Carl Barks established his reputation as a comic book artist, and the work that ultimately won him the most distinction was done anonymously from 1942 to 1966 when he drew and wrote the first original Donald Duck comic book stories. Along the way, he created such characters as Gyro Gearloose, Gladstone Gander, the Beagle Boys, and Uncle Scrooge.

Barks was born in Oregon, and "by the time I was sixteen, I had become pretty well assured that I wanted to be an artist or a cartoonist." It took him some time to realize his ambition. "I had to go out and be a cowhand and a farmer, a muleskinner, lumberjack, anything that happened to come along that would furnish me with a living," Barks once said. "I'd worked in a printing...