He did general assignment art for several months, drawing the strips Dickie Dare and The Gay Thirties,[2] then inherited a panel cartoon called Mister Gilfeather in September 1932 when Al Capp left the feature.

Caniff continued Gilfeather until the spring of 1933, when it was retired in favor of a generic comedy in a panel cartoon, The Gay Thirties, which he produced until he left AP in the fall of 1934.

[1] Coulton Waugh began drawing Dickie Dare in the middle of a story, and drew the strip for almost ten years, ending on February 26, 1944.

[3] The eponymous central character was a 12-year-old who dreamed himself into adventures with such literary and legendary persons as Robin Hood, Robinson Crusoe and King Arthur.

In the spring of 1934, Caniff changed the strip from fantasy to reality, adding a new character, Dan Flynn, a freelance writer and friend of Dickie's father.