Wednesday 31 March 2010

Carl Barks 1962 (?) "Time Lost" script

Wednesday = Barksday!

[Edit: Changed the year from 1964 to 1962 after reading THIS. Submission date of dec 20, 1962 fits better than 1964 since I found two different sources saying submission for art was august 8, 1963 or the same date 1964.]

If last weeks post featured a rare item, here's something that's almost as rare. A 1960's handwritten preliminary script for an Uncle Scrooge one pager. This one was published in Uncle Scrooge 55 (1965) without title. It's later been labeled "Ticking Detector", but here we can see what Barks own title was: "Time Lost".


This sheet also have an unpublished script for another Uncle Scroge one pager. It's in the hands of a very talented artist, and will hopefully see the light of day in a not too distant future. :)

But now for the "mystery" I promised you last week. On the back of this sheet there are some "try-outs" for a sentence or two.

"But even so, I feel creepy going in this dark"
"But even so, I feel as if hidden eyes watching us from the dark crannies of this spooky place!"
"But it's too late now to do more than just"

Question is wich story he was working on and what the final version was. Any guesses?

[Edit: Thanks to Thisher who found the dialouge in Crown of the Mayas (US 44). The sentence can be found on page 20 in that story.]

6 comments:

Lucidor said...

I guess it's from Uncle $crooge in House of Haunts, Uncle $crooge #273: "Yeah, it's all sweetness and light inside, but, even so, I gets goosepimples from this old ghost bin's reputation!"

Germund said...

Since the gag is from US55, perhaps we have to look no further than US56, Mystery of the Ghost Town Railroad. I don't have the story in front of me, but there are scenes where Donald and HDL walk through the dark hotel and meet the "ghosts" etc

Anonymous said...

What a pleasure to see that "Ghost Town" half-page. Contrary to received wisdom, Barks' artwork was really remarkably good in the early 60s. What unobtrusive clarity, everything boiled down to essentials and yet the props and situations are not cliched in the least. The stronger, simplified ink line from 1961 on definitely helped. Yes, there's perhaps an extra edge of vitality that's gone out of the stuff, but even so this is stellar storytelling.

Tisher said...

By coincidence I happened to read this story today! The exact wording of the "hidden eyes" line is found on page twenty of "Crown of the Mayas"

Joakim Gunnarsson said...

Ah!
You are absolutely right! I'll add the panel to this post and to my next Barks update on Wednesday! Thanks for letting me know!

Joakim Gunnarsson said...

Hi, "Anonymous"!
It depends what I'm supposed to link to. I only link to sites and blogs that I frequent myself. If you got a site you think I should visit, just let me know.