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.

Donald Duck Finds Pirate Gold

The Complete Carl Barks Disney Library Vol. 1: Donald Duck Finds Pirate Gold was published by Fantagraphics in August 2025. The comic stories in this volume were originally published in 1938-1943.

The top and bottom illustrations on the cover of this book are both from the Donald Duck Finds Pirate Gold story.

This edition of the Carl Barks library is 240 pages, and it includes 8 stories and several Donald Duck Daily strips. 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. 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. 1 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 8 stories included in this volume:

• Donald Duck Finds Pirate Gold
• Donald’s Victory Garden
• The Rabbit’s Foot
• Lifeguard Daze
• The Limber W Guest Ranch
• The Mighty Trapper
• Donald Duck and the Mummy’s Ring
• Pluto Saves the Ship

In Donald Duck Finds Pirate Gold, Donald meets a pirate parrot named Yellow Beak who takes Donald and his nephews on an adventure to find a buried treasure. They are going to have to find the treasure before Pete and his goons.

Donald’s dream of having the grandest victory garden is constantly thwarted by seed hungry crows in Donald’s Victory Garden.

Donald is out to prove to his nephews that you can’t buy luck in The Rabbit’s Foot. Donald puts the lucky rabbit foot and the boys to multiple tests that they all pass. One of the tests is to encounter a wild gorilla that reminded me of the animated short, Donald Duck and the Gorilla.

Donald has a job at a beach with shark infested waters in Lifeguard Daze. Donald saves his nephews and a beach goer that looks like Daisy from sharks.

Donald and the boys get lost while horseback riding in The Limber W Guest Ranch. Donald claims to know his way, but his nephews have to save the day by finding their way back to the ranch.

Donald tells a tale that he once caught many beaver in The Mighty Trapper. His nephews borrow a fox fur from Daisy to trick Donald into thinking he caught a fox. Donald and the boys end up competing to see who can ultimately trap a wolf first.

Donald Duck and the Mummy’s Ring is an epic feature length adventure story written and illustrated by Carl Barks. Pete is after the Mummy’s Ring, and Huey goes missing after the ring gets stuck on his finger.

When you hear the name Carl Barks, you immediately think of all of the work that he did with the Disney Ducks. A Pluto story that Carl Barks helped co write titled, Pluto Saves the Ship, is included in this volume.

Review

I only hope that we never lose sight of one thing, it was all started by Carl Barks with a duck who finds pirate gold. After 14 glorious years of Fantagraphics’ The Complete Carl Barks Disney Library collection, we finally have volume one showcasing Carl Barks’ earliest Disney comics work. The order of volume releases was definitely confusing starting the collection at volume seven. If you have been collecting since the beginning, you should now have volumes 1-28 of the Complete Carl Barks Disney Library. The library is far from over with volume 29 releasing later this year and volume 30 coming next year. Volume 1 is the perfect point to jump into the Complete Carl Barks Disney Library to start your collection.

This volume also has fourteen daily Donald Duck comic strips from 1938-1940 that Carl Barks is credited to working on the daily comic strip’s plot.

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. We also get treated to a lithograph that Carl Barks drew as a sequel to Donald Duck Finds Pirate Gold where Scrooge McDuck joins the treasure hunt with Donald, the nephews, and Yellow Beak. I wish I had that lithograph in my house.

The behind the scenes content and historian thoughts on each story really completes this volume for a comprehensive experience. There are additional bonus story notes on Donald Duck Finds Pirate Gold and Donald Duck and the Mummy’s Ring.

The Carl Barks Complete Disney Library is essential reading and studying for all Disney Duck scholars. 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. 1: Donald Duck Finds Pirate Gold

The next two volumes of The Complete Carl Barks Disney Library are also available to Preorder.

Preorder: The Complete Carl Barks Disney Library Vol. 29: The Lonely Lighthouse on Cape Quack

Preorder: The Complete Carl Barks Disney Library Vol. 30: Lost Beneath the Sea

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