Carl's Passing

[JALustig@aol.com]

I'm glad that other people have been posting comments here about Carl. I've 
been so depressed that I just haven't been up to it. Frankly, my reaction 
surprised me. We've all known that Carl could go at any moment--and he'd 
lived a very full and incredibly productive life. But it still seems 
impossible to imagine that he's gone.

Yesterday morning (the 25th--the day of Carl's death) I learned from one of 
my editor's at Comics Buyer's Guide that if I wanted to write something 
quickly about Carl then he might be able to squeeze it into the next edition. 
I got it in  a few minutes later than the deadline so I don't know if it'll 
make it in. Here's what I wrote:

<<Letter to Editor:

Knowing that CBG's deadline for letters is just a few minutes away, I'm 
finding it impossible to sum up what Carl Barks' passing means to me. There's 
no time for me to give a proper eulogy. There's no time to explain how 
incredibly important Carl was to American comics. There's no time to talk 
about what a vast influence Carl had on generations of comic book readers 
around the world. 

All that will have to wait.

For now, all I can tell you is that for me Carl wasn't just a genius. He was 
an inspiration to me both professionally and personally. I always found him 
to be a kind, gentle man...a true gentleman. He was ...oh, damn. This is 
impossible. Trying to describe who Carl was...can't be done like this. It's 
like trying to describe a mountain. For many of us, Carl was this huge, 
unscalable peak of creativity...a monument of nature that you think will 
always be there. 

Unfortunately, today the mountain erupted. Carl died. And the world is full 
of ashes and flame.

--John Lustig>>