Chic Young

January 17, 1960

This 60-year-old comic section was a souvenir from my grandparents’ southern journey aboard their schooner, Heather. In late 1959, they left their west Michigan home port on Lake Macatawa and set sail for Chicago. The Illinois River led to the Mississippi, and eventually to Florida’s west coast—a favorite wintertime destination (In the ’40s, the Collins clan often rented on Anna Maria Island). Besides his wife, Teddy, Kreigh’s only crew was his eight-year old twins, Kevin and Glen. Heather and her crew wouldn’t return to Michigan until August, 1960.

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The Fort Meyers News-Press‘ Sunday edition included an eight-page comic section, led off by Milt Caniff’s popular strip Terry and the Pirates, handled since 1946 by George Wunder. Joining Terry on page one was Mary Worth, written by Allen Saunders and illustrated by Ken Ernst.

Scanning the outside pages of an old comic section is relatively easy with a tabloid scanner, but getting the inside pages presents more of a challenge. Despite having already shrunk from their enormous dimensions from earlier in the 20th century, these pages still measure 29″ x 21.5″ when unfolded. Pages 2-3 feature largely feature run-of-the-mill NEA titles: Boots, by Edgar Martin; Dick Turner’s Carnival; Roy Crane’s Captain Easy (handled on Sundays by Leslie Turner); Vic Flint (written by Jay Heavilin and drawn by Dean Miller); and Our Boarding House, likely illustrated by Bill Freyse. The only non-NEA comic on this first inside spread was Warner Bros.’ Bugs Bunny.

From my perspective, things improve on page 4. There are two contrasting half-page features, Chris Welkin, Planeteer, by Art Sansom and Russ Winterbotham, and Kreigh Collins’ Kevin the Bold. (This episode is one midway through a tale of buried treasure and tyranny, with the villain being Count Stabb). Page 5 has two King Features Syndicate titles (Chic Young’s Blondie and Mort Walker’s Beetle Bailey) and another by McNaught (Joe Palooka, likely handled at this point by Tony DiPreta and Morris Weiss). 

The final inside spread has a raft of third-page NEA comics, (Pricilla’s Pop by Al Vermeer, Tom Trick by Dale, Out Our Way by J.R. Williams, Rolfe’s Brenda Breeze, Merrill Blossar’s Freckles and His Friends and Walt Scott’s The Little People.

The back page of the comic section had two more McNaught titles (Lank Leonard’s Mickey Finn and McEvoy and Stribel’s Dixie Dugan), as well as the the NEA’s popular feature Alley Oop, by V.T. Hamlin.

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By far, most of my comics are single sheets cut from sections, but I’m glad that my grandparents kept this section intact. (Maybe they forgot to bring scissors when they went south).

Happy New Year! (January 1 was Kreigh Collins’ 112th birthday).

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

Anno III, N. 1

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My other recently-acquired copy of Il Nerbiniano is an older one: year III, number 1, published in January, 1975. While Kevin shared the cover with a strip called “Cino e Franco,” one of Kreigh Collins’ most arresting panels was repurposed for the cover. Notably, the comic in which it originated (October 28, 1951) does not appear inside.

Anno III, N. 1 used heavier cover stock than my other copy. This one was bound in a landscape format, and all of the material inside is formatted that way too. Overall, this earlier copy is of a higher quality than Anno VIII, N. 1. The inside covers were printed in two colors, black and cyan, and the interior text pages appeared in alternating 4-C and black-and-white signatures, each four pages long. The inside front cover lists an editor-in-chief, six staffers and a cover artist, and includes an editor’s letter (La Poltrona del Direttore, or, The Director’s Chair). The table of contents nicely features a piece of Collins’ artwork as a spot illustration.

 

 

Having started this blog as a tribute to my grandfather, perhaps the most fascinating aspect is how much I learn about ancillary material while doing necessary research. While I know quite a bit about my grandfather’s comics, I am by no means a comics historian. I learned that the comic featured in the opening section, “Jungle Jim,” was created as a topper by Alex Raymond for his comic “Flash Gordon.” The comics reprinted here are lovely, dating to 1939.

“Kevin the Bold” appears on page 5, and two tabloid comics are split across four pages as in my other copy of Il Nerbiniano, but with no need to rotate the book while reading. The interior text pages’ stock is heavier than in my other copy, and instead of a coated paper with what almost appears to be xerographic printing, this issue uses a nice uncoated stock. The reproduction quality is excellent.

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This time, the comics’ original publication dates (and NEA copyright credit) remain in the artwork. While I always thought of this sequence as “The Search for Sadea,” I now prefer the Italian title, “Sadea, la Ragazza Stregata” (“Sadea, the Bewitched Girl”).

In all of my grandfather’s comics, the Sadea sequence is perhaps my favorite. It features thrilling action, a hauntingly beautiful (kidnapped) young woman, magnificent ships, horses and battle scenes. Not to mention Koko, the mischievous sea monkey (not that kind!), and frightening villains, all beautifully illustrated and with a captivating plot line.

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After four stunning pages, Il Nerbiniano continues with more four-color “Cino e Franco” comics. After further research, I learned that this comic is the Italian version of Lyman Young’s long-running “Tim Tyler’s Luck.” (I also learned that Lyman’s younger brother Chic Young was the man who created “Blondie”). This is followed by eight black and white pages of a comic called “Nell Impero Degli Incas” (“In the Empire of the Incas”), and four more color pages of “Cino e Franco.” Then, four more exquisitely-reproduced “Kevin the Bold” pages — the comics from April 22 & 29, 1951.

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Because this sequence has had no exposure for the past 67 years (in color, anyway), next week I will begin featuring it on this blog it in its entirety. But first, one last look at Il Nerbiniano — what a charming back cover!

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