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.
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Collection KB
How it started
A weekly magazine for children that is (almost) completely filled with comics is a novelty in the Netherlands in 1952. Other European countries have already developed their own Disney magazine, following the example of the American comic Walt Disney’s Comics & Stories, which has been published since October 1940. Whether such a magazine can also catch on in the Netherlands is still the question.
Are comics good for children?
In October 1948, the Minister of Education, Arts & Sciences published a circular. In this circular, he appealed to directors of national schools, municipal authorities and school boards to ensure that 'the distribution of so-called graphic novels is prevented as much as possible. These booklets are generally sensational in nature without any other value'. The minister's appeal has major consequences in the law-abiding Dutch society. The few comic magazines that existed at that time went out of business.
Margriet picks up the idea again
It is ultimately De Geïllustreerde Pers that picks up the idea again. De Geïllustreerde Pers is the publisher of the weekly magazine Margriet, which at that time still has the subtitle 'weekly magazine for mothers and children'. In 1951, the magazine publishes several comic adaptations of 'Alice in Wonderland' and 'Snow White'. These are very successful.
De Geïllustreerde Pers finds inspiration in Scandinavia, where a Disney magazine has been published for some time, and decides to make a Dutch version. In October 1952, the first edition of Donald Duck landed on the doormats of the children of all Margriet mothers, in a spectacular print run of 2.5 million copies. To emphasise that Donald Duck really can't do any harm, the editors wrote in a foreword to the first issue that Walt Disney had done a lot of educational work and had even been awarded for it:
Father and mother will certainly approve of you reading “Donald Duck” when they know that teachers and other pedagogues all over the world are of the opinion that this is in every respect reading material that can be responsibly given to children. This is evident from the fact that Walt Disney has already received high distinctions from numerous governments for his educational work.
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.
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Donald Duck no. 1, 1952
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Donald Duck no. 2, 1952
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Donald Duck no. 3, 1952
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).
Walt Disney, Donald Duck als brandweerman. 7th edition, 1981. In this album the story from the first Donald Duck was published in book form.
The contents of the first Donald Duck
In the first issue we come across a long story about Donald Duck as a fireman. This story is a translation of ‘Absent-minded fireman’, drawn by Carl Barks and originally published in Walt Disney Comics & Stories (USA) in November 1947. The story is shortened by one page due to lack of space. The third page is omitted, according to some because Donald can be seen completely undressed in one of the pictures. However, that assumption is incorrect: later in the story Donald can be seen without clothes again.
The complete story is published in 1975 as a comic book by Amsterdam Boek as Donald Duck as a fireman, an album that has been reprinted several times since then. It is also published in an edited form as a reader in 1998 as Donald Duck the fireman.
The story of Donald Duck as a fireman is alternated with a black-and-white comic strip about the Little Bad Wolf, a translation of ‘Li’l Bad Wolf’, originally published in Walt Disney Comics & Stories (USA) in April 1947. Furthermore, this first issue includes a prize question in which a thousand Kienzle wristwatches can be won. The winners are announced in issues 4 and 5, mentioned along with their full addresses. That would be unthinkable now.
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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.
