Question re Carl Barks Fantagraphics

[luckygladstone]

Are the best stories by Barks frontloaded in the earlier volumes? So would be best stories be in the first 5 volumes rather the next five?

I know Lost in Andes was in the first volume (and it's great), but wasn't so sure if Fantagraphics kept putting the best stories in the next volumes...and does the quality of stories drops off at some point in the Fantagraphics published series?

Thanks

[deb]

The best stories would arguably not be in the first four books. By 1960, we’re getting to some pretty weak material as well. Somewhere between 1948-55 would be peak Barks, in my opinion. (The Barney Bear stories are pretty fun on their own, despite being too early to be lumped in with his best work).

[Mesterius]

I suspect luckygladstone is thinking about the order the books have been released in, not their chronological numbering.

But I agree with deb: the best Barks material is from appr. 1948-1955. You can get a good overview over which books contain which years on Wikipedia.

[luckygladstone]

Apr 4, 2021 15:54:30 GMT Mesterius said:

I suspect luckygladstone is thinking about the order the books have been released in, not their chronological numbering.

But I agree with deb: the best Barks material is from appr. 1948-1955. You can get a good overview over which books contain which years on Wikipedia.

Thanks. Yeah, the first 15 volumes of Fantagraphics (the order released of these volumes) seem to cover that period. The last 15 volumes seem to then contain worse stories.

[Spectrus]

You can also try the Inducks rating of the issues:

inducks.org/publication.php?c=us%2FCBDL&sortbyvote=1

As you can see, issues 12, 9, 11, 10, 7, 6, 8, 5, 14, 13 and 16 are the above-average rated ones (at least considering the fact that Barks generally has a higher average rating compared to other creators).

[Mesterius]

Apr 4, 2021 20:07:21 GMT luckygladstone said:

Apr 4, 2021 15:54:30 GMT Mesterius said:

I suspect luckygladstone is thinking about the order the books have been released in, not their chronological numbering.

But I agree with deb: the best Barks material is from appr. 1948-1955. You can get a good overview over which books contain which years on Wikipedia.

Thanks. Yeah, the first 15 volumes of Fantagraphics (the order released of these volumes) seem to cover that period. The last 15 volumes seem to then contain worse stories.

More like the first 12 volumes in Fantagraphics' release order. 15 volumes in ("The Black Pearls of Tabu Yama"), you're already in 1957-58.

(Or, well, the release order skips a bit back and forth between years, but the 12 volumes that show on top if you use the "Period" sorting...)

[luckygladstone]

Apr 4, 2021 21:37:23 GMT Mesterius said:

Apr 4, 2021 20:07:21 GMT luckygladstone said:

Thanks. Yeah, the first 15 volumes of Fantagraphics (the order released of these volumes) seem to cover that period. The last 15 volumes seem to then contain worse stories.

More like the first 12 volumes in Fantagraphics' release order. 15 volumes in ("The Black Pearls of Tabu Yama"), you're already in 1957-58.

(Or, well, the release order skips a bit back and forth between years, but the 12 volumes that show on top if you use the "Period" sorting...)

You're right first 12 volumes released by Fanta go until 1955 or so.