The ultimate list of all friends of Huey, Dewey and Louie

[Daniel Maline]

The purpose of this thread is to collect a list of all the friends of Huey, Dewey and Louie who appear in comics, such as Herbert and Butch from the old Carl Barks stories, as well as Sonny Seagull, April, May, June, Trolper Hogg and Field Marshal Fox and some adults such as Gyro Gearloose, Princes Oona and Zombie the Bombie (however, I'm going to leave out of this list the TV series friends like Webby, Doofus and Launchpad). The goal is the ultimate list where you could find all the friends of triplet. And here I need a little help because I only remember the names of some people when they have it. And even less I remember anonymous friends who have appeared only once. But thanks in advance to those all who can help and build this list.

And here are the already mentioned characters:

- Herbert
Originally created by Carl Barks and Hebert appeared in four stories by Barks but has been reused by other artists. The sympathetic Herbert is perhaps the most iconic friend of boys.

- Butch
Another character created by Carl Barks, appears at least in two stories by Barks ('Swimming Swindlers' and 'Truant Officer Donald') and revealed to be a boys' school friend.

- April, May and June
Daughters of Daisy's sister, it's also possible that the stork-looking mother of the kids is also seen in Barks' story 'Movie Mad' so maybe she can be counted as well?

- Trooper Hog and Field Marshal Fox
Two good Junior Woodchucks comrades of Huey, Dewey and Louey who appear in the Junior Woodchucks stories written by Carl Barks and redrawn by Daan Jippes.

- Bombie the Zombie (adult)
In the story 'Voodoo Hoodoo' by Barks, boys understand that Bombie is a thinking and fealing person and they become helping friends with this quiet man.

- Gyro Gearloose (adult)
In the early Gyro stories by Barks, they spent time with this inventor as Gyro's assistants, for example with the think boxes and the jet-powered car.

- Sonny Seagull
A homeless Huckleberry-like friend of boys who lives near the railway and keeps his residence in an old steam locomotive, created by Daniel Branca and continued by Wanda Gattimo.

- Tribe princess Oona (adult)
An ancient tribal princess created by Printz-Påhlson, Gyro's time machine accidentally captured Oona from the Stone Age and brought her to the present.

(note: I haven't listed Grand Mogul of Junior Woodchucks because he is the chief of the Troop A from the Duckburg Troop Number One where HDL are generals)

Added:

- Rik
inducks.org/character.php?c=Rik&view=1
- Area 15 (Cindy, Giggs, Ray and Vanessa)
inducks.org/subseries.php?c=Area+15
- The I-Team (Mack, Benny and P.C.)
inducks.org/subseries.php?c=I-Team
- Widow Umble's kids
inducks.org/story.php?c=W+WDC+196-02&search=Snow%20Princess%20Carl%20Barks

But then, which unmentioned friends of Huey, Dewey, and Louie should I add to this list next to make this the ultimate list?

[Pim]

Two characters/group came immediately to my mind:

- Rik

A friend introduced by the Dutch publisher in 2016 with the first stories written by Sieger Zuidersma, and has been since already been in 44 stories, making him a truly recurring character. By

- friends from Area 15

Though I haven't read those stories, it seems that in the Area 15 subseries some recurring friends are present. Also Ray, sitting in a wheelchair, and inspired by the just-mentioned character Rik after his success and permission to use him.

[LP]

Fun idea for a thread!

I believe there are a few Al Taliaferro strips featuring friends of HDL. Most of them are named "<first name> Jones". 

Also, I know Egmont published a subseries called the I-Team in the early 2000s, where HDL has a bunch of friends in computer-class.

[RobbK1]

Cousin Soc (Socrates) Goose, created by Al Taliaferro. He came for a visit, and HDL didn't like him, at first, but he was used in later stories, including by me, and was also in The Junior Woodchucks. He was Cousin (Neef) Stot (short for Aristoteles) in Dutch books.

I suppose Widow Umble's Kids could also be considered friends of The Duck Boys.

[Daniel Maline]

Sept 26, 2022 16:19:31 GMT Pim said:

Two characters/group came immediately to my mind:

- Rik

A friend introduced by the Dutch publisher in 2016 with the first stories written by Sieger Zuidersma, and has been since already been in 44 stories, making him a truly recurring character. By

- friends from Area 15

Though I haven't read those stories, it seems that in the Area 15 subseries some recurring friends are present. Also Ray, sitting in a wheelchair, and inspired by the just-mentioned character Rik after his success and permission to use him.

Thanks, Area 15 kids are apparently quite new characters.

[Daniel Maline]

Sept 26, 2022 16:30:24 GMT LP said:

Fun idea for a thread!

I believe there are a few Al Taliaferro strips featuring friends of HDL. Most of them are named "<first name> Jones". 

Also, I know Egmont published a subseries called the I-Team in the early 2000s, where HDL has a bunch of friends in computer-class.

Thank you, now I remember the "Team". I think they were an internet gang in the early 2000s? Right? And I need to check out those strip stories by Taliaferro just as RobbK1 also suggested.

[TheMidgetMoose]

Pretty cool idea! I enjoy these kind of "encyclopedic" threads.

Personally, I think that the Butch from Swimming Swindlers and the Butch from Truant Officer Donald should probably be counted as different characters. Their designs are somewhat different, and Truant Officer Donald Butch seems way more innocent than trouble-making, cheating Swimming Swindlers Butch. However, I do think that Truant Officer Butch (who is definitely more of a friend to HDL than Swimming Swindlers Butch) does make another appearance in Toyland as "Junior," the son of Donald's neighbor. The designs are pretty similar, and Butch living near HDL makes sense since he does to go to school with them. If INDUCKS is correct, then Truant Officer Donald and Toyland were completed around the same time, both in July 1948 and only about twenty days apart from each other.

[sim]

The JW team from '90s Italian Giovani Marmotte magazine: Alvin, Lardello, Chips, Newton, Chips and possibly others... Also, in the US Huey, Dewey and Louie Junior Woodchucks, there are many named JW who are friend to HDL.

[Matilda]

Another recently created bunch of Italian Junior Woodchucks first appearing in I-TL 3363-2: Beth, Michelle and Jamal. Looks like there have been a couple others who haven’t yet been used as much as those three (Gus, George?)

[RobbK1]

Sept 26, 2022 18:34:26 GMT TheMidgetMoose said:

Pretty cool idea! I enjoy these kind of "encyclopedic" threads.

Personally, I think that the Butch from Swimming Swindlers and the Butch from Truant Officer Donald should probably be counted as different characters. Their designs are somewhat different, and Truant Officer Donald Butch seems way more innocent than trouble-making, cheating Swimming Swindlers Butch. However, I do think that Truant Officer Butch (who is definitely more of a friend to HDL than Swimming Swindlers Butch) does make another appearance in Toyland as "Junior," the son of Donald's neighbor. The designs are pretty similar, and Butch living near HDL makes sense since he does to go to school with them. If INDUCKS is correct, then Truant Officer Donald and Toyland were completed around the same time, both in July 1948 and only about twenty days apart from each other.

I agree, absolutely!  Swimming Swindlers' Butch is a badly-behaved, mean, dishonest, juvenile delinquent.  Huey, Dewey, and Louie, having much different values, and having been wronged by him, would NEVER become his friend (simply because he is a "bad seed", incapable of change.  "Butch" from the "Truant Officer" story clearly IS their friend, given that they go to school together, and do recreational things together, like sledding.  The "Bad" Butch and Junior could be the same boy, given that "Butch" could be his school nickname, coming from the fact that he always has short-clipped hair (called back in the 1940s and 1950s as a "Butch haircut".  I had a cousin with that nickname, because of that same reason.  And Junior would be his family nickname because he was named after his father.

In addition to those we've mentioned above, I have thought of a few others.  In WDC&S #210, Huey, Dewey & Louie talk about other kids' parents, who are successful businessmen. Bradley Badger's Pop, and Jackie Jaguar's Dad. Patti Penguin was also mentioned. She MAY be a friend of theirs, too. But less likely, because they are kindergarten to mid elementary age, according to Barks, and in several stories of his, they indicated that they are at the age when boys and girls don't usually develop friendships. Just the fact that they know those kids' fathers own those stores, indicates to me they must be in the same school and same grade together with them, and if NOT, then they must know each other from being in the same Junior Woodchuck troop. There is a regular badger-looking boy who appears in their Woodchuck troop in several different Barks, Jippes, and Branca stories (who we could assume is Bradley Badger). Here are some panels showing The Nephews' Jr. Woodchucks' Troop members.  There are a few Doglike boys, a Badger-looking boy, a Piglike boy, and a waterfowl-looking (Crane) boy.  Maybe we can find boys in other stories who look like these, who are named, who could also be their schoolmates or neighbourhood friends? The boy on the upper left corner, saying that No one has won The Jr. Woodhuck's prize is my candidate to be Bradley Badger.  Barks drew a hairline around his face, and I believe that he intended the hair area to be black, or a very dark brown, with the hairless facial area to be a tan or much lighter hue of brown.  THAT would have made him look much more like a badger.

[TheMidgetMoose]

Sept 27, 2022 3:42:23 GMT RobbK1 said:

I agree, absolutely!  Swimming Swindlers' Butch is a badly-behaved, mean, dishonest, juvenile delinquent.  Huey, Dewey, and Louie, having much different values, and having been wronged by him, would NEVER become his friend (simply because he is a "bad seed", incapable of change.  "Butch" from the "Truant Officer" story clearly IS their friend, given that they go to school together, and do recreational things together, like sledding.  The "Bad" Butch and Junior could be the same boy, given that "Butch" could be his school nickname, coming from the fact that he always has short-clipped hair (called back in the 1940s and 1950s as a "Butch haircut".  I had a cousin with that nickname, because of that same reason.  And Junior would be his family nickname because he was named after his father.

...

Glad you agree! I assume you mean that "Good" Butch and Junior are the same character. I actually hadn't thought about the fact that "Butch" is probably just a nickname, too, and wondered if the character was "Butch, Jr." A few years ago when I was newer to the fandom, I wanted for this "Good" Butch to be the son of Floyd Gottfredson's Butch, Mickey Mouse's friend, some years later. Not what Barks intended, of course, but that was my headcanon at the time. "Butch" being just a nickname makes more sense. Speaking of Butch, I guess Finnegan, the other kid from Truant Officer Donald whom HDL try to to get to play hooky with them, should be counted as both a friend and classmate of theirs. Does anyone know if Finnegan ever made any more appearances?

[RobbK1]

Sept 27, 2022 17:43:28 GMT TheMidgetMoose said:

Sept 27, 2022 3:42:23 GMT RobbK1 said:

I agree, absolutely!  Swimming Swindlers' Butch is a badly-behaved, mean, dishonest, juvenile delinquent.  Huey, Dewey, and Louie, having much different values, and having been wronged by him, would NEVER become his friend (simply because he is a "bad seed", incapable of change.  "Butch" from the "Truant Officer" story clearly IS their friend, given that they go to school together, and do recreational things together, like sledding.  The "Bad" Butch and Junior could be the same boy, given that "Butch" could be his school nickname, coming from the fact that he always has short-clipped hair (called back in the 1940s and 1950s as a "Butch haircut".  I had a cousin with that nickname, because of that same reason.  And Junior would be his family nickname because he was named after his father.

...

Glad you agree! I assume you mean that "Good" Butch and Junior are the same character. I actually hadn't thought about the fact that "Butch" is probably just a nickname, too, and wondered if the character was "Butch, Jr." A few years ago when I was newer to the fandom, I wanted for this "Good" Butch to be the son of Floyd Gottfredson's Butch, Mickey Mouse's friend, some years later. Not what Barks intended, of course, but that was my headcanon at the time. "Butch" being just a nickname makes more sense. Speaking of Butch, I guess Finnegan, the other kid from Truant Officer Donald whom HDL try to to get to play hooky with them, should be counted as both a friend and classmate of theirs. Does anyone know if Finnegan ever made any more appearances?

Barks never used Finnegan again.  I don't think he's been used again, unless one of the recent "revivalists" has used him.  But he isn't a dynamic-enough character to revive.  Better to revive characters that were more interesting looking or already had an interesting characteristic or aspect to them or their family, or their surroundings.

[RobbK1]

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