Massive thanks are due to kiyote76 who yesterday sent me scans of what artwork there is of Kirby's lost DC b/w books In The Days Of The Mob #2. True Life Divorce & Soul Love, I'm assuming collected from places like the Kirby Collector.
I can't resist the concept of Kirby blaxploitation romance, so today it's Soul Love, sister.
According to Mark Evanier, this one was initially bounced back by DC, as they didn't feel they could market a 'black' book unless it was actually done by black artists and writers.
Originally, each of the b/w's were going to run a free poster ( like the John Dillinger one in Mob ), and Soul Love was due to carry one of Roberta Flack, who then had an album out and some vague affiliation with somebody up at DC.
Unfortunately, Roberta's people didn't like the book either, complaining: 'We think the people look too ethnic, the lips are too big.'
So that well-known artist of African descent, Vince Colletta, was asked to, you should excuse the phrase, 'white everybody up', in much the same way he invariably deleted Kirby's city backgrounds.
DC loved the finished result, and put Soul Love straight on the release schedule.
And that was the last anybody heard of it. Till now.
