"You are dealing with the Dragon Lady now!"
It's really too bad "Dragon Lady" has become an automatic pejorative for any strong, attractive Asian woman or even any dominant female executive or politician. Here is the real thing, as awesome as ever. It's August 1940. The Japanese army is berserk in China -- pillaging, looting, raping and killing.There are a lot of Chinese bandits taking advantage of the chaos to do their own looting (the strip IS called "Terry and the Pirates" after all), but there are also many brave fighters in the resistance. The Dragon Lady herself has slowly gone from thoroughly evil and frightening warlord to a sort of freedom fighter. She's still a villain but she has something greater than her own profit to fight for. And her initial simple lust for Pat Ryan has softened to genuine affection for the American adventurer and for young Terry Lee.
This sequence has been building suspense for quite a while. Hu Shee (not her real name, of course; she introduced herself and said it was a nickame which incidentally keeps her true identity secret) has been maneuvering everyone to help her try to free a Chinese leader from a Japanese prison. But she has an agenda more dangerous than she has let on.
Milton Caniff's storytelling and distinctive cinematic style remain masterful. His huge cast of characters include some memorable people, many of whom come to heartbreaking fates (it's wartime). You might suggest that Caniff created as many interesting women characters as Will Eisner did, maybe a bit more subtle and varied all of the femme fatales in THE SPIRIT. At any rate, TERRY AND PIRATES in its prime was another great classic strip worth exploring.
This sequence has been building suspense for quite a while. Hu Shee (not her real name, of course; she introduced herself and said it was a nickame which incidentally keeps her true identity secret) has been maneuvering everyone to help her try to free a Chinese leader from a Japanese prison. But she has an agenda more dangerous than she has let on.
Milton Caniff's storytelling and distinctive cinematic style remain masterful. His huge cast of characters include some memorable people, many of whom come to heartbreaking fates (it's wartime). You might suggest that Caniff created as many interesting women characters as Will Eisner did, maybe a bit more subtle and varied all of the femme fatales in THE SPIRIT. At any rate, TERRY AND PIRATES in its prime was another great classic strip worth exploring.