Firebug Artist

[Rob Klein]

I've been looking over the Carl buettner WDC & S covers Nr. 124-129, plus 
covers he drew for The Cheerios Giveaways.  I have a pretty good idea of his 
style.  As he did not (to my knowledge, draw a whole story with the "Ducks", 
this may be all we have to go on.  I truly believe now, after having thought 
about it more, that the last 2 "replacement panels" in "The Firebug", were, 
indeed, drawn by Carl Buettner, in an attempt to make the artwork "on model" 
with Barks' drawing in the rest of the story. He did a good job with the head-
on pose of Donald in the first panel. It looks very similar to Barks' drawn 
pose on Page 1, Panel 6.  That is a pose NONE of the other Donald artists in 
the 1940s were using. And, the Nephew is not bad at all.  One can notice, 
however, that the work was done in a hurry, as the feathers that normally mark 
the boundary point at which the leg connects with the body were omitted, and 
the Nephews feet are cut off by the panel's bottom line (a CARDINAL SIN that 
usually makes editors irate). The nephew in the second panel is very passable 
in being similar enough to Barks' style. Donald in the last panel is notably 
unlike Barks due to the short beak.  That beak, however, is much like Donald's 
beak in Buettner's Cover for "Donald Duck's Atom Bomb".  The main difference 
between the latter and that of the Firebug's last panel is that "The Atomb 
Bomb" cover version had an upward curve line in the corner of Donald's mouth to 
show evil self-satisfaction. That emotion, often shown in that way by Buettner, 
was not necessary for the last panel, and furthermore, was very seldomly used 
by Barks inside a story before 1959. I believe Buettner DID draw those 2 
panels, and kept out his OWN style signitures, to allow his "replacement art" 
to blend in better with Barks' as it had to be as consistant as possible within 
a single story.  The inking looks like Buettner's.  It appears to be a much 
more steady hand than Barks', and holds that thicker cover drawing style 
throughout (more consistantly). It appears to me that the same hand that inked 
the Buettner covers inked those 2 panels.  Originally, I thought Barks 
only "surmised" that Buettner was the actual artist who redrew those panels.  
But Buettner could well have told Barks that he did it himself. Carl DID have a 
copy of that story in his files (I saw it there, myself).  So, if Buettner 
(Then Editor) had not told Barks before printing that the story ending had been 
changed, he would have found out when he received his printed copy.  Naturally, 
he would have been curious as to who decided to do that, and who did it. I 
think it really would have been told to him by Buettner, himself, in the normal 
course of discussion (as it is a courtesy of editors who have a good and close 
relationship with their artists (as he did with Barks), to inform them of what 
changes have been made to their stories. I believe now, that Barks KNEW that 
Buettner had done the work, and wasn't only guessing that.

One last thought: When Walt Kelly left Western ostensibly in 1950, to work full-
time on his new "Pogo" Strip, Buettner took over drawing the "Duck" covers for 
WDC & S, during the stop-gap period before Barks was chosen as the new cover 
artist.  I would guess, based on the Ducks I saw in those last 2 "Firebug 
Panels", that had THAT artist been another staff member, Buettner would have 
used HIM as the stopgap cover artist.  Also, I looked at all the early Donald 
Duck 4-Color covers again.  "The Mummy's Ring" cover (and its inside cover 
pages look like Buettner's work, as well as the "Frozen Gold", "Terror of the 
River", "Volcano Valley", and "Ghost of the Grotto" covers.  "I'm guessing that 
Carl Buettner was THE DUCK STAFF ARTIST at Western between 1943 and 1951 (Chase 
craig replaced him as Editor-in-Chief at the very end of 1951).

I believe Buettner drew a few whole Donald stories which appeared in the 
Cheerios and Wheaties Giveaways of the late 1940s and very early 1950s. I will 
try to scrutinize them once again.  Can some knowledgeable member tell us which 
website they are uploaded on? (I believe it was made by one of our Danish 
members?).

Otherwise, I only know of Buettner's 1940s work on Bucky Bug and Little Bad 
Wolf stories.  I'm not sure that looking at those will help us in considering 
this question.

Rob Klein



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