It was cartoonist Al Taliaferro who created the Donald Duck pantheon and established the elements upon which Carl Barks and other Disney artists would draw. Until Carl Barks began creating original stories for comic books, Taliaferro's work offered the definitive portrait of Donald Duck. Later the two versions would coexist, each supreme in its own medium.

Taliaferro was the one who drew the comics version of The Wise Little Hen, the first movie in which Donald appeared. Then he was given the task of adapting the screen duck for comics, and drew the strip from its inception on August 30th 1936, until his death in 1969. Except for Mickey Mouse cartoonist, Floyd Gottfredson, no other Disney comic strip artist had so long tenure, or de...