Today C is for Carl Barks, so we examine Barks’s life and creative development, explore his enormous body of work, and analyze his lasting social and cultural significance—from his invention of Scrooge McDuck and Duckburg’s expansive mythology to his influence on generations of cartoonists, writers, economists, filmmakers, and global readers.
Recommended reading:
The Complete Carl Barks Disney Library (Fantagraphics Books)
Walt Disney’s Donald Duck: Lost in the Andes (The Carl Barks Library Vol. 7)
Carl Barks and the Disney Comic Book: Unmasking the Myth of Modernity by Thomas Andrae
Carl Barks: Conversations (edited by Donald Ault)
COMICS A-Z is the podcast that showcases the history of sequential art: comic books, comic strips, the characters, their creators, one letter at a time. Each episode highlights an interesting aspect of the long history of comics, as a creative medium and a growing industry.
Hosted by Kevin Cleary, a former executive with First Comics, Classics Illustrated, and TV Comics. Kevin was an advisor to the Overstreet Price Guide, The Overstreet Premium Ring Guide and a columnist/feature writer for the Comic's Buyers Guide, Overstreet Monthly, and Wizard Magazine. Kevin was also the Purchasing Director for Heroes World Distribution, the 3rd largest comic, card, and toy distributor in the country, and the founder of Quantum Licensing, a company that produced pins, rings, and other licensed comic merchandise. Kevin currently works in Hollywood as a literary manager and occasional producer.
This podcast is made by humans.
© Kevin Cleary 2025
