Pretty good article….
By Rachel Morris
Milton Caniff never served in the military, but, his spirit was on virtually every battlefield of WW II. His artwork on the nose of fighters and bombers and in thousands of military papers touched those in combat in ways nothing else could. Born in 1907, Caniff moved from Ohio to New York in 1932 to pursue his career as a cartoonist. Two years later he found fame with adventure strip
Terry and the Pirates, published daily by the
Chicago Tribune New York News Syndicate. When WW II broke out, Caniff was deemed medically unfit for military service. Instead, the fiercely patriotic cartoonist used his artwork to raise the morale of U.S. troops, with his pen becoming a popular weapon in the Allied arsenal. The Syndicate owned all rights to
Terry and the Pirates, so Caniff began producing a free version of the strip for military newspapers. First appearing in October 1942, within months it developed into a standalone story titled
Male Call, featuring a cast of new characters. Thanks to the allure of voluptuous femme fatale Miss Lace,
Male Call quickly became an enduring favorite. Lace was a natural progression from the Burma character in
Terry and the Pirates, but where Burma was blonde with a hint of vice, Lace was brunette and, according to Caniff, "Innocent … but sexy as hell."
