Product Description

Master storyteller Milton Caniff's Terry and the Pirates brings 1943-44's battles in the Pacific to life as Flight Officer Terry Lee earns his wings in a Sunday page so powerful, it was entered into the Congressional Record! In this fifth volume of The Complete Terry and the Pirates, old friends and foes cross paths with such major new characters as Terry's comrades-in-arms, Snake Tumblin and the inimitable Hotshot Charlie. There are new romantic interests Willow Belinda, Jane Allen, and Jane McGillicudy - and neither Madame Shoo-Shoo nor Captain Midi are exactly who they seem . . .

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #194471 in Books
• Published on: 2008-11-29
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Hardcover
• 352 pages

Customer Reviews

Fifth Volume in this excellent series
In the fifth volume, "Terry and the Pirates" really moves into its WWII military phase begun in the last volume.

Pat, along with Connie and Big Stoop, are largely gone. They will appear briefly, with Pat now a Lt Cmdr in the Navy Reserve.

But the strip now largely focuses on Terry Lee, along with Flip Corkin, who more or less takes Pat's place in the storylines. With this volume, Terry joins the military, entering Army Air Force training in China, graduating as a Flight Officer. Corkin, now a Major, is a mentor and his superior officer. Action is mainly focused around their airbase in China, with excursions to the pacific and India.

And characters from past storylines ALSO return, both good and bad.

As with the past volumes, the text intros really add to the background of the strip, with lots of artwork and photos.

Can't wait for volume 6.

"Terry" Gets Better With Every Volume
This fifth of six volumes of "The Complete Terry and the Pirates" covers the years 1943 and 1944. In this absolutely superb collection of every single black-and-white daily and color Sunday strip from the period, author/artist Milton Caniff truly hits his stride and demonstrates a mastery of the comic-style graphic and storytelling medium that has never been equaled to this day. From the stunning artwork that graces this and the other volumes in this series, it is easy to see why Mr. Caniff was called "the Rembrandt of the Comics."

With America fighting in Europe and the Pacific at the time, the "Terry" storyline in Volume 5 has evolved away from the soldier-of-fortune adventures in China of the earlier volumes and instead focuses on military life during World War II in Asia. Terry joins the Army and learns to fly under the tutelage of Flip Corkin, a fictional surrogate of real-life aviator and genuine war hero Philip Cochran. Terry's old friends Pat Ryan, Connie and Big Stoop have largely vanished from the story, along with many of Mr. Caniff's unforgettable female characters. But the realism, excitement and complexity of the tale continue to dazzle the reader, who can only marvel at Mr. Caniff's impish sense of humor, extraordinary eye for detail, unexcelled artistic skill and unrelenting commitment to get everything "right."

The production values of the entire "Terry and the Pirates" series are outstanding. Each volume is tightly bound, thick and heavy, with a useful built-in ribbon bookmark. Printing is crisp and sharp, with vibrant Sunday colors, on very high-quality paper. Each offers an introduction, a fascinating and lavishly illustrated biographical essay, a visual "Cast of Characters Thus Far" and a summary of what has happened "Previously in Terry and the Pirates." The biographical essay in this volume is especially interesting. It includes examples of Mr. Caniff''s stunning illustrations for the Army, as well as three full pages of the wildly popular "Male Call" strip that he created specifically for America's soldiers.

Reading "Terry and the Pirates" requires a bright light, a major investment of time and a strong desire to step back into a simpler past that is, for some, a distant memory, and for others a time that we have only read about. But the rewards for your efforts will be beyond your highest expectations. It just doesn't get any better than this.