Carl Barks Comics and Stories: Original Art Edition
by Kim Weston
This volume prints 9 complete Carl Barks stories in the original, full size they were originally drawn in glorious black and white. There are 2 Happy Hound (Droopy) stories, 3 Benny Burro solo stories, and 4 stories of the combined Barney Bear and Benny Burro feature. The book measures over 14 inches wide and 20 inches tall and weighs over 5 pounds.
Looking at these pages as printed in this book is like looking at the pages fresh from the master's drawing board. Five early stories from 1943 are printed one page to the page in the book page with an image size of about 12.5 by 17.75 inches, the size that Barks drew his original art in 1942 and most of 1943. Beginning in December 1943, Barks started drawing in the larger size of 16 inches by 23.25 inches and continued to draw that size for the rest of his career with only very rare exceptions. These pages are so large that in order to fit them into this already large book, we must print each half page sideways on a single page so that if you turn the book sideways you can see each full page at the size it was drawn.
These pages are printed from proofs which are derived from the 7 x 10 inch photo negatives taken of the original art between 1943 and 1947. Looking at the stories in this book really is like looking at pages of Barks' original art because Barks didn't make many mistakes that needed correction in his art. His main use of white ink was not to correct errors, but to delineate details in black on black images or add pie cuts to the ducks' eyes.