Primal Spillane: Early Stories 1941-1942

Intro to “A Turn of the Tide”

The following never-before-published story was discovered among a stack of Mickey Spillane’s manuscripts, and was likely not intended as a comic book “filler.”

The character “Wardie” is most likely a tip of the hat to Mickey’s son Ward, who was born in 1950 — a little late for comic book work. The publication of I, the Jury (in 1947) marked the beginning of the end of Mickey’s blue-collar days toiling in relative anonymity.

Still, “A Turn of the Tide” deserves inclusion in Primal Spillane. A previously unpublished, complete story by the master himself (not many of those remain) is significant, and the format approximates the prose “fillers” of comics’ golden age.

Also, the subject matter — two young boys from different backgrounds working together and overcoming adversity — is possibly an early sign of Mickey’s desire to write for kids. Just as interesting is the story’s nautical setting, reflected in his two well-received children’s books The Day the Sea Rolled Back (1979) and The Ship That Never Was (1982).

More significantly, “A Turn of the Tide” demonstrates Mickey Spillane could write all types of characters, with different backgrounds. He could tell stories in every genre, but — until relatively late in his life, when he turned to kids’ books and his adventure novels, Something’s Down There (2001) — he chose to maintain his position as the postwar king of hardboiled crime fiction.

We are indebted to to Joseph C. Hsieh for providing scans of the original manuscript.