Chicago Sunday Tribune

A New Direction

In the summer of 1950, MITZI McCOY started running in the Grand Rapids Press, which was not just Collins’ hometown newspaper, but a client. He had been doing illustrations for them since the beginning of his career, which began about 20 years earlier. (Collins also did work for another local daily, the Grand Rapids Herald).

The first print example is dated July 8, 1950, and it’s the leadoff episode in MITZI’s penultimate chapter, about an exotic woman named Yolo. (That story arc appeared on this blog previously).

The chapter that followed Yolo will be featured over the next two weeks. “The McCoy Legend,” served as the transition point between MITZI and KEVIN THE BOLD. The big change in direction started innocuously enough, with Stub Goodman’s friend, Dick Dixon paying him a visit on a rainy day.

Stub loves to tell stories, and the one he relates to young Mr. Dixon is legendary—so much so that it uses a modified MITZI McCOY logo. For newspapers that had been running MITZI, this logo helped the reader navigate the change in the comic strip’s direction, whereas newspapers that were picking up Collins’ strip with KEVIN’s debut (like the Chicago Sunday Tribune) used an episode with the new KEVIN THE BOLD logo.

At any rate, readers of the Grand Rapids Press were the first to meet Kevin, as these episodes printed in the Saturday edition, scooping other Sunday readers. In it, Moorish pirates were raiding the Irish coast, looking for slaves.

Moya McCoy, Mitzi’s ancestress, has a sudden meeting with Kevin, and this overqualified shepherd soon comes to her aid. After two episodes, the “McCoy Legend” logo was replaced, and the metamorphosis was complete.

This opening chapter was an action-packed classic, and introduced a character who became a fan favorite—Rory the Irish wolfhound.

Having leaped from the cliff into the sea, Kevin makes his way to the pirates’ ship, which he hopes to capture single-handedly.

Kevin fails, but the story isn’t over yet…

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

Special Man Is Wanted

Artists and illustrators often have models pose for them — Kreigh Collins frequently enlisted his family with the task. Occasionally, a special situation would call for a hired model, and such was a case for an early “Kevin the Bold” sequence. Getting a help wanted ad on the front page of the local paper was helpful, and the Grand Rapids Herald provided some nice promotion for Collins’ year-old comic.

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The “special man” needed to be of a specific stature, as he would be donning a centuries-old suit of armor recently donated to the Grand Rapids Public Museum. Since historical authenticity was important to Collins, having a live model for reference would be very useful, as knights in armor were a staple of his comic strip.

The newspaper page was trimmed so that no publication date showed, but an article on the page had some information that placed it in late July of 1951. The NEA’s production schedule required comics to be inked two to three months ahead of their publication date, and with this sequence appearing in September, the timing of the newspaper article made sense.

The fifth “Kevin the Bold” sequence introduced a new villain, Baron Von Blunt. Was his new Flemish armor modeled after the set from the Grand Rapids Public Museum?

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Most of the early “Kevin” comics in my collection are from the Chicago Sunday Tribune, but the September 30, 1951 comic shown above ran in the Detroit News. (Most likely, the comic had debuted in the News with this sequence). Collins’ artwork is especially strong in this period, but the printed results from the News are no match for those of the Tribune.

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Kevin and his squire, Stub, had been separated during the previous sequence, in which Kevin was gravely injured. Once reunited, Stub fills his knight in on the details of the task he has been assigned — training an army of men to face Baron Von Blunt, the same ruthless man that had already made an enemy of Kevin. The October 7 comic is another beauty from the Trib, with more to follow.

Of note: The Grand Rapids Public Museum has a rather impressive collection of Kreigh Collins’ original artwork.

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

Comic Artist’s Family Gets Away From It All

The following article appeared in an in-house NEA publication, and also ran in various newspapers that had picked it up from NEA. Written by Jay Heavilin, it picks up the story about Heather and her crew’s Great Loop journey as the schooner neared home. Since the NEA offices were located in Cleveland, Kreigh Collins and crew would be sailing directly past NEA HQ as they neared the western end of Lake Erie on their way to Heather’s home port on Lake Macatawa. They still needed to nearly circumnavigate the lower peninsula of Michigan—nearly 500 miles through lakes St. Clair, Huron, and Michigan—but with 5,000 miles already logged, they were on the homestretch.

The final installment of this story arc includes two new additions to my collection—the two color third pages shown below. These episodes (and three dozen others) came from my new friend Dave, a vendor from New Jersey. This spring, I paid him a visit, intending to purchase the episodes, but he insisted on giving them to me. Thank you, Dave!

The black and white portions of final three episodes come from photographs I took of the originals, which are located in one of the Grand Rapids Public Library’s special collections. (If I remember correctly, they are found on the fourth floor. Highly recommended!)

Meanwhile, back in New Orleans, the situation is frantic.

And when things couldn’t get worse…

Oh, what a relief!

In the third frame of the final episode of the chapter, young Dave utters what seems to have become something of a catchphrase, “Some things are hard to explain.” I haven’t kept track of all the instances, but I recall Pedro uttering the line in a mid-1960s episode of KEVIN THE BOLD.

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

Cartoonist, Family Aboard Schooner at Beach

On this journey south, articles often appeared in the newspapers of the towns Heather and her crew visited. I don’t know if my grandfather acted as his own publicist, or if the mere sight of his boat drew reporters looking for some interesting local news (47-foot schooners were a rarity on the Mississippi). It certainly helped if the newspaper featured KEVIN THE BOLD in their comic sections. However they came about, the articles sometimes provided some interesting information, such as this one, from the January 13, 1960 Fort Meyers News-Press.

Over the years, as my comics collection has grown, the thing that surprised me most was the number of countries in which Kreigh’s comics were published. Aside from a single Swedish Tom Mix comic book and a tear sheet from a Cuban newspaper, my research had yielded no acknowledgement of his work appearing in markets outside the US and Canada—and I always wondered if Collins was aware of (and compensated for) these additional NEA revenue streams.

Finally, that question was answered—check the top of the article’s third column. Speaking of KEVIN THE BOLD, Collins is quoted as saying, “…the strip has been surprisingly well received. It now appears in Canada, South Africa, Yugoslavia, Sweden, France and other countries on the Continent. A very fine reproduction appears in the Manchester (England) Guardian.”

This example from the Manchester Guardian ran December 31, 1960, five an a half months after its original publication date (July 10, 1960)

I hadn’t been aware of any British papers carrying his work—it’s wonderful to learn something new after all these years of research!

Meanwhile, back to the funny pages’ version of Heather…

More obstacles—and more helpful strangers. By the time they reached New Orleans, Kevin Marlin and his crew had to be feeling pretty good about their state of affairs.

Like sailing weather, things can change change quickly, and not always for the better. Where’s David?!

It’s a parent’s worst nightmare!

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

Modern Life on the Mississippi

Yachting is a monthly magazine first published in 1907; it’s still on newsstands today. I’m most familiar with issues from the 1960s–80s, because my father had stacks of them piled in his library. Little did I know then, but on at least two occasions my grandfather wrote and illustrated features for Yachting. The first that I’m aware of was included in the March, 1962 issue.

Due to the times, these articles occasionally contained language now considered politically incorrect. Otherwise they are well-written, informative, and very funny. The March, 1962 article described the trip down the Mississippi that became the inspiration for this blog’s current story arc.

A cute detail are the two toy boats trailing behind Heather, in addition to the dighy, Mobe Dink.

While the opening spread relates some of Heather‘s mechanical troubles, the following page describes the incident later featured in the October 26, 1969 episode.

No doubt some liberties were taken in both versions of the story, and it’s not surprising that in the comic strip version, the smashed window was placed in the galley (kitchen), not the head (bathroom).

The article jumps to the back of the magazine, and continues for three more pages. (If you’re interested in the complete article, copies are usually available on ebay).

Heather and her crew survived this first drama, but surely there would be more to come.

The Marlin family’s new friend had some good advice, but it was to no avail. Making sure not to judge a book by its cover, they graciously accept Al’s generous offer. (Of note, the November 2 WATER LORE episode consists of three panels, not two—the only such instance I can recall).

More surprises awaited—thankfully, this one was pleasant.

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

Bold Kevin and His Crew

On August 23, 1959, a short photo-essay appeared in the Chicago Sunday Tribune Magazine. It described life aboard Heather for the Collins family as they prepared for their journey south. The short profile was a nice promotional piece for the artist, whose work appeared every Sunday in the Trib’s funny pages. (Sadly, it is likely the last promo the Tribune ran for Collins—four months later, after a nine-year run, KEVIN THE BOLD was discontinued.)

Now back to the story that resulted from the trip south.

Say… that dog and little boy in WATER LORE… they sure look familiar.

Ah yes, it’s Inky—a dog that, in real life, belonged to one of the Collins’ neighbors. But I digress. Heather has arrived for her overnight stay in Chicago, with an early morning departure and a date with its first lock.

It was smooth sailing through the lock, so much that Jane Marlin thoughts turn to Robert Burns’ Duncan Gray.

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

One-Man Army

Kevin sets out to rescue Lois. The audacity of his plan is matched only by the episode’s beautifully executed illustrations.

Longtime readers know Hunn will soon pay for his cockiness.

As is typical, Kevin spares his foe from death—at least for now.

The story wraps quickly—the guards go AWOL as a new character heralds the beginning of Kevin’s next adventure.

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For those keeping track, this is my 400th post on Kreigh’s Comics. Thank you for reading!

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

Kevin’s Page

I generally think of Brett as being Kevin’s ward, but the more accurate term would be page. A boy served as a page for about seven years; at age fourteen he could graduate and become a squire. A page’s duties were acting as a messenger, serving, cleaning clothing and weapons, and learning the basics of combat. He also received a more general education from his master.

The January 16, 1955 episode shows Brett at work.

Again, Brett shows his skills (combat training this time). While it might seem unlikely that a lad as young as Brett was shown wielding a crossbow, it was not unheard of—the wikipedia article that described a page’s responsibilities also states “The mechanical and long-range nature of [crossbows] made them almost the only medieval weapon which could be employed effectively by a youth.”

This example of the January 30, 1955 episode taken from the Chicago Sunday Tribune reproduced beautifully.

Meanwhile, young Sigurd—more squire than knight—is being conspired against by his supposed guardian, Gouda, who is using the thug Hunn as a means to his end.

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

Skeleton in the Closet

In 1954’s final episode, the previous story arc wraps and transitions to the next chapter by way of an extremely dynamic splash panel.

Kevin’s lady friend yearned for some excitement, proving the adage “be careful what you wish for!”

The action takes a rather grim turn as the giant intruder rampages. After his futile attempt at stopping him, Kevin looked to suffer the same fate as the fallen servant, only to be saved by the quick-thinking (and strong-armed) Brett.

Although they were both sourced from the Chicago Sunday Tribune, the color scheme changed significantly between the last two episodes. Such problems were avoided when KEVIN THE BOLD began appearing in the black and white Menomonee Falls Gazette (Issue 109, which also featured Kevin on the cover).

Further mayhem was avoided, and after healing up, Kevin and Brett continued on their way.

When I originally posted this episode, for some reason I neglected to do color correction.

To be continued…

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

Count Noir

This chapter, represented primarily by half-page comics from the Detroit News, features a scheming count and a playful young widow; it ran in Sunday comics sections 65 years ago.

The widow (Marie de Grasse) had made her situation clear in the transitional strip that preceded this one.

By the summer of 1957, the Chicago Tribune generally ran KEVIN in its loathed third-page format, and in the absence of half pages from the News, episodes will get the collage treatment—which is a shame because June 23 is a very nice example.

In stark contrast with Noir’s machinations, lovely Marie has her own methods to get what she wants.

To be continued…

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