Monthly Archives: April 2010

The Caniff Connection

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When discussing his influences, Jack Kirby often spoke about Milton Caniff as an artist who had a significant effect on his development. Knowing only a bit of Caniff’s style, I never really saw the influence, until Kirby list member Glen Story posted a page from Terry and the Pirates that had a particular approach to the sequencing of a fight scene.

Seldom do we see this sort of thing in a comic book or strip, possibly because it is a luxury for an artist to devote so much panel story space to something as seemingly frivolous as a fight. There must be a strong desire on the part of the artist to create something cinematic in the way of action, and what could be more exciting than a good rousing slugfest.

1 - Caniff

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