Milt Caniff on the social significance, or lack thereof, of comic strips

MILTON CANIFF: Well, criticism of comics, as such, is a kind of empty phrase. Who cares, really? It's interesting that somebody might decide suddenly that we have a social significance or not. But, we're not in business for that purpose. We're in business to sell newspapers, and the criticism, acceptance, or whatever, lies in the fact that we are in hundreds of newspapers, and that the readership of something like Peanuts is in the millions every day. It's in about 1,900 newspapers, as is Blondie, which is seldom mentioned any more because everyone takes Blondie for granted, but Blondie's in as many papers and as many translations as Peanuts, and has been for a lot longer than any of the other strips now extant.

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SABA: You said in an interview with Shel Dorf in the Buyer's Guide that you feel like you're a troubadour singing for your supper.
CANIFF: Of course. And endlessly so. So you become very ingenious just to stay alive. And we must be entertaining. We have no social significance as such, in terms of what we think about it. It may end being socially significant, or accepted, or whatever, but at the time, almost without exceptions, it was a way to make living. It starts that way, anyway.

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CANIFF: Let me take it just one step beyond that, in that we are delighted to have somebody think that there is an importance, a significance, or an important significance. [Laughter]. The great thing about it is that you start out just making a living. Then, it's rather surprising to learn, as, for instance, a politician will learn, that he can sway people. Suddenly, you feel a surge of power within yourself. The trick is not to take it so seriously that you begin to believe your own press notices, and use it as a tool. I've had kids, for instance, ask me, "Isn't it disconcerting to you to think that these new cartoonists got into this business, and will got into this say so in interviews, because of you?" And I say I'm delighted, but essentially all of this is just pleasure, and then I use it as a tool, to make my point. Let them make their own points when the time comes to make it. I'm pleased as punch to think that I've had that much influence, but now suddenly I've created a Frankenstein monster. They're my rivals! Down with this!... I'm kidding, of course.