Donald Duck in comics appeared in a portrait on August 11, 1940, and in person on September 28, 1943. Taliaferro also reintroduced Donna Duck as a separate character from Daisy. This old flame of Donald rivaled Daisy for his affections between August 7, 1951 and August 18, 1951, before leaving him for another. Donald had already been familiar to the American reading public through his newspaper comic strip by 1942. Then Disney licensed Western Publishing to create original comic book stories, with Disney characters as their stars. But the first American Donald Duck story originally created for a comic book was created by Studio-employed
Duck Dodgers in the 24½th Century Duck Dodgers in the 24½th Century Duck Dodgers in the 24½ Century (spoken as "twenty-fourth-and-a-half") is a 1952 Merrie Melodies color cartoon from Warner Bros., first released on July 25, 1953, that stars Daffy Duck as space hero Duck Dodgers, Porky Pig as his assistant, and Marvin the Martian as his opponent. This cartoon marked the first of many appearances of the Duck Dodgers character. Marvin the Martian had been introduced as an unnamed villain in Warner's cartoon "Haredevil Hare" (1948), playing opposite Bugs Bunny. He was later given the title 'Commander, Flying Saucer X-2' in 1951's "The Hasty Hare".