Steve Canyon
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Steve Canyon was an action/adventure comic strip written by Milton Caniff. Caniff began the strip January 7, 1947 after retiring from working on the strip for which he was most famous, Terry and the Pirates. Steve Canyon ran until June 4 1988, shortly after Caniff's death. Caniff won the Reuben Award for the strip in 1946 and 1971.
By 1946 Caniff had developed a world-wide reputation for brilliant writing and excellent art. Terry and the Pirates had made him famous, but rights to the strip were owned by the Chicago Tribune newspaper syndicate. Seeking creative control of his own work Caniff approached the Chicago Sun-Times with an idea for a new comic strip which he would own outright. Caniff's last episode for Terry and the Pirates appeared in December of 1946, and Steve Canyon appeared little more than a week later in 125 newspapers throughout the country.
Originally based on Gary Cooper, Steve Canyon was an easy-going 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 remained there for the rest of the strip.
Initially his buddies were former 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 permanent sidekick in crotchety millionaire adventurer "Happy" Easter, and a permanent love interest in Summer Olson, Calhoon's private secretary. A young Terry replacement, Reed Kimberley, also became a major character.
Caniff was famous for colorful villians and intriguing female characters and these populated the series. He was also 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. However Caniff was able to maintain the picaresque qualities of the story which ranged throughout the world.
The strip was adapted into a filmed television series of half-hour 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 who travelled from base to base until mid-season, when he became stationed at the fictitious Big Thunder Air Force Base in California. None of the supporting characters from the strip were used.
The popularity of Steve Canyon never equalled Terry and the Pirates, and the popularity of cartoon adventures in general declined through the 1960s. Meanwhile Caniff's own health was declining. Although he continued to write and ink the strip until his death, for the last decade the rough pencilling was done by Dick Rockwell, a nephew of famous illustrator Norman Rockwell.
Milton Caniff died May 3, 1988. The last 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.