In Kreigh Collins’ NEA career, his typical story arcs contained 12–15 episodes. The previous sequence, featuring Prince Rupert, was an extremely lengthy exception, running for 33 weeks. Basically a horror story, “The Count del Morte” was another outlier—it had only five episodes. Each of these is illustrated with nice half-page examples from the Chicago Tribune.

The action begins with Kevin and Brett sailing into port, where they will be laid up for a short while. As they take note of a foreboding local landmark, the episode’s throwaway panel provides crucial foreshadowing that a tabloid version of this comic would lack.

Kevin has to take care of business aboard the ship, while Brett is feeling stir crazy and needs to go ashore.

Brett quickly finds himself in quite a predicament, and the episode’s final caption hammers the point home in a scolding tone.

Out of the frying pan and into the fire, things look especially grim for poor Brett!

The Complete MITZI McCOY

During the short run of Kreigh Collins’ “Mitzi McCoy,” its 11 story arcs featured various overall moods or themes—among them goofball, noir, adventure, and historical reënactment—but never horror. The Lost Art of Kreigh Collins: The Complete Mitzi McCoy collects them all and is available here. Pick up a copy and see for yourself!

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