Bold, Colorful & Dynamic

Milton Caniff was sort of a boyhood hero of mine, though I look back on his prodigious output of work and admit that, while some work is truly great, some of his work is almost repulsive. What a thing to admit about a hero, but some of his characters and storylines were awkward, usually when romance was involved, and he had a lot of romance tangled in his stories, he said, because it was mom and pop who bought the newspapers, not the kids.

Well anyway, much of Caniff's work is worthy of the praise generally bestowed on it, and it was a treat to be able to follow Steve Canyon from its beginning in a library of affordable, beautifully produced square-bound magazines that came out on a bi-monthly schedule. Besides the obvious attraction of Caniff's work, it was Peter Poplaski, as editor/art director, that gave 'sex appeal' to each magazine. Poplaski's graphic design for the covers were bold, colorful and dynamic—seducing me into buying each and every issue. Here's a batch of them:

Military Necessity

The great adventure cartoonist Milton Caniff created a comic strip just for servicemen during World War II, Male Call, featuring the sexy and liberated friend of G.I. and general alike—Miss Lace.

It's thought by many that the immortal Bettie Page's hairstyle was inspired by Miss Lace. In fair play turnabout, here, Jim Silke pays tribute to Miss Lace—having 'Bettie' emulate one of her iconic poses, as seen in the lower images by Caniff. You can see a nice collection of the comic strips at Mr. Door Tree's blog site, by clicking here.

Jim Silke — Bettie as Miss Lace

Milton Caniff — Miss Lace

Nostalgic Covers

Nostalgia Press was aptly named, as it certainly was in the forefront of reprinting golden age material not seen in years at that time. Yet even now I get a nostalgic feeling for the books themselves, just seeing them on my shelves, the ones for Prince Valiant, Flash Gordon, and oh yes, Terry and the Pirates.

Cartoonists' Tradition

Milton Caniff was a legendary cartoonist, influencing generations of cartoonists. So, it seemed only natural to my teenage mind that I write to him for advice on cartooning. Who knew that he would write back? And actually fulfill the request of an original. This particular piece of art was the first cartoonist's original art that I'd ever seen:

It was full of visual advice—to see the line work, the brush work, the ben day pattern shading (where you see the yellow-brown splotches is the remaining adhesive from where the ben-day dots once were, but over the years have fallen off).

The white-out! What a lesson. Lots of white-out! Not every line has to be perfect the first time around!

And the size. I knew already that cartoonists worked larger than print size, but 300%? This art was 3 times the size of what we saw in the paper! It's amazing how the detail holds up in reproduction. Below you will see the comparative sizes.

And his letter was warm and encouraging.

I see by the date on the letter that I was only 15, but yes, I had submitted a comic strip feature idea to a syndicate. It was to be stories about science—not fiction, but fascinating portrayals of true stories of science. I sent a synopsis and some samples of the first intended story, that of Percival Lowell and his amazing perceptions of the canals of Mars.

I really think I did a decent story line and my art samples don't even embarrass me now. Yet all I got from the syndicate was a form rejection, supplying no encouragement whatsoever.

Hearing from Milton Caniff, though, was hugely encouraging—not knowing that I was fulfilling a cartoonists' tradition, as experienced and portrayed here by Caniff, himself:

Comic Clips

Kevin the Bold by Kreigh Collins

Prince Valiant by Hal Foster

The beautiful Aleta

Aleta, letting her hair down 

and below Steve Canyon by Milton Caniff

Wow, bondage in a family newspaper!