Steve Canyon (4)

Steve Canyon Vol. 1: 1947-1948

by Milton Caniff

Jewels of Africa

Sep 27 - Nov 24, 1947

This is the fourth of sixteen stories that the Steve Canyon Companion considers to be the first era of Caniff’s run on the strip. This era began in Jan 1947 and ran through early Oct 1950.

07/15/25

Sep 27, 1947 - Steve and company depart the sandy desert of the Middle East. 

It isn’t clear where they are headed next except that the title of this arc sort of gives away their next stopping point.

07/16/25

Sep 28, 1947 - Happy talks Madame Lynx’s ear off during the flight. Steve is forced to get ready to make an emergency landing due to a sandstorm. A White man with a red beard, a top hat, and lots of followers eagerly awaits the Horizons Unlimited air transport. 

Red beard (whatever his name is) must be this comic strip’s version of Cap’n Blaze. I guess it must be the Sahara where they are about to land.

07/17/25

Sep 29-Oct 1, 1947 - Steve lands the airplane. It is a trap of course.

07/18/25

Oct 2-4, 1947 - Steve introduces himself, Happy Easter, Madame Lynx. Herr Splitz, their captor, returns the favor.

This is a big old data dump. I grow weary of these cartoon villains.

07/20/25

Oct 5, 1947 - Herr Splitz tells them about how successful his trap has been. Happy gets angry. Splitz’s men bonk Happy on the head and then do the same to Steve when he tries to step in to help Happy. Madame Lynx turns her charms on Herr Splitz once her two traveling companions are unconscious.

07/22/25

Oct 6-8, 1947 - Madame Lynx continues to try and get Herr Splitz to soften his stance. The Horizons Unlimited team starts to ponder their predicament.

07/23/25

Oct 9-11, 1947 - Madame Lynx convinces Herr Splitz that Steve Canyon and Happy Easter are there to steal his diamonds. She makes a suggestion as to how they should be punished.

I’m not sure what Madame Lynx is up to other than manipulating Herr Splitz. 

07/24/25

Oct 12, 1947 - Happy and Herr Splitz throw dice. Steve can’t see what numbers are coming up. He's expected to guess the numbers. If he guesses wrong he gets whipped but somehow he manages to avoid the punishment. Herr Splitz gets angry. 

07/25/25

Oct 13-15, 1947 - A visit from the chief of another tribe interrupts the game. Steve and Happy are locked up. Herr Splitz goes looking for Madame Lynx only to discover she has disappeared with some of his goodies. She is visiting with the chief from the other village who has come to visit even though he is sick. 

These developments make less sense to me the further I get into the arc. I don’t understand how Happy was able to rig the game in the Sunday strip. I don’t understand how Madame Lynx was able to slip out past all the guards without someone raising the alarm. I don’t understand why the chief from the other village is visiting when he is sick. 

07/26/25

Oct 16-18, 1947 - Madame Lynx gets the guard to let Steve sneak out so that they can talk in private. She tries talking Steve into running away with her but he’s not interested in her offer. The visiting chief dies from whatever was ailing him. 

I’m still not sure where this is all going.

07/27/25

Oct 19, 1947 - Madame Lynx continues to try to talk Steve into running off with her and the diamonds but he doubts her sincerity. She gets angry and starts to walk away but then she collapses with a fever.

07/28/25

Oct 20-22, 1947 - Steve finds out that Madame Lynx has cholera and suspects that she may have gotten it from something she ate. 

07/29/25

Oct 23-25, 1947 - Steve, Happy, and Two-way Touhey work together to radio for help. 

07/30/25

Oct 26, 1947 - Steve and Touhey cobble together a radio from the parts they find and send out a call for help before they collapse. 

07/31/25

Oct 27-29, 1947 - Steve’s message gets through to an American airplane but his radio gets shot before he can give them any details. Herr Splitz laughs at Steve for trying to radio for help.

08/01/25

Oct 30-Nov 1, 1947 - Steve punches Herr Splitz and then takes off running before one of the locals can shoot him. The airplane that they heard flying overhead returns. 

08/02/25

Nov 2, 1947 - Herr Splitz’s troops shoot at the airplane but Fireball Feeny, the pilot, lands anyway. Doctor Deen Wilderness steps off the airplane and, despite Steve’s objections to a woman doctor, starts to deal with the outbreak. Steve quickly collapse from exhaustion.

One minute the locals are shooting up the airplane and the next they are nowhere to be found. What gives?

08/04/25

Nov 3-5, 1947 - Doctor Wilderness gets to work. Herr Splitz is still holed up with Madame Lynx, and his men, who are armed. 

08/05/25

Nov 5-8, 1947 - Doc Wilderness and Fireball Feeny go to see Herr Splitz. Happy provides cover fire for them but they decide to head back after a firefight breaks out. Herr Splitz gets some of the medicine and Madame Lynx gets a dose. She is starting to feel better when Herr Splitz reminds her of his affection for her.

08/06/25

Nov 9, 1947 - Madam Lynx recovers. Herr Splitz sets a trap for Doc Wilderness and she walks right into it.

08/07/25

Nov 10-12, 1947 - Herr Splitz tries to use Doc Wilderness as cover while he heads to her airplane but her assistant has other ideas.

08/08/25

Nov 13-15, 1947 - Herr Splitz and Madame Lynx make their way to Doc Wilderness’ plane. They drag the doc with them. Happy Easter is hidden aboard the airplane. 

08/09/25

Nov 16, 1947 - Madame Lynx starts to feel ill. Happy Easter overpowers her and frees Doc Wilderness who heads to the cockpit to deal with Herr Splitz. 

08/10/25

Nov 17-19, 1947 - Herr Splitz surrenders. Fireball Feeny lands the airplane. Herr Splitz and Madame Lynx are arrested by the local police. 

08/11/25

Nov 20-22, 1947 - Steve jokes around with Doc Wilderness after she and the others get back and she has finished attending to her patients. 

08/12/25

Nov 23, 1947 - Fireball and Easter talk. They go see Steve and Doc Wilderness. She wonders where the diamonds might be until Steve reveals where they are hidden.

08/13/25

Nov 24, 1947 - 

That’s it for this arc of the strip and for Horizons Unlimited, although that doesn’t kind of get explained until the first strip of the next arc. 

I’ve read four arcs and I'm almost a year into this strip and I’ve got to say that I’m still waiting for this strip to impress me. So far it has seemed like more of the same as what Caniff was producing in Terry and the Pirates. The stories aren’t any better. There’s still plenty of racial stereotyping.