The timing of this current chapter of KEVIN THE BOLD is a bit awkward, with Indigenous Peoples’ Day being celebrated tomorrow (October 14). Some of the dialog is rather offensive, and while Kreigh Collins didn’t write too many episodes during this late period of his comic strip, going along with it made him complicit. When these episodes ran in 1966, the discovery of ancient Norse sites in Canada’s Maritme provinces was a recent development, and inclusion of this plot point was likely a suggestion of my grandfather. So despite being a product of a more insensitive time, I give him points for sharing this progressive idea.
The ancient Norse had a put down for the indigenous people they met, calling them Skraelings, and it’s notable that here, even the friendly “Viking-like Indians” use the condescending term against their enemy, the Potawatas.
Looking beyond any awkwardness, let’s try to enjoy a rather unique chase scene.
Given the givens, of course Chief Swen took Kevin’s advice and circled around the island. And let’s just try to ignore the ridiculous red skin tones given to the warring tribes’ members.
From their hiding place, Kevin and Erik keep a close eye on Captain Spur and his men.
Erik recognizes the language used by the “Indians”.
As Erik and Chief Swen bond over the possibility of their shared ancestry, Captain Spur quickly cozies up to the Potawata. The third tier of panels gives readers of the half-page episode a clearer idea of what’s to come…
They have seen a lot. After canoeing the length of Lake Ontario and witnessing the majesty of Niagara Falls, they continue on, through Lakes Erie, St. Clair, Huron, and Superior, finally reaching what would become Duluth, Minnesota. But not only are they seeing wondrous new things, so is the young lady who spies upon them.
Even more surprising, Captain Spur and his men have kept pace on the 1,500-mile cross-continental trek!
This next chapter of Kreigh Collins’ comics comes from the mid-1966 run of KEVIN THE BOLD. Kevin is aboard a ship making a voyage to the New World. These early crossings were extremely challenging.
A detail that piques my personal interest is the name of Kevin’s companion, Erik. My father’s name was Erik, and while he and my grandfather didn’t always get along so well, it’s wonderful to see a virtuous character named for him.
From the Maritime Provences all the way to Montreal, Kevin and Erik have really covered some ground.
With a sudden storm having wrecked their sailboat, Kevin and Bunny desperately cling to its swamped hull.
With word of her husband’s rescue coming via radio and newspaper, Jane betrays a bit of jealousy toward her husband’s co-star. However, her fears are assauged with the arrival of a telegram, which reveals Bunny’s true colors.
On reflection, it’s interesting to note the “modern” touches of these late-period comics of Collins (e.g., the pasted up photostat of the Western Union Telegram); I guess everything is relative, even the groovy dialog.
The sequence immediately following this one ran previously, and can be viewed here.
As he’s escorted around Hollywood by his co-star and director, Kevin learns how the movie game is played. As the action in the comic intensifies, the mood of the topper strip “Water Lore” darkens.
Jane trusts her husband Kevin enough to ignore the rumors propagated by the Hollywood hype machine — or is she just putting on a brave face? Meanwhile, Kevin and Bunny are lost at sea without ship-to-shore communication. Rescue efforts get under way, and Pedro manages to press the spineless movie star Cecil Dunn into service.
Of note: movie director Rex Fox bears a certain resemblance to one of Collins’ old “Mitzi McCoy” characters, publisher Stub Goodman. Stub was based on the character Frank from the 1947 novel by Thomas W. Duncan, “Gus the Great.” Like Stub, Frank was a newspaperman, and a very richly developed character. Midway through the book, he retires to California (and to my disappointment, isn’t heard from again). It’s nice to see one possible outcome was Frank’s reinvention as a Hollywood director.
Counting the pre-Newspaper Enterprise Association (NEA) weekly BIBLE STORIES COMICS, Kreigh Collins’ comics career lasted three decades. UP ANCHOR! was his final comic feature, it ran for about three and a half years, until Collins retired.
As summer ended in 1959, Collins and his family packed up his sailboat and headed south. They ended up spending a year on the boat, traveling down the Mississippi, and wintering in Florida. He continued with his work while aboard Heather, producing artwork for the comic strip as the journey progressed.
With help from the NEA, Collins was happy to do promotion for his work, and given his unique situation as a sailing snowbird, this was sometimes front-page news. In an interview with the Panama City News-Herald that appeared in the daily’s November 1, 1959 edition, Collins explained how he was able to do it: “Maintaining a comic strip is a high-pressure sort of thing. You’re dealing with it every day, meeting deadlines, writing scripts, doing the artwork, and so on. To stay normal, you just about have to have your mental balance.” The article continued, Collins maintains his balance by writing children’s books, adventure stories, and travel articles. He also considers his 45-foot yacht a mental life saver.
A syndicate proof of the comic that appeared in Panama City News-Herald, above
After KEVIN THE BOLD had run its course, Collins launched his next comic strip, UP ANCHOR!, in 1968. Although he used many of his family’s experiences aboard Heather as fodder for his scripts, much of the material came from his imagination. While there was talk in 1966 of spinning off KEVIN into a television show, movies weren’t in the conversation. Nonetheless, Hollywood did come into focus in one of the final sequences of UP ANCHOR!
The original illustrations for the comics that will follow in the next several weeks are all in the collection of the Grand Rapids Public Library.
The illustration of underwater swimming in the final panel is evocative of a decade-old Mitzi McCoy comic and plot device, that of finding a hidden cave with an air pocket.
August 7, 1949
As in the mid-1949 Mitzi McCoy sequence, a cave is found with an air pocket. It allows Kevin to escape the frigid water, albeit briefly. Meanwhile, as Thord’s men squabble, Kevin seizes his opportunity.
Besides being a rather gruesome conclusion to a compelling storyline, the August 31, 1958 episode is notable for a couple of other reasons, among them a continuity problem. When Thord and Kevin resurface in the second panel, some stones are visible in the foreground, to Thord’s right. In the next panel, Thord gives Kevin a stiff-arm as he lunges for the stones to his left. The throwaway panel then shows a closeup of a stone in Thord’s left hand, but the following panel shows the stone in Thord’s right hand, as he’s about to strike at Kevin.
Also of note is the introduction of the character Pedro in the final transitional panels. A large and recurring character, Pedro was by Kevin’s side for many of his adventures over the final decade of Kevin the Bold’s run. No doubt he was a favorite of Collins, as a very similar Pedro character played a prominent role in Kreigh Collins’ third and final NEA feature, Up Anchor!
Did Someone Say “MItzi”?
“The Lost Art of Kreigh Collins, the Complete Mitzi McCoy” features the entire run of Kreigh Collins’ first NEA feature.
MITZI McCOY ran from 1948 to 1950 and showcased Kreigh Collins’ skill as an illustrator and storyteller. His picturesque landscapes, lovely character designs, and thrilling action sequences brimmed with detail and charm, and the strip’s ensemble cast rotated in and out of the spotlight taking turns as protagonists in the dozen story arcs collected in this volume. The last story collected in “The Complete Mitzi McCoy” is the narrative bridge that set Collins and his characters off on a new journey, beautifully told for the next couple of decades in the much-lauded adventure strip Kevin the Bold.
The collection includes an introduction by Eisner Award-winning author Frank M. Young, an Afterward by Ithaca College’s Ed Catto, and previously unpublished artwork and photos. Longtime comics artist Butch Guice also provides a new pin-up of the character Mitzi McCoy.
The book is available for $30. For domestic shipping, add $4; for international orders, please add $25 to cover first class shipping. To place an order, leave a comment below or email me at BrianEdwardCollins1[at]gmail.com, and I will give you PayPal or Venmo information. Thank you!
Freshly awoken from being knocked out, Kevin and Freya race to water’s edge only to see Thord sailing away on Sor Nordick’s dragon boat, repurposed as the Erl’s funeral ship.
After discovering that Thord intended to steal the venerable old man’s treasure (instead of following custom and letting it sink with the burning boat), Kevin and Freya set off in an attempt to thward Thord’s plans.
[Now about those “unscrupulous” Jesicks. Reading through these comics, that name rang a bell for me, and I realized where it likely came from. Notably, Kreigh Collins was an avid sailor, and for many years he docked his boat at a marina on Lake Macatawa, Michigan. The marina? Jesick’s Boat Yard. I suspect that the choice of names Collins gave to Thord’s lackeys was in fun, and not indicative of any malice toward the owners of his longtime marina. It sounds Polish to me, but perhaps Jesick is a Norwegian name?]
An unforeseen bugaboo in the evil man’s plans dooms them, but while Kevin strides off to for a better view, Freya herself is not out of the woods yet.
For more information on the career of Kreigh Collins, visit his page on Facebook.
Smelling a rat, Kevin lingers to see what sort of plan is afoot. Thord quickly schemes to get Kevin out of his way, but as usual, the Irishman is one step ahead of his foe.
Pretending he has passed out from too much drink, Kevin leaps at an opportunity to search for Freya. Bound and vulnerable, Freya doesn’t know who her rescuer is, but she appears to like what she sees. Kevin hastens her away in the nick of time. Thord, with the menacing prow of the dragon ship looming over his shoulder, sets off to grab Freya.
Instead, he finds Kevin, and becomes enraged. Luckily, Freya is not only beautiful, but quick thinking and surprisingly strong.
The July 20 episode is one of a few from 1958 for which I don’t have a half-page example. I’m fortunate to have a crisp black and white proof, and it reveals all the cropping that took place when one-third-page versions were created. Some nice details are lost, such as the fuller illustration of the house in the final panel, but the comparison also shows that Kreigh Collins had learned to deal with the inevitability of the third-pages. Several of the wider panels’ sides are rather empty, and ready to be sacrificed for the truncated version. Interestingly, the penultimate panel has been extended upward, with the caption moving up and over, so the overall width can be reduced without obscuring the fetching Freya’s face.
Now available!
Visit the Lost Art Books website to place your order for The Lost Art of Kreigh Collins, Vol. 1: The Complete 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 by Eisner Award winner Frank M. Young and previously unpublished artwork and photographs.
For more information on the career of Kreigh Collins, visit his page on Facebook.
Kreigh’s Comics 