Charles Alfred "Al" Taliaferro ( ; August 29, 1905 – February 3, 1969), was an American Disney comics artist who produced Disney comic strips for King Features Syndicate. Taliaferro is best known for his work on the Donald Duck comic strip. Many of his strips were written by Bob Karp. Family background The Taliaferros trace their origins to Northern Italy and were one of the early families who settled in the Colony of Virginia during the 17th century. The family name, originally , literally means "Ironcutter" in the Italian language. Early career After his family moved to Glendale, California, Taliaferro studied at the Art Institute of Los Angeles, California. Following his graduation, Taliaferro was hired as a designer for light fixtures. In January 1931, Taliaferro was hired by Walt Disney Studios as an animator, but soon transferred to the comic strip department. At the time, Disney comics were limited to the Mickey Mouse comic strip, with Floyd Gottfredson as its main artist. Taliaferro was hired as an inker for Gottfredson's drawings. Taliaferro also served as the inker for a model sheet for the Mickey Mouse character. The model sheet would later be featured in Disney merchandising. Disney soon launched a Silly Symphony comic strip (1932–1939), based on the Silly Symphony short film series. The strip debuted on January 10, 1932, as a Sunday comic strip. It would appear on a weekly schedule, in full color. The original writer and penciller for the comic strip was Earl Duvall, with Taliaferro serving as his inker. In 1933, Duvall quit the strip and the Disney studio, as he was hired by Leon Schlesinger Productions. Taliaferro replaced him as the comic strip's penciller. The new main writer of the comic strip was Ted Osborne, but the comic strip also featured a number of stories written by Merrill De Maris. The comic strip had started by introducing a new character, not based on any previous Disney animated short. The character was Bucky Bug, an anthropomorphic insect whose creation is credited to Duvall and Taliaferro. Bucky Bug would continue to be the star of the comic strip until March 4, 1934. He was the second Disney character (after Mickey Mouse) to become the star of his own comic strip series. The Bucky Bug stories were typical for a talking animal series, though every character was either an insect or another type of invertebrate. The initial storyline