Vol. 4: 1941-1942
by Milton Caniff
Escape from Hong Kong
Jan 25 - Jul 18, 1942
This is the first of twelve stories in what Carl Horak, author of the Terry and the Pirates Companion, considers to be the fourth era of Caniff’s run on the strip. This era begins in late Jan 1942 and ran through early Nov 1945 and is called The War Years in the companion book.
The Wikipedia article on Terry and the Pirates breaks the entire series down into 60 arcs. It breaks this arc down into the following arcs:
36 - (1/24/42 - 3/29/42) "Refugees"
37 - (3/30/42 - 6/12/42) "Normandie Meets the Dragon Lady"
38 - (6/13/42 - 8/21/42) "With the Air Corps"
01/07/23
Jun 14, 1942 - Normandie and the other women take to the road but it isn’t long before they see Japanese soldiers approaching.
01/08/23
Jun 15-17, 1942 - Normandie rushes to save Merrily and in the process of doing so they get separated from the other women.
One of the Chinese women, (1) thinking that Normandie will get captured by the Japanese soldiers and (2) knowing how how the Japanese soldiers treat women prisoners, opts to try and shoot her with a “fire stick”. She misses Normandie, who trips and falls, but kills some of the Japanese soldiers.
What kind of reasoning is that to try and kill someone who was left in your care?
01/09/23
Jun 18-20, 1942 - Nip-Nip saves Normandie and Merrily from a Japanese soldier and then dies. He told them before he expired to return to his hideout. Normandie and Merrily head there.
I guess that’s one way to get rid of a character.
01/10/23
Jun 21, 1942 - Normandie and Merrily trudge on trying to put as much distance as possible between themselves and the Japanese soldiers. They lie down for the night to sleep but they are spotted by the Japanese troops.
This strip ends with Normandie gripping the knife she has as the Japanese soldiers approach her. She is ready to lash out to protect herself and Merrily. I really want to read the next strip right now but I will hold off until tomorrow.
01/12/23
Jun 22-24, 1942 - Normandie puts up a fight but she is eventually captured by a foursome of Japanese soldiers. She tries sarcasm on their commanding officer and he slaps her.
01/13/23
Jun 25-27, 1942 - Normandie stubbornly refuses to divulge any information other than her name until they threaten to torture Merrily. She hands over the map that Merrily drew on.
It has been almost two weeks now that Normandie has been the central character in the story. I’m not objecting but I wonder how much longer this will continue? I don’t recall the strip ever focusing on a character other than Pat or Terry for such a long time.
01/14/23
Jun 28, 1942 - the Japanese commanding officer leads Normandie and Merrily to believe that they are about to be executed by firing squad but in the end that isn’t what happens.
This is bizarre and in my mind not very effective storytelling or very funny.
01/15/23
Jun 29-Jul 1, 1942 - the Japanese commander sees through Normandie’s lies. She fears the worst and asks if she can put Merrily to bed first.
Normandie seems to fear that he is going to rape her. That is implied by his words and her reactions. Will he really do that? I’m sure they won’t show it if he does. I’m not sure that he will. This may just be misdirection on the part of Caniff.
01/16/23
Jul 2-4, 1942 - Normandie barricades herself and Merrily in the next room. The Japanese commander is furious but decides to let her stay there without food rather than have his men break down the door.
The last panel in the third strip shows an American plane flying. Who is in that airplane? I don’t know and can’t tell based on the dialogue.
01/17/23
Jul 5, 1942 - Normandie continues to resist the Japanese commander. She quotes from the Declaration of Independence. The American airplane prepares to make an emergency landing despite the proximity of Japanese troops.
Normandie also quotes something that sounds like it was probably from a movie: M’proud Bee-You-Tay. I did a some research but I can’t figure out what it might be a reference to.
There still isn’t enough evidence to determine who is in that plane. Could it be Dude Hennick?
01/18/23
Jul 6-8, 1942 - Normandie watches as the Japanese troops react to the American aircraft. The plane lands on a road. The crew is helped by Chinese farmers.
Normandie says something about United Nations forces but the UN wasn’t created until after World War 2.
The crew of the airplane still have yet to be identified by name.
01/19/23
Jul 9-11, 1942 - the Chinese farmers help hide the American bomber. The Japanese commander is infuriated when his aircraft can’t locate the bomber but he comes up with a plan to flush out the location of the American aviators. His plan involves Normandie and Merrily.
Still no clue as to who the Americans are. None of them have been given names. I’m starting to doubt that one of them is Dude Hennick.
01/20/23
Jul 12, 1942 - the Japanese commander‘s plan works as the Americans airmen fall prey to Merrily’s plea for help.
I love the color and the use of silhouettes in some of these panels.
01/22/23
Jul 13-15, 1942 - the American airman gets wise to what the Japanese are up to and turns the tables on them.
I’m happy to see this turn of events. Maybe I shouldn’t be surprised but it didn’t look like things were headed in this direction.
01/23/23
Jul 16-18, 1942 - the American airman takes the Japanese soldiers prisoner. He forces them to carry Normandie back to the airplane. The American bomber leaves with Normandie and Merrily. They leave the Japanese soldiers in the hands of the Chinese peasants.
This seems to wrap up this part of the story arc neatly. I assume that the story is about to shift back to either Terry or Pat.
The second half of arc 38 is its own arc according to the Terry and the Pirates Companion. I have decided to break things off here based on the arcs in the companion book.
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