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: