Spirit

SPIRIT

Real Name: Spirit

Class: Parallel Earth (Earth-AD)

Occupation: Servant

Group Affiliation: None

Known Relatives: Flower (sister, deceased)

Aliases: None

Base of Operations: Old Florida, Earth-AD

First Appearance: Kamandi #12 (December, 1973)

Powers: Spirit was a feral human.

History: (Kamandi #12) - In the aftermath of the nuclear Great Disaster most of humanity perished, and the majority of survivors devolved into feral savages, while animals evolved intelligence. Spirit and her sister were servants to the slave-trader Sacker. Sacker sent his cronies, Leopard-Men pirates, on a slave-taking expedition, and they came back with Kamandi, an intelligent human, and Kliklak, a giant mutant grasshopper. Kamandi briefly freed himself and Kliklak before being recaptured by the Leopard-Men. Sacker personally met with Kamandi, who mistook Spirit for his lost companion Flower. Spirit wept when she learned her sister was dead. Sacker told Kamandi he'd give him limited freedom, and the chance to train Kliklak. Kamandi accepted, and ran deadly obstacle courses with Kliklak while Leopard-Men bet on him, but he didn't know what Sacker's endgame was. Spirit told him that Sacker was training him for Sacker's Sweeps, a race at Hialeah Racetrack where the racers were pitted against each other in a life or death battle. Spirit told him that Flower fled Sacker's when the current champion Bull Bantam began abusing her. Kamandi confronted Bull and beat him down, with Bull promising to kill him in the race.

(Kamandi #13-15) - Kamandi fled, ending up at the stakes, where the spectators were displeased at having an animal at the track and turned him over to Sacker's Leopard-Men, who tossed him in a corral. Bull Bantam taunted Kamandi about killing him in the sweeps, but Kamandi again refused to participate. Spirit begged him to race, revealing that she was the prize of the sweeps race, and feared Bull would do to her what he did to her sister. Kamandi asked her to run away with him, but she was loyal to Sacker and refused to leave him. Kamandi took Kliklak and escaped the compound, but Sacker's helicopters fired at him, forcing him onto the track and into the race. He watched as other racers died in booby traps or killed each other, but he refused to hurt his fellow man. Kliklak was shot by another racer, and Kamandi tried to tend to his wounds, crying out for a doctor. The crowd taunted him, demanding action, and Kamandi cursed them for their cruelty. Bull Bantam, mounted on a gigantic buffalo, lassoed Kamandi. Prince Tuftan was in attendance, and shot the lasso, freeing Kamandi to the boos of the crowd. Bull critically injured Kliklak with a hand grenade and Kamandi grabbed his buffalo by the horns, blinding it and causing it to topple over. Kamandi and Bull engaged in hand-ti-hand combat, and Kamandi beat him to a pulp, berating him for his treatment of fellow humans. His victory was bittersweet because he had to put down Kliklak with one of the Leopard-Men's guns to end his pain. Kamandi was presented with prizes by a group of women, and he realized he was being treated like a thoroughbred. Spirit embraced Kamandi saying she was his, but Kamandi was furious, telling her humans were neither animals nor prizes, and the Leopard-Men silenced him with a rifle butt to the head. Sacker had enough of Kamandi's antics, and the Leopard-Men locked him in a gas chamber, but Prince Tuftan used his influence to make a trade with Sacker for Kamandi's freedom. Sacker made final arrangements with Doctor Canus, and Kamandi asked about the trade and where Sacker was sending them, but the snake refused to dignify him with conversation. Kamandi told him snakes used to live beneath humans, but Sacker thought him mad. Spirit said farewell to Kamandi, saying she'd miss him. Tuftan and his men set off with Kamandi, bound for Washington, DC to find the pre-Disaster relics the Watergate Tapes, which Sacker wanted in his possession.

Comments: Created by Jack Kirby.