Donald Duck. The name alone gets us in a cheerful mood. Why? Because Donald has a good heart and good intentions. Well, almost always. He refuses to let anyone or anything stand in his way. It doesn't matter how much humiliation the world deals him, Donald will take it and come back for more. He's a loser but not a quitter, and he'll go down fighting. Hot-headed Donald is a little man in a big world that's trying to keep him down. Call it fate, or call it lack of self-control, nothing goes right for this duck: even his best intentions often go awry. As stubborn as he is temperamental, he won't give in, even when he's up to his beak in trouble. Like a lot of people with a temper problem, he is blind to his own faults but quick to see them in others. It's not fair. Still, Donald will keep struggling to get what he deserves in the world.
Sound familiar? - there's a little Donald Duck in each of us; that's why so many people relate to his antics and wit.

Carl Barks started drawing Donald in FC0009 'Donald Duck Finds Pirate Gold' which was released in October, 1942. By that time Donald was mostly known from the animated shorts to be lazy, obnoxious and hot-tempered. But Barks quickly realized that he had to modify the character for use in the comics, and he decided to strenghten his personality. This was the right thing to do, which can be easily seen by the hundreds of intelligent stories Barks wrote and drew in the next quarter of a century.
Barks even saw Donald as his favourite character: I always felt myself to be an unlucky person like Donald, who is a victim of so many circumstances. But there isn't a person in the United States who couldn't identify with him. He is everything, he is everybody; he makes the same mistakes that we all make. He is sometimes a villain, and he is often a real good guy and at all times he is just a blundering person like the average human being, and I think that is one of the reasons people like the duck.

This page offers a very brief walk through of Donald's life with no special focus on his many well-known jobs. These can be savoured on two other pages in this website: a few examples with pictures HERE, and a full listing HERE.

THE START

Carl Barks did not invent Donald. The character originated in a quick sketch from Walt Disney's own hands. Donald was first seen in the Silly Symphony cartoon 'The Wise Little Hen' taken from a story called 'The Little Red Hen' *). The date was June 9th, 1934, which has since been officially recognized as Donald's birthday. In the cartoon Donald played with another new character, Peter Pig, for which Disney had high hopes for the future. But instead the audience went crazy over Donald, resulting in this being Peter Pig's only role. Donald's appearance in the first cartoons is more that of a goose than a duck, with a long neck and beak. In 1938, the brilliant artist Al Taliaferro began working on the Donald Duck daily newspaper strips, and two years later, on Donald Duck Sunday pages. In 1994 - during his European tour - Barks was asked by a Danish reporter whom he believed Donald's parents were. He answered roguishly: Well, he just came from an egg that somebody bought in the supermarket. - So there...

The very first comic book story with Donald Date of publication: September 16th, 1934 Story by Ted Osborne - Art by Al Taliaferro *) It has been argued that Donald debuted in a Giveaway called 'Mickey Mouse Annual' from 1931, in which Mickey's barnyard friends - including a duck named Donald Duck - were listed. However, the character did not look like the one we know today   The very first comic strip with Donald Date of publication: February 7th, 1938 Story by Homer Brightman - Art by Al Taliaferro

THE APPEARANCE

Barks changed Donald's appearance many times over the years. Most of the alterations were minor ones. The most noticeable change was Donald's beak. According to Barks, its length depended to a great extent on other people's opinions. He also reduced the number of buttons on Donald's shirt starting with 4 small ones, and ending with 2 big ones.

1942 FC0009   1946 WDCS064   1952 WDCS142 1955 WDCS177 1959 WDCS226 1965 WDCS297

THE GALLERY

Just as we all do, Donald knows many persons which he sees as good - or less good. Here are some of the recurrent ones. Now it is up to you to decide in which category each one belong!

Huey, Louie, Dewey General Snozzie Gladstone Gyro April, May, June Jones Grandma Scrooge Daisy Bornworthy

THE HOME BASE

Barks had a very relaxed attitude towards Donald's living quarters. In every single story he drew the exterior as well as the interior of the house quite differently, despite the fact that his address remained the same. But Barks used his artistic freedom to draw the home base to meet his requirements rather than to be recognizable from story to story. He did the same with Duckburg.

THE HOUSE A full view of Donald's house is very rare, which is quite understandable, because it would not in general add to the storyline. But it did happen a few times anyway. Barks often toned down its importance by showing it in silhouette only. WDCS063 WDCS054 WDCS195 WDCS064 THE INTERIOR If all the furniture Barks drew in his comics should fit into Donald's house he would be living in a giant mansion! Here are a few examples of Donald's taste in furniture and interior decoration. WDCS052 Furniture WDCS190 Piano WDCS185 Goldfish bowl WDCS216 Fireplace WDCS226 TV set WDCS278 Paintings WDCS106 Triple bed WDCS252 Figurines THE EXTERIOR Donald lives in a house with a garden. That much we do know. But it is immensely more difficult to figure out what the garden contains. Here are a few of the contents. WDCS242 Front garden WDCS077 Vegetable garden WDCS202 Hammock WDCS129 Swimming pool WDCS059 Doghouse WDCS091 Den WDCS092 Bird bath WDCS278 Mailbox

THE TRADEMARK

If you were asked to name just one item that can be most identified with Donald you would most probably say his little, red car with the licence number 313. No wonder, because it is a very distinct vehicle with its balloonwheels and rumble seat. It has no name but in 1975 Barks called it 'The Rumble Seat Roadster'.