Donald Duck
In 1952, the first issue of 'een vrolijk weekblad' ('a cheerful weekly magazine') appears in the Netherlands: Donald Duck. The magazine quickly becomes popular and manages to bind multiple generations of children to itself. And the comic magazine does not only appeal to children: a study from 2008 showed that Donald Duck was the most read magazine among students, almost 10% of the student population followed the adventures from Duckstad every week.
The reassurance is repeated in the first few issues. For example, in issue 4, reference is made to a UNESCO congress, in which it was determined that 'with the exception of a number of inferior comics and graphic novels, the illustrated children's story should be considered an important asset to education'.
In the early years, Donald Duck remains connected to Margriet, which is also made visible in the form of daisies in the logo on the front page. They will remain there until issue 28 of 1961.
The production of the Dutch Donald Duck
The first years of the Dutch Donald Duck are filled with translated comics from America. The films for the printed matter are rented from the Danish publisher, who besides the magazine Anders And (the Danish name for Donald Duck) also provides the German publication Micky Maus. The coloring of the Dutch, German and Danish stories is therefore usually identical in the first years.
Later, the magazine will also feature Donald Duck stories by Dutch artists. And comic strips that are drawn in the Netherlands and not created by Disney will be added, such as Douwe Dabbert (by Thom Roep and Piet Wijn) and the well-known history comic Van Nul tot Nu (by Thom Roep and Co Loerakker).
Donald Duck in the KB
In addition to the ‘cheerful weekly magazine’, many comic albums and pockets of Donald Duck have been published in the Netherlands. Between 1976 and 1989, publisher Oberon published the Mickey monthly magazine, a magazine about Walt Disney’s famous mouse. More recently, the Disney magazines Katrien and Duck out have been published. All of these titles are included in the KB collection.
The magazine Donald Duck has been published weekly since 1952. Most of the magazines are present in the KB collection, but there are still issues missing from the earliest years. However, the Donald Duck Extra, holiday books and winter books and bundled reprints of the early Donald Ducks, which publisher Sanoma has been publishing since 2002, are present.
The journals and books can only be consulted on request in the Special Collections reading room after requesting this form via this form. The relevant information can be found in the KB catalogue. The website of Donald Duck has been included in the Web archive since 2019 and can be consulted within the walls of the KB.