Donald Duck

Donald Duck is an American comic strip by the Walt Disney Company starring Donald Duck, distributed by King Features Syndicate. The first daily Donald Duck strip debuted in American newspapers on February 7, 1938. On December 10, 1939, the strip expanded to a Sunday page as well. Writer Bob Karp and artist Al Taliaferro worked together on the strip for more than 30 years. The strip ended in May 1995. Starting in 2015, IDW Publishing's Library of American Comics imprint has been reprinting hardcover collections of the Donald Duck strip. As of 2019, five volumes of Donald Duck: The Complete Daily Newspaper Comics and two volumes of Donald Duck: The Complete Sunday Comics have been released. Publication history Disney artist Al Taliaferro was hired at the Walt Disney Studio in January 1931, and given the job of inking Floyd Gottfredson's art for the Mickey Mouse comic strip. When the Sunday topper strip Silly Symphony was created in January 1932, Taliaferro began inking that strip as well, for Earl Duvall's pencils. By June, Duvall moved on and Taliaferro handled all of the art duties for Silly Symphony. In 1934, Taliaferro drew the Silly Symphony story arc based on the cartoon The Wise Little Hen, which featured the first appearance of Donald Duck as a secondary character. That story, which lasted on the Sunday pages from September to December 1934, gave Taliaferro a particular liking for the Duck's character. He pitched the idea of a Donald strip to Walt Disney, and Disney allowed him a trial run in the Silly Symphony comic. Finishing up a "The Three Little Pigs" adaptation, Taliaferro and writer Ted Osborne began an extended run of Donald Duck gag strips from August 30, 1936, to December 5, 1937.