O'Connell, Michael :: Miscellaneous Artwork

Christmas Poem by Milton Caniff

Artist: Milton Caniff (All)

3 Comments - 903 Views - 1 Like

Christmas Poem by Milton Caniff Comic Art

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Stars & Stripes December 1951

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Artwork Details

Title:	Christmas Poem by Milton Caniff
Artist:	Milton Caniff (All)
Media Type:	Pen and Ink
Art Type:	Illustration
For Sale Status:	NFS
Views:	903
Likes on CAF:	1 2
Comments:	3
Added to Site:	9/11/2018
Comic Art Archive:

Description

In December 1951, the foreign edition Stars and Stripes asked Caniff to provide a special illustration for its Christmas edition of the paper. Many of the newspaper�s readers would be U.S. troops stationed in South Korea during the Korean War.

From the early days of Terry and the Pirates, Caniff had a tradition of drawing special strips to coincide with Christmas or New Year�s Day. During World War II, many of his holiday strips had military themes, often focusing on remembering loved ones who were fighting a faraway war. Caniff would continue this tradition with Steve Canyon, expanding it to include other holidays like Veteran�s Day or Armed Forces Day. Caniff was pleased for the chance to create a holiday salute for members of the military stationed overseas.

Despite the overwhelmingly positive response within the military realm and the civilian world for the message of the piece, the artist wasn�t very happy with how his artwork was treated by Stars and Stripes. In the first place, he was hoping it would be used as the first page of the paper�s comics section. Instead, it was printed as the cover of the features section. In addition, because it was a Christmas edition, someone decided it would be a good idea to present it in holiday colors with snowflakes, which tonally did not match the serious theme of the poem.

I agree with Caniff on this one. I had the opportunity to check out a copy of the printed version in the files at Ohio State. It�s a real clunker.

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About the Owner

	Michael O'Connell
Joined:	October 2014
Last Login:	January 2025
Website:	http://www.pinterest.com/frolixmike/steve-canyon-project/
Country:	UNITED STATES
On CAF:	Artworks Commented On Liked Art Site Activity on CAF

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Comments on this Artwork

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Jeff Singh
Member Since 2004

Posted on 9/12/2018

Holy cow! This is spectacular and important. I don't know how you find all these great pieces.

Michael O'Connell
Member Since 2014

Posted on 9/12/2018

Jeff Singh wrote:

Holy cow!� This is spectacular and important.� I don't know how you find all these great pieces.�

Thanks Jeff. I just keep my eyes open and look for opportunities. This one was pure dumb luck.

Ron S
Member Since 2007

Posted on 9/12/2018

That is simply spectacular.

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