous Disguise.
Donald realizes that the worst person that you could owe a debt to is his Uncle Scrooge in Billions to Sneeze At. Donald goes into a panic attack about paying Scrooge back the $4 that he loaned him. He is able to come up with the money except for one penny. That is not good enough for his Uncle. Scrooge wants the full debt repaid. Scrooge develops a hay fever for money and has to go far away from his money until he is over sneezing over the smell of his money. He puts Donald in charge of his loan business while he is away. By the time Scrooge is over his sickness he comes home to find Donald has loaned out all of his money to Duckburg citizens. Donald is in debt to Scrooge for billions now.
Huey, Dewey, and Louie hope to earn a Jr. Woodchuck badge to become Brigadier Generals in Operation St. Bernard. They just have to have their dog Bornworthy prove that he can be a rescue dog in the snow. A blizzard hits and Bornworthy and the boys prove that they are Brigadier General worthy.
The boys want their uncle Donald to have a profession that they can be proud of in No Such Varmint. Donald becomes a snake charmer, but they want him to be the world’s greatest detective. Scrooge McDuck hires Donald to find his missing ship from the Alaskan mines full of gold that sank after striking a mysterious object. Donald’s snake charming skills come in handy for this job.
Donald and the boys are working on Scrooge McDuck’s farm in A Financial Fable. Scrooge has built an immense crib to store all of his fortune. This is of course pre-money bin. Donald wishes he was rich so that he wouldn’t have to work any more, and he could go see the world. When a cyclone appears and sucks up all of Scrooge’s money, Donald gets rich when money falls from the sky. The whole town gets rich, but Scrooge gets all of his money back when the boys and him are the only ones that continue to work.
Huey, Dewey, and Louie try to trick their Uncle Donald in The April Foolers. All of their tricks backfire on them, and Donald appears to have a Gladstone luck streak.
Donald and the boys take a detour from the traffic on the California roads in Donald Duck In Old California!. Donald tells the story of what old California was like to the boys. Indians, missions, and the gold rush are just some of the topics that Donald covers as he drives the country roads of California. He doesn’t see a large boulder in the road, and Donald and the boys are knocked out. When they awaken, they find themselves in an Indian village where the tribe’s medicine man gives them some medicine that puts them in a dream state and transports them back to the days of old California from Donald’s stories.
Daisy asks both Donald and Gladstone to try out for the hero role in her play in Knightly Rivals. They both do a great job when they try out for the part, but Daisy wants someone who can act like a knight both in the play and in real life. Who will win the part?
Donald trades his garden in for a pool in Pool Sharks. The problem with having a swimming pool is that everyone else wants to swim in it, including kids, dogs, and neighborhood moms.
The boys teach Donald about the value of old coins in The Trouble With Dimes. He trades his Uncle Scrooge dimes for dollars so that he can sell the coins to a coin collector and make a profit, Donald learns a lesson that the coins are valuable because they are rare.
- Donald always has the worst luck when it cones to his cousin Gladstone in Gladstone’s Luck. Gladstone challenges Donald to a golf match and suddenly the roles out reversed with Gladstone being the unlucky duck, but is it sometime lucky to be unlucky?
Donald tries to “help” the boys earn merit badges in Ten-Star Generals. It doesn’t take long for the boys to realize that they are better off without Donald’s assistance in their merit badge tests.
Two of the mice from Cinderella, Jaq and Gus Gus, make.a cameo in Attic Antics. The mice were living in a trunk in Grandma Duck’s attic. When the trunk is moved out of the attic by Gus to make room for Daisy’s stay at Grandma’s house, a person pretending to be a door to door salesman tries to rob Grandma Duck. It is up to Jaq and Gus Gus to save the day.
Donald gets a job as a bucket delivery duck and the boys want to play hookey from school in The Truant Nephews. The boys try their best to skip school, but everywhere they try to hide is close to a school or a place where Donald just so happens to be delivering buckets.
Final Thoughts
This volume features the historic first appearance of the Beagle Boys, even if it is only for one epic comic frame in Terror of the Beagle Boys. We get the story of the first time that the Beagle Boys attempt to rob Scrooge McDuck. This story and those Beagle Boys have major storylines throughout Carl Barks comics, Don Rosa comics, DuckTales, and the new DuckTales. My favorite part of the Carl Barks Library is seeing where it all started for the characters in this Duck Universe. Thanks Carl and Fantagraphics!
In the bonus section towards the back of the book, we get to see some glorious comic covers that Carl worked on. It makes me wish I had prints of all of these covers. So I am glad they are at least printed in the book.
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. 10: Terror of the Beagle Boys
*By purchasing from Amazon.com through this link above, you are supporting DuckTalks at no additional cost to yourself!
DuckTalks 
Ack, Vol. 10? I’m so behind.
LikeLiked by 1 person