Aufschlußreich!

[www.carlbarkscomicbookart.dk]

The following is a part of an interview with Del Connell, animator and story man in the Disney Studios in 1939 and later being an editor for the comic books of Western Publishing from 1957 – 1984. In this interview he explains why most of the art being produced for Western Publishing (later Dell), including Barks' pages, were really destroyed.

But why was all the other art destroyed? Have it really been space problems as the fans always heard?

Del Connell: Disney would wanted destroyed it because they didn't wanted it accidentially printed again or to be out on the market. They figured if the negatives and the art is destroyed it couldn't be reprinted again.

Being the owner of the copyright, why would Disney have been afraid of the artwork being around?

Del Connell: They didn't wanted anybody to produce more books. Western Publishing was a licensee of Disney and they just wanted them to produce only as much as what written in the contracts.

Interesting …! So Barks art was destroyed just because it was a licensee contract produced by a licensee. And a lot of Gottfredson's and Taliaferro's strip art survived just because it was produced by Disney themselves for the syndicate?

Del Connell: Right …!