Cover: Hank Porter

Four Color #9

Oct 1942 · Dell · 0.10 USD

☆ Be the first to review + Add to your collection — Join free

“Donald Duck Finds Pirate Gold”

About this Issue

Four Color #9 marks the debut of the first original Donald Duck story produced for an American comic book — a watershed that transformed a hot-tempered cartoon side character into the star of his own full-length adventure medium. The issue also represents Carl Barks's first work drawing Donald Duck, the starting point of a creative career that would define the character in comics for more than two decades and establish the template of Donald-and-nephews treasure-hunting stories that became a genre unto itself. Beyond its importance to the Duck universe, the book demonstrated that Dell's Four Color anthology could sustain long-form, all-new Disney narratives rather than relying on newspaper-strip reprints — a pivot that would eventually give rise to some of the most beloved funny-animal comics of the Golden Age. The parrot Yellow Beak and the villain Black Pete, both appearing here in their comic-book adventure roles, rooted the story in Disney's animated mythology while giving readers characters and stakes they had never seen in comic-book form before.

In "Donald Duck Finds Pirate Gold," a 1942 Four Color comic, Donald and his nephews set off on a swashbuckling adventure after discovering a map in Donald's seafood restaurant, joined by the sassy parrot Old Yellow Beak. With the help of Carl Barks and Jack Hannah’s dynamic art, the journey unfolds as the crew sails toward a hidden island, unaware that Black Pete and his rat-faced henchmen are among them in disguise. The cover by Hank Porter captures the high-seas intrigue, making this a must-have for fans of classic Disney adventure comics.

writer Bob Karp · writer Homer Brightman · artist, inker Carl Barks · artist, inker Jack Hannah · colorist Western Publishing Production Shop · cover Hank Porter

ComicBooks.com Value

Our Model is In Beta

Raw (Good) $759

CGC 9.6 · 3 in census $37,566*

CGC 9.4 $34,475*

CGC 9.2 · 2 in census $16,163

CGC 9.0 · 6 in census $14,409

CGC 8.5 · 2 in census $14,409

CGC 8.0 · 7 in census $6,622

Show all 21 grades ▾

CGC 7.5 · 8 in census $5,848

CGC 7.0 · 5 in census $4,208

CGC 6.5 · 13 in census $3,041

CGC 6.0 · 12 in census $2,673

CGC 5.5 · 11 in census $2,673

CGC 5.0 · 8 in census $2,673

CGC 4.5 · 8 in census $2,027

CGC 4.0 · 15 in census $1,732

CGC 3.5 · 8 in census $1,441

CGC 3.0 · 9 in census $1,441

CGC 2.5 · 10 in census $1,441

CGC 2.0 · 8 in census $1,441

CGC 1.5 · 6 in census $680

CGC 1.0 · 7 in census $445

CGC 0.5 · 4 in census $445*

* estimate — limited direct-sales data at this grade

Our model’s value — refined as new sales data arrives · CGC census counts shown where available

Find on ebay

Search eBay for Four Color #9 ▸

No confirmed live listings for this exact issue right now — this opens an eBay search.

Read it digitally

Amazon Kindle Buy the digital edition ▸ GlobalComix Indie & digital reader ▸

Opens a search on each platform — digital availability varies by title.

Sell my copy

Have this issue — or a whole collection? Get a fair offer from us, skip the marketplace fees and the hassle.

We Buy Collections ▸

Fast, fair offers · we handle grading & shipping

History

The story's origins lie in an unproduced Disney feature cartoon titled 'Morgan's Ghost,' for which storyboards had been developed by Disney storyman Homer Brightman; the planned film featured Mickey Mouse, Donald, and Goofy alongside Pete and Yellow Beak, but was scrapped — partly as the studio pivoted to wartime productions after the United States entered World War II in late 1941. Dell editor Eleanor Packer, through Disney's Story Research Director John Rose, approached two Disney studio storymen — Carl Barks and Jack Hannah — to adapt those dormant storyboards into a 64-page comic, work they completed in their off-hours evenings and weekends rather than on studio time. Bob Karp, the writer of the Donald Duck newspaper strip, translated Brightman's storyboards into comic script form, replacing the original Mickey-Donald-Goofy trio with an all-duck cast; Barks and Hannah then divided the art pages between them, with Barks handling exterior scenes — the ship's rigging and open-sea sequences — while Hannah took the interior settings, their styles proving close enough that the seams are nearly invisible. The cover was painted by Hank Porter, and the book's indicia title was formally registered as 'Donald Duck Finds Pirate Gold, No. 9.'

Trivia · 8 facts

First original Donald Duck story produced for an American comic book, published by Dell in October 1942 as part of the Four Color (Series 2) anthology.
Story title: 'Donald Duck Finds Pirate Gold!' — script adapted by Bob Karp from Homer Brightman's storyboards for the unproduced Disney feature cartoon 'Morgan's Ghost.'
Carl Barks's first work drawing Donald Duck: he penciled and inked story pages 1, 2, 5, and 12–40; Jack Hannah penciled and inked pages 3, 4, 6–11, and 41–64.
First comic-book appearance of the parrot Yellow Beak (also called 'Old Yellow Beak'), who possesses a treasure map leading to the buried gold of historical pirate Henry Morgan.
Black Pete appears as the primary villain, disguised as an old woman to infiltrate the ducks' ship with his henchmen — his first significant role in a Donald Duck comic-book adventure.
The 64-page story also marks the first time Donald Duck and his nephews Huey, Dewey, and Louie participate in a treasure-hunting expedition in comic-book form, a narrative engine Barks would revisit throughout his career.
One of only two original (non-strip-reprint) stories among the first ten issues of Four Color Series 2, alongside issue #5 (Raggedy Ann and Andy).
Reprinted numerous times, including Donald Duck #250 (Gladstone, 1987), Carl Barks Library of Walt Disney's Donald Duck Adventures in Color #1 (Gladstone, 1994), and most recently as the anchor story of The Complete Carl Barks Disney Library Vol. 1 (Fantagraphics, August 2025).