SYNO

"The Spirit of the Beast"

The Spirit of the Beast
Page 3. The Original Art Plate and as in Heavy Metal #38.

8 pgs. Appeared first time [COLOR] in Heavy Metal #38 (1980). Reprinted [COLOR] in Flights into Fantasy (1981) on pgs 65-72, [COLOR] in Werewolf (1984) and [COLOR] in The Best of Heavy Metal #2 (1986) [VERS.2].
Story/Color(colored by overlays)/Art: Richard Corben (no signature, copyright 1979). Lettering: printed.
Reprints: All reprints are equal with original, except [VERS.2].

Denmark [DK]: as "Uhyrets sjæl" in Historier om hekse og varulve (1985).
France [FRA]
: as "La belle est la bête" in Belles à croquer (1985).
Germany [GER]: as "Der Fluch der Bestie" in Flüge in die Fantasie (1981).
The Netherlands [NL]: as "Die Geest van het Beest" in Weerwolf.
Spain [SPA]: as "El espíritu de la bestia" in Creepy [SPA] #17 and Richard Corben obras completas #2 (1984), and as "The Spirit of the Beast [SPA]" in Vuelo a la fantasia (1981).

Style: Colored with overlays. Genre: Fantasy. Time Span: Ancient past. Nudity: Half naked girl.
Keywords: Peasant girl. Chase. Rape. Full moon. Werewolf. Man eating.
Synopsis: Jon Wolv, a son of Lady Chabita (or originally Lady Ellen), rescues peasant girl. For full moon Jon asks girl to jail him to avoid werewolf massagre. Girl is happy to help, but needs help later at night by herself.
Comment: The end of trilogy gives nothing new. Story even repeats the history of Wolv/Wolfton, which is strange, because story suppoused to be a sequel for "The Beast of Wolfton". History is for sure still in fresh memory; why to repeat it. There is no beauty of previous chapters - even for nudity there is just one bare breast. Though Corben's art and color are beautiful to look at; in pictures he has got good spirit of the beast trilogy.
Alternatives, [VERS.2]: In The Best of Heavy Metal #2 (1986) last two pages are printed in wrong order.
Trilogy: Corben answered to fan's letter in Heavy Metal #46 (1981), CHAIN MAIL (pg 4), "Yes, I did make the changes [to "The Beast of Wolfton"] --- partially because of "Rowlf." Originally, I had intended "The Beast of Wolfton," "Rowlf," and "Spirit of the Beast" to work out as a trilogy. I also wanted to make it a bit less realistic - bring it more into a realm of fantasy".
Original Art Plate: Copyright 1985 (says Mr. Corben's web site while he's selling some plates, though it was originally made in 1979). Drawn in pen, ink, gray pencils and zip a tone. Text is typeset appliances.

Spirit of Beast, 8 pgs

Copyright © 2001 Heart-Attack-Series, Ink!,
Created: February 4, 2001. Modified: July 14, 2019.