DCML Digest, Vol 41, Issue 19

Donald D. Markstein ddmarkstein at cox.net
Mon Jul 17 14:38:33 CEST 2006


> Did you know the name Carl Barks by 1969?  If so, you were maybe one 
> of what, 300 people?  That's right about the time that the Thompsons 
> et al were writing articles about him and a few fans were writing to 
> him and scoring some amazing original art.  When did you first learn 
> his name and how?  (More modern readers have to realize that Barks was 
> never credited back then and was known simply as "the good duck 
> artist" amongst early fans.)

Yes, I did. In fact, I mentioned his name in a small-circulation fanzine 
that came out no later than 1968. I think it was '67 or so that I 
learned his name (I was 20 years old). I knew him by his work from early 
childhood, of course (the exact phrase "the good artist" wasn't part of 
my vocabulary -- in fact, I don't recall exactly "who" I thought of him 
as -- but I could identify his work). It was when he had a letter 
published in the Jerry Bails/Roy Thomas version of ALTER EGO, before the 
Thompsons started seriously publicizing him, that I found a name to 
attach to him. I don't know about that 300 figure, but whatever number 
of fans knew his name before 1969, I was one of them.

In 1970, the Sunday magazine newspaper section that I worked for 
published my picture as a new staff member (Actually, I'd been there a 
year), which I believe is the first time I had my picture published as 
an adult. (I was in a "his kids" picture in a feature story about my 
father, also a local writer, that came out in the '50s.) It showed me 
reading a 1943 issue of WDC&S, with a Barks cover, and if I recall 
correctly, Barks's name was mentioned in the accompanying copy.

Quack, Don



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