Terry and the Pirates (35.1)

Vol. 5: 1943-1944

By Milton Caniff

 

Beamings 

Dec 25, 1944 - Apr 1, 1945

This is the ninth 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:

51 - "The Dragon and the Snake" (12/26/44 to 4/3/45)

04/06/24

Dec 25-27, 1944 - The first of these strips is a single panel that shows an air plane flying through the mountains and a Christmas message from Milton Caniff. The other two strips show a unit of sailors arriving at the airfield in India where Terry and the others are based. The face of the leader of the navy unit isn’t shown but I’ve got a feeling it is going to be a familiar one.

04/07/24

Dec 28-30, 1944 - the sailors, most likely SeaBees, start to get settled in and ready to tackle their mission, improving an old air strip. Pat Ryan, their commander, meets with Flip Corkin to discuss the particulars of the job.

The Dragon Lady has something to do with the mission.

04/08/24

Dec 31, 1944 - flip briefs Terry, Snake, and Hotshot on their next mission. Terry is reunited with Pat Ryan who is now a lieutenant commander.

That’s the last strip in Vol. 5. I am now a little over 10 years into Terry and the Pirates. There remains just two years worth of strips until Caniff left this strip to start Steve Canyon. It took me almost a year to read Vol. 5. If I continue to read at the same pace at which I am currently reading then I should finish off Caniff’s run on Terry and the Pirates by the end of March 2025.

The book ends with a little preview of what is to come in the final collection of Caniff’s run on Terry and the Pirates by naming some of the characters who will reappear in the strip in the next two years. Two names that don’t appear in this section are Taffy Tucker and Normandie Drake. There is also no mention of Connie or Big Stoop, both of whom were regular parts of the cast for years. 

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For a list of all the arcs that I have read of this strip and notes about them see my Terry and the Pirates page