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Carl Barks and Mickey Mouse
Carl Barks also had a very short stint in 1945 with another popular
line of Disney comics, Mickey Mouse and Co. The story "The Riddle of
the Red Hat" (Four Color #79) is one of the more weird Mickey Mouse
tales and clearly bears the marks of the Great Duck Man.  However, Barks
was not very fond of the tale which didn't match his style (Ault, 2003,
p.
118). It was only at Western Publishing's (the company that also
published Donald Duck comics) insistence that Barks drew this
adventure. Oddly enough, this story has 11 pages, which is quite
unusual compared to either the 10-page Walt Disney's Comics and Stories
tales or the longer adventure stories featuring mostly Uncle Scrooge
and/or Donald Duck. The 2004
Free Comic Book Day edition attributes the story to Eleanor Packer,
a Western staff writer. Barks claimed for a long time that he never
remembered writing his own Mickey Mouse tale. Even if the writing is
not Barks' (or Barks' alone), this story has the same "look and feel"
of a Barks tale and is certainly even stands out among other Mickey
Mouse comics.
References:
Ault, Donald. 2003. Carl Barks Conversations.
Jackson: University of Mississippi Press.
As of Oct 15, 2008, there are scans of this comic at this site: http://disneycomics.free.fr/Ducks/Barks/1945/riddle/Thumbnails.html
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