The Aku Ankka comic book is celebrating its 60th anniversary of publication in Finland this year, according to Helsingin Sanomat.
Who or what is Aku Ankka? Donald Duck, per the late Walt Disney, of course. Aku Ankka has been wildly popular among Finnish kids as well as many (blush) adults for all these decades. Donald Duck is one of America's best good will ambassadors to Finland. But Donald Duck was introduced to Finnish readers well before the past 60 years. He appeared in a popular Finnish magazine "Seura" as early as the 1930s, only his Finnish name then was "Ankka Lampinen". As a Finn kid growing up at that time in a Finnish immigrant farming community in Massachusetts, my parents and their friends would regulary read Seura and it was at that time I was introduced to Ankka Lampinen, Aku Ankka's earlier predecessor.
Of course, Mickey Mouse was called "Mikki Hiiri" in Finnish comic strips.
But my favorite Disney character is Daffy Duck (Hupsu Ankka?). During election times if I can't stand any of the candidates for a particular political office, I write in the name of "Daffy Duck." I'm not a Mickey Mouse voter. He's too boring.
-- Contributed by Harry Siitonen
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