"Donald Duck Finds Pirate Gold" is a Disney comics story starring Donald Duck that was originally printed in ''

Four Color ''Four Color'', also known as ''Four Color Comics'' and ''Dell Four Color'', was an American comic book anthology series published by Dell Comics between 1939 and 1962. The title is a reference to the four basic colors used when printing comic ...

'' #9 (the first ''Four Color'' issue titled "Donald Duck") in October 1942. The script was by Bob Karp and illustrated by Carl Barks and

Jack Hannah John Frederick Hannah (January 5, 1913 – June 11, 1994) was an American animator, writer and director of animated shorts. Biography Hannah was born on January 5, 1913, in Nogales, Arizona. He moved to Los Angeles in 1931 to study at the Art ...

. The story is significant for launching the first American Donald Duck adventure comic series, and for being Barks' first duck comics work. The storyline was originally developed for a Mickey Mouse feature cartoon (under the title "

Morgan's Ghost "Morgan's Ghost" (also called "Three Buccaneers" and "Pieces of Eight" in production) is an unreleased cartoon film by Walt Disney Productions, dated around 1939. A Disney comics adaptation, '' Donald Duck Finds Pirate Gold'', was published in Dell ...

") in which Mickey Mouse, Donald, and Goofy meet Yellow Beak and encounter Pete, but the cartoon was never produced.

Plot

In this story, Donald and his three nephews meet a

parrot Parrots, also known as psittacines (), are birds of the roughly 398 species in 92 genera comprising the order Psittaciformes (), found mostly in tropical and subtropical regions. The order is subdivided into three superfamilies: the Psittacoide ...

named Yellow Beak and they wind up searching for the lost

treasure Treasure (from la, thesaurus from Greek language ''thēsauros'', "treasure store") is a concentration of wealth — often originating from ancient history — that is considered lost and/or forgotten until rediscovered. Some jurisdictions le ...

Henry Morgan Sir Henry Morgan ( cy, Harri Morgan; – 25 August 1688) was a privateer, plantation owner, and, later, Lieutenant Governor of Jamaica. From his base in Port Royal, Jamaica, he raided settlements and shipping on the Spanish Main, becoming we ...

. Unfortunately for them, Black Pete wants the treasure too.

Production

Disney historian Jim Korkis reports the notion of taking the unmade feature and adapting the storyline for publication as a comic book occurred when

Dell Comics Dell Comics was the comic book publishing arm of Dell Publishing, which got its start in pulp magazines. It published comics from 1929 to 1974. At its peak, it was the most prominent and successful American company in the medium.Evanier, Mark" ...

editor

Oskar Lebeck Oskar Lebeck (August 30, 1903 – December 20, 1966) was a Scenic design, stage designer and an illustrator, writer and editor (mostly of children's literature) who is best known for his role in establishing Dell Comics during the 1930s and 1940s ...

"was given permission to look through the Disney files of cartoon ideas that were shelved. He found the over 800 numbered sketches for "Morgan's Ghost" and was instantly struck that most of the work had already been done in terms of visualizing the story. Lebeck felt it could easily be adapted into a Donald Duck comic book story." Bob Karp, who wrote the script, was a gag writer for the '' Donald Duck'' newspaper comic strip. Hannah recalled John Clarke Rose, Story Research Director at the Disney Studio, "took us to meet Eleanor Packer who I believe was in charge of Whitman/Western Publishing. They wanted us to draw 64 pages of a Donald Duck story. I suspect the reason we were chosen for this assignment was that it was a more story related project. We were doing all the Donald Duck stories for the shorts and doing all the story sketches at the time so I'm just guessing that they probably felt we could work out this story as well, maybe even add in a few touches to help it flow properly." In 1993, Barks recalled, "Jack and I looked the script over and decided which pages we would like to draw. After we had drawn a few pages, we decided that I should draw all of the stuff that was involved with the ducks outside on the deck of the boat or on the island, and Jack would take care of the inside stuff." The two artists inked their own work. Almost half of the story's pages have no words, relying instead on the visual style preferred for animation. "That's why there's so little dialogue in ''Pirate Gold''," Barks said in 1983. "Bob took it from the storyboards. In animation they wanted things moving on the screen: they didn't want characters in held positions moving their lips." Before this story, the first Donald Duck adventure comics had so far only appeared in

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical ...

, in the 1937–1940 Italian Disney comics magazine ''

Paperino e altre avventure Donald Fauntleroy Duck is a cartoon character created by The Walt Disney Company. Donald is an Anthropomorphism, anthropomorphic American Pekin, white duck with a yellow-orange bill, legs, and feet. He typically wears a sailor suit, sailor shi ...

'' by Federico Pedrocchi.

Sequels

Two sequels to this story were published. "Donald Duck and the Pirates" (

Cheerios Cheerios is a brand of cereal manufactured by General Mills in the United States, consisting of pulverized oats in the shape of a solid torus. In some countries, including the United Kingdom, Cheerios is marketed by Cereal Partners under the ...

Giveaway #W1, 1947) by

Chase Craig Wingate Chase Craig (August 28, 1910 – December 2, 2001) was an American writer-cartoonist who worked principally on comic strips and comic books. From the mid-1940s to mid-1970s he was a prolific editor and scripter for Western Publishing' ...

and

, has Yellow Beak accompany Donald and his nephews to an island to find buried treasure. This story was reprinted in the US in '' Donald Duck'' #365 (2011). In "Donald Duck Finds Pirate Gold... Again!" (originally titled "Bacicin riprende il mare" in '' Almanacco Topolino'' #71, Nov 1962), by Abramo Barosso, Giampaolo Barosso, and

Giovan Battista Carpi Giovan Battista Carpi (; November 16, 1927 – March 8, 1999) was a prolific Italian comics artist, illustrator, and teacher from Genoa. Carpi worked mainly for Disney comics, mostly on books featuring Donald Duck and Scrooge McDuck, although h ...

, Bacicin Parodi (Yellow Beak) comes out of retirement to tempt Donald, his nephews and

Uncle Scrooge ''Uncle Scrooge'' (stylized as ''Uncle $crooge'') is a Disney comic book series starring Scrooge McDuck ("the richest duck in the world"), his nephew Donald Duck, and grandnephews Huey, Dewey, and Louie, and revolving around their adventures in ...

on another treasure hunt, followed by the Beagle Boys. This story was reprinted in the US in ''Donald Duck'' #366 (2011). Yellow Beak also appeared in two more Disney comics stories: * "The Seven Dwarfs and the Pirate" in ''

'' #229 (May 1949), by

Tony Strobl Anthony Joseph Strobl ( ; May 12, 1915 – December 29, 1991) was an American comics artist and animator. He was born in Cleveland, Ohio and attended Cleveland School of Art from 1933–37, with Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster, who actually g ...

* "Captain Hook and the Buried Treasure" in ''

Peter Pan Peter Pan is a fictional character created by Scottish novelist and playwright J. M. Barrie. A free-spirited and mischievous young boy who can fly and never grows up, Peter Pan spends his never-ending childhood having adventures on the mythi ...

Treasure Chest'' #1 (Jan. 1953), by Del Connell and Dick Moores

References

External links

*{{Inducks comic, W+OS++++9-02
''Donald Duck Finds Pirate Gold''
in Carl Barks guidebook Disney comics stories Donald Duck comics by Carl Barks 1942 in comics Cultural depictions of Henry Morgan Pirate comics

Plot

Production

Sequels

See also

References

External links