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| Newly discovered panel by Carl Barks |
It didn't take long for a restored version of the one-pager to get published, and we saw the newly discovered panel on print for the first time this February in the Swedish Kalle Anka Extra.
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| Swedish Kalle Anka Extra #1/2019 |
Under is a comparison of the page as originally printed in Uncle Scrooge #22 and the restored page in Kalle Anka Extra #1/2019.
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| Uncle Scrooge #22 (left), Kalle Anka Extra 1/2019 (right) |
As you can see, the panel got cut to make space for the "Dell pledge to parents" in US #22. Also, it looks like the last panel was slightly extended for the original print (probably by another artist than Barks), and that panel had to be cropped a bit for the restored layout. I tried to look closely at the last panel as printed in the Carl Barks library from Another Rainbow (in black and white), and it's hard to tell exactly what part of the panel has been extended. But I guess the Swedish restoration is pretty close to the original as drawn by Carl Barks.
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| Original layout (top), restored panel (bottom) |
Checking a couple of other reprints of the page, the Dell pledge got replaced by Scrooge's head in Uncle Scrooge Adventures #3, while an early British reprint simply adjusted the pledge to their own name…
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| Gladstone's Uncle Scrooge Adventures #3 (left), British "World Distributors" #52 (right) |
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| Original pledge (left), British adjusted pledge (right) |
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The Swedish issue might not be that easy to obtain around the world, but rumor has it that the restored page will be printed in Fantagraphics' book The Mines of King Solomon that will be on sale in comic shops next week.
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| Fantagraphics' book that (supposedly) will include the restored page |
Very interesting stuff! Who knew there was still unpublished Barks left in the world? (Albeit a fairly trivial, albeit nicely-done, panel.)
ReplyDeleteExcellent and informative post! :) Did you find out about Heritage Auctions being the source for the find yourself? I couldn't see anything about that in the Facebook announcement by Swedish Disney comics editor Joakim Gunnarsson from March 27: https://www.facebook.com/groups/CarlBarks/permalink/2036144683180300/ (I get the impression that Joakim was the one who discovered the art, though that is also unclear.)
ReplyDeleteI especially appreciate all the comparisons with earlier published versions of the page. Regarding the cropping of the last panel for the newly restored version: I have a feeling that Joakim Gunnarsson (or another Barks aficionado at Egmont Sweden) has made an educated guess as to where Barks's art was extended. If you look at the arm of the cowboy in the last panel in the CBL version, you can see that the inked line suddenly gets thinner at two points. Also, study the panel border below his arm: at one point the lines don't quite sync up. I suspect they have used details like these to guess where Barks's original art most likely ended.
By the way: the restored panel also being included in Fantagraphics' "The Mines of King Solomon" seems to be more than just a rumor. In the comments to the Facebook post I linked to above, Joakim himself says he was "able to send it to Fantagraphics in the nick of time" to be included in the next volume of their Barks library.
I first heard about the source being a recent Heritage auction in an update Kim Weston sent out about his books (I covered one of his books in an earlier post). But the actual page with the lot I tracked down myself with a little bit of searching :)
ReplyDeleteKalle Anka Extra #1/2019 have a page with editorial text, but it doesn't give much background information about the find. The text in the comic just say it is a recent discovery and that this print is a world premiere.
A bit odd how vague the information is. Maybe it was deliberate and they for some reason don't it known that the art turned up at Heritage Auctions. But all the auctions there are viewable to the public anyway. :P I would think that whoever made this discovery would want to tell the world all about it.
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