Milton Caniff

Milton Caniff was the world-renowned comics artist known as the "Rembrandt of the Comics". His influence can be seen not only in the works of such comics artists as Jack Kirby and Will Eisner, but also in the works of Federico Fellini and Orson Welles. Caniff ented the comics world as an office boy for a local Ohio newspaper. After working at several papers, he moved to New York in 1932, where he obtained a job with the Associated Press. His first comic, "The Gay Thirties", was a single panel comic.

In 1933, when he heard that the newspaper syndicate was looking for a new weekly, he spent the weekend creating "Dickie Dare", about an imaginative little boy who liked to dream about the adventure stories he'd read. The strip was moderately successful, and caught the eye of the editor of the Chicago "Tribune", Captain Joe Patterson. Patterson had the idea for an adventure strip featuring a young boy and his adult guardian/sideick. The strip, "Terry and the Pirates", was a huge hit, spawning a radio show, movie serials, dozens of tie-ins, and a huge fan base. During the war, Caniff found that his strip was popular among servicemen, partially for the stories, but mostly for his ability to create and draw sexy female characters. Caniff, unable to join the armed forces due to a childhood injury, created the strip "Male Call" for the Camp Newspaper Service. "Male Call" was somewhat risque for its time (though harmless looking today), featuring a scantily clad heroine named Miss Lace.

Caniff supplied the strip free of charge to the armed services, which ran from 1942 to 1946.

In 1946, unhappy over the fact that he could not obtain ownership of the "Terry" strip, Caniff turned the work over to artist George Wunder (that same year, Caniff received the very first Rueben award from the National Cartoonists' Society for his work on the strip). Caniff went over to Field Enterprises Syndicate with an idea for a new strip. This strip, instead of having a young boy as the hero, would have an adult, but would still have the rollicking adventures (and sexy women) of "Terry". The new strip, "Steve Canyon", was an even bigger success than "Terry", and ran for the next 41 years. While it's true that the storylines in "Canyon" may not have moved with the times (especially during the Vietnam era), the strip was able to survive as long as it did because of the strength and power of Caniff's drawings.

Milt Caniff created "Uncle Bud," the squadron insignia for the "Fighting Cocks" of the 65th Fighter Squadron, 57th Fighter Group during World War II. This Red Rooster was painted on the nose of all P-47 Thunderbolt fighters in the squadron. Images may be seen in the 1947 documentary Thunderbolt (1947) directed by John Sturges and William Wyler.

Biography in: "The Scribner Encyclopedia of American Lives". Volume Two, 1986-1990, pages 158-160. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1999.