'Donald Duck' (Sunday, 13 September 1942) - © Disney.
Al Taliaferro was an American newspaper comic artist, and a pioneer in Disney comics. Taliaferro originally adapted some of the company's animated shorts into Sunday newspaper comics, but gained more importance when he created long-running features about individual Disney characters, starting with 'Bucky Bug' and 'The Three Little Pigs'. He was also the first artist to build a comic strip around Donald Duck, which remains his most significant contribution. In 1937, Taliaferro launched a newspaper gag comic starring Donald, scripted by Bob Karp. The short-tempered duck rose into a popular comic star, even surpassing Mickey Mouse in terms of international distribution and sales. Classic 'Donald Duck' gags by Taliaferro are still reprinted in Disney magazines worldwide. Taliaferro and his writers also created several characters still used by Disney artists today. Among them Donald's girlfriend Daisy Duck, the old-fashioned Grandma Duck, the lazy and gluttonous cousin Gus Goose, the nephews Huey, Dewey and Louie and Donald's St. Bernard dog Bolivar. He also gave Donald's iconic red car its famous "313" license plate. Contrary to popular thought, some of these side characters even debuted in Taliaferro's comics before they appeared on the big screen. As such, Al Taliaferro remains one of the "Big Three" in 'Donald Duck' comics, along with Carl Barks and Don Rosa.
Later-day Mickey Mouse strip inked and presumably also penciled by Taliaferro (30 January 1938) - © Disney.
Early life and career
Charles Alfred Taliaferro was born in 1905 in Montrose, Colorado, into an Italian-American family. The Taliaferros moved to Glendale in Southern California in 1918. He studied at the Art Institute of Los Angeles, but had difficulties finding art-related jobs due to the Great Depression. He initially worked as a designer for a lighting fixture firm. Through a friend, he learned that the Walt Disney Studios had jobs available, and applied. On 5 January 1931, Taliaferro was hired by Walt and Roy Disney to work in their comics department, at the time mostly a vehicle for Floyd Gottfredson's 'Mickey Mouse' newspaper strip, distributed by King Features Syndicate. One of his first jobs was inking Gottfredson's pencil drawings, through which he gradually got familiar with the comic's recurring characters. Standing out for his slick and clean inking line, Taliaferro also compiled a 'Mickey Mouse' model sheet, of which the artwork has appeared on Disney merchandising to this day.
Silly Symphonies
In the early 1930s, Mickey Mouse was Disney's only real star. However, in 1929, Walt Disney had launched another animated series, titled 'Silly Symphonies'. These were one-shot animated cartoons based on fables, nursery rhymes, fairy tales, novels and classical musical pieces. Others were stories about anthropomorphic characters created by the Disney Studio itself. Since none of them starred Mickey and all were basically mood pieces, the 'Silly Symphonies' had a lukewarm reception. To help viewers like them better, a newspaper comic version was launched on 10 January 1932. The 'Silly Symphonies' comic (1932-1939) debuted as a weekly color feature published in Sunday newspapers. The original writer and artist was Earl Duvall, with Taliaferro inking his drawings. From 1933 on, Taliaferro became a penciler too, as Duvall left Disney to join Warner Brothers. Ted Osborne succeeded Duvall as a writer on the feature, sometimes alternating with Merrill De Maris.
'The War with the Flies' (1932-33) was one of the most memorable 'Bucky Bug' storylines during Taliaferro's run on the feature, featuring some of the most inventive uses of recycling by the Junkville inhabitants. © Disney.
Bucky Bug
Oddly enough, the first 'Silly Symphony' comic wasn't an adaptation of a pre-existing animated short. 'Bucky Bug' debuted as a comic series on 10 January 1932, ten months before the Burt Gillet-directed cartoon 'Bugs In Love' premiered on 10 October 1932. Although touching the same themes as the animated short, insects living in their own mini-community, the comic strip Bucky was a completely original creation by Earl Duvall and Al Taliaferro. A funny animal series set in nature, all the action was presented from the point-of-view of insects and other invertebrates. The series started as a coming-of-age feature. Young Bucky is born as the only son in a family with sixteen daughters. Through a readers' contest, he received his name. As he sets out to explore the world, Bucky becomes friends with Bo, a hobo in a high hat. The two insects eventually settled in a town composed of old shoes, rubble, flower pots and other human garbage, fittingly titled "Junktown". After several adventures, Bucky marries June, the daughter of the Mayor. Other recurring characters are Junior Bug, June's kid brother, and the old and wise Bootle Beetle.
After Mickey Mouse, Bucky Bug was the first Disney character to star in a comic series, appearing regularly between 10 January 1932 and 4 March 1934 in the 'Silly Symphony' comic feature. 'Bucky Bug' was also a regular feature in Western Publishing's Disney comic books, with Carl Buettner, Vivie Risto and Ralph Heimdahl as prominent artists. In the original English-language version, Bucky and the other characters spoke in rhyme. In foreign editions, this gimmick was deemed too difficult to keep up and all the dialogue was translated without rhyme.
'Three Little Kittens' (Silly Symphonies, 28 July 1935) - © Disney.
As the technical and narrative skills of the Disney Studios improved - after 'Bugs in Love' the shorts for instance appeared in color - audiences soon warmed up to the 'Silly Symphonies'. Moviegoers were charmed by the innocent, child-friendly and dreamy atmosphere of these shorts. In 1932, the Silly Symphony 'Flowers and Trees' won the first Academy Award for "Best Animated Short". During the same ceremony, Disney also received an honorary Oscar for the creation of 'Mickey Mouse'. Finally accepted by audiences and the establishment, several other animation studios started their own 'Silly Symphonies'-like series, such as Warner Brothers' 'Merrie Melodies' and 'Looney Tunes' and MGM's 'Happy Harmonies'. Yet none could compete with Disney's talent for storytelling and overall higher professionalism. Disney also raised his budget by merchandising his cartoons on a global scale. Comics played an important part in this. Every time a new animated short hit the big screen, Taliaferro and Osborne adapted it into a comic strip. Some of these shorts spawned new characters around which long-running comic series were created.
'The Further Adventures of the Three Little Pigs' (Silly Symphonies, 5 July 1936) - © Disney.
The Three Little Pigs
One particular 'Silly Symphonies' cartoon, 'The Three Little Pigs' (1933) by Burt Gillett, became a huge success. Disney's adaptation of Joseph Jacobs' world-famous fairy tale became the most popular non-Mickey short of the studio. The title song, 'Who's Afraid of the Big Bad Wolf?' by Frank Churchill, was a nation-wide hit and resonated with people destined to overcome fear of unemployment during the Great Depression. The catchy tune was also the first of many musical Disney standards. 'The Three Little Pigs' had a tremendous influence on popular culture. Virtually every adaptation of the classic fairy tale nowadays follows the family-friendly Disney version in which the pigs are individualized and none get eaten by the wolf. 'The Three Little Pigs' was so popular that Disney was asked to create sequels. He reluctantly did so, but knew beforehand that they could never top the success of the original. Indeed, the three sequels, 'The Big Bad Wolf' (1934), 'Three Little Wolves' (1936) and 'The Practical Pig (1939), proved less popular. Disney's 'Three Little Pigs' also inspired adaptations by other cartoon studios: Tex Avery's 'The Blitz Wolf' (1942) at MGM, and Friz Freleng's 'Pigs In A Polka' (1943), 'Three Little Bops' (1957) and Bob McKimson's 'The Windblown Hare' (1949) at Warners.
In 1936, the pigs and the Big Bad Wolf made their debuts as comic characters in the 'Silly Symphonies' feature, where Taliaferro was the first to draw them. When the characters were featured in comic books, Carl Buettner, Gil Turner and Jack Bradbury became the regular artists. The comic book incarnations of the wolf and the pigs proved to be far more enduring than the animated sequels. Over the decades, countless episodes have been written and drawn, all revolving around the hungry wolf's non-effective schemes to eat the little pigs. In 1945, scriptwriter Chase Craig and artist Buettner also added a new cast member, the Big Bad Wolf's son, Li'l Wolf. Contrary to his father, he is far more intelligent, honest and friendly, often protecting and rescuing the pigs when they are captured.
'The Boarding School Mystery', starring Toby Tortoise and Max Hare (Silly Symphonies, 30 December 1934) - © Disney.
Donald Duck
In addition to pioneering Bucky Bug and the Big Bad Wolf as comic strip characters, Taliaferro adapted several other Silly Symphonies into comics, such as 'The Tortoise and the Hare' (1934) and 'Elmer Elephant' (1936). However, the most significant adaptation was 'The Wise Little Hen'. This animated short, premiering on 9 June 1934, marked the debut of a duck in sailor suit who would soon rival Mickey's popularity, Donald Duck, designed by Dick Huemer, Art Babbitt and Dick Lundy. Originally he had a long beak, and his iconic temper problems only became a defining character trait in the Mickey Mouse short 'Orphan's Benefit' (1934), which marked his second screen appearance. From that moment on, Donald became Disney's second biggest star. He was paired with Mickey and Goofy in several other shorts, until he finally received his own series in 1937. Starting with 'Don Donald' (1937) by Ben Sharpsteen, the temperamental duck starred in more individual shorts than any other Disney character. The studio found it easier to write storylines, since he wasn't as limited as Mickey. Children loved the big-eared mouse so much that Mickey couldn't express any troublesome behavior. Donald has always been more of an anti-hero. His unluckiness and furiosity made him more relatable to audiences. And since the bad consequences of his behavior were always shown, parents didn't worry about the duck being a bad example to their kids.
Between 16 September and 16 December 1934, Taliaferro and Osborne serialized the comic strip adaptation of 'The Wise Little Hen'. Subsequently, Donald also appeared as a side character in Floyd Gottfredson and Ted Osborne's 'Mickey Mouse' newspaper comics. However, Taliaferro saw the full potential of the bad-tempered duck, and suggested to Walt Disney to create a solo strip with the character. Between 30 August 1936 and 5 December 1937, Donald returned in a series of largely pantomime gag-a-week strips by Taliaferro and Osborne, although still as part of the 'Silly Symphonies' series.
While Taliaferro was turning Donald into a comic character in the USA, the duck also had his first print appearances in Europe. On 15 May 1937, William A. Ward's 'Donald and Donna' was published in the 67th issue of the British Mickey Mouse Weekly. This adaptation of the cartoon 'Don Donald' happened to be his first long adventure story, covering 15 pages. Meanwhile, the Italian publishing house Mondadori was creating official 'Donald Duck' adventure comics nearly five years before a similar project took off in the USA. On 30 December 1937, Federico Pedrocchi drew the first story with 'Paolino Paperino', as Donald is named in Italian. But while some of these predated the American newspaper comic series, none had such a lasting impact on the character as Al Taliaferro's strips did.
Early gag with Donald and his nephews (Silly Symphonies Sunday page, 7 November 1937) - © Disney.
Huey, Dewey and Louie
In their initial gags, Taliaferro and Osborne portrayed Donald just like in the cartoon shorts: a duck with many bad habits, who generally behaves like a child. In the early gags, Donald is the regular victim of pranks by Mickey Mouse's nephews Mortie and Ferdie, but Taliaferro had the desire to let Donald grow up and give him more paternal responsibility. On 17 October 1937, Donald's triplet nephews Huey, Dewey and Louie were introduced in the Silly Symphonies Sunday comic. Their names were thought up by Disney writer Dana Coty and borrowed from U.S politicians Huey Long and Thomas E. Dewey and Disney animator Louis Schmitt. With their introduction, Taliaferro and Ted Osborne also established a now classic origin story for Huey, Dewey and Louie. They were sent to Donald by their mother Della "to stay with him for a while." Their father is apparently "in the hospital" after "a firecracker exploded under his chair." It soon becomes clear that she merely wanted to get rid of the mischievous little brats. To Donald, his nephews are quite a handful, but he takes equal delight in playing mean tricks on them too. Since the triplets never returned to their biological parents, Donald effectively became their adoptive father.
While Taliaferro was the initiator of the triplets, some of their later trademarks were introduced by other artists and writers. As they were gradually becoming stars in the newspaper comics, Disney's animation department picked up the characters. On 17 April 1938, Huey, Dewey and Louie made their screen debut in 'Donald's Nephews' (1938), directed by Jack King. Much of their on-screen characterizations can be attributed to Carl Barks, who at the time was part of the animation department's writing staff. One of the gimmicks he introduced was having the boys finish each other's sentences, something he borrowed from Frederick Burr Opper's 'Happy Hooligan' strip, which also featured identical triplets. After a while this joke was dropped, since it made the seven-minute cartoons too time-consuming. In the comics, it remained a running gag, notably in Taliaferro's newspaper strips, but also in the longer adventure stories created by Barks.
Huey, Dewey and Louie have become some of the most famous characters in the Duck universe, with a considerable impact on many children's cartoons and comics. The idea of two or more annoying identical nephews has been used by several animators and comic authors. First of all by Carl Barks, who gave Daisy Duck three nieces April, May and June as a female counterpart to Huey, Dewey and Louie. In the Paramount cartoons starring Popeye, the spinach-eating sailor has to deal with the quadruplet Pipeye, Peepeye, Poopeye and Pupeye, designed by Charles Thorson. In André Franquin's Belgian comic strip 'Modeste et Pompon', the Modeste character is confronted with the nephews of door-to-door salesman Felix. Three nephews also emerge in Freddy Milton's 'Familien Gruff'. A more ironic inspiration can be found in Matt Groening's 'Life in Hell', where Akbar and Jeff meet their triplet nephews Gooey, Screwy and Ratatouille. Likewise, the Dutch cartoon creators Bastiaan Geleijnse, John Reid and Jean-Marc Van Tol created their bird characters Fokke en Sukke as a direct reference to Donald's nephews.
'The Farmyard Symphony' (Silly Symphonies, 23 October 1938) - © Disney.
Donald Duck newspaper comic
After fourteen months on the 'Silly Symphonies' Sunday page, Donald made room again for other characters. Until February 1939, Al Taliaferro and Merrill De Maris created new serials like 'The Practical Pig' (1938), 'Mother Pluto' (1938), 'The Farmyard Symphony' (1938) and 'Timid Elmer' (1938), as well as the first three installments of the 'Pluto the Pup' gag series. The Silly Symphonies Sunday pages was then taken over by writer Hubie Karp and artist Bob Grant, who first continued the 'Pluto the Pup' (1940) gag-a-week series and then launched a pantomime gag series with 'Little Hiawatha' (1940-1942). In the meantime, Al Taliaferro was devoting all of his time to the duck.
'Donald Duck' (25 April 1938) - © Disney.
Strangely enough, even though Donald's cartoons were very popular, and some foreign comics had already been produced around him, Taliaferro still had difficulty convincing his bosses to give the duck an official solo comic. He first approached Walt Disney's brother Roy, who wasn't that interested. After drawing three weeks worth of episodes, Taliaferro convinced Roy to show them to King Features Syndicate, which distributed all of Disney's newspaper comics. It wasn't until he informed Walt that the idea started to grow. Still, the first samples were rejected for having "weak gags". Taliaferro brought in Disney writer Merrill De Maris, who had also written gags for the 'Mickey Mouse' newspaper comic, but this team-up was also rejected. Jokes written by Homer Brightman proved to be acceptable and the project was greenlighted.
On 2 February 1938, 'Donald Duck' became an official daily newspaper comic, followed by a Sunday page on 10 December 1939. Halfway through the first year, Brightman went back to write for the animated shorts and was succeeded as a writer by Bob Karp, who remained Taliaferro's creative partner for the rest of their respective careers. During the 1940s, Taliaferro was assisted by inkers and letterers Karl Karpe (1940-1942), Dick Moores (1942-1943) and George Waiss (1943-1946), until new management wanted Disney's comic artists to ink their own work. Other Disney artists like Ellis Eringer, Frank Grundeen, Al Hubbard and Kay Wright occasionally helped out too.
Contrary to Floyd Gottfredson's 'Mickey Mouse' newspaper comic, Taliaferro's 'Donald Duck' strip was not an adventure series, but a daily gag comic. Each episode featured Donald dealing with some problem or an unexpected humorous situation, either at home, on the street or in a shop. He tries his hand at many different jobs, most of which fail because of his penchant for finding trouble and fiery bursts of temper. The majority are stand-alone gags, though occasionally a loose continuity is followed. While the initial gags relied heavily on pantomime slapstick, the 'Donald Duck' feature eventually became more of a sitcom, in which Donald has to deal with his nephews or some of the other secondary characters that Taliaferro and Karp introduced over the years. To adapt to the black-and-white format of a daily newspaper strip, Taliaferro inked Donald's originally blue sailor suit fully black, a tradition that has remained in Donald's comic portrayal forever since. For many of the unnamed "human" civilians in the strips, Taliaferro used standard dog-nosed characters, another ongoing tradition in Disney comics.
First appearance of Grandma Duck (27 September 1943) - © Disney.
Pets and cars
Taliaferro and scriptwriter Bob Karp were the first creators to expand Donald's universe. Some characters were lifted from animated shorts, like Donald's St. Bernard dog Bolivar, who first appeared in 'Alpine Climbers' (1936), directed by David Hand, and made his debut as a comic character on 17 March 1938. The colossal mutt rarely listens to Donald. Just like Mickey Mouse's dog Pluto, Bolivar always remained a mute character, behaving like a normal animal. Taliaferro took a lot of inspiration from his own pet, even though this was a Scottish terrier. After a while, Bolivar caused unexpected controversy in Bolivia, where the local government accused Disney of ridiculing their founder Simon Bolivár. As a result, Bolivar was phased out of the newspaper comics by 1947, although he remained a recurring character in the 'Donald Duck' comic book stories.
Other animals from the animated shorts also made their appearance in the newspaper strips, like Hortense the Ostrich and Benny the Burro, but had less durability. Another fixture in the daily strips was Donald's iconic red car, which debuted in the 1937 short 'Don Donald'. Starting on 1 July 1938, Taliaferro first showed Donald driving around his famous Duckatti car, which he gave the license plate number "313". The car has remained Donald's permanent way of transportation since.
Daisy Duck
Another important addition to the 'Donald Duck' newspaper strip was his regular girlfriend, Daisy Duck. On 7 June 1940, Donald had begun dating his girlfriend Daisy Duck, in Jack King's animated short 'Mr. Duck Steps Out', scripted by Carl Barks. In the 1937 cartoon 'Don Donald', directed by Ben Sharpsteen, Donald had an earlier love interest in Donna Duck, but this Mexican beauty proved to be only a prototype. From 'Mr. Duck Steps Out' on, Daisy received a standard design and characterisation. While Barks created Daisy, Taliaferro was responsible for her debut in the comic pages. On 4 November 1940, she was introduced as Donald's neighbor. Coincidentally, in a 1951 continuity, Taliaferro and Karp also introduced the Mexican Donna to the strip, but it was Daisy who eventually conquered Donald's heart.
'Donald Duck' (18 May 1951) - © Disney.
Further family members (Gus Goose, Grandma Duck and others)
At times, Taliaferro and scriptwriter Bob Karp created characters for the 'Donald Duck' newspaper comic, whose screen debut only followed much later. In an episode printed on 9 May 1938, Donald first met his lazy and gluttonous cousin Gus Goose. The dim-witted bird eats his entire kitchen empty, while refusing to do any labor. Moviegoers were introduced to Gus almost a year later, in 'Donald's Cousin Gus', a cartoon premiered on 3 May 1939, directed by Jack King.
The final recurring character created by Taliaferro and Karp is Grandma Duck, who was first seen on 11 August 1940, in a framed picture hanging on the wall. In the 27 September 1943 newspaper gag, she appeared in person. The character was inspired by Taliaferro's own mother-in-law, who was reportedly very old-fashioned. Taliaferro established Grandma Duck as a farmer who believes in hard work. However, she is completely unaware of many technological advancements, still plowing her fields with traditional horse-and-carriage and common tools. For years, her name tended to differ, depending on the writer, until Don Rosa officially settled on Elvira. It was later also established that Scrooge McDuck is her brother. In the comic books, Grandma Duck was featured in short stories, where Gus Goose became her farm help. His work-shy nature provided a humorous contrast with her workaholic ethics.
Although not created by them, Taliaferro and Karp also brought Carl Barks' Uncle Scrooge to the newspapers on 13 February 1951. On 25 September 1961, another recurring character was the genius but absent-minded professor Ludwig von Drake, originating from the TV show 'Walt Disney's Wonderful World of Color'.
Wartime Donald Duck strip (5 April 1945) - © Disney.
Success and impact
Taliaferro's 'Donald Duck' comic strip became the most distributed Disney feature in the world. Internationally, the gags were also popular as reprints in Disney comic books, magazines and pockets. The Dutch Disney weekly Donald Duck had a recurring feature called 'Een Weekje...' in which seven thematically connected episodes of Taliaferro's comics were grouped together from Monday through Sunday. Other Disney artists have used Taliaferro's characters in their own comics too. At the time, 'Donald Duck' was so popular that when Taliaferro used his own telephone number for Donald's in the comic, many people instantly plagued him with calls. The artist experienced the telephone-related impact of his comic in other fields too. In one gag, he let Donald chop down a telephone pole. Apparently some people started doing the same in real life, causing a telephone company to blame the 'Donald Duck' gag for this copycat behavior.
'Donald Duck: Counter Spy' (Cheerios premium giveaway, 1947) - © Disney.
Comic book work
While the 'Donald Duck' character was simultaneously becoming a staple in the comic books produced by Dell Comics/Western Publishing, Taliaferro had little involvement in these productions. Over the course of the 1940s and 1950s, Donald Duck's comic book persona was shaped by Carl Barks, who fleshed out his personality and family relations for a series of highly influential adventure stories. However, Taliaferro has done a handful of contributions to the comic books, although mostly cover illustrations and a couple of original gag pages.
For the Walt Disney's Comics and Stories title (1943, 1945), he produced two new stories with 'Bucky Bug'. His only longer story with 'Donald Duck' was 'Counter Spy', an adventure scripted by Chase Craig for a special 1947 give-away booklet for Cheerios. Taliaferro also illustrated two children's books for Sandpiper publishers, 'Donald and his Cat Troubles' (1948) and 'Donald Duck and the Hidden Gold' (1951). His only non-Disney excursion was drawing two stories of the funny animal strip 'Pop Korn' for the Coo Coo Comics book by Standard Comics (1945-1946).
Final years and death
Throughout the remainder of his career, Taliaferro was associated with Donald Duck's newspaper comic. Although troubled by health problems since 1952, he continued to draw the 'Donald Duck' strip until 10 October 1968. While retiring from the daily comic, he still made the Sunday page for an additional four months. One of Taliaferro's later projects was the design of Litternaut (1967), a mascot of the Committee for a Clean & Beautiful Glendale. Al Taliaferro died from cancer in his hometown of Glendale, California, in February 1969. He was 63 years old.
'Donald Duck' Sunday comic (3 April 1960) - © Disney.
Legacy and influence
After Taliaferro's retirement, The 'Donald Duck' comic strip was continued by Frank Grundeen, who had already taken over most of his predecessor's work by 1967. In the late 1960s, Bill Weaver was an inker on the series. Bob Karp remained on board as scriptwriter until his retirement in 1974. He was succeeded by Greg Crosby (1974-1979) and Bob Foster (1980-1989). Later artists on the strip were Frank Smith (1976-1986), Jim Franzen (1986), Daan Jippes (1986-1987), Ulrich Schröder (1986), Jørgen Klubien (1986), Tony Strobl (1986-1987), Bill Langley (1987) and Pete Alvarado & Larry Mayer (1987-1989). Larry Knighton wrote and drew the final five years of the strip (1990-1995). From July 1995 on, King Features turned to reprints. After nearly 57 years of uninterrupted publication in the newspapers, Donald Duck's daily adventures came to an end.
Following a mission of mercy to an Arkansas hospital in the 1940s, where Taliaferro sketched Disney characters for polio victims, the City Counsel of Little Rock renamed a street in his honor to Taliaferro Street. Even though his legacy is largely overshadowed by later Duck artists such as Carl Barks, Daan Jippes and Don Rosa, Al Taliaferro has left a lasting impact on Disney comics. His timeless gags continue to be reprinted in Disney magazines and associated comic books across the world. As he put so much of himself into the character, he received the nickname "Don Duck's Pop", and in 2003, the artist was posthumously honored as a Disney Legend. His son Bill Taliaferro (b. 1943) became a set designer, having worked at the Disney World park in Florida and on the 'Indiana Jones' and 'Pirates of the Caribbean' movie franchises.
Many of the characters Taliaferro originated have continued to star in their own comic stories. Particularly in the Dutch Donald Duck weekly, both the 'Big Bad Wolf' and 'Bucky Bug' have remained important back-up features well into the 21st century. Since 2021, the Dutch editors have even revived the long-forgotten 'Tortoise and the Hare' characters for new stories, drawn by Thomas Cabellic. In addition, the Dutch Disney production has included a large amount of 'Donald Duck' gag strips in the Taliaferro tradition, since 1996 produced for the weekly's mail section, and since 2021 for a daily strip in the AD newspaper. Later-day Disney artists like Dan Černý cite Taliaferro as an influence.
For those interested in Al Taliaferro's work: the complete 'Silly Symphonies' were compiled into two volumes by IDW in 2016. In 2015, the publisher also began collecting the complete daily and Sunday comics of 'Donald Duck'.
Al Taliaferro.