While Donald's cartoons continue to be shown in the United States and around the world, his weekly and monthly comic books enjoy their highest profile in many European countries, especially Italy, Sweden, Denmark, Norway, Finland and Iceland, but also Germany, the Netherlands, and Greece. Most of them are produced and published by the Italian branch of the
Walt Disney Company in Italy (
Disney Italy) and by
Egmont in Denmark, Norway, Finland and Sweden. In Germany, the comics are published by Ehapa which has since become part of the Egmont empire. Donald comics have also been produced in The Netherlands and France. Donald also has been appeared in Japanese comics published by
Kodansha and
Tokyopop. According to the
Inducks, which is a database about Disney comics worldwide, American, Italian and Danish stories have been reprinted in the following countries. In most of them, publications still continue: Australia, Austria, Argentina, Belgium, Brazil, Bulgaria, Canada, China, Colombia, Croatia, Czech Republic, Denmark (
Faroe Islands), Egypt, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Guyana, Hungary, Iceland, India, Indonesia, Israel, Italy, Japan, Latvia, Lithuania, Mexico, the Netherlands, Norway, Philippines, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Slovakia, Spain, Sweden, Thailand, Turkey, the United Kingdom, the United States, and the former Yugoslavia.
Early development The character's first appearance in
comic strip format was the 1934
Silly Symphony comic strip sequence based on the short
The Wise Little Hen. For the next few years, Donald made a few more appearances in Disney-themed strips, and by 1936, he had grown to be one of the main characters in the
Silly Symphony strip.
Ted Osborne was the primary writer of these strips, with
Al Taliaferro as his artist. Osborne and Taliaferro also introduced several members of Donald's supporting cast, including his nephews,
Huey, Dewey, and Louie. In 1937, an Italian publisher named
Mondadori created the first Donald Duck story intended specifically for
comic books. The eighteen-page story, written by
Federico Pedrocchi, is the first to feature Donald as an adventurer rather than simply a comedic character.
Fleetway in England also began publishing comic book stories featuring the duck.
Developments under Taliaferro A daily
Donald Duck comic strip drawn by Taliaferro and written by
Bob Karp began running in the United States on February 2, 1938; the Sunday strip began the following year. Taliaferro and Karp created an even larger cast of characters for Donald's world. He got a new
St. Bernard named
Bolivar, and
his family grew to include cousin
Gus Goose and grandmother
Grandma Duck. Donald's new rival girlfriends were
Donna and
Daisy Duck. Taliaferro also gave Donald his very own automobile, a 1934 Belchfire Runabout, in a 1938 story, which is often nicknamed by Donald's "313" car plate in the comic incarnation of Donald's world.
Developments under Barks (1901–2000) In 1942,
Western Publishing began creating original comic book stories about Donald and other Disney characters. Bob Karp worked on the earliest of these, a story called "
Donald Duck Finds Pirate Gold". The new publisher meant new illustrators, however,
Carl Barks and
Jack Hannah would later repeat the
treasure hunting theme in many more stories. Barks soon took over the major development of the duck as both writer and illustrator. Under his pen, Donald became more adventurous, less temperamental and more eloquent.
Pete was the only other major character from the
Mickey Mouse comic strip to feature in Barks' new
Donald Duck universe. Barks placed Donald in the city of
Duckburg, creating a host of supporting players, including
Neighbor Jones (1944), Uncle
Scrooge McDuck (1947),
Gladstone Gander (1948),
the Beagle Boys (1951),
Gyro Gearloose (1952),
April, May and June (1953),
Flintheart Glomgold (1956),
Magica de Spell (1961), and
John D. Rockerduck (1961). Many of Taliaferro's characters made the move to Barks' world as well, including Huey, Dewey, and Louie. Barks placed Donald in both domestic and adventure scenarios, and Uncle Scrooge became one of his favorite characters to pair up with Donald. Scrooge's profile increased, and by 1952, the character had a comic book of his own. At this point, Barks concentrated his major efforts on the Scrooge stories, and Donald's appearances became more focused on comedy or he was recast as Scrooge's helper, following his rich uncle around the globe.
Further developments Dozens of writers continued to utilize Donald in their stories around the world. For example, the Disney Studio artists, who made comics directly for the European market. Two of them,
Dick Kinney (1917–1985) and Al Hubbard (1915–1984) created Donald's cousin
Fethry Duck. The American artists Vic Lockman and
Tony Strobl (1915–1991), who were working directly for the American comic books, created
Moby Duck. Strobl was one of the most productive Disney artists of all time and drew many stories which Barks wrote and sketched after his retirement. In the 1990s and early 2000s, these scripts were re-drawn in a style closer to Barks' own by Dutch artist
Daan Jippes. Italian publisher Mondadori created many of the stories that were published throughout Europe. They also introduced numerous new characters who are today well known in Europe. One example is Donald Duck's alter ego, a
superhero called
Paperinik in Italian, created in 1969 by
Guido Martina (1906–1991) and
Giovan Battista Carpi (1927–1999).
Giorgio Cavazzano and Carlo Chendi created
Umperio Bogarto, a detective whose name is an obvious parody on
Humphrey Bogart. They also created
O.K Quack, an extraterrestrial Duck who landed on earth in a spaceship in the shape of a coin. He, however, lost his spaceship and befriended Scrooge, and now is allowed to search through his money bin time after time, looking for his ship.
Romano Scarpa (1927–2005), who was a very important and influential Italian Disney artist, created
Brigitta McBridge, a female Duck who is madly in love with Scrooge. Her affections are never answered by him, though, but she keeps trying. Scarpa also came up with
Dickie Duck, the granddaughter of
Glittering Goldie (Scrooge's possible love interest from his days in the Klondike) and
Kildare Coot, a nephew of
Grandma Duck. Italian artist
Corrado Mastantuono created Bum Bum Ghigno, a cynical, grumpy and not too good-looking Duck who teams up with Donald and Gyro a lot. The American artist
William Van Horn also introduced a new character:
Rumpus McFowl, an old and rather corpulent Duck with a giant appetite and laziness, who is first said to be a cousin of Scrooge. Only later, Scrooge reveals to his nephews Rumpus is actually his half-brother. Later, Rumpus also finds out. Working for the Danish editor Egmont, artist
Daniel Branca (1951–2005) and scriptwriters Paul Halas and Charlie Martin created Sonny Seagull, an orphan who befriends Huey, Dewey and Louie, and his rival, Mr. Phelps. One of the most productive Duck artists used to be
Victor Arriagada Rios, (deceased 2012) better known under the name Vicar. He had his own studio where he and his assistants drew the stories sent in by Egmont. With writer/editors Stefan and Unn Printz-Påhlson, Vicar created the character Oona, a prehistoric duck princess who traveled to modern Duckburg by using Gyro's time machine. She stayed and is still seen in occasional modern stories. The best known Duck artist of this time is American
Don Rosa. He started doing Disney comics in 1987 for the American publisher Gladstone. He later worked briefly for the Dutch editors but moved to work directly for Egmont soon afterwards. His stories contain many direct references to stories by Carl Barks, and he also wrote and illustrated a
12-part series of stories about the life of Scrooge McDuck, which won him two
Eisner Awards. Other important artists who have worked with Donald are
Freddy Milton and
Daan Jippes, who made 18 ten-pagers which experts claim, were very difficult to separate from Barks' own work from the late 1940s. Japanese artist
Shiro Amano worked with Donald on the graphic novel
Kingdom Hearts based on the Disney-
Square Enix video game.
Nordic countries Donald Duck is known in Nordic countries as
Kalle Anka in Sweden,
Anders And in Denmark,
Andrés Önd in Iceland,
Donald Duck in Norway, and
Aku Ankka in Finland. In Sweden voters often voted for Donald Duck or the
Donald Duck Party as a nonexistent candidate until a 2006 change in voting laws, which prohibited voting for nonexistent candidates. In a twenty-year span, Donald won enough votes to be, in theory, Sweden's ninth-most popular political organization. In 1985, Donald received 291 votes in an election for the
Parliament of Sweden. By 1978, within Finland, there was a debate over the morality of Donald Duck. Matti Holopainen jokingly criticized Donald for living with Daisy while not being married to her, for not wearing trousers, and for, in the words of the
Library Journal, being "too
bourgeois". Some observers from Finland from the same time period supported Donald, referring to him as a "genuine proletarian ... forced to sell his labor at slave rates to make a living". The
Library Journal said it was revealed that, since 1950, Donald had secretly been married to Daisy. An annual Christmas special in Norway, Denmark, Finland and Sweden is
From All of Us to All of You, in Norway and Sweden with a title of
Donald Duck and His Friends Celebrate Christmas. Segments include
Ferdinand the Bull, a short with Chip 'n' Dale, a segment from
Lady and the Tramp, a sneak preview of a coming Disney movie and concludes with
Jiminy Cricket performing "When You Wish Upon a Star". To many people watching this special is a tradition as important as having a Christmas tree.
Germany Donald Duck-themed comics sell an average of 250,000 copies each week in Germany, mostly published in the kids' weekly
Micky Maus and the monthlies
Donald Duck Special (for adults) and ''''. Donald's dialogue in German comics tends to be more sophisticated and philosophical, he "quotes from German literature, speaks in grammatically complex sentences and is prone to philosophical musings, while the stories often take a more political tone than their American counterparts",
Duck Avenger is referred to the character
Dorellik (parody of
Diabolik) performed by
Johnny Dorelli, Italian actor and crooner, in the Anglo-Italian movie
Arriva Dorellik (
How To Kill 400 Duponts). Further along the years, he fashioned for himself the additional identities of
QQ7, a bumbling secret agent protecting Scrooge's riches and
DoubleDuck, a more confident and suave secret agent, in the mold of
James Bond, a more equilibrate mold of the heroic Duck Avenger and the tricky QQ7, often accompanied by the beautiful spy
Kay K. Donald's "secret identies" are hosted in the main
Topolino comics, but also in several themed comics, like the now-defunct
Paperinik,
PKNA,
PK^2 and the current
Paperinik AppGrade, the latter hosting reprints and new stories as well. Paperinik / Duck Avenger also appeared in the video games
PK: Out of the Shadows,
PK: Phantom Duck, and
The Duckforce Rises. Having several full lives to live does not hamper Donald's ability to live adventures on his own: he still lives adventures with his uncle Scrooge and his nephews (often acting as a reluctant bumbler, a ballast to the enthusiasm of his nephews and the wanderlust of his uncle), and he lived a star-crossed love story with a princess from another planet,
Reginella. Despite Reginella leaving a deep trace in Donald's heart, he is still depicted as extremely faithful to Daisy, with a small hiccup deriving by Daisy Duck having a secret identity on her own (
Paperinika), with Paperinik and Paperinika, both unaware of their secret identities, cultivating a permanent status of belligerent tension. He also keeps a cheerful rivalry with his neighbour
Bum Bum Ghigno, more a bumbler and a nuisance than he is, but still a good person at heart. The Italian rendition of Donald Duck seldom, if ever, goes by his first name, having everyone, including his nephews, Daisy and Uncle Scrooge, address him as
Paperino (his Italian surname). He also appears in the Topolino comics depicting his childhood, called
Paperino Paperotto (), which were first produced in Italy in 1998. He lives in the fictional town, Quack Town with Grandma Duck and Billy Goat. ==Disney theme parks==