Month: August 2015

Kevin the Bold

KTB 011655 HF 72 cc

One day at work, about a dozen years ago, I was asked if I could reprint a comic book cover (I worked in the art department, so we had the color printers). My co-worker collected comic books and he had bought one whose cover was missing. I mentioned how my grandfather had illustrated comics and the conversation led to where I could find used comics for sale. A week later, I was the proud owner of 105 “Kevin the Bold” half pages, 1955-56 complete, a great start to my collection. Unfortunately, they were from the Florida Times Union, a paper with poor-quality printing. Nonetheless, I was on my way. “Only” 838 more to go before I had the entire run.

Above, a half-page from January 16, 1955.

Introducing Mitzi McCoy

MM 110748 72 cc wbg

Kreigh Collins’s first comic strip was “Mitzi McCoy.” It premiered on November 7, 1948. Mitzi’s debut was appropriately dramatic — beautiful illustration and a runaway bride. This half-page ran in the Indianapolis Times. Collins obviously put a lot of time into the artwork, and the Times invested a lot of effort in a getting it to print so nicely. Cyan was used in addition to black for the speech balloons and most of the line work to create very rich blacks, and the registration is perfect, resulting in a nice crisp comic.  

Along with Mitzi, the strip’s other two main characters (Stub Goodman and Tim Graham) were introduced, and I don’t think we’ve seen the last of that scoundrel Phil Rathbone.