2 - Posted on 9/16/2021

Wow. I'm always impressed with Kirby pencils, & I certainly agree with you about the effectiveness of this cover. Maybe it wasn't Kirby's decision? I'm not sure what kind of deal the boys had with Prize, but I think it was around the time things were going downhill for S&K. I'm also struck with how close the tone of this is to Jack's work on Spirit World in the '70s. I mean, like exactly. 

1 - Posted on 9/16/2021

Great cover, Mark. Its something special to have a cover by one of the masters! This is really cool.

1 - Posted on 9/16/2021

Love the fact that this is just pencils.  Shows the process really well, and how well fleshed out the imaging already was.  Don't come across this type of cover often!

1 - Posted on 9/16/2021

Kirby pencils are so nice. The gritty emotion he could accomplish was something else. And I really like the light ink touches here and there, I'm guessing to get a sense of the final image. It's a great scene, I wonder why he didn't use it, too. As Aaron N said, maybe it was out of his hands. Great find. Congrats!

1 - Posted on 9/16/2021

Yes it is a bit puzzling why they didn't go with this cover. Kirby  also did two other versions which went far enough to be inked. Simon and Kirby had full say on what cover they used as they produced the entire comics for Prize. I am sure they wanted to get the cover for the premier issue of Black Magic just right, but to me any of the first three were more impressive than the one they eventaully published. But this puzzle is of just historic interest, it doesn't take away from the beauty of this original art. It is always exciting to see Kirby's raw pencils from this period, particularly since they are so rare. Congrats.

Posted on 9/17/2021

Someone on FB said this cover was not used because the title crowded the characters and/or dominated the scene. In any case, it's odd to me that Jack or Joe would have drawn the title so that it cut into the female character's head.

1 - Posted on 9/17/2021

A logical answer for why your cover was not used. But I would add that title on your art was a particularly poor design, IMO. Had Jack and Joe decided to change the title they could have easily fixed up your art. But for some reason they used the same title with some minor changes on the second attempt. Still not satisfied they finally changed to a better title design. But both of these other attempts did not have problems of the title cutting into the figure, so there must be some other explanation why they abandoned the cover theme in favore of the published version.

1 - Posted on 9/17/2021

Historic piece! Great add to your collection. 

1 - Posted on 12/6/2021

So, so good. Kirby was versatile to such a crazy extent.

1 - Posted on 1/22/2022

I think that it would have made a great cover. At least it survived. Big congrats, Mark!

1 - Posted on 11/14/2023

I do believe this must have been recovered from a crate in Area 51, where they hide all the Holy Relics!  What a treasure.