MY FAVORITE COMICS - The duck comics of Carl Barks

The work of the genius that was Carl Barks was a huge part of my comic book reading as a child and its effect still ressonates within me to this day. He was the first cartoonist whose artstyle I instantly recognized. His stories were so much better than most of the Disney stuff that I usually only bought the issues with his work. The world he created was so complete, his characters so lifelike and his stories so much fun to read that I can't pick up a favorite. In the early years between the time I could only grasp the meaning of books through pictures and the period where I was finally able to read properly, Disney comics ruled my world - they were cheap and accessible, available at any newsagent, therefore dominating most of my reading diet during those days.

There were tons of comics back then. You went to any newsagent and they could have a whole wall devoted to comics... and most of those were brazilian editions featuring Disney characters - Mickey Mouse, Donald Duck, Goofy... and Uncle Scrooge.

Back then, I was simply interested in having fun, so the stories came first. The best, in Disney comics, almost invariably came on Donald Duck and Uncle Scrooge stories. Slowly, I started to recognize a pattern, a way in which these particular stories I found so appealing were superior to all others - it was the way Uncle Scrooge, Donald and his nephews were drawn, as if they were alive; and the world in which they lived, as if Duckburg really existed somewhere; and the adventures they had, with references to stuff I might hear about on tv ... Whenever I was allowed to get a new comic, I'd first look inside and check which one brought stories by the "good" duck artist - that'd be the one I get!

Then, onde day, Editora Abril, the publisher responsible for the local translated editions, released a thick, 200 page edition dedicated to Carl Barks and I was finally able to put a name and a face along with the comics. These weren't the work of Walt Disney. These weren't the work of some committee. These were the work of one man: Carl Barks. Thank you, Mr. Barks!

Favorite comics of 2011

I know, it's been over a month since 2012 started, but I've always found a bit silly how "the best of..." lists for a given year always show before the year is actually over. So here are my personal favorite comics of 2011:


Beauté, tome 1 - Désirs Exaucés by Hubert and Kerascöet. Sometimes less is more and in this case the deceptively simple drawings by Kerascöet and flat colors by Hubert create an aesthetic that is completely in-synch with the cautionary (fairy)tale of Morue.







Quai D'Orsay Chroniques Diplomatiques - tome 2 by Lanzac and Blain. Best praise I can give: I found myself laughing out loud alone as I read this second volume chronicling the day-to-day behind the scenes of the french foreign affairs ministry staff. Christophe Blain proves once again his immense talent as a cartoonist.






Major by Moebius. Okay, technically this is a facsimile of a sketchbook Jean Giraud Moebius worked on over several years but I believe it was oficially released in 2011. I was amazed to see how much detail and accuracy the master was able to give the artwork at the small A6 size. Amazing!







Donald Duck - Lost in the Andes by Carl Barks. The first volume of Fantagraphics reprint of Carl Barks duck comics collected in an affordable format with beautiful restored flat colors proves that more than sixty years after they were originally drawn and published, these are still some of the best-ever all-ages comics.






John Byrne's Next Men: Scattered, part 1 and 2 by John Byrne. Total fanboy moment here: after this comic series was put on hiatus back in 1995 by its author, I (and everybody else) had to wait fifteen years before he finally resumed and finished the story with this couple of volumes first serialized as a monthly nine-issue comic series between December 2010 and August 2011. Unforgettable characters, classic artwork and a great time-travel science-fiction plot showed that maybe John Byrne should have never paused this in the first place... and apparently this was not the definitive ending as the first issue of a five-issue epilogue - Next Men: Aftermath - hits the comic book specialty stores next wednesday.

Now, let's see if 2012 tops this!