After abandoning
the popular "Terry and the Pirates" strip in 1946, Caniff launched
"Steve Canyon," a similarly red-blooded series featuring a globetrotting
pilot who specialized in dangerous assignments in far-flung locales, vanquishing
foes and breaking hearts wherever he went. If the new strip lacked its
predecessor's romantic exoticism, it still sported the same strengths--high
adventure, crackling dialogue, and gorgeous dames--and it showcased Caniff's
boldly realistic drawing style and cinematic storytelling techniques.
Inaugurating a series, these volumes reprint, from sharp black-and-white
proofs, daily and Sunday episodes from the strip's first two years. The
stories, taking Canyon from the Middle East to Burma, offer heavy doses
of intrigue and derring-do, and largely avoid the jingoism the strip took
on a few years later when, reflecting the cold war zeitgeist, Steve joined
the air force and battled commies. Even then, Caniff's elan generally
overcame the propaganda. Aficionados recognize Caniff as one of the field's
most accomplished and influential masters; Checker's affordable reprints
allow his talent recognition by a broader audience.
Ah, the end of the 1940’s, when women had "intuition" and men who had fought "the Japs" pined for the excitement of a military life. Milt Caniff sketches an era of arch-eyebrowed villainesses with hearts of gold, and heroes who are almost as quick with a witticism as with their fists. Muscular and lantern-jawed, Steve Canyon considers himself a cowboy of the airways, seeking adventure in the cockpit of a plane as the owner of Horizons Unlimited, a freelance international shipping concern. According to his secretary, Steve is a nearly-bankrupt ne’er-do-well whose charm won’t protect him much longer from mounting debt and a seemingly terminal lack of gainful employment. Just as the situation begins to look bleak, Steve and his band of ex-military pals are handed a break in the form of a shipping job for the proud and high-handed Copper Calhoon. Debt and a love of adventure call Steve away from Copper’s side to assist a mining company in transporting some equipment before this relationship can blossom. Steve is once again catapulted into a scene of international high jinks.... more
