Sixty years ago this weekend, “Steve Canyon” flew onto the pages of the Sun and 168 other daily newspapers, beginning a run that lasted until Caniff’s death in 1988.

The Sun previewed the arrival with front page stories leading up to the Jan. 13, 1947, launch, calling it “THE news of 1947.” The first “Steve Canyon” strip ran across the top of the Sun’s front page. Time magazine ran a Caniff cover story that day.

“In 1947, Milton Caniff was a well-known name. He was a celebrity,” said R.C. Harvey, author of a soon-to-be-released Caniff biography. “People expected him to produce a comic strip that had the same kind of excitement and sex appeal that ‘Terry and the Pirates’ had. And they were right.”