In "This is Your Life, Donald Duck" (the comic by Lockman and Strobl, not the animated TV special of the same name), we're shown in a flashback that Donald, Mickey and Goofy were already mates when Donald was eight years old. By the way, the flashback also shows Pluto as a pup back then, which implies that, in "present time", Pluto must be one impossibly old dog indeed.
Does it actually mention his age during the flashback? The version I read (the one printed here) didn't seem to mention an age, unless I missed something.
Does it portray Mickey and Donald as meeting for the first time, or do they already know each other? Also, just how old is Donald supposed to be in this story? This description implies he is 12. Scrooge MacDuck implied that an editorial in the German edition said something about his "teenage years", which would mean he's at least 13 if my definition of teenage is correct. You said that the story takes place during fourth grade. At least here in the states, that he would mean he's 8-10. I do think there was an Italian story that said something about Donald repeating sixth grade three times or something of the like. If I'm misremembering and the story actually said he repeated fourth grade three times, that might explain how Donald can be a 12/13-year-old in fourth grade.
It's a little bit disappointing to hear that we've been given yet another story about Donald and Daisy meeting. The author reserves every right to, but it feels quite repetitive at this point. There's probably near a dozen stories on that topic already.
Donald and Mickey meet for the first time, yes. The principal introduces the two of them to each other, Mickey says "nice to meet you", and they even shake hands. So yes, this is indeed supposed to be their first meeting.
I've just finished reading Part 3, so I don't yet know if they'll state Donald's age in later parts. However, Daisy is said to be in fourth grade, and later we see her, Donald, Mickey and Minnie in the same class. In my home country, you're around 12 in fourth grade, but I'm not sure what the writers intended exactly. If Donald did indeed repeat a grade three times, he would be older than Mickey, and I don't like that at all (I don't even like them being the same age). In the old Gottfredson-strips, Donald is clearly younger than Mickey, and seems to be closer in age to Mickey's nephews even.
I agree that him meeting Daisy again is disappointing (especially in how it's handled in the story). Young Donald Duck seems to just have followed a checklist in things they had to include, and it seems that story-quality was a secondary concern. I guess it's trying to be fan-service, but I don't think it's done very well.
Agreed on every count, though I can't really speak on Young Donald Duck since I haven't read it. What language are you reading the story in? I haven't really kept up with the amount of Young Donald Duck printings around, so I don't know what languages it is available in. Anyway, if you're not reading it in English, maybe the English version does/will put him in sixth or seventh grade so as to better fit his intended age. Also, I agree that Mickey should be older than Donald. I sort of like the idea of them knowing each other as children, but I'd rather it be when Donald is maybe 12 and Mickey is about 16 or so. Early shorts and strips alike seem to indicate an age gap, as Donald sort of plays the role of "annoying child" while Mickey takes on a somewhat maturer, older role in comparison. This can be seen pretty clearly in Orphan's Benefit.
On the topic of stories showing the trio knowing each other as children, this Brazilian story shows Mickey, Donald, Goofy, Gyro, Gladstone, Fethry, Neighbor Jones, and Rita Gansa (I think) as all attending school together and studying in the same classroom at that! It's not clear if Donald actually knows Goofy or Mickey yet, as the latter's appearances are really just cameos. This story shows Mickey in the audience of a soccer game between child Gladstone and child Donald, but once again, Mickey's appearance is little more than a cameo and it is not clear if he actually knows Donald are not.
I have a hunch that The Life of Donald Duck, a 1941 storybook discussed here might supply us with some info about how Donald met Mickey. This Tumblr post is a fan's headcanon about Donald Duck's life and purports to take most of its information from The Life of Donald Duck. This fanmade writing says two things about Donald meeting Mickey. The first is this, "Donald momentarily escapes the orphanage and destroy’s Mickey’s steamboat..." The second bit is this, "He became an insanely beloved and well known actor (he even met Daisy during this time), met Mickey (properly this time) at Hollywood, and got really rich." Now I know not whether these bits about Mickey were actually in The Life of Donald Duck or if they were added by the fan. Has anyone here read The Life of Donald Duck, or, at least, have another source indicating that Mickey is mentioned in the book?
Donald Duck lives with his parents until Scrooge McDuck returned to Duckburg. Donald goes to live at his grandmother's farm. Mickey lives at a neighboring farm, as seen in the story book The Adventures of Mickey Mouse, the first source to ever use the name "Donald Duck". So those two met by living close to each other. Mickey still lives on the farm in Lost on a Desert Island, but eventually moves to Mouseton as the strips go on. By the time of The Case of the Vanishing Coats, Donald has also moved to Mouseton, and is living with Uncle Amos.
Goofy enters the picture in Mickey's Revue. He's alone and socially awkward, but takes an interest in Mickey's gang. He tries to join their group by showing off his own musical talents, as seen in Enter... Dippy Dog!, where he desperately wants to show off his mouth harp skills. As the strips go on, Mickey eventually accepts him into the group.
Donald probably first met Goofy in Editor-in-Grief, where the two of them work for Mickey's newspaper. They never interact during the story, and are only seen together in one panel near the end, but it's clear that they know each other by then.
I haven't read A Mysterious Melody or How Mickey Met Minnie yet. I doubt it will enter my head-canon, but it still seems interesting.
I like your ideas, LP. Does Enter... Dippy Dog! have an INDUCKS code? I don't think I've ever read it, and I'm not sure I had even heard of it until now.
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LP And where does Peter Pig fit into all this? Poor forgotten Peter. ^^
Why, I would never forget Peter Pig! The following is copied text from a timeline I posted in the "Keno Korner"-thread:
- 1935-40: Donald leaves home and moves in with Uncle Amos in Mouseton (he's not really Donald's uncle, but he lives with him.)
Donald has several adventures with Mickey and Goofy during this period. They bust seven ghosts (who turn out to still be alive) and Donald recieves a reward of $1666,67. Donald mentions he'll use the money to buy a house and a boat among other things, not realizing that he isn't super-rich. I propose that he settles for buying the houseboat seen in The Wise Little Hen.
And then he joins WWII, meets José and Panchito and Donna Duck, HDL moves in, and finally they move to Duckburg.
TheMidgetMoose : You're right, their age probably wasn't mentioned in the original script. It must have been added to a localization I read once upon a time...
LP : When do you thyink Donald was born, then? I more or less adhere to Don Rosa's idea that he was born in 1920, making him 14 at the time of "The Wise Little Hen."
I own the Swedish version of Young Donald Duck. I actually believe I own a Swedish version of that storybook, The Life of Donald Duck, too! I'll have a look around for it and see what secrets it holds! And finally, Enter... Dippy Dog! has the INDUCKS code ZM 33-01-08
I own the Swedish version of Young Donald Duck. I actually believe I own a Swedish version of that storybook, The Life of Donald Duck, too! I'll have a look around for it and see what secrets it holds! And finally, Enter... Dippy Dog! has the INDUCKS code ZM 33-01-08
Thank you so much for the info, LP!
No matter what I say or do, know that Jesus loves you.
LP : When do you thyink Donald was born, then? I more or less adhere to Don Rosa's idea that he was born in 1920, making him 14 at the time of "The Wise Little Hen."
I'd probably place Donald's birth around 1924. I can't recall why exactly that year right now, but I made some calculations a few months back in order for it to work with my loosely defined head-canon. In this hypothetical version, Della isn't his twin either... just a regular older sister. Of course, this means that Hortense would have to have been even older than before when birthing Donald, which I don't like, but that's a headache for another day.
I've never liked the idea of placing stories in the year they were made simply because they were made that year. That would mean that HDL are around ten years old in both 1942 and 1956. Thus, they don't age normally, and the need for a timeline is negated. So when would I place The Wise Little Hen instead? Well, I'd first have to read through the preceding Gottfredson-strips and figure out when those take place, and then stick The Hen some time after that.
Donald Duck lives with his parents until Scrooge McDuck returned to Duckburg. Donald goes to live at his grandmother's farm.
—why? (And, I suppose you are presuming that at some point between Raider of Fort Duckburg and Donald's birth, Quackmore has stopped living on the Duck Farm? It's possible, but I find it much tidier to assume Quackmore and Hortense continued to live with Grandma, which handily explains why Donald grew up on the farm without needing for his parents to be prematurely deceased or otherwise absent.)
Donald Duck lives with his parents until Scrooge McDuck returned to Duckburg. Donald goes to live at his grandmother's farm.
—why? (And, I suppose you are presuming that at some point between Raider of Fort Duckburg and Donald's birth, Quackmore has stopped living on the Duck Farm? It's possible, but I find it much tidier to assume Quackmore and Hortense continued to live with Grandma, which handily explains why Donald grew up on the farm without needing for his parents to be prematurely deceased or otherwise absent.)
The idea that Quackmore never moved away from home seems sort of sad to me. If there were evidence to support this it would be easier for me to accept it. But I agree that is a handy explanation. However, Donald's parents are absent in every story with him as a young boy living at the farm, right? Unless they live in some other hidden building on the farm that we're never shown. But then, why do Donald seem to live in the same building as Grandma, and not his parents? This raises more questions than it answers, unless I've misunderstood something, of course.
Post by TheMidgetMoose on Oct 8, 2019 20:11:01 GMT
This isn't exactly relevant to the topic of the thread, but I'll ask anyway. Young Donald Duck is a sequel to the Donald Duckling series, correct? If true, this would mean that he didn't meet Mickey (and presumably Goofy, I guess) until after meeting his Donald Duckling pals, right?
All very interesting, but— —why? (And, I suppose you are presuming that at some point between Raider of Fort Duckburg and Donald's birth, Quackmore has stopped living on the Duck Farm? It's possible, but I find it much tidier to assume Quackmore and Hortense continued to live with Grandma, which handily explains why Donald grew up on the farm without needing for his parents to be prematurely deceased or otherwise absent.)
The idea that Quackmore never moved away from home seems sort of sad to me.
Why should it be sad? I think the Duck Farm back in the day when most of Elvira and Humperdink's children, and their families, and all the little weeuns still lived there must have been quite a fun place to be.
You really can’t make these things work in a canonical way, because they’re written as a group of stock players whose personalities play off each other versus documentary reality. Young Donald Duck is following this trend, it seems, caring more about putting personalities together than whether or not it fits some long-held canon.
You really can’t make these things work in a canonical way, because they’re written as a group of stock players whose personalities play off each other versus documentary reality. Young Donald Duck is following this trend, it seems, caring more about putting personalities together than whether or not it fits some long-held canon.
I absolutely agree. The only reason I try to make all things consist is for the writing of this page, which, as per Scrooge McDuck Wiki policy, must assume that all sources are canonical to each other unless it's been explicitly stated otherwise (like with Ducktales 2017, which I believe has been declared in press releases and probably on Angones's blog as well to take place in an alternate/parallel universe). On a personal level, I wouldn't include Young Donald Duck in the same continuity as The Wise Little Hen or anything of the sort. That said, it can be a fun mental challenge to try to make it all work, and I'm certain that, especially in regards to the topic of this thread, a variety of stories can work together and consist in one continuity, though they may not have been written with that in mind and may provide slightly contradictory information.
No matter what I say or do, know that Jesus loves you.
You really can’t make these things work in a canonical way, because they’re written as a group of stock players whose personalities play off each other versus documentary reality. Young Donald Duck is following this trend, it seems, caring more about putting personalities together than whether or not it fits some long-held canon.
I agree that Duck continuity isn't a priority for the writers, but it's a fun mind game for some of us fans. Interestingly enough, the stock personalities in Young Donald Duck act so out of character that they might as well be totally different characters.
I have a hunch that The Life of Donald Duck, a 1941 storybook discussed here might supply us with some info about how Donald met Mickey. This Tumblr post is a fan's headcanon about Donald Duck's life and purports to take most of its information from The Life of Donald Duck. This fanmade writing says two things about Donald meeting Mickey. The first is this, "Donald momentarily escapes the orphanage and destroy’s Mickey’s steamboat..." The second bit is this, "He became an insanely beloved and well known actor (he even met Daisy during this time), met Mickey (properly this time) at Hollywood, and got really rich." Now I know not whether these bits about Mickey were actually in The Life of Donald Duck or if they were added by the fan. Has anyone here read The Life of Donald Duck, or, at least, have another source indicating that Mickey is mentioned in the book?
I finally found The Life of Donald Duck in my parent's attic! The story itself is pretty underwhelming. It seems to only follow the cartoon-incarnation of Donald. I you're like me, and don't consider Donald to have been an orphan or an actor, there not much of value to take from this story. Donald starts out as an egg, but refuses to hatch. His mother gets fed up from waiting for him, so she leaves. But Donald likes it in there. However, after 13 weeks, he starts to run out of air, so he has his first temper tantrum which causes him to hatch. He's put in an orphanage and then he's sent to school, during which Donald's Better Self takes place. He takes on a bunch of jobs, all of which I assume are references to cartoons I can't name of the top of my head. Then he becomes a dancer and a singer, which makes him famous all over America. Soon enough he gets a letter from Mickey Mouse, who appears to be a Hollywood agent or something in this continuity. It reads:
Dear Donald Duck,;_ You are great! You are amazing!! You are immense!!! My point is that that I need you as an actor, and I really mean you! (Signed) MICKEY MOUSE P.S. You may choose your own salary.
That's all the interaction between the two of them in the book. Three weeks later, Donald is famous all over the world, and Mickey is never mentioned again.
I should mention that there's indeed a part earlier in the book where Donald tries to escape the orphanage. He gets on a boat, steals his sailor suit, and accidentally sinks the boat. The accompanying image has both Mickey and Goofy on the boat, but neither of them are mentioned in the text. Most images in the book seems to have been taken from various cartoons, and I assume that's the case with this boat-image too.