With the Regent dead, Rupert’s obstacle to ascending to Rheinstein’s throne has been removed. However, other events conspire to prevent him from achieving true happiness.

Baroness Vichi is a bitch witch, and of course she resents the virtuous Madeline.

This current story arc, longer by far than any others in the entire run of the comic strip, was a serious attempt by Kreigh Collins to deepen character development in an attempt to increase its overall impact. Also, a couple of significant characters from two previous sequences have cameo roles in the May 3 episode (above): The Count de Falcon, a knight Kevin bested in an earlier tournament appears near the beginning, and toward the end, Kevin asks a favor of a princess he had rescued. (She is now the Queen of Glaustark).

Meanwhile, the tournament nears, and Kevin’s first opponent will be the ruthless Count de Falcon.

The Lost Art of Kreigh Collins, The Complete Mitzi McCoy

Describing “The Lost Art of Kreigh Collins, Vol. 1: The Complete Mitzi McCoy,” Bruce Canwell, of IDW Publishing’s Library of American Comics, had this to say:

Originally a painter and illustrator, artist Kreigh Collins delighted comics readers for a quarter-century with his rich compositions and distinctive characters. Collins’s series Mitzi McCoy has its roots in the small town of Freedom, echoing It’s a Wonderful Life’s Bedford Falls and pre-figuring TV hamlets like Hooterville and Mayberry. Open this collection and delight in Mitzi’s arresting artwork and solid Middle American sensibilities. Highly recommended!

In addition to the complete run of “Mitzi McCoy,” the book contains the first sequence of the comic strip it morphed into, “Kevin the Bold.” There are also never-before published comics and photographs, and the book includes a wonderful introductory essay by Eisner Award-winner Frank M. Young. It is available here.

For more information on the career of Kreigh Collins, visit his page on Facebook.