Barks Remarks - a Carl Barks Podcast

Guest Hosts: Elaine Ramshaw & Sara Santiago Honk! Start rubbing goose eggs on your head, it's another episode, covering this strange story, one of Barks' few adventure comics that passes the Bechdel Test! It's got everything, Magica DeSpell, Ratface, the Beagle Boys, and a character that's a clear stand-in for Little Bo-Peep (?!).

Guest Host: Morten Guldberg | Listeners, all's fair in love and archaeology! Listen as my guest and I discuss the true, National Geographic-derived Mayan culture behind this treasure hunting story, discuss who is the story's biggest heel, and make some cool discoveries, befitting a story of an archaeological expedition!

Guest Host: Markku Mujunen | Get ready to revisit another appearance of Magica DeSpell! I contend this may be the MOST Magica of all her appearances. Join us, as we discuss the story that may have the greatest Magica sequence of all time!

Guest Host: Geoff Moses {aka GeoX, of Duck Comics Revue} Grab an ice cream soda, and join us, listeners, as we discuss this zany, Beagle-focused Barks story! This early 60s mystery is slight, but still great fun.

Guest Host: Bucket Think Tank | Listeners, if you are looking for a podcast that can also act as a status symbol, well...that would be pretty weird. But this is a great episode, where we get to talk about the concept of status, compare this story to its Ducktales adaptation and more!

Guests: Bill Wormstedt & Tom Wormstedt | Listener, can we interest you in the personal jewels of the goddess Athena? How about a episode of the podcast covering another ridiculous Magica De Spell scheme? Journey with us to the Mediterranean, as the ducks follow in the footsteps of Odysseus, only to encounter a modern-day Circe!

Guest host: Suzanne Snow Severino | Happy Valentines Day! Let's spend it talking about Barks' "slinky sorceress" Magica De Spell in only the second story (and first ten-pager) she is featured in! "Ten-Cent Valentine" is a light story, but a great show case of the sorceress and an amazing time capsule of the early 1960s!

Guest Host: Elaine Ramshaw | YEEEEEEK! Magic DeSpell is back, and so are the Beagles, in this classic and farcical Scrooge adventure! Join us as we talk about breaking glass, the brief existence of Tanganyika, Dr. Seussian character design and much more!

Guest Host: Patrick Block | Listeners, journey with us, as we discuss one of Carl Barks' most mysterious stories, the dreamy "Cave of Ali Baba," where all is not quite as it seems!

Guest Host: Thad Komorowski | Merry Christmas from Barks Remarks and...Your Firestone Dealers and Stores?? This Christmas themed episode takes a look at the five 8-pagers holiday stories that Barks did that were released as giveaways through Firestone tire stores! These are fun bits of ephemera, including "Best Christmas," "Santa's Stormy Visit," Three Good Little Ducks," "Toyland," and "the New Toys." Then, for our main feature, we discuss the seldom reprinted (and initially scotched by the publisher), "Silent Night," a violent and hilarious Donald vs. Neighbor Jones face off!

Guest Host: Nils Lid Hjort | Brew a nice cup of nutmeg tea, listeners, and join us as we discuss Carl Barks' Amazonian-set adventure, "a Spicy Tale." This story let Barks poke some gentle fun at the U.S. Peace Corps, and adds a bit of flavor to Scrooge's character, in the form of a weakness (addiction?) to Nutmeg Tea!

Guest: Alberto Becattini | Listeners, we are finally at the episode where we get to discuss Barks' last great character creation, the fan favorite Italian sorceress Magica De Spell! My guest Alberto is Italian himself, and the author of a book on Disney comics! In addition to discussing Magica and the story herself, we also take some time to discuss his book and the history of Disney Comics in Italy!

Guest Host: Mikkel Hagen Listeners, join us as we go back to the Klondike (again!), but with Gladstone Gander in tow this time! During this special episode I let Mikkel take the reins for a story I know very little about going in. Listen as we discuss the sourdough competition, Scrooge's (not-so?) tall tales, and more!

Guest: Nils Lid Hjort Welcome to a very special episode! We are discussing one of Barks' Gyro Gearloose stories, one that the Duck Man abandoned in roughly 1958 or 1959, after penciling just 3 pages. The editors later assigned Don Rosa to provide his take on a complete story, published in 1990. Dutch comics legend Daan Jippes would also take on the assignment, published in 2007. So, for this episode, we get to discuss the efforts of three Disney comics legends!

Guest Host: Orion Trunk | Happy Halloween! For our episode this year, we are cover two spooky "mini-adventures." "Hound" is a 7 page take on Scottish heritage and modern art, while "Bongo" focuses on the challenges of running Scrooge's far-flung businesses, with an eerie mystery in Central Africa, involving a tribe with a disconcerting name and mischievous tsetse fly!

Guest Host: Harry Fluks | Hold on to the ground, listeners! Lest ye be blown away to Valhalla! Not the mythic afterlife, but the weird planet the ducks encounter in this deeply strange early 60s Barks adventure! My guest Harry Fluks helps me discuss the story, its weird mash-up of different mythologies, and somewhat jarring excision of some of Barks original panels. He also talks about his long-running internet database INDUCKS, an invaluable resource for Disney Comics fans!

Guest Host: Ruben Olsrud Listeners, join us down the ant hole as we pursue Scrooge's shrunken bin AND dime, in this simultaneously goofy and eerie sci-fi story! We'll make some time to talk about "THE" fan letter that dragged Barks out of obscurity, other pop culture instances of shrinking, and much more!

Guest Host: Veikko Suvanto | Listeners, we've got a couple of Barks' most educational stories here! First, a story centering Huey, Dewey, & Louie that is basically a textbook "Train A & Train B" math problem turned into an exciting narrative! Then, the story my guest and I are most excited about, Barks' story that is really an excuse to explore the vastness of the cosmos and play with the idea of scale! This is a very unique story that we contend should receive more attention than it does!

Guest Host: Morten Guldberg | Fancy dredging a swamp and building a city, listeners? Uncle Scrooge does, in this Florida-set adventure, told in flashback form to none other than Grandma Duck! Even though Barks isn't interested in writing an existential piece of pseudo-horror; my guest and I have a good time discussing the disturbing ramifications of the story, its parallels to the earlier "Ghost of the Grotto," Florida Man and similar swamp shenanigans, and much more!

Guest Host: Warren Harmon | Well, crack it on, on a big skiute, to me hoodah! Whatever that means, listeners, it's time to get your sea shanty on, with Scrooge, the ducks, and the Beagle Boys, "All at Sea!" My guest and I have a great conversation about trading rats, newly independent countries, and the difficulty of hiring a good worrier!

Guest Host: Elaine Ramshaw | Hello, big operators! We've got a Sahara desert set story to feature today, and a woefully underappreciated Barks adventure that focuses on business development, honor, and what it really means to be a Big Operator!

Guest Host: Geoffrey Moses aka GeoX Hello listeners! We've got a great, sci-fi themed episode, with weirdly futuristic version of Duckburg! Join us as we talk about Duckburgian technology, the ducks' accidental near-genocide, and what it's like to have paradise just out of reach!

Guest Host: Alban Leloup | Happy Christmas in July, listeners! Join us as we discuss what is probably Barks' least-great Christmas "adventure," albeit still an enjoyable one. Technically this one is Barks' art-only, with Bob Gregory turning in the story. We'll discuss greeting cards, the origin of the Cha Cha, and much more!

Guest Hosts: Mikkel Hagen & Ruben Olsrud | Listeners, this story is Barks' third "hiding money in nature" story (along with Only a Poor Old Man & the Money Well) and it may not be the best of the three, but it is highly entertaining, with a great hook in the machine itself! My guests and I discuss the machine, the various Paul Bunyan legends from around the world, and much more!

Guest Hosts: Dan Cunningham & Ted Johansson | Listeners, don't betray your old mothers' fondest hopes: give this episode a listen, as we discuss the return of iconic Barks villain Flintheart Glomgold! Or is it Goldflint Heartglom? At any rate, join us as we discuss this second of Scrooge's money-measuring competitions, the real-life Jivaro Indian tribe, Flintheart's name in other languages, and much more!

Guest Host: Patrick Block | Bing! You're Hypnotized! Listener, you are now a devoted podcast listener! And what better than checking out this episode of the Ten-Page Podcast, in which a credulous Donald is hypnotized by a child's toy! Give the episode a listen to hear us talk about whether the hypno-gun is *really* a toy, the great name "Rockjaw Bumrisk," and Barks' phenomenal character art!

Guest Hosts: Austin Kelly & Bucket Think Tank | Listeners, this is a pretty unusual episode. First, we're covering a story that I consider to be Barks' absolute weakest adventure-length story, Jungle Hi-Jinks. However, Barks himself didn't do the writing: officially the writer is unknown, but my suspicion is that Western Publishing regular Vic Lockman is responsible (at fault?) for the story. Listen to learn more than ever thought you would about this...prolific writer, and decide for yourself if you think he is to blame!

Guest Hosts: Austin Kelly & Bucket Think Tank The Prize of Pizarro is a classic Scrooge & the ducks treasure hunt, set in the Andes (again!) with an unusual structure: the ducks are never aware of the antagonists of the story, the isolated Incas that have guarded the mines of the Incas for hundreds of years! Join us as we talk about this unusual structure, some uncharacteristic McDuck generosity, and much more!

Guest Hosts: Patrick Block & Morten Guldberg Ahoy, listeners! Barks is back to the high seas, in this iconic, late 1950s Scrooge adventure! This story involves the ducks' inadvertent search for the legendary ship, the Fliegende Hollander, known in English as the Flying Dutchman! We talk about this uniquely meandering story, which sees the ducks in real dire straits, and has quite the assortment of fishing gags!

Guest Host: Alban Leloup Listeners, this episode is quite packed and fascinating, despite being one of Barks' less-remembered Christmas stories (and in fact, being written not by Barks, but by Bob Gregory). My guest and I talk about the contributions of Barks' wife Gare', the great one-off character Ollie Eiderduck, cross-linguistic puns and the difficulty of translation, and much more!

Guest Host: Geoff Moses Listeners, grab your welding torches, gold paint, and don't forget your box of dirt! We're getting set to blast off into space, in a race to be the first to the Twenty-Four Carat Moon! Join us as we talk about Barks' roster of tycoon competitors, parallels to the actual space race, and the weird and poignant conclusion that shakes Scrooge's entire world view!

Guest Host: Dan Cunningham Welcome to the space age, listeners! In this special episode we subvert things a bit, as Dan takes the lead in this pseudo-live experiment. Somehow "the Forbidium Money Bin" is one of just two Barks (adventure) stories I've never read before, so you can hear me experience it for the first time! And what a weird story this "...in Disneyland" story was, pairing just Scrooge and Gyro and largely taking place off the planet! And those tattoos...

Guest Host: Orion Trunk Avast, listeners! This episode features one of Barks' several nautical themed stories, set again in the Pacific Northwest! My guest and I discuss the industrious Beagle Boys, variable comic book coloring, and learn a bit along the way about the history of Chanel perfume, plastic gloves, and more!

Guest Host: Geoff Moses (aka GeoX) Listeners, it's time to earn a new merit badge, and hopefully become promoted to N.E.R.D.B.U.T.T.S*! We've got a great Junior Woodchucks-themed episode, covering Barks' first two Woodchuck ten-pagers. And our first story is arguably the most notable appearance of the Duck family's pet St. Bernard, Bolivar (here called Bornworthy)! There's lots of great discussion about Barks' attitude towards scouting, hierarchy, and much more! (*Noble Enjoyer of Regularly Discussed Barks, Uploaded Thoughtfully Through Spotify)

Guest Hosts: Mikkel Hagen & Tom Wormstedt Join us, listeners, at the Billionaires' Picnic -- and don't forget the salt and pepper! Beware, however, of the Titanic Ants, the peril facing Donald and Scrooge in this brisk and weird and perhaps not-so-fondly remembered Barks story? My guests and I enjoyed it well enough, but it ranks extremely low based on the community's rankings, so we definitely talk about why we think that is.

Guest Host: Morten Guldberg What ho, listeners! Why aren't you searching for the podcast at the end of the rainbow! This week's Ten-Page Podcast covers an all-time great, Barks' "pot of gold at the end of the rainbow" story! This is an unusually sentimental story, with an atypical message about the power of belief! It's also a great showcase for multiple members of the duck family, with Scrooge posing a test for Donald, Gladstone, and Huey-Dewy-and-Louie!

Guest Hosts: Warren Harmon & David Wolpaw Happy April Fool's Day! This episode covers a couple of Barks' "trickiest" stories, in recognition of the mischievous holiday. Both stories are from Barks' prime year of 1951, in fact, they ran in back-to-back issues of Walt Disney's Comics & Stories! The stories feature some great character art (especially "Knightly Rivals," which takes some fun jabs at community theatre) and "April Foolers" has a somewhat shocking throwaway gag!

Guest Host: Mikkel Hagen Don't let the summer money expansion get you down! Join us as we discuss this unusual and highly moralistic Scrooge tale. We'll discuss Scrooge's extreme thrift, the old fable the story is based on and more as we cover "the Golden River."

Guest Hosts: Dan Cunningham & Mikkel Hagen Prepare for a high stakes float down the Tulebug River, listeners, as we explore one of Carl Barks' greatest Uncle Scrooge adventures, "the Money Well!" My guests and I talk about this Duckburg set adventure, one of the stories where Scrooge is going to efforts to keep his money away from the Beagle Boys! We'll talk about similarities to "Only a Poor Old Man," and much more!

Guest Hosts: Ryan Bailey & Becky Barnes Peeeel that banana! Sift that sand! Calling all Shoeless Pashley fans, it's time for the podcast to cover "City of Golden Roofs," the Duck Man's retread of his earlier adventure, "Land of the Totem Poles." This time Donald and Scrooge are in a salesman competition in the ducks' first visit to Southeast Asia! Join us as Scrooge battles both ageism and the urge to cheat, and we talk Calypso, "the King and I," and more!

Guest Host: John Lustig No need to flip a coin to decide whether to listen to this episode! We're covering the story commonly called "Flipism," a fan-favorite ten-pager! We discuss whether Flipism actually works and the many crazy contours of this fan favorite ten-pager!

Guest Hosts: Sara Santiago & Tom Wormstedt Happy Christmas (in February) in the South Seas, listeners! This Barks adventure takes us on a South Seas holiday, with a low stakes adventure that was featured in the Christmas in Disneyland comic, and includes an adventure both on and IN an active volcano! We'll talk about actual black pearls, volcanology, and more!

Guest Hosts: Austin Kelly & Bucket Think Tank Get your mega-tickets ready, listeners, and get ready to go around the world with the ducks and their Junior Woodchuck animal call whistles! "Mines" is a delightful global adventure, and Barks' most globe-spanning story! It sets up a great collision between multiple story elements that pays off with an extremely satisfying conclusion!

Guest Host: Dan Cunningham Start baking your custard pies and get ready to board the second of Barks' riverboat adventures! This story is an unusual one, being a flashback, without Donald or the nephews! This is because it appeared in the atypical comic "Uncle Scrooge in Disneyland," a promotional giant which my guest host talks about in fascinating detail! We'll also briefly explore the other stories that appear in the comic before talking about this Mississippi River-set tale!

Guest Hosts: Warren Harmon & Dan Severino Welcome listeners! Join us in "Forbidden Valley," a clear take on the Lost World archetype, and a plot remake of "in Darkest Africa!" We've got the first appearance (arguably) of the villain McSwine (here by a more pickle-themed name) and a tale of dangerous animals, small, medium, and large!

Guest Hosts: Ryan Bailey & Susan Bailey Ready to get away from the big city, with all the soot and smog? See Sidewalk Sam, for all your getting-away-from-it-all real estate needs! Just because which set of lakes you buy, you might encounter the Peeweegahs, as Scrooge and Donald do, in this ecologically-minded wilderness adventure!

Guest Hosts: Ryan Bailey & Veikko Suvanto Listener, have you ever bought something you regretted? Scrooge McDuck has: a one-trillion dollar auction purchase of an orb of Bombastium, a rare and mysterious element. Unfortunately, the sphere must be kept frozen, thus the ducks end up traveling to the mountains of Antarctica, pursued by a representative from the U.S.S.R-inspired country of Brutopia, whose happy people possess all of five kitchen sinks. Join us as we discuss this story's geopolitical issues, unusual censorship, inspired slapstick, and facts about penguins!

Guest Hosts: Patrick Block & Warren Harmon Happy New Year! Are you the type to make a resolution? Donald and the nephews certainly are, in these memorable New Year stories, released in back-to-back years. New Year's Revolutions is an entertaining enough story, but Secret Resolutions is the real treat, with its (admittedly low-stakes) mystery structure and decadent drawings of Carl Barks-invented pastries. Why not resolve to enjoy the episode, and to listen to more podcasts!

Guest Host: Bucket Think Tank Welcome! Grab your shovel, visit your nearest creepy hypno-therapist, as we journey Back to Long Ago, in this weird tale of past-life regression! Listen to me and my new guest host discuss the personification of Scrooge & Donald's shovels, the nephews' sensible cynicism, and the dynamic of Donald vs. Scrooge stories. We'll also delve into the true story of the incident that spawned the then-contemporary past-lives craze!

Guest Hosts: Patrick Block & Warren Harmon Happy Holidays! We're checking in with a short episode this week, exploring one of Barks' funniest Christmas-themed stories, in which Donald unwisely attempts to con a free turkey dinner out of his Uncle Scrooge! My guests and I also talk about some of our favorite other Christmas Barks stories.

Guest Host: Dan Cunningham Greetings listeners! Prepare to head to South Africa, as the podcast gets to cover another first appearance; in this case, the debut of Scrooge's arch-rival, Flintheart Glomgold! Sometimes know as "the ball of string story," his is an excellent example of the Barks sub-genre, the money competition! Give a listen as we discuss this classic story, doppelganger tales, whether Glomgold is a true villain at this point, and much more!