Ever wonder what Jack Kirby’s Spirit World issue #2 would have looked like had DC not cancelled it after one issue?
Well, wonder no further.
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| Spirit World #2 facsimile - elements © DC - with apologies to Jack Kirby |
I was reading through my old copy of Jack Kirby’s Spirit World #1 a few days back and wondered what issue #2 would have looked like had DC not cancelled the Black & White magazine after the first issue. For those of you who can remember 1971, Spirit World was to be the first of a series of experimental comics from Jack Kirby that took a more mature approach to story-telling and gave Kirby the space to experiment with new types of artwork. DC adopted a fictitious distributor persona “Hampshire Distributors” to distance the new magazine from DC’s usual fare.
The original Spirit World magazine was very poorly distributed within the US (Kirby associate Mark Evanier relates that he could not find it in his native California environs at the time), yet there seemed to be no issue in finding a copy in UK spinner racks, priced at the princely sum of 12-and-a half pence (UK) by importers Thorpe & Porter.
Here are a few pages of the original Spirit World #1, which contains a few “Strange but True”-type stories hosted by Dr. E. Leopold Maas (who to my mind looks like a variation on Stan Lee/Funky Flashman). The front cover (redrawn before publication by Neal Adams) looks rather like the cover of a sleazy tabloid in the National Enquirer vein.
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| ©DC. Spirit World #1 Cover by Neal Adams. Note T&P price! |
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| ©DC. The hyperbolic intro to Spirit World #1 by our host E. Leopold Maas |
Anyway, I thought I’d grab a copy of the 2012 hardback reprint of Spirit World #1 ($39.95), which is said to contain the stories scheduled for the cancelled issue #2. Imagine my shock that Amazon has copies priced at $79 and up, and eb*y has copies for sale at well over $100 each! [ For a more complete assessment of the Spirit World reprint hardback, head over to read Kid’s blog at Crivens! Comics and Stuff!. Kid - looks like you made a wise investment decision back in 2012! ]
So, with no ready access to the reprint book, I set out to find the missing stories, when they were subsequently printed in some of DC’s mystery titles in the early 1970s. Guess what? I had them all along, bought for a song on one of my LCS’s half-price back-issue days and filed away and quietly forgotten.
The issues containing the missing content are (in order of publication):
Forbidden Tales of Dark Mansion #6 “The Psychic Blood-Hound”
with additional content:
- A text page with collage border originally intended as the contents page for Spirit World #2
- A two page text story of re-incarnation called 'The Strange Story of Devi'. No author is given.
Weird Mystery #1 "Horoscope Phenomenon or Witch Queen of Ancient Sumeria?"
with additional content:
- A two page text story of communicating with the dead called 'Special Delivery', written by Kirby's assistants Mark Evanier and Steve Sherman
Weird Mystery #2 "Toxl the World Killer!"
with additional content:
- A two page article on UFOs "They're Still Up There" illustrated with four Kirby collages.
Weird Mystery #3 "The Burners!"
with additional content:
- A one-page Kirby UFO collage inserted into the story
The stories as printed in these four comics each appear to have had some artwork adjustments in addition to adding colour to images which would have probably been printed in monochrome if published as originally intended.
Let's take a closer look at these four issues.
Dark Mansion #6
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| ©DC. My copy of Dark Mansion #6, complete with torn cover |
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| ©DC. Page 1 of the story. Intro page omitted and text paste-ups not in Mike Royer's distinctive hand |
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| ©DC. Collage page originally intended to frame the contents page of Spirit World #2 |
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| ©DC. Page 1 of a text story about re-incarnation |
“The Psychic Blood-Hound” in Forbidden Tales of Dark Mansion #6 has probably omitted a introductory page featuring the host E. Leopold Maas, and there are obvious textual paste-ups on the splash page in a hand very unlike that of Kirby inker and letterer Mike Royer. But host Maas does appear inexplicably appear on the final page of the story.
A sample comparison of the final page of the story reveals these differences:
- The artwork has not been extended vertically to fill the 4-color comic book page - rather a text banner “MIND BENDING TALES” fills the white space at the top of the page
- Thin border lines have been drawn around each panel, limiting Kirby’s deliberate use of negative space.
- The final speech of Mass breaking the fourth wall, and talking to the reader has a line replaced. What was “THE SPIRIT WORLD !!!?” reads “A WORLD BEYOND !!!?”
- Page numbering inserted on color version.
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| © DC. Original Artwork |
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| ©DC. Artwork as appeared in Dark Mansion #6 |
Weird Mystery #1
In Weird Mystery #1, Maas is replaced by a new host - Destiny - cooked up by Marv Wolfman (working as assistant editor to newly-appointed editor E Nelson Bridwell).
A review of the splash page quickly identifies the original Kirby and Royer content on the right hand side, with the new picture of Destiny by Berni Wrightson. The text at the top is obviously not by Royer. Plus the credits have been omitted.
This is a great story, which features some great Kirby artwork which manages to combine his best action/gangster work with science-fiction concepts.
Plus a two page text story by Mark Evanier and Steve Sherman.
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| ©DC First page of text story |
Weird Mystery #2
By issue #2 of Weird Mystery, the host Destiny has been ditched from introducing the story, which bears very little evidence of being altered for publication, other than coloured, and a brief superfluous insert of host Destiny in the final panel.
The story "Toxl the World Killer!" is closest in tone to Kirby’s New Gods saga of an ancient(or future) civilization, and is a cracking good read.
Also included is a two-page text article "They're Still Up There" about UFOs, which includes four Kirby collages. Obviously destined for Spirit World #2.
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| ©DC. The cover refers to the non-Kirby backup story |
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| ©DC. |
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| © DC. Final panel of story with superfluous appearance of Destiny |
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| ©DC. Text article on UFOs intended for Spirit World #2 |
Weird Mystery #3
In Weird Mystery issue #3 “The Burners”, spontaneous combustion is the topic. By this time Destiny has been dropped completely as the story host, and the story appears unchanged from Kirby's original artwork, except for borders being added to the comic panels.
The story contains a one-page Kirby collage which I suspect was inserted into the story to increase the page count. The text does not look to be in the distinctive lettering style of Mike Royer. It looks more like Artie Simek (although unlikely) or Jack himself. The initial letter "T" is not Royer's style.
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| ©DC. A gruesome splash page from Weird Mystery #3 - love it!! |
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| © DC. Kirby collage inserted part way through the story. |
Unused Content
A final piece of collage artwork intended for the inside back cover of Spirit World #2 was not published in these issues, but it shown below, courtesy of Heritage Auctions.
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| ©DC. Unused interior of back cover for Spirit World #2 |
Was that all?
The reasoning of the publication of the stories reflects the editorial upheaval at the time of DC reducing the price and size of comic books in the middle of 1971 from 52-page 25 cents to 36-page 20 cents.
So what's the story behind burning off these Kirby treasures in a new Weird Mystery book, rather than holding the material back for a later collection?
At the time of publication of Dark Mansion #6, that comic was in the process of being transformed from a "gothic romance" book to a "supernatural mystery" book. Dorothy Woolfolk is credited as the editor on issue #6, which with issue #7 would be transferred to Joe Orlando, for whom light supernatural books were his forte, and was in process of obtaining editorship of all of DC’s light-horror magazines. In the lettercol of #9, Orlando was quite forthright in explaining why the Spirit World stories had been raided for issue #6.
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| Joe Orlando explains the background to the inclusion of the Kirby story. |
Over at Weird Mystery Tales, E Nelson Bridwell was the editor on issue #1, assisted by Marc Wolfman. ENB continued as editor for the two following issues containing Kirby reprints, before turning over the editorial reins to Joe Orlando with issue #4.
The lettercols of issues #3,#4 and #5 were all praiseworthy of the Kirby stories, and all letter writers had divined that the content had been originally written for Spirit World #2.
So if the remaining stories appeared here, had Kirby written any other material before Spirit World #1 in this supernatural vein? Certainly he had pencilled Monster books in the 1950s and worked on Black Magic horror comics before that, but where did this 1970s run start? Did Jack already have the idea for Spirit World before coming to DC?
The answer can be found in Marvel’s Chamber of Darkness, a late sixties supernatural anthology comic from Marvel. It does appear to me that the material in Spirit World is an extension of the ideas that Jack dabbled with in the Marvel book the previous year. I wonder if Jack already had the concept of Spirit World in mind when he produced two stories for Stan Lee?
The first story - written and drawn by Jack was in Chamber of Darkness #4 “The Monster” (1970-01-20) . The splash page heralds “A very special voyage into the Worlds of Weird”, about a man afflicted by facial dysplasia (like The Elehpant Man) who appreciates fine music and is killed by the mob. I believe this was a story written by Kirby straight from the heart. There is no Leopold Mass to host the story, but there is an unseen narrator who ends the story with “BUT WHAT OF MAN’s ANCIENT FEARS—HAVE THEY GONE AS WELL?” It is only a 6 page story, but the first writing credit at Marvel since “This is a plot?” in FF Annual #5 from 8/1967, and only the 3rd time he was credited as writer in all of the sixties at Marvel (the first time being Strange Tales #148 - Nick Fury “Death Before Dishonor” (Stan on vacation - Kirby layouts and script ; Don Heck pencils AND inks) hitting the stands in June 1966.
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| ©DC Splash page for The Monster |
In the June 1970 (1970-03-24) edition of Chamber of Darkness #5 (Jack Kirby wrote and drew the tale with inks by John Verpoorten) a pilot flying a U-2 plane crashes over Red China - eludes capture - and finds his way to a monastery when a mysterious stranger meets him to take him to the hereafter, as they both walk as ghosts through walls. I blogged about this story in an earlier post http://superstuff73.blogspot.com/2023/03/play-it-again-stan.html
This story was the last Kirby supernatural story before Spirit World #1.
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| © Marvel |
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| © Marvel. Final page of "And Fear Shall Follow!" |
Kirby's stories as they appeared in Weird Mystery were to be the last supernatural genre material that Kirby produced in his lifetime. If you're a completist (like me), I urge you to track down these four issues plus the two previous Chamber of Darkness issues and savour Kirby's last trek to the Spirit World.
And if you have the time and inclination (and photoshop) you can probably create your own facsimile copy of Spirit World #2!
Incidentally there is a interesting video by the Jack Kirby Museum about Spirit World at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ohXli_YPo8Q
© Ian Baker
I remember being surprised when first reading (years ago) about the distribution problems of Jack's two Hampshire mags, because In The Days Of The Mob was readily available in my local R.S. McColl's (which is where I bought my original copy), though I didn't get Spirit World until the very early '80s as a back issue, not long after buying a replacement for my long-gone issue of Mob. I've still got them, but it was good to acquire the hardback reprints in what seems like a couple or so years ago, but, as you reminded me, is actually far longer than that. I'm surprised at the extravagant prices sellers are asking for them, because DC will probably reissue them at some point (assuming they sold reasonably well last time). Sometimes you get lucky though, as I was able to buy on eBay the hardback facsimile edition of Superman Vs Muhammed Ali, still shrink-wrapped, for a mere £15, when other sellers were asking for much, much more than that. Interesting post and thanks for the plug.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the comments, Kid. I can always rely on you as the first responder. You must stay up,late! Also apologies for the paucity in posts recently; I’m always trying to find a new angle on some corner of the Bronze Age that has not been well-trod by other bloggers, so your comments are very much appreciated.
DeleteGood for you in getting a copy of the Superman/Ali reissue for 15 quid! Generally you find at least one seller out there offering something for a reasonable price, but that Spirit World hardback is silly money. If you get your copy off the shelf, does the hardback contain any content from Spirit World #2 other than I identified in the blog post?
I'm glad I picked up the In The Days of the Mob and Dingbats/Soul Love hardbacks when they were recently released at reasonable prices.
I'd have to dig out my Spirit World hardback to check whether it has anything you didn't mention (leave it with me), but I think you covered it all. I got the Dingbats/Soul Love book last year, but DC didn't have one page from one of the strips, so if they ever find it for a 2nd printing, I'll have to get that as well.
DeleteHaving now checked, my Spirit hardback contains the four strips you mention and the one-page collage inserted into The Burners tale, but none of the two-page text stories or articles you refer to. Nor does it have the text page with collage border in Psychic Blood-Hound.
DeleteThanks for checking out the hardback, Kid. Much appreciated. I'm surprised that none of the text entries or articles made it into the book. Certainly it seems that most (if not all) of issue #2 was production-ready before the book was cancelled.
DeleteInteresting stuffs always Ian. I wasn't aware that "Spirit World" and "Days of the Mob" were available at the time in the UK. I remember searching for them but never saw any issues in Glasgow or the surrounding towns. I eventually tracked down a copy of "Spirit World " in the early 80s .
ReplyDeleteGlad you found it interesting, Paul. It must have been down to the idiosyncrasies of Thorpe & Porter distribution that I remember a prevalence of copies of both Spirit World & In The Days of the Mob down in Portsmouth. They were stuffed higher up in the spinner rack, close to the salacious Men’s World magazines that graced the upper tiers, and as a result carried an added frisson in the mind of this 12-year old. The sensationalist design of the covers of both Mob and Spirit World didn’t help project an image of suitable reading material for an impressionable pre-teen. Of course, this was a few years ahead of the more mainstream Marvel Black & Whites which had rather more acceptable covers.
DeleteIncidentally, I was recently doing a bit of research into T&P distribution hubs back in the 1970s, and see that you had a local one at 36 Farmeloan Rd, Rutherglen in 1963/64 as well as one in Edinburgh. By the early seventies, T&P had consolidated their distribution hubs further afield.
That's really interesting about T&P in Rutherglen I wonder if that was why the Rutherglen / Lanarkshire area was always full of US comics at that time.
ReplyDeleteI actually remember looking for Spirit World and Days of the Mob in the higher reaches of the spinner racks without trying to look to pervy.