The Health Nut is a comic story written by Dick Kinney and drawn by Al Hubbard. It features Donald Duck, Tabby, Ludwig von Drake, and, in his debut, Fethry Duck.
Plot[]
Fethry Duck crashes at Donald Duck's house, intent on imposing his latest fad on his cousin: a "healthy" lifestyle and diet. Set upon by the misguided but boundless enthusiasm of the beatnik duck, Donald and his unfortunate cat Tabby are soon forced to call for uncle Ludwig von Drake's help before Fethry starves them, poisons them, or both.
Behind the scenes[]
The Health Nut’s first known printing was in August of 1964 in the Italian Topolino #453, with it receiving its first English printing in the Australian Donald Duck #97 some time that same year. It was eventually printed in the United States of America in 2003 in Walt Disney's Comics and Stories #638.
The story is the introduction and debut of Fethry Duck, and the first of a long line of stories written by Kinney and drawn by Hubbard which would abide to the formula of Donald and Tabby dealing with a new "fad" that has overtaken Fethry.
Interestingly, however, Fethry did not appear in American comics until 1966, in which year a different introduction story was devised, Donald's Buzzin' Cousin, which — unlike Health Nut — is explicitly Donald and Fethry's first meeting since childhood, and is thus assumed to have taken place some time in 1964, before the events of The Health Nut.
The story is sometimes misconstrued as the first appearance of Tabby, which is actually inaccurate, as he was actually created in 1946 by Carl Barks in the story Singapore Joe.