Barks Remarks - a Carl Barks Podcast

Guest Host: Thad Komorowski |

Merry Christmas from Barks Remarks and...Your Firestone Dealers and Stores?? This Christmas themed episode takes a look at the five 8-pagers holiday stories that Barks did that were released as giveaways through Firestone tire stores! These are fun bits of ephemera, including "Best Christmas," "Santa's Stormy Visit," Three Good Little Ducks," "Toyland," and "the New Toys."

Then, for our main feature, we discuss the seldom reprinted (and initially scotched by the publisher), "Silent Night," a violent and hilarious Donald vs. Neighbor Jones face off!

Guest: Alberto Becattini |

Listeners, we are finally at the episode where we get to discuss Barks' last great character creation, the fan favorite Italian sorceress Magica De Spell! My guest Alberto is Italian himself, and the author of a book on Disney comics! In addition to discussing Magica and the story herself, we also take some time to discuss his book and the history of Disney Comics in Italy!

Guest Host: Mikkel Hagen

Listeners, join us as we go back to the Klondike (again!), but with Gladstone Gander in tow this time! During this special episode I let Mikkel take the reins for a story I know very little about going in. Listen as we discuss the sourdough competition, Scrooge's (not-so?) tall tales, and more!

Guest: Nils Lid Hjort

Welcome to a very special episode! We are discussing one of Barks' Gyro Gearloose stories, one that the Duck Man abandoned in roughly 1958 or 1959, after penciling just 3 pages. The editors later assigned Don Rosa to provide his take on a complete story, published in 1990. Dutch comics legend Daan Jippes would also take on the assignment, published in 2007. So, for this episode, we get to discuss the efforts of three Disney comics legends!

Guest Host: Orion Trunk |

Happy Halloween! For our episode this year, we are cover two spooky "mini-adventures." "Hound" is a 7 page take on Scottish heritage and modern art, while "Bongo" focuses on the challenges of running Scrooge's far-flung businesses, with an eerie mystery in Central Africa, involving a tribe with a disconcerting name and mischievous tsetse fly!

Guest Host: Harry Fluks |

Hold on to the ground, listeners! Lest ye be blown away to Valhalla! Not the mythic afterlife, but the weird planet the ducks encounter in this deeply strange early 60s Barks adventure! My guest Harry Fluks helps me discuss the story, its weird mash-up of different mythologies, and somewhat jarring excision of some of Barks original panels. He also talks about his long-running internet database INDUCKS, an invaluable resource for Disney Comics fans!

Guest Host: Ruben Olsrud

Listeners, join us down the ant hole as we pursue Scrooge's shrunken bin AND dime, in this simultaneously goofy and eerie sci-fi story! We'll make some time to talk about "THE" fan letter that dragged Barks out of obscurity, other pop culture instances of shrinking, and much more!

Guest Host: Veikko Suvanto |

Listeners, we've got a couple of Barks' most educational stories here! First, a story centering Huey, Dewey, & Louie that is basically a textbook "Train A & Train B" math problem turned into an exciting narrative! Then, the story my guest and I are most excited about, Barks' story that is really an excuse to explore the vastness of the cosmos and play with the idea of scale! This is a very unique story that we contend should receive more attention than it does!

Guest Host: Morten Guldberg |

Fancy dredging a swamp and building a city, listeners? Uncle Scrooge does, in this Florida-set adventure, told in flashback form to none other than Grandma Duck! Even though Barks isn't interested in writing an existential piece of pseudo-horror; my guest and I have a good time discussing the disturbing ramifications of the story, its parallels to the earlier "Ghost of the Grotto," Florida Man and similar swamp shenanigans, and much more!

Guest Host: Warren Harmon |

Well, crack it on, on a big skiute, to me hoodah! Whatever that means, listeners, it's time to get your sea shanty on, with Scrooge, the ducks, and the Beagle Boys, "All at Sea!" My guest and I have a great conversation about trading rats, newly independent countries, and the difficulty of hiring a good worrier!