Month: April 2016

Fog of War

British ships approach as visibility fades. With Kevin in chains, young Glenn takes on a more prominent role.

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A gauche, les illustrations des tours sont ridicule!

Shots have been fired; Maria has been injured. Chaos. Glenn’s loyalty comes to the forefront.

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Ces bandes dessinées doivent avoir été stockés dans une très petite enveloppe pur eux ont été coupée de façon sauvagement!

 

Kevin and Glenn seem doomed as commander Pereiz de Vargas has lit the fuse to destroy the Seahawk and the navigational secrets hidden inside her hull.KTB 120664 BT 72 QCC

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With apologies to francophones, and assistance from Google translate.

Mendoza’s greed has foiled the Spaniards’ plan to destroy the Seahawk, and now Kevin can deliver the secrets of Spain’s naval superiority to Queen Elizabeth. It’s the untold story of how the Spanish armada was defeated and a planned invasion of England was thwarted. And Kevin the Bold was… well, actually in shackles for most of it. But he was there.

Secrets, Intrigue

Chained in the bilge, Kevin is powerless. Young Glenn continues to be his eyes and ears as the suspense builds.

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The Spaniards take action on a plan to safeguard their navagational secrets on the Seahawk, which they have commandeered from Captain Mendoza. Meanwhile, the “Kevin l’audacieux” comics continue to have been butchered. C’est dommage!

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Glenn the Loyal

The orphan Glenn, his dog Inky and lovely Maria are bound for Spain. They sail aboard the Sea Hawk, with Kevin acting as their escort. Glenn fiercely defends his dog after witnessing some ill treatment by Captain Mendoza. In defending Glenn, Kevin nearly comes to blows with Mendoza. The captain’s reputation as a scoundrel has proven to be accurate. In the October 18 comic, tempers flare again.

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The sails of an enormous fleet have been spotted on the horizon. As was his style, Collins has woven history into his narrative — “Kevin the Bold” often reads like an illustrated  historical novel.

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Finalement! Une bande dessinée intacte. Mais il est noir at blanc! Merde!!

Kreigh Collins had four sons. Like-named characters based on the older two were featured in “Up Anchor.” The younger boys were twins, and one was named Kevin. I’m not sure exactly which was named for whom, but the comic debuted five months before my uncle. Fourteen years later, a character named Glenn appeared — perhaps my other twin uncle thought this was just a bit overdue. Another common name between the comic strip and the artist’s family was Brett, Kevin’s ward and the name of Kreigh’s first grandchild. Again, the character preceded the person (this time by nine and a half years). Glenn’s dog Inky was modelled on not one of the family’s cocker spaniels, but on a neighbor’s dog (also named Inky) who spent a lot of time at the family house in Ada.

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Kevin the Audacious

The action in the following sequence begins on October 4, 1964. Kevin has sailed to the West Indies, and three new characters are introduced. It is June, 1588.

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This first comic came from a tabloid the NEA published featuring its stable of comics. These were dated six days before they appeared in the Sunday funnies.

When I first began collecting “Kevin,” I was frustrated by its lack of availability. Auctions on eBay weren’t showing up very often, and when they did, the prices tended to go beyond my budget. I had complete runs of a few different years, but my goal was to collect the entire 19-year run. I was starting to get impatient.

While searching for books illustrated by my Grandpa Collins on a used book site (in this case, abebooks.com), I came across a couple of listings of “Kevin l’audacieux” — French-language versions for newspapers in Québec. For cheap! I bit on one, thinking I could translate the dialog, and… well, it seemed like a good idea at the time.KTB 100464 TH 72 qccKTB 100464 TH Fr 72 qcc

I soon realized that translating them would take an enormous amount of time. Also, they were very poorly trimmed. Mon dieu! They worked out to 46¢ apiece, and I guess I got what I paid for. However, since I did make the initial investment, and especially since I took the time to scan them, let’s follow the action bi-lingually. (Qui sait, peut-être que je vais gagner quelques abonnés français!) The one-third pagers will at least add some color.

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