Kalle Anka & C:o (Donald Duck & Co) is a Swedish weekly Disney comics magazine, published by Egmont. The 52-page comic, launched in September 1948, is the overall best-selling Swedish comic magazine. In the early years, the comic printed translated stories from the United States, including Walt Disney's Comics and Stories, Four Color and other Dell Comics Disney titles. As Disney comics production waned in the United States in the 1960s, Kalle Anka began printing more European-produced content, from Scandinavia and Italy. Now, Kalle Anka & C:o and its Scandinavian sister editions Anders And & Co. (Denmark) and Donald Duck & Co (Norway) are identical, apart from the language.
Today, the comic is read by all age groups (as the back page to the first issue in 1948 put it: "for anyone between the ages of 3 and 90"). , more than 3,300 issues have been published.
The magazine had a circulation of 225,000 in 1990 and 65,300 in 2010.
The original page count of the comic was 36 pages. Starting in 1992, the page count was increased to 48 pages, and in 1997, increased again to 64 pages. Today, the magazine consists of 52 pages. In the summer and some holidays, the number of pages is increased to 96 pages.
Origin The first Swedish Disney comics magazine was the annual Musse Piggs julbok (Mickey Mouse's Christmas Book), first published by Åhlén & Åkerlunds Förlags in 1936. Each 36-page annual reprinted a complete continuity from the US Mickey Mouse comic strip by Floyd Gottfredson, which had been appearing in Swedish newspapers and weekly magazines since 1930. In this case, "Christmas" was just the time of year that parents bought annuals for their kids, and had no relation to the content—the 1936 Julbok featured the strip's 1935 storyline "The Pirate Submarine", and the cover featured Mickey shooting at a nasty-looking V-1 submarine as the terrified crew jumps overboard.
There were five editions of Musse Piggs julbok, issued from 1936 to 1940. In 1941, the title was changed to Kalle Ankas julbok (Donald Duck's Christmas Book), and the book contained reprints of Al Taliaferro's Donald Duck comic strip, which had been running in Swedish newspapers since 1938. This tradition lasted for decades, printing Taliaferro strips with increasingly old-fashioned 1940s-style covers, until the final issue was released in 2017.
In 1937 and 1938, publishing house Åhlén & Åkerlunds Offsettryckeri published a weekly Musse Pigg Tidningen (Mickey Mouse Magazine), the Swedish equivalent of the American Mickey Mouse Magazine and British Mickey Mouse Weekly. This was the first Swedish comics magazine, and contained both Disney and non-Disney material. Each 20-page issue included mostly original material, written by Roland Romell and drawn by Lars Byland and Birger Allernäs. One regular feature was a one-page comic called "Småpiggarnas äventyr" ("The Adventures of the Little Mice"), starring Mickey's nephews Morty and Ferdie Fieldmouse fighting with Donald Duck. Another one-pager, "Defektivbyrån!" ("The Defective Agency"), was a redrawn version of a strip created by Wilfred Haughton for the UK magazine starring Goofy and Toby Tortoise. Serialized stories included "Musse Pigg i jättarnas land" ("Mickey Mouse in Giantland"), an adaptation of the 1933 short Giantland, and "Don Musse" ("Don Mouse"), a parody of Don Quixote starring Mickey as Quixote and Donald as Sancho Panza. The magazine lasted for 23 issues, and ceased publication in 1938.
By 1938, when Musse Pigg Tidningen stopped publishing, Donald had become a more popular character than Mickey, and Kalle Anka became the headline character for the majority of Swedish Disney comics titles from then on.
1948: Kalle Anka & C:o In 1948, Danish publishing group Gutenberghus acquired a license from Walt Disney Productions to publish comics in Scandinavia. In September, Kalle Anka & C:o was launched in Sweden. Norway followed in December 1948 with Donald Duck & Co, with Denmark's Anders And & Co. launching in March 1949, and Finland's Aku Ankka in December 1951.
At the beginning, the magazine was 36 pages long, and the comics and covers were all reprints from American Disney comics, especially Walt Disney's Comics and Stories, the flagship of the American Disney magazines. For the first five issues, the contents were printed half in full color and half in two colors (black and red), alternating with each two-page spread. With the sixth issue in February 1949, the entire comic was printed in full color.
Like WDC&S, the early issues of Kalle Anka & C:o typically began with a 10-page Donald Duck story by Carl Barks; the first issue featured "Fireman Donald" from WDC&S #86 (Nov 1947). The second feature was a "Lilla Stygga Vargen" ("Li'l Bad Wolf") story by Gil Turner or Paul Murry. This would be followed by a two-page illustrated text story, and then two to eight pages of other material from the comic featuring characters like Pluto, Dumbo, Thumper and Chip 'n' Dale. The rest of the pages were filled with reprints of gag strips from the Mickey Mouse and Donald Duck comic strips. An issue of Kalle Anka wasn't a reprint of any specific WDC&S issue; the contents came from a spread of issues from the previous couple of years.
About 50,000 copies of the first issue were printed; now only a few hundred survive. According to Seriesamlarna, it's Sweden's most valuable comic book, with an estimated value of 250,000 SEK. In 1999, a copy was sold for 170,000 SEK.
The characters on the first issue's iconic red cover were copied from other sources. The figure of Donald, looking and pointing up at the title, was lifted from a panel in Taliaferro's 12 February 1944 Donald Duck comic strip, and the three nephews from a panel in Barks' story "Wired" (WDC&S #90, March 1948).
1950s: Walt Disney's serier and Kalle Anka 100-pagers Starting in 1950, Kalle Anka & C:o started publishing occasional "B-number" issues, mostly printing translations of Dell's Four Color one-shots. The first B-number was the adaptation of the new film Cinderella, published in the US as Four Color #272 (April 1950) and in Sweden as Kalle Anka & C:o #11B/1950 (Nov 1950). The next year brought two extra issues. The first was a version of the 1937-38 Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs adaptation from the Silly Symphony comic strip, which was published as Kalle Anka & C:o #9B/1951. The second was an adaptation of Alice in Wonderland, published in the US as Four Color #331 (April 1951) and in Sweden as Kalle Anka & C:o #1951/11B (Nov 1951).
The B-numbered issues continued to come out at irregular intervals over the next few years, including longer stories from Barks' Donald Duck one-shots and issues of the Dell Giants like Vacation Parade (#5B/1953) and Christmas Parade (#11B/1952 and #11B/1953). The first issue of Farbor Joakim (Uncle Scrooge) -- the classic "Only a Poor Old Man"—was published in the US as Four Color #386 in March 1952, and in Sweden as Kalle Anka & C:o #1B/1954 in January 1954. The final B-number was #2B/1954 (Feb 1954), a Peter Pan & Captain Hook story.
Starting in March 1954, the B-numbered issues became their own monthly series, Walt Disney's serier (Walt Disney's Comics). This series began with Little Hiawatha #3/1954, printing content from the US Four Color #439 (Dec 1952). Issues were published monthly through the end of 1956.
The new series included one-shots from various characters like Långben (Goofy, 4/1954), Lilla Stygga Vargen (Li'l Bad Wolf, 5/1954) and Pluto (4/1955). It also published some of Carl Barks' early Uncle Scrooge stories, including issues titled "Farbror Joakims Pengar i Fara" ("Uncle Scrooge's Money in Danger", printing "The Horseradish Story" and "The Round Money Bin", 3/1955) and "Farbror Joakim och den tokige professorn" ("Uncle Scrooge and the Mad Professor", printing "The Mysterious Stone Ray", 10/1955). The series also continued the practice of publishing an annual Christmas Parade issue.
Along with the usual Disney comics fare, there were also five issues featuring adaptations of live-action Disney productions, including The Sword and the Rose and 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea. These issues didn't have the Walt Disney's serier title, but are considered to be "C-numbers".
This incarnation of Walt Disney's serier ended at the end of 1956, as the pace of publishing increased. In 1957, Kalle Anka & C:o went to a bimonthly schedule, so the "one-shots" and longer stories were cut into parts for serialization in the main comic. The comic stopped relying on Taliaferro's Donald Duck strips to fill the pages, and began publishing longer stories by Barks, as well as Paul Murry's Mickey/Goofy mystery serials, cut into multiple parts for serial publication at the back of the comic.
1957 also brought a new tradition: Kalle Anka 100-sidors, annual 100-page issues with a seasonal theme. (They're also known as Kalle Anka säsongshäften, or seasonal books.) One or two of these came out every year from 1957 to 1996. The first was Kalle Ankas karusell (Donald Duck Carousel) in winter 1957, followed by Kalle Anka's Sommarlov (Summer Vacation) in 1958. The 100-pagers contained a number of 4-page or 8-page comics stories from Dell Giants or back-up stories from Four Color, as well as games, puzzles, magic tricks, educational text features and other filler material. 1958 brought another winter special, Kalle Ankas lekstuga (Treasury), and these continued as an annual tradition. In 1962, the annual 100-pagers took on a Christmas theme, first called Kalle Ankas kul i jul (Fun at Christmas) and then Kalle Ankas kuljul (Christmas Fun) from 1963 to 1974.
In July 1959, Kalle Anka & C:o went to a weekly schedule. At this point, each issue featured an eclectic mix from Dell Comics' line, including stories from Walt Disney's Comics and Stories, Mickey Mouse, Donald Duck, Uncle Scrooge and all of the Four Color one-shots.
1960s: New material In the 1960s Western Publishing was producing fewer new stories, creating a shortage of material. To solve this, Gutenberghus obtained a license to start producing its own Disney material.
Gutenberghus' first artist was Nils Rydahl, who began by drawing covers for the Scandinavian magazines; the first published in Sweden was the cover of 1/1960. After a couple of years, Gutenberghus also started to create their own series, including those drawn by Rydahl, with others writing the scripts. The first story, "Kalle Anka konkurrerar med konstnären Rembrandt" ("Donald Duck in the Footsteps of Rembrandt"), was written by Knut Dokker and published in issue 36/1962 (Sept 1962). When Rydahl started, he was obviously influenced by Taliaferro, but soon developed his own style.
Rydahl also drew some remakes of American Mickey Mouse stories, turning the mouse characters into ducks. His first was published in Kalle Anka 14/1963 as "Elefantungen" ("The Baby Elephant"), originally drawn as "Mickey Mouse and the Li'l Lost Elephant" by Bill Wright for Four Color #411 (Aug 1952). Rydahl's version took Mickey and Goofy out of the story, and replaced them with Donald, Grandma Duck, and Huey, Dewey and Louie. Rydahl continued to draw covers, stories and single pages until 1977.
With more material coming in, the publishers reintroduced the Walt Disney's serier title in 1962, with six issues published a year. The series was entirely reprints of American Four Color issues, beginning with the one-shot "This Is Your Life, Donald Duck", a 32-page celebration of Donald's life by Vic Lockman and Tony Strobl, published as Four Color #1109 in August 1960. The Swedish version, "Sånt är livet, Kalle Anka", was the new Walt Disney's serier #1 in May 1962. The series continued printing longer stories and translations of Four Color one-shots. In this incarnation of Walt Disney's serier, the numbering was sequential, and ran until issue #26 in 1966. It resumed monthly publication in 1967, and ran until 1977.