"Donald's Cousin from Overseas" (da Rappet #18)

The Danish Fanzine Rappet issue 18, printed in July, features a 3-page article written by me and translated (and partially enriched) by Ole Damgaard and Niels Houlberg Hansen. This article is called "Donald's Cousin from Overseas" and is about Fethry Duck, Donald's "nutty" cousin. I decided to propose you my original version, in English... Good Reading!

Donald's Cousin from Overseas

by Simone Cavazzuti

Duck family is very large and Donald has several relatives; one of them is Fethry Duck, his “manual-addict” cousin.

The editorial story of this character is pretty-complicated, let's try to explain it clearly...

In early 1960s, European and Brazilian Disney publishers continued asking the American publishers new stories in order to keep the readers satisfied. So, George Sherman, head of Disney's Publications Department at the time, hired Tom Goldberg and created the Overseas Comics Program, which produced, between 1960s and 1990s, thousands of new stories with the S code, which stands for “Disney Studio”.

Sherman's idea was to create new characters for foreign publications, characters not used in the USA, but to be used in European issues which were (and still are) weekly.

Authors and artist like Tony Strobl, Jack Bradbury, Carson Van Osten, Kay Wright, Ellis Eringer, Romano Scarpa, Jim Fletcher, Carl Fallberg, Dick Kinney and Al Hubbard took part in this project.

The last of them, Richard “Dick” Kinney, brother of the great animator and cartoon director Jack, and Allan “Al” Hubbard, created new characters like Fethry Duck (1964), Tabby the Cat (1964). Hard Haid Moe (1964), 0.0. Duck and Mata Harrier (1966), Belle Duck (1967) and The Sleuth (1975).

This is the background in which Fethry was created. His first story, “The Health Nut”, by Al Hubbard and Dick Kinney, was firstly published in Italy on the 2^nd August 1964 with the title “Paperino e il Fanatico Igienista”. The same story would be published in USA only in 2003. NOTE: Italian name of Fethry is “Paperoga”, a portmanteau between words “papero” (duck) and “yoga”.

American readers would know Fethry only in 1966, with the story “Donald's Buzzin' Cousin”, by Tony Strobl. US publishers featured only ten stories with Fethry between 1966 and 1982 and, because of that, when American cartoonist Keno Don Hugo Rosa (known for his “Life and Times of Scrooge McDuck”, 1992-1993) produced his own Duck Family Tree in early 1990s, he didn't include Fethry as he probably didn't know it. Anyway, the editor wanted to see Fethry on the tree and so Don Rosa drew him as brother of Abner “Whitewater” Duck and son of Eider Duck (both from Carl Barks' stories) and Lulubelle Loon (Rosa's own creation).

In 1973, inspired by a beautiful drawing by Giovan Battista Carpi, Brazilian authors Ivan Saidenberg and Carlos Edgard Herrero created “Morcego Vermelho” (Red Bat), a super-hero alias of Fethry in the story “Quem É O Morcego Vermelho? ”(Origin of the Red Bat). Always in Brazil, in 1982, was created Fethry's nephew Biquinho, a little yellow-feathered duckling.

Now that we saw how Fethry was born, let's see who is Fethry...

Fethry Duck, shows a really healthy and nature-saver spirit. He is from the beginning an addict of manuals of every kind, from gardening to martial arts, from eating to weaving. His name indeed might be a portmanteau itself between the words “feather” and “poetry”.

He is a tall and skinny duck with an odd, almost-maniacal, behavior. In his first two story, “The Health Nut” (1964) and “Weaving and Ducking” (1964), he has long reddish hair which will lose starting from the third one, “It's Magic” (1964), in which he has long unkempt kind of  lines. Even though, thanks to Tony Strobl, Fethry would have his red hair again in other three stories: “Donald's Buzzin' Cousin” (1966), “Ducky Date” (1966) and “Jungle Journey” (1966).

In February 2008, Fethry recovers his old-style hairstyle in the cover of Zio Paperone #213, drawn by the Italian artist Marco Rota, creator of Donald's ancestor Andold Wild Duck.

In “The Shoppers” (1971), by Dick Kinney (?) and Al Hubbard, Donald and Fethry are hired by Scrooge for his newspaper, “The (Duckburg) Chronicle”. This story is actually one of a series started in 1969 by Kinney and Strobl and never published in USA, in which Fethry and Donald work for Scrooge's “Papersera” (Duckburg Chronicle).

The greatest productions of Fethry's stories are surely the Brazilian and the Italian ones.

Brazilian production was vast between '70s and '90s, its authors invented the “Red Bat” and Biquinho and used them in hundreds of stories. Brazilians authors also continued the “Papersera” series and Brazilian Fethry invented, for the newspaper, an “Old West” hero comic strip having his own design.

In “Origin of the Red Bat” (1973), we know that Red Bat was born by chance, Fethry found a bat costume in Donald's attic and he wore it to go to a costume party (they weren't able to go there
as journalists because press was not admitted).

According to “O Nascimento Do Biquinho” (1982), Fethry has a sister. When he explains how Biquinho came to him, he says that “it all started in summer, four years ago, at my sister's who lives in Duckburg ”.

Italian authors have been featuring Fethry since the '60s and he currently is one of the main characters of Italian weekly “TOPOLINO”, appearing at least once a week.

In 1996, American editors published the Italian story “Paperino e il croccante al diamante” (1977), by Giorgio Pezzin and Giorgio Cavazzano, with the title “The Snacking Sleuths”. As said before, Fethry had appeared in the USA only in few 1960s stories and then in 1980 and in 1984; so, American readers didn't have enough familiarity with the character. Because of this, translator Gary Gabner referred to Fethry as “Donald's Cousin from Overseas”, suggesting he might come from Europe (that also would explain why he visits Donald by plane on his first appeareance); however, this statement is considered by authors (such as David Gerstein) non-canonical, because Fethry acts 100 % like an American.

The weird behavior of Fethry stands out mainly in Italian and Brazilian production, since there he is (as already said) a recurrent character. He is inopportune and doesn't understand anything. When relatives see him, they try to escape and to hide from him. Brazilian Fethry is a bit different; he is more adult and plays lots of different roles, he is like Donald even if more dumb.

Danish author Lars Jensen states that:

1. is as smart as Barks' version of Donald Duck

2. has the manipulative powers of Scrooge

Which means Fethry can manipulate others into joining him in whatever it is he wants to do (like Scrooge can), but isn't good at getting himself (and his followers) out of the resultant scrapes.

The use of Jensen is indeed more similar to Kinney's, sly and manipulative, so far from the Italian point of view.

In 2003, thanks to David Gerstein, American Gladstone started publishing new and old stories featuring the cousin. The American Fethry is kind of a city-hippie, very interested in nature and against the unscrupulous entrepreneurs.

Last curiosity: in 1973, since Fethry was almost-unknown in USA, when editors published the book “Disney's Wonderful World of Knowledge” with Fethry illustrations by Giovan Battista Carpi, they erased Fethry's balding hair and called him “Donald” pretending he was Donald Duck.

About the creation of Fethry, I could mention the weird-looking Donald from Mickey cartoon “On Ice” (1935). He wears a hat and a sweater like Fethry's ones, his beak furthermore looks like Fethry's, being long and quite pointed.

According to David Gerstein's “Mickey and the Gang” (2005), one of the first illustrations by Gus Goose, the one by Chester Cobb (1937) is a mix between Gladstone Gander (1948) and Fethry Duck (1964).