Terry and the Pirates

Terry and the Pirates is an American adventure comic strip created by Milton Caniff, syndicated beginning in 1934 and following young adventurer Terry Lee and his companions through action and intrigue in and around China. Caniff's use of heavy black shadow, cinematic framing and morally complex characters, notably the recurring adversary the Dragon Lady, set a visual and narrative standard that much of the adventure strip genre followed afterward. The strip continued under other artists after Caniff departed in 1946 to create the similarly styled Steve Canyon, and it is regarded by comics historians as one of the most influential adventure strips of American newspaper comics' mid twentieth century peak.