MILTON CANIFF'S STEVE CANYON
Volumes 1 & 2 (1947 & 1948)

Milton Caniff
Checker Book Publishing Group

I love Checker's mission - to reprint material that's long been out of print or doesn't have a current home. Of course, this approach will appeal to fans of the original material, but will also engage new readers. When it comes to Caniff's STEVE CANYON, I'm firmly in the latter category.

Sure, I'd heard of Milton Caniff, famous cartoonist and creator of TERRY AND THE PIRATES and STEVE CANYON. However, those works seemed like they were SO before my time, and I never had a chance to check them out until now, of course.

Checker's put together an absolutely fantastic package of Caniff's early CANYON work, starting from the very first strip, originally published in 1947. The first volume (appropriately titled STEVE CANYON: 1947) collects a year's worth of Canyon's high-adventure hijinks, while the second tackles 1948.

Each volume's over 150 pages, but I was immediately struck by how DENSE the books seem - this is a lotta CANYON for the money, believe me. And despite the age of the strips reprinted, they're virtually all crisp and clean. In fact, Checker's overall presentation is beautiful, from the glossy paper to the introductions and afterwards.

Upon reading the first adventure of Steve Canyon, "Copperhead," I was amazed by the timeless quality to Caniff's adventure series. These tales might be almost sixty years old, but they're sure to appeal to any fan of high adventurers like Indiana Jones.

The premise of Caniff's CANYON world is simple - a former Air Force pilot, Steve Canyon opened up an air charter business, Horizons Unlimited. With his intrepid crew - copilot Breck Nazaire, engineer "Oily" Reilly, navigator "Beader" Rugger, radioman "Two-Way" Touhey, clerk "Mudder" McGee, and secretary Feeta-Feeta - Canyon to adventure in all corners of the globe.

You'd expect vintage material to have a quaint feel to the dialogue, but Caniff presciently avoids that here, almost without fail. Within the limits of the original medium, he quickly crafts each distinctive character and establishes their trademark quirks. Even his attempts at, shall we say, "ethnic accents" are sharper than many of his contemporaries.

Caniff's artistic abilities are justifiably legendary. Some mention his facial expressions (and rightly so), but I found myself continually astonished by his grasp of body language. Whether it's a seemingly throwaway gesture or a purposeful stance, it's clear Caniff's thought out every panel of each strip.

Over the course of two years, Caniff sends Canyon and friends on several missions and introduces an array of new faces - the seductive Copper Calhoun, prospector Happy Easter, the mysterious Madam Lynx, the masked Maid of Nine.

If you're a fan of rakish adventurers, globe-spanning suspense, or just want to see a comics legend at his peak - Checker's done you a great service. MILTON CANIFF'S STEVE CANYON is a collection of mini-masterpieces, adding up to one groundbreaking opus.

Reviewer: Doug Giffin

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Doug Giffin is the creator/writer of Harlow's End: Elijah's Tale (as previously seen in Digital Webbing Presents #3). To see more of Doug's work, visit his website at www.psychoengine.com

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