Month: January 2024

Revista Ferronales

I recently acquired a copy of Revista Ferronales, a monthly magazine published by the Information Department of the National Railways of Mexico. Dated February, 1957, it is probably the heftiest magazine I’ve ever seen. The 132-page issue measures about 9″ x 11-5/8″ and weighs nearly a pound. Only its outside covers are printed using the four-color process, and the text pages are printed in two colors—black plus various spot colors. Despite its length, there are few ads inside.

In addition to numerous articles on the railroad industry, it also features a very wide range of editorial content. Sections include Ideas, News and Comments, Reports, Variety, Science and Culture, Home, Sports, Shows, Books, and Historieta, (Cartoons).

Having been published by an arm of the federal government, it’s basically a combination trade/general interest magazine with a patriotic spin.

I find the layouts pretty interesting, and the editors get credit for the wide-ranging content. One feature is titled Yo Mate a la Mona Lisa (“I Killed the Mona Lisa”), and two others focus on the circus and Sumo wrestling.

Also included was a rather shocking article, Apocalipsis (“Apocalypse”)—it’s about nuclear annihilation—perhaps due to Mexico’s proximity to the United States during the Cold War.

The back of the magazine contains general interest material, such as celebrity profiles (James Mason, Lene Horne), the kind of stuff typically found in consumer weeklies. Just as many people’s favorite part of a train is the caboose, I think the final section, Revista Ferronales (“Cartoons”) has the good stuff—Una aventura completa del Audaz KEVIN. (Despite my severely limited Spanish, even I can make that out).

Kriegh Collins’ syndicate, NEA, distributed Kevin el Audaz to Spanish-speaking markets, including those served by the newspapers El Diario and Havana, Cuba’s El Mundo.

Spread over eight pages, Revista Ferronales features tabloid versions of the entirety of one of Kevin’s adventures, which featured Leonardo da Vinci. It was originally published in Sunday comics sections four-plus years earlier, in late 1952.

After the first episode, the comic strip’s logo was removed from the seven that followed, and the artwork was augmented (slightly) by the occasional addition of spot color tints.

While it wasn’t uncommon for foreign magazines to run serialized versions of KEVIN, this is the only instance of which I’m aware in which an entire story arc was featured in a single publication.

It’s unclear if this inclusion of KEVIN el AUDAZ was a one-off, of if the series was a regulare feature of the Mexican monthly. Perhaps some day I’ll know the answer, if I come across another issue of the esoteric publication.

Following KEVIN are several pages of puzzles, gag cartoons, a crossword puzzle and similar fare.

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

Boom RIde

Due to their short supply of water and food, Kevin Marlin sets off, without even a fully-formed plan.

The pirates trust Kevin—some more than others!

Those filthy hippies probably needed a bath, anyway!

The story arc ends, but unfortunately, Kevin Marlin and his family haven’t seen the last of the pirate trio.

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

Marooned!

While Kreigh Collins never managed to sail Heather to the Bahamas, his Sunday comics counterpart Kevin Marlin did. While heading back to Florida, an unusual boat was spotted.

Many pieces of original artwork for UP ANCHOR! are found in a collection at the Grand Rapids Public Library, including those for two of the episodes in this installment.

In a case of “no good deed goes unpunished,” the Marlin family are ambushed.

The ersatz Manson Family members decide to maroon Heather‘s crew on a desert island, but not before the Marlins lay eyes on the hippies’ prisoner, Pedro.

While the reunion is nice, a plan to save themselves would be nicer!

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

It Was Murder!

Among some recently-acquired UP ANCHOR! half pages were most of the episodes of a story arc with an unusual plot element—murder. The choice of portraying hippies as villains was likely inspired by the tragic and ugly Manson family murders, which had occurred in the summer of 1969. In fact, the Tate-LaBIanca trial was under way when these episodes were published in late 1970.

The Marlin family, whose journey aboard Heather had led to a temporarily relocation in Florida, had just returned from Maine. Kevin Marlin had been hired to sail a cutter from Connecticut Down East. To return “home” and hear such terrible news would be very unsettling.

A couple things from the October 11, 1970 episode that caught me eye were the Manson Family lookalikes in the center panel and the second panel of WATER LORE. Occasionally, Kreigh Collins would directly reference his personal life, but I had never seen him mention his father. He was much closer to his mother.

As Heather is being provisioned, some Easter Eggs are revealed on the labels of the packages being brought aboard. In the first panel, Kevin caries a case of “Jesiek’s Oil.” Back home in Michigan on Lake Macatawa, Heather spent her winters “on the hard” at Jesiek Brothers Shipyard. Based on the box carried by his friend, I’d wager that “Schottenburg’s” was a nearby grocer the Collins family patronized. The second tier’s second panel shows Dave and Erik pestering their mother about dinner—here a box is simply labelled “Boy Food.”

The provisions were needed for an upcoming trip to the Bahamas. While many of the adventured that take place in UP ANCHOR! were based on real events, alas, a trip to the Bahamas was a dream that was never realized for Kreigh’s family. The Marlin family’s adventures in Florida were inspired by the journey the Collinses took in 1959–1960, but the Chicago Tribune’s sudden cancellation of KEVIN THE BOLD in December, 1959 necessitated a reappraisal of the family’s financial situation and resulted in the cancellation of the Bahamas leg of the trip.

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