CBGXtra.com/SDCC Interview

Click image to go to CBGXtra Video pageMaggie Thompson Interviews John Ellis
Catching up on things Dept: On the last day of Comic-Con in San Diego this year, a lovely lass with a video camera showed up at the National Cartoonist's Society booth and (politely) shoved said camera in my face. Well the lady was someone I've always wanted to meet, Maggie Thompson, the Senior Editor of the Comics Buyer's Guide and the person I often refer to as "The mother of comics fandom". There 'tweren't such a thing as a comics fanzine until she and her late husband Don started publishing them ca. 1960! (Titles such as Ballast and Comic Art come to mind). Needless to say, I had a blast talking with Maggie that day, and she has posted an excerpt of the video on their site. Since she caught me off guard, you'll just have to deal with all of the "umm"s and "uhh"s...not to mention MY mistakes...hehehe...

Also note that she has posted a bunch 'o cool interviews with notables such as Ray Harryhausen, Wendy and Richard Pini, and many others, so it's worth taking a look.

And since we're on the subject of San Diego Comic-Con 2007, here is a photo by Adrian Velazquez of the participants in our panel discussion at the con (that I kept forgetting to post).
Click image to enlarge. From Left to right are R.C.Harvey, Russ Maheras, Denis Kitchen, Diana Doalson, Harry Guyton and John Ellis.

R.C.Harvey is the author of "Meanwhile" (Milton's biography that just came out this summer); Russ is the author/artist of the 60th anniversary Steve Canyon strip that just appeared in Air Force Times; Denis published 26 issues of Steve Canyon Magazine in the '80' and early '90s (among other things; Diana is Milton's grand-niece and appeared in the Steve Canyon comic strip in the '60s; Harry Guyton is Milton's nephew, Executor of the Estate, and Executive Producer of the Steve Canyon DVDs; John is me, and I represent the Estate and am Producer of the Steve Canyon DVDs. BIG NEWS is coming...

Please help Support our Restoration Effort

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In stock - ready to ship!

Steve Canyon on Ebay

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(click on image to go to our auction)
Click here to go to Milton Caniff Estate eBay Auction
In an effort to further fund our efforts to restore the Steve Canyon TV series, we are offering this well known artwork in an online auction on eBay. This is the original art to the daily STEVE CANYON strip, dated March 14, 1952. This is PURE MILTON CANIFF, no assistants worked on this (except for Frank Engli lettering, which he did for Milton from 1934 until 1975). This is a superb daily strip from late in the story Caniff titled CRISIS ON THE CAMPUS (November 15, 1951-April 6th 1952).

The art is pretty clean, no glue stains or the like, and no "paste-overs". The final image from this artwork is perhaps the quintessential illustration that is associated with Milton Caniff. Size is approximately 22 7/8" X 7 1/4". Summer Olson and the Whissel Sisters are in panels one through three, Little Oley Olsen joins them in panels two and three, and then there is the famous powerfully iconic image of Oley crying on the steps with Milton Caniff's distinctive signature in panel four.

THE RAREST OF THE RARE. This last panel has been printed and reprinted the world over as a representation of Caniff's artistry as a storyteller and the greatest adventure comic strip artist of the 20th Century. This image has spoken to the world and it is now finally being offered for sale. This is it, don't be afraid to bid and miss your chance on this amazing offering...perhaps you'll be the lucky owner!

This is a one of a kind item, a very rare, very early and very nice Milton Caniff STEVE CANYON original ... NOTE - We are in process of winding down with the sale of Milton's originals...so don't miss this great opportunity...we won't be selling many more after this. We are close to the end of what we will be offering.

NOTE - The sale of this artwork directly helps the Milton Caniff Estate with projects we are involved in which we believe will interest many fans of his work, so support a good cause and get a guaranteed GREAT piece of early Steve Canyon art that has NEVER been in the hands of another collector!

I want to mention that I have a LOT of pictures, film clips and information to post in the coming weeks which I am sure will be of interest to those of you that frequent our site, so please be patient and drop by often. And a reminder to everyone that our Special Edition DVD and Commemorative Hats make great stocking stuffers, and purchasing them (or even donating a buck or two) helps to support restoring these shows. I will mention that we just finished transferring episodes 19 through 33 and they look and sound TERRIFIC! This is so exciting, and we can't wait to share these on DVD this coming year, the series 50th anniversary. Stay tuned!

Please help Support our Restoration Effort

BUY The Special Edition DVD!
In stock - ready to ship!

Steve Canyon TV Series Article Published

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About a year and a half ago I ran into an old friend, writer/publisher Brad Linaweaver, at a Ray Harryhausen book signing at the Dark Delicacies Bookstore in Beautiful Downtown Burbank (sorry, old habits die hard). In any event, I showed him some stills and materials from my (then unauthorized) research into the realm of the Steve Canyon TV Series. He showed me his just-published first issue of MONDO CULT magazine, and then twisted my arm until I agreed to write an article on Steve for the next issue. Gleefully agreed I might add. Not long after that meeting I ended up getting involved with The Milton Caniff Estate in the Restoration Project and have had nary a wink of sleep since. But Brad persisted in his task to get me to write "something", and finally, 4,000 odd words later (and I emphasize the "odd" part) issue #2 of Mondo Cult is out, and with it my article "Steve Canyon, Ace of the Airwaves", the most accurate history of the series there is anywhere (as of this writing). AND, if you look on the cover, in the lower right, in wee tiny, itsy bitsy lettering...

Anyway, you'll notice that Steve Canyon On DVD's bestest loveliest friend-type gal BRINKE STEVENS is on the cover of this issue, and there are 120 pages chock-full of fannish goodness (four of them are mine) concerning sci-fi, horror, movies, TV, literature and a whole slew of other things that we HIGHLY recommend. It is available in many retail outlets, you can find one near you by checking this list of Retail Outlets that carry Mondo Cult Magazine. You can also click here to Order Mondo Cult Magazine online. It's $9.95 a copy plus postage...a pretty good deal (if you ask us) for 120 pages of coolness. Editor Jessie Lilley and Publisher Brad Linaweaver did a really great job and we really enjoyed the experience. Thanks!

P.S. If you do go looking for a local retail outlet that carries MONDO CULT, we recommend calling ahead just to make sure they have it in stock before you "scramble" for the cockpit...

The Girls of Steve Canyon - Part 3

(click on images to enlarge) Photo #9220-53 - Col. Steve Canyon (Dean Fredericks) is greeted by Captain Maggie Gallagher (Elena Verdugo) on his return to Big Thunder from Okinawa in the STEVE CANYON episode, "OPERATION SOUVENIR."

Yep, it's Elena Verdugo this time, years before her unforgettable stint as Consuelo Lopez, Marcus Welby's altruistic assistant, and years after playing countless ethnic character parts such as the gypsy girl Ilonka in House of Frankenstein (1944). In this episode she plays a bit of a love interest to Steve, then things go bad with smugglers who put the kibosh on their little party.

And another interesting thing, for those who say Steve is the only strip character (other than General "Shanty" Towne in the pilot), we give you the following panel (from "Steve Canyon" - Dell Four Color comic #1033 Sept. 1959) for your consideration:

Comic art by Ray Bailey, story by Paul S. Newman. This was the first Steve Canyon TV tie-in comic, and ironically the last Steve Canyon comic book published.

STEVE CANYON TV SERIES EPISODE INFO:

OPERATION SOUVENIR
Show #21
Production #9220
NBC First Run Thursday January 29, 1959
Photographed: Dec 19-22-23, 1958
Directed by Lamont Johnson
Teleplay by William Spier, story by William Spier and Sidney Carroll
Before leaving Taipei, Canyon buys a wooden monkey from an eager peddler. Back at
Big Thunder, Canyon finds that the carving has placed an Air Force nurse and himself in danger.
With: Elena Verdugo, Jerry Paris, Oliver Cliff, Jay Novello, Tony Travis,
Abel Fernandez, Jack Grinnage, Len Weinrib and Otis Spickles (unconfirmed).

“This film is dedicated to the Air Police of the United States Air Force”

Back in the hanger...

Just another in a series of Quick Notes to mention that we are all back home from the Fabulous Festival of Cartoon Art in Columbus, Ohio. I have pictures, stories and news, all to be revealed over the next few...well, you know, as soon as we can get to it. But it all will appear here, including some BIG news. So stick around, flaps down and check back often.

Just for fun, here's a cool advertising poster we have from 1958...