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Background

Physical appearance

, andare Daisy Duck 's triplet nieces, created by Carl Barks . They are the female counterparts as well as the girlfriends and opposites of Huey, Dewey, and Louie

One can recognize the girls in their modern look: April (Lizzy in Dutch comics) has one ponytail in her hair and wears purple, May (Juultje in Dutch comics) wears a headband, and dresses in pink, and June (Babetje in Dutch comics) has the two pigtails, and wears yellow.

History

The first appearance of the trio was in the 1952 comic story Flip Decision by Carl Barks, in which they can be seen when Daisy is visiting her sister, the nieces' mother, who remained unseen. In the final panel, they appear with Huey, Dewey, and Louie as their escorts.

After Barks introduced the girls in Flip Decision, they continued to make rare appearances in Barks's stories, but there were some they did play important roles. Their first appearance after their introduction was in Barks' The Double Date, six years after their debut. The story The Beauty Business, in which the nieces help Donald with his failing beauty salon, marked their final appearance in Barks' comics.

In 1998, the editors of the Dutch 'Donald Duck' weekly magazine decided the three girls should be modernized, and they got permission from the Disney Company to do so. Dutch Duck comic artist Mau Heymans designed a new hairdo and new wardrobe for April, May, and June.

The new hairdo first appeared in the Dutch comic "Nieuwe Coupe". They now don't look the same at all in Dutch stories and don't have the 'girly' occupations anymore they had when Barks created them. In some Danish stories, the new hairdo has been copied. The Dutch comics with the redesigned girls have also been published in other countries. However. They still appear in their old design in several other countries that haven't adopted this redesign yet.

While April, May, and June still appear regularly in comics, their roles are usually quite minor. The exception is the Dutch version of Donald Duck comics, in which they appear quite often. They mostly appear in the Dutch series "Duckies", which focuses on April, May, and June, Huey, Dewey, and Louie and several classmates and teachers, who were designed by Daniel Branca at the request of the Dutch editors.

More recently, April, May, and June make a brief cameo appearance in the four-part crossover conclusion of the 2011 Darkwing Duck and DuckTales comics Dangerous Currency. They help the fellow residents of Duckburg beat back the villains and their slime.

Appearances

The girls' first appearance in animation was a cameo in the House of Mouse episode "Ladies' Night", where they take over for Huey, Dewey, and Louie as the club's band.

The triplets appear as recurring protagonists in the series, which marked their first-ever speaking appearance in animation. They loyally support Donald Duck even after their aunt breaks up with him, though they tend to be rather critical and morose. Although they tend to get along very well, May is visibly more condescending and pessimistic compared to her sisters, often expressing doubt in her sisters plans. They are all sarcastic and have a talent for deception, being able to goad Baron Von Sheldgoose into buying a ring and pretending to be a waiter in a restaurant. They provide support and helpful information to Xandra and the Caballeros during their quests, via a magic mirror that they found among Clinton Coot's antiques. They also attempt to help Xandra with her integration into the modern world, often with mixed results.

In this show, April wears yellow, May wears orange, and June wears purple. This is most likely to contrast with the colors red, blue, and green associated with Huey, Dewey, and Louie or the Three Caballeros themselves. Their voices are also slightly differentiated from each other.

Trivia

When Don Rosa was asked if the mother of April, May, and June could possibly be Donna Duck, who appeared in a few stories before Daisy appeared, he replied that he found it a good idea. Although this is, however, proven to be impossible, as Daisy and Donna were said to have never seen each other before their meeting in Al Taliaferro's 1951 newspaper strips.

"Ladies' Night" shows April (wearing red) as left-handed.

In Italian comics, they are called Ely, Emy, and Evy. Although the Italian illustrators have not adapted to the new designs of Daisy's nieces, Italy is one of the very few countries that use the trio frequently.

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