Vol. 5: 1943-1944
By Milton Caniff
The Lost Girl
Feb 15 - Aug 27, 1943
This is the fourth 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 began 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:
41 - "Terry Joins Up" (2/20/43 to 3/21/43)
42 - "Escape" (3/22/43 to 5/16/43)
43 - "Amnesia" (5/17/43 to 8/29/43)
05/07/23
Feb 15-17, 1943 - Flip arrives back at the air base and is reunited with Taffy. Rouge gets turned over to the Chinese military because of the assistance she provided to the Japanese military.
That was a fairly abrupt end to the previous arc. One read of the situation is that the previous arc is not over yet. I could go either way on this and am happy to say that this is the beginning of the next arc.
Feb 18-20, 1943 - Flip and Taffy talk. Terry, at another base, finds out his fate.
Caniff keeps readers in suspense for another day but the title of this arc (Terry Joins Up) more or less gives away what is coming.
05/09/23
Feb 21, 1943 - Flip and Taffy look at airplanes and talk.
Taffy is thinking that Flip still has his mind on Rouge and seems to want to know where their relationship stands. I guess I will have wait another day or more to find out what was on that paper that Terry was handed in the previous strip.
05/10/23
Feb 22-24, 1943 - Terry is given the opportunity to join the US Army and to be sent to Chinese Flight Sergeant School. He accepts the offer but he has to pass the physical and mental exams before he will be formally accepted.
I think this means that he will be inducted into the army as a sergeant, the rank which he was falsely wearing, if he passes the exams. I seriously doubt that he won’t pass the exams.
05/11/23
Feb 25-27, 1943 - Terry is given a number of tests. He doesn’t pass them all with flying colors but the officers testing him decide to send him to the Chinese Flight School.
There are seven panels in the second of these strips. It has been a while since the last time I saw that many panels in a weekday strip.
05/12/23
Feb 28, 1943 - Flip gets promoted from captain to major. He inspects the troops at the flight school which for the first time includes Terry.
05/14/23
Mar 1-3, 1943 - Flip and Taffy talk about how happy they are to see Terry in the Chinese Flight School. Flip pulls Terry aside and let’s him know that he’s had it too easy in flight school because he’s an American.
The subtext in Flip’s comment to Terry is that he’s had it easy because he’s White. I don’t know if Flip would ever voice it that way but that’s my read.
05/15/23
Mar 4-6, 1943 - Flip tests Terry’s knowledge of flight maneuvers without actually going up in an airplane. Rouge languishes in a jail cell and spies an opportunity to earn her freedom.
My guess is that it won’t be long before Terry is up in the air flying an airplane. I’m not sure how realistic that is considering the situation at the time but it seems like Caniff is trying to speed things along.
I have no idea what Rouge’s plan is for escape. I don’t think that she will be executed but she might get killed while trying to escape. That seems more dramatic to me.
05/16/23
Mar 7, 1943 - Flip continues to do what he can to make sure Terry stays on his toes. Flip explains to Taffy why he is doing what he’s doing.
05/24/23
Mar 8-10, 1943 - Flip takes Terry up in an airplane that is used to train cadets.
It is pretty clear that Flip feels that Terry is being treated with kid gloves by the Chinese instructors and is doing his best to make up for what he feels Terry isn’t getting.
05/25/23
Mar 11-13, 1943 - Terry survives Flip’s flight but his legs are shaking when h3 gets out of the airplane. Rouge asks for a bath and because the Chinese authorities assume that it will be one of her final requests they grant her wish.
I don’t know what Rouge is up to other than scheming to escape. She is saving bits of soap but I’m not sure why. This is the second week in a row that has ended with a strip that focuses on Rouge.
05/26/23
Mar 14, 1943 - Flip continues to instruct Terry in the art of flying an airplane.
I thought Terry was supposed to be training with the Chinese cadets. He seems to be getting most of his schooling from a fellow American.
05/27/24
Mar 15-17, 1943 - Flip and Terry are spotted by a Japanese airplane while out on a training run. They do not have any weapons on board to help defend them against the Japanese airplane.
Things start to get a little more interesting. I was getting a little bored by the focus on training.
05/28/23
Mar 18-20, 1943 - Flip leads the Japanese airplane into a trap and then safely lands the airplane that he and Terry are in.
05/29/23
Mar 21, 1943 - Rouge continues to ponder her situation and plan her escape. Taffy gets orders sending her to another base.
Caniff has started to use the term Jitsu instead of Japanese. I guess this is his way of creating his own slang. It’s a step better than using the commonly used slur but not that much better.
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