Article/Letter About Barks Funeral

[JALustig@aol.com]

This is an article/letter I wrote about attending the funeral of Carl Barks. 
Obviously I wrote it quite awhile ago. I originally submitted it to Comics 
Buyer's Guide, but according to an editor there it was lost when they 
switched over to a new computer system a couple of months or so ago. I 
decided not to resubmit it to CBG because so much time had passed and the 
item wasn't exactly newsy. I thought, however, that readers on this list 
might like to see it. So here it is:


By John Lustig

For one of the greatest comic book creators of all time, Carl Barks had a 
surprisingly modest and unpretentious funeral. And that was entirely 
fitting...because Carl was a modest and unpretentious man. For him, life was 
about doing your best and treating people with respect. He never sought--or 
was even comfortable with--lavish praise about his work. 
 
So maybe Carl would have been embarrassed by the outpouring of love and 
heartfelt-memories that reverberated throughout his funeral on Aug. 31 in 
Grants Pass. But then again...maybe not. Because the 70 or so family members 
and friends who attended spoke more about Carl the man...rather than Carl the 
comic book genius. And that was only fitting. It was Carl's humanity that 
transformed his stories from merely being clever...and turned them into 
masterpieces. Carl's characters lived and breathed with a fierce humanity and 
complexity...that made you forget that most of his characters were ducks!

Friends and family spoke of Carl's kindness, his gentle nature and the 
delight he took in life and people. Serene Hunicke, one of his caretakers, 
talked about how when Carl was having a bad day (struggling with the leukemia 
that eventually took his life) he would perk up when Serene's three-year-old 
daughter came over to the house.

"Gee, I'm glad I got to see her grow up," said Carl.

(Even after death, Carl was considerate. I've never been to a funeral before 
where the dearly departed had actually made dinner reservations and paid for 
the meals of the attending bereaved. As someone said, "Carl knew a lot of you 
would be coming from far away and would be tired...so he didn't want you to 
have to worry about getting dinner.")

Carl had a reputation for being somewhat of a recluse--and it's certainly 
true that he was a very private person. But that was by necessity as much by 
inclination. Carl never would have accomplished so much if he'd been more 
outgoing. As his grandson, Brad Pattie told me after the funeral, Carl loved 
his family, but he didn't have a lot of time to socialize: "He was busy 
working!"

I've always considered it a tragedy that Carl was much more famous in Europe 
than he is in on this continent. And when I say famous...I mean REALLY 
famous. When Carl went to Europe a few years ago he was reportedly mobbed by 
fans and reporters as if he were a rock star. He was greeted by presidents 
and royalty. When he died (at age 99) his obituary was front-page news in 
many European cities. Here his death made the wire services, but it was far 
from big news. Most people in this country still don't know who Carl Barks 
was.

But now I've begun to wonder if that wasn't a good thing.

Carl went out of his way to maintain a low profile. Nine years ago some 
friends and I had lunch with Carl and his wife, Gare', at a restaurant a few 
blocks from his home. While the waitress was taking our order one of us made 
a casual reference to some aspect of Carl's work. After the waitress left 
Gare' leaned over and asked us to watch what we said. "People here don't know 
what Carl does."

And that was the way Carl and Gare' preferred it. 

After Gare' died, Carl was prodded into making a number of public 
appearences--both in the United States and Europe. I think (and hope) that 
Carl enjoyed some of those appearences. But, left to his own devices, he 
stayed in Grants Pass where he enjoyed his status--not as a star--but as an 
ordinary, anonymous citizen.


The End