Steve Canyon

"Steve Canyon" was a long-running American adventure comic strip by writer-artist Milton Caniff. It was published from January 13, 1947, (starting shortly after Caniff had retired from penning his previous popular strip: "Terry and the Pirates"), until June 4 1988, shortly after Caniff's death. Caniff won the Reuben Award for the strip in 1971.

History

By 1946, Caniff had developed a worldwide reputation for both his writing and art on the syndicated newspaper strip "Terry and the Pirates". However, the rights for the strip he had created, written and drawn (for Chicago Tribune newspaper syndicate editor Captain Joseph Patterson), were entirely owned by the syndicate. Seeking creative control of his own work, Caniff approached the "Chicago Sun-Times" with the idea for a strip he could for which he could retain the ownership. The last Caniff episode of "Terry and the Pirates" (he was succeeded by George Wunder) appeared in December 1946, and "Steve Canyon" appeared on January 13, 1947. The strip debuted in 168 country-wide newspapers.Many comic-strip creators before and since employ uncredited assistants or ghost artists, and Caniff was no exception. In 1952, he hired comic book artist Dick Rockwell (nephew of famed illustrator Norman Rockwell) to be his assistant on the strip. While Caniff wrote the strip and drew the main characters, Rockwell penciled and inked the secondary characters and backgrounds, before Caniff provided the finishing touches. Rockwell continued on "Canyon" until Caniff's death on May 3, 1988. [ [http://westchesterweekly.com/gbase/News/content?oid=oid:1741 "Fairfield County Weekly" (February 13, 2003): "Rogues' Gallery: Courtroom Artist Richard Waring Rockwell Sketches Rogues from Gotti to Ganim", by Joe Miksch] ] [ [http://www.newsfromme.com/archives/2006_04_21.html#011371 "POV Online" (April 21, 2006): "Dick Rockwell, R.I.P.", by Mark Evanier] ] The last syndicated "Steve Canyon" strip was a tribute to Caniff in two panels, one drawn by legendary cartoonist Bill Mauldin, the other containing the signatures of 78 fellow cartoonists.

On June 23, 1997, an authorized 50th anniversary "Steve Canyon" comic strip was published by the "Air Force Times", a civilian weekly newspaper covering the United States Air Force. "Steve Canyon" and the U.S. Air Force having been created the same year, the shared anniversary was celebrated by "Canyon" appearing as part of a 96-page insert: "The First Fifty Years: U.S. Air Force 1947-1997". Drawn in the style of a Sunday strip, the story and art for this commemorative strip were provided by Air Force Master Sergeant Russ Maheras, with coloring by Carl Gafford. On Monday, September 24, 2007, the same newspaper "Air Force Times" published a 60th anniversary "Steve Canyon" comic strip written and drawn by the same retired Master Sgt. Maheras. [ [http://dailycartoonist.com/index.php/2007/09/18/modernized-steve-canyon-coming-on-monday/ Gardner, Alan. "Modernized Steve Canyon coming on Monday"] , DailyCartoonist.com, September 18, 2007] The color, Sunday-style strip depicts Brigadier General Steve Canyon in Afghanistan, investigating Taliban activity. [ [http://www.militarytimes.com/static/projects/pages/stevecanyon60th.pdf MilitaryTimes.com: "Steve Canyon" 60th-anniversary commemorative comic strip] ]

Cast

Visually based on Gary CooperFact|date=February 2007, Steve Canyon was an easygoing adventurer with a soft heart. Originally a veteran running his own air-transport business, the character returned to the U.S. Air Force during the Korean war and stayed in the military for the remainder of the strip's run.

Initially, his buddies were fellow veterans, and romantic interest was provided by Copper Calhoon - a kind of capitalist version of the popular Dragon Lady character Caniff had created for "Terry and the Pirates". Eventually, however, Canyon developed a sometime-sidekick in crotchety millionaire adventurer "Happy" Easter, a permanent love interest in Summer Olson, Calhoon's private secretary, and General Philerie, who is based on legendary World War II hero Phil Cochran, who is from Erie (Phil-Erie). The young, Terry-like Reed Kimberley also became a major character.

Caniff was intensely patriotic, and with Canyon's return to the military, the story began to revolve around Cold War intrigue and the responsibilities of American citizens. Despite this shift in tone, Caniff was able to maintain the picaresque quality of his globally-set stories.

Models

Caniff was famous for colorful villains and intriguing female characters, such as the lovely exiled ruler, Princess Snowflower and Madame Lynx. The character of Madame Lynx was based on Madame Egelichi, the femme fatale spy played by Ilona Massey in the Marx Brothers movie "Love Happy" (1949). The character stirred Caniff's imagination so much that he hired Ilona Massey personally to pose for him."Pageant" vol. 8, #11 (May 1953)] Besides casting Ilona Massey as Madame Lynx, Caniff also structured Pipper the Piper after John Kennedy, and Miss Mizzzou after Marilyn Monroe

The character of Charlie Vanilla (who would frequently appear with an ice cream cone in hand), was based on Canniff's longtime friend Charles Russhon, a former photographer and U.S. Air Force lieutenant who became a technical adviser five James Bond films. [citeweb|url=http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.htmlres=9D05E0DF123BF93BA15755C0A964948260|title=Charles J. Russhon dies aged 71|publisher=New York Times|date=1982-06-28|accessdate=2007-12-01]

Other media

The strip was adapted into a filmed, half-hour television series of 34 episodes on the NBC network in 1958–1959 (with reruns on ABC in 1960). Dean Fredericks played Canyon as a troubleshooter for the Air Force, spending half the season travelling from base to base before becoming the commanding officer stationed at the strip's fictitious Big Thunder Air Force Base in California for the remainder. With the exception of General "Shanty" Towne (in the pilot episode), none of the other supporting characters from the newspaper strip appeared in the series.

A statue to Steve Canyon was erected in Idaho Springs, Colorado, and a nearby mountain canyon was renamed "Steve Canyon". Happy Easter was reportedly modeled after an eccentric who lived in nearby Central City. A mosaic, of Steve Canyon's ward Poteet Canyon, stands in front of the city Fire Station in the town of Poteet, Texas.

Collections

Kitchen Sink Press published "Steve Canyon Magazine" for 21 issues, until replacing it with trade paperback collections using the same numbering:

* "Steve Canyon v.22 In Formosa's Dire Straits" (1989, ISBN 0-87816-044-2, reprints Feb 8, 1955 to August 8, 1955)
* "Steve Canyon v.23 The Scarlet Princess" (1989, reprints August 9, 1955 to April 11, 1956)
* "Steve Canyon v.24 Taps for 'Shanty' Town" (1989, reprints April 12, 1956 to November 28, 1956)
* "Steve Canyon v.25 Damma Exile" (1991, ISBN 0-87816-061-2, reprints Nov 29, 1956 to Sept 24, 1957)
* "Steve Canyon v.26 War Games" (1992, ISBN 0-87816-066-3, reprints Sept 25, 1957 to April 7, 1958)

In 2006, Checker Book Publishing Group began releasing a year-by-year collection of "Steve Canyon":

* "Steve Canyon: 1947" (ISBN 0-9710249-9-5)
* "Steve Canyon: 1948" (ISBN 0-9741664-1-3)
* "Steve Canyon: 1949" (ISBN 0-9710249-1-X, February 9, 1949 and February 18, 1950)
* "Steve Canyon: 1950" (ISBN 1-933160-51-9, reprints January 29 to October 7, 1950)
* "Steve Canyon: 1951" (ISBN 1-933160-10-1, reprints October 8, 1950 to Nov 14, 1951)
* "Steve Canyon: 1952" (ISBN 1-933160-55-1, reprints April 9, 1952 to May 14, 1953)
* "Steve Canyon: 1953" (ISBN 1-933160-57-8, reprints May 15, 1953 to August 5, 1954)
* "Steve Canyon: 1954" (ISBN 1-933160-23-3, reprints August 6, 1954 to August 8, 1955)
* "Steve Canyon: 1955" (ISBN 1-933160-73-X, reprints August 9, 1955 to 1956)

Footnotes

References

* [http://www.toonopedia.com/canyon.htm Don Markstein's Toonopedia: Steve Canyon]

External links

* [http://www.humorousmaximus.com/stevecanyon Humorous Maximus: "Steve Canyon"] (comic strips online)
* [http://stevecanyondvd.blogspot.com/ Steve Canyon TV Series News] (official site, Estate of Milton Caniff)
* [http://www.animationarchive.org/2007/03/comics-milton-caniffs-steve-canyon.html Milton Caniff's Steve Canyon Dailies] (official site, comic strip art scans)
* [http://cartoons.osu.edu/index.php Cartoon Research Library] (Houses the Milton Caniff Collection)