Neighbor Jones



Neighbor J. Jones is Donald Duck's next door neighbor. He is portrayed as being as short-tempered as Donald, and more truculent. The yard between their respective homes often becomes a battlefield. The usual setting would be some argument or fight which would result in a huge mess for both Jones and Donald. Donald once even thought taking a vacation on a cruise ship would get him thousands of miles away from Jones and other problems, only to realize Jones bought a ticket on the same cruise by coincidence! The captain of the ship, however, is quick to extinguish bickering by threatening to throw both in the brig, and later on Donald and Neighbor Jones actually have to work together when they are stranded at sea.

The character first appeared in Walt Disney's Comics and Stories #34 (in 1943). There and in later issues, he tended to appear in stories featuring Donald Duck. Neighbor Jones was the first of many recurring characters that Carl Barks created. Jones has since appeared in hundreds of additional stories, with writers Paul Halas (UK) and Jan Kruse (Netherlands) among the most frequent to use the character. The character has made more appearances in American comics.

Although Neighbor Jones is largely an adversary, he will be pleasant with Donald on occasion, such as Donald offering Jones money to clear his yard during a snowstorm after seeing how efficiently Jones had shoveled his own driveway. Jones does the job, and courteously announces he is finished after Donald presents payment.

In various Italian stories Jones is replaced by a similar character named Anacleto Mitraglia, who is taller and narrower than Jones, but with a similar personality and practically the same rivalry with Donald. Jones is actually rarely used in Italian stories. Mitraglia evolved from one of several names given to the real Jones in early Barks stories.

In one story, Jones was given the first name of "Jughead". This could not continue, because it would create a copyright conflict with Archie Comics.