This runs a hair over an hour and forty minutes but you might want to watch a little to see two fascinating people. In November of 1982, Shel Dorf did this video interview with his hero (and then-employer) Milton Caniff. Caniff was, of course, the creator of the great comic strip Steve Canyon…and the even-greater (some of us think) Terry and the Pirates before that. Dorf was, as most of you know, behind the institution we now know as the Comic-Con International down in San Diego every year. Others had a lot to do with its existence but Shel was generally afforded the title of Founder. He eventually had a bitter dispute with the institution and quit, whereupon it flourished without him.
The video is in eleven parts which should play sequentially in the player I've embedded below and I must admit that I haven't watched the entire thing yet myself. In it, I see a different story than the one Mr. Caniff tells about his life and his work. Instead, the video reminds me of all the contradictions of Shel's life. As should be obvious, he was in absolute awe of Caniff…and folks like Jack Kirby, Al Capp, Russ Manning…anyone who was able to make any sort of living, let alone a great one, in comic books or strips. He wanted desperately to be one of them but lacked the talent and — perhaps of greater liability — the work ethic.
Guys like Caniff and Kirby succeeded in part because they'd put in 60+ hours a week on their respective endeavors. They'd put in more if they had to. I knew Shel for many decades and he often came to me, as he went to others, for advice with his occasional attempts to find a place for himself in that world. I could never decide if he didn't put in more effort because he believed he couldn't succeed or if he couldn't succeed because he didn't put in more effort.
I am not a big believer in the advice often given to those who aspire to anything — "You can be anything in life if you try hard enough." The way I see it, we all have limitations — of opportunity along with ability — and that success has a lot to do with recognizing those limitations and finding something you want to do that is within the realm of reality. Tomorrow, if I decide that I want to be a successful jockey, that is not going to happen and it won't be because I didn't try hard enough. Shel was proof: He wanted to be Milton Caniff as much as any human being could possibly want to be Milton Caniff. He probably wanted to be Milton Caniff more than Milton Caniff wanted to be Milton Caniff. He only got as close as doing the lettering and minor grunt work on Steve Canyon…and he only got that because Caniff asked him to learn to letter and tutored him.
When Caniff died in 1988, just six years after this conversation, Shel briefly thought he'd be asked to "take over" the Steve Canyon strip. Caniff always wrote the feature but by then, he was doing only a small part of the artwork with the bulk being handled by Dick Rockwell. Under the impression that the syndicate would want the franchise to continue, Shel began planning. He came to me — and I suspect he approached others about this — and asked if I'd be willing to audition to take over the writing. Well, that isn't exactly accurate. He thought writing Steve Canyon — even without credit and for an undiscussed fee — was such a thrilling opportunity that anyone would leap at the offer. He would play Editor, keeping my work faithful to Milt's intent, and he'd also supervise Rockwell…and the new letterer he'd find because he [Shel] would be too busy running the strip to spend the two hours a week it took to letter it.
It sounded to me like a great project to avoid…and also one of those "probably not going to happen" offers that we all get all the time. And happen, it did not. The syndicate decided not to continue Steve Canyon and that was the end of Shel's life in comics. I'm pretty sure that if they had decided to keep it going, he would not have been placed in charge of it.
Based on as much of this video as I've watched, there's plenty of interesting insight into Caniff's history and modus operandi, so you can watch it for that. I found myself watching for the warm relationship and the jarring contrast between Interviewer and Interviewee. There probably was a place for Shel's unique set of skills in the world of comics but he never managed to find it, a fact that still makes me sad. He did leave us much of value including the convention and historical records like this, and for those we can be grateful. I just wish he'd found more of value for himself.
Here's Shel talking with his idol…