My friend Craig Yoe (a designer and comic book historian whom I interviewed on Gweek a while back) has has edited over 30 books about comic books and illustration, including Krazy Kat & the Art of George Herriman, Amazing 3-D Comics, Archie: A Celebration Of America's Favorite Teenagers, The Golden Collection Of Klassic Krazy Kool Kids Komics, Dan DeCarlo's Jetta, The Art Of Ditko, Boody: The Bizarre Comics Of Boody Rogers, And Secret Identity: The Fetish Art Of Superman's Co-Creator Joe Shuster.
Craig's latest book is a 220-page deluxe hardcover anthology of Carl Barks' Barney Bear comics, which Barks drew before working on the Donald Duck and Uncle Scrooge comics he became rightfully famous for. Barks is considered by many people (including me) to be one of the top 10 comic book artists of all time. It's a lot of fun to read these Barney Bear comics and see the same style of Barksian plotting, characters, humor, and drawing style that my kids and I love so much in the duck comics.
Carl barks drew Barney Bear and Benny Burro comics from 1944 to 1947. In the introduction to his anthology, Craig says:
Of his comic booking in general, Barks stated, “I worked hard at trying to make something as good as I could make it. When I took the finished art into the office and turned it over to the editor, I was satisfied that I had done it the very best I could. I always try to write a story that I wouldn't mind buying myself. And that's what distinguished it from the writing of those who only try to get the story past the editors. I was always thinking that other people value their dimes as much as I did.”
This book is the first reprinting of all the Barks' Barney Bear and Benny Burro stories in their original color and English language. In 1999, a year before he died at the age of 99, Barks commented on the Internet and the experience of reading comics on a monitor, “it isn't like going to bed with a comic book where you can read it, turn the pages, slam the thing down, and pick it up later.”
So, go to bed with The Carl Barks Big book of Barney Bear, read it, turn the pages, and slam the thing down as you Bear with Barks.
Here's a sample story from The Carl Barks Big Book of Barney Bear.
Read the rest of the story after the jump:
Buy Carl Barks Big Book of Barney Bear on Amazon
