All the primary characters in Carl Barks' comic book stories have their share of bad luck from time to time, but can you remember just one single story in which Donald Duck participates, where the duckster does not experience at least a touch of bad luck? Hardly! This very special ability reserves him a dominating place on this page that takes up the subject of Donald's bad luck in a few of its diverse forms.
But don't feel sorry for Donald. Whatever hardships he has to endure, he always pops up again just like a cork in the water - ready for his next stroke of bad luck! We could learn a lot from him...

SELF-INFLICTED RESULTS
Donald is mostly besieged by bad luck because of his alarming lack of common sense. He seems to get into most avoidably bad situations out of pure thickheadedness.
WDCS149 'Flipism' Lets Coin Tosses Decide his Actions	FC0456 Something Fishy Here A Joke on Scrooge Backfires	WDCS161 'The Fix-It Shop' Overpowered by His Own Lack of Skills
WDCS146 'Omelet' Over His Head in Chickens and Eggs	WDCS178 'The Noise Duel' Peaceful Neighbours - Bellicose Donald	WDCS248 The Terrible Tourist Takes No Notice of a Rejection
WDCS204 'The Nose Job' A Simple Cleaning Job Screwed Up	WDCS276 Beach Boy Up Against the Perfect JW Hound	FC0223 Lost in the Andes Brings Home Two Roosters for Breeding

BRAGGING HARDHEADEDNESS
Donald is also equipped with an Ego that sometimes defies normal common sense. He likes to brag about his self-appointed know-it-all abilities, which always backfire. Here are some of the results.
WDCS192 'The Salmon Hatchery' Fish Culture Expert	WDCS042 Kite Weather Master Kite Flyer	WDCS059 'The Wild Colt' Outstanding Colt Tamer
DD60 The Water Ski Race Champion Water Skier	WDCS035 'Dude Ranch' Born Pathfinder	WDCS066 'The Elusive Fish' Unparalleled Ice Fisherman
WDCS189 'Working the Backyard' Gardening Specialist	WDCS055 'The Cow-Puncher' Greatest Cowboy in the World	WDCS132 'The JW Merit Badges' Excellent Boy Scout

PURE COINCIDENCES
Much of Donald's bad luck comes from the fact that he seems to attract it much like a magnet attracts metal. But in some cases he is hardly to blame; he is merely the victim of circumstances.
WDCS086 'Volunteer Fireman' Best Intentions = Multiple Disasters	WDCS142 'Houseboat Vacation' Holiday Goes Astray	WDCS201 'The Powerful Dye' Accidental Mix-Up
WDCS129 'Swimming Pool Garden' Unforeseen Invasions	WDCS251 Duck Luck Stricken by Repeated Bad Luck	WDCS164 'Flour Salesman' Just a New Brand of Flour
WDCS222 'Master Mover' All's Well - Apart from the Mynah Bird...	WDCS239 The Village Blacksmith A Minor Slip with Catastrophic Results	WDCS286 The Olympian Torch Bearer Carrying a Torch

UNBEATABLE COMPETITION
As we have seen, Donald seems to be fighting the whole world most of the time, but one adversary stands out - Gladstone Gander. Although he often seems to think he can, Donald really has no chance to compete with Gladstone's eternal good luck. It is said that opposites attract, and this is certainly true in this case - Gladstone gets all the breaks, Donald gets all the bad luck...
WDCS207 'Burro Catching Contest' Efforts to No Avail	WDCS136 'Turkey Raffle' One Ticket is Enough	WDCS143 'Gems in the Desert' Gems are Pouring Down
WDCS163 'The Swami's Pearls' Stuck with Fake Pearls	WDCS243 Turkey Trouble Deals Going Bad	WDCS212 'The Rocket Race' Another Competition Lost
WDCS147 'A Needy Person - Not!' Forced to Spend Dinner	WDCS294 Duck Out of Luck Skating Against the Odds	WDCS131 'A Day at the Golf Course' Starts Good, Ends Bad

See also the natural counterpart page titled The Good Luck.