Daisy Duck

Daisy Duck is a cartoon character created in 1940 by Walt Disney Productions as the girlfriend of Donald Duck. Like Donald, Daisy is an anthropomorphic white duck, but has large eyelashes and ruffled tail feathers to suggest a skirt. She is often seen wearing a hair bow, blouse, and shoes. Daisy usually shows a strong affinity towards Donald, although she is often characterised as being more sophisticated than him.

Daisy was introduced in the short film Mr. Duck Steps Out (1940) and was incorporated into Donald's comic stories several months later. She appeared in 11 short films between 1940 and 1954, and later in Mickey's Christmas Carol (1983) and Fantasia 2000 (1999). In these roles Daisy was always a supporting character, with the exception of Donald's Dilemma (1947). Daisy has received considerable more screen time in television, making regular appearances in Quack Pack (1996), Mickey Mouse Works (1999-2000), House of Mouse (2001–2003), and Mickey Mouse Clubhouse (2006–present). Daisy has also appeared in several direct-to-video films such as Mickey's Once Upon a Christmas (1999) and The Three Musketeers (2004).

Daisy is the aunt of April, May, and June, three young girl ducks who act as Huey, Dewey, and Louie's female counterparts. Daisy is a close friend of Clarabelle Cow and Clara Cluck in the comics, and Minnie Mouse's best friend.

According to the unofficial timeline of Don Rosa, Daisy was born in 1920. According to Rosa, Daisy is the sister of Donald's brother-in-law – Daisy's brother had married Donald's twin sister, Della Duck, and together, the two became the parents of Huey, Dewey, and Louie Duck. This is his explanation of why the triplets tend to call her "Aunt Daisy" while no such courtesy is given to Gladstone Gander for example.

Though some accounts show Donald and Daisy as a married couple, others mention that she is Donald's cousin.

Their common last name points to both Donald and Daisy being members of the Duck family. Several stories consider them cousins but none has specified their relationship. Current speculation by Donaldist Gilles Maurice who has studied and compared various versions of the family tree is that the two are second cousins. Don Rosa has however said that he considers Donald and Daisy to be nonrelated and that Duck simply is the Duckburg universe equal to Smith, being a common surname.

Donna Duck served as a precursor for Daisy in both animation and comics. She first appeared in a one-page illustration titled "Don Donald" and published in Good Housekeeping #3701 (January 1937). The page was illustrated by Thomas "Tom" Wood (1870s – October 4, 1940) who was head of the Walt Disney Studios' publicity department from 1933 until his death. She went on to appear in the "Donald and Donna" comic strip published in Mickey Mouse Weekly from May 15 to August 21, 1937. The Weekly was a United Kingdom publication and the strip was illustrated at the time by William Arthur Ward. However her co-starring role was brief.

Daisy made her first comics appearance on November 4, 1940. She was introduced as the new neighbor of Donald and his potential love interest. The Donald Duck comic strip was at the time scripted by Bob Karp and illustrated by Al Taliaferro. She was seemingly soft-spoken but had a fiery temper and Donald often found himself a victim to her rage. For example, one strip had Daisy waiting for Donald to carve their names and their love for each other on a tree, only to discover the male Duck had carved "Daisy loves Donald" with her name hardly visible and his name in prominent bold letters. Resulting in her breaking her "umbrella" on his head and dismissing him as a "conceited little pup".

Her first original comic book appearance was in the story "The Mighty Trapper" by Carl Barks, first published in Walt Disney's Comics and Stories #36 (September 1943). However this was only a cameo when Huey, Dewey and Louie ask her to lend them an old fur coat. Barks would not use the character again until "Donald Tames His Temper" (January 1946) when Daisy demands that Donald learn to manage his anger as a New Year's resolution. Donald has to agree but points early on that Daisy herself has the temper of a "wild-eyed wildcat".

Her next appearance by Barks in "Biceps Blues" (June 1946) introduced a key concept to their relationship. When Daisy seems impressed by a certain type of male, Donald is forced to emulate that type, no matter how unsuited Donald is for emulating it successfully. In this early case Daisy envies her "old school chum" Susy Swan for dating a notable weightlifter. Donald at first protests that she seems too impressed by a "gorilla" just because the "muscle-bound buffalo" can lift 300 pounds. But when Daisy simply ignores him and daydreams about dating Hercules, Donald decides to start weightlifting. The rest of the story focuses on his ineptitude at exercising and the eventual efforts of Huey, Dewey and Louie to cheer him up by various tricks pointing to Donald becoming stronger. But when Donald arranges a demonstration for Daisy, Susy and her boyfriend, their tricks are not able to save him from ridicule. Daisy then chases Donald in anger (Donald in turn chases Huey, Dewey and Louie in anger) while Susy boasts about her luck in men to her weightlifter boyfriend, who simply grunts and nods and fails to understand her words. Daisy failed to see that Susy's boyfriend is strong but otherwise not too gifted, whereas Donald is one who would go great lengths for her.

Daisy continued to make frequent appearances in stories by Barks but the next important one for her development was "Wintertime Wager" (January 1948). There she first attempts to act as the voice of reason between competing cousins Donald Duck and Gladstone Gander and in fact manages to prevent Donald losing his house to Gladstone because of a wager. This story established that both of them wanted to be in her good graces. Their next joined meeting in "Gladstone Returns" (August 1948) has Donald and Gladstone competing in raising enough money for her charity effort.

Their rivalry would only increase when "Donald's Love Letters" (December 1949) revealed that both cousins were romantically interested in Daisy. From then on many stories by both Barks and others would develop around this love triangle. Daisy in turns dates both of them but this fact does not prevent the two competing suitors from attempting to earn more of her affection or trying to embarrass each other in front of her. Daisy can be counted on to be making regular appearances alongside either of them for several years to come. Often it would appear as if Gladstone had the upper hand in winning Daisy due to his luck, only to find fate thwarts his plans, such as a contest where the man who hunts the most turkeys gets to have dinner with Daisy, who has won a beauty contest. Gladstone wins the turkey hunt but finds himself having dinner with an ugly woman who is the runner-up queen, as Daisy is incapacitated, and Donald is the one nursing her.

Similarly, Daisy's precursor Donna and Daisy herself were featured together as rivals for Donald's affection in a newspaper strip published on August 7, 1951. In her last appearance, on August 11, 1951, Donna had a fiancé, a caricature of Disney cartoonist Manuel Gonzales, establishing a distinction between her character and Daisy.

In the comics, Daisy is also a member of a local gossip group called the "Chit-Chat Society", which plays bridge and sponsors charity fund-raisers. The core membership includes Clarabelle Cow and Clara Cluck, though occasionally some other unnamed characters appear.

In later years, Carl Barks 'modernized' Daisy in two stories: 'The not-so-ancient mariner' and 'Hall of the mermaid queen'. In the first story, Daisy is wearing a lot of different wigs and outfits. Gladstone Gander is also seen wearing a wig and a new wardrobe in the story. In the second story, Daisy has short, curly hair and a bow that is much smaller than usual.

In the 1950s, Disney launched the series "Daisy Duck's Diary", where Daisy was given more of a leading role. This series, originally by such cartoonists as Dick Moores, Jack Bradbury, Tony Strobl and Carl Barks, have continued to the present day in Italy.

Since the early 1970s, Daisy has been featured as a crimefighter in Italian Disney comics. The character of "Super Daisy" ("Paperinika" in Italian) was designed as a female counterpart to the "Duck Avenger" ("Paperinik" in Italian). While the character of the Duck Avenger was originally created to place Donald into situations where he was finally a "winner" (versus his usual portrayal as a "loser"), when Super Daisy appeared in the same story as the Duck Avenger, she then became the "winner" and Donald was once more relegated to the role of "loser." This upset some children, who complained to the comics' editors, which resulted in the Italian comics ceasing to use Super Daisy, though the Brazil Disney comics continue to make use of Daisy's superhero alter ego.

As Super Daisy, Daisy has no superpowers, but instead uses devices created by high society fashion designer Genialina Edy Son. Genialina personally designed Daisy's costume, as well as supplying her with crime-fighting gear such as sleeping pills and a James Bond-esque sports car. Very frequently, Super Daisy will both fight alongside and against the Duck Avenger. In the Brazilian stories, Super Daisy often teams up with other Disney comic superheroes, such as "Super Goof" (Goofy), "Super Gilly" ("Gilbert"), the "Red Bat" (Fethry Duck), etc.

While the Duck Avenger's main goal is enforcing justice in Duckburg, and proving himself better than his usual, unlucky self, Super Daisy acts mostly on an extreme, somewhat warped form of feminism, donning her alternate identity to prove that women are better than men at whatever they do, openly antagonizing the Duck Avenger to prove her point. However, later stories, as the "Hero Club" inspired Italian story Ultraheroes show Super Daisy and the Duck Avenger at the center of a weird love triangle: Super Daisy, despite their bickering eventually warms to the Duck Avenger, feeling drawn to his righteous persona, as the Duck Avenger does. However, both of them feel unable to pursue their relationship, as they feel themselves cheating their respective lovers.

Since 1999 Daisy, like Donald Duck, has her own magazine in the Netherlands. She had one in Brazil between 1986 and 1997, and a short-lived series in 2004 with republications of old stories.