Donald Duck, a cartoon character created by the Walt Disney Company, is today the star of dozens of comic-book and comic-strip stories published each month (in certain parts of the world, each week) around the world. In many European countries, Donald is considered the lead character in Disney comics, more important and beloved than Mickey Mouse.
In America, the Donald Duck comic strip debuted on February 7, 1938, following a 1936-1937 trial run in the Silly Symphony Sunday page. The strip ran for more than 50 years, ending in 1995.
The Donald Duck comic book first appeared as part of Dell Comics' Four Color Comics one-shot series, beginning in 1942 (published as Four Color #9). It became an independent comic book with issue #26 in November 1952.
Donald Duck also has a prominent role in Walt Disney's Comics and Stories, the American flagship anthology comic first published in 1940. The most popular issues featured the Donald Duck 10-pagers written and drawn by Carl Barks, who began the run with issue #31 (April 1943).
Pre-cartoon namesake
The earliest print mention of a character called "Donald Duck" is in 1931 in the book The Adventures of Mickey Mouse, published by David McKay Company, Philadelphia. On the first text page, none of which are numbered, the third paragraph begins, "Mickey has many friends in the old barn and the barnyard, besides Minnie Mouse. They are Henry Horse and Carolyn Cow and Patricia Pig and Donald Duck..."
A duck with the same name made another early printed appearance in Mickey Mouse Annual #3 (published 1932; the annual for 1933), a 128-page British hardback. This book included the poem Mickey's 'Hoozoo': Witswitch, and Wotswot, which listed some of Mickey's barnyard animal friends: "Donald Duck and Clara Hen, Robert Rooster, Jenny Wren...". Mickey Mouse Annual #3 was drawn entirely by Wilfred Haughton.
Comic strip debut
The Donald of The Wise Little Hen made his printed debut in the June 1934 issue of Good Housekeeping magazine: a single-page ad depicted six comic images of Donald as part of the monthly Silly Symphony section. Later that year, Donald made his newspaper debut in the comic strip adaptation of that cartoon. It was released between September 16 and December 16, 1934, in the Silly Symphony Sunday pages by Ted Osborne and Al Taliaferro.
Starting February 10, 1935, Donald appeared in the Mickey Mouse comic strip by Ted Osborne and Floyd Gottfredson, in the story "Editor-in-Grief." In the story, Mickey hires Donald as a newsboy to sell Mickey's newspaper, the Daily War-Drum. The paper is involved in a battle with a criminal gang who try to keep Donald from selling the paper, which makes him furious and even more determined. Donald is there for the happy ending at Mickey's house on May 30, and then disappears from the strip for a while.
Featured character
A supporting character in Mickey's strip, Donald came to dominate the Silly Symphony strips between August 30, 1936, and December 12, 1937. At the time, Ted Osborne was credited as writer and Al Taliaferro as artist and inker. The duo turned Donald from a countryman to a city dweller. They also introduced the first members of the Duck family, Donald's identical triplet nephews Huey, Dewey, and Louie, who debuted on October 17, 1937. The triplets were sent to spend some time with him as guests while their father recovered at the hospital from their latest prank. Nevertheless, Donald ended up serving as their adoptive parent.
Comic book debut
At this time, the first Donald Duck stories originally created for a comic book made their appearance. In the United Kingdom, Odhams Press also created original stories with Donald Duck. "Donald and Donna", published in Mickey Mouse Weekly #67 (May 15, 1937), was the first Donald Duck adventure ever. The story was fifteen pages long and published in weekly episodes. The last appeared on August 21, 1937. All episodes were drawn by William A. Ward.
Disney had also licensed the Italian publishing house Mondadori to create stories with the Disney characters as their stars. The first to star Donald, under his Italian name Paolino Paperino, was "Paolino Paperino e il mistero di Marte", written and drawn by Federico Pedrocchi for the new 1937 Disney comics magazine Paperino e altre avventure (Donald Duck and Other Adventures). The story was later reprinted in the United States as "The Secret of Mars" in Donald Duck #286.
In February 1940, Donald Duck made his first appearance as the main character on the cover of an American comic book in Dell Publishing's Four Color #4.