Top Five Month (check here to see an archive of all the top five lists featured so far) continues with a look at the comic book genius of Carl Barks, through a look at the top characters he created over the years (not counting his most famous creation, Scrooge McDuck, because, well, what's the fun in saying "Scrooge McDuck is the top creation by Carl Barks"?)!

Enjoy!

Thanks to Peter Kylling, editor of one of the best Carl Barks web sites around (you can visit it here), for the images!

DISHONORABLE MENTION

Flintheart Glomgold



The evil opposite of Scrooge McDuck, the second-wealthiest duck around is a real jerk. Oddly enough, Barks did not use him that often.

5. Gladstone Gander



The luckiest duck alive, Gladstone Gander was a good character because he was good for different types of stories. Need a foil for Donald with Daisy? There's Gladstone! Need someone to move the plot along? Here's Gladstone's crazy luck powers!!

4. Magica De Spell



An excellent nemesis for Scrooge, Magica has an obsession with Scrooge's first dime that fueled a great many great stories.

3. The Junior Woodchucks



The Junior Woodchucks, though, were a particularly clever invention by Barks. They provided him with both a way to get the nephews their own naturally occurring adventure stories, but it also provided the greatest plot device a writer could ever ask for - the Junior Woodchuck GUIDEBOOK, which would always hold the answer whenever needed to get the duck gang out of a jam. Man, Barks really knew how to create an ever-sustaining plot-driven universe.

2. Gyro Gearloose



What separates Gyro from a lot of the other seemingly one-note characters (like Flintheart and Gladstone) is that he had a distinct personality APART from his plot-driven usage, which was to invent things when the plot requires them. He was such an interesting character that he got his own series of back-up stories for a number of years!

1. The Beagle Boys



Where you have Uncle Scrooge, you have the Beagle Boys, his most prominent bad guys and the second-most prominent characters created by Barks!

There you have it! Agree? Disagree? Let me know!