Milton Arthur Paul Caniff was born on February 28, 1907, in Hillsboro, Ohio. His commercial art career started at an early age. As a high school student at (what is now called) Stivers School for the Arts, he sold cartoons to local newspapers.
After earning a Bachelor of Arts degree in Journalism from the Ohio State University (OSU) in 1930, Caniff found work as a cartoonist with The Columbus Dispatch. One of his co-workers was the noted William Addison “Billy” Ireland, after whom The Billy Ireland Cartoon Library & Museum is named.
As the story goes, Caniff visited Ireland at the Columbus Dispatch to ask for a job. Ireland sent him home with a test. The test: Create a drawing that would make Ireland “jump out of his chair”. The next day, Caniff did just that—and he was hired on the spot.
Not only was Ireland a co-worker, but a mentor as well. When Caniff waffled between a career in cartooning or acting, Ireland said, “Stick to your inkpots, kid, actors don’t eat regularly.”
Struggling to stay afloat during The Great Depression, The Dispatch let Caniff go. Over the next couple of years, he moved to New York City; illustrated for the Features Service of the Associated Press; took the reins on Mister Gilfeather after the original artist, Al Capp, quit; and helped Bill Dwyer with Dumb Dora. Caniff was learning the comic strip ropes.
Unbeknownst to him, he was about to significantly change the landscape of cartooning, illustration, and even the comics-based cinematic universe.