Carl Barks wrote and drew many stories, which also covered the various festive holidays there are in a year. Below, you will find a list of Halloween-themed stories Barks wrote.
Carl Barks Halloween Stories
Trick or Treat
Maybe the most well-known and beloved Halloween Duck story, Trick or Treat. In this comic, we meet Witch Hazel, who is shown flying into Duckburg on the splash panel. Trick or Treat follows the nephews as they go out Trick or Treating. Unfortunately for them, Donald is more in for a trick than a treat. Witch Hazel sees what happened and offers the nephews her help. Donald will be in for a ton of tricks!
This is one of my favorite stories. The story was originally not by Barks. He was asked to make a comic out of a short that was in the works at the same time. As Barks thought he didn’t have enough material, he added much of his material, creating some new characters, such as Smorgie the Bad. In early publications, the publisher removed some panels, and the story was cut to 27 pages. Later publications had the original 32 pages. This makes the comic a great addition to the short, adding many nice story arcs.
After reading the comic, make sure you also watch Trick or Treat on Disney+.
Relevant Information
- Story code: W DD 26-02
- First Published: 1952
Dramatic Donald
A Halloween story in the sense that it takes place during Halloween. Daisy and her drama club need actors to put on a Halloween play. Donald is not the only person being considered for the lead role. Gladstone Gander also shows up at the clubhouse. As we all know, Donald and Gladstone can’t stand each other, and this will most likely play out on stage.
Relevant Information
- Story code: W WDC 217-01
- First Published: 1958
Jet Witch
Halloween is the holiday kids are all mischievous, and the town of Duckburg wants to stop things from happening all over town. Donald wants to stop Halloween altogether, but the participants of the town meeting have some other ideas. Donald left the meeting early and didn’t hear any new plans. In the next few days, the nephews want to inform Donald, but he keeps dismissing them. Not knowing what will happen, Halloween comes around, and it is all not what Donald expected.
Relevant Information
- Story code: W WDC 254-01
- First Published: 1961
Hobblin’ Goblins
Huey, Dewey, and Louie bump into Gyro Gearloose when he is busy inventing his newest invention: Goblin Foiler. The device allows the user to foil the goblin’s evil schemes. He asks the nephews to test the device in the next few days. And soon, a few situations arise that can only have been dreamed up by a goblin and the nephews put the Goblin Foiler to use.
Important Information
- Story code: W DD 26-03
- First Published: 1952
A Prank Above
A one-pager of Donald and the nephews being out and about on Halloween, looking for some tricks to do. A nice gentleman has an idea of a trick and suggests it to Donald and the boys. But are they playing a trick? Or is the gentleman playing a trick on them?
Relevant Information
- Story Code: W DD 26-01
- First Published: 1952
Frightful Face
Another Halloween one-pager in which Daisy is afraid of all the people in scary outfits that will jump out and scare her. Fortunately Donald has an idea, but as we all know, not all of Donald’s ideas are the best.
Relevant Information
- Story Code: W DD 26-04
- First Published: 1952