Prologue to the ‘Complete Donald Duck’ (entitled Prologo a "Tutto Paperino" in the original Italian version) is a comic story written by Gian Giacomo Dalmasso and drawn by Giuseppe Perego. It features Donald Duck, Ludwig von Drake, Daisy Duck, Scrooge McDuck, Huey, Dewey and Louie Duck and Huey, Dewey and Louie Duck.
Plot[]
Crushed by debts as always, Donald Duck ends up with his house half-burnt-down and blamed for it. Sent to jail after a mockery of a trial with Ludwig von Drake as his barrister, Donald then promises Daisy to try to educate himself, and this leads him to another series of wacky adventures!
References[]
- The Junior Woodchucks' Guidebook contains a section on interpreting "grizzled-old-seaman talk", which translates "gr" as "Yes" and "grm" as "Why not?".
Continuity[]
- The story serves as a linking segment for numerous stories. Thus:
- Uncle Scrooge and the Bodacious Butterfly Trail (1962) is reprinted as a flashback when Donald and Daisy discuss its events; Donald then tells Daisy the story of why he didn't get to keep the gold, mentioning that he spent 8 months in jail following it (this suggests the Prologue takes place in 1963).
- Donald Duck and the Striped Coconuts (1962) is slotted as happening halfway through the Prologue, after Donald has gotten out of jail and promised Daisy to educate himself more; once Striped Coconuts concludes, the Prologue jumps one day forwards in time and resumes.
- After three days more covered by the Prologue, Donald is called by Scrooge to his office, leading to the events of Donald Duck and the Disputed Spectre. After the story wraps up, the Prologue resumes to show Donald and Scrooge's return to Duckburg, and offers an explanation as to why Huey, Dewey and Louie didn't take part in the trip to Scotland that finishes Disputed Ghost (Donald had accidentally darted off with their aeroplane tickets in his pocket).
- Numerous misadventures later, Donald and his nephews are rescued from a sticky situation by Scrooge, who tells them to go home and wait for his phone call. This leads into Donald… in the Year 2001 (1961). The conclusion of 2001 doubles as that of the Prologue, which does not resume further.
Behind the scenes[]
This story was first printed in 1966 in the Italian I Classici di Walt Disney #22. It has not, to date, been printed in English anywhere.
As traditional in the Classici di Walt Disney books, the purpose of the story is to provide a linking narrative for the various originally-independent it collects, which not too much care given to the original order in which those stories were published. The specific issue was entitled Tutto Paperino (“The Complete Donald Duck”), hence the linking story's title.