Milton Caniff Terry and the Pirates

The more I get into this hobby, the more I appreciate Caniff's genius. He is truly one of the masters of this medium, one of the pioneers and he created some of the most memorable and endearing characters. I only wish he had been able to continue with Terry but I understand he needed to grow and evolve and Steve Canyon afforded him that opportunity. Here is my collection of Terry and the Pirate originals, other Caniff pieces can be found in my other Caniff gallery.

My favorite year for Terry is 1939. Those than know me know to the point of nausea how much I love this particular run. Here Terry saves a shot and wounded Dragon Lady from two pursuing thugs(see May 1939 daily). In thanks for this, the Dragon Lady agrees to help Terry with a little problem he has, he can't dance. Fearing he will not be able to impress April Kane at the ball they are to attend, he makes plans to leave China. He had just written a note to April saying he can't take here to the Governor's Ball. He is on the way to deliver the letter when he happens upon some action and sees someone being shot at dumping something into the water. It turns out to be the Dragon Lady in disguise. He nurses her back to health in secrecy and she gives him dancing and life lessons. April does get the note and decides to go to the Ball with Terry's love rival for April, Deeth Cripin the Third. Just as Terry becomes confident in his dancing he rushes to find April only to find out she has accepted an invitation to the Ball with Crispin. A broken hearted Terry is again about to give up until talked to by the Dragon Lady who attends the Ball as Terry's date. I have the one daily with the Dragon Lady dancing with Terry (and giving him advice) already in my collection. Of course, the Dragon Lady's help is not strictly altruistic and she has other plans that night which involve assassinating another attendee. This story-line continues from the first story of 1939 which begins with the introduction of April Kane (see my Jan 1, 1939 Sunday for the first appearance of April and Sanjak) and the twisted plot of the cross dressing, disguise wearing lesbian Sanjak who hypnotizes April for unspecified purposes only to be saved by Pat and Terry. Oh the drama! The dancing lesson sequence is also the story-line that plunges Terry from an adventure strip into a war strip and we see the Dragon Lady slowly move into her role in the Chinese Militia.

I am also a big fan of the the 1935-36 story-line involving Normandie Drake and Pat Ryan. It was our first real glimpse into how great a storyteller Caniff was and a fun romance story between the socialite and the ruffian that would later see Normandie kidnapped by her family to prevent her romance with Pat and see her married off to the loathsome and cowardly Sandhurst.

Caniff craeated many great characters and storylines but I know I certainly have my favorites. The image above is from one of my early dailies and features a nice Chinese Junk and Caniff's signature blue wash that added mood and character to his originals. To answer the question posed in that panel of "What's that up ahead?", I'd have to say 10 years of the best comic strip ever.