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.

Nightmare #23

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.

Gene Day draws the one page frontispiece, advertising the next issue of Psycho.

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.

"Tradition of the Wolf"

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.

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.

"Death Walk"

Next is "Time for Living, Time for Dying", a brief text feature by Al Hewetson with a page of art by Gene Day.

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.

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.

"The Thing in the Ragged Mountains"

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.

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.

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.

Nightmare #22

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.

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.

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.

"Mercy, Mercy, Cries the Monster"

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.

"When I Was a Boy I Watched the Blood-Wolves"

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.

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!

"Kill, Kill, Kill and Kill Again"

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).

"The War of the Hell-Damned"

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.

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.

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 1974 Yearbook

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.

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.

"The God of the Dead"

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.

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.

"A Rotttin "Deal"

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.

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.

"Hag of the Blood Basket!"

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.

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.