Shel Dorf was a great fan of Milton Caniff, creator of comic strips Terry and the Pirates and Steve Canyon. It was a fan’s dream come true when Caniff hired him to letter the Steve Canyon strip, which Shel did from 1977 to 1988. (You can read Shel’s account of working with Caniff at http://www.comicartville.com/dorfpage.htm. Also, Milton Caniff fan and blogger Matt Tauber has more on Shel and Caniff at http://matttauber.blogspot.com/2009/11/shel-dorf-1933-2009.html.)
An earlier fan thrill for Shel came when Caniff modeled a recurring character in Steve Canyon after him. The character was football-player Thud Shelley. The following image is of a page Shel sent to Richard Alf. (Richard, at age seventeen, helped Shel start San Diego’s Comic-Con International back in 1969, at which time it was known as San Diego’s Golden State Comic-Con. The “SHEL” with a line drawn to the Thud Shelley character was added by Richard.)
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Shel Dorf as football player Thud Shelley in Milton Caniff's Steve Canyon
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Jack Kirby (left) and Shel Dorf — Nov. 9, 1969
