Milton Caniff's Steve Canyon was a trouble shooter/adventurer working for the United States Air Force. In this tale, he does battle with Communists in South America. Despite my best efforts, I can't identify the artist of this beautiful, painted cover. This post comes from Four Color No. 519, December 1953.
The interior, story art - according the Grand Comic Book Database (see sidebar) - is Caniff assistant, William Overgard, who ghosted Caniff's Steve Canyon strip in the early 1950's. Another Caniff Assistant, Ray Bailey, contributed the fine script (maybe). Any way you cut it, this is some prime, 1950s comic book work. The first page is the black & white inside cover, supplying us with a who's who; as well as putting on display Overguard's sweet line with a brush! Download THIS POST!
These last two pages are the inside back cover, and back cover! I love when Dell did this!
I had no idea they did a Steve Canyon Comic book. I really like the way he was inked.
ReplyDeleteCaniff was a real master. The coloring in steve Canyon is very mature...so different, yet naturally evolved from his Terry days.
ReplyDeleteI read this Steve Canyon story last
ReplyDeleteyear when I found it in a public
library. The illustrations are
vibrant as Hell. The ink dramatic.
I assumed it was from the Sunday
strip Caniff drew not from a Dell
Comic. Great read.
KW: Yep, the iking is very sweet.
ReplyDeleteJeff: The coloring is fantastic, but none of this is Caniff, except for perhaps the heads of Steve Canyon.
Tim: Yes, I love Overgard's style.
This Steve Caynon story was written for Dell Four Color. This story is an original story never appearing in the strip. There were six original Steve Canyon stories that apeared in Four Color, written (perhaps) by Ray Bailey (issues #519, 578, 641, 737, 804, 939, 1033).