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VOLUME ONE • 1938-1940 IDW PUBLISHING San Diego San DonaldDuckDailies1_Layout 1 7/16/15 2:45 PM Page 4

ART SCRIPTS (4/6/1938 - 7/18/1940) (2/7 - 4/5/1938) GAG IDEAS BY (5/25, 6/10, 6/27, 7/2, 7/6, 7/25, 10/25, 10/27, 11/26/1938 and 1/10, 2/4, 2/6/1939)

THE LIBRARY OF AMERICAN COMICS EDITOR/CO-DESIGNER DEAN MULLANEY ASSOCIATE EDITOR BRUCE CANWELL

ART DIRECTOR/CO-DESIGNER LORRAINE TURNER CONSULTING EDITOR

PRODUCTION ASSISTANTS JOSEPH KETELS and REBEKAH CAHALIN

ISBN: 978-1-63140-335-4 First Printing, July 2015

Published by: IDW Publishing a Division of Idea and Design Works, LLC 2765 Truxton Road, San Diego CA 92106 www.idwpublishing.com LibraryofAmericanComics.com

Ted Adams, Chief Executive Officer/Publisher Greg Goldstein, Chief Operating Officer/President Robbie Robbins, EVP/Sr. Graphic Artist Chris Ryall, Chief Creative Officer/Editor-in-Chief Matthew Ruzicka, CPA, Chief Financial Officer Alan Payne, VP of Sales • Dirk Wood, VP of Marketing Lorelei Bunjes, VP of Digital Services Jeff Webber, VP of Digital Publishing & Business Development

Distributed by Diamond Book Distributors 1-410-560-7100

Special thanks to Curt Baker, Ken Shue, Iliana Lopez, Julie Dorris, and Danielle Digrado at Disney; Susan Liberator and Marilyn Scott at the Billy Ireland Cartoon Library and Museum at the Ohio State University for filling in several weeks of missing strips; , Josh Geppi, and Mike Wilbur at Diamond International Galleries; Germund von Wowern, Sarah Gaydos; Justin Eisinger; and Alonzo Simon.

All contents, unless otherwise specified, copyright © 2015 Disney Enterprises, Inc. All rights reserved. The Library of American Comics is a trademark of Library of American Comics, LLC. All rights reserved. Text to the essay “Al Taliaferro: The Forgotten Duck Man” © 2015 David Gerstein. With the exception of artwork used for review purposes, none of the comic strips in this publication may be reprinted without the permission of Disney Enterprises, Inc. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information and retrieval system, without permission in writing from Disney Enterprises, Inc. Printed in Korea.

RIGHT: The culmination of a three-month pre-release advertising campaign aimed at newspaper editors by Disney and King Features in the trade publication Editor & Publisher (April 23, 1938). OPPOSITE: Al Taliaferro sketches his hero for young fans, 1940s. DonaldDuckDailies1_Layout 1 7/16/15 2:45 PM Page 5

PUBLISHER’S NOTE: These comic strips were created in an earlier time and may contain cartoon violence and occasional historically-dated content, such as gags about smoking, drinking, and gunplay. Needless to say, Donald wouldn’t mix it up with these elements today; we include them here with the understanding that they reflect a bygone era. Enjoy the show! AL TALIAFERRO: THE FORGOTTEN DUCK MAN

by DAVID GERSTEIN

Following his debut in the 1934 animated short , the other three Duck Men, Taliaferro rarely drew long-form stories featuring the indefatigable needed four years and a champion within the Disney’s distinctive drake. Al’s Duck material consisted almost entirely of gag-a-day Studio in order to make the leap from the silver screen to the nation’s strips, short “tastes” of Donald designed for newspaper audiences. When reprinted comics pages. The casual fan might assume that champion was the most beloved next to the extended tales woven by a Barks, a Rosa, or a Jippes in of that elite group known as “Duck Men”—Carl Barks. Famed for creating many or collected-album formats, Taliaferro’s strips can seem slight and of Donald’s supporting characters and weaving dozens of his classic comic book almost inconsequential, even when such an assessment is the very definition of adventures, Barks stands tall not just among his peers in the Disney ranks, but an apples-to-oranges comparison. also in the pantheon of great comics creators. Extend that thought further: by the very definition of “gag-a-day,” Taliaferro’s Barks, however, was not responsible for making Donald a newspaper star. specialty was humorous comics. His Donald was seldom involved in drama- or That honor belongs to Al Taliaferro, the first and most unsung of the Duck adventure-themed stories and therefore could not display the range of emotions— Men. This feature and its companion, appearing in the next volume of The brashness, anxiety, fear, courage—that brought such depth of character to the Library of American Comics’s Donald Duck series, shine a spotlight on Taliaferro’s multi-page comic book sagas. often-underappreciated talent and his many contributions to the long history of It can be argued that slighting Taliaferro because of the thematic ground he Disney’s second-most-iconic character. did not cover is to unfairly neglect the ground he did cover—and how splendidly he covered it. • • • • • Perhaps some even pass over Taliaferro since he “only” drew the comics he worked on (whereas Rosa, Jippes, and Barks each built reputations as writer/ Despite his importance within and many contributions to the Duck canon, artists). Others produced the scripts for the Donald Duck strip, which may create a Al Taliaferro has never received the accolades bestowed upon Barks, European prejudiced view of Taliaferro as a less-accomplished creator than his peers. To the master , and (who is considered by many as the heir extent this perception exists it is a false one: Taliaferro often plotted the series and apparent to Barks’s mantle). One obvious reason for this disparity is that unlike had much to do with shaping its direction.

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He was also responsible for creating a handful of key additions to the Donald Duck “universe”—most notably those small, spry ducklings Huey, Dewey, and Louie. Creating Donald’s three precocious nephews alone should be enough to cement Al Taliaferro’s place in the pantheon of Great Duck Talent. But he did far more than that… available. A school friend first gave Al the news. Then, as he explained, “I went in and was hired on the spot: January 5, 1931.” • • • • • Easily passing muster with Walt and Roy Disney, Taliaferro was given the task of inking ’s newspaper strip—and Born in Montrose, Colorado on August 29, 1905, Charles Alfred soon, ’s companion Silly Symphonies Sunday series, which began in ABOVE: When the Story Department agreed Taliaferro moved with his family to Glendale, in 1918. His interest 1932. Later that year Taliaferro took on the responsibility of supplying to use Huey, Dewey, and Louie in a cartoon, in art was practically lifelong. Silly Symphonies artwork when Duvall shifted exclusively to the page’s writing their creator Al Taliaferro received this special thank-you memo. “I knew I was going to be a ,” he told interviewer Jim Korkis duties. in 1968. “I’ve always believed that if you want anything bad enough and you Looking at Taliaferro’s early Disney work one can sense why the studio OPPOSITE: A comparison of Gottfredson Mickey Mouse daily strips inked by Earl work hard enough for it, eventually you’ll get it.” hustled to hire him. Gottfredson in his early days was a scratchy , Duvall (top, February 24, 1931) and Al By Taliaferro’s high school years the budding draughtsman was studying Duvall a sloppy one who increased the awkwardness of characters’ poses and Taliaferro (middle, March 2, 1931) shows the improved slickness and sophistication art history and creating humorous illustrated vignettes for the Glendale High often left the black off Mickey’s nose. Taliaferro, by contrast, introduced a that Taliaferro brought to . School yearbook. Art correspondence courses further burnished Taliaferro’s roundness, smoothness, and perfectionism not seen in many of the earlier OPPOSITE bottom: Taliaferro inked some skills; upon graduating in 1924 he began taking classes at the Art Institute Disney comics. In fall 1932 a Bucky Bug serial within Silly Symphonies Mickey Mouse Gottfredson strips as late as of . At that time an exciting career seemed to surely lie ahead— featured a World War One-like battle between bugs and flies. Taliaferro drew 1938. He sometimes, as in this excerpt from the January 30th page, appears to have but when Taliaferro finished school art-related jobs had become few and far entire landscapes festooned with warriors: some of the most complex scenes done some of the penciling too. These cops between thanks to the onset of the Great Depression in 1929. Two years later Disney comics had shown up to that time. With his stylistic slickness and and robbers have the scrawny, gangly bodies of classic Taliaferro-designed bit players. cartooning was a distant goal, as the young artist was content merely to have grace, Taliaferro made the tough conquest look easy. a design position with a lighting manufacturer. Equally impressive, one year before Bucky Bug’s big battle, was the Content, that is, until he learned that the Walt Disney Studio had jobs definitive Mickey Mouse merchandising model sheet Taliaferro was tasked

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changed its name to the singular . A new comics serial featured Benny Bird, bratty hatchling from the cartoon with creating. He assembled it from existing drawings produced by Ub (1933). Next came “Penguin Isle,” adapted from (1934). Iwerks and Floyd Gottfredson, then re-inked each of the figures for Then, on September 16, 1934, came “The Wise Little Hen,” featuring that consistency. Smoothed out and standardized by Al’s elegant touch, this eponymous chicken, Peter Pig, and…Donald Duck. multitude of Mickeys remains a monument to Taliaferro’s rising star as it continues to appear on merchandise today. • • • • • The more Taliaferro excelled at each assignment, the wider the range ABOVE left: This 1931 Mickey model of Disney characters he was asked to delineate. His ink work on Mickey Taliaferro said of the initial design for his future superstar: “He was sheet consisted of pre-existing poses Mouse, entailing co-stars from Black to Horace Horsecollar, continued horrible. He had a longer neck and jutting beak and generally lacked the penciled by Floyd Gottfredson and , all reinked with Al Taliaferro’s intermittently until 1938. Though the studio record shows him “only” charm of his older, seasoned self.” masterful line. inking the strip, several comics experts believe a lot of penciling in 1937-38 Design flaws notwithstanding, Donald was a hit. Audiences loved his ABOVE right: This 1932 Christmas ad for is visibly his as well. By that point in the 1930s, however, Taliaferro had little rages, his laziness, and his endearing bad habits in the strip as much as they the Mickey Mouse newspaper strip was one of the first Mickey items drawn by to gain by sticking with Mickey. He had found a new subject. did on the movie screen. And Taliaferro grew to love him too. Taliaferro without Gottfredson’s Silly Symphonies was born as a newspaper feature starring the afore- When the “Hen” serial ended in the nation’s Sunday newspapers the involvement. Image courtesy David Lesjak. mentioned Bucky Bug, his tramp sidekick Old Man Bo, and his sweetheart Duck moved into Gottfredson’s Mickey Mouse as a regular co-star. Taliaferro June Bug; all of them were the first Disney characters ever created specifically was soon producing Silly Symphony serials (some of them for the comics. After two years the strip changed direction—Bucky was set classics), but he missed his maladjusted mallard. aside as Silly Symphonies moved closer to its namesake film series and “I ran into Walt in the hall one day,” he recounted, “and told him I

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thought it would be a good idea to do another [solo] strip using Donald Duck. Walt had a habit of raising his eyebrow and you’d know you’d hit a chord somewhere.” The initial incarnation of Donald’s solo strip was an extended run—fourteen months—within Silly Symphony, from August 30, 1936 to December 5, 1937. Scripted by , it first portrayed Donald in a bratty, childlike role similar to his early screen performances as he antagonized Clarabelle, Horace, , and Mickey’s nephews, Morty and Ferdie. Then Taliaferro pushed to modify the narrative. At his urging, Donald began to grow up. In an early 1937 sequence Clarabelle urged the Duck to “reform” his pesky ways; Morty and Ferdie’s pranks played on Donald changed as a result. Instead of kid-on-kid violence similar to that of the animated Mickey’s Orphans, it became kids versus a grumpy surrogate parent: a funnier foil. During this time Taliaferro seems to have asked himself, “If Donald is to be a parent, why saddle him with Mickey’s nephews? Why not give him nephews of his own, for whom he could feel genuine—if frustrated—responsibility?” As a result, on October 17, 1937, Al gave Donald three pesky little relatives. In a milestone of synergy, the cartoon studio’s story department promptly carried that trio from the comics pages into the world of animated shorts, catapulting Huey, Dewey, and Louie Duck to permanent stardom.

LEFT: Bucky Bug’s “War With the Flies” serial (1932-33) found Al Taliaferro drawing some of the most detailed Disney comics ever seen at that time. ABOVE: Taliaferro now and then provided gags and story ideas to Disney’s Department. In 1937, he drew this sketch of Gustav the giant for Mickey’s famous (1938) cartoon.

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