tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-91816618437855217522024-03-13T08:32:14.834-07:00A Very Creepy BlogA blog dedicated to the horror comics published by Warren Publishing in the mid 1960's through early 1980's.Quiddityhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13986124694445522253noreply@blogger.comBlogger520125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9181661843785521752.post-28008182176773272482021-07-17T12:52:00.002-07:002021-07-17T12:52:20.687-07:00Highlights of Warren Publishing (Part 4)<p><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Today I
cover three separate stories from Jose Bea. Bea provided among the most bizarre
stories and artwork that Warren would feature in its magazines, and these three
stories, all of which were written and drawn by him are a perfect
representation of his style.</span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: medium;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><u><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">The Picture of Death (Published
in Creepy #45, May 1972)</span></u></b><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";"><o:p></o:p></span></i></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";"><span style="font-size: medium;">Herbert Wilson, a young painter
makes his way through the Scottish town of Lairg, as he heads back home towards
London. Having difficulty finding a place to sleep due to a monthly celebration
that takes place in the town, Wilson eventually finds an available room at a
small inn. A man at the inn’s bar warns Wilson about the room, claiming nobody
else would take it. Four people who have rented the room have completely disappeared.
The man claims that the disappearances started when a strange man left a
painting as payment for the room. Wilson doesn’t believe him and makes his way
up to the room to sleep that night. He sees the painting, which is elaborately
filled with bizarre creatures and appears influenced by the works of Hieronymus
Bosch. While he doesn’t believe the story about the room, he nonetheless holds
a knife with him as he goes to sleep that night. As he sleeps, the creatures
start making their way out of the painting and towards his bed. Wilson wakes up
with the creatures all around him. The knife he holds has no effect. The
creatures drag the frightened Wilson with them into the painting. Suddenly a
beautiful woman appears before Wilson. The creatures claim she will be his mate
throughout infinity. The woman claims she had also slept in the room. Shortly
afterwards though the woman transforms into a horrible monster, and Wilson
flees. He makes his way past more of the bizarre creatures and begs that they leave
him be. He continues to run until he reaches what seems to be an invisible
barrier, locking him in the world. The next morning a maid goes to the room and
sees it a total mess; believing Wilson to have left early. Spotting the
painting on the wall, slightly crooked, she corrects it, not realizing that
Wilson is now a part of the painting.<br /><br /><o:p></o:p></span></span></i></p><p class="MsoNormal"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";"><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-1KiUc3DCIKA/YPMzudBYIRI/AAAAAAAABzU/Gg0TFXoe7DEhb3ja-FsnN4N2exkH-i3dwCLcBGAsYHQ/s721/bea2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="721" data-original-width="571" height="320" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-1KiUc3DCIKA/YPMzudBYIRI/AAAAAAAABzU/Gg0TFXoe7DEhb3ja-FsnN4N2exkH-i3dwCLcBGAsYHQ/s320/bea2.jpg" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Wilson is brought into the painting</td></tr></tbody></table></span></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";"><span style="font-size: medium;">It’s tantamount
to just how bizarre Bea’s work is that I am able to pick other stories that are
as odd as this one is! The story’s initial premise seems quite similar to the
story “Room With A View!” which had appeared in Eerie #3 as drawn by Steve
Ditko and written by Archie Goodwin. Like “The Picture of Death”, that story
features a traveler who stays in a room at an inn for whom no one has lasted
the night. Each time the traveler looks in the large mirror in the room, more
and more creatures start appearing behind him, until there are too many for him
to bear. A really interesting premise that Bea goes with here and takes to even
further extreme as he introduces a wide variety of bizarre creatures, each
looking stranger than the last. As our protagonist puts it, it is like a Hieronymus
Bosch painting. Across 6 pages we see the creatures overwhelm Wilson and drag
him into the painting.<br /><br /><o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";"><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-hnfx3W9bMXo/YPMzyiA9CtI/AAAAAAAABzY/_yFJUHiGbDE7Tj6DKtV51PFiSJcqqmQzwCLcBGAsYHQ/s788/bea1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="537" data-original-width="788" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-hnfx3W9bMXo/YPMzyiA9CtI/AAAAAAAABzY/_yFJUHiGbDE7Tj6DKtV51PFiSJcqqmQzwCLcBGAsYHQ/s320/bea1.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The woman transforms!</td></tr></tbody></table></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";"><span style="font-size: medium;">Particularly
fun is the sequence where the creatures bring Wilson to a normal-looking woman,
who promptly transforms into a creature just as horrifying as the others.
Across 6 panels we see the woman transform from a beauty into a horrifying
monster, its large mouth open as it it’s going to consume him! This sequence
reminds me of the story “The Closed Door”, also written and drawn by Bea, which
had appeared in issue 10 of the Buru Lan publication Dracula. In that story we
see a sequence where the protagonist is attacked by a horrific looking green
monster which transforms into a human-looking boy. Here we are treated to the
opposite.<br /><br /><o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";"><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-BTM3GJwFllE/YPMz2ahym4I/AAAAAAAABzc/rJKn3pKStIwT5_8oPsAdpwUarPJhkzLVQCLcBGAsYHQ/s695/bea4.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="550" data-original-width="695" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-BTM3GJwFllE/YPMz2ahym4I/AAAAAAAABzc/rJKn3pKStIwT5_8oPsAdpwUarPJhkzLVQCLcBGAsYHQ/s320/bea4.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">"The Closed Door"</td></tr></tbody></table></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";"><span style="font-size: medium;">While
Bea did many stories with bizarre creatures, in no other would we see such a
wide number and range as we get in this one. Bea would years later write and
draw the series “Tales of Peter Hypnos” for which Warren would publish three
stories of, in Eerie #72, 73 and 76. These stories would also feature a
protagonist, this time a young boy, brought into a world of bizarre creatures,
although that series has a more fantastical element to it and isn’t as
horrifying as this story is here. <br /><br /><o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";"><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-9kkRggHG0Sg/YPMz6H_CP3I/AAAAAAAABzg/lhbjqkdy_Ng_JWt7mfISDdt5pSaKOYNcQCLcBGAsYHQ/s912/bea3.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="848" data-original-width="912" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-9kkRggHG0Sg/YPMz6H_CP3I/AAAAAAAABzg/lhbjqkdy_Ng_JWt7mfISDdt5pSaKOYNcQCLcBGAsYHQ/s320/bea3.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Creatures crawl out of the painting</td></tr></tbody></table></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><u><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";"><span style="font-size: medium;">The Accursed Flower (Published in
Creepy #49, November 1972)<o:p></o:p></span></span></u></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";"><span style="font-size: medium;">This story takes place in the
City of Cataluna in Spain, a rich city where men’s love of money is inordinate.
A farmer, Jordi Valls works all day on his farm, wishing he had more time to
get everything he wanted done. One of his neighbors tells him to find some
Maneiro roots, and that all his problems will be solved. He speaks to a friend
of his, who tells him more of the Maneiro. They are jealously guarded in a cave
by beasts beyond human imagination, and one can only safely obtain them during
the twelve rings of a bell that occurs on the night of San Juan. If one is
unable to keep them busy with tasks, the Maneiro will fling themselves at him
and claw him to pieces. Jordi is able to find the cave and make his way past
the various beasts as a bell rings, signaling the first stroke of twelve. He is
able to find Maneiro seeds and make his way out of the cave in time. <br /><br /><o:p></o:p></span></span></i></p><p class="MsoNormal"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";"><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-w0o_8cggqzA/YPM0JDycv9I/AAAAAAAABzw/s-IFipFIj3Ur10nLVKPBbDl0Enilgh-MwCLcBGAsYHQ/s729/bea5.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="671" data-original-width="729" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-w0o_8cggqzA/YPM0JDycv9I/AAAAAAAABzw/s-IFipFIj3Ur10nLVKPBbDl0Enilgh-MwCLcBGAsYHQ/s320/bea5.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Jordi meets the Maneiro</td></tr></tbody></table></span></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";"><span style="font-size: medium;">Jordi plants the seeds and after
waiting 24 hours finds thousands of the Maneiro waiting outside for him! The
bizarre tiny creatures claim they are bored and ask for work. Jordi comes up
with various tasks for them to do across the farm, which due to their strong
work ethic and large number, they are able to complete in only a couple of
hours. Jordi provides the Maneiro with more tasks; and he soon finds himself
having to spend his day thinking up new tasks for them. Eventually Jordi has
had enough and claims it’s impossible, everything he can think of has been
done. The Maneiro ask for more work and with Jordi having no possible answer,
they fling themselves at him, killing him.<br /><br /><o:p></o:p></span></span></i></p><p class="MsoNormal"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";"><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-8YNG2NPhoq0/YPM0NMK1y-I/AAAAAAAABz4/hSqjGGcqUlQoCm2M6oeu1MGGNrsJQAyhgCLcBGAsYHQ/s825/bea6.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="595" data-original-width="825" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-8YNG2NPhoq0/YPM0NMK1y-I/AAAAAAAABz4/hSqjGGcqUlQoCm2M6oeu1MGGNrsJQAyhgCLcBGAsYHQ/s320/bea6.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The Maneiro work on their tasks</td></tr></tbody></table></span></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";"><span style="font-size: medium;">Whereas “The
Picture of Death” had a wide variety of different strange creatures throughout
the story, “The Accursed Flower” mainly focuses on one, the Maneiro, although
there are thousands of them! I’m not sure if this story is some Spanish
folktale or just something that Bea completely made up, but it provides us with
quite the odd tale. Bea often makes someone like a farmer, fisherman or peasant
the protagonist of his stories, including not just this one, but also stories
such as “The Other Side of Heaven” (see below) or “The Strange, Incurable
Phobia of Mad Pierre Langlois!” from Vampirella #31. Jordi’s greed gets to him,
as his desire to have the Maneiro complete labor for him eventually overwhelms
him. Having these bizarre creatures, who are quite pleased to do any task he
desires seems like quite the benefit at first, but the Maneiro are too good at
what they do. Their numbers are too great. Jordi’s problem becomes not the
various tasks he needs done, but his need to think up new tasks for them to do.
And when he runs out of ideas, the Maneiro find a new task, killing him! I
wonder what becomes of the Maneiro after this story. Do they ravage the
countryside, seeking someone else to give them tasks to do (and eventually
killing that person too when they run out of ideas)? Or do they revert to flowers
or seeds, until another foolish person decides to use them?<br /><br /><o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";"><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-JHkVEoIN3CI/YPM0Ra-j7vI/AAAAAAAABz8/c_8dI2wJw24wys0FFbD0cViNI5gSyl6UwCLcBGAsYHQ/s776/bea7.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="447" data-original-width="776" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-JHkVEoIN3CI/YPM0Ra-j7vI/AAAAAAAABz8/c_8dI2wJw24wys0FFbD0cViNI5gSyl6UwCLcBGAsYHQ/s320/bea7.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Jordi runs out of ideas</td></tr></tbody></table></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><u><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";"><span style="font-size: medium;">The Other Side of Heaven
(Published in Vampirella #28, October 1973)<o:p></o:p></span></span></u></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";"><span style="font-size: medium;">The story begins as we are told
by a being that it exists in an endless world without restrictions, its own
personal heaven. The landscape before us whirls with a variety of bizarre
shapes and masses. Our protagonist says it is difficult to explain its
existence in a way we’d understand, as humans are limited to their five senses.
The being tells us of when he was a human, a fisherman in the village of Fornells.
At that time he was a normal man, named Thomas. Life for Thomas was good and
simple. He was ignorant of the complexities of the world, but happy in his naiveté.
This all changes one day as Thomas comes across a bizarre creature lying on the
beach. The creature appears like an octopus smothered in peanut butter and
jelly. Thomas feels afraid of the creature, which soon crawls towards him. As
Thomas touches the creature he feels a level of ecstasy and the creature seems
thrilled itself. Thomas thinks to himself about how he must share this creature
with his wife and friends and goes to get a wheelbarrow so he can take it home
with him. <br /><br /><o:p></o:p></span></span></i></p><p class="MsoNormal"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";"><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-jM2zPgBroMg/YPM0fKw_rzI/AAAAAAAAB0I/RXZwr86IegQK3mwV817syrbsRDR2RWuDACLcBGAsYHQ/s715/bea8.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="684" data-original-width="715" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-jM2zPgBroMg/YPM0fKw_rzI/AAAAAAAAB0I/RXZwr86IegQK3mwV817syrbsRDR2RWuDACLcBGAsYHQ/s320/bea8.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The creature speaks!</td></tr></tbody></table></span></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";"><span style="font-size: medium;">Once he gets home Thomas puts the
creature on a table and waits for his wife to come home. He wonders why, if the
creature is a gift from heaven as he believes it to be, why it lays there in
silence. Suddenly, the creature speaks, saying they had been communicating only
via touch to this point. The creature claims to be the being that created the
land he walks on, the seas he fishes in, as well as the sun and stars, all
forms of life! It has been called upon, prayed to and mocked. It is what people
would consider to be God! It claims however that despite this it is a living
creature just like Thomas and nothing is immortal, even itself. It will soon
die. The creature claims there isn’t anything Thomas can do for him, but
perhaps it can do something for Thomas. The creature instructs Thomas to go to
a pharmacist to obtain some things. Thomas heads there, his religious beliefs
shattered. As if under the command of the creature, the pharmacist has created
the chemical mixture desired and Thomas returns with it. The creature explains
to Thomas that the solution he has brought is a pain killer, but not for the
creature but rather Thomas himself! In its dying moments, the creature is going
to create a new being who will carry on where it has left off. Thomas is to be
that creature, this world’s new God. Thomas grabs hold of the creature and
immediately starts feeling unbearable pain. He grabs a knife to prevent the
creature from enveloping him, but it has no effect. As the creature absorbs
more of Thomas’ body it tells him that his world will expand and he will fill
the universe with beauty, just as it had. As the story ends we see Thomas as he
currently exists, explaining how he has started creating as a God would and
that he’s got a long way to go and a lot of things ahead of him.<br /><br /><o:p></o:p></span></span></i></p><p class="MsoNormal"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";"><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-8KT0bT84OvQ/YPM0wdy1eoI/AAAAAAAAB0Y/8o6xBoQ7nOwl70D9QWuA8d8nBAohYk5NwCLcBGAsYHQ/s731/bea9.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="708" data-original-width="731" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-8KT0bT84OvQ/YPM0wdy1eoI/AAAAAAAAB0Y/8o6xBoQ7nOwl70D9QWuA8d8nBAohYk5NwCLcBGAsYHQ/s320/bea9.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Thomas becomes God</td></tr></tbody></table></span></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";"><span style="font-size: medium;">I
conclude with a story that reduces the strange monsters to just a single one
and rather than being scary or malicious is actually good in nature. In fact
the creature in this story is what we’d consider to be God! Humans often think
that God created humanity in his own image, yet in this story we find that what
we believe to be God actually looks like an octopus smothered in peanut butter
and jelly. Quite the bizarre revelation! As if drawing upon theories of ancient
aliens for inspiration, God claims it is not a divine being, but a living
mortal creature, albeit one with considerably more power and ability than a
human has. Through what may be sheer luck, our protagonist Thomas comes across
the creature and is able to gain such God-like powers for himself! <br /><br /><o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";"><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-SGfok0JW-_4/YPM02nnE6II/AAAAAAAAB0g/YXjLD1iF-IEpU9TETSy2E_VR2G_L29DJgCLcBGAsYHQ/s614/bea10.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="614" data-original-width="466" height="320" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-SGfok0JW-_4/YPM02nnE6II/AAAAAAAAB0g/YXjLD1iF-IEpU9TETSy2E_VR2G_L29DJgCLcBGAsYHQ/s320/bea10.jpg" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">A new God</td></tr></tbody></table></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";"><span style="font-size: medium;">This
story seems like an expanded upon version of another story that had appeared in
Buru Lan’s Dracula, a story titled “A Story of the Stars” that had appeared in
the 11<sup>th</sup> issue. In that story a man who continuously watches the night
sky comes across a bizarre alien being that decides to share the stars with him
and absorbs him into itself. <br /><br /><o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";"><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-LygQ6Ra6o3Q/YPM0lJM649I/AAAAAAAAB0Q/W5YMt0kH25kGC9qjVmHQTdrGF8aJXxXTQCLcBGAsYHQ/s691/bea11.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="630" data-original-width="691" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-LygQ6Ra6o3Q/YPM0lJM649I/AAAAAAAAB0Q/W5YMt0kH25kGC9qjVmHQTdrGF8aJXxXTQCLcBGAsYHQ/s320/bea11.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">A Story of the Stars</td></tr></tbody></table></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";"><span style="font-size: medium;">While
these stories are my personal highlights of Jose Bea’s work for Warren, he did
just over 30 stories for them, many others of which contain bizarre creatures
and concepts such as these. If you find interest in stories like these as I
have I’d strongly recommend checking out his other Warren stories, as well as
the work he did for Dracula. Among those who worked for Warren, very few are
able to compare with Bea on this front. Alex Nino, who did a considerable
amount of work for Warren in the late 70s and early 80s, I’d put up there, as
well as Bob Morello who had a few stories appear in Eerie in the early 80s. <br /><br /></span><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";"><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-O8NX-dxj4kQ/YPM0qKxe_BI/AAAAAAAAB0U/croySgMtO_IvabT89gbvyiKEvQyW1yzNwCLcBGAsYHQ/s853/bea12.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="853" data-original-width="661" height="320" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-O8NX-dxj4kQ/YPM0qKxe_BI/AAAAAAAAB0U/croySgMtO_IvabT89gbvyiKEvQyW1yzNwCLcBGAsYHQ/s320/bea12.jpg" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">A Story of the Stars</td></tr></tbody></table><br /><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></span></p>Quiddityhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13986124694445522253noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9181661843785521752.post-62926946946378489342021-07-09T11:28:00.002-07:002021-07-09T11:28:32.591-07:00Highlights of Warren Publishing (Part 3)<p><b><u><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";"><span style="font-size: medium;">Mondo Megillah (Originally published
in 1984 #4, October 1978)</span></span></u></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";"><span style="font-size: medium;">Art by
Alex Nino<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";"><span style="font-size: medium;">Written
by Jim Stenstrum (credited to Alabaster Redzone)<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";"><span style="font-size: medium;">Nuclear war ravishes the Earth,
with thousands of nuclear bombs detonated in cities across the world. Some of
mankind is able to escape to the moon; however when a Bio-Chem lab crashes into
their new society a biological agent called Anti-DNA mutates all the men into monsters.
Women are completely unaffected. The story begins by introducing us to our
heroine Kitten and Lucius, one of her 71 ex-husbands who now is in the form of
an anteater-like monster. 15 years after the war a ship heads to Earth in order
to scout it. Kitten and Lucius are able to bribe their way on board and return
to Earth in the post apocalyptic ruins of Canada. The two of them soon come
across a man named Terry. Having been on Earth all this time, he has not been
tainted by the Anti-DNA and looks completely normal. Kitten immediately lusts
after the first normal looking man she has seen in years and the two soon have
sex, to Lucius’ annoyance. Terry claims he lives in the underground Cavern City
and worship a god called Megillah. The next morning Kitten finds that Terry is
gone. She and Lucius search for him and when Kitten decides to head underground
to Cavern City, Lucius refuses and stays above ground. Kitten is soon found by
the inhabitants of Cavern City who claim she will be a sexual sacrifice for
Megillah, although she is permitted her freedom until it is ready for her.
Kitten eventually finds Terry, who reveals that he left her behind on the
surface because he felt regret over his mission to lead her here. Kitten
decides to flee and Terry goes along with her, although is dismayed when she
has to murder numerous people in order to do so. They meet back up with Lucius
on the surface who has been hurt by an attack from other inhabitants of the
ship that came to Earth. Seeing that Kitten still cares for Lucius, Terry tells
her off and returns to Cavern City. Kitten is disappointed to see him go, but
is soon consummating things with Lucius instead.<br /><br /><o:p></o:p></span></span></i></p><p class="MsoNormal"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";"><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-9S8IMhJ1Kns/YOiUxHTP98I/AAAAAAAAByw/E3_e3atwEpknfQDueKvJsvqhTaRWx1dxwCLcBGAsYHQ/s763/megillah1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="763" data-original-width="746" height="320" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-9S8IMhJ1Kns/YOiUxHTP98I/AAAAAAAAByw/E3_e3atwEpknfQDueKvJsvqhTaRWx1dxwCLcBGAsYHQ/s320/megillah1.jpg" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">A Boy and His Dog... I mean, A Girl and Her Monster</td></tr></tbody></table></span></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";"><span style="font-size: medium;">Mondo
Megillah is like much of the content of 1984 in that its overly sexualized and
sensationalistic, as well as providing a lot of exposition through its captions
that you don’t actually see in the artwork. I certainly do not include the
story here for its narrative quality, as it is nothing special on that front. It
is overwritten and despite its interesting setting fails to provide the level
of excitement that I would hope. Alex Nino’s artwork is fine as usual, although
not as ambitiously done as that included in much of his other work for 1984,
which is among the most bizarre and elaborate artwork one can find in a Warren
magazine. I include the story as part of this series not due to its quality but
rather its notoriety. In fact this story was one of the factors that caused Warren
Publishing to go out of business!<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";"><span style="font-size: medium;">To
understand the full background of this story one must go back to the origins of
1984 magazine. Over the years Warren had several unsuccessful attempts to launch
a more adult magazine including ”Pow” via Wally Wood and Nicola Cuit and “Yesterday,
Today and Tomorrow” with Josep Toutain. A sci-fi specific magazine had also
been requested for years by the fan base, and Warren had historically
refrained, although did periodically include a sci-fi story in Creepy, Eerie or
Vampirella. When Heavy Metal magazine premiered in 1977, it quickly became a
big hit and Warren finally decided to try its hands at a sci-fi magazine, with
Bill Dubay, former editor of Warren’s horror comics line being in charge of it.<br /><br /><o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";"><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-E01o2WxaiDQ/YOiVDMI7ETI/AAAAAAAABy8/0P8Rx0-slBM2c79O8KlziWCcgadbvnYWgCLcBGAsYHQ/s766/megillah2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="763" data-original-width="766" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-E01o2WxaiDQ/YOiVDMI7ETI/AAAAAAAABy8/0P8Rx0-slBM2c79O8KlziWCcgadbvnYWgCLcBGAsYHQ/s320/megillah2.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Kitten and Lucius on a post apocalyptic Earth</td></tr></tbody></table></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";"><span style="font-size: medium;">The original
intent of 1984 magazine was to provide adaptations of well regarded science
fiction stories. With this in mind, Dubay approached several of his writers
about stories they would be interested in adapting. Gerry Boudreau, one of
Warren’s more prolific horror comic writers expressed interest in adapting “A
Boy and His Dog” by Harlan Ellison. Boudreau was confident that he could get
permission from Ellison to adapt the story and Dubay told him to go ahead and
write it. Ellison had worked with Warren back in 1970 when he wrote the story “Rock
God” as inspired by a cover painting by Frank Frazetta (a story which would be
published in Creepy #32). Relations between Ellison and Warren had soured
however in the years after that story had been published. Ellison refused to let
Warren adapt the story, and since Boudreau had already written his adaption, it
was thrown in an inventory pile with other bought for, but unusable stories.<br /><br /><o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";"><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-BKu5zzc_NdY/YOiVLMLctVI/AAAAAAAABzE/xxtShPBDRGgalIKrHAMaFQeAZ-BSQiFcACLcBGAsYHQ/s763/megillah3.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="763" data-original-width="562" height="320" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-BKu5zzc_NdY/YOiVLMLctVI/AAAAAAAABzE/xxtShPBDRGgalIKrHAMaFQeAZ-BSQiFcACLcBGAsYHQ/s320/megillah3.jpg" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Kitten makes her way to Cavern City</td></tr></tbody></table></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";"><span style="font-size: medium;">Some
time had gone by and Bill Dubay was desperate to keep Alex Nino, the star
artist for 1984 magazine, busy with work. Low on quality scripts to provide
Nino, Dubay went to the inventory pile and took Boudreau’s story and had Nino
draw it. Some of the specifics I’ve read on this varies; in an interview, Jim
Stenstrum claimed Dubay had changed any references of a boy to a girl and of a
dog to a monster prior to the story being drawn. However I’ve also read that
Nino had drawn the story as is, then had to go back and make changes to it due
to Ellison’s refusal of the adaption. Dubay then sent the story to Stenstrum to
redo. Over the years Dubay had often asked Stenstrum to take stories that had
originally been written by someone else and completely rewrite them into
something else. This practice was quite common at Warren, whether it was trying
to use old inventory stories, or using stories that had originally been done in
foreign countries. It was especially common in 1984 magazine. Stenstrum, who
used the pseudonym “Alabaster Redzone” for such works wrote a new story fitted
to Nino’s artwork, including rearranging the panels, and it would finally see
print in issue 4 of the magazine.<br /><br /><o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";"><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-qU-42Iip9T0/YOiU7jwaayI/AAAAAAAABy0/2QlMyy6cT4AybXS4aeDCsMvMvQuAIzfvgCLcBGAsYHQ/s763/megillah4.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="763" data-original-width="562" height="320" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-qU-42Iip9T0/YOiU7jwaayI/AAAAAAAABy0/2QlMyy6cT4AybXS4aeDCsMvMvQuAIzfvgCLcBGAsYHQ/s320/megillah4.jpg" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Kitten escapes from the Megillah fanatics</td></tr></tbody></table></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";"><span style="font-size: medium;">Mondo
Megillah would eventually be raised to Harlan Ellison’s attention by a writer
from The Comics Journal who had been doing articles on Warren’s magazines.
Ellison sued for plagiarism in 1981. Internally at Warren it caused conflict
between Dubay and Stenstrum, with Dubay requesting Stenstrum lie about it and
claim it was all a big coincidence. Stenstrum refused which resulted in him
departing Warren, despite the fact that he was being groomed to be its new
editor at the time. Stenstrum would in fact testify in support of Ellison’s
claim. Warren would end up going bankrupt in 1982, with the lawsuit being one
of several factors behind it.<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";"><span style="font-size: medium;">If you’re
interesting in reading more about this, I’d recommend checking out Jim
Stenstrum’s interview in The Warren Companion; there is also a lengthy
discussion of it in the book James Warren: Empire of Monsters by Bill Schelly.</span><o:p></o:p></span></p>Quiddityhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13986124694445522253noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9181661843785521752.post-26655395472651697942021-07-07T19:26:00.005-07:002021-07-07T19:27:21.802-07:00Highlights of Warren Publishing (Part 2)<p><b style="font-size: large;"><u><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">A Wall of Privacy (originally published in Creepy 32, April 1970)</span></u></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";"><span style="font-size: medium;">Art by
Ernie Colon (Credited as David Siclair)<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";"><span style="font-size: medium;">Written
by Nicola Cuti<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";"><span style="font-size: medium;">Our protagonist, Dannon, lives in
a dystopian future where the populace has sacrificed all semblance of privacy.
Small hovering cameras called Eyes capture people’s every move. Dannon desires
to travel to the “free zone”, an area outside of the giant wall surrounding
their society, a place where the Eyes cannot go. One day upon his evening walk
home from work Dannon comes across a woman named Wanda and we find that both of
them have the power of telepathy. Wanda is part of a group that plans to
destroy the power plant for the Eye center, which will enable their group to
escape to the free zone. Dannon decides to participate. The night the attack on
the power plant is made, Dannon makes his way to the wall, police tanks in pursuit.
He catches up with Wanda, who reveals they are the only two from their group still alive. They make their way up the wall and Wanda is killed. Dannon makes
his way over, into the free zone. However we find that the free zone is a
walled off area only five feet wide!</span></span></i></p><p class="MsoNormal"><i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";"></span></i></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-w_ykuaC0usA/YOZg9REYCuI/AAAAAAAAByM/ugUIi3hU2PoNRlic5XhEtqwelLYkm91AgCLcBGAsYHQ/s570/privacy2.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="353" data-original-width="570" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-w_ykuaC0usA/YOZg9REYCuI/AAAAAAAAByM/ugUIi3hU2PoNRlic5XhEtqwelLYkm91AgCLcBGAsYHQ/s320/privacy2.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Dannon, being pursued by one of the Eyes</td></tr></tbody></table><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";"><span style="font-size: medium;">Although
coming out during an era where Warren was still making its way out of its dark
ages, this is a fun story, with a great final twist ending. Stories of
dystopian authoritarian societies are quite common, enough so to be a cliché and
we’d see many other Warren stories return to this type of setting in the
future. George Orwell's 1984 seems an obvious inspiration, with the constant surveillance and
the protagonist meeting a woman and conspiring along with her. The story also
throws in a telepathy angle which I felt wasn’t really necessary but does help
move along the brief six page story in swift fashion.<o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";"></span></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Tl1AyrDqt98/YOZhIgvDSvI/AAAAAAAAByQ/s8346mE3GTwY2ClzLXIiLOeqoXmiNCdMACLcBGAsYHQ/s591/privacy3.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="591" data-original-width="456" height="320" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Tl1AyrDqt98/YOZhIgvDSvI/AAAAAAAAByQ/s8346mE3GTwY2ClzLXIiLOeqoXmiNCdMACLcBGAsYHQ/s320/privacy3.jpg" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Wanda and Dannon</td></tr></tbody></table><p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";"><span style="font-size: medium;">Ernie Colon
was one of the better artists in my eyes during Warren’s dark era (perhaps
surpassed only by Tom Sutton). For me that was largely due to his willingness
to be experimental and try some out of the ordinary looking layouts and designs.
Certain panels are done in considerably more detail than others (including
several in this story) and my recollection was that he even included photos in
his art sometimes. The downside to Colon’s art is that oftentimes many panels
look quite rushed and haphazard. His artwork can be really all over the map,
not only from story to story, but within the same story. Nicola Cuti was a
rather prolific writer for Warren over the years, doing over 100 stories and for a time worked as an
assistant editor for them, although this was one of his earliest published
Warren stories. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";"><span style="font-size: medium;"></span></span></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-LQ45i0wQ1Y4/YOZhOodYl0I/AAAAAAAAByY/WMmNr0T-OWQL4-Mr6drQ_WObzhmTCTEIQCLcBGAsYHQ/s638/privacy4.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="629" data-original-width="638" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-LQ45i0wQ1Y4/YOZhOodYl0I/AAAAAAAAByY/WMmNr0T-OWQL4-Mr6drQ_WObzhmTCTEIQCLcBGAsYHQ/s320/privacy4.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Colon's varying art styles</td></tr></tbody></table><p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";"><span style="font-size: medium;">The
ending to this story reminds me of an anecdote from Bennet Cerf’s “Try and Stop
Me”, a book which was used as a source for a number of spring boards for EC
comic stories. The anecdote was adapted in faithful fashion in the book “More Scary
Stories to Tell in the Dark”. If you were a kid who grew up in the 90s like I
did you’ll remember this book series as having some fairly good ghost stories,
but in particular having absolutely horrifying artwork from Stephen Gammell.
The story involves an old man in a nursing home who is bound to his bed and who
fondly listens to his roommate tell him of all the wonderful things happening
outside, via the window next to his bed. The protagonist desires to be able to
look out the window so much that he kills his roommate by knocking away his
heart medication. Upon being moved to the bed next to the window, he looks
outside, only to see a brick wall. Presumably his roommate was making it up the
entire time. This anecdote also inspired the EC comics story “Out of the Frying
Pan”, which was published in Crime SuspenStories #8. In that story a man
murders his wife’s lover and is temporarily blinded after being hit in the head
with a trash can. He is held in a hospital until he recovers before being moved
to jail. He listens to one of his fellow patients, an old man sitting in a bed
by the window who tells of all the things going on outside. The night before
being moved to jail, our protagonist makes his way to the window and jumps
outside, only to realize it was a really a small area surrounded on all sides by brick
walls. He is promptly caught and sent off, although the old man continues the ruse
for the other patients.</span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";"><o:p><span style="font-size: medium;"></span></o:p></span></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-SkJCrYTYEa0/YOZhUoIaJ2I/AAAAAAAAByc/hVSEczpixysOnt8-zQK8Q5Dm6HEgZEuPwCLcBGAsYHQ/s751/privacy1.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="445" data-original-width="751" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-SkJCrYTYEa0/YOZhUoIaJ2I/AAAAAAAAByc/hVSEczpixysOnt8-zQK8Q5Dm6HEgZEuPwCLcBGAsYHQ/s320/privacy1.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Dannon discovers what life in the Free Zone is like</td></tr></tbody></table><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";"><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></span><p></p>Quiddityhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13986124694445522253noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9181661843785521752.post-68268694209825653892021-07-02T16:24:00.000-07:002021-07-02T16:24:14.408-07:00Highlights of Warren Publishing (Part 1)<p><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;">After a
lengthy writing absence, I’ve decided to revive this blog and focus on its
original purpose, highlighting my love for Warren’s horror comics. This has
been primarily inspired by my trip back through Creepy, Eerie and Vampirella
for the first time in years as I follow the <a href="https://barebonesez.blogspot.com/">Bare Bones Ezine</a></span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;"> which I highly recommend checking out for Peter Enfantino and Jack Seabrook’s
journey through Warren which is currently featuring Warren’s publications in
1975.</span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";"><span style="font-size: medium;">My new
focus is to analyze particular story highlights of Warren’s nearly 20 year run
of horror comics. Years back I had a post on my favorite Warren stories and I
would consider this a sort of enhancement of that, providing a particular focus
on stories that either are among what I consider Warren’s best, or at least
ones that are historically significant. My ranking of Warren’s top stories has
changed somewhat since I originally posted it years back (see <a href="https://averycreepyblog.blogspot.com/2008/11/my-top-warren-stories.html">here</a>), and
while I do plan on including in this series posts on those stories that I had
included in my top 10, there are also many others I have interest in featuring
as well. The frequency of posts or how many particular stories I will cover in
a given post I cannot say at this time, and I do overall consider it a rather
open ended initiative; Warren had such a large output that there should be
enough to keep this series going for quite a while.<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";"><span style="font-size: medium;">With
that said, my first feature is going to be on a story that I reread for the
first time in years just within the past few days.<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><u><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";"><span style="font-size: medium;">The Wolves at War’s End (Originally
published in Vampirella #43, June 1975)<o:p></o:p></span></span></u></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";"><span style="font-size: medium;">Art by
Luis Garcia<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";"><span style="font-size: medium;">Story by
Victor Mora and Budd Lewis<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";"><span style="font-size: medium;">Taking place in the aftermath of
the Crusades, this story features a wary soldier who returns to his home village
after a lengthy absence. The village is far different than what he remembers;
he faces jeers from the villagers, the streets absent of children and the
plague having ravished things. Eventually the soldier comes upon his home,
boarded up. His family is mostly dead, with only his sister still alive,
accused by the local villagers as being a sorceress as she was the only one to
survive the plague unscathed. The soldier attacks the villagers, taking off
with his sister into the woods, with the holy men left behind proclaiming they
will pursue them. The soldier and his sister make their way towards the castle
occupied by the family of his lover Elenore. As they sleep in a tree that night
he dreams of seeing Elenore again, only to find her as a skeleton. Wolves have
gathered below the tree, although his sister claims he had simply conjured them
up in his head. Eventually they come across the castle and the soldier heads
inside, finding Elenore alive and unharmed, exactly as he remembered her. The
soldier embraces her lovingly but she soon vanishes; their pursuers have found
them and killed his sister. His sister truly was a sorceress and created the
vision of Elenore, revealed to be long dead as he comes across her grave. The
soldier leaves the castle, and his sister’s body, returning to the woods where
the wolves eventually come upon him again.<o:p></o:p></span></span></i></p><p class="MsoNormal"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";"><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-SLicZULQENA/YN-d4DvdYQI/AAAAAAAABxs/e_xk-r9_AEcJKDZL2Ft7p0QjMW0BpS-hQCLcBGAsYHQ/s745/Wolves6blog.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="712" data-original-width="745" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-SLicZULQENA/YN-d4DvdYQI/AAAAAAAABxs/e_xk-r9_AEcJKDZL2Ft7p0QjMW0BpS-hQCLcBGAsYHQ/s320/Wolves6blog.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The soldier returns to his home village</td></tr></tbody></table></span></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";"><span style="font-size: medium;">The
Wolves at War’s End has a rather interesting history and back story behind it.
The story was not a Warren original, but rather was originally published in the
French magazine Pilote under the title “The Winter of the Last Combat”. The
story was part of a series called “The Chronicles of the Nameless” as written
by Victor Mora and drawn by Luis Garcia. The series, across 7 stories told of a
being that explored the lives of different individuals across various times and
places. Other stories in the series featured a contemporary comic book artist,
a woman in an old west brothel, a downed World War I pilot and others. Warren
would purchase the rights to 4 of these stories (along with one additional
Garcia/Mora collaboration) and publish them in Vampirella in 1975. In all cases
the stories were rewritten by regular Warren writers including Budd Lewis,
Gerry Boudreau and editor Bill Dubay. <o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";"><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-K2-bG1W1brM/YN-d8__XKbI/AAAAAAAABx0/5qQwutNu1GA5bV9xWP319scsSyjTDKzWgCLcBGAsYHQ/s905/Wolves2blog.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="632" data-original-width="905" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-K2-bG1W1brM/YN-d8__XKbI/AAAAAAAABx0/5qQwutNu1GA5bV9xWP319scsSyjTDKzWgCLcBGAsYHQ/s320/Wolves2blog.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The soldier and Elenore</td></tr></tbody></table></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";"><span style="font-size: medium;">“The
Winter of the Last Combat” appears to be the most well regarded of the stories
in this series, and ended up also being reprinted in Heavy Metal magazine in
issues published in February and March 1978. This version appears to be a more
accurate translation of the original story and is properly credited (it should
be noted that when Warren published the story, Victor Mora was not credited at
all and Garcia was miscredited as Jose instead of Luis). Reading this version
identifies several key differences with the version published in Vampirella. In
particular the sorceress character was not actually the soldier’s sister. Also
the wolves were not simply imagined up by the soldier but were real, and
originally attracted to the area by the men pursuing him. We also get a better
explanation of why these men disappear at the end of the story, they
were only pursuing the “sorceress”, and they ended up getting killed by the
wolves, the fate that the soldier suffers himself as the story comes to a
close. Budd Lewis also adds in a lot of musings about war which wasn’t in the
original story. In a way this reminds me much of the series he had written shortly beforehand for Eerie, “Apocalypse” which examines the Four Horsemen of the
Apocalypse, War, Famine, Plague and Death. In fact it comes off as if The
Wolves at War’s End is building on themes explored in the first three stories
of that series and I think in a way is a good companion piece to it.<o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";"><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-BTifSRoNhUk/YN-eDWSAT-I/AAAAAAAABx8/k6R7XHy5K8UK0yFgNOggRlAFR6zAAL2zwCLcBGAsYHQ/s855/Wolves1blog.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="855" data-original-width="483" height="320" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-BTifSRoNhUk/YN-eDWSAT-I/AAAAAAAABx8/k6R7XHy5K8UK0yFgNOggRlAFR6zAAL2zwCLcBGAsYHQ/s320/Wolves1blog.jpg" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Effective forest shot</td></tr></tbody></table></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";"><span style="font-size: medium;">Warren
evidently liked this story quite a bit, as a mere two issues later in
Vampirella #45 we get an extremely similar story titled “The Winter of Their
Discontent” as written by Gerry Boudreau and drawn by Isidro Mones. This story
also features a soldier returning home to find his village ravished by the
plague and the villagers showing no respect or appreciation for him. His parent
dead, he searches for his sister, eventually finding that too she has died from
the plague. Unlike the Wolves at War’s End, his lover is still alive and in
good health, but feels so devastated by what has happened that she has no
desire to live any longer. She requests he kill her, which he reluctantly does
before committing suicide himself. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";"><span style="font-size: medium;"><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-6m117UszRXo/YN-dy5CtqiI/AAAAAAAABxk/RmcqpA4ewhkEP61FdBGgl00QWWHhWcj3gCLcBGAsYHQ/s772/Wolves7blog.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="536" data-original-width="772" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-6m117UszRXo/YN-dy5CtqiI/AAAAAAAABxk/RmcqpA4ewhkEP61FdBGgl00QWWHhWcj3gCLcBGAsYHQ/s320/Wolves7blog.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">From the Spanish version</td></tr></tbody></table></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";"><span style="font-size: medium;">This
story is considerably acclaimed by David Roach, one of the co-writers of the
Warren Companion, who rated it as his #2 Warren story of all time, behind only “Thrillkill”
which by general consensus is the most acclaimed story Warren would publish.
Richard Arndt also expressed praise of the story in his book “Horror Comics in
Black and White”. I personally rated this as my #3 Warren story back when I
rated my top 10 stories. It possesses arguably the strongest artwork to appear
in a Warren story, at least for my tastes (as one who considers Garcia his
favorite Warren artist). Garcia provides a dark and frightening atmosphere that
really fits the nature of the story well, particularly after the soldier
escapes into the woods. Lewis enhances what was already a strong story with his
changes and dialogue. I particularly enjoy the final lines, “In my search for
justice I created war. In my search for war, I created death. In my search for
death… I have lost my soul.”</span><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";"><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-nPzcsSZNNfg/YN-dohBjShI/AAAAAAAABxg/oJvTmusZcG0jT5Y_P6czsf6KFaufkl0owCLcBGAsYHQ/s736/Wolves3blog.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="736" data-original-width="714" height="320" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-nPzcsSZNNfg/YN-dohBjShI/AAAAAAAABxg/oJvTmusZcG0jT5Y_P6czsf6KFaufkl0owCLcBGAsYHQ/s320/Wolves3blog.jpg" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The soldier meets his fate</td></tr></tbody></table></span></p>Quiddityhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13986124694445522253noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9181661843785521752.post-42814092577322027512020-05-09T15:58:00.002-07:002020-05-09T16:01:22.863-07:00My Top Skywald StoriesMany years back when I covered Warren I made a post of my favorite Warren stories; now the time has come to do the same for Skywald. For Warren it was fairly easy to determine my top stories, as there were quite a number that really stood out to me just from memory. For Skywald it was a bit harder. Very few stories were as striking to me, especially from an intellectual level. Not that I didn't enjoy going through the Skywald library; I absolutely did, but it unfortunately never hit the heights for me that Warren did. That said, I've spent the time going back over my prior posts and synopsis and have come up with my list of what I considered the highlight of Skywald. While my picks were primarily based on the writing, I will admit that the art at times also came into play, and many of the stories were concentrated from a few artists. Hewetson was the writer for all but one of those included in my top 10 list.<br />
<br />
This list is specifically one-time stories; all ongoing series have been excluded. This wouldn't have had that major an impact on the list aside from a few stories that come to mind including one of the stories in the Shoggoths series, one of the stories in the Autobiography of a Vampire series and the Saga of the Victims series as a whole. I'm not sure if all 3 would have made my top 10, but they'd at least rank among my honorable mentions, which I have included below:<br />
<br />
Time Stop - Nightmare #2<br />
Gruesome Crewcut - Psycho #3<br />
Slime World - Nightmare #5<br />
Broken Sparrow - Nightmare #6<br />
Horror Has 1 Thousand Faces - Psycho #7<br />
Alone - Nightmare 1972 Special<br />
The Transplant - Psycho #10<br />
The Comics Macabre - Scream #1<br />
What the Hell is Dracula Doing Alive and Well in 1974?! - Nightmare #19<br />
A Tale of Horror -Nightmare #20<br />
I Never Heard of a Ghost Actually Killing Anyone! - Scream #9<br />
Kill, Kill, Kill, and Kill Again - Nightmare #22<br />
<b><br /></b>
<b>My Top 10 Skywald Stories</b><br />
<b><br /></b>
<b>10. "Whether Man or Scarecrow" - Nightmare 1973 Winter Special; story by Al Hewetson, art by Felipe Dela Rosa</b><br />
<br />
This one is a fun combination of a Pinocchio-type story (with a scarecrow coming to life instead of a puppet) and the concept of having wishes. A scarecrow named Perry is approached by an old man one day who claims he can grand him three wishes. In a traditional tale, Perry would take advantage of this to become human and be with his crush, the farmer's daughter, Judy. And well, while he certainly tries for that, things go spectacularly bad for him in every way possible. Like many stories on this top 10 ranking, Hewetson takes things really over the top here, and its a blast.<br />
<b><br /></b>
<b>9. "...Suffer the Little Children" - Psycho #9; story by Al Hewetson, art by Xavier Villanova</b><br />
<br />
A governess arrives at a mansion to take care of two young children, Flora and Miles, only to find that things are totally not what they seem. Both children are mentally disturbed, impacted by the recent death of their brother. From here the story takes a lot of twists and turns, bringing the reader on an exciting ride up to its surprising ending.<br />
<b><br /></b>
<b>8. "A Plot of Dirt" - Psycho #9; story by Doug Moench, art by Felipe Dela Rosa</b><br />
<br />
Like EC comics, Skywald did a number of stories featuring corpses returning from the dead; this story was one of the best. It features Philip, a corpse summoned from the grave by the evil Craig, who was responsible for his death due to jealousy over a woman. Largely told from Philip's perspective, we have a sympathetic protagonist, despite being a corpse and hope he will be able to come out of Craig's spell and get his revenge.<br />
<b><br /></b>
<b>7. "The Old Vampire Lady" - Psycho #16; story by Al Hewetson, art by Jesus Duran</b><br />
<br />
Every once and a while Hewetson would eschew the typical type of plot and instead provide us a story that acted more as a historical account or biography. This is one of such stories. A young photographer comes across the titular vampire lady, who tells him her horrifying life from her childhood to now. Jesus Duran was one of my favorite Skywald artists and he does an effective job providing a scary atmosphere throughout.<br />
<b><br /></b>
<b>6. "Now... Another Maniac!" - Psycho #18; story by Al Hewetson, art by Maelo Cintron</b><br />
<br />
This story was a rare one drawn by Maelo Cintron that did not feature the human gargoyles characters. It also is unique for a Skywald story in that it has no supernatural element to it. Our protagonist plans to kill a man. While he is able to successfully pull it off, a bike he ran over comes back to haunt him in a big way. The story also is memorable for me as the first Skywald story I ever read, due to coming across it in a collection of horror comic stories years ago.<br />
<b><br /></b>
<b>5. "The Artist's Other Hand" - Psycho #14; story by Al Hewetson, art by Jesus Suso Rego</b><br />
<br />
One of the really fun things about Skywald was their willingness to break the fourth wall, and this story is a perfect example of that. It stars the story's artist, Suso, who gets sick of the ridiculous story his editor, Hewetson, writes for him. The two get into a big conflict over how to improve the story, and neither can come to an agreement resulting in a fist fight between the two. Hewetson loved to put himself in his stories (off the top of my head I think this happened at least 10 times, if not more) and this is the best such example.<br />
<b><br /></b>
<b>4. "Limb from Limb from Death" - Nightmare 1972 Special; story by Al Hewetson, art by Pablo Marcos</b><br />
<br />
One of Skywald's most gory and over the top stories. A trio of men are trapped in the Sahara desert. One of them, a doctor, convinces the other two that the only way they have to survive is to eat each other. Each of the other two men gives up an arm for this, under the promise from the doctor that if they are saved he will have his own arm sawed off. Well, they are saved before that happens, so the big question is whether the doctor will actually go through with it?<br />
<b><br /></b>
<b>3. "Diary of an Absolute Lunatic" - Nightmare #14; story by Al Hewetson, art by Felipe Dela Rosa</b><br />
<br />
A man named Munro appears in the 1920s in an insane asylum, claiming to be a time traveler. Coming from 70 years from the future, he tells of how a madman threatens to destroy the Earth if his demands are not met. Munro makes his way through time, including witnessing the Earth blow up! Is he telling the truth? While we don't know with absolute certainty, the ending to the tale provides a pretty strong indication. Beyond being a fun story to read, this story also boasts some strong artwork from Dela Rosa, particularly during the time travel sequence.<br />
<b><br /></b>
<b>2. "The Day That Satan Died" - Psycho #13; story by Al Hewetson, art by Felipe Dela Rosa</b><br />
<br />
This story proves that Hewetson could turn out a great story even if the ending is literally spoiled in the title. A young woman hijacks a small plane and then purposely causes it to crash into a snowy mountain. Its all part of a plot on her part to get one of the other passengers to sacrifice their soul so she can satisfy a deal with Satan to preserve her youth. Only she soon learns to her dismay that her fellow passengers include the abominable snowman, a vampire and Satan himself! The sheer ridiculousness of this story makes it quite a fun one to read and Dela Rosa's artwork serves the story quite well.<br />
<b><br /></b>
<b>1. "The 13 Dead Things" - Psycho #15; story by Al Hewetson, art by Jesus Duran</b><br />
<br />
An imprisoned count in the 17th century sits in a cell in a tower, and comes up with an idea about how to fake his death so he can escape and take revenge. For pages on end we see our protagonist imagining himself going on a rampage and brutally killing those who have wronged him. When he realizes a possible flaw in his escape plan this doesn't stop him from continuing to plot his revenge, and we see him once again slaying those who have wronged him, but this time as a corpse! The story is topped off by a hilarious, but very fitting ending. This story is so ridiculously over the top it needs to be seen to be believed. Just when you think it can't get any more absurd after seeing our protagonist kill so many people in horrifying ways, we get it repeated with him doing it as a rotting corpse.Quiddityhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13986124694445522253noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9181661843785521752.post-86471843887741581682020-04-11T15:54:00.001-07:002020-04-11T15:54:58.011-07:00Skywald's Recurring SeriesToday I'll be discussing many of the various ongoing series that we saw in the Skywald magazines. Which ones were good? Which were bad? Or are you just looking for an index of any such stories within them?<br />
<br />
<b>The Heap</b><br />
The Heap (Psycho #2)<br />
The Heap Meets The Horror Master! (Psycho #3)<br />
Night of Evil! (Psycho #4)<br />
Cavern of Doom (Psycho #5)<br />
Dark Victory (Psycho #6)<br />
A Spawn of Satan (Psycho #7)<br />
What Has Hell Wrought? (Psycho 1972 Annual)<br />
Even a Heap Can Die! (Psycho #10)<br />
A Ship of Fiends (Psycho #11)<br />
And the World Shall Shudder (Psycho #12)<br />
When Dies a Lunatic… So Dies a Heap (Psycho #13)<br />
<br />
At 11 stories, the Heap was the longest running series to run in Skywald. Like many long running Skywald series, its creative talent changed up during its run. Ross Andru and Mike Esposito provided the artwork initially, with story by Andru and Chuck McNaughton. Al Hewetson would eventually take over writing the series, with Pablo Marcos coming in as artist, then later Xavier Villanova to wrap things up. Jim Roberts, a crop duster, becomes the titular Heap after he is contaminated by falling into some chemicals. After realizing his best friend and fiance were going to screw him over, he goes on a rampage, killing them. From here on the Heap experiences a series of adventures, including a memorable early story where he fights the corpses of some of the most horrible individuals in human history. For much of the series we see the struggle of Roberts and his periodic ability to turn back into human, only for things to go horribly wrong and for him to turn back into the Heap. As the series starts drawing to a conclusion though, Hewetson goes in a different direction with the last 2 stories, making the Heap a mindless beast for whom the authorities try to capture. As the series ends he ends up on the farm belonging to his parents and stays with them! The Heap was a fun series for much of its run, although it did eventually hit a point where it was drawn on too long. I wasn't a big fan of Hewetson's decision to abruptly change the Heap's character as the series came to its conclusion though.<br />
<br />
<b>The Human Gargoyles</b><br />
A Gargoyle - A Man (Psycho #8)<br />
I and I Equals 3 (Nightmare #10)<br />
Only the Strong Shall Survive (Nightmare #13)<br />
And They Did Battle with the Thing From Underneath (Nightmare #14)<br />
Once Upon a Time in Alabama: A Horror (Nightmare #15)<br />
The Human Gargoyles vs. The United States of America (Nightmare #19)<br />
The Freaks (Psycho #20)<br />
I, Gargoyle (Nightmare #20)<br />
The Human Gargoyles vs. The Human Dead (Nightmare #23)<br />
<br />
The Human Gargoyles is one of the most well known series that Skywald published. It was written by Al Hewetson and Maelo Cintron handles the art for all but the first story, which was done by Felipe Dela Rosa. The series features two humanoid gargoyles, Edward and Mina, and eventually their son Andrew as they make their way from Germany to America and struggle as outsiders. Nearly every story in the series has Satan sending monsters of minions after Edward to fight him, which gets him in bigger and bigger trouble with the authorities, eventually making his way into jail after the mental toll it has on him. Edward is able to tell his tale via an autobiography though, and through the help of an understanding judge is let out and tries to build a life with his wife and son. While Cintron's art throughout the series is strong, Hewetson's story is quite awful and this was one of my biggest disappointments of my tour through Skywald. Edward taking on Satan's minions is repeated ad nausea throughout the series. The series' attempt to show the struggle of our titular character's life in America is undercut by how stupid they come off as characters, such as multiple times leaving their young son alone to be kidnapped. The series is quite sprawling, nine parts in total with no end in sight when Skywald folded. Regardless of any possible hype surrounding it, this is a series worth skipping.<br />
<br />
<b>Saga of the Victims</b><br />
What is Horror? No, Who is Horror? (Scream #6)<br />
I Am Horror (Scream #7)<br />
I... Am Torment (Scream #8)<br />
I am Treachery... I Am Horror (Scream #9)<br />
I Am A Proud Monstrosity (Scream #11)<br />
<br />
The Saga of the Victims is one of Skywald's most well known series, and for good reason, it is one of, if not their best. The series was written by Al Hewetson, with art from Jesus Suso Rego. Suso was one of Skywald's best artists, and it was always a treat to see in these stories, each of which was 20 pages in length. I have heard that Hewetson put this story together with the goal of it being very unpredictable, so no one could guess how it would end. The series features two college students, Anne and Josey who suddenly find themselves in one horrifying moment after another. Across 5 stories and 100 pages they are captured by monster and set to be executed, meet a man with no skin, a vampire robot, are seized by a dinosaur, are taken a hold of by a dwarf Nazi in a sea craft made to look like a giant squid, are seized by an African warlord, travel through the desert attacked by snakes, fall into boiling water, hide from an army of dead Nazi corpses and even more. This series goes all over the place and Hewetson absolutely succeeds in his quest to make it unpredictable. Unfortunately Skywald went out of business before the final story could see print, but as covered in my recent feature for Scream #11, I was able to track down the final part online, which would be published many years later and its a pretty good and fitting conclusion.<br />
<br />
<b>Nosferatu</b><br />
Where Lunatics Live (Scream #1)<br />
The Name is Sinner Cane... And the Name Means Evil! (Scream #2)<br />
The Tale of Another (Scream #3)<br />
When the Dusk Falls... So Does Death (Scream #4)<br />
And the Gutters Ran With Blood (Scream #6)<br />
Satan's Third Reich (Scream #7)<br />
My Prison in Hell! (Scream #8)<br />
Who Killed the Shark? (Scream #9)<br />
I Kill to Live (Scream #11)<br />
<br />
Nosferatu ran for 9 parts, all of them in Scream, with writing from Al Hewetson and art from Zesar Lopez. This series was a lot more anthology in nature than most, with the titular Nosferatu acting more as a framing device. Nosferatu has summoned approximately a dozen hooded and masked individuals to dine with him. In each story one of the individuals, each who wearing their own unique animal mask, tells their tale. This series succeeds quite well from an atmosphere standpoint. Lopez's art, with rare exception is quite strong, and as one of Skywald's best artists, you are assured of nearly always getting high quality, scary artwork. The downside to the series is that after a bit the conclusion of the stories become a bit repetitive. Each story ends with the teller removing their mask and/or hood and revealing the horrifying state their body has now become. There is only so far they can go with this concept, and we do eventually hit a point where things seem somewhat repetitive (such as multiple stories featuring the teller consumed by animals). Despite that, the stories in this series were often a highlight of the issues they were in and it goes down as one of my favorite Skywald series. Its unfortunate Skywald went out of business before it concluded.<br />
<br />
<b>Monster, Monster</b><br />
Monster, Monster on the Wall! (Nightmare #12)<br />
Monster, Monster in the Grave! (Psycho #13)<br />
Monster, Monster Rise From Thy Crypt (Psycho #16)<br />
Monster, Monster Heed Death's Call (Psycho #17)<br />
Monster, Monster Watch Them Die (Psycho #18)<br />
And in this Land... A Monster (Psycho #19)<br />
Visions of Bloody Death (Psycho #24)<br />
<br />
This seven part series was written by Augustine Funnell (the first being his Skywald debut) and went through 3 artists, starting with Pablo Marcos, then going to Ricardo Villamonte, with Paul Puigagut handling the final segment. Its focus began on a boy who was ugly and made fun of, but became a werewolf and as he grew up came back home to take his revenge. At the conclusion of the second story in the series he shoots himself in the head, which ordinarily would end our series right there, but somehow he is brought back to life, despite the bullet lodged in his head and the series continues for several more parts. From here the series takes a turn and our protagonist gets involved in a conflict involving gypsies which goes on for several parts, primarily surrounding a magic amulet. Many side characters entry the fray and die, and the series seems to hit a logical conclusion with its fifth part, only to continue on even further, bringing the setting to America where our protagonist finds a werewolf friend although loses him after a battle with a demon in the final part. Like several Skywald series, this one went on a bit too long. Its initial concept was a fairly good one and I would have enjoyed reading more about it. Unfortunately the whole gypsy element I was never a fan of and that dominated much of this series that I just couldn't get into it enough. Changing artists multiple times didn't help either.<br />
<br />
<b>The Shoggoths</b><br />
The Skull Forest of Old Earth (Nightmare #9)<br />
Where are the Inhabitants of Earth? (Nightmare #11)<br />
This Archaic Breeding Ground (Scream #1)<br />
The Grotesque Green Earth (Nightmare #15)<br />
The Vault (Nightmare #19)<br />
The Scream and the Nightmare (Nightmare #20)<br />
<br />
The Shoggoths were beings originally brought up in the works of H.P. Lovecraft, and while none of the stories in this series are explicitly adapted from a Lovecraft tale, the stories of this series show clear influence, especially starting with the third story in the series. From that point on the stories are predominantly a protagonist (eventually becoming Al Hewetson himself) leading journeys into the lairs of the Shoggoths, typically just barely escaping with their life. The first two stories don't have the Lovecraft style as such, but are still quality tales. Zesar Lopez provides artwork for three of the first four stories (with Jose Gual providing the outlier) and Jose Cardona takes over starting with the fifth story, also appearing in the series himself. Each of the artists do an effective job portraying the Shoggoths, which come off as quite scary, although our protagonist repeatedly escaping from them alive lessens things.<br />
<br />
<b>Frankenstein</b><br />
Chapter One (Psycho #3)<br />
Freaks of Fear! (Psycho #4)<br />
The Sewer Tomb of Le Suub! (Psycho #5)<br />
The Phantom of the Opera (Psycho #6)<br />
Frankenstein 1973 (Nightmare #13)<br />
Frankenstein 2073: The Death of the Monster (Scream #6)<br />
The Descent Into Hell (Scream #7)<br />
The Brides of Frankenstein (Psycho 1974 Yearbook)<br />
Die, Frankenstein's Monster! (Psycho #22)<br />
<br />
Skywald's take on Frankenstein is two separate series, with the first 6 stories above under the "Frankenstein Book II" moniker and the series restarting for the final 3 stories. Tom Sutton originally wrote and drew the series (with some help from Dan Adkins and Jack Abel), for the first 4 parts, but once he departed Skywald the series goes on a long hiatus before being taken over by Al Hewetson and drawn by Xavier Villanova, for a single story, before going on another long absence, wrapping up with a final story, now drawn by Cesar Lopez. I presume as a way to quickly wrap up the series and go in another direction as desired by Hewetson, as very soon afterwards another Frankenstein series kicks off, also drawn by Lopez. Sutton's take on Frankenstein is quite an entertaining one, and takes place right after the book ends. Victor Frankenstein is really brought through the ringer, being brought back to life by the monster, getting torn to shreds by an angry townsfolk, then brought to life again, ends up as just a head, and other hilariousness. The monster goes on his own journey, meaning a companion in Lilith, fighting off a sewer octopus and taking part in a crazed experiment by the Phantom of the Opera. Things go in a sci-fi direction after that, with the monster transported to the future, first where he takes on Nazi corpses then a society of all women who intend to make him their king, only for him to accept death instead. The restarted series is a bit calmer but is still pretty good, focusing on storylines such as a bride fo the monster and him meeting Dracula. While at its peak when Tom Sutton was handling it, these series were typically of good quality.<br />
<br />
<b>Lady Satan</b><br />
The Macabre Beginning (Scream #2)<br />
What is Evil and What is Not (Scream #3)<br />
Satan Wants a Child (Scream #4)<br />
The Son of Lord Lucifer (Psycho #19)<br />
<br />
The Lady Satan series was written by Al Hewetson, with art primarily by Ricardo Villamonte, although Pablo Marcos handled the final segment. This series features a woman named Anne, whose body is hijacked by a black witch Satanist, the titular Lady Satan. Throughout the series she struggles with control of her body with Lady Satan, and is eventually impregnated by Satan himself, causing her to throw herself in a fire, killing it and horrifically burning herself. It is here where the series ended, although I don't think intentionally. That said, it ended a good while before Skywald went under. At the very least this overall mediocre series ended at a logically enough place.<br />
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<b>Autobiography of a Vampire</b><br />
The Autobiography of a Vampire, Chapter 1 (Nightmare #17)<br />
The Autobiography of a Vampire (Scream #5)<br />
My tomb is My Castle (Nightmare #19)<br />
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This three part series was written by Al Hewetson and Ricardo Villamonte. It features a vampire calling himself Judas, who tells the story of his life. We start with how he became a vampire in the first place, due to Prince Rodion Zosimov, who slays his parents and later abandons him, only for Judas to later take revenge. The second part tells of Judas' failed attempt at love, which results in him slaying his beloved. The third tells of his time living with an old blind man and the misfortune he was responsible for. While not as ambitious as some of Skywald's other series, this is one I constantly enjoyed, and wish we had more of.<br />
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<b>Nightmare World</b><br />
The Nightmare World of James Edgar (Nightmare #9)<br />
The Nightmare World of Trisha Hamlin of Livingston, Kentucky: They Crawled Out of the Crater (Nightmare #10)<br />
Nightmare World: The Beasts of Tomb Beach! (Nightmare #11)<br />
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Nightmare World was a short lived series, only going for 3 stories, but was an interesting concept. Hewetson would take the dreams or nightmares of one of his readers and turn it into a story! This results in a non-serialized approach, with more variety added by the fact that each story was drawn by a different artist. The first two stories feature some considerable bizarre monsters and events and were quite memorable. The third such story was a little less out there and not as memorable, but still worth a read.<br />
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Quiddityhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13986124694445522253noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9181661843785521752.post-58332998238058535982020-03-31T16:05:00.000-07:002020-03-31T16:05:13.938-07:00Skywald's Most Prolific ContributorsIn this post I'll be identifying who were the most prolific contributors for Skywald. I had done a similar feature a number of years back for Warren.<br />
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<b>Most Prolific Story Artists</b><br />
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1. Ricardo Villamonte - 29<br />
2. Pablo Marcos - 27<br />
3. Jose Cardona - 20<br />
4. Felipe Dela Rosa - 17<br />
5. Zesar Lopez - 16<br />
6. Jesus Duran - 14<br />
6. Jesus Suso Rego - 14<br />
6. Xavier Villanova - 14<br />
9. Mike Esposito - 13<br />
10. Maelo Cintron - 12<br />
11. Antonio Borrell - 11<br />
11. Ferran Sostres - 11<br />
13. Cesar Lopez - 10<br />
14. Fernando Rubio - 10<br />
15. Tom Sutton - 9<br />
16. Ross Andru - 8<br />
16. Serg Moren - 8<br />
16. Maro Nava - 8<br />
16. Juez Xirinius - 8<br />
20. Luis Collado - 7<br />
20. Jack Katz - 7<br />
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Ricardo Villamonte being Skywald's most prolific story artist wasn't much of a surprise to me. He really dominates the magazines once he arrives, often having 2 stories for many issues that he appears in. Despite how prolific he was, it wasn't for that long a time, as it was only a run of 7 issues or so for each respective title that he was around. Marcos being #2 is also pretty expected, like Villamonte he dominates Skywald during the time he worked for them, which incidentally enough was coming to an end right around when Villamonte appeared. Like both of them, Cardona also dominates the magazines when he arrived, often having 2 stories per issue, coming close to the end of Skywald's run.<br />
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Selecciones Illustrada artists dominate the listing, with 15 of the 21 slots here (I went with 21 rather than 20 because both Collado and Katz have the same number of stories). Mike Esposito was Skywald's most prolific American artist, although his work is primarily from early in Skywald's run, with one story from Psycho #14 likely an inventory story, appearing far after the others.<br />
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<b>Most Prolific Frontispiece Artists</b><br />
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1. Pablo Marcos - 20<br />
2. Maelo Cintron - 12<br />
2. Domingo Gomez - 12<br />
4. Gene Day - 7<br />
4. Bill Everett - 7<br />
6. Felipe Dela Rosa - 5<br />
6. Ferran Sostres - 5<br />
6. Ricardo Villamonte - 5<br />
9. Juez Xirinius - 4<br />
9. Zesar Lopez - 4<br />
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Most of the frontispiece artists are ones who appeared on the above story list. Domingo Gomez's work was primarily frontispieces, with him doing only 2 full length stories (both of them in the same issue). Gene Day arrived very close to the end of Skywald's run but despite that put out a lot of frontispieces getting him near the top of this list.<br />
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<b>Most Prolific Cover Artists</b><br />
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1. Vicente Segrelles - 10<br />
2. Sebastian Boada - 7<br />
3. Salvador Faba - 6<br />
4. Ken Kelly - 5<br />
4. Boris Vallejo -5<br />
6. Fernando Fernandez - 4<br />
6. Xavier Villanova - 4<br />
8. Jose Antonio Domingo - 3<br />
8. Jose Miralles - 3<br />
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Skywald's cover artist again are dominated by foreign artists, most of them from Selecciones Illustrada. Ken Kelly, the top American artist was also a prolific cover artist for Warren, and in fact their most prolific American cover artist too.<br />
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<b>Most Prolific Writers</b><br />
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1. Al Hewetson - 232<br />
2. Ed Fedory - 27<br />
3. Augustine Funnell - 16<br />
4. Doug Moench - 11<br />
5. Chuch McNaughton - 10<br />
5. Gardner Fox - 10<br />
7. Marv Wolfman - 9<br />
8. Ross Andru - 6<br />
8. Tom Sutton - 6<br />
9. Bruce Jones - 5<br />
9. Chic Stone - 5<br />
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Al Hewetson, as expected, massively dominates Skywald's writing, having nearly 10 times as many stories as the second place finisher, Ed Fedory. Only Fedory and Funnell were regular contributors after Skywald's early years, with the other writers making up this list being ones that primarily appeared before Hewetson became editor.Quiddityhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13986124694445522253noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9181661843785521752.post-57953434353983435112020-03-27T16:34:00.002-07:002020-03-27T16:34:38.723-07:00Psycho #24<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Today I'm covering Psycho issue 24, cover dated March 1975. The cover is provided by Sebastia Boada. This is both the final issue of Psycho and the final issue of Skywald overall! The end has finally come. Gene Day provides the one page frontispiece.<br />
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We start with "A Fragment in the Life of Dracula: Within the Walls of Castle Dracula!" by Al Hewetson (story) and Jose Martin Sauri (art). This story continues the storyline started up in Scream #10. Vlad the Impaler is a werewolf, but has not become a vampire yet, with this story telling how. He goes to where he has many prisoners locked up and speaks to one, a gardener, Rathskeller, whose son fled rather than provide him service. Vlad decides to free the man during the full moon, telling him he can go free if he can escape him. Ratskeller flees through the dark woods and eventually is come upon by a number of vampire bats. Vlad consumes not only Rathskeller's body, but that of the bats as well. He returns to his castle, having become a vampire. As usual, really strong art from Sauri here, although he once again appears to be taking clear inspiration from Esteban Maroto's "A Most Private Terror" from Creepy #52.<br />
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<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-tcPH5D8AeTI/Xn6NTozB2bI/AAAAAAAABrc/TfCufrpi0pYoPQnA4u0pe7aIAN3DAUp5ACLcBGAsYHQ/s1600/psycho24-1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1122" data-original-width="902" height="320" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-tcPH5D8AeTI/Xn6NTozB2bI/AAAAAAAABrc/TfCufrpi0pYoPQnA4u0pe7aIAN3DAUp5ACLcBGAsYHQ/s320/psycho24-1.jpg" width="257" /></a>Second is the return of the series, "Monster, Monster" after a long absence with "Visions of Bloody Death". While Augustine Funnell still provides the story, Ricardo Villamonte has been replaced as artist by Paul Puigagut. Our protagonist, currently living in New York under the name Vincent Crayne continues to turn to a werewolf at the full moon. The woman with the amulet whom he is seeking decides to send a demon after him, while also fearing for her son, his roommate. The demon attacks Crayne and she also transforms the landlady into a demon as well to fight him. Crayne comes out on top and turns back into a human, but his roommate is dead. He realizes the woman is going to England and decides to pursue her there. This series continues to be meandering and rather pointless to me. Puigagut's art is very impressive though and a big upgrade from Villamonte. The downside is it can be somewhat confusing at times to figure out what is going on.<br />
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Third is "Daughter of Darkness" by Joan Cintron (story) and Maelo Cintron (art). A rare Cintron story that is not part of the Human Gargoyles series. It is his wife providing the story. The story claims this is her first work for Skywald, but she also had contributed to a short story by him early in his Skywald career. A prince's wife is giving birth, but she passes away due to it, making him quite upset at the child, especially when he realizes it is a girl. Two decades pass and the girl is now grown up, asking the midwife about her mother. She is forbidden from leaving, nor from ever loving anyone. That night a vampire appears, flying down to her room and bites her neck. She goes down to see her father later, asking permission to be married, but he refuses and says she is forbid an heir. Suddenly the vampire appears and along with her, bites her father's neck, and she claims there is no need to worry about an heir as he will now live forever. A pretty decent story, and it was good to see Cintron do something outside of the Gargoyles series.<br />
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Next is the two page "The Book of the Dead!" by Al Hewetson (story) and Domingo Gomez (art). This brief feature is about H.P. Lovecraft's Necronomicon, and features various monsters and best. It also features an old woman for whom I've seen drawn by at least 3 other Selecciones Illustrada artists, what must be from a very popular photo reference.<br />
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Next is "From Hell to Eternity!" by Ed Fedory (story) and Jose Cardona (art). Two men and their assistant Carlos have come to the Pacific island of Zacatecas, with a map on human skin that they believe will lead to riches. They are seeking the tomb of Moran-Kula, ruler of the Toltecs, whom upon his death was bound up in the tomb, his mouth sewn shut. Eventually waters rose and covered their entire city and the tomb. After diving underwater, they find the tomb, and riches within. Thinking there are jewels in Moran-Kula's mouth, they cut open his sewn lips, but flesh eating beetles come out of his mouth and devour them. Meanwhile, Carlos celebrates above water, returning to shore with a giant chest they brought up, but the beetles are inside it as well and consume him too!<br />
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Next is "The City of the White Wolf" by Dave Sim (story) and Luis Collado (art). The hunter William Ashton Perry has brought a group to hunt in the winter wilderness. He decides to use himself as bait, putting himself in a fake bear trap. A white wolf approaches him, but then turns, getting William upset as he thinks he can make a thousand dollars from its pelt. William heads out on his own at night and finds the wolf, shooting at it and successfully killing it. In short order however he finds himself surrounded by a pack of wolves. The next morning William's body is found, with much of it having been eaten by the wolves. A unique type of story in that it has no supernatural element to it at all. Sim does a good job in his one and only Skywald story, as does the artist Collado.<br />
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The following story is "..If I Should Die Before I Wake..." by Al Hewetson (story) and Jose Cardona (art). A vampire grows nervous about what may happen if his body is found in the graveyard where he makes his home, knowing that even children could kill him during the daytime. He decides to move to some other place the next day. Unfortunately for him, that very day men come to destroy the mausoleum he sleeps in and put his coffin outside, unopened. The coffin is brought to the morgue where his body is discovered and believed to be that of a dead man. As a result, his body is frozen. The vampire dies as he feared, but not in the way he thought! This story's ending is very similar to "I Was a Vampire for Hire" from Scream #2.<br />
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Our final story is a second story in "The Fiend of Changsha" series, with "Dead by Day, Fiend by Night" by Al Hewetson (story) and Sanho Kim (art). Our protagonist Chan Hai returns to life after a thief takes the blade that is sticking out of his body. He finds himself unable to step outside in the sunlight due to his being a vampire. Meanwhile the police chief visits the scholar Man Lao, who recognizes Hai to be a vampire. They find Hai, who was a former student of Lao. Hai agrees to go with Lao who can teach him about being a vampire and what he can do about it. The police chief leads him into an ambush though. Hai slays him by drinking his blood, then turns into a bat and flies away. Lao worries the curse he has put upon China by spreading vampirism. A pretty good story to wrap up this issue of Psycho, and Skywald as a whole. Too bad the series has to stop here partway through!<br />
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And with that, my coverage of Skywald's individual issues comes to an end. It has been a fun ride to finally experience their works, which while not at the level of Warren, was still a pretty memorable journey. I do plan on making a few more posts about Skywald now that I have finished, focusing in particular on matters such as my favorite stories, features on some of the artists, a discussion of the series used and some other things.Quiddityhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13986124694445522253noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9181661843785521752.post-59473900672317215322020-03-25T15:54:00.002-07:002020-03-25T16:08:10.459-07:00Scream #11<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-2TPH23ME2c0/XnvgvkPbGfI/AAAAAAAABq4/edGOFs0W2dAN1XVO8i9jU2yHOeXqg2lPACLcBGAsYHQ/s1600/scream11.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="732" data-original-width="542" height="320" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-2TPH23ME2c0/XnvgvkPbGfI/AAAAAAAABq4/edGOFs0W2dAN1XVO8i9jU2yHOeXqg2lPACLcBGAsYHQ/s320/scream11.jpg" width="236" /></a>Today I'm featuring Scream issue 11, cover dated March 1975, which is also the final issue of the title. The cover is provided by Ballestar.<br />
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First is the latest story in the Nosferatu series, "I Kill to Live" by Al Hewetson (story) and Zesar Lopez (art). The latest person to tell their tale is Antie Mae Dippie. She explains how as a child, her father was a philanderer and her mother a drunk. One night he got so angry at her he killed her with an ax. Mae then killed him with it. She was found by the authorities and thrown in an asylum where she spent her life, growing up then growing old. At 65, she decides to escape, stowing away with a nurse whom she then strangles. She heads to the Australian outback where she finds a stray dog that accompanies her and eventually an old man living in a cabin. The old man has reported her though for the reward money, and when they arrive she is able to blow them up with dynamite then chops off the head of the old man. She flees with the dog, but when a snake attacks them, she kicks the dog in the way, which is bitten and killed in her place. She kills the snake with the rock, then puts the dog out of its misery. Devastated by what she did to her friend, she takes out an ax and chops herself in the head. Back in the present, Mae takes off her mask, revealing her head with a large gash in the middle. Nosferatu unfortunately stops before the end point, with a few characters left to go, but given that it was anthology based in nature it doesn't hurt as much as the fate of Saga of the Victims, seen later in this issue. This story features an introductory page that shows Nosferatu and the various characters who have told their stories throughout the series. As always, Zesar's art is lovely to look at.<br />
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<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-0j4yjwqMC7Y/XnvgzvjRv0I/AAAAAAAABq8/iGDhnrsHynk6lVWbP6CGe4XlhT6WFtSlgCLcBGAsYHQ/s1600/scream11-1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1210" data-original-width="907" height="320" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-0j4yjwqMC7Y/XnvgzvjRv0I/AAAAAAAABq8/iGDhnrsHynk6lVWbP6CGe4XlhT6WFtSlgCLcBGAsYHQ/s320/scream11-1.jpg" width="239" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">"I Kill to Live"</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Next is "You Can't Judge a Killer by the Corpse!" by Augustine Funnel (story) and Jose Cardona (art). This story takes place in London in the 19th century. Our protagonist, Paul, heads out to find work for the day only to find the body of his friend on the ground outside. Upset over the authority's inability to find his killer, he decides to investigate himself, but no one will speak to him. Paul eventually finds another body, and is told off by the tenant of a nearby apartment, 14, who says he may find the same happening to him if he's not careful. After speaking with his wife, Jen, he decides to confront the man and they head to see him. Paul quickly slays the man, not even giving him the ability to defend himself. But he soon finds out that its his wife who is the killer, as she has transformed into a werewolf, and kills him! What was a pretty decent story is ruined by a horrendous ending. If Jen was the killer the whole time and was fine with killing her husband, why wait until now?<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">"Who Are they? The Breeders!"</td></tr>
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Third is "Who Are they? The Breeders!" by Ed Fedory (story) and Luis Collado (art). A young woman walks down an alley where she is confronted by something unseen. Her shrunken, disfigured corpse is found by the authorities. The focus then shifts to her husband, who is quite mad that his wife, who had recently lost a lot of weight and become beautiful as a result, is dead. He blames the diet chocolates that she was eating and heads out, trying to find where they were made. He breaks into the drug store she had shopped from and knocks out the store keep, afterwards being able to find out where he ordered them from. He heads to a mansion where inside the old man owner talks to his unseen pets. Our protagonist breaks in and the old man claims to be guardian of the Breeders, which are upstairs. Our protagonist heads upstairs, finding the breeders to be tapeworms, which kill him. As the story ends, the old man plans to send them out via more "diet chocolates". This story seems inspired by an old EC story which essentially had the same premise; a businessman coming to a town with a solution for people to lose weight, but it being revealed that it was due to tapeworms.<br />
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Fourth is an adaption of Edgar Allen Poe's "The Raven" with adaption by Al Hewetson and art by Peter Cappiello. This is an adaption of arguably Poe's most famous tale, and is about a man mourning the death of his beloved Lenore. The titular raven appears, keeps saying the word "nevermore" and he gets upset enough that he ends up killing himself. Some dramatization and dialogue have been added by Hewetson.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-YHfD1zhCD94/Xnvg71V7q5I/AAAAAAAABrE/neqaBeWWggE-KNdj936Ma-XeenzxPhVtACLcBGAsYHQ/s1600/scream11-3.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1210" data-original-width="907" height="320" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-YHfD1zhCD94/Xnvg71V7q5I/AAAAAAAABrE/neqaBeWWggE-KNdj936Ma-XeenzxPhVtACLcBGAsYHQ/s320/scream11-3.jpg" width="239" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">"I Am a Proud Monstrosity"</td></tr>
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We conclude with the fifth story in the "Saga of the Victims" series, "I Am a Proud Monstrosity" by Al Hewetson (story) and Jesus Suso Rego (art). This story begins with some thoughts from an unseen figure in a castle. We then return to our protagonists, Josey and Anne, who are in the hands of an African warlord. They are suddenly sucked through a portal and find themselves in a desert. They are first tormented by a sandstorm, then an attack from a snake, and then the ground collapses beneath them, causing them to fall into boiling water! After escaping from a tentacled being, they make their way to a cave, where Nazi storm troopers, now corpses, walk by. The cave they are in starts getting filled in from above with dirt, but they are able to crawl out of it and back outside. Anne starts shouting out that whoever is tormenting them has lost, but then a voice rings out that they have lost, but can rest easy as their torment is over. A flying craft then arrives, piloted by some monkeys! It brings them back to Manhattan, and Scollard Manse. Revealed to be the castle from the start of the story, it suddenly blasts off as if it was a rocket!<br />
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With the end of Skywald this series unfortunately ends with the final chapter yet to go. That said, the final chapter had been written and at least partially drawn, and would eventually see print years later. I recently had the opportunity to read it. In this final chapter, Josey and Anne meet an alien being that had been responsible for all the experiences they had gone through. The being constantly changes its form, to that of many of the horrors they had experienced throughout the series. It explains that it comes from another universe and was investigating ours, and put the two through all this to test them. The two of them continue to push back as they have throughout the series. The alien then destroys the Earth, grows giant in size, and crushes the two of them in its hands! As the story ends we find that the entire universe that Earth is in has been destroyed, but the other universe that the alien was from remains. Josey and Anne still exist in that universe as some sort of spiritual flotsam. The series ended in quite a bizarre fashion, in tune with the rest of the series. I will say the art for the final chapter is a lot lower of quality than the previous ones had been.<br />
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This is the penultimate issue of Skywald's horror line. With my next entry I'll be covering Psycho #24, Skywald's final issue! The end is just about here!<br />
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Quiddityhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13986124694445522253noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9181661843785521752.post-43515228685307882132020-03-23T15:57:00.003-07:002020-03-23T15:57:41.990-07:00Nightmare #23<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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With this we have hit the final issue of Nightmare, issue 23, and also identified as the 1975 Nightmare Winter Special. It is cover dated February 1975 and has a cover by Vicente Segrelles.<br />
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Gene Day draws the one page frontispiece, advertising the next issue of Psycho.<br />
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Our first story is the latest in the Human Gargoyles series, "The Human Gargoyles vs. the Human Dead" by Al Hewetson (story) and Maelo Cintron (art). This issue also includes a one page summary of the series and a Vicente Segrelles promo cover of a future Gargoyles special which was never published. Edward and Mina are now in their castle, talking about their son Andrew's schooling. Meanwhile, outside, Satan plans his next move. Edward has publicized his battles with Satan, but Satan wants humanity to stop believing in him so they can't reject him. But for now, rather than focus on that, he decides to revive a number of corpses from the dead and send them to attack the castle. Edward makes quick work of them but then he and Mina find their son has been kidnapped. With the end of Skywald coming soon, this would be the last story in the Human Gargoyles series and is mediocre as the rest. In fact it is largely pointless and a retread beyond perhaps some of Satan's scheming which will never come to pass due to the end of the series. The kidnapping of Andrew is something that this series has already done before and seems to be used largely just to give the story a cliffhanger. Once my coverage of individual Skywald issues is over, I'll do a post or two speaking to the company's main series and will offer some final thoughts on this one at that point.<br />
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<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-9AdCQ4SqKlE/Xnk-lSjDtDI/AAAAAAAABqc/B2EuIwSX-oQgNAUl1sv2gL1n_WZrfHk6wCLcBGAsYHQ/s1600/nightmare23-1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1181" data-original-width="834" height="320" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-9AdCQ4SqKlE/Xnk-lSjDtDI/AAAAAAAABqc/B2EuIwSX-oQgNAUl1sv2gL1n_WZrfHk6wCLcBGAsYHQ/s320/nightmare23-1.jpg" width="225" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">"Tradition of the Wolf"</td></tr>
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The second story is "Tradition of the Wolf" by Ed Fedory (story) and Jesus Martin Sauri (art). A blacksmith and his son work in their shop and the father tells him he is going to go out tonight, the night of the full moon, in order to hunt a werewolf. The werewolf indeed appears and slays one of the men in his party. One of the men believes he has found the werewolf and fires, only to realize he shot one of his colleagues, the blacksmith. The father tells his son something behind closed doors, and dies. The son continues his father's work as a blacksmith and heads out to hunt the werewolf on his own. But he is not really hunting him, but in fact has become a werewolf himself! While the story itself is nothing special, Sauri's artwork continues to be quite amazing. That said, probably more so than any other story of his, the numerous swipes he is making from other artists is quite noticeable. In particular the stories "Werewolf by Frank Frazetta in Creepy #1 and "A Most Private Terror" by Esteban Maroto in Creepy #52.<br />
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Third is "Death Walk" with story by Ed Fedory and art by Jose Cardona (credited to Andy Crandon). At the funeral for a young girl, a doctor who is said to have drained her blood is told off. A gnome approaches him, wanting to buy the blood he has drained, but the doctor claims he is a phlebotomist and is doing this to research blood disease. He refuses, and the gnome claims he will still get the blood. That night, the gnome's master, the vampire Baron Korlok arrives at the doctor's home and senses that he has seen him somewhere before. The doctor shows no fear and instead uses a stake rigged up behind a canvas to slay the Baron. The doctor transforms, revealing him to be the king of death, which is why the vampire had recognized him. I was expecting a more ingenious way to slay the vampire (what if he missed?) but at least the end reveal of the doctor's true nature somewhat makes up for it.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-cerZupdLjJQ/Xnk-pAC8-cI/AAAAAAAABqg/jaaNvI_Hj9IoqZ2Aq1nTS7gKfKy7xmW6ACLcBGAsYHQ/s1600/nightmare23-2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1190" data-original-width="866" height="320" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-cerZupdLjJQ/Xnk-pAC8-cI/AAAAAAAABqg/jaaNvI_Hj9IoqZ2Aq1nTS7gKfKy7xmW6ACLcBGAsYHQ/s320/nightmare23-2.jpg" width="232" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">"Death Walk"</td></tr>
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Next is "Time for Living, Time for Dying", a brief text feature by Al Hewetson with a page of art by Gene Day.<br />
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Fourth story is "The Vampire Freaks" by Al Hewetson (story, credited as William Davie) and Paul Pueyo (art, credited as Stan Connerty). A group of freaks, about to be let go by a circus try to determine a new business to form and decide on a cruise ship, the Good Ship Fortune. Suddenly someone is found dead, bitten by a vampire. There is a lot of blame tossed around, in particular at the freaks and a smaller one in particular, Tony, who dies when the boat hits the shore. One of the little kids on board reveals that the victim actually died of a heart attack and was bit by a water rat. The freaks decide to continue their cruise and tell someone to get off their boat, although the final panel is so small we can't tell who. This is a bit of a mess of a story, with some rather weak or confusing art by Pueyo as well. I can't figure out for the life of me how Tony died or why it was a little kid who figured things out.<br />
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Fifth is The "Thing in the Ragged Mountains" by Al Hewetson (story, credited as Ted Freeman) and Amador Garcia (art, credited as Walter Fortiss). A trio of men hunting in the West Virginia mountains come across a Bigfoot-like creature. One of them shoots at it but it has no effect and the Bigfoot kills him. The other two wait in a cave but one of them swears revenge and fires right into the head of the Bigfoot, to no effect. One of the men tries to flee, but trips over a rock and is come upon by the best. It then heads towards the cave where the last one is. It suddenly turns around though. Shots fire out and the last survivor, Ted, finds a rescue party outside. It is the sheriff and some deputies come to arrest him for shooting his colleagues. There is no trace of the creature and his colleagues were killed by bullets. Ted is put into an insane asylum, with this story as his defense, which the writers claim was provided to them. He believes the creature shot the men in order to frame him! While Garcia's art is average at best, I enjoyed this story quite a lot for its uniqueness.<br />
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<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-eDMOFtLeoKc/Xnk-tdCdUpI/AAAAAAAABqk/W3eZP65QBlUIDKGCYFxzYUldtLL1lkbAgCLcBGAsYHQ/s1600/nightmare23-3.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1142" data-original-width="861" height="320" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-eDMOFtLeoKc/Xnk-tdCdUpI/AAAAAAAABqk/W3eZP65QBlUIDKGCYFxzYUldtLL1lkbAgCLcBGAsYHQ/s320/nightmare23-3.jpg" width="241" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">"The Thing in the Ragged Mountains"</td></tr>
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Sixth is "Fistful of Flesh" by Al Hewetson (story, credited as Leslie Jerome) and Folsengo Cabrerizo (art, credited as Denis Ford). A movie shoots a scene featuring a vampire biting a young woman in an old town in Arizona. Later, when shooting a scene about a mob forming to slay the vampire they realize the actor playing the sheriff is dead, slain as if it was by a vampire. A detective has five suspects, those actors who weren't necessary for the day, but the one playing the vampire is the chief suspect. We then cut to a courtroom, where the vampire actor's defense attorney claims his client was on Malibu beach and the stuntman is the real killer. The attorney claims the stuntman is a vampire himself and was worried that he would be found out when he went under the makeup chair. He pulls open the curtains, letting the sunlight in and it kills the stuntman, who really is a vampire. This story is over rather abruptly and surprises me in that there really wasn't a twist at the end.<br />
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We wrap up with "Snakewizard!" by Augustine Funnell (story) and Jose Cardona (art, credited to Andy Crandon). Two men, Murray and Lee, travel through the jungle in search of gold, stealing from an innkeeper along the way. Lee is soon attacked and bitten by a snake, which escapes into the jungle. Soon a native comes out, claiming he can help and sucks out the poison. The native claims the snake was his pet and he is a snake wizard. They demand he lead them to the temple of the snake and he does so, at gunpoint. They are soon brought there and find a tremendous amount of gold. But the snake wizard claims they are trespassers and must be dealt with. He turns into a snake and bites them, causing them to turn into gold. The snake wizard being the snake was incredibly obvious to me from the outset, but kudos to Funnell for adding in the gold element which at least provided slightly more interest to the ending.Quiddityhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13986124694445522253noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9181661843785521752.post-30321010526432307692020-03-21T07:47:00.003-07:002020-03-21T07:47:37.895-07:00Psycho #23<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/--VJhmA475wk/XnYouJORMUI/AAAAAAAABpw/7_QUY58obfo3u7wnen0079ff8yMNodYsQCLcBGAsYHQ/s1600/psycho23.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="924" data-original-width="700" height="320" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/--VJhmA475wk/XnYouJORMUI/AAAAAAAABpw/7_QUY58obfo3u7wnen0079ff8yMNodYsQCLcBGAsYHQ/s320/psycho23.jpg" width="242" /></a>Sebastian Boada provides the cover for this issue of Psycho, cover dated January 1975.<br />
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We start with the frontispiece, "People of the Dark" by Robert E. Howard (story) and Gene Day (art).<br />
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First story is "The Phantom of the Dead: Midnight in Wax" by Al Hewetson (story) and Jesus Martin Sauri (art). This story is hosted by the Vulture, who had just appeared in Nightmare #22 and as such may have originally been intended for the Tomb of Horror magazine. Once again the vulture introduces a new horror character, this time the titular phantom. Charles Ogle has a wax museum with various fiends and monsters including the Phantom of the Opera. On a stormy night, a bat smashes through a window and lightning strikes the museum, bringing the Phantom to life! We find that the Phantom was built with actual joints and other body parts which enables it to move. It goes outside, scaring a couple, who calls the police. It doesn't respond to the police when they come, but instead goes to a graveyard. When the sun comes up it starts melting, but heads back towards the museum and is found by Ogle. Ogle rebuilds the Phantom, claiming he'll construct it even better this time, and use a human brain! An average story, but Sauri's artwork continues to be very strong.<br />
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<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-hKwjNrnHvjU/XnYoyOIXIpI/AAAAAAAABp0/HaYeHIxVRCYzHSCcOH2er0eVCApj3T7hACLcBGAsYHQ/s1600/psycho23-1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1169" data-original-width="888" height="320" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-hKwjNrnHvjU/XnYoyOIXIpI/AAAAAAAABp0/HaYeHIxVRCYzHSCcOH2er0eVCApj3T7hACLcBGAsYHQ/s320/psycho23-1.jpg" width="243" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">"Midnight in Wax!"</td></tr>
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Second story is "The Curse of the Snake Goddess" by Al Hewetson (story) and Jose Cardona (art). An archaeological dig takes place in Egypt, finding a four thousand year old tomb. Those who have dug it up take their treasures from it, but several suffer mysterious deaths. The finds of the expedition eventually make their way back to America. While the archaeologists work on translating things, a young woman, one of the assistants, finds a snake necklace that she hopes to sell and make a lot of money off of. She ties a rope and starts making her way out the window, but the necklace turns into a snake and kills her, revealing itself to be the source of the deaths. This story was a bit simpler in nature than I expected it to be. Early in the story we have a rather odd segment where a character drives while drinking beer, something quite idiotic, although it is never touched upon again later in the story.<br />
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Third is "A Garden of Hellish Delight" by Al Hewetson (story) and Cesar Lopez (art). Earnest is a gardener who is in love with the wealthy heiress Angela. Her father refuses to let them be married however. Earnest cries and his tears cause his plants to grow and kill Angela's father during the night. He and Angela are soon married. Now wealthy, Earnest doesn't need a job but spends all his time on the garden. Many years go by. Earnest and Angela are now old and she has grown bitter over him paying all his attention to his garden rather than her. When she demands a divorce, Earnest cries again, and his tears once again cause his plants to come to life and kill her. He uses her body as fertilizer and spreads this garden throughout their mansion. At the end of the story we see his now dead boy, also being used as fertilizer for the plants.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-0awW9Ux3T-8/XnYo1_kKSQI/AAAAAAAABp4/dTcVChDpA2QHZ-4P_cqkdLbE-bCB8XsqQCLcBGAsYHQ/s1600/psycho23-2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1127" data-original-width="852" height="320" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-0awW9Ux3T-8/XnYo1_kKSQI/AAAAAAAABp4/dTcVChDpA2QHZ-4P_cqkdLbE-bCB8XsqQCLcBGAsYHQ/s320/psycho23-2.jpg" width="241" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">"The Werevampirewolf"</td></tr>
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Fourth is "The Werevampirewolf" by Al Hewetson (story) and Jose Cardona (art). This story is quite the oddity in that it features text only at the start and end of the story. Otherwise every panel has no captions or dialogue. It shows a tale of a vampire and werewolves from 19th century Germany. It includes a vampire being set loose, a mob of werewolves and the vampire becoming some sort of werevampire at the end of the story, despite having been staked in the heart.<br />
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Fifth is an Edgar Allen Poe adaption, "The Man of the Crowd" with adaption by Al Hewetson and art by Ferran Sostres. Our protagonist on an autumn day sees a rather disheveled looking man wandering around. He decides to follow him, thinking he is a pick pocket, then a thief, then a murderer, but he does no such things. He decides to confront the man, but the man doesn't react to him, leaving our protagonist to wonder if he's a ghost, mad or imbecile. Not much of a plot to this Poe story, which I recall being a bit happier with when it was adapted by Warren. At a mere 5 pages it goes by pretty quick, but Sostres provides a usual strong art job.<br />
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Sixth is "The 300th Birth Day Party!" by Al Hewetson (story) and Ramon Torrents (art). This is a reprint of a story that originally appeared in Nightmare #9. Odd to see a single reprint story in an issue that is otherwise all new, although I always enjoy seeing work from Torrents. Cecille is married to the ugly and scarred, yet rich Walter, and is carrying on an affair with her doctor. When Cecille discovers she has cancer, the only option is to freeze her body, until a time in the future when a cure is found. Cecille willingly goes through with it, hoping that when she awakens she'll have her husband's money, but he'll be long dead. She wakes up 3 centuries later, but finds to her horror that due to advantages in medicine, Walter is still alive!<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-VRX7QptLdYI/XnYo5Qtu_mI/AAAAAAAABp8/lNy44W9C5bQ4C8nEm-oYp4iHJTIO9DhDgCLcBGAsYHQ/s1600/psycho23-3.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1103" data-original-width="809" height="320" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-VRX7QptLdYI/XnYo5Qtu_mI/AAAAAAAABp8/lNy44W9C5bQ4C8nEm-oYp4iHJTIO9DhDgCLcBGAsYHQ/s320/psycho23-3.jpg" width="234" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">"The Man of the Crowd"</td></tr>
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Seventh is the second chapter in the "Mummy Khafre" series, "The Murderess" by Al Hewetson (story) and Cesar Lopez (art). Khafre decides to flee, jumping into the wagon of a traveling salesman. She takes off her bandages, realizing that only her head remains preserved and the rest of her body is mummified. The salesman spots her and she slays him. Despite the state of her body, she is able to move around and breathe normally and puts on a dress to make herself look normal. Khafre returns to Egypt and finds her tomb. She finds a series of Ushabtiu, small curios which she is able to bring to life to act as her slaves. They lead her to Neferches' tomb where she destroys his mummy. She is found soon after and while she struggles, is taken captive, forced to remain bound. As the story ends she summons the Ushabtiu to set her free. A decent continuation of this series, although with the end of Skywald nearly here we probably won't see much more of it.s<br />
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The issue concludes with a one page Zombie Pin-up by Gene Day.Quiddityhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13986124694445522253noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9181661843785521752.post-41615597370329046352020-03-19T06:05:00.003-07:002020-03-19T06:05:53.983-07:00Nightmare #22<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-KWDZlFz0EQs/XnNtusQnz6I/AAAAAAAABpI/5JTEC8ajj58X_6NvrqpFoc8ZYrrd-RICQCLcBGAsYHQ/s1600/nightmare22.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="928" data-original-width="708" height="320" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-KWDZlFz0EQs/XnNtusQnz6I/AAAAAAAABpI/5JTEC8ajj58X_6NvrqpFoc8ZYrrd-RICQCLcBGAsYHQ/s320/nightmare22.jpg" width="244" /></a></div>
This issue of Nightmare has a cover by Salvador Fabia and carries a date of December 1974. It features a werewolf bursting through panels from several old Skylwald stories.<br />
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This issue's contents consist of what was supposed to be the first issue of The Tomb of Horror, which would have been Skywald's fourth horror magazine. Its theme was to have a host for each story, often the artist or writer for that story. Alas, that magazine never came to see the light of day and was included as part of this issue of Nightmare instead. The inside front cover features drawings of many Skywald contributors by Maelo Cintron.<br />
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We start with a "Tomb of Horror Introduction" by Al Hewetson (story) and Domingo Gomez (art). This two page feature is introduced by Gomez, who also stars in it, as he shows us various monsters such as Dracula, Phantom of the Opera, Frankenstein's monster and others.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-V5HHMEMS6Kw/XnNt0DPFx5I/AAAAAAAABpM/fkJOhSvBA7oyZdDpvKUZcg9ibhQE2yegACLcBGAsYHQ/s1600/nightmare22-4.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1210" data-original-width="907" height="320" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-V5HHMEMS6Kw/XnNt0DPFx5I/AAAAAAAABpM/fkJOhSvBA7oyZdDpvKUZcg9ibhQE2yegACLcBGAsYHQ/s320/nightmare22-4.jpg" width="239" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">"Mercy, Mercy, Cries the Monster"</td></tr>
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First story is "The Tales of the Vulture: The Bat - Mercy, Mercy Cries the Monster" by Al Hewetson (story) and Jesus Martin Sauri (art). A vulture hosts this story, claiming he will use his feature as an opportunity to introduce various new characters that the reader has the ability to request more stories of. Brock Stans is a professor and archaeologist from Manhattan, yet while in the jungles of Central America he is attacked by a swarm of vampire bats. He makes it back to Manhattan, but finds himself transforming into some sort of man-bat. After attacking and killing a woman he justifies it to himself thinking he is somebody now, having been a meek cripple before his transformation. Traveling to a graveyard he comes across a man who believes himself to be a vampire and they argue, with Brock trying to convince him he is not really one, but a dull nobody. The cops come upon him and the "vampire" claims he was being attacked, leading to Brock being arrested as he turns back to human. As the story ends we see him returned to his man-bat form, but locked in a padded cell, hoping to get out. Sauri's art continues to be quite the highlight, and this story comes off in part as a more macabre take on Batman.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-fWR8MDbxzBs/XnNt3thDczI/AAAAAAAABpQ/66GXMILNiJIktFQLUijogVGEa7XLLfrJwCLcBGAsYHQ/s1600/nightmare22-2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1512" data-original-width="1174" height="320" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-fWR8MDbxzBs/XnNt3thDczI/AAAAAAAABpQ/66GXMILNiJIktFQLUijogVGEa7XLLfrJwCLcBGAsYHQ/s320/nightmare22-2.jpg" width="248" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">"When I Was a Boy I Watched the Blood-Wolves"</td></tr>
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Second is "When I Was a Boy I Watched the Blood-Wolves!" by Augustine Funnel (story) and Jose Cardona (art). The story is hosted by Funnell. Our protagonist is a boy who hates all other humans and instead finds friendship with wolves, who share some of their food with him. When his parents punish him without dinner he doesn't care. Eventually he grows up and becomes a killer, slaying a couple and getting arrested. The two officers holding him talk of how he considers himself a werewolf. However we soon find out that one of the officers is a werewolf instead, slaying his partner and freeing our protagonist. After all, they are like family. Some pretty good art by Cardona here and the way the story ends I could see a sequel.<br />
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Third is "Kill, Kill, Kill, and Kill Again" by Al Hewetson (story) and Ferran Sostres (art). This story is hosted by Ferran Sostres. Satan orders his archangels to cause havoc. We focus on one in particular, Simon Ingels who causes a man to murder his wife then promptly departs him to decry what he has done. We see Ingels cause various other horrible situations such as a cop striking a hippie, a milkman breaking into a house and other assorted things. We then learn of Ingels' life and how he was practically perfect. Heaven rejected him for being inhuman (due to being so perfect) so he became a servant of Satan and continues to cause havoc as the story ends. This was a very different type of story for Skywald, lacking a more traditional narrative but rather focusing on Ingels in his role as minion of Satan and the things he is causing to happen. Some well done art by Sostres as is typical for him. Also a great title!<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-F_A2glweFuo/XnNt7h7D-VI/AAAAAAAABpU/tOPUZCTPJxoEq8tZYaAyf2_pS9nj8-6CQCLcBGAsYHQ/s1600/nightmare22-5.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1184" data-original-width="858" height="320" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-F_A2glweFuo/XnNt7h7D-VI/AAAAAAAABpU/tOPUZCTPJxoEq8tZYaAyf2_pS9nj8-6CQCLcBGAsYHQ/s320/nightmare22-5.jpg" width="231" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">"Kill, Kill, Kill and Kill Again"</td></tr>
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Fourth is "The War of the Hell-Damned" by Al Hewetson (story) and Jesus Duran (art). This story is hosted by Jesus Duran. Professor Peter Cushman tells his students the tale of a skeleton that he owns. As a young man he was part of an occult group that would spend time in caves and search for monsters such as vampires. Spotting some tracks in the cave they go to see the local professor (also Peter's father), who doesn't believe in vampires or werewolves, offering up real life explanations for what they were inspired by. Peter and his friends later return to the cave where the professor is waiting, claiming he believes one of them, Rolf, to be a werewolf. Rolf confirms his suspicions and turns into a werewolf, but claims the professor to be a vampire! He pulls out a stake and mallet and tries to kill the professor, but Peter jumps him, revealing himself to be a vampire too and slays Rolf. The professor dies of his injuries though, and Peter carries on with his father's legacy. As we return to the present, he explains that he is a vampire, and he had killed all his fellow students that night. Duran's art here is quite strong (the page with Rolf the werewolf trying to stake the vampire professor is in particular a great one). Modern day Peter is modeled off of actor Peter Cushing (and obviously his name is based on him too).<br />
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<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-2kAR78HkGgA/XnNuAI-HHUI/AAAAAAAABpc/1dnNYko3FxURDQCTgMyuSlBzDxcQZRsqgCLcBGAsYHQ/s1600/nightmare22-3.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1548" data-original-width="1158" height="320" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-2kAR78HkGgA/XnNuAI-HHUI/AAAAAAAABpc/1dnNYko3FxURDQCTgMyuSlBzDxcQZRsqgCLcBGAsYHQ/s320/nightmare22-3.jpg" width="239" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">"The War of the Hell-Damned"</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Fifth is "The Cox-sackie-Axe Murder" by Ed Fedory (story) and John Agras (art). Ed Fedory hosts this story. Our story initially focuses on two lovers, however the woman's father, Silas Lowell does not want them together. Once the two of them depart, Silas has the man seized and slays him with an ax, but not before he proclaims a curse on Lowell and all that shall follow him. He rises from the grave as a monster, slaying Lowell. Lowell's daughter, Patience, hangs herself in grief. Years go by and every Lowell male dies before his 30th birthday. We turn to the present and focus on Ned Lowell, who is about to turn 30. The monster comes to slay him but upon hearing the name of Ned's daughter, Patience, thinks back to his lover, goes to her grave and dissolves. A pretty good story by Fedory, although some only so-so fart by Agras. Also the failure to name our protagonist is frustrating.<br />
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Sixth is "The Mummy Khafre: The Funeral" by Al Hewetson (story) and Cesar Lopez (art). This story is hosted by Al Hewetson. The titular Khafre is wife of the Pharoah Nefercheres, but her madness and mistreatment of her subjects causes her to be put ot death. She is mummified alive! We then head to the modern day where professor Peter Flinders and his assistant Tom find her tomb. Tom hopes to bring the still living Khafre to T.P. Barnum's circus and slays Peter in order to do so. He smuggles her out of Egypt, keeping her handcuffed and eventually finds Barnum, who doesn't buy her outright but pays him to stay with the circus using her as one of the attractions. Khafre is able to convince Tom that he is the reincarnation of Nefercheres and has him unwrap her head, revealing her to be as beautiful as she was when she was mummified. She then reveals her deception, strangles him and leaves. It looks like this will be the start of a new series starring Khafre.Quiddityhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13986124694445522253noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9181661843785521752.post-82773562846557092982020-03-17T11:05:00.000-07:002020-03-17T11:05:03.142-07:00Psycho #22<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-LJfP3eDuK6E/XnEQ6yb41mI/AAAAAAAABoo/EzPyUoGQ1HIczFo4WSozvy3WmnmuyIfEQCLcBGAsYHQ/s1600/psycho22.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="929" data-original-width="704" height="320" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-LJfP3eDuK6E/XnEQ6yb41mI/AAAAAAAABoo/EzPyUoGQ1HIczFo4WSozvy3WmnmuyIfEQCLcBGAsYHQ/s320/psycho22.jpg" width="242" /></a>Prieto Muriana provides the cover for this issue of Psycho, cover dated November 1974. This issue is all reprints with the exception of the first story.<br />
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Our sole new story for this issue is "Die, Frankenstein's Monster!", a continuation of the new Frankenstein series recently started up in Scream. It is written by Al Hewetson and has art by Cesar Lopez. The monster begins the story with the origins of the term Prometheus, which was used for the subtitle of Mary Shelly's original novel of Frankenstein "The Modern Prometheus". Frankenstein's monster travels through the mountains of Romania, finding an injured goat and bringing it to a cave, where he finds two coffins. He opens one and finds a man inside, Dracula, who immediately attacks him. The monster eventually knocks Dracula out only to be bitten in the neck by his female companion, who finds his blood muccused and disgusting. Dracula and Frankenstein tell each other their stories. Dracula's companion, Leah, comes up with a name for the monster, Damon, and the two kiss. When Dracula heads out in bat form to find some food, Leah reveals to Damon that the story Dracula told him of his origins, about him being a force for good is all lies, and that the power of vampirism is given by Satan. Dracula returns. He and Damon argue, and Dracula puts Leah under a trance, but finds that with the sun coming out, he must rest. He tells Damon to take Leah and go. Upon carrying Leah outside, Damon finds that her body immediately decomposes due to exposure to the sun. The shadow of Damon holding Leah's body forms a cross, which also kills Dracula. This was a fairly good story, with some decent art as well. A good thing we got some quality with our only new story of the issue.<br />
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<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-fsEI-yPUuRM/XnEQ-2c7XGI/AAAAAAAABos/pBDDCk6Za8gMxPNDdvPKA7XowX8ejz26QCLcBGAsYHQ/s1600/psycho22-1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1572" data-original-width="1134" height="320" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-fsEI-yPUuRM/XnEQ-2c7XGI/AAAAAAAABos/pBDDCk6Za8gMxPNDdvPKA7XowX8ejz26QCLcBGAsYHQ/s320/psycho22-1.jpg" width="230" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">"Die, Frankenstein's Monster!"</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Next is "Revolution" by Rick Margopoulos (story) and Tom Sutton/Dan Adkins (art), originally published in Psycho #2. On the Planet Sade slaves are constantly forced to fight in "games", battles in a coliseum against giant monsters. The King upon hearing of a possible rebellion instead desires more slaves to fight in more games to quell the populace. So the games become more and more severe, leading to a revolt by the citizenry, who also release all the monsters. The King and his men are forced to flee the planet on a spaceship, landing on another one where carnivorous plants soon attack them. The men flee towards what appears to be a city sitting atop a lake. The king tosses away all his underlings and his own daughter to save his own hide, only to realize that the lake itself is a blob-like entity that consumes him. Adkins' work is barely noticeable on this story, making it look like a Sutton solo story.<br />
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Third is "The Vow!" by Pat Boyette (story & art), originally published in Psycho #6. An aristocrat named Aaron becomes a single father when his wife dies from the plague. The plague ravishing the countryside and the aristocrats being slayed by the common folk, he flees, eventually finding work as an overseer of the disposal of the bodies of those who died from the plague. Aaron soon realizes with horror that his daughter Cassandra thinks dead bodies are real and her friends! Time passes, and Cassandra starts a relationship with a local ruffian named Andrew who is rumored to be the paramour of the Empress. Aaron is scared of what will happen if she finds out about the affair, but Cassandra says she'd rather die than be without him. Aaron comes to a good solution; he rats out Andre to the Emperor, who has Andrew killed, then due to his job collects his body and provides Cassandra his body! Its always a joy to read a Pat Boyette horror story.<br />
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<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Om1mV-jq6IE/XnERDttSIwI/AAAAAAAABow/YFZa5ytadhMmS6YNoSiRXf6JDrsKZ_bmQCLcBGAsYHQ/s1600/psycho22-2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1582" data-original-width="1180" height="320" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Om1mV-jq6IE/XnERDttSIwI/AAAAAAAABow/YFZa5ytadhMmS6YNoSiRXf6JDrsKZ_bmQCLcBGAsYHQ/s320/psycho22-2.jpg" width="238" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">"The Vow"</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Next is "Birth Announcement" by Al Hewetson (story) and Ramon Torrents (art), originally printed in the Psycho 1972 Annual. In this brief four page story, a man is anxious as his wife is about to give birth. He thinks of how he met his wife when he saw her swimming in the coast of Cape Cod. His wife is soon revealed to be a mermaid, and she has given birth to a large number of eggs which they bring home with them, waiting for them to hatch. A rather predictable ending to this story, but Torrents' art is excellent as usual. The story is said to take place in the town of Winchester by Cape Cod, but as someone who lives in Massachusetts, I can say the town of Winchester is actually nowhere close to Cape Cod.<br />
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Next is "Phantom of the Rock Era" by Chuck McNaughton (story) and Ralph Reese (art), originally published in Nightmare #4. A young woman, Lala, sees Roddy Skeane, a guitarist and singer perform at a club and decides to hook her ride to his, thinking he will eventually become famous. Lala is rather disgusted by his ugly face, but is convinced he will become famous and loves the lavish lifestyle she is hoping to get for them. Eventually Roddy reveals the rest of his band to Lala, and she finds out they all had died in a witchcraft ceremony and have been resurrected from the dead! Roddy wants her to join them permanently and sacrifices her so she can come back from the dead like them. I wasn't the biggest fan of this story, but Reese does a great job with the art.<br />
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Sixth is "The Midnight Slasher" by Doug Moench (story) and Pablo Marcos (art), originally published in Psycho #6. A killer known as the Midnight Slasher haunts the streets, stabbing to death any innocent bystander that comes upon him. A maid, Miss Watts, tends to a young woman she serves, only for her to be the next victim! Watts talks to the local constable, who has raised suspicion for himself due to how quickly he makes it to the murder scenes. He comes across Miss Watts later that night by a bell tower, where Watts is revealed to by the slasher, only for her to be crushed by the bell! This story packs a double twist in the end, with it not being enough for Watts to be revealed as the Slasher (which was pretty predictable anyway).<br />
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<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-zs29R7lvR4Q/XnERPVVmucI/AAAAAAAABo4/Sg4d2_CIUZk4hmv8vysMLV4QfgkfWQPDQCLcBGAsYHQ/s1600/psycho22-3.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1524" data-original-width="1134" height="320" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-zs29R7lvR4Q/XnERPVVmucI/AAAAAAAABo4/Sg4d2_CIUZk4hmv8vysMLV4QfgkfWQPDQCLcBGAsYHQ/s320/psycho22-3.jpg" width="238" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">"Within the Torture Chamber"</td></tr>
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Seventh is "Within the Torture Chamber" by Kevin Pagan (story) and Doug Wildey (art), originally published in Nightmare #5. Wildey does a good job here, providing artwork that reminds me of Angelo Torres. The story takes place in Spain in the 16th century, where a woman is executed by torture, after having had her tongue torn out. The judge and executioners leave only for a noble, Don Alexander to come down, and speak to her body, revealing he falsely had her accused because she spurned him, resulting in her execution. The judge, who had heard it all fights Alexander but is slain by his sword. Alexander flees, but goes back for his sword, not wanting evidence left behind. He starts getting quite nervous however, and the judge rises, tearing out his tongue and chaining him to the wall. The ending to this story was somewhat confusing (I have included my interpretation here).<br />
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Last is "Vault of a Vampire", featuring Al Hewetson for the story and Serg Moren for the art. This story was originally published in Nightmare #3 and was actually Hewetson's first story for Skywald. A vampire stalks ancient Rome, attacking someone in the Arena, and having previously appeared at other crowded events. A trio of men seek to destroy the vampire. During its latest attack, they follow the vampire to the graveyard and the crypt where it makes its home. They wait outside the blocked entrance, thinking they can wait out the vampire. A couple of weeks pass and they break in, finding that the vampire has started devouring its own flesh. They then kill it with swords. I question Hewetson's knowledge of vampires in this story, it should be seeking to drink blood, not consume flesh...<br />
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Gene day provides a one page pin up feature on the back cover.Quiddityhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13986124694445522253noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9181661843785521752.post-22316221199483728862020-03-15T11:30:00.003-07:002020-03-15T11:30:54.098-07:00Scream #10<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-jRVR5E7ODeY/Xm50FUQoFRI/AAAAAAAABoE/im9NEPSNwMEN_MgTFNK_QutZ0SAoC9ttwCLcBGAsYHQ/s1600/scream10.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="849" data-original-width="642" height="320" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-jRVR5E7ODeY/Xm50FUQoFRI/AAAAAAAABoE/im9NEPSNwMEN_MgTFNK_QutZ0SAoC9ttwCLcBGAsYHQ/s320/scream10.jpg" width="241" /></a></div>
Sebastian Boada provides the cover for this issue of Scream, cover dated October 1974. Oddly enough this issue of Scream skips both of its recurring series, "Nosferatu" and "Saga of the Victims" (despite mentioning Nosferatu on the cover). It makes me wonder if the content for this issue was originally meant for the recent nearly all reprint issue of Nightmare.<br />
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We start with the one page frontispiece, "The Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym of Nantucket" preview by Cesar Lopez (art). This is a preview of an upcoming adaption of the Edgar Allen Poe novel, although Skywald folded before it saw print.<br />
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First story is "My Flesh Crawls" by Al Hewetson (story) and Jesus Martin Sauri (art). The town of Kolosk is plagued by monsters. The townsfolk fear both a vampire and werewolf, and a young barmaid rushing home at night is killed by the vampire. An angry mob forms, believing the inhabitant of the local castle, Wilhelm Volusk to be involved. As they come upon him, Wilhelm, who really is a vampire, flees from the castle, but comes upon the werewolf in the street, Anton, who hopes that by killing him, attention on him will die down. While in his werewolf form, Anton slays Wilhelm, then turns back into his human form. His belief that the attention will die down is mistaken though, the other townsfolk still want to slay the werewolf and are able to figure out Anton is it since he was on his own, and couldn't have slayed Wilhelm so easily with a weak sword. This story ends quite abruptly, as if a page was missing. Sauri's art at times is quite strong, as I have mentioned before, very similar in nature to Esteban Maroto's style, and I think at times swiping from him. As we hit the end of the story the art quality goes down quite a bit though.<br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-OTYVDP8zkwk/Xm50IikFhqI/AAAAAAAABoI/wdNa4mqroHQVmBRFBjOVANQLxjE4FokEACLcBGAsYHQ/s1600/scream10-1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1160" height="320" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-OTYVDP8zkwk/Xm50IikFhqI/AAAAAAAABoI/wdNa4mqroHQVmBRFBjOVANQLxjE4FokEACLcBGAsYHQ/s320/scream10-1.jpg" width="231" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">"My Flesh Crawls"</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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Second is "A Fragment in the Life of Dracula: Creatures in the Night" by Al Hewetson (story) and Jose Cardona (art). This story tells of Dracula's childhood, as prince of Wallachia. His father shows him the various ways to torture criminals, such as the rack and iron maiden, and eventually a giant pit. He brings a thief before him who makes excuses and is thrown into it where lizard-like creatures kill him. Another criminal, a poacher, admits to his crime of killing a deer and is set free. Dracula's father shows him a dwarf in a cell who is thought to be a werewolf and explains that one can become a vampire by drinking werewolf's blood. That night, the werewolf breaks free, killing Dracula's mother then battles his father, mortally wounding both of them. Dracula's father refuses to drink the blood of the werewolf, which will save his life, and dies. Yet Dracula decides to drink it, making him the famous vampire we know of. A rather unique take on the origin of Dracula. Some good art as usual by Cardona here although I did catch a very obvious Angelo Torres swipe from one of his earlier Warren stories.<br />
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<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-ApbH9u4MBDc/Xm50MWWQsLI/AAAAAAAABoM/zdfj8MOtyyApweV0Pp_Bo52-hKlGAGldACLcBGAsYHQ/s1600/scream10-2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1213" height="320" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-ApbH9u4MBDc/Xm50MWWQsLI/AAAAAAAABoM/zdfj8MOtyyApweV0Pp_Bo52-hKlGAGldACLcBGAsYHQ/s320/scream10-2.jpg" width="242" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">"The Murders in the Rue Morgue"</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Third is "The Murders in the Rue Morgue", an Edgar Allen Poe adaption by Al Hewetson, with art by Cesar Lopez. The investigator Auguste Dupin is called upon for a strange case where a woman and her daughter are found killed in their trashed room. The daughter is found stuffed in the chimney while the mother's head falls off once her body is taken a hold of. Yet oddly enough there are no valuables taken from the room and the only way the killer could have gotten out was through the window, several stories high. Through the investigation Dupin figures out that the killer is an orangutan, brought to the town in secret by a man who was hoping to sell it. The orangutan became interested in the man shaving and started playing with a razor. Fleeing from the man, it went into the victim's room, trying to shave the mother only to nearly cut her head off instead, and killed the daughter when she screamed before fleeing out the window. The orangutan is soon brought to captivity. This is a fairly good adaption of this rather lesser known, but ingenious Poe tale.<br />
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Fourth is "The Stranger is the Vampire" by Al Hewetson (story) and Paul Pueyo (art). A vampire has plagued the town of Coretta, Spain. The mayor gets together a group of vigilantes to slay the vampire, believing it to be a stranger who has recently appeared in town. The group decides to watch the stranger with everything he does, wanting to catch him in the act so they don't kill an innocent man. A barmaid is killed, as is the man who was watching the stranger, so they head to where he is staying, wanting to drag him out into the sunlight as evidence he is a vampire. As they drag him out, they find the real vampire, in the act of killing his victim. They are able to kill the vampire, finding him to be an old man they suspected at first, but thought to be dead. We then find out that the stranger, who was left on his own once the vampire appeared, really is a vampire himself! A pretty good ending to this story, although I can't help but have some disappointment at it being so similar in nature to "My Flesh Crawls". Also Pueyo's art is rather mediocre compared to the strong art jobs around it.<br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-ND_BJM1AZZ0/Xm50PoecQwI/AAAAAAAABoQ/JYM8-KpTHHolIqxeAUg33jsf2jrGNpJ6ACLcBGAsYHQ/s1600/scream10-3.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1235" height="320" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-ND_BJM1AZZ0/Xm50PoecQwI/AAAAAAAABoQ/JYM8-KpTHHolIqxeAUg33jsf2jrGNpJ6ACLcBGAsYHQ/s320/scream10-3.jpg" width="246" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">"In His Master's Blood"</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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We conclude with a return to the Tales Out of Hell series with "In His Master's Blood" by Al Hewetson (story) and Jesus Duran (art). The young boy, Walter Thurber, under hypnosis tells of the past lives he has had, this time speaking of how he was the son of Rasputin, Myshkin. He speaks of how Rasputin was actually a vampire, and one night reveals this to him, beating him while in bat form. Myshkin grows to adult age, neither he nor his father having revealed he was Rasputin's son and plots to kill him with an ax. He fails to kill his father, but later receives aid from a Prince Felix. Rasputin is fed poison and then shot, but neither kills him. He is then bound and thrown into the icy water. Myshkin is pursued by vampire bats right after though and becomes a vampire himself. Wondering if his father is still alive, Myshkin jumps into the icy water and finds that his father is indeed dead. But he has trouble making it up to the surface and hours later when he does, is mistaken for Rasputin and slain. As the story ends, we are previewed the next past life that Walter will speak of, that of the Marquis de Sade. While I didn't care for the first story in this series, this one was pretty strong. The tale of Rasputin has always been an interesting one, and him being a vampire is a good fictional explanation for why he was so hard to kill. While I think this series had a lot of potential to get into a lot more real life, historical "monsters", this would be the final story due to the eminent end of the Skywald line.<br />
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Quiddityhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13986124694445522253noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9181661843785521752.post-70009265746828460782020-03-13T17:22:00.000-07:002020-03-13T17:22:06.570-07:00Psycho #21<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-FQYcyQGkk54/XmwjX-sMYZI/AAAAAAAABnk/KEnRxyG0Kb8pNvitwHRGmoTD63PI5tcNwCLcBGAsYHQ/s1600/psycho21.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="613" data-original-width="475" height="320" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-FQYcyQGkk54/XmwjX-sMYZI/AAAAAAAABnk/KEnRxyG0Kb8pNvitwHRGmoTD63PI5tcNwCLcBGAsYHQ/s320/psycho21.jpg" width="247" /></a>Prieto Muriana provides the cover for this issue of Psycho, cover dated October 1974.<br />
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We start with the cover story, "The Fiend of Changsha" by Al Hewetson (story) and Sanho Kim (art). Dracula makes his way across the South China sea, having turned into a bat and boarded a cargo vessel. Once it hits land he heads to the Town of Changsha, a stop gap as he plans on visiting Fu Manchu (with an editor's note to expect it in a future story). While talking to himself in a graveyard, a grave robber comes upon him, whom he bites the neck of so as to turn him into his slave. The grave robber, Chan Hai, returns to his colleagues, a group of thieves, and goes to sleep. Suddenly some soldiers arrive and take out much of the thieves, but Chan Hai attacks them and realizes that even being struck by a sword can't kill him as he's now a vampire. After taking out the soldiers, Chan Hai's remaining colleagues want to make him leader, but he is reluctant to have followers. He plays around with the sword still in his chest and ends up killing himself by mistake. A rather odd ending to this story, I'm not entirely sure what Hewetson was getting at (was the sword supposed to be a stake that only damaged him once it hit his heart?). As the story ends we are asked the question on if we should really let Chan Hai live or die. I guess we'll see the result of the reader's request if we ever see another story featuring him.<br />
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<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-yh79q2OkBRo/XmwjbGNFCFI/AAAAAAAABno/i0AWgx5hZ3Ugs--kyAa7d18zqFNpXtV5gCLcBGAsYHQ/s1600/psycho21-1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1592" data-original-width="1176" height="320" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-yh79q2OkBRo/XmwjbGNFCFI/AAAAAAAABno/i0AWgx5hZ3Ugs--kyAa7d18zqFNpXtV5gCLcBGAsYHQ/s320/psycho21-1.jpg" width="236" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">"The Facts in the Case of M. Valdemar"</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Next is an Edgar Allen Poe adaption, "The Facts in the Case of M. Valdemar", with adaption by Al Hewetson and art by Jose Cardona. Our protagonist is invited by author M. Valdemar to hypnotize him. Valdemar is on death's door, but is hypnotized just before he dies, which causes him to still be able to speak, while claiming to be asleep. Our protagonist is advised by the doctor to try and not wake him or Valdemar will die. Seven months pass and Valdemar remains as is, but wishes to die for good. He is released from the transfer and his body completely rots away immediately. This is just a so-so story with not much of a plot (as the protagonist says, it is really just a telling of the facts of the situation). I do recall it being used very effectively as a spring board for an old EC comics story.<br />
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Next is "The Gloomb Bomb" by Jack Katz (story and art). Inhabitants of a ship, who are all related to each other, are traveling across the galaxy find an available planet which they investigate. Three of the crew members, Nordak, Corma and Dovery head down but Corma is injured by reptilian monsters. After bringing her back, Nordak disobeys orders, heading to another planet to save a young woman in danger of being enslaved. He decides to stay there, taking the woman as his wife and having a child. Back on the ship it is revealed that they have been searching for an inhabitable planet untouched by cosmic rays, which accelerates the aging process. Nordak has stayed too long on the planet he found for the cosmic ray's effects to be reversible. Other leaders of the tribe seek to kill Nordak but fail, and he becomes leader, changing his name to Noah. His family members come to visit him, revealing his condition and that there will be an oncoming flood. We then find that Nordak has landed on Earth and is the biblical Noah. This story by Katz is a bit of an outlier, being a sci-fi story originally intended for a Skywald all sci-fi magazine and written/drawn years before. It is a bit too long for me and I haven't particularly cared for Skywald's sci-fi stories.<br />
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<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Sh4x1F8iwas/Xmwjh__EoVI/AAAAAAAABns/AiMveloSjecTMhWvC04dZz8xTneYeDE4wCLcBGAsYHQ/s1600/psycho21-2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1166" height="320" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Sh4x1F8iwas/Xmwjh__EoVI/AAAAAAAABns/AiMveloSjecTMhWvC04dZz8xTneYeDE4wCLcBGAsYHQ/s320/psycho21-2.jpg" width="233" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">"The Ghost of the Corpse"</td></tr>
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Fourth is "The Ghost of the Corpse" by Al Hewetson (story) and Luis Collado (art). Jerrick is a police photographer who on a day off, happens to see a car accident where the driver is killed. Jerrick takes a photo of the driver, seeing some sort of spirit over it, thinking he's taken a photo of a ghost. Jerrick becomes obsessed with taking more such photos of ghosts and comes to realize that it only happens when he takes the photo of a criminal who has died. He is able to get himself on a drug raid where he convinces a suspect to flee, who gets gunned down, enabling him to take his picture. His boss finds out what has happened and upon telling Jerrick that he's in big trouble, Jerrick flees, and gets into a car accident, dying himself. As the story ends we see the spectral form of Satan 's messenger, come to collect the soul of one going to hell. This was what Jerrick had been capturing through his photos the entire time. This is a fairly good story; Collado's art varies in quality, with some really detailed panels in some places, and much less so in others. A style I've been used to seeing from him in several past stories.<br />
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<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Ds5xV9rcxw8/XmwjoXMmXwI/AAAAAAAABn0/a1NGWKGBuE4clkNkKfJcfbTRpqjTW2rKACLcBGAsYHQ/s1600/psycho21-3.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1592" data-original-width="1198" height="320" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Ds5xV9rcxw8/XmwjoXMmXwI/AAAAAAAABn0/a1NGWKGBuE4clkNkKfJcfbTRpqjTW2rKACLcBGAsYHQ/s320/psycho21-3.jpg" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">"Maxwell's Blood Hammer"</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Fifth is " Maxwell's Blood Hammer" by Al Hewetson (story) and Jose Cardona (art, credited to Joe Dentyn). A puppeteer named Anne shows her violent puppet show, starring Max and Maxine, to late night show host Hendershot, using them as satire to expose the violence seen in puppet acts like Punch and Judy. In reality, Max and Maxine are real people, freaks who have pretended to be puppets in order to survive. They are angry that Anne could ruin their career by what she is going to do and start acting on their own, contradicting her during the live show. Angry, Anne leaves without them after the show, but is pursued by a man in a trench coat. It is revealed to be Hendershot and she is able to defend herself and kill him, revealing she too is a freak, with an eye on the back of her neck. Anne, Max and Maxine understand themselves a bit better now and go home in peace. A fairly good story with some well fitting art from Cardona, although the end reveal about Anne with the eye is quite similar to another story, "The Night in the Horror Hotel" from Nightmare #17.<br />
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Last is "The Claws of Death" by Ed Fedory (story) and Folsengo Cabrerizo (art). A group of sailors has befriended a tribe in New Guinea, but plan on taking them captive and enslaving them. The tribe, not knowing of this, invites them to watch a ceremony as Mud Men, priests of the tribe with baked mud masks perform a ceremony and summon the goddess Sarrag-Tua. Sarrag-Tua arrives, wearing the mask of a panther and tells the tribe the true plans of the sailors. This causes the sailors to shoot and kill her, but upon trying to take off her mask they realize its her true head. The tribe members are taken captive and brought aboard the ship, but when the masks of the Mud Men are taken off, they too are revealed to have panther heads and they kill the sailors. A pretty decent art job by Cabrerizo in his Skywald debut; Fedory's story is also a good way to wrap the issue up.<br />
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Quiddityhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13986124694445522253noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9181661843785521752.post-78517122694285683122020-03-09T19:13:00.001-07:002020-03-09T19:13:42.523-07:00Nightmare #21<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-g7uc2Goq-aQ/XmVsS_HQ3iI/AAAAAAAABnI/fd2rGQQg3bcJUWoAgswy1FW_zsD6spzkgCLcBGAsYHQ/s1600/nightmare21.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="526" data-original-width="400" height="320" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-g7uc2Goq-aQ/XmVsS_HQ3iI/AAAAAAAABnI/fd2rGQQg3bcJUWoAgswy1FW_zsD6spzkgCLcBGAsYHQ/s320/nightmare21.jpg" width="243" /></a></div>
This issue of Nightmare features a cover by Jose Miralles and is cover dated October 1974. Unfortunately we're back to another reprint dominated issue (two in a row now for Nightmare), with only the first story being a new one.<br />
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Said new story kicks us off, with "Let Her Rot in Hell", by Al Hewetson (story) and Jose Cardona (art). A man is sentenced to a night in the Cardona prison. The man begs the judge for anything else, but is taken away. A young woman is then brought before him and also sentenced to the prison. Once inside, she wonders why the man before her was so frightened. When the man is let out he begs to be kept there, but when they free him he instead jumps to his death. The woman is then brought into the cell, which seems normal. But later that night a vampire appears and bites her neck, turning her into one. As the guards come to free her the next morning she begs to not let them leave, to expose her to the sunlight. But they don't listen, so like the man before her she jumps to her death. This is a fairly strong story, with a good twist. Cardona's art is well done, as usual.<br />
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<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Iny6pPBO1bE/XmVsZfHkG8I/AAAAAAAABnM/LisY4lb3rcoefYl0eaVw_p3OxB_BTkLtQCLcBGAsYHQ/s1600/nightmare21-1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1562" data-original-width="1146" height="320" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Iny6pPBO1bE/XmVsZfHkG8I/AAAAAAAABnM/LisY4lb3rcoefYl0eaVw_p3OxB_BTkLtQCLcBGAsYHQ/s320/nightmare21-1.jpg" width="234" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">"Let Her Rot in Hell"</td></tr>
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Next is "Valley of Blood" by Chuch McNaughton (story) and Jack Katz/Frank Giacoia (art), from Psycho #2. A couple, Bart and Valerie head to a mysterious temple in the Himalayas. On the way they are warned by a man, Dargos, about a vampire castle and find a dead vampire skeleton in the ruins of the temple. After getting into a car accident, Valerie is found to need a blood transfusion and gets one from Dargos. The two of them then disappear. Suddenly vampire attacks from a pair of vampires start occurring. Bart eventually comes across the vampire woman, staking her and Valier turns back to human, dying. Dargos then appears and attacks him.<br />
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Next is "The Cosmos Strain" by Steve Stern (story) and Mike Kaluta (art) from Nightmare #6. The story features the starship Parnassus, which travels the universe, studying a contagion that has destroyed all life on the planet Medallion. The scientist Broome, his assistant Zork and the robot Darukk investigate, heading to the planet where Zork mistakenly lets out the contagion and Broome is killed. Zork and Darukk realize the only thing to do is use the Sterilibomb, blowing up the planet, and killing them.<br />
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<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/--63EFQn4m9M/XmVsdGpy-2I/AAAAAAAABnQ/mJLteue0W3ArvODSE65AlcExuhqUZzWUwCLcBGAsYHQ/s1600/nightmare21-2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1510" data-original-width="1124" height="320" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/--63EFQn4m9M/XmVsdGpy-2I/AAAAAAAABnQ/mJLteue0W3ArvODSE65AlcExuhqUZzWUwCLcBGAsYHQ/s320/nightmare21-2.jpg" width="238" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">"The Cosmos Strain"</td></tr>
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Fourth is "Comes the Stalking Monster!" by Tom Sutton (story) and Tom Sutton/Syd Shores (art) from Psycho #4. Dr. Aleister Kohner is obsessed with the occult and along with his girlfriend Erica summons the demon Asmodeus in a pentagram. Asmodeus agrees to teach him the knowledge of the ancients, which he does. However over several weeks Al finds himself growing weaker, his hair losing color and falling out. He summons Asmodeus who reveals that radiation has been emitting from the pentagram. Erica, having worn a pentagram necklace is unharmed and at story end is revealed to be the master of Asmodeus.<br />
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Next is "Sleep" by Steve Stern (story) and Jeff Jones (art), originally from Psycho #6. This story takes place in space on a space pod where a Doctor Zim hypnotizes his assistant, Robinson. He then has Robinson speak of what he senses an hour from now (at which point Zim expects him to have been dead from an injury) so he can find out about life after death. As the hour approaches, Zim realizes the horrible truth though, that they will both be dead as their space pod has approached the sun! Jones' art is quite good here, and this was a fairly good sci-fi story.<br />
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<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-qdcEEi5yG0I/XmVsgpYCm2I/AAAAAAAABnU/d5W8AjYJ3pAsX4JyQdka5SA8bk773GEPgCLcBGAsYHQ/s1600/nightmare21-3.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1538" data-original-width="1144" height="320" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-qdcEEi5yG0I/XmVsgpYCm2I/AAAAAAAABnU/d5W8AjYJ3pAsX4JyQdka5SA8bk773GEPgCLcBGAsYHQ/s320/nightmare21-3.jpg" width="238" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">"Sleep"</td></tr>
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Next is "Corpse by Computer!" by Robert Kanigher (story) and Doug Wildey (art), from Nightmare #6. Millionaire inventor Phillip Talbot has created the supercomputer Debbie, which operates many things in his mansion. Upon bringing a woman home with him, Debbit kills her with a mechanically controlled knight. Debbie desires Phillip as her companion and won't let him have anyone else. When Phillip starts a relationship with the psychiatrist Karen Benton, Debbie kills her too. Phillip has had enough and tries to delete Debbie's memory, only for her to electrocute him to death.<br />
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We wrap up with "Sand Castles" by Ed Fedory (story) and Pablo Marcos (art), originally from Psycho #6. A pilot is transporting two criminals, Benny and Tony, to Mexico, when their plane's engine explodes, forcing them down to the desert sands below. Thus starts a long journey to civilization. With their water running out, the pilot kills Tony, then fills the canteens with his blood. So it probably shouldn't come as that big a surprise pages later when the pilot reveals to Benny that he is a vampire! he kills Benny, filling his canteen with his blood but the days continue to pass and the blood congeals, becoming undrinkable. The pilot eventually finds a castle however and makes his way inside, finding Benny and Tony's ghosts waiting and they throw him down a chasm into hell. Yet again a Skywald story has a rather confusing ending though as our last panel shows their destroyed plane, with several skeletons there making one wonder if any of what happened was real. This was a fairly good story (although a bit too drawn out) and I don't mind them mixing things up at the end, I just wish it was more definitive on what was real.Quiddityhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13986124694445522253noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9181661843785521752.post-8952979428519691332020-03-07T11:22:00.001-08:002020-03-07T11:22:33.595-08:00Scream #9<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-QVNNdb96wpA/XmP0MqFOXfI/AAAAAAAABmo/IJve2pTTJ6wnMTv5wjUc_aQPHrkvc5bzACLcBGAsYHQ/s1600/scream9.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1000" data-original-width="753" height="320" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-QVNNdb96wpA/XmP0MqFOXfI/AAAAAAAABmo/IJve2pTTJ6wnMTv5wjUc_aQPHrkvc5bzACLcBGAsYHQ/s320/scream9.jpg" width="240" /></a>Time for another issue of Scream! This issue is cover dated September 1974 and has a cover by Salvador Faba.<br />
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First is "Down to Hades... To Die!" by Augustine Funnell (story) and Paul Puigagut (art). Our protagonist, Martin, awakes to hear a voice calling to him. The voice tells him to follow and Martin no longer finds himself in New York, but a spooky woods where he is attacked by a werewolf, then a vampire, and then rotting corpses. The corpses lead him to a feast where there are various people including many naked women. He demands to be let go and his mind snaps. The voice then decides to find someone else, calling out to a woman named Brenda. The narrative for this story is a quite confusing. Puigagut, who makes his Skywald debut with this story has some rather inconsistent art, with some panels looking rather shoddy, others having a surrealistic look, kind of like what I've seen in some Esteban Maroto stories and an occasional one, like the final panel, drawn very well with some great detail.<br />
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<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-q3s3dK4BuL8/XmP0QJYHlLI/AAAAAAAABms/jZ9DyA000eMbUkVo0e7XR91WTMg5miQcQCLcBGAsYHQ/s1600/scream9-1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1201" height="320" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-q3s3dK4BuL8/XmP0QJYHlLI/AAAAAAAABms/jZ9DyA000eMbUkVo0e7XR91WTMg5miQcQCLcBGAsYHQ/s320/scream9-1.jpg" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">"Down to Hades... To Die!"</td></tr>
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Next is "Metzengerstein" an Edgar Allen Poe adaption from Al Hewetson, with art by Luis Collado. The story tells of the conflict between the Berlifitzing and Metzengerstein families. Baron Frederick of the Metzengerstein family burns the stables of the Berlifitzing castle just a few days after coming of age. Frederick sits down to look at a tapestry in his castle and finds the horse within it moving, causing him to flee. In his courtyard, he is told by one of his servants that his enemy Count Berlifitzing died trying to save his horses and they have found a new horse in the area that is rather wild. Frederick starts isolating himself, only spending time with the horse, despite being afraid of its stare. One night Frederick gets up and starts riding on his horse and his entire castle bursts into flame. He then returns, a look of agony on his face as the horse runs into the burning castle. As the story ends we see smoke appear in the shape of a horse over the burning castle and a figure rising from ashes, the corpse of Old Count Berlifitzing. I've never read the original story this is based on, but this was a pretty good one, other than the super elongated and complicated names. Collado's art is fairly decent, with some really nice detailed panels at times.<br />
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<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-ZBFFJrgfVHo/XmP0U4YY8MI/AAAAAAAABmw/KavgSKLSPCkwB67ytwD6ANworrg43WVAQCLcBGAsYHQ/s1600/scream9-2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1476" data-original-width="1112" height="320" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-ZBFFJrgfVHo/XmP0U4YY8MI/AAAAAAAABmw/KavgSKLSPCkwB67ytwD6ANworrg43WVAQCLcBGAsYHQ/s320/scream9-2.jpg" width="241" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">"Who Killed the Shark?"</td></tr>
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Third is the latest in the Nosferatu series, "Who Killed the Shark?" by Al Hewetson (story) and Zesar Lopez (art). Nosferatu has the man with the shark mask, Senor Ramon Vorse be the next to tell his tale. Vorse was shanghaied and forced to be a crew member on the ship The Ocean Penguin, but is told by the captain of the great riches they will find. Vorse soon falls in love with the beautiful Maria, daughter of the captain. Vorse kisses Maria when they are alone and says after they find the treasure he will be a rich man and they can escape to be married once back on shore. Maria tells Vorse that the captain plans on killing most of the men once they find the treasure so he and other mutiny and kills him, throwing him to the sharks. Maria promptly betrays Vorse, saying he lusted after the treasure and has been threatened by him. This causes the other men to grab Vorse and throw him overboard to be consumed by the sharks. Despite this, his partially eaten corpse somehow still lives. Maria has the men recover the treasure, expecting to have them arrested once they arrive on shore, but in one of the chests they find, Vorse's corpse there hiding. He grabs Maria, screaming in horror. Back in the present Vorse unmasks himself, revealing his partially eaten body but reveals that he hold Maria's heart in his hand. For once the ending of a story in this series is not a character just revealing their partially destroyed body (at least the third time now the teller has been consumed by some sort of animal), but revealing something else as well. The protagonist hiding in a chest is another concept that has been used before in this series. The net result is, while I continue to enjoy the atmosphere and art (which lacks the rushed look the prior story in the series had), it is about time we wrap this up. The narrative at the start implies that we'd have at least 3 more stories in the series before it is done (although Skywald will go out of business before we have enough issues to get there, making me wonder if this series will end mid-way through). This story actually reminds me quite a lot of the story "In Deep" from Warren's Creepy #83, an excellent story drawn by Richard Corben which features a husband and wife pursued by sharks in the open sea and the husband making it out with only his wife's heart in his hand. In fact as this story came out around 2 years or so before that issue was published I wondered if it was an inspiration for that story.<br />
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Fourth is "The Asylum" by Al Hewetson (story, credited to Howie Anderson) and John Agras (art). A young woman named Mary is kept in a large mansion by a woman named Cynthia, along with many other women. When her parents show up looking for her, Cynthia feigns ignorance of her. One night Mary escapes through the window, hitchhiking. We soon find that Mary is a vampire, having killed the man driving, and that Cynthia is trying to cure her and the other women of their being vampires. As the story ends we see Cynthia carrying away the man's body, revealing her to be a ghoul! This story ended I lot quicker than I was expected. Agras' art is a bit more cartoonish in nature than the other artists in the issue.<br />
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<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-imaivdw13bc/XmP0Zl1n6pI/AAAAAAAABm0/zxS7pGOMOBEhUebD2bJ0CI2DSIUFIYxFQCLcBGAsYHQ/s1600/scream9-3.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1538" data-original-width="1058" height="320" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-imaivdw13bc/XmP0Zl1n6pI/AAAAAAAABm0/zxS7pGOMOBEhUebD2bJ0CI2DSIUFIYxFQCLcBGAsYHQ/s320/scream9-3.jpg" width="220" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">"I Am Treachery... I Am Horror"</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Fifth is Gothic Fairy Tales with "I never Heard of a Ghost Actually Killing Anyone!" by Al Hewetson (story) and Antonio Borrell (art). A husband and wife wonder where their kids are. We soon see the two kids, David and Angie in a nearby house they believe to be occupied by a ghost. After having not seen it for a month, they figure they can force it out by burning down the place. But then suddenly the ghost does appear, an ax wielding maniac and kills them. After their funeral, their parents storm into the house where they are confronted by both the ghost and the ghost of their two children! The parents argue with the kids and say they are going to spank them so the kids, through the help of the ax wielding ghost, kill them too! After the parent's funeral we turn back to the ghost house, now with the entire family of ghosts there, and the parents spanking the kids. The ax wielding ghost has had enough and lunges towards them with his ax as the story ends. This story was quite hilarious, with the kids and parents bickering, even after they were dead and essentially forming a ghost family.<br />
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We wrap up with another story in the Saga of the Victims series, "I Am Treachery... I Am Horror" by Al Hewetson (story) and Jesus Suso Rego (art). We continue where we left off, with our heroines Josey and Anne grabbed by giant tentacles while in a whirlpool. It is revealed to be tentacles of a giant squid! But the two of them soon pass out and find themselves instead in a submarine, which is what the squid actually is. They are greeted by a Nazi dwarf, who claims he was special assistant to Hitler. He claims to be among the last Nazis left and that he travels the sea in his submarine, looking for adventure, which is typically terrorizing people with the squid. By watching him pilot the submarine, our heroines plot their escape and strike him with an ax once they are comfortable piloting it, as it approaches the African coastline. But they find themselves unable to control it properly and it explodes. They are then found and taken by African tribesmen to their warlord, who speaks English and claims he went to Harvard and now manipulates his tribesmen. He claims that they will eventually be eaten as his tribe is made up of cannibals. Anne and Josey break out of their bonds and try escaping, only for the Warlord to grab a hold of them and laugh as the story ends. We get more of the same with this series here; excellent art by Suso and a storyline that continues to be as over the top as possible, pushing our heroines through as many horror story tropes as it can. It continues to be fairly good though, and I look forward to where we go next.<br />
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Quiddityhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13986124694445522253noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9181661843785521752.post-71055525283627264552020-03-05T15:36:00.002-08:002020-03-05T15:36:46.283-08:00Scream #8<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-txJbd1ZgSSg/XmGMyBnGy_I/AAAAAAAABmI/vx4goRyT72YWkrPAKnxRtElp9yOP9l9vACLcBGAsYHQ/s1600/scream8.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="784" data-original-width="600" height="320" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-txJbd1ZgSSg/XmGMyBnGy_I/AAAAAAAABmI/vx4goRyT72YWkrPAKnxRtElp9yOP9l9vACLcBGAsYHQ/s320/scream8.jpg" width="244" /></a></div>
Salvador Faba provides the cover for this issue of Scream, cover dated August 1974. After two reprint dominated issues its great to be back to one that is all new stories.<br />
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We kick off with an Edgar Allen Poe adaption, "The Tell-Tale Heart" with adaption by Al Hewetson and art by Ricardo Villamonte. One of Poe's most famous stories, and this adaption is a rather faithful one. Our protagonist obsesses over the eye of the old man that is his employer. One night he spies on the old man while he lays awake in bed, then when the old man notices him rushes at him, causing the old man to have a heart attack and die. Our protagonist cuts up the old man's body and hides it in the floor boards. The next morning the police arrive, having heard our protagonist's scream the night before. He lets them around, growing more and more nervous as a beating sound starts occurring. Eventually this drives our protagonist crazy enough to tear open the floor boards, revealing the body beneath. Poe's story is a good one; although I was a little off put by how over the top and goofy at times Villamonte's art is.<br />
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<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-2SxikqhjOAs/XmGM1JKgEzI/AAAAAAAABmM/RkkTPLgot2s6_6n-7n-NnUu8lHtzcdH8gCLcBGAsYHQ/s1600/scream8-1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1540" data-original-width="1126" height="320" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-2SxikqhjOAs/XmGM1JKgEzI/AAAAAAAABmM/RkkTPLgot2s6_6n-7n-NnUu8lHtzcdH8gCLcBGAsYHQ/s320/scream8-1.jpg" width="233" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">"My Prison in Hell"</td></tr>
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Next is the Nosferatu series, with "My Prison in Hell" by Al Hewetson (story) and Zesar Lopez (art). Nosferatu asks for another of his guests to tell his tale, the pig-masked Anton Dubchek, who was commander of a Siberian prison camp. Dubchek is quite tough on his prisoners, for example throwing a prisoner down a pit for calling him a pig. The food served is slop, even for the guards, with the pigs eating better than the humans. Dubchek justifies his horrible treatment of prisoner by claiming they are criminals, lunatics and madmen. One of his prisoners, Zametov comes to him, claiming that a revolt is being planned and some of his guards are traitors. Zametov claims they are having a secret meeting and he can lead him to them, but when they arrive Dubchek realizes it is a trap and he is bound up and fed to the pigs. Back in the present, Dubchek takes off his mask and hood, revealing himself to be just a skeleton. While I continue to love the atmosphere this series brings and Lopez's amazing artwork, we are really getting to a point where the stories are very formulaic. This story has quite a similar ending to a previous story in the series where the protagonist reveals rats ate his body. It may be time to consider putting this series out to pasture. Also, speaking of the art, many panels in this story remind me of art from Fernando Fernandez stories for Vampirella, such as "The Truth". I'm wondering if Lopez either swiped them or they were taken from the same photo reference. Beyond that, Lopez's art also looks a bit more rushed than usual.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-2mGDhGX71pA/XmGM6W5Dd4I/AAAAAAAABmQ/PQBm3vwWJ4gN_qmllpK3ZBNdC-UJV4brQCLcBGAsYHQ/s1600/scream8-2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1598" data-original-width="1184" height="320" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-2mGDhGX71pA/XmGM6W5Dd4I/AAAAAAAABmQ/PQBm3vwWJ4gN_qmllpK3ZBNdC-UJV4brQCLcBGAsYHQ/s320/scream8-2.jpg" width="237" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">"The Slither Slime Man Rises Again"</td></tr>
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Third is "The Slither Slime Man Rises Again" by Al Hewetson (story) and Jose Cardona (art). The titular character, who was called Elias Mund when alive, rises from his grave once more. The narrative turns back to October 1953 in Savannah Georgia. We focus on the solitary life of Elias, still alive at this point, who lives alone in his home, acting as the town undertaker. We are told that Elias is disliked, taunted and shunned by the locals. On the night of Halloween, the hard of hearing Elias doesn't realize some trick or treators are at his door. They decide to play a trick on him, breaking into his home while in their costumes, of a vampire, werewolf and rotting corpse respectively. Elias meanwhile is reading about the supernatural and when they come in believe them to be the real thing. He kills them, only to then realize they are children. Distraught, Elias kills himself. He and the children are buried and ever since he periodically rises from the grave thinking he's got to cleanse the world. This is an origin story of sorts, featuring a character that appeared all the way back in Psycho #9. I'm wondering why we return to him now and if this is Hewetson starting up a series for what appeared to be a one-shot only character in his original appearance. We did see a character who looked a lot like him in a story in Nightmare #18, although he was just acting as a host in said story and called himself by another name.<br />
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<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-R94g3WiWyuY/XmGM_mIu63I/AAAAAAAABmU/mbnRBg5C59MILJA3J1bXptFOPnEa0ID8QCLcBGAsYHQ/s1600/scream8-3.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1584" data-original-width="1202" height="320" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-R94g3WiWyuY/XmGM_mIu63I/AAAAAAAABmU/mbnRBg5C59MILJA3J1bXptFOPnEa0ID8QCLcBGAsYHQ/s320/scream8-3.jpg" width="242" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">"I... Am Torment"</td></tr>
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Fourth is "The Mechanical Cannibals" by Rich Buckler (story) and Rich Buckler/Chic Stone (art). Stone is uncredited. This story is adapted from the story "From Fanaticism or for Reward" by Harry Harrison. We start the story with our protagonist, Jagen, acting as a sniper and killing a man. He then jumps through a door shaped portal that seems to bring him to another time and destroys any evidence he is carrying. Appearing to be on some mission, he transports to another place and after using another portal finds himself being barely able to breathe until another man brings him a respirator. He is told to ignore his instructions and follows the man, entering a hotel room where masked men pay him for the assassination job he performed. When they try to kill him, Jagen kills one of them and knocks out the other, fleeing. We then have what appears to be a time jump. A humanoid robot is ordered to go after Jagen, who has retired to a backwater planet where he enjoys hunting. The robot arrives and disarms Jagen, but rather than killing him, it shaves his head, scans his brain to learn who gave him orders, then departs. This story is quite an outlier to both the writing and art style we currently are seeing from Skywald, and from doing some research it appears that this story was originally intended for an aborted Skywald sci-fi magazine (from which other stories we've seen in the past were also intended for). I'm surprised they held on to it so long before publishing as I recall any other stories intended for that magazine appearing long ago. Perhaps at this point Skywald, who just had to do 2 nearly all reprint issues, is in a similar spot to what Warren was in at the end where it was publishing old inventory stories of low quality.<br />
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Fifth is the latest in the Saga of the Victims series, "I... Am Torment" by Al Hewetson (story) and Jesus Suso Rego (art). We continue right where we left off, with a pterodactyl swooping down and grabbing our heroines, Josey and Anne. Suddenly another pterodactyl appears and battles it, grabbing a hold of Josey and Anne once it kills its foe. It brings the two of them to a nest to feed its young, but we quickly realize it is on top of a volcano, which blows! Somehow the nest is able to carry our heroines away while the pterodactyls are killed, but it eventually sets on fire until they make it to the open sea. After sleeping, our heroines wake up right before a pirate ship! They are soon found by the captain and crew, all of whom are corpses, and force them to walk the plank. Suddenly a giant whirlpool forms, enveloping the ship and both Josey and Anne fall off into the water, about to be sucked down, until a giant tentacle grabs them! It is here where the story ends. This series continues to be totally bonkers, really putting our two heroines through the ringer. This particularly segment was a bit less interesting to me than the prior two, with the first half of the story in particular being a bit too light on story in order to give us a recap of prior events and the experience with the pterodactyls.<br />
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Quiddityhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13986124694445522253noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9181661843785521752.post-13098475596430944932020-03-03T17:18:00.000-08:002020-03-03T17:18:07.183-08:00Psycho 1974 Yearbook<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-3WLdLLKHZhk/Xl8Bi2KBjYI/AAAAAAAABlo/WcZBpzMJ_QA6oI6RXP1U34d-I4DLp4d6wCLcBGAsYHQ/s1600/psycho74yearbook.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="787" data-original-width="600" height="320" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-3WLdLLKHZhk/Xl8Bi2KBjYI/AAAAAAAABlo/WcZBpzMJ_QA6oI6RXP1U34d-I4DLp4d6wCLcBGAsYHQ/s320/psycho74yearbook.jpg" width="243" /></a>The Psycho 1974 Yearbook is another issue dominated by reprints, with only one new story. Again the stories are mostly from early in Skywald's run. The cover is made up of covers of various prior issues. Paul Pueyo provides the one page frontispiece.<br />
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We begin with the issue's sole new story, "The Brides of the Frankensteins", part of the Saga of the Frankenstein's Monster series. This story has story by Al Hewetson and art by Cesar Lopez. Frankenstein's monster desires a mate and Dr. Frankenstein agrees to create him one. Frankenstein grows wary of what he has done though and seeks to kill the monster and its mate. After heading to town, he decides to return to the desolate place where the monster and his now created wife are. He destroys her, but the monster declines to kill him, instead killing Frankenstein's wife. This is where the story ends. This story is fairly faithful to a segment from the original Frankenstein novel, except my recollection is that Frankenstein destroys the monster's mate before she is brought to life, earlier than he does so here.<br />
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<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-F0utC6KMTA4/Xl8BmlJZuWI/AAAAAAAABls/LN6hRV6bDFMFazHtcSY55nTbJ-U3ut4wACLcBGAsYHQ/s1600/psycho74y-1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1528" data-original-width="1138" height="320" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-F0utC6KMTA4/Xl8BmlJZuWI/AAAAAAAABls/LN6hRV6bDFMFazHtcSY55nTbJ-U3ut4wACLcBGAsYHQ/s320/psycho74y-1.jpg" width="238" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">"The Brides of the Frankensteins"</td></tr>
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Second is "Slime World" by Chuck McNaughton (story) and Ralph Reese (art). This story was originally published in Nightmare #5. A couple, Sidney and Susan, make their way into the Parisian sewers after a mysterious man tells them to follow them. Underground they find a race of people who have been mutated by the slime in the sewers. They capture and mutate people, either joining their forces, or serving them as food. Sidney and Susan escape their bonds and split up, and after a few weeks Sidney starts transforming into one of the mutants, both physically and mentally. Eventually he is permitted to become someone who tricks people into following him into the sewers, much like what originally happened to him. One of the stronger earlier stories from Skywald's run; Reese also provides some good artwork.<br />
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Third is "The Man Who Stole Eternity" by Gardner Fox (story) and Bill Everett (art), originally published in Psycho #3. A thief named Mike kills a man in an alley and steals a pearl necklace from his wife. He hears that he can make a lot of dough by stealing from a Magic Museum. However upon going there he finds a variety of monsters that draw him into a realm of even more monsters! Eventually he sees the woman he stole from, revealed to be a sorceress. She demands he steal her the elixir of life which he agrees to, especially after she sends some monsters after him while he sleeps. He successfully steals the elixir, and wanting eternal life, drinks some before giving it to her. A couple of days later, Mike finds himself completely unable to move. He is declared dead and is buried, alive! While he has eternal life, he has to spend the rest of it in a coffin!<br />
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<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-vSw4ahEDMBY/Xl8Bp8gd7aI/AAAAAAAABlw/I7XWhjKdYUU4k279a3Qld6jUVmfyzRWlACLcBGAsYHQ/s1600/psycho74y-2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1496" data-original-width="1140" height="320" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-vSw4ahEDMBY/Xl8Bp8gd7aI/AAAAAAAABlw/I7XWhjKdYUU4k279a3Qld6jUVmfyzRWlACLcBGAsYHQ/s320/psycho74y-2.jpg" width="243" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">"Slime World"</td></tr>
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Next is "Beware Small Evils!" by Jack Katz and Frank Giacoia (story and art), originally published in Nightmare #3. In the polluted future of... 1983 (lol), a motorcyle gang, the Spitfires are running amok. Meanwhile a Senator is visiting a scientist who hopes to use the plant culture mutation #320 to restore oxygen to the atmosphere. When the Spitfires arrive at his lab and cause some of the mutation to fall outside, it quickly spreads, consuming the spitfires, growing and multiplying. Using detergent and oil supplied by the senator, the mutations are destroyed, although this leads to any remaining oxygen running out.<br />
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Next is "The Inner Man" featuring story and art by Tom Sutton, with assist on the art by Dan Adkins. This story was also originally published in Nightmare #3. Dr. Wroclaw experiments on the soon to be executed prisoner Varga, shrinking his body considerably. Varga is soon mistakenly swallowed by Wroclaw when he downs a pill and ventures his way through his body, eventually reaching his brain. Being inside Wroclaw, Varga is able to control his actions, causing him to slap, then strangle his wife, then murder a man at a pawn shop and run over people in a car. Eventually Wroclaw is decapitated by a closing elevator door and some subconscious monsters kill Varga. A pretty fun story, especially when Wroclaw starts going on his rampage.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-BDGsLBOYwPA/Xl8BtFHGVzI/AAAAAAAABl0/uxPL372vYRoXZqQnTc9whwkPSM4jhLqwACLcBGAsYHQ/s1600/psycho74y-3.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1534" data-original-width="1126" height="320" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-BDGsLBOYwPA/Xl8BtFHGVzI/AAAAAAAABl0/uxPL372vYRoXZqQnTc9whwkPSM4jhLqwACLcBGAsYHQ/s320/psycho74y-3.jpg" width="234" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">"The Deadly Mark of the Beast"</td></tr>
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The issue concludes with "The Deadly Mark of the Beast!" with art by Syd Shores/Tom Palmer and story by Len Wein. This story was originally published in Skywald's very first horror issue, Nightmare #1. A werewolf has been ravaging the countryside. A man named Collins is convinced that a newcomer to the village, Blake is the werewolf because he's seen walking around at night with his hound. But when Blake is revealed to be blind, people dismiss Collins' claim and leave. When Collins' wife is killed, he becomes enraged, taking Blake at gunpoint at his home and saying they'll wait until the full moon. When Blake grows agitated at the full moon, Collins guns him down. But Blake's hound suddenly reveals that it is a wereman and kills Collins! The ending to this story was quite hilarious and is similar to a comedic episode of The X-Files from a few years back during its short lived resurrection.Quiddityhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13986124694445522253noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9181661843785521752.post-3467927744530830842020-03-01T10:15:00.002-08:002020-03-01T10:15:31.641-08:00Nightmare 1974 Yearbook<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-NDGw8tKLJXs/Xlv6P3g8xkI/AAAAAAAABlM/LQ3cFUROqpkDPNCbqDUwGRcZ-70bl60FgCLcBGAsYHQ/s1600/nightmare74y.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="926" data-original-width="714" height="320" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-NDGw8tKLJXs/Xlv6P3g8xkI/AAAAAAAABlM/LQ3cFUROqpkDPNCbqDUwGRcZ-70bl60FgCLcBGAsYHQ/s320/nightmare74y.jpg" width="246" /></a></div>
Vicente Segrelles provides the cover for this special issue of Nightmare. For the first time since all the way back with Nightmare 2, a Skywald issue is dominated by reprints. Only the first story is new. The reprints are predominantly from early in Skywald's run, and primarily by American artists, making this issue quite a contrast to those around it.<br />
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First is "The God of the Dead" by Al Hewetson (story) and Jose Martin Sauri (art, credited as Bob Martin). While not labeled as such, this story is part of the Dracula series. His castle destroyed, Dracula swears to teach the nearby peasants a lesson by making their daughters vampires and having them kill their parents. Dracula starts biting the neck of various women, turning them into vampires. He is confronted by a man, but has his daughter, whom he has turned into a vampire, kill him. Eventually he is confronted by a boy with a small cross and finds that it is deadly, killing him. It looks like this story will conclude the Dracula series, with a rather predictable ending. The highlight of this story is easily the art; Sauri's style is really similar to that of Esteban Maroto, one of my favorite Warren artists. It will be a blast seeing the remaining Skywald stories he has for that reason.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-s5gUppT_QI8/Xlv6TxRJhTI/AAAAAAAABlQ/8FX0HEA-krM6sfIfZVNAbcyLeT_XpxbRwCLcBGAsYHQ/s1600/nightmarey74-1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1201" height="320" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-s5gUppT_QI8/Xlv6TxRJhTI/AAAAAAAABlQ/8FX0HEA-krM6sfIfZVNAbcyLeT_XpxbRwCLcBGAsYHQ/s320/nightmarey74-1.jpg" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">"The God of the Dead"</td></tr>
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Next is "A Rottin Deal" by Bruce Jones (story and art), using the pseudonym Philip Roland. This story was originally from Nightmare #3. A young man named Peter travels with his uncle Felix, seeking an old mine around five days away. As they travel through the desert wasteland, devoid of water, Peter decides to kill his uncle and take his canteen. He travels from oasis to oasis but finds that Felix's corpse is following him, beating him to the water, contaminating it. Peter rushes ahead of the corpse, making it to the next oasis in time to drink some water. However he soon finds that his uncle had leprosy, and having uses his canteen, he now has it too! Jones' story and art here is quite strong, making this the best reprint story of the issue.<br />
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Third story is "Let the Dreamer Beware" by Jerry Siegel (story) and Ralph Reese (art). This story is originally from Psycho #5. Alex's wife Florence makes his life absolute hell and refuses a divorce. Alex dreams of being in another realm filled with beautiful people. One of them, Dileeth, says she loves him, but he is suddenly whisked back to reality. Dileeth tells Alex he can return by killing his wife, so he poisons her with rat poison. Upon falling asleep he is back in the realm, but now the facade is gone and all the beautiful people are now demons, including Dileeth! Alex wakes and tries his hardest to not fall asleep, even after being arrested and brought to jail for Florence's murder. Eventually he does fall asleep and the demons throw him in acid, which also affects his body in the real world.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Oqt1-zPvCGA/Xlv6cfNxyYI/AAAAAAAABlU/t_m_nmMdZ5YpAo18wVGNFupjq7I1Psk3gCLcBGAsYHQ/s1600/nightmarey74-2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1201" height="320" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Oqt1-zPvCGA/Xlv6cfNxyYI/AAAAAAAABlU/t_m_nmMdZ5YpAo18wVGNFupjq7I1Psk3gCLcBGAsYHQ/s320/nightmarey74-2.jpg" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">"A Rotttin "Deal"</td></tr>
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Next is "Escape" by Dennis Fujitake (story and art) from Psycho #4. This is a brief 2 page story. The evil Baron Renphrew is captured and chained to a wall in a dungeon. He plans on getting away by having men he paid for dig him out. They are able to dig into the dungeon, but break their way through a stone above the Baron's head, which crushes him! A brief, fun story. Fujitake's art reminds me a lot of Jeff Jones.<br />
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Next is "Whence Stalks the Werewolf" from Nightmare #5 by Len Brown (story) and Carlos Garzon (art). Dr. Allan Bund has found a way to transport is patient's consciousness to the past. Using this ability, he has him go back further in time, including military battles and even a werewolf appearance! His colleague Dr. Tracy wants this to stop and leaves to get the police. However once he has come back, we find the patient has turned into a werewolf for real and goes on a rampage! Garzon provides some good art here, reminding me somewhat of Eugene Colan, but I didn't particularly care for the story, not its predictable ending.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-CXzhQ-54Ff4/Xlv6g8Q5I6I/AAAAAAAABlY/QhS8tRgJuO4CXDSuRWEUAqVjnchrSOIcQCLcBGAsYHQ/s1600/nightmare74y-3.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1542" data-original-width="1106" height="320" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-CXzhQ-54Ff4/Xlv6g8Q5I6I/AAAAAAAABlY/QhS8tRgJuO4CXDSuRWEUAqVjnchrSOIcQCLcBGAsYHQ/s320/nightmare74y-3.jpg" width="229" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">"Hag of the Blood Basket!"</td></tr>
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Next is "Power of the Pen" from Psycho #5, by Doug Moench (story) and Doug Wildley (art). The author Jeff Dennings is working on a new book, having already written a few characters. Having named his lead after his friend George, Jeff is shocked to find that what he writes actually happens to George in real life! George is sent to the hospital, having been struck by a car and is investigating a drug ring under cover, but Jeff decides to write things such that he forgets about it and change the name of his character to someone else. He then smashes his typewriter, thinking it is responsible for this. Jeff soon realizes he named a character in another story of his after his friend Sandy. He goes to her apartment, to find herself trapped in a mirror, and gets trapped there himself, much like in his story.<br />
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Last is "Hag of the Blood Basket"!" by Al Hewetson (story) and Tom Sutton (art, credited by Sean Todd). This story was originally published in Nightmare #4. The Hag of the title appears visually inspired by the Old Witch, one of the 3 hosts from EC's 1950s horror comics. Sutton was obviously a fan, and would eventually do a story for Warren that was a tribute to Graham Ingels, the artist primarily responsible for drawing her. Anyway, this lengthy story (16 pages!) tells the journey of the Hag of the title as she is initially executed during the french revolution, with her head chopped off in the guillotine. We witness her lengthy journey into hell, the various creatures and monsters she encounters there and her desire to escape, only for the story to end with her headless body being chained up in an insane asylum. This story didn't always make the most sense, but the journey was worth it, and Sutton does a great job with the art work.Quiddityhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13986124694445522253noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9181661843785521752.post-68607469612168349472020-02-28T19:29:00.002-08:002020-02-28T19:29:26.838-08:00NIghtmare #20<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-z4lL8LWW6vo/XlnaPZ_HsyI/AAAAAAAABks/-O7HdP0pxnc8kjNzwQQlYI95T0sLVIKogCLcBGAsYHQ/s1600/nightmare20.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="518" data-original-width="400" height="320" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-z4lL8LWW6vo/XlnaPZ_HsyI/AAAAAAAABks/-O7HdP0pxnc8kjNzwQQlYI95T0sLVIKogCLcBGAsYHQ/s320/nightmare20.jpg" width="247" /></a>Sebastian Boada provides the cover for this issue of Nightmare, cover dated August 1974.<br />
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We start with the one page "Horror Fragments: The Demon Whale" by Al Hewetson (story) and Ferran Sostres (art). It discusses Moby Dick, and Captain Ahab's obsession and eventual defeat to the giant white whale.<br />
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Next is the latest in the Shoggoths series, "The Scream and the Nightmare" by Al Hewetson (story) and Jose Cardona (art). Much like with prior stories, we have Al Hewetson and Jose Cardona themselves star in the story. Upon seeing a report of a Shoggoth, they go to a library where the librarian, Suzette, brings them the Necronomicon. Suddenly a Shoggoth appears and grabs the book. Finding a secret passageway through a bookshelf, they head down an underground passage and find a library of the Shoggoths, who attack and knock out our heroes. Waking up, they find themselves in the center of the Earth. Brought along by the Shoggoths to an ancient city, they are eventually able to escape, keeping the Shoggoths away by collapsing a bridge. They then find themselves in an Egyptian tomb where a mummy wakes up, but they slay it. As the story ends the various characters ask the reader if they would like to join them on an expedition to discover Shoggoths. Like previous stories in the series, Hewetson does a good job of aping the Lovecraft style, although this story is a bit long (a whopping 20 pages) and too familiar with previous entries.<br />
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<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-pnCbPhscNHY/XlnaTpWK1mI/AAAAAAAABkw/wqfU30zxg-EGAirMf4KbJfleVyg01wvxgCLcBGAsYHQ/s1600/nightmare20-1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1540" data-original-width="1146" height="320" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-pnCbPhscNHY/XlnaTpWK1mI/AAAAAAAABkw/wqfU30zxg-EGAirMf4KbJfleVyg01wvxgCLcBGAsYHQ/s320/nightmare20-1.jpg" width="238" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">"The Scream and the Nightmare"</td></tr>
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Third is "Wanted: ...More Dead Than Alive..." by Al Hewetson (story) and Emilio Bernardo (art). A creature rises from a swamp and we flash back to see what led to its death. A man named Ingels comes across a wanted poster for a man named Ortega and is told he is up on a nearby hill. Ingels is caught on the way up there and Ortega shoots him in the leg, although leaves him alive. We see how in the present, the monster has arrived at and attacks a camp. Ingels pursues Ortega again, this time getting shot in the head. Meanwhile a gypsy woman turns into a werewolf and bites Ingels, turning him into one. He attacks and kills Ortega. At the end we realize that Ortega is the swamp creature, seeking revenge against Ingels. A so-so story with a decent end twist, but the narrative at times is a bit confusing.<br />
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Fourth is "A Tale of Horror" by Al Hewetson (story) and Luis Collado (art). In the later days of World War II we focus on a reluctant German soldier, stationed in a destroyed Berlin. The soldier, a former farmer, desires to return back to his family. He is come upon by a superior who tells him that Hitler himself requires a messenger. The soldier is brought to an underground bunker and instructed by the officer to deliver the message to the front lines. Hitler himself meets with the soldier, telling him its an important to an underground group. The soldier departs and hiding from the Americans, opens the letter and reads it. Despondent, he tosses the letter away and says to hell with the war, deciding to head back to his family. We then see a panel of those he was to deliver the message to, deciding that without receiving word from Hitler, they are to go into hiding. In the final panel we read Hitler's message, that he was recruiting werewolves! A really funny ending to this story, which is most notable in my eyes for the amazing art done by Luis Collado. While the quality isn't there throughout every panel of the story, much of it is quite beautiful.<br />
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<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-hW5NowSAbQM/XlnaXN9yjxI/AAAAAAAABk0/J2wPLzgA0qIntHVbyWQYrOmHT3kbuHAOACLcBGAsYHQ/s1600/nightmare20-2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1578" data-original-width="1166" height="320" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-hW5NowSAbQM/XlnaXN9yjxI/AAAAAAAABk0/J2wPLzgA0qIntHVbyWQYrOmHT3kbuHAOACLcBGAsYHQ/s320/nightmare20-2.jpg" width="236" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">"A Tale of Horror" </td></tr>
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Next is "The Black Cat", an Edgar Allen Poe adaption with Al Hewetson doing the story and Ricardo Villamonte doing the art. Our protagonist, Edgar, has a black cat he loves, Pluto, but in an argument with his wife attacks it, cutting out its eye, then he decides later to hang it. A fire ruins Edgar, and he is reduced to poverty, feeling that the murder of Pluto caused this. He eventually finds another black cat, with white marks around its neck and blinded in one eye. He takes it home with him, but then decides to kill the cat. When his wife tries to stop him, he kills her instead. He takes his wife to the basement and puts her behind a brick wall that he lays all the bricks in. He soon discovers that the cat has disappeared. Upon hearing some screams, the cops arrive and they find them coming from behind the wall. It is broken down and there they find his wife's corpse and the cat. This is a fairly good adaption of a story that I've also seen adapted by EC Comics and Warren.<br />
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Next is "The Castle" by Al Hewetson (story) and John Byrne/Duffy Vohland (art). In this two page story, some construction workers work on demolishing a castle that is in the way of a new highway. One of the workers feels shame and ominous about doing it, but they go ahead and do so, blowing it up with dynamite. Only then do they discover the castle was some kind of prison for a giant monster! The closing caption explains that somehow the castle is rebuilt and the highway is made to go around it. A mere two pages, but the story does mark the professional debut of Byrne.<br />
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<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-6tj_mj0B67g/XlnaafJFCWI/AAAAAAAABk4/PnPqizNALg4XghxW_3wJjVHgbLbyaUqOgCLcBGAsYHQ/s1600/nightmare20-3.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1512" data-original-width="1130" height="320" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-6tj_mj0B67g/XlnaafJFCWI/AAAAAAAABk4/PnPqizNALg4XghxW_3wJjVHgbLbyaUqOgCLcBGAsYHQ/s320/nightmare20-3.jpg" width="239" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">"The Black Cat"</td></tr>
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We wrap up with "I, Gargoyle", the latest story in the Gargoyles series by Al Hewetson (story) and Maelo Cintron (art). Edward is released from jail by Judge Wallace who says he doesn't want to see him in this courtroom again. Upon leaving, Edward along with his wife Mina and son Andrew discover that Edward's autobiography, I, Gargoyle, has been published and is a best seller. Money is rolling in from the book and Edward's agent/ghost writer Paul Hawkins has gotten him spots of TV shows. During one such one, another gargoyle appears, sent by Satan, claiming Edward is an impostor and fights him. Edward is able to defeat him, and realizes that with this happening on TV Edward now has millions of witnesses who have seen that he is not evil but defending himself against Satan. As the story ends, Edward and Mina come upon a castle he has bought, not knowing that Satan has forces waiting here. This series continues to get more and more dreadful. The notion that Paul could have written Edward's biography in mere days and that it would become such a big hit is quite absurd. As we approach the end of Skywald's run I hope we get as few of these Gargoyles stories as possible.<br />
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Quiddityhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13986124694445522253noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9181661843785521752.post-39856325792051027862020-02-22T10:39:00.001-08:002020-02-22T10:39:23.594-08:00Psycho #20<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-G-bqTgwmgD0/XlF1FUIR1pI/AAAAAAAABkE/XkfDzdXDCM0B1Qi4E97hzy-iBzIStBjmACLcBGAsYHQ/s1600/psycho20.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="901" data-original-width="700" height="320" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-G-bqTgwmgD0/XlF1FUIR1pI/AAAAAAAABkE/XkfDzdXDCM0B1Qi4E97hzy-iBzIStBjmACLcBGAsYHQ/s320/psycho20.jpg" width="248" /></a></div>
This issue of Psycho features a cover by Salvador Faba, and is cover dated Augsut 1974.<br />
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First is "The Dead and the Superdead" by Al Hewetson (story) and Jose Cardona (art). This story takes place in a future where the Americas have reverted back to prairies and jungles, and Europe is the center of civilization. Other continents/countries are overrun by Shoggoths, mutant apes and other monsters. We focus on the President of Europe who departs his home, and travels with a homeless orphan girl he found on the street. He speaks of how acts of violence started occurring and aliens arrived, with no bodies, so their minds started occupying human bodies. This results in mass deaths, war and the like. For several pages we see how society further collapsed. The President eventually shows the girl a button he can push which will set off nukes and likely destroy the world. The President is stabbed to death by a maniac soon after and as the story ends we see the girl about to push the button. This story goes a bit all over the place, but Cardona's art is good. Usually he reminds me of Jose Gonzales, but he has several images here reminding me of Rafael Auraleon.<br />
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<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-MDB1g5ODqVA/XlF1IfivvfI/AAAAAAAABkI/NWLrOCq5GsoyfrXqW5KnlXEGHRmZEWg1ACLcBGAsYHQ/s1600/psycho20-1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1576" data-original-width="1170" height="320" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-MDB1g5ODqVA/XlF1IfivvfI/AAAAAAAABkI/NWLrOCq5GsoyfrXqW5KnlXEGHRmZEWg1ACLcBGAsYHQ/s320/psycho20-1.jpg" width="237" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">"The Dead and the Superdead"</td></tr>
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Second is "The Burial Vault of Primal Eld!!!" by Ed Fedory (story) and Antonio Borrell (art). This story's style is extremely confusing, switching back and forth between a pair of soldiers in two storylines; I think the intent is they are the same soldiers? In the first storyline a couple of soldiers fighting in Southeast Asia come across a small town and order some peasants to dig them a trench. When complete, they kill all the peasants. In the second storyline, what I am presuming to be the same soldiers fall into a pit, which they discover to be a tomb. They open a door in the tomb where a giant hand grars them, dragging them to hell. Fedory's poor storytelling reminds me of how confusing his early Skywald stories were.<br />
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Third is an Edgar Allen Poe adaption, "The Masque of the Red Death" with adaption by Al Hewetson and art by Ricardo Villamonte. The plague ravishes the countryside. Yet Prince Prospero summons his friends to his castle, where they keep away from everyone and are happy in their seclusion. To get over the boredom, Prospero decides to have a great ball, where everyone wears masks. And yet during the party a mysterious figure enters, with the mask of one diseased and rotted from the plague. Prospero tries to unmask him, but dies upon touching him, having contracted the plague from him. The other party goers throw themselves at him and all end up perishing from the plague. A decent adaption of a story I recall being adapted several times by Warren as well.<br />
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<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Xx5wVH5CEpk/XlF1NlKo-iI/AAAAAAAABkM/iWeIZozca0oU1SENXPWqC0NYMl27m4YmACLcBGAsYHQ/s1600/psycho20-2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1590" data-original-width="1160" height="320" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Xx5wVH5CEpk/XlF1NlKo-iI/AAAAAAAABkM/iWeIZozca0oU1SENXPWqC0NYMl27m4YmACLcBGAsYHQ/s320/psycho20-2.jpg" width="233" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">"Requiem for a Human Being"</td></tr>
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Fourth is "Tomorrow the Snowman Will Kill You!" by Augustine Funnell (story) and Luis Collado (art). Two men, Todd Williams and Ben Mathenson have traveled into the wintery wastelands hoping to kill a Yeti. That night a trio of Yeti come upon their tent, but not knowing what it is, do nothing. The next morning they see the footprints and head out, eventually coming across the three Yeti as they are about to turn in for the night. However as they aim to shoot the Yetis, they find they are unable to. They instead, due to the influence of the Yetis, turn their guns on each other and kill each other. As the story ends the narrator reveals that the Yeti are an evolved form of man, what we will eventually become. A pretty decent story although I found it funny how much our two protagonists would go on about how killing Yeti would cause women to be attracted to them. Most panels in this story are small, causing Collado's art to not be as strong as I am used to it being.<br />
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Fifth is "Requiem for a Human Being" by Al Hewetson (story) and Antonio Borrell (art). In the jungle of South America, a man named Hawkins leads a rich woman and her two children. She is seeking to find the city of Maa-r, which her husband had searched for a year ago, never returning. Hawkins is killed by a snake, and the tribesmen he hired leave to return to safety, with the woman refusing to go along with them. She and her children eventually find Maa-r, seeing many monstrous bat creatures flying above it. One of the bat creatures fights off the others, and the woman heads to the city, reading a book that says how they will find peace and happiness here, but will never leave. In the final panel we see that she and her children have become bat creatures as well and are reunited with their husband/father. The final panel of this story hints at a sequel; we'll have to wait and see if we get it.<br />
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<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-il_g_EFU7Mk/XlF1UcXqS1I/AAAAAAAABkQ/jvQ_YswIVgsCXCIP5It4-pRESXJR3PNQQCLcBGAsYHQ/s1600/psycho20-3.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1546" data-original-width="1166" height="320" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-il_g_EFU7Mk/XlF1UcXqS1I/AAAAAAAABkQ/jvQ_YswIVgsCXCIP5It4-pRESXJR3PNQQCLcBGAsYHQ/s320/psycho20-3.jpg" width="241" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">"The Freaks"</td></tr>
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Sixth is the latest in the Gargoyles series, "The Freaks" by Al Hewetson (story) and Maelo Cintron (art). Edward sits in jail, awaiting a hearing for his crime of destroying a lion statue. His wife Mina and son Andrew come to visit, telling him they've found a hotel to stay in. While eating out, Mina is approached by a reporter, Paul Hawkins, who has been interested in Edward's story and thinks by writing an autobiography, he can tell his story to the public. Edward agrees and Paul records him as he tells his story so he can write it. When Edward is told by a guard that his wife is not at the hotel, he freaks out, thinking Satan is behind it and breaks out, only to discover that she got a job at a daycare and was there. Edward turns himself back in and returns to jail. The Gargoyle series continues to bore me. Edward is his own worst enemy, getting violent over something that is revealed to not be a big deal at all. Perhaps he should be in jail if he's going to be this out of control. The character Paul is modeled after author Al Hewetson, and an unnamed man he is sitting with is modeled after artist Maelo Cintron.<br />
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Quiddityhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13986124694445522253noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9181661843785521752.post-31934392186845066232020-02-16T09:32:00.000-08:002020-02-16T09:32:15.171-08:00Scream #7<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-OUmUvfsw_6g/Xkl8V2fz2vI/AAAAAAAABjk/qZ7pjRdi96MXv8TFIT4lPje8YVPEq4qiQCLcBGAsYHQ/s1600/scream7.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="519" data-original-width="400" height="320" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-OUmUvfsw_6g/Xkl8V2fz2vI/AAAAAAAABjk/qZ7pjRdi96MXv8TFIT4lPje8YVPEq4qiQCLcBGAsYHQ/s320/scream7.jpg" width="246" /></a>I am back again after a brief absence due to some travel and being sick. Today' I'm covering Scream #7. Manuel Brea Rodriguez provides the cover for this issue, cover dated July 1974.<br />
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First is "Horror Fragments: The Headless Horseman" by Al Hewetson (story) and Ferran Sostres (art). This one pager features the titular Headless Horseman, who came across Ichabod Crane in the famous tale.<br />
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Next is "The Man with No Face" by Al Hewetson (story, credited to Howie Anderson) and Jose Cardona (art). Our protagonist, Al Anderson, is a sailor on board a ship that is destroyed by a storm. Al travels on a raft, and sees mirages, such as a town that doesn't exist, but eventually makes his way to an island. He lives there and even makes a home for himself. One day he comes across a beautiful woman who doesn't speak. She spends the day with him, but when he wakes up that night he finds her missing. He follows her footsteps to a nearby volcano where he finds many more beautiful women. The one he saw earlier tries to pull him away from them, but he stays with the others. The woman leaves them comes back with 2 of Al's shipmates, who also made their way to this island, but now have deformed bodies. Suddenly the women grab a hold of Al and start biting at him. It turns out they are demons. Al and his other shipmates depart the island on their raft, hoping to return to civilization, although deformed. This is a pretty good way to start off the issue and Cardona does a good job drawing some beautiful women, reminding me again of Jose Gonzalez's style. The story reminds me somewhat of "Mates" from Warren's Creepy #64 where a man becomes deformed after sleeping with a number of alien women.<br />
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<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/--HKwREmSZ_Q/Xkl8Y0m_zmI/AAAAAAAABjo/6f9Sq_mGzCM0sZwYSREF82gZBMpNM6OnACLcBGAsYHQ/s1600/scream7-1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1574" data-original-width="1184" height="320" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/--HKwREmSZ_Q/Xkl8Y0m_zmI/AAAAAAAABjo/6f9Sq_mGzCM0sZwYSREF82gZBMpNM6OnACLcBGAsYHQ/s320/scream7-1.jpg" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">"The Man With No Face"</td></tr>
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Third is the latest Nosferatu story, "Satan's Third Reich" by Al Hewetson (story) and Zesar Lopez (art). Nosferatu asks Horsch Heindrich, wearing a goat's mask, to tell his tale. A Nazi soldier during World War II, Heindrich watches as his superiors commit torture and grows fascinated by it. He desires to do it himself and gets together with like minded people after the war is over, forming a coven. Heindrich declares himself leader of the coven, with little reason to back it up, and while they are able to steal many things from churches around Berlin, one of their own gets arrested and gives it all up. Heindrich's coven is forced to go on the run to the mountains. His underlings demand to make a sacrifice, and try to kidnap a young woman, only to be scared off. Heindrich's underlings has had enough of his bad leadership, and makes him their sacrifice! As the story ends Heindrich reveals the gaping hole in his abdomen from when he was sacrificed. The atmosphere of this series continues to be strong, with great art from Zesar, although we are starting to hit a point where the stories are getting a bit repetitive, or at least the endings are. As each tale ends the teller takes off his mask and hood, revealing a rotted, eaten or otherwise deformed body. I think I'd be a bit less kind if the art wasn't so good.<br />
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<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-LEUZDzr0wzg/Xkl8cHleEPI/AAAAAAAABjs/dGC_Yb6ttb0-nRpy13ivORVUQIBItOqawCLcBGAsYHQ/s1600/scream7-2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1596" data-original-width="1208" height="320" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-LEUZDzr0wzg/Xkl8cHleEPI/AAAAAAAABjs/dGC_Yb6ttb0-nRpy13ivORVUQIBItOqawCLcBGAsYHQ/s320/scream7-2.jpg" width="242" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">"Satan's Third Reich"</td></tr>
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Fourth is the Edgar Allen Poe adaption, "Berenice" with adaption by Al Hewetson and art by Ricardo Villamonte. Our protagonist recalls playing with the titular Berenice when they were children. While she was graceful and full of energy, he was sickly and withdrawn. Eventually they grow up and Berenice falls ill from a fatal disease. Despite this our protagonist falls in love with her and they marry. Berenice grows sickly and emaciated and our protagonist starts obsessing over her teeth. Eventually, she dies and is buried. Our protagonist cannot stop thinking of her. Eventually he is come upon, being told that Berenice's grave was tampered with. Our protagonist is discovered to have dirty clothes, and bloody fingers. He discovers a box, and upon opening it finds out that he dug up Berenice and pulled out all of her teeth! A rather memorable Poe story, which I recall being adapted several times by Warren. I don't recall in their adaptions Berenice becoming as ill looking as she does in this adaption, which makes it all the scarier.<br />
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Next is The Saga of the Frankenstein Monster with "The Descent into Hell" by Al Hewetson (story) and Cesar Lopez (art). I'm rather surprised to see the Frankenstein series start up again after they so recently ended it, although this appears like a complete redo, with no connection to the prior stories. Frankenstein's Monster narrates the tale of his creation. Dr. Frankenstein seeked to create a perfect being, and is able to do so; yet when his creation starts moving about and accidentally destroying some equipment, he gets into a rage and chops up his creation repeatedly in the head with an ax. Realizing the mistake he has made, Dr. Frankenstein resurrects his creation, but he is now hideous, so Dr. Frankenstein seeks to kill him again. The monster instead shoves him aside and heads outside, scaring a man along the way. This was a decent enough story, with a slight change in how the Frankenstein story is typically told (with Frankenstein creating him twice).<br />
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<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-inJV3Nws1-4/Xkl8kc51zwI/AAAAAAAABjw/ggRPCFA3Vc8-R1uIKdtgPJb1SbE2IjeCQCLcBGAsYHQ/s1600/scream7-3.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1170" height="320" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-inJV3Nws1-4/Xkl8kc51zwI/AAAAAAAABjw/ggRPCFA3Vc8-R1uIKdtgPJb1SbE2IjeCQCLcBGAsYHQ/s320/scream7-3.jpg" width="234" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">"I Am Horror"</td></tr>
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We wrap up with the second story in the Saga of the Victims series, "I Am Horror" by Al Hewetson (story) and Jesus Suso Rego (art). After a short recap, we continue where we left off, with Anne and Josey confronted by a man who looks like all his skin has been torn off. The man starts babbling on about being horror, asking if they are dreaming and other nonsensical stuff for a few pages. They depart and the man, serving his purpose, dissolves. Anne and Josey head outside, where they find things have returned to normal. A man named S. Paladin shows up and says he can explain, leading them into his car. Once inside he claims to be their tormentor and brings them to his castle in the small country of Cordova. He claims to be 400 years old and leads them to his basement, where he lays in a coffin. Anne and Josey try to escape, fleeing from some snakes and find themselves in a room that suddenly starts shrinking. By shorting out some circuits they are able to escape, finding themselves in a room with 3 female vampires. Paladin appears, and starts pulling off his skin, revealing him to be a robot! He still seems to have the weakness of a vampire though and is destroyed when exposed to sunlight. Anne and Josey flee outside, only to be confronted by a winged dinosaur! Here the story ends. This series continues to be total craziness, with our 2 heroines getting in nightmarish situations one after another. Suso continues to provide some really strong artwork.<br />
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Quiddityhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13986124694445522253noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9181661843785521752.post-49523874764214628862020-01-31T16:23:00.002-08:002020-01-31T16:23:45.349-08:00Psycho #19<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-HW7MD5EZFIY/XjTEyUKicnI/AAAAAAAABjE/iUvAndkIs0Ipy09X1se34uV9fz2LdbK7wCLcBGAsYHQ/s1600/psycho19.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="919" data-original-width="698" height="320" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-HW7MD5EZFIY/XjTEyUKicnI/AAAAAAAABjE/iUvAndkIs0Ipy09X1se34uV9fz2LdbK7wCLcBGAsYHQ/s320/psycho19.jpg" width="243" /></a></div>
Sebastia Boada provides the cover for this issue of Psycho, cover dated July 1974.<br />
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The frontispiece is "Old Horrors" by Al Hewetson (story) and Domingo Gomez (art). It features a young woman being pursued from a man coming out of a coffin.<br />
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First story is Lady Satan in "The Son of Lord Lucifer" by Al Hewetson (story, credited to Edward Farthing) and Pablo Marcos (art). Marcos makes his first appearance for a new story in a while. Lady Satan is now with Satan's child. She knows that once Anne retakes control of her body, she will try to destroy it and has herself bound to a bed. Anne wakes back up and knows that the only way to kill Satan's child is to kill herself. Later Anne awakens again while not bound and tries to kill herself, first by jumping off a cliff, then stabbing herself to no luck. She is able to throw herself into a fire, horrifically burning herself and killing the baby. This part of the series ends here, and this would end up being the final part, either dropped by Skywald or perhaps a victim of the entire line's cancellation that happens later. I never particularly cared for this series, with the same gimmick of Lady Satan and Anne taking control of the same body getting old a long time ago.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-aw3MWotXmQg/XjTE1Sv9dnI/AAAAAAAABjI/11vHgJXYrBQ7ZbFWsTAJHQYM5N_KfjQhgCLcBGAsYHQ/s1600/psycho19-1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="965" data-original-width="735" height="320" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-aw3MWotXmQg/XjTE1Sv9dnI/AAAAAAAABjI/11vHgJXYrBQ7ZbFWsTAJHQYM5N_KfjQhgCLcBGAsYHQ/s320/psycho19-1.jpg" width="243" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">"Old Horrors"</td></tr>
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Next is "Like a Bat Outta Hell" by Al Hewetson (story, credited to Howie Anderson) and Ricardo Villamonte (story). Our protagonist is an older man who has always been interested in inventing things. Unfortunately for him, his devices often stop working or malfunction in key moments, causing him to be shunned. He decides to move to Europe, buy a castle and turn it into an amusement park. One of his inventions though, a giant mechanical bird runs amok and kills a girl. The townsfolk gather, wanting to kill him and take revenge. Upon coming to the castle much of his devices such as robot alligators and knights also run amok, killing many. They finally come up on him and our protagonist says he's had enough. He chops up his own body with an ax, revealing he was a robot! A crazy ending to a rather crazy story!<br />
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Third is "The Yeti" by Al Hewetson (story) and Alphonso Font (art). A town in Switzerland is ravaged by the titular Yeti, who is quite strong but not intelligent. It kills person after person, all those standing in its way. A man covered in shadows claims he is the only one who can stop it. He heads into the town and successfully strangles the Yeti, then leaves. The man returns to his home where we discover he's Frankenstein's monster! A rather simple story with a funny and unexpected ending.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-58EpzvLvUnk/XjTE4rkQZtI/AAAAAAAABjM/l4LLZJPlTzYkxGMh26Cd_eu6W63KcLR9QCLcBGAsYHQ/s1600/psycho19-2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="968" data-original-width="738" height="320" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-58EpzvLvUnk/XjTE4rkQZtI/AAAAAAAABjM/l4LLZJPlTzYkxGMh26Cd_eu6W63KcLR9QCLcBGAsYHQ/s320/psycho19-2.jpg" width="243" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">"Ligeia"</td></tr>
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Fourth is "Ligeia", an adaption of the Edgar Allen Poe story by Al Hewetson, with art by Jesus Duran. This is a fairly basic story, plot-wise. The protagonist falls in love with the tall brunette Ligeia, but she dies of an illness. He drowns in his sorrows by taking opium, but eventually marries another woman, the blonde haired Rowena, whom he does not love. Then she falls sick and dies too. While at her side all he can think of is Ligeia. Rowena's body rises, but removing its veil reveals it is the corpse of Ligeia instead. He kisses her then rots away himself. The ending is somewhat changed from the original story; while Ligeia is resurrected my recollection was it was not as a corpse, nor does the protagonist rot away himself.<br />
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Fifth is "Hell is on Earth!" the second story in the Revenge of Dracula series by Al Hewetson (story) and Emilio Bernardo (art). When we last left this storyline, Vlad had fakes his own death but now finds he must hide out. He finds a shack where he rests, and there lives an old woman who worships Lucifer. She tells him she seeks to give great power and embraces him. We find she is a vampire and she bites him, turning him into the first male vampire. He then heads out, turning into a bat and comes before some people, revealing he has power over them, including convincing a woman to stab herself. Bernardo turns in a really strong first page of artwork here, after that it reverts to his usual level of work.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-shBIcz8LgD8/XjTE_-k-S_I/AAAAAAAABjQ/XfPDl5MjBE0R5HBcTSRP00PSz9J0A0hSQCLcBGAsYHQ/s1600/psycho19-3.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="945" data-original-width="714" height="320" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-shBIcz8LgD8/XjTE_-k-S_I/AAAAAAAABjQ/XfPDl5MjBE0R5HBcTSRP00PSz9J0A0hSQCLcBGAsYHQ/s320/psycho19-3.jpg" width="241" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">"And in this Land... A Monster"</td></tr>
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We wrap up with the Monster, Monster series with "And in this Land... A Monster" by Augustine Funnell (story) and Ricardo Villamonte (art). Our werewolf protagonist, in his human form, has come to America, under the name Vincent Crayne, seeking to find the American woman who took the amulet in the prior stories. While walking down an alley, he is mugged, but changes into a werewolf and slaughters his muggers. He realizes someone saw him and chases him, only to discover another werewolf! He knocks the other werewolf out, lets a hippie who saw it go, and then turns back into human. Realizing what he's done, he brings him to the room he is staying in, waiting for him to wake up. The setting for this series changes and this is at least a little more interesting than the last few parts, but I'd much rather see this series put to rest so we could get something new.Quiddityhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13986124694445522253noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9181661843785521752.post-44227127193892867452020-01-26T10:25:00.002-08:002020-01-26T10:25:29.837-08:00Scream #6<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-N_keMjZvwh0/Xi3ZVMGxfiI/AAAAAAAABig/wfqaN3rPilw25NGkfjtQaPYAn7nAaD-SgCLcBGAsYHQ/s1600/scream6.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="665" data-original-width="516" height="320" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-N_keMjZvwh0/Xi3ZVMGxfiI/AAAAAAAABig/wfqaN3rPilw25NGkfjtQaPYAn7nAaD-SgCLcBGAsYHQ/s320/scream6.jpg" width="248" /></a>Salvador Faba provides the cover for this issue of Scream, cover dated June 1974.<br />
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First is "The Vampire of the Opera" by Al Hewetson (story) and Ricardo Villamonte (art). The story begins at a funeral home as our protagonist, Clayton Stokes, a vampire is cremated while in a coffin. We then learn of Clayton's backstory. Grown up in Harlem, he was a bad kid from a young age, a thief, a murderer and by the age of 21 had built himself up quite a bit in the criminal world until a beating from his enemies causes him to lose his reputation. He flees to Switzerland where he falls in love with and marries a beautiful young noble woman, Countess Lugos, after murdering her grandfather. Her uncle comes to stay with them and he soon discovers both are vampires and they turn him into one too. Clayton kills the uncle then his wife and returns to Manhattan where he slays criminals and sleeps in an opera house. He is able to escape from authorities by turning into a bat, but upon returning is confronted by his own father, who is brandishing a cross and ashamed of his son's actions. Clayton eventually kills him before a crowd and is beaten by them, then put in the coffin where he is cremated. A lengthy, but fairly good story to kick off the issue. Villamonte's art is quite inconsistent though, ranging from quite good at times to quite poor at others.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-OlMZn-9XLZk/Xi3ZYLGgcDI/AAAAAAAABik/KTOJ42GmFwgf7h85M9Ap3q7TGFKx2lzpwCLcBGAsYHQ/s1600/scream6-1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="968" data-original-width="726" height="320" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-OlMZn-9XLZk/Xi3ZYLGgcDI/AAAAAAAABik/KTOJ42GmFwgf7h85M9Ap3q7TGFKx2lzpwCLcBGAsYHQ/s320/scream6-1.jpg" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">"The Vampire of the Opera"</td></tr>
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Next is "Ms. Found in a Bottle", an adaption of the Edgar Allen Poe story, with Al Hewetson doing the adaption and Alphonso Font doing the art. A man comes across a bottle, inside is a manuscript/journal entry written some 20 years prior. It speaks of a man who was on a ship in the ocean, but when it was struck by a great storm everyone else on board died. The man eventually sees another, far larger ship approaching, which destroys his ship. He is able to go on board though, finding it fill of ancient looking men who do not even acknowledge him. The man stays on the ship and writes his journal, believing that he is on a ship of the dead as it seems invulnerable even as icebergs smash through it. As the story ends we see the ship sinking into a whirlpool by the south pole. This story is similar in nature to "Descent into the Maelstrom", another Poe tale, although more macabre in tone.<br />
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Third is "Frakenstein 2073: Death of the Monster" by Al Hewetson (story) and Cesar Lopez (art). Frankenstein's monster awakens and finds he is now in the year 2073, an age where nearly all men have died out due to a disease that has come in from space. The few men still alive are in captivity by women, forced to father more children so the species will continue. A woman finds the monster and brings him to her queen. Along the way we have a 2 page recap of the monster's creation (making sense given how sporadically this series appears). The monster reaches the queen, but refuses to be her king or father any children. He lies down and dies, and this series comes to a close. The monster finds himself in a quite an enviable position, yet decides its not for him and dies (although with no explanation how). This is described as the final part to the series although it says if demand is there, it may be brought back. This was a fairly decent series, but that was mostly back in Skywald's early days when Tom Sutton was creating it.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">"Nosferatu"</td></tr>
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Fourth is the latest story in the Nosferatu series, "... and the Gutters Ran with Blood" by Al Hewetson (story) and Zesar Lopez (art). Nosferatu calls for Jacques Dupoin, who wears a rat mask to tell his story next. Jacques was once a detective in Paris, but he fell for a beautiful woman who used information he gave her to blackmail a politician. Jacques is found out, fired and the woman leaves him as well. He is cast from society and reduced to working in the sewers. There he decides that he will become a great criminal. He plots to steal a painting from the Louvre, but once inside he is found out. He flees to the sewers. He is shocked to find out that it was the woman who ratted him out and he is shot, falling back into the sewers where the rats consume his body. Back in the present he takes off his mask and hood, revealing his mostly eaten body. This series continues to be one of the biggest highlights of Scream, providing strong art from Zesar and some interesting and moody anthology tales.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-pI37y69UzkI/Xi3Zf4033UI/AAAAAAAABis/edi4WlnBT3Exx2tWSKyKozRbidyRpzT0ACLcBGAsYHQ/s1600/scream6-3.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="983" data-original-width="730" height="320" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-pI37y69UzkI/Xi3Zf4033UI/AAAAAAAABis/edi4WlnBT3Exx2tWSKyKozRbidyRpzT0ACLcBGAsYHQ/s320/scream6-3.jpg" width="237" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">"The Saga of the Victims"</td></tr>
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We conclude with the first story in "The Saga of the Victims" series, titled "What is Horror? No, Who is Horror?" by Al Hewetson (story) and Jesus Suso Rego (art). Josey Forster and Anne Adams are students at Scollard Manse in Manhattan. One night upon returning to their dorms from a date they are grabbed by strange looking mutant humanoid creatures who bring them down with them through some tunnels. They eventually bring them to some stocks, where they are bound up and a hooded woman comes out telling them they are on trial for trespassing and will be tortured until dead. They are then brought by the mutants into a padded cell. Anne is able to strangle one of the mutants who comes in the cell and they flee. While watching the hooded figure they realize it is their headmistress, Jaspers. They follow her up some stairs, get into a confrontation and upon fighting over a torch, Jaspers is killed. Upon making it up to the streets of Manhattan they realize that they are the only 2 normal people and everyone now looks like one of the mutants. Suddenly they are grabbed via plastic bags that fall on them from above and are pulled up on top of a building by a normal looking man who says he is a doctor. The man speaks in riddles, saying that Horror is who is behind all of this. He leaves them in a room and soon comes in a man with no skin! This is one of Skywald's more well known series, in particular for Suso's strong art and the rather nonsensical plot, made to be as unpredictable as possible. And this opening story certainly delivers. Suso provides some of the best art we've seen in a Skywald story yet and it is an off the wall story, especially with its ending. I look forward to the several more stories we will be getting in this series.<br />
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Quiddityhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13986124694445522253noreply@blogger.com0