Walt Disney's Comics and Stories #9 (201)
Walt Disney's Comics and Stories #201 (June 1957) is a solid mid-run Dell issue distinguished primarily by a Carl Barks Donald Duck ten-pager — 'The Day Duckburg Got Dyed' — that showcases Barks at the height of his comedic craft, spinning a city-wide catastrophe out of nothing more than a spilled inkblot and a misdirected shipment. The issue also features one of the first appearances of Little Helper (Gyro's lightbulb-headed robot companion, who had only debuted nine months earlier in Uncle Scrooge #15) in the flagship WDC&S title, marking an early milestone in that character's growing role in Duckburg's cast. As part of the Dell era's stable anthology format — rotating Barks Duck stories, Paul Murry Mickey Mouse serials, and supporting strips — the issue represents the mature, well-oiled machine that kept WDC&S one of the best-selling American comics of its era.
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The issue was published in June 1957 by Dell under the Western Publishing production umbrella, carrying the volume/number designation Vol. 17 #9. Carl Barks wrote and drew the lead Donald Duck story entirely himself, with Garé Barks lettering — the standard arrangement for his WDC&S ten-pagers at this stage of his career. The cover was painted by Paul Murry, who also handled the multi-part Mickey Mouse serial inside; the remaining strips were contributed by a stable of Dell/Western house artists including Gil Turner, Tony Strobl, and Al Taliaferro on the Donald Duck dailies.
Trivia · 8 facts
- Published June 1957 by Dell Comics; also catalogued as Vol. 17 #9; a 15¢ price-variant edition was produced alongside the standard 10¢ edition.
- Lead story: Carl Barks' 'The Day Duckburg Got Dyed' — Donald's nephews spill ink on his tablecloth, visit Gyro Gearloose to fix it, and a mix-up with Gyro's experimental dye ends with Duckburg's entire water supply turning red.
- Gyro Gearloose and Little Helper both appear in the Barks lead story; Gyro had debuted in WDC&S #140 (May 1952), while Little Helper had only debuted roughly nine months earlier in Uncle Scrooge #15 (September 1956) in 'The Cat Box' — making this one of his earliest appearances in the WDC&S flagship title.
- Cover art by Paul Murry; interior contributors include Barks, Don Christensen, Carl Fallberg, Gil Turner, Paul Murry, Tony Strobl, Bob Karp, and Al Taliaferro.
- Additional contents: Mickey Mouse and Goofy in 'The Phantom Fires' (part 2 of a 3-part serial, art by Paul Murry); Pluto in 'The Boy Tender'; Li'l Bad Wolf in 'Bird-Brain Pop'; a one-page Dumbo text story 'Dumbo's Rainbow'; and four Donald Duck newspaper daily reprints.
- The Barks 'Day Duckburg Got Dyed' story has been reprinted multiple times, including in The Carl Barks Library vol. 9 (Another Rainbow, 1985), The Carl Barks Library of Walt Disney's Comics and Stories in Color #33 (Gladstone, September 1994), and Fantagraphics' ongoing Complete Carl Barks Disney Library hardcover series.
- Barks scholar trivia noted in the Barks Universe guidebook: Donald's street address is printed on a misdirected package in the story — '13 Quack Street, Duckburg' — a small piece of Duckburg world-building consistent with Barks' habit of embedding incidental details.
- WDC&S was at this point the flagship Dell Disney title and one of the best-selling American comic books of the era; Barks' ten-pagers were its primary creative engine throughout the 1940s–1960s Dell run.
Cast · 12 characters
Full credits
Full plot ⚠ may contain spoilers
▸ Reveal full plot — may contain spoilers
Donald's nephews spill India ink on their Uncle's white tablecloth and go to Gyro to get the stain out. By an unfortunate accident, a shipment of Gyro's new dye is shipped to Donald, who thinks it is his long-awaited bug powder that he plans to use to kill the microbes and moss in the city reservoir.
Plot details indexed by the Grand Comics Database (CC BY-SA).