Neil the Horse Promo coverSM (1).jpg
For several dozen people out there, this will be the biggest news of the year.

Katherine Collin’s Neil The Horse is going to be reprinted by Hermes Press later this year!

Originally published in the 80s by Aardvark-Vanaheim and later Renegade Press—although it had enjoyed an earlier life as a series of comic strips dating back to the 70s—Neil The Horse was a tribute to old comic strips, Fred Astaire musicals and children’s books that featured an all singing and dancing cast of characters: Neil, Mam’selle Poupeé and Soapy the Cat.. It was charming, lyrical and like nothing else coming out at the time. But it has languished in the back issue bins of the memory ever since, as Collins (formerly known as Arn Saba) went through many life changes, and emphasized cartooning in her life.

Now Hermes Press is bringing out what they call the definitive, archival edition, fully authorized by Collins and reproduced from the original artwork of all 15 issues. I know many people had been trying to get the rights to this, and I’m glad Collins and Hermes could connect.

Seriously, one of the great gaps in the comics library is about to be remedied; Neil the Horse was one of my favorite comics of the era and I’m thrilled that a whole new generation will finally get to see it.

Neil the Horse by Katherine Collins;  
978-1-61345-035-2; 8.5 by 11;
deluxe hardcover;
reprints the complete Neil the Horse comic stories issues #1-#15;
historical essay by Trina Robbins;
documentary material;
320 pages; color and black and white; $60.   
Special signed limited edition with 32 pages of extra material and a signed tipped-in plate ISBN 978-1-61345-06-1; $95.

RELATED ARTICLESMORE FROM AUTHOR

24 COMMENTS

  1. Fantastic news! A new generation needs to be able to read these wonderful stories! The only thing missing is for the music CD to be bound in.

  2. Oh thank god, last time I talked to Katherine, she seemed concerned that it wasn’t happening. Glad to see Hermes didn’t let it fall through the cracks!

  4. I have all the issues, but look forward to having a handsome edition of this fantastic and unique artifact for my bookshelf. I hope that many new readers dicscover the work though the Hermes project.

  5. YES!
    How great is this series?
    I collected all of the (back) issues when I was a teenager in the 1980s.
    What other series did I complete? The Ditko-Lee Marvel Tales reprints. Concrete (not easy, given the Dark Horse Presents appearances).

    I want to create an organization called “Friends of Poupeé” which will stage concert performances of comics-related musicals, music, and plays.

    Any chance of a super deluxe edition with all of the songs on DVD-ROM? Including the stage musical?

    And might someone actually produce a motion comic from each story, with the songs?

  13. I’m gratified to see all the very kind comments. That my work would be reprinted came as a big surprise to me, when Hermes Press proposed it in 2012. I should note that I am only peripherally involved in the production of this reprint volume. I trust Hermes Press to do their usual excellent job, but of course what a creator thinks is important, and what a publisher values, can often be quite different. I mention this because I am not able to answer questions about the book, because I do not know the answers. I know that some people have wondered if the infamous “unpublished graphic novel” will be included at all. Well, like I said, I dunno — but if so, it would be only a few pages, because only eight pages have ever been inked. The rest sits in a box, in its pencilled glory. Also, alas, I do not think that there will be any representation of the radio play and the several dozen recorded songs, with Neil and the gang singing and dancing. But I have thought about making that available on the web. Let’s see what happens with the book. In the meantime, again, thanks to everyone for the enthusiasm.

  16. This is excellent news. I’ve collected the back issues avidly. It’s weird because I’ve been thinking about Neil a lot recently.
    Katherine – just to say Neil the Horse warmed my heart from the moment I read it. I hope that this might encourage you to bring out more work.

  17. I find all the enthusiasm and compliments to be very gratifying, and also somewhat surprising. My comics career ended in 1993, when I could not find a publisher anywhere, and I passed many years feeling convinced that I had been a failure, and was forgotten. It’s been only in the last few years that, thanks to the internet, I have started receiving letters from people who “found” me. My life has taken me in various other directions, and I am now working as a support counselor and teacher for people with “developmental disabilities”. I like the work very much. But I am now a senior, and working only part-time, and I have been tempted to try cartooning again. I’ll have to learn to draw again — I haven’t drawn a line since the mid-nineties. So I guess I’d say it’s a definite maybe. Thank you to everyone for being so generous in your comments!

  18. Your work was amazing, my wife, pretty much a complete comic hater, loved it so much she had to have her own copies.
    We were cery lucky that in my home town in Wales (UK) there was a guy who just had a massive slush pile of independents, including Neil, Tales of The Bean World and many other greats.
    You are definitely up there with Larry Marder and I’d love you to have a second career like he has.

    On another note, as the father of someone with learning delays, let me also say thank you for taking the time to help people and counsel them. In the UK at least, the last thing that happens is that someone gives counselling to those with any kind of developmental disability.

  20. This is the best comics news I’ve heard in quite some time! I also hope we’ll get to see some new Katherine Collins work.

  21. Count me among the many who are overjoyed by this news. Neil the Horse remains one of my absolute favorite comics of all time. I have all the original issues, and had even pulled them out of my collection recently with plans to reread them. Now I’ll wait for this book to come out instead! And if this leads to new stories from Katherine Collins, then so much the better. (And honestly, if getting super-excited about this news groups me in with gays and sissies, better that than ignorant biggots.)

  23. I noticed recently that I prefer to have the ducks sitting on the shore of the little pond outside my apartment and miss them not being there when they are busy elsewhere. Something registers their presence or absence. There is a similar awareness in regards to innocence and joy. When I come across something like Neil the Horse it gives a clear contrast to the oppressive negativity of current life and reminds me of the choice we have always to blanket ourselves with that which we find comforts us be it ducks or the eyes and heart of Neil the Horse.

  24. During and after my transition, I began showing up at conventions as Katherine. The
    women could not have been more supportive (with a few exceptions**), and I will
    always be more grateful than I can say. The men, of course, had nothing to do with me,
    but that was the way it always was anyway. But my unveiling must have had some kind
    of minor impact in the business — limited, I imagine, to those people who had at least
    heard of me.

    (** Donna Barr was most unkind, and Diana Schutz quickly grew cold and distant, as
    did Heidi McDonald.)

    – Katherine Collins

Comments are closed.