Terry and The Pirates (comic Strip) - Major Characters

Major Characters

Terry Lee: A young teenager when the series begins, excitable and loving adventure. As the series goes on, he matures and ends up joining the U.S. Air Force, becoming a pilot. After the war, he works for the government in the post-war territories.

Pat Ryan: Terry's friend and mentor, a writer but also a man of action who helps his young protegee out of scrapes. When World War II begins, he joins the U.S. Navy and sees action in the Pacific.

Connie: George Webster Confucius, a Chinese man Terry and Pat hire as a guide. He speaks in Pidgin English and refers to himself in the third person but is fiercely loyal to the duo. He eventually works with Pat as part of the Chinese resistance against the Japanese in the war.

Big Stoop: A 9-foot-tall (2.7 m) Mongol who Connie helped when he was being picked on by bullies and sticks with the trio out of gratitude. Immensely strong and mute, he earns his nickname from "he stoops to conquer." It is revealed he was once a servant of the Dragon Lady, who cut out his tongue when he was young, earning her his hatred. He works with Connie in the Chinese resistance during the war.

The Dragon Lady: A beautiful but cold pirate queen who clashes with Terry and Pat constantly. As the Japanese invade China, she becomes a resistance leader, attacking Japanese forces, making it clear it is not out of patriotism but wanting to keep her riches intact. It is hinted she is in love with Pat but unable to give up her rule for him. After the war ends, she goes back to her criminal roots.

Burma: Real name unknown, a con artist, former pirate confederate and sultry singer but with a good heart. She meets up with Terry and Pat several times and she and Terry share a romantic connection but Burma is afraid of letting it go further. She's identifable by her habit of singing "St. Louis Blues."

Normandie Drake: The true love of Pat's life, an heiress who he grew close to when he worked for her father. However, her high-society aunt refused to see her marry a "commoner" and whisked her away to an arranged marriage to the weak-willed Tony Sandhurst. She and Pat meet again but she says she has to stick by Tony as she's pregnant with Tony's child. They meet again later during the War with Normandie's child Merilly now four years old. Despite the discovery Tony is working with the Axis, Normandie still refuses to divorce him.

Raven Sherman: An heiress who used her fortune for missionary work in China, meeting with Pat. They seem romantic but she ends up falling for pilot Dude Hennick. She dies in Hennick's arms after sustaining injuries from Captain Judas and is buried in the China desert.

April Kane: A Southern belle who wins Terry's heart. She works as Pat's secretary when he is an agent of the Dragon Lady but leaves when she's blackmailed over (false) information on her brother. She returns in 1944, having spent the last few years in a Japanese prison camp. The experience has made her harder and she tries to manipulate pilot Flip Corkin to make Terry jealous and tries to set up an air field at an island the army is using for a base. However, she learns the army is pulling out and is last seen left alone on the island.

Flip Corkin: Terry's flight instructor for the Air Force, who delivers the famed Sunday page lecture on military duty.

Taffy Tucker: Flip's girlfriend, an Army nurse. She briefly develops amnesia and is rescued by Pat, the two connecting romantically. But she goes back to Flip after regaining her memory.

Hotshot Charlie: Charles C. Charles, a comically flippant Boston pilot who becomes Terry's best friend in the Air Force. After the war ends, he is stifled by civilian life and jumps at the chance to help Terry out in post-war Asia doing government work.