Kreigh Taylor Collins (1908–1974), born in Davenport, Iowa, was an American

cartoonist A cartoonist is a visual artist who specializes in both drawing and writing cartoons (individual images) or comics (sequential images). Cartoonists differ from comics writers or comic book illustrators in that they produce both the literary and ...

best known for the comic strip

Kevin the Bold Kevin the Bold was an American comic strip that premiered on October 1, 1950, with script and art work by Kreigh Collins. In the 1960s, however, he received script assistance from Jay Heavilin (1961) and Russell R. Winterbotham (1964-68). This we ...

. As a young man, Kreigh Collins was encouraged by his parents to draw. He studied art at the Cincinnati Art Academy (1924–25), but left school to pursue a career as an artist. He traveled to France in the late 1920s, including to Paris where he engaged in painting. When he returned to the United States in 1931, the

Great Depression The Great Depression (19291939) was an economic shock that impacted most countries across the world. It was a period of economic depression that became evident after a major fall in stock prices in the United States. The economic contagio ...

was making it difficult to make money, but he worked as an illustrator, salesman, illustrator in advertising and landscape painter. Collins also made a name for himself as a magazine illustrator in the 1930s. In the 1930s, he also drew the ''Do You Know?'' panel, from September 2, 1935, to January 26, 1937. Do you know? was a bit like

Ripley's Believe It or Not! ''Ripley's Believe It or Not!'' is an American franchise founded by Robert Ripley, which deals in bizarre events and items so strange and unusual that readers might question the claims. Originally a newspaper panel, the ''Believe It or Not'' feat ...

, and was written by Willis Atwell and distributed by

Booth Newspapers MLive Media Group, originally known as Booth Newspapers, or Booth Michigan, is a media group that produces newspapers in the state of Michigan. Founded by George Gough Booth with his two brothers, Booth Newspapers was sold to Advance Publicatio ...

. A collection of the panels was published as a book in 1937. Collins had a break-through in 1945 when the ''Methodist Publishing House'' asked him to draw Bible-based comics for publication in Church magazines. He drew stories about Paul, Moses, Jesus, Joseph and others, and the strip became popular not only in the United States but also in Australia and South America. In the late 1940s, he signed for the NEA syndicate and created his first syndicated comic strip, Mitzi McCoy, launched by NEA as a Sunday comic strip November 7, 1948. Mitzi McCoy was a comic strip about a young society woman, daughter of a local tycoon in the small picturesque town of Freedom. In appearance, she was inspired by the then popular movie star Rita Hayworth. After two years, in 1950, Mitzi McCoy underwent a sudden transformation into a medieval adventure comic strip,

. Kevin was an Irish shepherd who in 1497 saved a medieval ancestor of Mitzi, Moya McCoy. Later Kevin became an Irish agent for King Henry VIII of England. The Kevin the Bold comic strip premiered on October 1, 1950, written and drawn by Collins. In the 1960s, however, he received help with scripting from Jay Heavilin (1961) and

Russell R. Winterbotham Russell Robert Winterbotham (August 1, 1904 – June 9, 1971) was an American writer of western and science fiction genre fiction, and the author of instructional pamphlets and several Big Little Books. He also wrote crime stories and one sci ...

(1964-68). This well-written comic strip was published in Sunday newspapers for almost twenty years. In 1968, Collins began working on the comic strip Up Anchor, a story in modern setting about sailing, loosely based on his own experiences of sailing. Up Anchor was published as a Sunday comic strip until 1972. Besides working as a cartoonist and magazine illustrator, Collins also illustrated and wrote books. In the early 60s, he wrote and illustrated two books for children (“Christopher Columbus” and “David Livingstone”), and much earlier he wrote an illustrated a book called “Tricks, Toys, and Tim”. Kreigh Collins was also active creating paintings and portraits throughout his life."Rogers Seriemagasi

(2021-06-18)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Collins, Kreigh 1908 births 1974 deaths American cartoonists American comics artists