Milton Caniff - Terry and the Pirates - 15 July 1940

I have been on a Caniff quest of late.

This daily is near the beginning of what would be a year+ long storyline. Raven Sherwood was an independent missionary worker who ran an orphanage. She had asked the hotel to send her a secretary. Hu Shee took advantage and presented herself to Raven who was unaware that Hu Shee had an ulterior motive other than obtaining a job. This is the beginning of a fateful meeting where Hu Shee enlists Raven to help the Chinese - and ultimately the Dragon Lady - in an adventure that would eventually lead to Sherwood's death in the strip, dying in Dude Hennick's arms in the dailies from 15 through 17 October 1941. This actually caused a national outrage with readers of the strip sending flowers to the newspaper, while others inundated Caniff with tons of letters. Some fans called the strip's writer a murderer.

While it does not feature Pat or Terry, it does show Raven and Hu SHee. Having left the "blue wash" dailies behind several years ago, Caniff relies more on heavy blacks and shadows for his cinematographic effects.