''Aku Ankka'' (
Finnish for
Donald Duck
Donald Fauntleroy Duck is a cartoon character created by The Walt Disney Company. Donald is an anthropomorphic white duck with a yellow-orange bill, legs, and feet. He typically wears a sailor shirt and cap with a bow tie. Donald is known fo ...
) is a
Finnish weekly
Disney comic book published by Sanoma Magazines since 1951.
History and profile
The first issue of ''Aku Ankka'' was published on 5 December 1951 and sold 34,017 copies. The first issue, with a special
Christmas
Christmas is an annual festival commemorating the birth of Jesus Christ, observed primarily on December 25 as a religious and cultural celebration among billions of people around the world. A feast central to the Christian liturgical year ...
theme, and the
Snow White story published later in the 1950s are very prized collectors' items and can fetch a price of several thousand
euro
The euro ( symbol: €; code: EUR) is the official currency of 19 out of the member states of the European Union (EU). This group of states is known as the eurozone or, officially, the euro area, and includes about 340 million citizens . ...
s on the collector market. The magazine was published monthly until 1956, twice a month between 1956 and 1960, and every Wednesday since 1961.
''Aku Ankka'' is published by Sanoma Media (formerly Sanoma Magazines), which is part of
Sanoma.
[
Despite being part of a multinational franchise and despite most stories being translations into Finnish of stories first published abroad, ''Aku Ankka'' has become a cultural icon in Finland. This is largely due to the magazine's colourful and innovative use of the Finnish language. Many characters' names are Finnish language spoofs of the names of celebrities. In 2001, in recognition of its work for the Finnish language, the editorial team was given the ''Kielihelmi'' award by the ]Finnish language
Finnish ( endonym: or ) is a Uralic language of the Finnic branch, spoken by the majority of the population in Finland and by ethnic Finns outside of Finland. Finnish is one of the two official languages of Finland (the other being Swedi ...
department of the University of Helsinki
The University of Helsinki ( fi, Helsingin yliopisto, sv, Helsingfors universitet, abbreviated UH) is a public research university located in Helsinki, Finland since 1829, but founded in the city of Turku (in Swedish ''Åbo'') in 1640 as the R ...
.
The ''Aku Ankka'' comic is now more popular in Finland than in the country of its origin, the United States
The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country Continental United States, primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 U.S. state, states, a Washington, D.C., ...
(where Disney is better known for its cartoons and films than comics). The US Donald Duck cartoonist Don Rosa is exceptionally popular in Finland, and he has acknowledged this by creating ''The Quest for Kalevala
"The Quest for Kalevala" is a 1999 Uncle Scrooge comic book story written and drawn by Don Rosa. The story was first published in the Danish '' Anders And & Co.'' #1999-48; the first American publication was in ''Uncle Scrooge'' #334, in October 20 ...
'', a Donald Duck story specifically set in Finland.
There is a popular urban legend
An urban legend (sometimes contemporary legend, modern legend, urban myth, or urban tale) is a genre of folklore comprising stories or fallacious claims circulated as true, especially as having happened to a "friend of a friend" or a family m ...
that Donald Duck was once banned in Finland for not wearing pants. This myth was sparked by an incident in 1977, when Helsinki
Helsinki ( or ; ; sv, Helsingfors, ) is the Capital city, capital, primate city, primate, and List of cities and towns in Finland, most populous city of Finland. Located on the shore of the Gulf of Finland, it is the seat of the region of U ...
councilman Matti Holopainen proposed discontinuing the use of city funds to subscribe to ''Aku Ankka'' comics for youth center
A youth center or youth centre, often called youth club, is a place where young people can meet and participate in a variety of activities, for example table football, association football (US soccer, UK football), basketball, table tennis, vi ...
s, due to the city's financial difficulties. The following year, when Holopainen was running for a parliament
In modern politics, and history, a parliament is a legislative body of government. Generally, a modern parliament has three functions: representing the electorate, making laws, and overseeing the government via hearings and inquiries. Th ...
seat, his opponent, called him "the man who banned Donald Duck from Helsinki" and Holopainen lost the election. National Coalition Party politician Ben Zyskowicz called Holopainen's decision "an accident at work".
A similar incident had taken place a few years earlier in Kemi
Kemi (; sme, Giepma ; smn, Kiemâ; sms, Ǩeeʹmm; Swedish (historically): ''Kiemi'') is a cities of Finland, town and municipalities of Finland, municipality of Finland. It is located very near the city of Tornio and the Finland–Sweden borde ...
, and international reports exaggerated the situation in claims that the character's attire and his extramarital relationship with Daisy Duck were the causes of the local ban.
Circulation
''Aku Ankka'' is one of the most popular weekly publications in Finland as well as the world's largest edition per capita of a Donald Duck magazine.[ ]
It had a circulation of 320,500 in 2006,
See also
* List of magazines in Finland
The first magazine in Finland, a Swedish-language women's magazine named ''Om Konsten at rätt behaga'', was published in 1782. The number of the Finnish magazines was about 1,200 in the 1980s. In the 1990s, the circulation of magazines increased, ...
* Kalle Anka & C:o
References
External links
Official website
Aku Ankka
at the INDUCKS
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Aku Ankka
1951 establishments in Finland
1951 comics debuts
Comics magazines published in Finland
Disney comics titles
Donald Duck comics
Magazines established in 1951
Magazines published in Helsinki
Weekly newspapers published in Finland