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Written by Gabe Bullard Thursday, 27 September 2007 17:00

The first two years of the legendary adventure strip from Milton Caniff, one of the most influential cartoonists of the early 20th century, are collected in this handsome new hardcover.

 

 

367 Pages FC and B&W; $49.95 hardcover

(W / A: Milton Caniff)

 

If I had to make a list of my least favorite newspaper comics, all of the top five would be soap opera or adventure strips. It's not that I'm particularly fond of Garfield, but its lack of continuity lets me know that each day's strip is completely unrelated to the previous decades of strips. Even if I read Brenda Starr Monday through Saturday for months, I have no idea what's happening on any individual day. It's because comic strips are so short that I have trouble finding any reason to familiarize myself with the new characters.

 

It's not like that with Peanuts or other strips with lots of characters. Since most adventure strips are drawn more realistically than comedic strips and since they're printed so small and with such little detail, it's hard to tell new characters apart. After one Mark Trail story is finished, another starts up involving what looks like the same people only in different clothes.

 

Maybe that's why I never got into adventure strips: I just assumed the format was no good for serious storytelling. That is, until I got this anthology to review. This book collects the first two years (1934-1936) of Terry and the Pirates, the legendary adventure strip from Milton Caniff, also the creator of Steve Canyon and one of the most influential cartoonists of the early 20^th century. And, like books of classic comedic strips, this collection shows just how far downhill the funny pages have gone.

 

The book is divided into three sections. First are the Sunday strips, presented in their original full-color format. These strips tell a story completely different than the daily black and white strips, which comprise section two. Eventually, the two storylines merge, and section three has both Sunday and daily strips in chronological order.

 

The fact that the strips are presented uninterrupted makes it much easier to follow the stories. Sections one and two start a little slow with Terry, the titular blond scamp, and his manly, square-jawed pal Pat embarking on some fairly basic journeys/treasure hunts with Connie, their Chinese caricature of a servant, at their side. They don't worry about danger, but eventually end up at the mercy of a gang of pirates. Terry makes wise cracks, Connie fumbles about, and Pat punches all of the bad guys. Eventually the three escape, relax, make bad jokes and get started again.

 

But near the end of section two, things start to change. Pat becomes darker. He falls in love, but rejects the woman. This turn of events transforms Pat from all-American hunk into a brooding, conflicted leading man. He's tough and violent, but not always heroic. Around this same time, Terry develops actual emotions and Connie's dialogue stops being a constant string of jumbled English with l's in for r's. (By 1930's standards, Connie was probably far more politically correct than he is now.)

 

When the characters become deeper, so do the stories. They go from cookie-cutter 30s adventures to violent, cinematic epics, presented in four panel doses. These more developed stories work just as well as comic books from the same era, and the firm grounding in reality gives them an edge of authenticity that is nearly unrivaled to this day.

 

Throughout the metamorphoses, though, the art remains high-caliber. It's just real enough to set moods and scenes, but cartoony enough to make each character distinct. The blend of exaggeration and realism makes the violence easier to stomach as well. There's no blood when a person is shot, but the line drawn from the bullet and the looks on victims' faces make it clear the impact was deadly.

 

The last few stories alone are worth the price for this wonderfully printed hard cover tome. The tales of Terry and Pat's battles with Pyzon, Captain Judas and the infamous Dragon Lady will surely set the record straight as to the power of adventure comic strips. | Gabe Bullard

Learn more about Terry and the Pirates at the IDW Publishing website.