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.

Mystery of the Swamp

The Complete Carl Barks Disney Library Vol. 3: Mystery of the Swamp was published by Fantagraphics in August 2024. The comic stories in this volume were originally published in 1945 and 1946.

The top and bottom illustrations on the cover of this book are both from the Mystery of the Swamp story.

This edition of the Carl Barks library is 240 pages, and it includes 20 stories. Comic covers that Carl Barks worked on during this period are also featured in this volume. The Introduction titled “The Kite That Sent Me Soaring” is by Fred Milton. Fred Milton talks about his love of Carl Barks’ work and the first Carl Barks story that he ever read, Donald’s Monster Kite. 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. This volume 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. 3 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 20 stories included in this volume:

• Mystery of the Swamp
• The Tramp Steamer
• The Long Race to Pumpkinburg
• Webfooted Wrangler
• The Icebox Robber
• Pecking Order
• Taming the Rapids
• Days at the Lazy K
• Eyes in the Dark
• Thug Busters
• The Great Ski Race
• Ten-Dollar Dither
• Donald Duck’s Best Christmas
• Donald Tames His Temper
• Singapore Joe
• Master Ice Fisher
• Jet Rescue
• Donald’s Monster Kite
• The Firebug
• Mickey Mouse and the Riddle of the Red Hat

Donald and his nephews vacation in the Florida Everglades in Mystery of the Swamp. Donald wishes for a more adventurous vacation when an older gentleman fishing next to him tells him that the Everglades are full of unexplored lands with strange animals and lost tribes. Our duck explorers discover a small people tribe called the Gneezles and plenty of gators because…it’s Florida.

Donald wants to be his own boss. A salesman talks him into purchasing a tramp steamer boat to make trips to Mexico and other countries running imports and exports in Tramp Steamer. His two cargo transport attempts of soap and beans do not go as planned.

Donald challenges Huey, Dewey, and Louis to a race to see who can get to Plumpkinburg in The Long Race to Pumpkinburg. The losing team will have to wash dishes for a week. It’s a Tortoise vs Hare…ugh Ducks vs Duck race.

Donald teases the boys for not being able to ride a wooden hobby horse that he rigged to tip over. They question their Uncle Donald’s cowboy skills that he boasts about. It is off to Cousin Cuthbert Coot’s Cattle Ranch to show off Donald’s cowboy skills or lack of skills in Webfooted Wrangler.

Donald finds that his ice box gets robbed every night. He blames Huey, Dewey, and Louie for the missing food, but it is really Donald who eats the food from the icebox as he walks in his sleep in The Icebox Robber. A doctor prescribes a medicine that will turn the culprits face green for whomever is eating the food.

The Institute offers a $1,000 reward for anyone that can snap a photo of the rare Iron-Billed Woodpecker. Donald is determined to get that photo and prize money by any means necessary in Pecking Order.

Huey, Dewey, and Louie fall off the slide of a cliff in Taming the Rapids. Although, then can easily get back up to the top easily, Donald wants to climb down and save them to be seen as the hero. Donald ends up needing to be saved over and over again causing them to fall deeper and deeper down to the bottom of the gorge. They encounter caveman and ride dangerous rapids in a raft until finally they float to safety where Donald gets credit for his heroism.

Donald is determined to tame a wild colt as he witnessed how easy it is to be done in a movie that he saw with his nephews in Days at the Lazy K. They all soon find out that movies are not real life.

Donald gets a radar set to help him spy on the boys when they are supposed to be doing their chores in Eyes in the Dark.

When there’s something strange in the neighborhood, who ya gonna call? Thug Busters. Huey, Dewey, and Louie play detectives. Donald plants false clues to try and trick them, but they end up finding a wanted bank burglar despite all of Donald’s tricks.

In some continuity from the previous story, Donald is jealous of the reward money that his nephews got from playing detective and catching the burglar. Donald is determined to have more money than the boys. He builds a boat and enters The Great Ski Race to try to earn the $750 prize money.

Huey, Dewey, and Louie find a ten dollar bill in Ten-Dollar Dither. Instead of keeping the money, Donald convinces them to search for the true owner and maybe that person will give them reward money. This is easier said than done as everyone in the neighborhood tires to claim the money.

Donald is determined to have Donald Duck’s Best Christmas ever when he rents a horse drawn carriage to head over to Grandma Duck’s place for Christmas. There are many snow trials and tribulations along the way. Donald, Huey, Dewey, and Louie stop at a cottage to warm Donald up. The family that lives at the cottage has no Christmas presents or food to eat. Huey, Dewey, and Louie give all of their presents and Turkey dinner and fixings from the sleigh. This is how the Duck family ultimately had the best Christmas. Grandma Duck ends up surprising them at their home with a tree, presents, and turkey. It was great to read another Carl Barks Christmas story that I had not previously read, and this is the first Christmas themed story that Barks worked on.

Donald makes a New Year’s resolution that he will never get mad again in Donald Tames His Temper. The boys find out about his resolution and test his temper to its limits.

Huey, Dewey, and Louie come back to the docks with a new pet in Singapore Joe. Joe is a parrot that Donald allows the boys to keep on a trial period. The trial does not last long.

The boys want to go ice fishing, but Donald tells them that it is too dangerous. Donald is out to demonstrate that he is an expert ice fisher in Master Ice Fisher. Donald does not catch a single fish, and Huey, Dewey, and Louie catch all of the fish in the lake.

The boys save twenty dollars in their piggy bank, but Donald wants them to put the money in a real bank so that it can earn interest. On the way to the bank, they spend the money at a toy store on some toy jet engines. Donald gets mad, but his nephews tell him that they can do useful things with the jet engines. Donald gets caught on top of a pinnacle in a storm, and the boys are able to rescue him with a toy plane and the jet engines in Jet Rescue.

Donald gets mad when his nephews trample over his garden as they are flying their kites. He quickly tries to take care of the problem by eliminating their kites. Donald is determined to prove to them that he is the greatest kite maker of all time in Donald’s Monster Kite. Donald’s kite is so big that he pulls it with his car, and his car gets lifted off the ground.

Donald becomes obsessed with fires when he bumps his head building a fire in his fireplace on a cold night in The Firebug. Fires are built all over Duckburg, and Donald is being blamed. Donald turns his fire into many creative shapes, but he may not be the only firebug in town.

The last story in this volume is the only Carl Barks Mickey Mouse story that he ever illustrated. In Mickey Mouse and the Riddle of the Red Hat, Minnie buys a hideous red hat. Mickey is honest and tells her he does not like the hat which he calls “that red horror!”. It turns out that a minion that resembles a young Pete was supposed to meet up with someone wearing that hat and exchange a box of chocolates for a diamond ring that holds a stolen red ruby. Pete mouseknaps Minnie. When Mickey goes looking for Minnie to apologize about the hat comment, he accidentally intercepts the diamond ring and ruby from someone wearing the same red hat as Minnie. It is up to Mickey and Goofy to get Minnie back. I am glad this one off story was included amongst all of the Duck stories for completeness.

Final Thoughts

The Carl Barks Complete Disney Library is essential reading and studying for all Disney Duck scholars. This volume included 19 stories of Donald Duck fun and 1 Mickey Mouse story if you enjoy that type of thing. We love the mouse too. This year is Donald Duck’s 90th anniversary, and you should definitely digest these stories and experience the great work that Carl Barks created to help propel Donald Duck into the star that we love and celebrate today.

There are a couple of Carl Barks covers 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…especially his earlier works. The Complete Carl Barks Disney Library Vol. 2: Frozen Gold will tentatively be released in November 2024.

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. 3: Mystery of the Swamp

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