Donald Duck #14/1955
Donald Duck #14/1955 belongs to only the third year of the Dutch Donald Duck weekly's run — a magazine that De Geïllustreerde Pers launched against the grain of official government hostility toward comics in the Netherlands, and which swiftly became the country's most-read children's publication. By this point the weekly had just made the transition to full-color printing (completed with issue 10/1954), so this issue represents the new, fully chromatic face of the magazine that would define its identity for generations. The roster of characters indexed — spanning Carl Barks–era Donald Duck stories alongside backup strips featuring Hiawatha, Midas Wolf, Wolfje, and Broer Konijn — captures precisely the mixed American-repertoire format that made the early weekly so distinctive among European Disney editions, and that laid the storytelling foundation Dutch readers would cherish for decades.
Sell my copy
Have this issue — or a whole collection? Get a fair offer from us, skip the marketplace fees and the hassle.
We Buy Collections ▸History
The Dutch Donald Duck weekblad was conceived by marketing man Bartel van de Velde of De Geïllustreerde Pers after discussions with Danish publisher Gutenberghus, whose Scandinavian Disney magazines had been running since the late 1940s. The first issue launched on 25 October 1952 under chief editor Anton Weehuizen, produced out of the offices of the women's weekly Margriet, with early content almost entirely sourced from translated American material — principally Carl Barks stories — supplemented by the Danish-licensed print films. By 1955 the editorial team also began commissioning original Dutch interior stories: cover artist Endre Lukács (a Hungarian-born illustrator who had joined in 1952 as the magazine's first regular local Disney artist) began drawing Big Bad Wolf backup stories that year, with scripts contributed by new editor John Bakkenhoven among others.
Trivia · 8 facts
- Published in 1955 by De Geïllustreerde Pers as part of the Dutch Donald Duck weekly ('Een vrolijk weekblad'), which had launched on 25 October 1952 — making this a third-year issue of one of the Netherlands' earliest and most enduring comics magazines.
- By issue 10 of 1954 the weekly had transitioned to fully color printing; issue #14/1955 is therefore a full-color production, reflecting the magazine's new standard format.
- Primary story content for 1955 issues was drawn from translated Carl Barks material, sourced via the Danish publisher Gutenberghus whose print films were shared across Dutch, German, and Scandinavian editions.
- Hiawatha (Little Hiawatha / Opperhoofd) became a recurring feature from issue 9/1954 onward; its presence in this issue confirms the strip's ongoing run in year two of its Dutch publication life.
- Midas Wolf (the Big Bad Wolf) and his son Wolfje had appeared in the weekly since its very first issue in October 1952; by 1955 Endre Lukács had begun drawing original Dutch-produced stories featuring these characters, with editorial writer John Bakkenhoven among the scripters.
- Broer Konijn (Br'er Rabbit) and Bruin Beer (Br'er Bear) — Disney characters originating from the 1946 film Song of the South — were among the recurring backup-strip characters in the early weekly, translated from American material by Dick Moores and George Stallings among others.
- The 24-page format was the magazine's standard at this time; it would not expand to 32 pages until issue 40/1958.
- Endre Lukács, credited as the first regular Dutch Disney artist, drew the covers for the 1955 run and introduced distinctly Dutch visual elements — such as Amsterdam canal-house gables — into his artwork; Walt Disney reportedly sent him a personal letter of praise for his work.