Psycho #21

Prieto Muriana provides the cover for this issue of Psycho, cover dated October 1974.

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.

"The Facts in the Case of M. Valdemar"

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.

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.

"The Ghost of the Corpse"

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.

"Maxwell's Blood Hammer"

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.

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.

Nightmare #21

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.

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.

"Let Her Rot in Hell"

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.

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.

"The Cosmos Strain"

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.

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.

"Sleep"

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.

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.

Scream #9

Time for another issue of Scream! This issue is cover dated September 1974 and has a cover by Salvador Faba.

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.

"Down to Hades... To Die!"

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.

"Who Killed the Shark?"

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.

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.

"I Am Treachery... I Am Horror"

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.

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.

Scream #8

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.

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.

"My Prison in Hell"

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.

"The Slither Slime Man Rises Again"

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.

"I... Am Torment"

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.

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.

Psycho 1974 Yearbook

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.

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.

"The Brides of the Frankensteins"

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.

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!

"Slime World"

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.

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.

"The Deadly Mark of the Beast"

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.

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.

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.