Milton Caniff - Steve Canyon daily - 6 August 1951

In 1946 there were no creator's rights. Milton Caniff had created and drawn Terry and the Pirates for over 13 years, making it a very successful strip. Yet all rights for the strip belonged to the Chicago Tribune newspaper syndicate.

In what was then a bold move, Caniff negotiated with the Field Enterprises syndicate offering to create a new strip for them... but he would retain ownership. Thus, in December of 1946, Caniff's final episode of Terry and the Pirates appeared (and then George Wunder took over the strip) and his new strip, Steve Canyon, debuted in 168 newspapers weeks later on January 13 1947. As many are aware, he continued Steve Canyon for over forty years until it ended on 4 June 1988... almost two months after he passed away.

This is a daily from 6 August 1951, over 4.5 years into the series, where the early characters are nearly fully formed. As always, Canyon was not only a symbol of the Air Force, but always complementary; as we see here in the last panel. And nice planes!

Just recently, there was a bit of a controversy on ComicArt-L regarding someone putting their stamp on the back of an original. Here is an example of how comic art was treated in 1952. When I bought this strip it arrived in a simple black frame, with a stamp showing it was done in November of 1952. Not only was the backing cardboard, but the strip had been glued to another board and trimmed almost to the panel borders. I know we are all more aware of conservation now; obviously in 1952 that was not the case.

As much as I wish the framer had not done that, I am glad this one survived. It is obviously one Caniff sent out to a fellow Ohioan.. before the bulk of them were donated to Ohio State University.