Month: October 2020

Kevin den Tapre 1951-1955

Cover v1

I recently received a copy of “Kevin den Tapre 1951–1955” from its publisher, Anders Hjorth-Jørgensen. His company, Forlaget desAHJn, has just released a beautiful volume of “Kevin the Bold” sourced from comics translated into Danish for the weekly magazine Hjemmet. 

This volume represents the first half of the comic strip’s nearly decade-long run in the magazine (and word has it that a second volume is planned that will feature the remaining comics). Initially, I thought the book’s title contained a typo. While the comics inside originally appeared in Sunday papers from 1950–1954, the book’s title refers to the dates when they appeared in Hjemmet. 

It has a great piece of promotional art to accompany its Forord (Preface), and yours truly is even thanked on its copyright page. (Aside to Mr. Hjorth-Jørgensen, Det er min fornøjelse! Please excuse my broken Danish).

While translating Danish is painstakingly slow for me, I can see that the layout is very nice; the Preface includes original art from Collins’ three NEA features, “Mitzi McCoy,” “Up Anchor!,” and “Kevin the Bold,” and the spread featuring “Up Anchor!” has some nautically-themed art accompanying it, a nice touch.

The book, over 200 pages long, is about the size of a half-tabloid comic. Its comics have great quality color, and it is obvious that much care was taken as the book was readied for print. By my count, there are 175 complete, original episodes—over three and a half years’ worth.

Many of the book’s images are familiar to me, and I am happy to have been a source for some of them. When I started this blog its aim was to raise my grandfather’s profile, and I am thrilled to see that it has done that. Leafing through the book, I am reminded of the expression, “it’s like looking at pictures of my children”—when in fact, many of the pictures are of my grandparents.

The book includes a long epilogue focusing on my grandfather’s early career as a painter, when he produced many landscapes, portraits and murals. I’m not sure what the price of the book is, but the ordering instructions suggest sending an email to desahjn@mail.dk to find out how to get a copy.

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Also available!

“Kevin the Bold: Sunday Adventures, September 5, 1954 to June 2, 1957” contains over 140 episodes of this rollicking, witty and dramatic lost Sunday comics classic! This volume startes up about a dozen episodes after “Kevin den Tapre” ends.

With elegant artwork and smart storytelling by creator Kreigh Collins, KEVIN THE BOLD blends swordplay, suspense, humor and history in a rugged, highly appealing blend! Sourced from rare syndicate proofs and are reproduced in crisp black and white, the volume contains 14 complete story arcs. (Please note: three of the book’s 145 episodes were scanned from Sunday comics).

“Kevin the Bold: Sunday Adventures, September 5, 1954 to June 2, 1957” is available on Amazon.

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

Ippon!

When I was a lad, I joined a judo team and took lessons for several years. We learned a bit about Japanese culture and a little bit of the language (I still remember how to count to 99). I got a start at a young age, and did pretty well. I loved it.

To win a match, as I recall, you basically needed to score one point. A nice throw might earn a half point (wasa-ari), and if you achieved two nice throws, it was enough to win. A quicker path to winning was to flip your opponent with a more or less perfect throw, and the referee would call “Ippon!“—meaning one point (and game over). I did this once, I can still remember my opponent coming at me, forcing me to retreat, until I spun and unleashed my bread-and-butter throw, the seoi nage.

I only mention this because I thought there were three more episodes in this story arc, when there is in fact only one. And while the blow Toshi delivers is nothing like anything found in Judo (outside of an Austin Powers movie, maybe), it causes a sudden, decisive ending to the fight.

Definitely ippon.

It’s unfortunate that I don’t have an actual copy of this concluding episode, and it looks like it may contain a pice of clip art—a photostat of Kevin’s sword, appearing in the panel after the throwaway. This time-saving device was used by Collins somewhat frequently during this period.

In this piece of original art from my collection (June 17, 1962), Brett is holding onto a photostat of Kevin’s sword (bottom left panel).

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It’s 5:00 Somewhere

Since this was such a short post, let me fill some space with a recent photo of a special beer tasting.

I wrote about these beers last November. I provided customized label artwork for a brewery in my grandfather’s old hometown—Ada, Michigan’s Gravel Bottom Brewery—and the brewery produced three varieties as their first bottle releases. I had previously tasted the base version (Kevin the Bold Russian Imperial Stout), and it was quite nice, but I think I preferred a version that I’d cellared for the last year, “Kevin Goes to the Beach,” with its subtle coffee, coconut, and vanilla flavorings. Aging it really helped. Later in the winter, I’ll surely be cracking open the last one, “Kevin Goes Camping.”

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

One Sep Forward, Two Steps Back

Kevin and Will are jailed, awating their trial.

An escape improves their situation, but for how long?

Kevin quickly wins the fight, but it’s not over yet…

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

Kevin the Bandit?

Lady Yuri is determined to either escape or thwart Lord Kira’s plans…

…while Kevin and Will try a more direct approach.

Things look dark. Kevin and Will face their imminent trial, and Lady Yuri is about to be dragged away by Kira.

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