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About This Comic Strip
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About Miss Lace (Male Call): Legendary comic strip creator Milton Caniff, who first found great fame with "Terry and the Pirates" and later "Steve Canyon," developed this special strip which was exclusive to military newspapers during WWII. It appeared in U.S. Army papers, and also went to navy, marine, and coast guard publications from 1943-1946. It wasn't an adventure strip and didn't even feature ongoing stories...unusual for a Caniff creation. This was a gag strip that centered around a dark-haired beauty named "Miss Lace." Since G.I.s and other servicemen can't possibly read a paper every day, Caniff did not want them to miss out on an ongoing storyline. For the time, these strips were very racy. Even today, the sexuality of the strips can be considered provacative. Although the strip was called "Male Call," many people referred to it as "Miss Lace" due to the main character. She wasn't in every single strip, but did star in the vast majority of all that were created. These strips were not released in civilian newspapers, although they have been reprinted in book form for civilian audiences. Basically, this was a strip for military men...not for kiddies...although it wasn't really dirty or pornographic. The premise: a beautiful, scantily-dressed woman is living near an Army base and DOES ALL SHE CAN for the war effort. She does her part to lift their spirits very well.