Four Color #108
☆ Be the first to review + Add to your collection — Join freeFour Color #108 — titled 'Donald Duck in the Terror of the River' — stands as one of the finest examples of Carl Barks working at the height of his craft during the character's formative Golden Age, and it was the fourth entry in the sequence of Donald Duck long-form adventure one-shots that Barks used to deepen and expand the Duck mythology beyond the limits of the short ten-page format. The issue packs three complete Barks-written-and-drawn stories into a single book, demonstrating the remarkable range he could bring to funny-animal comics: a riveting river-serpent thriller, a droll comedy of misidentification involving a trained seal, and a darkly comic pyromania tale that was quietly censored before publication. That editorial intervention — editorial hands literally altered Barks's original ending to 'The Firebug,' replacing Donald going to jail for accidentally burning down a courthouse with a tidy dream-sequence resolution — makes this issue an early, concrete document of the push-and-pull between Barks's genuinely adult storytelling instincts and the constraints of the licensed Disney product, a tension that would define and enrich his entire career.
In "The Terror of the River!!," Donald Duck and the nephews find themselves unexpectedly in charge of a houseboat after a series of mistaken sneezes at an auction, setting off on a wild journey down the Ohio River. What starts as a harmless adventure turns eerie when they encounter a massive serpent—only to discover it's a cleverly disguised submarine, its captain delighting in spooking travelers. Written and illustrated by Carl Barks, this classic tale blends humor and suspense with the signature charm of the era, and the cover by Carl Buettner captures the moment of thrilling dread.
In "The Terror of the River!!" from Four Color #108, Donald Duck’s explosive sneezes at an auction accidentally land him a houseboat, launching him and the nephews on a wild ride down the Ohio River. There, they’re menaced by a monstrous serpent—only to discover it’s a cleverly disguised submarine, its captain delighting in the fear he stirs.
When Donald wakes up after a bump to the head, he finds himself oddly drawn to flames—setting small, harmless fires for fun, much to his own confusion. But when real fires break out across the town, everyone blames him, even though he’s not the one behind the bigger blazes.
In this playful 1946 tale from Four Color #108, Jo and the nephews toss a ball with a curious baby seal at the beach, sparking Donald’s imagination. His mind races with visions of fame and fortune from a trained seal act, setting off a whimsical chain of daydreams.
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The artwork for the lead story was submitted on January 25, 1946, and for the backup 'Seals Are So Smart' on July 19, 1945, confirming both were completed in the final phase of World War II and published by Dell in May 1946 under copyright to Walt Disney Productions. Barks drew every page of all three stories himself — writing, penciling, and inking the full 51 pages — at the dense pace his vouchers record: most pages carried nine to eleven panels each, and Western Publishing paid him a supplemental rate for the extra panels beyond eight per page. The cover was the work of Carl Buettner rather than Barks himself, a standard practice for the Donald Duck Four Color issues of the period. Barks later discussed his deliberate craft in designing the lead story's villain: wanting a character menacing enough to drive the plot but eccentric enough to slip past editorial gatekeepers, he settled on a man who terrorizes people purely for psychological pleasure rather than any murderous motive.
Trivia · 7 facts
- Published May 1946 by Dell Publishing Co. under copyright to Walt Disney Productions; the issue's on-sale date is confirmed in the Library of Congress Catalog of Copyright Entries, 1946 Pamphlets, page 245.
- The issue contains three complete Carl Barks stories: the 28-page lead adventure 'The Terror of the River,' the 13-page backup 'The Firebug,' and the 10-page 'Seals Are So Smart' — all written, penciled, and inked solely by Barks.
- In the lead story, Donald accidentally bids on a houseboat by sneezing at an auction, then travels the Ohio River with Huey, Dewey, and Louie before encountering what appears to be a giant river serpent — later revealed to be a disguised submarine operated by a man who terrorizes people for amusement.
- The 'Firebug' backup was editorially altered before publication: in Barks's original ending Donald goes to jail for inadvertently burning down a courthouse, but an unidentified hand — later identified by scholar Alberto Becattini as Carl Buettner — redrew the final two panels to reframe Donald's pyromania as merely a bad dream.
- This is the fourth Donald Duck long-form adventure one-shot produced by Barks in the Dell Four Color series, following 'Donald Duck Finds Pirate Gold' (FC #9, 1942), 'The Mummy's Ring' (FC #29, 1943), and 'Frozen Gold' (FC #62, 1945); the fifth would be 'Volcano Valley' (FC #147, 1947).
- The cover art is by Carl Buettner, not Barks — a consistent arrangement for the Donald Duck Four Color issues of this era; Barks handled all interior story art.
- The issue's stories have been reprinted internationally across multiple decades, including in Gladstone Comic Album #2 (1987), Gladstone's Carl Barks Library of Walt Disney's Donald Duck Adventures in Color #4 (April 1994), Gemstone's Walt Disney's Vacation Parade #3 (2006), and Fantagraphics' Complete Carl Barks Disney Library Vol. 4 (October 2023).
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Reprints
Reprinted in Gli Albi Tascabili di Topolino #48 (1949), Topolino #11 (1950), Walt Disney's Giant Comics #117 (1958), Walt Disney's Donald Duck #170 (1971), Donald Duck & Co #34/1975 (1975), De beste verhalen van Donald Duck #12 (1979), The Complete Carl Barks #3 (1982), Donald Duck and His Nephews Best Comics #[nn] (1983), De beste verhalen van Donald Duck #36 (1984), The Carl Barks Library #1 (1984), Le Journal de Mickey #1785 (1986), Gladstone Comic Album #2 (1988), Walt Disney's Mickey and Donald #3 (1988), Donald Duck bøker [Gullbøker] #[1988] (1988), Donald Duck bøker [Gullbøker] #[1992] (1992), Carl Barks Library of Walt Disney's Donald Duck Adventures in Color #4 (1994), Walt Disney's Donald Duck Adventures #26 (1994), Walt Disney's Comics and Stories #644 (2004), O Melhor da Disney: As Obras Completas de Carl Barks #10 (2005), Carl Barks samlede verk #3 (2006), Walt Disney's Vacation Parade #3 (2006), Donald Duck & Co #34/2008 (2008), The Complete Carl Barks Disney Library #4 (2023)
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