I recently acquired an “Australian Edition” Atlas comic on eBay, No. 11, shown above. It is in rather rough shape; nonetheless, I was thrilled to win the auction. It contains a storyline where Kevin takes young Prince Rupert under his wing, and makes a man of him. (A previous post about Kevin’s appearances in Atlas comics can be found here.)
Not all of the comics’ dates are still included with the artwork, but at least half of them still appear. The comics included in Atlas No. 11 originally ran in Sunday comics sections from October 26, 1952 through February 22, 1953. In the story, Kevin and Brett arrive in Lutenburg, a city recently rebuilt after a disasterous fire. The rebuild was funded by Kevin’s ward Brett, who had donated his family fortune—once it was recovered. (The back story on Brett’s family fortune ran in a series of posts starting here).
Meanwhile, in Lutenburg, the orphaned Prince Rupert is under the thumb of a controlling and evil Regent.
I used to get annoyed to find advertisements inside these comics, I wanted to see more of my grandfather’s artwork! But I soon realized that these ads were quite charming timepieces.
The “double decker” panel from the comic on page 18 provided the issue’s cover artwork, but as was typical with Atlas, it was edited—the cover shows villain Torre Hemlar shakily fumbling his sword, whereas in the original comic, it was still sheathed.
The sequence draws to a close (more or less), leaving three pages for Atlas to fill the 24-page self-cover comic book. The material chosen, “Mary Mixup” seems to be an odd selection to pair with “Kevin,” with its titular female lead. I had been previously unaware of this comic, but learned it was drawn by Robert Moore Brinkerhoff, ran from 1917 until 1956 (!), and was originally called “Little Mary Mixup.” (Over the course of its run, Mary aged somewhat, and at some point the strip’s title may have been abbreviated). Based on the automobiles shown in the comic, I’d guess these dailies date to the early 1940s.
Now available!
Visit the Lost Art Books website to place your order for The Lost Art of Kreigh Collins, Vol. 1: Mitzi McCoy. In addition to the entire run of “Mitzi McCoy,” the book includes the opening sequence of the comic strip “Mitzi” evolved into, “Kevin the Bold.”
The book also features an extensive introduction and previously unpublished artwork and photographs.
For more information on the career of Kreigh Collins, visit his page on Facebook.
Kreigh’s Comics 