Lacking a black and white bromide proof for the July 31 episode, my newspapers.com go-to is usually the Carbondale Southern Illinoisian. An interesting artifact is created between the final two panels by a hole in the online original.
Kevin and Pedro’s hard work paid off. Meanwhile, Miss Teendale’s fantasy for an intimate meal with her prisoner is dashed.
As Millicent seems smitten with Kevin, a reader can’t help but feel the same about her—but how did she fall for such a heinous man? (Reminds me of a song).
By the way, does anyone have a guess for the definition of “baggywinkle?”
Ah… baggywrinkle (with an “R.” I guess this is another of Collins’ alternate spellings). With that disguise, what could go wrong?
A while back, for episodes that I lacked color half page examples, a reader suggested combining third page episodes with BW half pages. The results for July 10 are pretty nice. (Thanks for the suggestion, Gregorio!)
To create its third page versions, NEA staff artists cropped panels left and right, extended art vertically on occasion, and repositioned speech balloons were as needed. An exception to this method is found in the final panel, above, where Pedro’s position in the Thames was shifted to the immediate foreground of the Falcon.
Kevin is AWOL and Pedro has abandoned ship, leaving Brett to fend for himself—aboard the Falcon, which is about to leave port. With Kevin as his mentor, hopefully the lad will use good judgement.
Pedro’s appetite leads him straight to the riverfront home where Kevin is being held—but Brett is still on his own.
Unfortunately, my third page episode for July 24 was torn and taped together, discoloring the page in a couple spots. And perhaps the third pages mesh better with black and white half pages better than with black and white bromides. Meanwhile, in the episode above, what Brett had done to sabotage the Falcon wasn’t exactly clear. Quick checks on the definitions of top hamper and main brace were helpful—Brett cut the line holding the ship’s uppermost rigging in place, causing a mess. (I wonder how many comic strips inspire readers to look up definitions? Some people might find it tedious, but I love the educational aspect of KEVIN THE BOLD).
Here is a story, 14 episodes long, that ran in the summer of 1960. It starts with another collaboration between Kreigh Collins and an unknown artist. I have no recollection of ever coloring or painting on these bromide proofs but who knows, it could’ve been me. Visiting Ada as an eight- or or nine-year old, I recall hanging out in my grandfather’s studio on a couple of occasions. I remember paging through the stacked copies of the NEA Daily and Sunday Comics. This would have been around 1975, after my grandfather had died. If I had to guess, the colorization was the work of one of my cousins, Josh or Karen. Whomever it was, it was no doubt sanctioned by Grandma Collins. My collection of these bromides is incomplete so I suspect that many, probably “better” examples, were taken home by the young artist as a keepsake.
When King Henry VIII has pirate trouble, there’s only one man for the job.
Apparently, it’s a shock that nice Brian Hudson has taken to such a life of crime. But what catches my attention is Kevin’s reference to his own childhood. Ten years in, almost nothing has been revealed about Kevin’s backstory, except that as an orphaned child he was found, raised, and trained for battle by the character Stub (MacTavish Campbell MacGregor, a regular character at the strip’s onset).
Seen in the final two panels of the June 12, 1960 episode, keep an eye on the blonde mademoiselle. With her mask off, she’s certainly something to behold (as Kevin soon learns).
I’m not exactly sure how Kevin leapt down from from that gizmo (seemingly hoisting him onto the ship) faster than the barrel and crates could fall, but his efforts were rewarded quite handsomely.
Issue No. 2 of the French comic book Big Horn follows the same format as its predecessor. In addition to Warren Tufts’ title comic, it also features John Wheeler’s KID COLORADO and Kreigh Collins’ KEVIN LE HARDI (“Kevin the Bold“).
Because these comic books are so thick (132 pages), they don’t scan very well. These images are photos I took outside with the comic book spread flat beneath a piece of plexiglass. Leading off is BIG HORN.
Full- or half-page ads separate the comic book’s features, which include a text-heavy short story. BIG HORN is followed by the more graphic KID COLORADO.
Once again, KEVIN LE HARDI brings up the rear of the book. It leads off with another nicely illustrated opener—but I can’t immediately peg which episode it came from.
The action picks up where it left off in No. 1, partway through the September 30, 1951 episode.
As before, the panels’ original sequence has been edited, with some of them omitted completely.
(Sorry about the glare in the images—I was taking the pictures on a relatively balmy day in mid-January).
Page 117 was devoted to the splash panel that was featured in an all-time great episode (October 28, 1951).
An oft-mentioned line in biographies of Kreigh Collins is that he employed his wife, Theresa, as a model. The comic book’s final panel is a good example—the close-up of the princess dressed as a commoner. The previous panel was likely posed by Teddy as well. While I can’t vouch for the décolletage, my grandmother did have a very slight build.
Despite the caption at the bottom of the final panel, this was not the end of the episode—it went on for another nine weeks. That action is featured in Big Horn No. 3.
Finalement, congratulations to Emmanuel Macron on his reelection as President of France.
Kreigh’s Comics 