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.

Duck Luck

The Complete Carl Barks Disney Library Vol. 27: Duck Luck will be released by Fantagraphics in November 2022.

The top illustration on the cover of this book is from the story Too Much Help, and the bottom illustration is from the story Terrible Tourist.

This edition of the Carl Barks library is 200 pages, and it includes 22 stories. Comic covers that Carl Barks worked on during this period are also featured in this volume. There is 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 and should be considered a text book of information for fans of Uncle Scrooge and Donald Duck. I am glad that it is included in this volume and every volume of the Carl Barks Disney Library.

Carl Barks Disney Library Vol. 27 is available in hardcover and KindleComixology versions. A link to buy this book can be found at the end of this review.

Included Stories

There are 22 stories included in this volume:

• Duck Luck
• Sitting High
• The Madcap Mariner
• Small Fryers
• Terrible Tourist
• Lost Frontier
• Stranger Than Fiction
• False Flattery
• Boxed-In
• Mr. Private Eye
• A Sticky Situation
• Ring Leader Roundup
• Too Much Help
• Ruling the Roost
• Daringly Different
• Friendly Enemy
• Undercover Girl
• The Inventive Gentleman
• Saviors of the Lake
• Bottled Battlers
• Maple Sugar Time (How Sweet It Is!)
• Traitor in the Ranks

Donald’s fortune cookie reads “You can’t do anything right today! Go home and go to bed” in Duck Luck. Donald should have listened to his fortune that day because his day is full of disaster circumstances for every decision that he makes.

Donald and his nephews admire all of the celebrities that they spot while in Sandy Palms in Sitting High. They try to get Donald discovered into celebrity stardom, but Donald’s luck always gets in the way.

Scrooge hires Donald to be the captain of his ship the Daffy-O in a cod fish fishing competition to win the fishermen’s gold cup in The Madcap Mariner. Scrooge stashed a secret device onboard the ship to help catch the fish.

April, May, and June visit their Aunt Daisy in a Daisy Dear Diary entry titled Small Fryers. The nieces get bored at Daisy’s house. Daisy gives them the idea to bake cookies, but they are not a fan of Daisy’s second idea which was to clean up after making a mess baking the cookies.

When Donald goes on vacation, he always tries and takes a piece of every city that he visits home in Terrible Tourist. What he wants most on his latest trip is a rose from a señorita.

Donald takes the boys to the Grand Canyon to dispel a tv personality’s (CaptainGadabout) claim that cavemen still inhabit the canyon in Lost Frontier. If he wants to win that argument, he is going to have to explain that to the cavemen.

Donald forbids the boys from reading science fiction magazines in Stranger Than Fiction because he does not believe that the transmission of matter through space by unfilamented electronic emission is possible. When he goes to Gyro’s house to laugh about it with Gyro, he discovers that Gyro has built a nucleonics linear emisser that successfully does what was in the boy’s science fiction magazine.

Daisy purchases a parrot that says “pretty girl” in False Flattery. She later finds out that the parrot calls everyone pretty girl.

Daisy invites Donald to a Box Social where her girl’s club makes boxed lunches and the boys have to bid on the boxes in Boxed-In. The winning bidder gets to have lunch with the person who made it. Daisy usually gets the highest bids, but Donald is out of money so he has to borrow from his nephews.

Donald gets hired as a private eye to solve a crime before it has been committed in Mr. Private Eye. Scrooge’s priceless Cat’s Eye Opal will be given to King Notraks. Donald is in charge of trying to figure out who and how a thief could steal the opal so that he can be prepared to stop them.

Daisy is fed up with Donald and all men in general so she goes with April, May, and June on a man free camping trip to the wilderness in A Sticky Situation.

Daisy finds a large diamond ring on the ground that turns out to be a fake. She wears the ring in front of Donald to pretend that some other duck gave her it as a present. The ring turns out to be a communication device for two jewel thieves that Donald clobbers in jealousy in Ring Leader Roundup.

Daisy thinks that Grandma Duck needs help on her farm from reading a letter that she thinks has tears on it in Too Much Help. Daisy brings Gladstone along to use his luck in whatever is ailing Grandma Duck, but Gladstone’s good luck is not helpful to Grandma Duck.

Daisy is Scrooge’s secretary, and he is missing on inspection day. Since Scrooge can not be found, Daisy oks some deals which ends up making Scrooge millions in Ruling the Roost.

All of the house on Daisy’s street look exactly the same which disgusts Daisy as she dares to be different in Daringly Different. She changes everything from her mail box to her house interior to her car to be different, but she ends up being a trend setter that everyone copies.

Donald suggests different hobbies for Daisy to try to ail her boredom, but each hobby ends up bringing her pain in Friendly Enemy.

Daisy finds an extravagant hat that she wants to purchase, but the hat is so big that it covers her face in Undercover Girl.

Daisy needs help finding a gentleman to give up their seat on a crowded bus in The Inventive Gentleman. Gyro is that gentleman.

The Junior Woodchucks go skating on Crystal Lake with new skates thanks to their generous sponsor Vitamin Zee in Saviors of the Lake. A factory plant nearby makes the ice on the lake melt, and the fish all leave because the pollution makes the lake non swimmable. It is up to the Junior Woodchucks to shut the factory down. I wonder who the factory could belong to?

The Junior Woodchucks are picking up bottles on the side of the road in Bottled Battlers. Magica DeSpell accidentally drops her acid filled bottle of formula x when she was on her way to Duckburg to go after Scrooge’s number one dime. Magica uses her magic to create a giant bottle to keep Huey, Dewey, and Louie in while she searches for her bottle.

Duckburg is giving all citizens free right to gather maple sap in Sugar Park in Maple Sugar Time (How Sweet It Is!). The Junior Woodchucks plan to sell maple sugar to raise money for their charity fund. They are going to have to compete with Scrooge, Donald, and the Chickadees for the free maple sap.

The Junior Woodchucks are challenged to train a rookie through the Black Forest in Traitor in the Ranks. If the Junior Woodchuck teams failed the challenge then they will get demoted. Donald would like to see that happen because his house is overcrowded with medals. Donald disguises himself as a rookie to sabotage the challenge.

Final Thoughts

All books in general should be filled with comic stories about ducks. This is another solid volume of the Carl Barks library. Daisy Duck fans will especially love this volume. Daisy is featured in more than half of the stories in classic Daisy Duck style fitting for this iconic legend. We are also treated to some Carl Barks Junior Woodchucks stories including a time where Huey, Dewey, and Louie had to go up against Magica.

There is a Carl Barks Cover Gallery in the back of the book to showcase some of the fantastic comic covers that Carl Barks illustrated for the stories in this volume as well as other comic book issues where he worked on the cover.

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. This is volume 27. So we only have volumes 28-30 and then 1-4 left until Fantagraphics’ Complete Carl Barks Disney Library is officially completed.

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:

Order: The Complete Carl Barks Disney Library Vol. 27: Duck Luck

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