Psycho #24

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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!

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.

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.

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!

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.

Psycho #23

Sebastian Boada provides the cover for this issue of Psycho, cover dated January 1975.

We start with the frontispiece, "People of the Dark" by Robert E. Howard (story) and Gene Day (art).

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.

"Midnight in Wax!"

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.

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.

"The Werevampirewolf"

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.

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.

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!

"The Man of the Crowd"

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

The issue concludes with a one page Zombie Pin-up by Gene Day.

Scream #10

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.

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.

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.

"My Flesh Crawls"

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.

"The Murders in the Rue Morgue"

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.

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.

"In His Master's Blood"

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.

NIghtmare #20

Sebastian Boada provides the cover for this issue of Nightmare, cover dated August 1974.

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.

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.

"The Scream and the Nightmare"

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.

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.

"A Tale of Horror"

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.

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.

"The Black Cat"

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.

Psycho #19

Sebastia Boada provides the cover for this issue of Psycho, cover dated July 1974.

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.

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.

"Old Horrors"

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!

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.

"Ligeia"

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.

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.

"And in this Land... A Monster"

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.

Nightmare #19

Been a busy month for me, but I'm back with another issue of Nightmare; Sebastia Boada provides the cover which is dated June 1974.

First is the frontispiece "The Hounds of the Baskervilles" by Al Hewetson (story) and Ferran Sostres (art).

Next is the first full length story, "What the Hell is Dracula Doing Alive and Well in 1974?!" by Al Hewetson (story) and Ricardo Villamonte (art, miscredited to Jesus Duran). The story starts quite absurd, Dracula comes across a man in an alley and tells him he can make him a vampire if he pays him $10,000! The story then moves ahead to a while later. Many rich people have come to Dracula's castle in Romania where he refuses their money, but plans to still make them vampires as they desire. He reveals a new plan however, to establish a society under the sea. He brings them there, saying he has already brought many here to what he will call Transylvania II. When they arrive however, they are shocked to find everyone dead! A part fish part man monster has killed them all. In flashback we find that the creature had hoped to become part of the society but was shunned, so she attacked and killed them all. She kills even Dracula, tearing his head off his body and as the story ends we are told the creature will make the remains of Dracula's body her mate. This story is another one of those really ridiculous, over the top Skywald stories and I loved it quite a bit. Pretty much the whole plot is quite absurd and ridiculous, but I feel that is when Hewetson is at his best.

"What the Hell is Dracula Doing Alive and Well in 1974?!"

Third is "William Wilson", an adaption of the Edgar Allen Poe story by Al Hewetson, with art by Alphonso Font. The titular William is surprised when he finds another student who looks just like him and has the same name, although he is quite evil and even witnesses him stabbing someone. Years pass and upon turning 21, William inherits a vast fortune and starts participating in debaucheries. During this time he doesn't see the other William or even think of him. Eventually the other William appears though to stop him pursuing a woman, then to reveal him as a cheater at gambling, which gets him kicked out of Oxford. The other William continues to appear as he flees throughout many countries, and William decides to kill him. He successfully slays him with a sword, at which point William himself also dies and we realize the other self was his conscience. I have never read this Poe story, so I'm not sure how accurate an adaption it is. I can say the ending was extremely predictable from the start, perhaps that is why it is not as well known as some other Poe stories. Font continues to provide a fairly good art job.

Fourth is another story in the Shoggoths series, "The Vault" by Al Hewetson (story, credited to Howie Anderson) and Jose Cardona (art). Hewetson himself is again the star of the story, traveling through the area of Kilmarnock in Scotland. He talks to a man on the train who tells him Shoggoths had lived around there. Along with Jose Cardona, Hewetson returns to the Welloch Gravesite that he had visited before and they dig some graves up at night. A night later they find a Shoggoth in the graveyard, having eaten a body. They flee, making their way into a vault held by Hewetson's family where they are confronted by a Shoggoth and crush it with a coffin. They continue down into a city beneath the ground occupied by the Shoggoths. Hewetson and Cardona go to the police, the government, etc... but no one believes them so they blow up the city with dynamite, having found the Shoggoths have already left. Another fairly good story in this series; Cardona provides some good art and Hewetson continues to be really good at aping Lovecraft's literary style.

"The Kingdom of the Dead"

Fifth is "Tales out of Hell: The Kingdom of the Dead" by Al Hewetson (story) and Jesus Duran (art). The young boy Walter Thurber is caught sleeping in class with fake glasses and we find that he loves to daydream and fantasize. In another lecture the teacher talks about a myth from Crete, where the wind turns into a human form, the God Darbaras Doom. Darbaras seeks to take down the evil queen Melinia, but her guards are able to defeat him and the teacher says that history is less romantic than myth. Walter says however that he actually was there, as Darbaras, and it didn't happen that way. In actuality Darbaras had defeated Melinia, but she told him there was another ruler above her and she could make him her king. This results in him staying with her, but when he realizes it was all a ruse, he kills her by cutting off her head, just as a revolution starts occurring. We head back to the present where Walter goes into some sort of self-induced suspended animation. His doctors believe he is the reincarnated Darbaras Doom. With this the story ends, although it indicates there will be another part. Duran's art is quite good here (I particularly like his job on Melinia), but the story itself is a bit confusing and hard to get at times.

Next is "My Tomb is My Castle", the latest in the Autobiography of a Vampire series by Al Hewetson (story) and Ricardo Villamonte (art). Judas the vampire tells of how once upon a time he had lived in a house, around 100 years ago in Georgia. Judas watches a funeral, as an old man sadly buries his wife and is left by his children. Judas feels sorry for him and helps him when he falls (as it is revealed the old man is blind). The kindly old man lets Judas stay with him for a while and tells him of various stories of his wife. Eventually Judas grows to dislike him and in an argument over a fire, he ends up burning down the old man's home and leaving. It is here where story reveals that Judas was the one who killed the old man's wife by draining her blood. While I've never been much of a fan of Villamonte's art, the writing in this series continues to be pretty good and this is the best story in it yet. I loved the twist.

"My Tomb is My Castle"

We conclude with the latest in the Gargoyles series, "The Human Gargoyles vs. the United States of America" by Al Hewetson (story) and Maelo Cintron (art). The gargoyles - Edward, Mina and their son Andrew finish traveling the southern states of the US and return to Manhattan where they have their day in immigration court. Judge Wallace permits them to stay in the US and they head outside, stopping by a public library. Edward senses evil from the lion statue there, and fearing it will attack some nearby civilians fights and destroys it. No one else sees the lion move though and Edward is thrown in jail for destroying it. Judge Wallace briefly visits him but he will have to stay in jail for the time being. This series continues to hold little interest for me, and I am surprised at how overboard the punishment is for destroying the statue. I get a fine, but going to jail over it? Seems pretty ridiculous to me. A mediocre end to what is a fairly good issue.

Nightmare #17

Sebastian Boada provides the cover for this issue of Nightmare, cover dated February 1974. Vampires dominate this issue, with 4 out of the 6 full length stories including them.

First is "The End of All Vampires" by Al Hewetson (story, credited as Howie Anderson) and Jesus Suso Rego (art). When a college professor outlines to his class plans to kill all vampires, he brings the hunchback Dean of the University, Grieves in to speak with the class. Grieves speaks of how a female student at the university, named Sancho is in fact a vampire. Many men she has come in contact with have died anemia shortly afterwards. When Sancho is followed she is witnessed embracing a vampire in a graveyard and they are both taken into custody. Examination shows the man to be decomposing and Sancho to be in her 80s despite looking the age of a college student. When Grieves confronts Sancho and convinces her to talk, she reveals how she was born 100 years before and her gypsy parents showed her around as a vampire as a child. When a real vampire came across them he bit her, turning her into one. Despite revealing all, Grieves stakes her in the heart, killing her. The class over, Grieves returns, alone to a lair in the basement where we find that he is not a hunchback but has been hiding his wings and is in fact a true vampire himself, seeking to kill all human vampires. The highlight of this story is the art, Suso providing arguably his best performance yet. Sancho appears modeled after Carol de Haro, who modeled for many of the Selecciones Illustrada artists such as Luis Garcia and Jose Gonzalez. We have a fairly strong story here as well.

"The End of All Vampires"

Next is "The Vampire out of Hell" by Al Hewetson (story, credited as Edward Farthing) and Ricardo Villamonte (art). Photographer Tony Jones speaks of Sonia Greene, a colleague of his who insists they go on an expedition in South America. He and several other men follow her. When their guides tell them they have approached a forbidden city and can't go any further, Sonia insists continuing, even if the natives flee. As they approach the city several vampire bats arrive as well as a gorilla-like beast and bring Tony and another man into the forbidden city where Sonia is sat on a throne as their new queen. Tony's colleague David is killed, his blood drunk by her new subjects. Tony demands she speak to this act yet she says not a word and he curses her as he is killed as well. As the story concludes we find that Sonia has not spoken because her new "subjects" have removed her tongue. While this story has a decent ending to it, we never get an explanation for why Sonia was so insistent they head to the forbidden city in the first place. The quality of Villamonte's art wildly fluctuates throughout this story, at times reminding me of Esteban Maroto's work, but in other panels looking rather sloppy.

Third is "The Night in the Horror-Hotel" by Al Hewetson (story) and Jesus Duran (art). Reed and Anne, newlyweds traveling through a storm the night of their wedding are forced to stop at a hotel staffed entirely by freaks. After the freaks perform for them, Reed and Anne start getting freaked out, causing the freaks to tell them their sad story of how they purchased this hotel, hoping to do something other than work for a circus, yet any guest has the same horrified reaction. That night, Anne discovers Reed not in their bed but with the freaks and demands they leave. Reed states that this is in fact his home and he is a freak as well, revealing a third eye on her forehead. Anne reveals that she has a third eye herself though, realizing they were meant for each other. That night we get one final twist however, Anne is not human but an alien and contacts her superiors and is told she can stay with and mate with him as part of her mission. An overall strong story and Duran provides some good art as usual.

"The Night in the Horror-Hotel"

Fourth is "The Psycho" by Al Hewetson (story) and Ruben Sosa (art). Our protagonist, a reporter named Ralph tells us his story and how he came across a photo of a girl with two pin holes in her neck, believed to be a bite from a vampire by one of his colleagues. Ralph doesn't believe it but while walking outside at night sees the vampire attacking a woman. His boss wants him to go out and track down the vampire, so Ralph arms himself with silver bullets. Eventually he comes across the vampire again and threatens him. The vampire provides him a proposition however and Ralph takes him up on it, becoming a vampire himself. This is a so-so story, whose end twist is repeated two stories later in this same issue. I thought silver bullets were for werewolves, not vampires!

Fifth is "The Inquisition" by Al Hewetson (story, credited to Joe Dentyn) and Lombardia (art). In Salem an old woman is tortured by several hooded men, who declare her to be a witch. She says no to all their questions. Eventually they tell her that if she reveals she is a witch they will have mercy on her. Lying, she says she is a witch and they chop her head off. The men then take off their masks and we find that they are newspaper reporters who are doing heinous acts like this so they will have something good to report on. Lombardia's art is fairly strong here as is the twist at the end of the story, something that seems less and less unusual in the age of "fake news" that we live in now.

"The Inquisition"

Sixth is "The Auto-biography of a Vampire, Chapter 1" by Al Hewetson (story) and Ricardo Villamonte (art). Our titular vampire tells his story, calling himself Judas. He speaks of how he grew up in Spain in the 17th century in a rural town. One day a vampire comes by, strikes down his father and drinks the blood from both his parents. Seeing Judas cry, the vampire decides to take him with him and burns down his home. Yet when the vampire, named Prince Rodion Zosimov, a Russian noble, arrives at his castle he wonders why he even brought Judas with him and casts him out. An old silversmith takes Judas in. When Judas grows up he confronts Rodion, shooting him in the head, only for Rodion's head to come back together; as a vampire he can't die this way. He offers Judas the opportunity to become a vampire and he accepts, then immediately backstabs Rodion by staking him in the chest. We return to the present, where Judas tells us of how he regrets his decision all these years later due to having to live as a vampire. Here the story ends, but the Chapter 1 designation makes me wonder if this will be a continuing series. This story contains several instances of real life photographs being used for certain panels.

The back cover features the one page "The Lunatic Creations of Edgar Allen Poe" by Al Hewetson (story) and Domingo Gomez (art). This provides some brief highlights of Poe stories like The Pit and the Pendulum, Murders in the Rue Morgue, Descent into the Maelstrom and The Tell-Tale Heart.