Norwegians, Donald & Barks

[Rob Klein]

Regarding owen Heitmann's & Halsten Aastebol's comments on popularity and
knowledge of Donald Duck comics and Barks in Norway (and Western Europe in
general): 

I believe Halsten is correct.  Every Norwegian boy is not likely to be a
Donaldist, or an "expert" on Barks, - but most of them certainly know who
Barks was, and have seen a few stories by him, and have read Donald Duck &
Co. either at their own house, a cousin's, or a friend's, or in the waiting
room of a doctor or dentists office( I have seen them there), or a barber
shop. 

In my visits to Norway, I have spent time with "average families" with whom
I came into contact through non-Disney and non -comics industry sources. 
Their education levels were probably "average" for Norway, running the
gamut from Gymnasium through graduate doctorates.  These people lived in
Kragero(e), Hellenes, Natwig, Kristiansand and other small and middle-sized
towns and villages on the southeastern coast.  The parents of the families
ranged from bus drivers and insurance office workers, to boat captains and
tourist shop owners.  ALL (over 100)of their children above 3 years old had
read Donald Duck & Co.  I talked to them, individually, on that subject, as
I was drawing pictures for many of them (more than 50) at a 3-day Weekend
50-year 4-family reunion in Kragero.  The other children were "interviewed"
on the subject of Disney Comics, whenever I become friendly with adults and
meet their children. Most of them had at least seen features on Carl Barks
in the weekly comic or in an album.  Most knew he was the most popular
artist.  Several of them had remembered some of MY stories (although they
didn't know my name- as credits weren't written on the books).  I have seen
a similar situation to be true in my travels in Sweden and living in
Denmark.  In my many years in Holland I can only remember meeting a handful
out of thousands of males who had not read Donald Duck (at least in the
manner I listed above).  And I wonder, even, if those were lying!  Girls
read it regularly to a lesser degree, but I'm guessing, MUCH MORE than a
North American or Australian/New Zealander might imagine!

I doubt of "most" of the children in Norway are Donaldists or experts on
Barks.  But, I would bet most (a large percentage) of them have heard of
him, and probably read Donald Duck regularly for at least a few years.  I
can't speak for France, but I would guess that Disney comics are much less
pervasive their than in Scandinavia or Holland.  I would guess most kids in
Italy would have read Topolino in the old days and possibly the Disney
Comics are still Very VERY popular.  I spend some time visiting Brussels
every year, and sometimes Antwerp and Liege.  I have seen very few used
Disney comics in book and comic shops (a few beat-up Super Picsou Geant in
Brussels, nothing in Liege and a few Dutch weeklies in Antwerp). The comic
shops usually had NO Disney (new or old!).  I lived in Bremen, Germany for
much of 5 years.  I knew about 50 children of adults I was friendly with. 
They ALL read Micky Maus.  Most of them knew who Barks was (except the very
young).  Most of them knew who the "Hamburger" Donaldists were (they have
been on the news on ZDF, 1Ard, regional networks, etc. many times).

It will be interesting to hear from members from the various countries to
give a more complete picture of their situations.   Cheers,  Rob Klein