Steve Canyon at 60

CHICAGO SUN-TIMES: Caniff's 'Steve Canyon' debuted 60 years ago: "Caniff is coming!

That was the breathless, front-page announcement made 60 years ago in the old Chicago Sun newspaper, a predecessor of the Sun-Times.

Famed cartoonist Milton Caniff had been stolen away from the Chicago Tribune's syndication company by Sun editor and publisher Marshall Field III -- and that wasn't the type of news to bury in the back of the paper.

It was before television, when comics -- especially adventure strips -- were major circulation draws.

With the promise of more money and the lucrative ownership of his own strip, Caniff jumped ship -- leaving behind the 'Terry and the Pirates' strip that made him famous.

But a new hero was born.

Sixty years ago this weekend, 'Steve Canyon' flew onto the pages of the Sun and 168 other daily newspapers, beginning a run that lasted until Caniff's death in 1988."