View source for Katherine Collins

{{other people}}
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{{BLP sources|date=April 2010}}
{{original research|date=March 2014}}
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{{Infobox comics creator
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| birth_name    = Arnold Alexander Saba, Jr.
| birth_date    = {{Birth date|1947|07|06|df=y}}
| birth_place   = [[Vancouver]], [[British Columbia]]
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| nationality   = Canadian/American
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| notable works = [[Neil the Horse]]
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'''Katherine Shannon Collins''' is a [[Canadians|Canadian]]-born [[cartoonist]],<ref name="Bell2006">{{cite book|last=Bell|first=John|title=Invaders from the North: How Canada Conquered the Comic Book Universe|url=https://archive.org/details/invadersfromnort0000bell|url-access=registration|access-date=14 June 2012|date=2006-11-11|publisher=Dundurn Press Ltd.|isbn=9781550026597|pages=[https://archive.org/details/invadersfromnort0000bell/page/126 126]–}}</ref> [[writer]], [[Media Personality|media personality]], stage performer, and [[composer]]. She created the newspaper comic strip ''[[Neil the Horse]]'', which ran from 1975 to 1991.

== Biography ==
Katherine Collins (formerly Arnold Alexander Saba, Jr.) was born in Vancouver, British Columbia on [[July 6]], 1947. Her name comes from her maternal great-grandmother, Mary Adda "Dolly" Collins, a painter, writer, and illustrator herself. Collins’s mother, who was also a cartoonist and comics collector, instilled in her an interest in comics from a young age. Her earliest influences include [[Carl Barks]] and [[Milton Caniff]], whose comics she collected throughout the 1950s and onward.<ref name=":02">{{Cite web |first=Alex |last=Dueben |date=2017-10-31 |title="Whatever Came to Mind": An Interview with Katherine Collins (Part One) |url=https://www.tcj.com/whatever-came-to-mind-an-interview-with-katherine-collins-part-one/ |access-date=2022-11-22 |website=The Comics Journal |language=en-US}}</ref> She started reading underground comics in the late 60s, enjoying artists such as [[Robert Crumb]], [[Kim Deitch]], [[Skip Williamson]], [[Jay Lynch]], and [[Trina Robbins]].<ref name=":02"/> Growing up in Canada, she was surrounded by and presented with works of both American and British comics culture.<ref name=":12">{{Cite book |last1=Costello |first1=Brannon |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Q4kEEAAAQBAJ&dq=Katherine+collins+Neil+the+horse&pg=PA53 |title=The Other 1980s: Reframing Comics' Crucial Decade |last2=Cremins |first2=Brian |date=2021-06-02 |publisher=LSU Press |isbn=978-0-8071-7550-7 |language=en}}</ref>

== Career ==

=== Neil the Horse ===
{{main|Neil the Horse}}
Collins is known as the creator of ''[[Neil the Horse]]''. The series ran in Canadian [[newspaper]]s from 1975-1982 via the Great Lakes Publishing syndicate located in Toronto. It subsequently appeared in fifteen comic book issues from 1983–1988, published by [[Aardvark-Vanaheim]]/[[Renegade Press]].<ref name='Bell2006'/><ref>{{cite book|title=The Comics journal|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=5CNLAQAAIAAJ|year=2003|publisher=The Comics Journal, Inc.|pages=61–72}}</ref>

Collins's efforts to continue the project in print were unsuccessful. It was optioned for film and television in cooperation with Zorro Productions, but the work did not make it to the screen.<ref>{{cite web | url=http://ead.ohiolink.edu/xtf-ead/view?docId=ead/OhCoUCR0052.xml;query=;brand=default | title=Guide to the Arn Saba/ Katherine Collins Papers }}</ref>

Referring to ''Neil the Horse'', Maaheen Ahmed wrote that Collins's work is “Rooted in the North American independent comics scene,” bringing to life “forgotten elements of comics memories (girls’ comics, childish funny animals) that are, in many ways, antithetical to the “grown up” image of comics that was being cultivated contemporaneously”.<ref name=":12"/> In response to assertions that ''Neil the Horse'' appears to be heavily rooted in nostalgia, Collins herself has noted that it never occurred to her that these comics were looking back at all, but were rather an alternative approach to real life.<ref name=":02"/>

=== Later career ===
In the past few years, Collins's work has experienced a notable resurgence in popularity and recognition. In 2017, Conundrum Press republished her work in an anthology titled 'The Collected Neil the Horse,' which features all fifteen issues of the Neil the Horse comic book, along with the weekly comic strips and other significant pieces from her career.<ref>{{Cite web |last=MacDonald |first=Heidi |date=2017-03-28 |title=Syndicated Comics |url=https://www.comicsbeat.com/the-collected-neil-the-horse-is-finally-coming-out-next-month/ |access-date=2023-04-05 |website=The Beat |language=en-US}}</ref>

=== Awards ===
In 1983, Collins was awarded an '''[[Inkpot Award]],''' among the ranks of other acclaimed comics artists such as [[Robert Crumb]] (1989), [[Howard Cruse]] (1989), [[Neil Gaiman]] (1991), and [[Art Spiegelman]] (1987).

In 2013, Collins was inducted into the [[Joe Shuster Award]] Canadian Comic Book Creator Hall of Fame, and sent an acceptance video to the ceremony. In 2017, Collins was inducted into the "Giants of the North" hall of fame by the [[Doug Wright (cartoonist)|Doug Wright]] Awards for Canadian Cartooning.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Get to know Katherine Collins, 2017 Giants of the North inductee {{!}} Doug Wright Awards |url=https://dougwrightawards.com/katherine-collins-is-the-2017-giants-of-the-north-inductee/ |access-date=2023-04-05}}</ref>

== Personal life ==
Katherine Collins was born in [[Vancouver]], [[British Columbia]]. She [[Transitioning (transgender)|transitioned]], identifying publicly as a [[transgender]] woman since 1993.<ref name='Bell2006'/><ref name="prism">[http://prismcomics.org/profile.php?id=14 "Katherine Collins" (bio)] Prism Comics. Accessed July 19, 2011. {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110727185638/http://prismcomics.org/profile.php?id=14 |date=July 27, 2011 }}</ref>

It has been mentioned that Collins wrote a book on her physical and spiritual journey in transitioning to a woman, though it is likely that work was never published.<ref name=":3">{{Cite web |title=Out in Comics 1999 by Prism Comics - Issuu |url=https://issuu.com/prismcomics/docs/oic1999 |access-date=2022-11-22 |website=issuu.com |date=31 July 2009 |language=en}}</ref>

In 2003, Collins was arrested for her activities as a "highly organized purveyor of psychedelic drugs".  Police raided her apartment, finding "six half-pound bags of magic mushrooms" and "four pounds of marijuana".<ref>[https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-san-francisco-examiner-drug-arrest/69194064/ "Drug arrest reveals '80s cartoonist's whereabouts"], ''[[San Francisco Examiner]]'', May 15, 2003</ref>  Her conviction, for a crime considered a crime of "moral turpitude", led to her deportation in 2005 under the [[Patriot Act]].<ref name="prism" /> After her return to [[Vancouver]], Collins was diagnosed with [[leukemia]]. In 2008, she announced she was recovering.<ref name="prism" />

== References ==
{{reflist}}

== External links ==
*[https://joeshusterawards.com/hof/collins-katherine-aka-saba-arn/ Hall of Fame Biography], [[Joe Shuster Awards]]
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20061211234550/http://www.prismcomics.org/profile.php?id=14 Katherine Collins] at Prism Comics
*[http://www.cbc.ca/archives/categories/arts-entertainment/visual-arts/the-comics-in-canada-an-illustrated-history/introducing-arn-sabas-neil-the-horse.html "Introducing Arn Saba's Neil The Horse,"] CBC Digital Archives (Broadcast date: April 26, 1977)
*[http://www.cbc.ca/archives/categories/arts-entertainment/visual-arts/the-comics-in-canada-an-illustrated-history/the-cartoon-life-of-arn-saba.html Saba radio and TV appearances], CBC Digital Archives
*{{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080509191711/http://www.tcj.com/255/e_saba.html |date=May 9, 2008 |title="Now You See Me," }} ''The Comics Journal'' #255 (Sept. 2003).

{{Canadian cartoonists}}
{{Inkpot Award 1980s}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Collins, Katherine}}
[[Category:1947 births]]
[[Category:Artists from Vancouver]]
[[Category:Canadian graphic novelists]]
[[Category:Canadian women cartoonists]]
[[Category:Canadian comic strip cartoonists]]
[[Category:Canadian comics artists]]
[[Category:Canadian comics writers]]
[[Category:Female comics writers]]
[[Category:LGBTQ comics creators]]
[[Category:Living people]]
[[Category:Canadian transgender artists]]
[[Category:Musicians from Vancouver]]
[[Category:LGBTQ media personalities]]
[[Category:Canadian transgender writers]]
[[Category:University of British Columbia alumni]]
[[Category:Writers from Vancouver]]
[[Category:Canadian LGBTQ novelists]]
[[Category:Canadian media personalities]]
[[Category:Canadian female comics artists]]
[[Category:Transgender women writers]]
[[Category:Transgender women musicians]]
[[Category:Transgender novelists]]
[[Category:21st-century Canadian LGBTQ people]]
[[Category:Canadian transgender women]]