Westfield: How did you become involved with the Terry and The Pirates project?

Bruce Canwell: Terry and The Pirates is the first release from IDW Publishing's new imprint, "The Library of American Comics." Dean Mullaney is LOAC's editor and chief designer and I'm associate editor - that makes me Ben Grimm to Dean's Reed Richards. Dean and I both have a lifelong involvement with comics, though our paths had never crossed until late 2005, and we quickly began kicking around ideas for projects. Terry and The Pirates is a mutual favorite. Since Terry has been out of print for at least 15 years, producing the definitive edition of Terry seemed like a natural. Dean found an enthusiastic home for us at IDW, who already count The Complete Dick Tracy among their many fine titles, and it's been full steam ahead ever since. In addition to our Terry editions, The Library of American Comics will be also be releasing Little Orphan Annie in early 2008, and there are more collections to come.

Westfield: For those who are unfamiliar with the strip, what can you tell us about Terry and creator Milton Caniff?

Canwell: The first two words I say to anyone who has never seen Terry and The Pirates: Must Read! Howard Chaykin is writing the Introduction to our first volume; he calls Terry, "the greatest adventure comic strip ever done." Howard pegged it perfectly - Terry is loaded with action, intrigue, humor, and thrills. It's populated by a large, diverse, fascinating cast of characters, including some of the most beautiful and captivating women in comics history. Newcomers who follow our LOAC releases will quickly discover why the eyes of longtime Terry fans light up when they hear names like "Normandie Drake," "April Kane," "Sanjak," "the Dragon Lady," "Raven Sherman," and my personal favorite, "Burma."

Milton Caniff, Terry 's writer and artist, is deservedly known as "The Rembrandt of the Comic Strip." He brought the language of film to comics, and his style influenced scores of artists, everyone from Will Eisner and Alex Toth to John Romita and Frank Miller. Stan Lee calls Caniff "an inspiration." Caniff passed away almost two decades ago, but his influence on comics remains profound. "Milton Caniff is like the air," Dean Mullaney likes to say. "He's all around, even if we can't see him."

Westfield: How did you come to write the background essay in the book? Are you going to do that for every volume?

Canwell: I am writing the background material for the entire Terry and The Pirates series, and I got the gig by calling dibs on it before anyone could beat me to the punch! Books bearing The Library of American Comics imprint will frame each series in ways that are both lively and informative. Terry and The Pirates and Little Orphan Annie are now part of Americana, and my goal is to help readers see what made Terry so popular when it first appeared, and why it remains fresh and exciting today.

Westfield: What can you tell us about the collections themselves?

Canwell: We are talking big, beautiful books. 11 inches wide by 8.5 inches tall, with over 700 strips in each volume. Our Sunday strips will be digitally restored from original newsprint pages, and we are working with Ohio State University's Cartoon Research Center to provide readers with both top quality comics material and rare archival photographs of Milton Caniff at work and at play. IDW Publishing is dedicated to the highest possible production values, and all their know-how will be reflected in every Library of American Comics volume.

Westfield: Any closing comments?

Canwell: The Library of American Comics has Terry and The Pirates on a quarterly schedule. All six volumes in the series are already in production and all six volumes will be released. That's more than a promise, it's a commitment: Dean and I are personally offering a money back guarantee to anyone who buys the first book if we don't make all six books available. This may seem like a bold guarantee, but it reflects both our confidence and the vibrant boldness of art and story that makes Terry and The Pirates an enduring classic.