Forbidden Tales of Dark Mansion #6, July-August 1972
While not really a Gothic Romance cover in the truest sense this final example of the genre from Dark Mansion does at least feature our old friend, the girl in the white dress — though in this case, it’s actually a wedding dress. The cover is by Alan Weiss, but what makes this issue particularly special is that it has a ‘lost’ 10-page story written a drawn by Jack Kirby (with inks by Mike Royer).
“The Psychic Bloodhound” was left over from the unpublished second issue of Kirby’s failed black and white magazine Spirit World. With that title’s cancellation, the contents were scattered across several of DC’s mystery books. Check out Weird Mystery #1-3 for the remaining stories and features intended for the magazine. Though the story wouldn’t have been a great fit for the original format of Dark Mansion, it works well enough in the new, more mystery-oriented direction brought in by editor Joe Orlando.
Spirit World fared far better than the unpublished In the Days of the Mob #2, most which still hasn’t seen print to this day.
©2010 DC Comics
Ooh, I never knew this–or any comic–featured one of the unpublished Kirby pieces from those B/W mags. I’ll have to pick this issue up!
Then you’ll need this, and Weird Mystery Tales #1-3. They reprint pretty much the entirety of Spirit World #2, including the text pages. Also, one story from In the Days of the Mob #2 saw print in Amazing World of DC Comics #1. Nothing from Soul Love or True Divorce has seen official print — but most of the material has been seen in various issues of Jack Kirby Collector.