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Carl Barks is a genius up there with Will Eisner and Jack Kirby, but have you ever heard of him?
08.29.2013
11:05 am
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You grew up watching Donald Duck cartoons, maybe. But do you know the name Carl Barks? A great many cartoonists know and revere him today, but it took many years for his talents to become properly celebrated—for years he was called just “the Duck Man” or, even more tellingly, “the Good Duck Artist.” 

How great a cartoonist was Carl Barks? The Eisner Awards are the “Oscars” of cartooning, and they include the Will Eisner Award Hall of Fame. When they kickstarted that category, they chose three cartoonists, of all the cartoonists of the world, to define greatness in cartooning. One of the cartoonists they chose was (duh) Will Eisner. One of them was Jack Kirby. And one of them was Carl Barks.

That’s how great of a cartoonist Carl Barks was.

Barks was the artist who did the most with Donald Duck, but he actually created Uncle Scrooge McDuck. Donald and Scrooge and Huey, Dewey, and Louie are a bigger deal in Europe than in the United States. When Barks died American newspapers barely took any notice, but in Europe they understood that a master had passed.
 

 
Praise of Barks’ work isn’t hard to come by, but here are a couple of quotes, chosen almost at random.

Just a couple months ago, Mark Squirek wrote in the New York Journal of Books:

Mr. Barks distills pure comedy down to its simplest form. ... Carl Barks was a true artist who could show us our own world while at the same time making us laugh uncontrollably at the image of a duck walking into a castle or calmly sitting on top of a horse ten times his size.

Try not smiling at Carl Barks’ work. It’s impossible.

Here’s another one. This time it’s Rich Clabaugh in The Christian Science Monitor:

Barks, the artist, is a master cartoonist, drawing lively, expressive characters with a graceful sense of movement. His beautiful, detailed backgrounds plant the ducks in a fully realized world that adds weight to his storytelling. ... But besides the entertaining plots, Barks’ appeal is in his characters. He gives his ducks many human frailties and while they usually try to do the right thing, they make mistakes, get angry, frustrated, and even fail.


 
In 1994 Danish TV conducted a substantial interview with Barks. The interviewer compares Barks to Shakespeare—really.
 

Previously on Dangerous Minds:
Donald Duck takes on Hitler to the tune of Der F?ɬ
Donald Duck teaches men about birth control, 1968

Posted by Martin Schneider
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08.29.2013
11:05 am
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Lars Von Trier directs Donald Duck
04.20.2012
01:25 pm
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A mock trailer for a “Dogme 95” film Donald Duck movie from Icelandic television’s Mid-Island show. The pretentious checklist of the Danish avant-garde cinematic movement seems to be followed to the letter here.

From the YouTube description:

Donald leads a tormented life on the unforgiving streets of Duckburg, where sometimes he must betray his own conscience to make ends meet.

Donald has to raise his 3 nephews, deal with a cheating girlfriend and put up with working for his stingy uncle; the richest duck in down. This is a tale everyone can relate to.

Wait for Goofy’s appearance, you’ll be glad you did.
 

 
Thank you Edward Ludvigsen!

Posted by Richard Metzger
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04.20.2012
01:25 pm
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‘There Will Be Blood’ and ‘Boogie Nights’ redubbed with Disney character voices


 

 
YouTuber dingdangler is back with the most violent scene from There Will Be Blood redubbed with Mickey Mouse and Donald Duck voices. This is damn hysterical, especially near the 1:07 mark. 

Bonus: Mark Wahlberg and John C. Reilly AKA “Dr. Steve Brule” rocking out in Disney Nights.

 

 
(via The High Definite)

Posted by Tara McGinley
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06.08.2011
04:44 pm
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Good shit: Pulp Fiction dubbed by Donald Duck and Mickey Mouse
08.06.2010
02:14 pm
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Brilliant!

“English, motherf*cker! Do you speak it?!”

(via TDW)

Posted by Tara McGinley
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08.06.2010
02:14 pm
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Donald Duck takes on Hitler to the tune of Der F?ɬ

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Der Fuehrer’s Face is a 1943 propaganda cartoon from the Walt Disney Studios, starring Donald Duck. It was directed by Jack Kinney as an anti-Nazi piece for the American war effort. The song, of course, was later made famous by the great Spike Jones and his City Slickers. The short film won the 1943 Oscar for Best Animated Short Film (the sole Donald Duck short to do so) and in considered one of the 50 Greatest Cartoons of all time, as voted on by animators.

The German oom-pah band is comprised of Emperor Hirohito (Sh?֬

Posted by Richard Metzger
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12.06.2009
09:07 pm
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