Collected interviews with the master cartoonist who created Terry and
the Pirates and Steve Canyon In this collection of more than a dozen
interviews one of the giants of American comic strips talks about his
life and his craft. The years spanning 1937 to 1986, when the interviews
were conducted, embrace almost all of Caniff's career as he was
producing the legendary Terry and the Pirates and his post-World War II
masterpiece Steve Canyon. In long interviews with such comics luminaries
as Jules Feiffer and Will Eisner, Caniff (1907-1988) discusses his
signature chiaroscuro style, his passion for realism in every detail,
and his relationships with such other cartooning greats as Al Capp (Li'l
Abner), Noel Sickles (Scorchy Smith), and Alex Raymond (Flash Gordon).
As Caniff speaks earnestly about his art, his techniques, and his
intentions, he discloses his inspirations. He based his characters on
real persons and his material on contemporary politics and military
issues. He gives candid opinions about the effects of the marketplace,
business, and sales upon his art. "I would have created Blondie if I'd
known that I could have sold it, you can be damn sure." He notes that
the cause for terminating his association with Terry and the Pirates and
his creation of Steve Canyon was neither lack of interest nor censorship
but the opportunity to exert full creative control over his work. Few of
the interviews in this volume are likely to have been seen or read
widely, for most have been gleaned from publications not in general
circulation. Interviews from U.S. military publications attest to
Caniff's status as a spokesman for the military, particularly for the
Air Force. These interviews reveal how Caniff contributed to uplifting
servicemen's wartime morale with both Terry and the Pirates and Male
Call, a somewhat risqué strip he drew for military newspapers, and how
Caniff's loyalty to the military cost his strip vital circulation as
Vietnam War protest mounted. Besides interviews this collection includes
rare examples of Caniff's graphic art--preliminary sketches for Steve
Canyon, pin-ups from military publications, drawings he created for the
magazine of his college fraternity, and samples of vintage strips he
drew. Robert C. Harvey, a cartoonist, columnist, and critic of cartoon
art, and the author of The Art of the Comic Book: An Aesthetic History,
The Art of the Funnies: An Aesthetic History, and (with Gus Arriola)
Accidental Ambassador Gordo: The Comic Strip Art of Gus Arriola (all
published by the University Press of Mississippi), was appointed by
Caniff as his official biographer.
