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.

Psycho #22

Prieto Muriana provides the cover for this issue of Psycho, cover dated November 1974. This issue is all reprints with the exception of the first story.

Our sole new story for this issue is "Die, Frankenstein's Monster!", a continuation of the new Frankenstein series recently started up in Scream. It is written by Al Hewetson and has art by Cesar Lopez. The monster begins the story with the origins of the term Prometheus, which was used for the subtitle of Mary Shelly's original novel of Frankenstein "The Modern Prometheus". Frankenstein's monster travels through the mountains of Romania, finding an injured goat and bringing it to a cave, where he finds two coffins. He opens one and finds a man inside, Dracula, who immediately attacks him. The monster eventually knocks Dracula out only to be bitten in the neck by his female companion, who finds his blood muccused and disgusting. Dracula and Frankenstein tell each other their stories. Dracula's companion, Leah, comes up with a name for the monster, Damon, and the two kiss. When Dracula heads out in bat form to find some food, Leah reveals to Damon that the story Dracula told him of his origins, about him being a force for good is all lies, and that the power of vampirism is given by Satan. Dracula returns. He and Damon argue, and Dracula puts Leah under a trance, but finds that with the sun coming out, he must rest. He tells Damon to take Leah and go. Upon carrying Leah outside, Damon finds that her body immediately decomposes due to exposure to the sun. The shadow of Damon holding Leah's body forms a cross, which also kills Dracula. This was a fairly good story, with some decent art as well. A good thing we got some quality with our only new story of the issue.

"Die, Frankenstein's Monster!"

Next is "Revolution" by Rick Margopoulos (story) and Tom Sutton/Dan Adkins (art), originally published in Psycho #2. On the Planet Sade slaves are constantly forced to fight in "games", battles in a coliseum against giant monsters. The King upon hearing of a possible rebellion instead desires more slaves to fight in more games to quell the populace. So the games become more and more severe, leading to a revolt by the citizenry, who also release all the monsters. The King and his men are forced to flee the planet on a spaceship, landing on another one where carnivorous plants soon attack them. The men flee towards what appears to be a city sitting atop a lake. The king tosses away all his underlings and his own daughter to save his own hide, only to realize that the lake itself is a blob-like entity that consumes him. Adkins' work is barely noticeable on this story, making it look like a Sutton solo story.

Third is "The Vow!" by Pat Boyette (story & art), originally published in Psycho #6. An aristocrat named Aaron becomes a single father when his wife dies from the plague. The plague ravishing the countryside and the aristocrats being slayed by the common folk, he flees, eventually finding work as an overseer of the disposal of the bodies of those who died from the plague. Aaron soon realizes with horror that his daughter Cassandra thinks dead bodies are real and her friends! Time passes, and Cassandra starts a relationship with a local ruffian named Andrew who is rumored to be the paramour of the Empress. Aaron is scared of what will happen if she finds out about the affair, but Cassandra says she'd rather die than be without him. Aaron comes to a good solution; he rats out Andre to the Emperor, who has Andrew killed, then due to his job collects his body and provides Cassandra his body! Its always a joy to read a Pat Boyette horror story.

"The Vow"

Next is "Birth Announcement" by Al Hewetson (story) and Ramon Torrents (art), originally printed in the Psycho 1972 Annual. In this brief four page story, a man is anxious as his wife is about to give birth. He thinks of how he met his wife when he saw her swimming in the coast of Cape Cod. His wife is soon revealed to be a mermaid, and she has given birth to a large number of eggs which they bring home with them, waiting for them to hatch. A rather predictable ending to this story, but Torrents' art is excellent as usual. The story is said to take place in the town of Winchester by Cape Cod, but as someone who lives in Massachusetts, I can say the town of Winchester is actually nowhere close to Cape Cod.

Next is "Phantom of the Rock Era" by Chuck McNaughton (story) and Ralph Reese (art), originally published in Nightmare #4. A young woman, Lala, sees Roddy Skeane, a guitarist and singer perform at a club and decides to hook her ride to his, thinking he will eventually become famous. Lala is rather disgusted by his ugly face, but is convinced he will become famous and loves the lavish lifestyle she is hoping to get for them. Eventually Roddy reveals the rest of his band to Lala, and she finds out they all had died in a witchcraft ceremony and have been resurrected from the dead! Roddy wants her to join them permanently and sacrifices her so she can come back from the dead like them. I wasn't the biggest fan of this story, but Reese does a great job with the art.

Sixth is "The Midnight Slasher" by Doug Moench (story) and Pablo Marcos (art), originally published in Psycho #6. A killer known as the Midnight Slasher haunts the streets, stabbing to death any innocent bystander that comes upon him. A maid, Miss Watts, tends to a young woman she serves, only for her to be the next victim! Watts talks to the local constable, who has raised suspicion for himself due to how quickly he makes it to the murder scenes. He comes across Miss Watts later that night by a bell tower, where Watts is revealed to by the slasher, only for her to be crushed by the bell! This story packs a double twist in the end, with it not being enough for Watts to be revealed as the Slasher (which was pretty predictable anyway).

"Within the Torture Chamber"

Seventh is "Within the Torture Chamber" by Kevin Pagan (story) and Doug Wildey (art), originally published in Nightmare #5. Wildey does a good job here, providing artwork that reminds me of Angelo Torres. The story takes place in Spain in the 16th century, where a woman is executed by torture, after having had her tongue torn out. The judge and executioners leave only for a noble, Don Alexander to come down, and speak to her body, revealing he falsely had her accused because she spurned him, resulting in her execution. The judge, who had heard it all fights Alexander but is slain by his sword. Alexander flees, but goes back for his sword, not wanting evidence left behind. He starts getting quite nervous however, and the judge rises, tearing out his tongue and chaining him to the wall. The ending to this story was somewhat confusing (I have included my interpretation here).

Last is "Vault of a Vampire", featuring Al Hewetson for the story and Serg Moren for the art. This story was originally published in Nightmare #3 and was actually Hewetson's first story for Skywald. A vampire stalks ancient Rome, attacking someone in the Arena, and having previously appeared at other crowded events. A trio of men seek to destroy the vampire. During its latest attack, they follow the vampire to the graveyard and the crypt where it makes its home. They wait outside the blocked entrance, thinking they can wait out the vampire. A couple of weeks pass and they break in, finding that the vampire has started devouring its own flesh. They then kill it with swords. I question Hewetson's knowledge of vampires in this story, it should be seeking to drink blood, not consume flesh...

Gene day provides a one page pin up feature on the back cover.

Psycho #9

Domingo Gomez provides the cover for this issue of Psycho, featuring the character Slither-Slime Man. This issue is cover dated November 1972. Skywald continues to hit its stride, giving us a strong issue.

On the 2 page title of contents page we also get an introduction from the Slither-Slime Man drawn by Pablo Marcos.

Its "The Slither-Slime Man" yet again in the first story of the issue, written by Al Hewetson and drawn by Pablo Marcos. We meet him on the first page as he digs up a corpse, strangles it then grabs a hold of the skull. The sheriff gets frustrated with the grave being dug up, something which has happened before and visits the head of the local asylum, Fillius, thinking it is one of his patients. They take a hold of one of them, who likes to pull the heads off of rats, but when another grave is defiled they realize its not him. The sheriff thinks it may be Fillius, and when they come across him shoots him dead. Later than night he comes across an old crippled man in the rain, at his wife's grave and beats him to death with his crutch. He makes the mistake of standing on the grave of the real Slither-Slime Man, who rises up out of it and strangles him, pulling his head off. A fairly decent story with some good art by Marcos, but the character of Fillius looks just like the Slither-Slime Man which led to some confusion on my part.

We meet the "Slither Slime Man"

Second story is "The Ghastly Reunion" by Doug Moench (story) and Ramon Torrents (art). Gene is concerned that his young wife Bonnie is in love with Steve, a hired hand on their farm. He plots to "accidentally" kill Steve while hunting, shooting him with an arrow. He then buries his body. Bonnie, who really was in love with Steve, finds and digs up his grave, causing Gene to bury her alive with him.  Gene soon finds both of them out of their grave and attacking him however. It is revealed that Steve was a vampire, and while the arrow should have killed him, by burying Bonnie alive with him she was able to pull it out and turn her into a vampire as well. Torrents as always provides a really strong art performance, and we get a fairly strong story as well.

Third is "...Suffer the Little Children" by Al Hewetson (story) and Xavier Villanova (art). This story is identified as being a sequel to the 1891 novel Turn of the Screw by Henry James. A new governess arrives at a mansion to take care of two young children, Flora and Miles. She soon finds out from the maid that they are emotionally disturbed children and their brother had died just a few months ago. The governess soon starts seeing ghosts. She is told more by the maid, who reveals that Flora and Miles actually murdered their older brother Thomas because he was their father's favorite. She also claims the former governess, Jessel, and the butler, Peter were evil people. Peter eventually beat Jessel to death and then hung himself. Upon bringing up Thomas to the children, Miles and Flora get upset at the governess, and then the ghost of Peter appears. The governess realizes the children are possessed and brings them to their father. After she leaves, we realize the truth, that Thomas' spirit has possessed their father, and that Miles and Flora are in fact possessed by the spirits of Peter and Jessel. A bit over complicated, but I enjoyed this story quite a lot as well.

Ending of "Suffer the Little Children"

Fourth is "A Plot of Dirt" by Doug Moench (story) and Felipa Dela Rosa (art). Philip Davoren rises from his grave as a rotting corpse and is compelled to go to the home of a man named Craig. Craig is standing in a pentagram and has summoned Philip back from the dead in order to make him suffer. He orders him to go to the home of a woman named Mary. We soon realize that Mary was Philip's lover when he was alive, and her rejection of Craig in favor of Philip caused Craig to kill him. Philip has been ordered to kill Mary, but refuses to do so. He instead returns to Craig's home and by causing a chandelier to fall, crushes and kills Craig. The authorities then arrive and attack Philip with a flame thrower, burning up his body entirely, which holds a rose he held towards the story's beginning. I enjoyed this story quite a lot and consider it my favorite of the issue. Dela Rosa's often ugly looking art suits the story quite well and I enjoyed seeing a story told from the perspective of a revived corpse.

The sympathetic hero of "A Plot of Dirt"... a corpse!

Fifth is "A Question of Identity!!!" by Ed Fedory (story) and Zesar Lopez (art). The first five pages or so of this story take place in a dream state as a woman is getting harassed by a pair of spectral like beings, and sees visions of a dark castle and her parents. She awakens, the two spectral beings in fact doctors who were restoring her lost memories. A vampire, she immediately goes on a rampage, biting the neck of one of them and when she is stabbed in the neck by a knife she escapes by jumping out the window. Eventually the sun arrives though, causing her entire body to burn up. While the plot of this story isn't the easiest to follow, Zesar provides a considerably strong art job, as I would expect for him.

Sixth is "Voodoo Initiation", a one page feature from Al Hewetson (story) and Pablo Marcos (art), which I presume was originally intended to be a frontispiece. It covers how to summon a demon and join a voodoo ritual.

Seventh is "The Graveyard Jungle" by Al Hewetson (story) and Juez Xirinius (art). Jay and Skip are a couple of schemers. They have come up with a plot to sell a house to a man, then fake ghosts and evil spirits in it, which will cause the man to get scared and sell it back to them for pennies on the dollar. That night they head to the house, to find it haunted for real! They are pursued by a traditionally hooded ghost, a number of spooky hands, rats and other things, eventually finding the man they sold the house to, with horns! He is revealed to be the devil, having purchased himself a home on Earth.

Some strong art from Zesar in "A Question of Identity!!!"

We wrap up with "All the Ways and Means to Die" by Jeff Jones (art, adapted from All the Myriad Ways by Larry Niven). This story focuses on the concept of alternative timelines, that each and every possible choice that is made opens up new possibilities and hence new timelines. With so many possible ways things can go there are billions of possible time streams. This story focuses in particular on a man named Gene Trimble as he thinks about the various possibilities. As the story ends we see him holding a gun, and the different possible time streams including one in which he shoots himself in the head. This story is a bit convoluted and more focused on the concept than necessarily a plot, but it is an enjoyable one. Jones provides some particularly strong artwork.

Nightmare #9

Jose Miralles provides the cover for this issue of Nightmare, cover dated October 1972. Interestingly enough, around 10 years later, Warren would use this same cover painting for the final issue of Creepy! Quite the oddity as James Warren apparently despised Skywald. Al Hewetson's takeover as editor becomes quite apparent with this issue and he writes literally every story/feature within.

The table of contents pages feature the introduction of a child host character that I've heard is named Mr. Pook (although he isn't named here) and is drawn by Pablo Marcos.

First story is "Markheim" by Al Hewetson (story) and Jesus Duran (art), in his Skywald debut. This is an adaption of the story by Robert Louis Stevenson. A man murders a shop keeper by stabbing him in the back with a knife. He then wanders around the man's home thinking about what to steal. The murderer soon starts having strange visions, first the old man crawling up the stairs with the knife in his back, then some police arriving and beating him. He has a vision of another man telling him to murder the maid when she arrives. Instead our protagonist decides to turn himself in. This story seems similar in nature to Ray Bradbury's "The Fruit at the Bottom of the Bowl", a story which was adapted by EC with Crime SuspenStories #17. Duran's art is pretty decent and well themed for the story.

Jesus Duran makes his debut in "Markheim"

Next is "The Nightmare World of James Edgar: Call Them Ghouls, Call Them Trolls, Call Them Things" by Al Hewetson (story) and Pablo Marcos (art). This story is the first of a multi-story feature where a fan would send in a dream they had and it would be adapted into a story! The first is from a man named James Edgar, who tells of how he was falling asleep in a cabin, reading some Skywald magazines when there are loud noises outside. He heads outside, seeing beautiful amazon women, accompanied by some trolls! The trolls start slamming him into a tree and welcome James to join them. they then go inside the cabin where James starts shrinking! James then awakes, finding himself snowed in! This story is rather surrealistic, as you would expect from a story based on a dream. I'm looking forward to this feature and think it has a lot of potential.

Third is the one page feature, "The Guillotine" by Al Hewetson (story) and Felipe Dela Rosa (art). I wonder if this was originally intended to be a frontispiece. It tells of the inventor of the Guillotine, Joseph Guillotin, its usage in France, and how he eventually died by his own invention!

Next is "Zoo for the Beasts of The Universe", a two page feature from Al Hewetson (story) and Maelo Cintron (art), also in his Skywald debut. Another very brief feature, it shows us a man and woman in a cage, part of a zoo on an alien planet. They are accompanied by a variety of strange looking beings, while aliens watch them from outside. Cintron provides a really strong art job here for his first story.

Things get weird in the Nightmare World story

Next is "The Skull Forest of Old Earth" by Al Hewetson (story) and Zesar Lopez (art), the third artist making his debut with this issue. This story, which I believe to be the first of a series is influenced by HP Lovecraft's works, although it appears to be an original story. On ancient Earth, the inhabitants of Uranus (who look just like humans) have inhabited Earth. These beautiful aliens live in apparent paradise and luxury, but one of them discovers his lover missing. Upon searching for her they find just a skeleton. Nearby they find an old civilization, occupied by Shoggoths, beast like beings that has captured several of them, either tying them up or eating them. The Shoggoths end up killing all of them, sans a child who plays with some monkeys that the narrator tells us eventually lead to the origin of man on Earth. Very happy to see Zesar's Skywald premiere. He was an artist who did around 5 or so stories in Vampirella after Skywald had folded (including 2 stories featuring Vampirella herself) and I always hoped he would have done more. Looking forward to seeing lots more stories from him here.

After that is "The 300th Birth Day Party" by Al Hewetson (story) and Ramon Torrents (art). 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! Not much of a horror element to this story, but I always enjoy seeing art from Ramon Torrents.

Next is "The Gargoyle Trilogy" by Al Hewetson (story) and Felipe Dela Rosa (art). This story doesn't appear to be connected to the Gargoyle story from Psycho #8, even though it is drawn by the same artist (and the Gargoyles look quite alike). It is about three different gargoyles which are created, based on the famous 3 monkeys of which one can't see, one can't hear, and one can't speak. The first gargoyle is the one who can't speak and causes much destruction as it comes to life. We then go into the future, the year 2092 in an advanced society. A young girl heads into a forest where she is killed by the gargoyle who cannot hear. The story moves forward another approximate 100 years when the renaissance of the arts is announced. A gargoyle, the one who cannot see terrorizes and kills some actresses. Dela Rosa's odd art style fits things pretty well; and while none of these stories are too fulfilling, it is good to see the unique story telling feature.

Zesar, one of my favorite Skywald artists debuts

After that is "The Night at the Wax Museum" by Al Hewetson (story) and Xavier Villanova (art). A woman makes her way into a Wax Museum which is full of various wax replicas of famous monsters, such as the Frankenstein monster, as well as historical figures such as Cleopatra and Hitler. She eventually comes across the wax figure of Dr. Jekyll, who turns into Mr. Hyde. She flees, finding many of the wax figures have come alive! As the story comes to a conclusion she is now a wax figure herself, the victim of a beating from Mr. Hyde.

Pablo Marcos then provides a one page feature of Dracula.

Our final full length story of the issue is "The Beast Within" by Al Hewetson (story) and Amador Garcia (art). A group of hunters pursue and kill a wild alligator in the jungle, despite it being illegal. The hunters find a cabin nearby in the woods. One of the hunters, a woman, comes across a werewolf and is slain by it. Things quickly escalate as the hunters start getting scared and paranoid. One of them shoots another, another gets sucked into quicksand, another gets shot, and we quickly find ourselves down to 3 of them left. they start speculating about who of them can be the werewolf, and eventually all die to the true werewolf, revealed to be the dog! Basically the exact same ending we got to a story back in the first issue of Nightmare, I liked it better the first time. This story is a bit of a confusing mess with too many characters and so much going on.

The next issue advertisement towards the end of this issue provides a pretty memorable skull drawing by Pablo Marcos.

One final feature for this lengthy issue is the one page text story "The Thing in the Alley" as written by Al Hewetson and featuring art by none other than Berni Wrightson himself, making his sole appearance in a Skywald magazine.

Psycho 1972 Annual

Today I will be covering the Psycho 1972 Annual. Unlike Warren's Annuals, which were all reprints, this is actually full of new stories! It is cover dated August 1972 and features a cover by Pujolar.

The frontispiece for this issue is "The Horned Goat of Satan" drawn by Pablo Marcos.

First story is "Lucifer Awaits You!" by David Anthony Kraft (story) and Xavier Villanova (art). This story features a pair of hitchhikers. They are initially picked up by a woman and her grown daughter, but eventually leave them off. They are then picked up by a photographer, who foolishly tells him he travels and his employers don't know where he is at any given time. They kill him and steal his car, but eventually drive off the road. They wake up in a dark place and are picked up by another car, driven by a monster as they are now in hell. I could see the ending of this story coming from a mile away based on the title and the splash page.

Next up is "Burn, Baby Burn" by Len Brown (story) and Carlos Garzon (art). This story takes place in an apartment complex owned by a man named Mr. Griffon. Bad things keep happening to the tenants due to Griffin's lack of care of the building. A little girl gets bit by a rat in the basement. A woman's baby dies when she goes out for groceries due to a gas leak. When Griffin arrives to collect rent on the first of the month, his tenants take him captive and then get to work on making repairs in the building. They finally let him out and lead him upstairs where they show the new incinerator they have installed, throwing him in it to his death. I recall a very similar story in Creepy in issue 63, called Fire Trap if I remember correctly that had a cruel tenant being taken captive and burned alive by his tenants. I wonder if that story ripped this one off.

Third is the latest Heap story, "What Hath Hell Wrought?" by Al Hewetson (story) and Pablo Marcos (art). The heap has washed up on the shores of Cape Cod and is suddenly grabbed by a tentacle coming out of the ocean. The Heap fights it off and makes his way to shore, finding the monster, a sort of jellyfish like creature pursuing him. He heads towards a nearby village, fearful for what the monster will do to it. While heading there a father and son spot him and flee. More monsters approach and the Heap decides to fight them off and help the village. He burns the nearby forest then grabs a hold of the multiplying monsters, eventually smashing them into the ocean until they break up. Meanwhile in the village, the father and his boy warn the village of the horrible monster, the Heap.

Next is "The Myth of Dracula" by Al Hewetson (story) and Ramon De la Fuente (art). Fuente was the brother of the more well known Spanish artist Victor de la Fuente. This is his sole Skywald appearance. This isn't a traditional fictional story, but rather is a historical account of the historical figure who inspired Bram Stoker's Dracula, Vlad IV of the country of Wallachia (now Romania). The story tells of his upbringing, the fact that he was put in as a puppet ruler of his country once his father was killed, and then gets into some stories of the horrible things he would do such as by having a party at his castle and bringing his guests down to the basement where he tortured some captured gypsies. He then turns on one of his own guests, biting at her neck. Eventually Vlad, who would go by the name Dracula passes away due to disease. This non-traditional story was an interesting one to read. I wouldn't mind more features like this.

The nonsensical ending to "Blind Fate"

Fifth is "...Blind Fate" by Ed Fedory (story) and Francisco Cueto (art). This rather confusing story has a man who I think may be a humanoid alien (or talks as if he is one with how much he curses humanity for what they've done to the planet). He travels through time, being in a swampy area where an eel like creature attacks him. He stumbles along, falling down before a number of walking people, who are revealed to be aliens. The last panel shows one of them coming across him, with braille appearing in the panel. This confusing mess of an ending seems fitting for what is a story that made little to no sense whatsoever

Sixth is "The Cursing of Captain Skull" by Gardner Fox (story) and Steve Hickman (art). This is a rather lackluster pirate tale, for which I'm not sure why it appears in a horror magazine. The Captain Skull of the title gets angry at his men for wanting to plunder a nearby town and take its women. He fights said men and gets thrown overboard. After being in the ocean with sharks for a while he comes across another ship where a beautiful woman whom he calls Joanna is tied to the mast. The two of them head to nearby land and by rubbing phosphorous over themselves trick Skull's old crew into thinking they are ghosts. Skull and the men who fought against him battle, with him eventually defeating them. Skull decides to gather up that which remains of his crew and Joanna stays with him. This story doesn't even give us a twist ending! I am hoping this is not the start of a series.

Next is "The Furnace of Hell" by Robert Kanigher (story) and Amador Garcia (art). Edwin and Rita are firebrands, spirits who appear like flame ridden humans. Any human they grab a hold of will burst aflame until their death. And that is exactly what happens at the start of the story as a young couple bathing on Buzzard's cape are found and killed by them. Later, a young woman studying witchcraft investigates the area, including their bodies. She meets Edwin who brings her to his home to meet Rita as well and claims he has books she may find useful. She discovers a book there that shows the burning of the stake of the two many years before. The house suddenly bursts aflame and Rita has her burned alive, jealous of Edwin pursuing her. Amador's art in this story reminds me a lot of that of Jaime Brocal, an S.I. artist who did a decent amount for Warren around this time, although I don't believe ever worked for Skywald.

Some great Torrents art to wrap up the issue

The final story of the issue is "Birth Announcement" by Al Hewetson (story) and Ramon Torrents (art). In this brief four page story, a man is anxious as his wife is about to give birth. He thinks of how he met his wife when he saw her swimming in the coast of Cape Cod. His wife is soon revealed to be a mermaid, and she has given birth to a large number of eggs which they bring home with them, waiting for them to hatch. A rather predictable ending to this story, but Torrents' art is excellent as usual. The story is said to take place in the town of Winchester by Cape Cod, but as someone who lives in Massachusetts, I can say the town of Winchester is actually nowhere near Cape Cod.

The issue concludes with a one page skeleton pin-up by Pablo Marcos.

Psycho #8

Enrich Torres, the famed Warren cover artist provides the cover for this issue of Psycho, cover dated September 1972. With this issue Al Hewetson becomes the editor of Skywald's horror magazines for the rest of their run. This is the first Psycho issue in quite a while to feature no Heap story, although we do start a new series here.

The frontispiece for this issue is "The Theater of Horror" by Al Hewetson (story) and Domingo Gomez (art). Starting with this issue, the frontispieces move from a one page pin-up into more of a one page mini-story, similar to what Warren would do. This one features the haunted theater on Dury Lane London where a ghost of a man in gray keeps appearing, Eventually his body is found and he never appears again.

The first story of this issue is "A Gargoyle - A Man" by Al Hewetswon (story) and Felipe Dela Rosa (art). The story begins showing the origin of two gargoyles, who were put on the Cathedral of Menze in Germany. They stay there for many centuries, eventually being removed in 1972 and moved to a graveyard where there are some Satanists. After some chanting, the gargoyles come to life, scaring away the Satanists. They flee, being pursued, and stay in the home of a blind man in the city, calling themselves Edward and Mina. Eventually the Satanists find them and the blind man is killed. The Satanists summon a tentacled monster who Edward fights and defeats. Mina stops Edward from killing the Satanists as the story ends. This story kicks off a lengthy series, although Dela Rosa will soon be replaced as artist by Maelo Cintron.

First appearance of the Gargoyles characters

Next story is "Devil's Woman" by Marv Wolfman (story) and Ross Andru/Mike Esposito (art). A party is held in a Vermont mansion on New Years Eve, hosted by a woman named Marta who is blind. Suddenly there is a scream and a dying man is found, claiming a creature has broke loose. Some of the guests talk of how Marta's parents were part of a witch cult and summoned a creature that killed them, exactly 20 years ago today. Marta was eventually able to marry a European count. He tells of how in his country Satanists would worship him on the new year and virgins would be sacrificed to him. Twenty years ago Satan was summoned here by Marta's parents and there was an accident altering his form and causing him to be beneath this house. He demands sacrifices and the party guests are sacrificed to him, who is now looking like a tentacled monster. The count wants Marta to go to Satan and produce a child with him as her mother did but she instead flees and the mansion burns down. She is eventually found by the count and her aunt who bring her before Satan. I was a bit surprised to see Andru and Esposito back after being dropped as the artists from The Heap. I wonder if this is an inventory story held on for a little while before publication since it would have made more sense to keep them on as the artists for that series.

"Have You Ever Seen the Black Rain?"

Third story is "Have You Ever Seen the Black Rain?" by Al Hewetson (story) and Juez Xirinius (art), in his Skywald debut. The beautiful queen Anne has her subjects invade her neighboring land, ruled by a man named Walter as they need fertile land. Her forces lose and she is exiled by Walter, after refusing his hand in marriage. Her men transport and rebuild her castle on an island and there she starts to dabble in black magic. Two years pass and Walter's kingdom has been defeated by another country. His men are able to rescue him and get him on a ship which travels through the rain, eventually making it to Anne's castle where she is waiting for him, her face covered by a veil. She says she will marry him now and they do so, but when she pulls off her veil she reveals a horrifically ugly face, claiming she sacrificed her beauty to Lucifer to get her revenge. Walter pulls off his shirt, revealing that his body is horrifically deformed and rotted as well. The ending of this story reminds me somewhat of the "Plague of Jewels" story by Bruce Jones in issue 4. Xirinius has a pretty good debut here. His art reminds me somewhat of Martin Salvador, although a bit scarier.


Fourth is "The Filthy Little House of Voodoo" by Al Hewetson (story) and Ramon Torrents (art). Two women travel through the Australian badlands and come across a town filled with lots of old people who are silent and have blank expressions on their face. They eventually head to a house on the top of a hill, finding a painting of an evil looking bald man on the wall. Soon people start coming in and going downstairs and our protagonists follow. Suddenly the man in the painting comes out of it and attacks them, asking them to join them. The man says he is part of a race of parasites and the people there attack them. This story has some very impressive and scary art from Ramon Torrents but the story itself is a bit confusing.

Next up is "Bad Choke" by Don Glut (story) and Juez Xirinius (art). Two men head to a graveyard and dig up the grave of a strangling killer named Mad Kirk, seeking to steal the diamond ring from his finger and gold from his teeth. When police arrive though they are forced to flee. One of the men has put the diamond ring on his finger but finds that it can't come off. Suddenly the ghost of Kirk arrives and causing the man to strangle his colleague. Kirk then starts strangling him, and the man trying to pull his hands off his neck causes him to in reality strangle himself. Some bystanders soon arrive and comes across the odd sight of the two dead men.

Some good art by Torrents with "The Filthy Little House of Voodoo"

Last story is "City of Crypts" by Al Hewetson (story) and Xavier Villanova (art), also making his Skywald debut. A group of archaeologists, Jacob, his wife Berenice and assistant Basil investigate the tomb of Pharaoh Ramanken in Egypt. A tablet indicates that there is a curse; any man who enters will die. The workers start going mad and trap the 3 of them inside. Basil is in love with Berenice and pushes Jacob down a chasm to his death, although she is not really that into him. Suddenly a group of sub-human monsters (looking kind of like the Heap) attack them and drag them down to a lower part of the tomb. Basil is killed, but thinking Berenice is a princess due to a birthmark, they bring her before the skeleton of the Pharaoh. Berenice flees, eventually making her way out, but her face and body have become deformed, much like that of the sub-humans. How exactly Berenice became like them isn't really explained, giving us a rather odd ending, but otherwise this is a fairly good tale. Berenice I assume is named after the Edgar Allan Poe story of the same name.

Pablo Marcos provides a one-page pin-up of a ghoul to conclude the issue.

Psycho #7

Vicente Segrelles provides the cover for this issue of Psycho, cover dated July 1972, featuring the interior story "The Asylum of Frozen Hell".

We kick things off with the one page frontispiece drawn by Pablo Marcos, "Pit and the Pendulum" featuring the pendulum scene from Edgar Allan Poe's story of the same name.

This issue's first story is "Kerene" by David Anthony Kraft (story) and Domingo Gomez (art). A man is sacrificed by some priests. Upon being stabbed he finds himself in another realm, perfectly fine, with a beautiful naked woman named Kerene, who says she was his love and his name is Kying. She tells of how he was a hero but the evil Narhlis seeked to usurp his powers. He convinced Kying to attack some forest dwellers and during the battle slain him, claiming Kerene for himself. Now, his worshipers sacrifice people. Kying awakens, back to reality as he is being dragged along by some of the worshipers, but is still alive, knowing that Kerene has kept him alive. Abrupt ending aside, this is a fairly strong start to the issue. Domingo Gomez, making his Skywald debut here provides some strong art. In fact his style reminds me quite a lot of Luis Garcia, who was my favorite of the S.I. artists who worked for Warren. His story includes some highly detailed, realistic panels and others that are looser in nature for the more romantic scenes, much like what Garcia would do.

Next is another story drawn by Domingo Gomez, "Horror Has 1 Thousand Faces!", written by Al Hewetson. The famous actor Lon August is celebrated at a dinner. August is a famed movie actor who has starred in numerous horror movies, wearing various forms of makeup. In his 50 years as an actor, no one has seen his real face. We find out that even August's wife hasn't seen his real face and when she tears it off, reveals a horrific, skull-like face which causes her to have a heart attack. But even this is revealed to be a mask. At the dinner people grab a hold of August, demanding to see what he really looks like. They tear off the bandages he's wearing, revealing that his face is completely blank! My favorite story of the issue, Domingo provides another strong art job. This story seems like a dedication to Lon Chaney, the silent film-era movie star who played numerous monsters (most notably the Phantom of the Opera), often undergoing a lot of make-up to do so. His attire at the dinner is based on that of the titular character in the movie The Invisible Man.

Gomez's art here on "Kerene" reminds me much of Luis Garcia

Third is "The Family Jewels!" by Dennis Fujitake (story & art). Lester is a wealthy hunter, who in the jungles of India saves a woman and her child by shooting a tiger. She leads him to her village, that of the Rapo, a tribe that is supposed to possess prized "family jewels". He meets Tun, Chief of the village and husband to the woman. He says he is indebted to Lester and will reward him with his most prized possession. Lester thinks he will get jewels and as he eats some food, Tun tells him of how his tribe came from the cold north and due to some radioactive particles in the fish they eat only have one child for every ten couples. Upon finishing his meal, Lester is told that he was given Tun's most valuable possession, that he has eaten his son! Lester feels sick (presumably from the radiation) and dies. Quite a big twist to wrap up this story! Fujitake as usual provides a strong story and art.

Fourth is The Heap in "A Spawn of Satan" by Al Hewetson (story) and Pablo Marcos (art). Ross Andru has now also departed from The Heap, with the writing handed over to Hewetson and Marcos now handling the art solo. The Heap takes on some men in the woods, then makes his way to the chemical plant that was responsible for his mutation. When a lightning bolt strikes a vat of chemicals, the Heap is covered in them, but they actually transform him back into his human form of Jim Roberts. Jim returns to see Laurie, but finds that when night arrives he turns back into a more human-looking version of the Heap. After transforming again in public, he decides to head on a ship that is going out to see, living off of rats for weeks until he is found. He is brought before the captain, but then suddenly a giant squid attacks! The Heap fights the squid and is successful in killing him then is washed ashore as the story ends. Some interesting developments here with the Heap's transformation now somewhat inspired by that of a werewolf (although it doesn't require a full moon, just nighttime). I did prefer the Heap's original design though.

Fifth is "The Terrible Tragedy of the Tormented One!" by Marv Wolfman (story) and Pablo Marcos (art, credited to "Elder"). I wonder if crediting of Marcos was a typo, or intentional, given that he has so much content in this issue (3 stories and 2 frontispieces). A woman named Cheryse runs through a dark mansion as an axe wielding monster pursues her. Suddenly a man arrives, seeking to get some peace and quiet. Our protagonist rescues her and the monster flees. Cheryse reveals to him that the maniac was her fiance Paul, who refused to let her leave him and crashed their car into a river. When Paul came out of the river he was transformed into the monster. Paul returns but our protagonist hits him with an axe to the chest. Paul then turns back to human and claims Cheryse has lied. Cheryse is revealed to be a succubus, and tries to suck the life force out of our protagonist, but is slain by him. A pretty decent story with an interesting twist at the end. There is an error on one of the panels on the last page where a word balloon was included but there is no dialogue in it!

More Gomez in "Horror Has a Thousand Faces"

Sixth is "I Am Demona: The Feastings of Prince Yamm" by Gardner Fox (story) and Steve Englehart/Vince Colletta (art, Colletta uncredited). Demona is the daughter of a human man and a witch alien mother as explained in the prologue. She acts as a kind of sorceress superhero. In this story while about to go on a date with her friend Jim Croft, she feels a ghastly aura and heads to a tower where a woman is being sacrificed to the great Yamm. The High Priest there has her seized by skeletons, but she vanishes, then researches things with Jim, finding that if enough sacrifices are made to Yamm, he can stay on the Earth forever. She returns to the tower to battle the high priest and defeat Yamm. I've never been much of a fan of superhero comics and this comes off much like one, even though it has a supernatural element. In most issues this would be the weakest story, but just wait til what we have later!

Seventh is "The Asylum of Frozen Hell" by Al Hewetson (art) and Pablo Marcos (story). This story has an interesting art structure in that you see things from the eyes of the protagonist. I don't know if I've ever seen this style used before in a comic book story. Anyway, you act as a newspaper reporter, who heads to a weather station in the arctic in pursuit of a story, along with a female colleague. Upon arriving you find many dead bodies and then head to a nearby cave. There you find a ranting humanoid alien monster who appears to be blind. He rants on how he was ordered to come here to dump some mutants, but he never got picked up to return. All around him are men that are tied to stakes in the ground. You battle the priest and your woman colleague stabs him in the back. Upon approaching one of the tied up men it is revealed they truly are mutants and were responsible for the dead people at the weather station, with you joining them!

Eighth is "Forewarned" by Jim Pinkoski (story & art). This extremely confusing two page story features an astronaut coming across a strange object in space. He starts drilling into it and hears voices. Then there is an explosion. The final panel shows what I assume to be some sort of craft floating in space, but I can't really tell what is going on with it as its drawn so small. I got no clue what Pinkoski's point was in this story, both the writing and the art make it very tough to figure out what is going on.

The cover story "The Asylum of Frozen Hell"

Ninth is "The Discombobulated Hand" by Al Hewetson (story, credited to "Wood") and Ramon Torrents (art). Another big disappointment, this is a three page story featuring a television reporter advertising the hand of the title, which can be used to hold jewelry, gloves, ties and many other purposes. He and his colleague complain about things after the TV spot is over. Torrents' art is strong as always, but this is another brief story where I don't understand the point at all. Quite a mediocre last couple of stories to finish out the issue.

The issue concludes with a one page pin-up by Pablo Marcos of a hooded skeleton.

Nightmare #7

With this issue of Nightmare, the Spanish invasion for Skywald truly begins as we get the premiere of several artists from Selecciones Illustrada, the Spanish art agency led by Josep Toutain that also became a mainstay at Warren too. The cover for this issue is by Pujolar, who never did an original cover for Warren, but did have a cover of his reprinted for its second to last issue (eventually we would see a Skywald cover for the last issue of Creepy!). This issue is cover dated June 1972, 6 months after the previous issue.

This issue's frontispiece is "The Haunted Strangler", drawn by Pablo Marcos and showing a scene from the movie of the same name, starring Boris Karloff.

The issue kicks off with "The Penitent" by Ed Fedory (story) and Ferran Sostres (art). This story features an old man named Taylor, who is in a cell contained within the side of a mountain. He is visited by a man on a flying dragon named Nekkron, who tells them there is still hope for him with "the wise one". Later Taylor hears a voice from a glowing sky that calls for him to kneel and when he does so his physical body collapses and his spirit rises out, flying away with Nekkron. The story's final 2 pages reveal that Taylor is a prisoner in the real world on death row, but when a prison guard comes to his cell he finds the odd looking remains of his body. Sostres, making his Skywald debut does a fairly good job here, a suitable style for this type of story. Yet the story itself I feel is just too similar in in its ending to what we got from Fedory in "Sand Castles" from Psycho #6, the previous issue I covered. I'm hoping Fedory can find some variety as he continues to produce more work for Skywald.

Next is "Group Jeopardy" by S.F. Starr (story) and Amador Garcia (art). In a remote mountain resort, Dr. Blaine leads a number of patients of neurotics. One of the women there is killed, every bone in her body broken. Blaine believes one of his patients must be the killer and the sheriff recruits a fitness expert, Dr. Coxe, who says the killer killed her with a bear hug, hugging her with such strength that her bones were battered. They test the muscles and strength of the patients not finding any of them powerful enough. Blaine believes in a great fury, someone could have superhuman strength and kill. Blaine has his patients come to him one at a time and he torments them. Eventually one of them, a young woman named Iris goes on a rampage, killing Blaine (or at least hurting him). In the quite confusing last few panels, it seems like she is held back by the Sheriff and Coxe, but I can't really tell for sure, then she says she loves one of the other patients and the story ends. Amador, also making his Skywald debut provides some strong art but the story itself is a confusing mess, especially the ending.

Gasp's bizarre ending

Third is "The Giant Death Rat" by Al Hewetson (story) and Serg Moren (art). The writing for this story is credited to Howie Anderson, a pseudonym Hewetson would use often over the years, much like say. Will Richardson for Bill Dubay. In contrasts to the several first appearances in this issue, this will be the final appearance of Moren, who has done some decent work in his prior stories. This story opens in the 1700s with a tale of a number of rats trying to make their way to America by climbing aboard ships. We then go back, focusing on the ship Sumatra, where a rat is discovered by someone, but is unable to be caught. The captain fears this will spread disease, and soon one of the crew members gets the plague. The disease spreads, although no one is ever able to find a rat. Eventually the entire ship catches on fire and burns away with only a few people making it out okay. As the story ends, we find the rats talking to each other, happy that none of them ever actually went on board the ship due to the plague.

Next is the 3 page "Gasp!" by Donald Brown (story and art).A man has a nightmare about being dragged along by a number of humanoid monsters. Upon awakening he realizes that this is a perfect plot for a horror story and starts writing it. In his story, his character is a scientist that goes to another dimension where hostile beings grab him, thinking he is instead a spy of their enemies. He is then thrown into the pit of a giant monster. As the story ends, one of the humanoid monsters awakens in his bed, revealing it was a dream of his, and he has his own horror story he's writing! A pretty decent ending here, with some rather average to lousy art from Brown. The third to last panel of the story features a rather obvious swipe of a panel from the Al Williamson drawn story "By George" from E.C.'s Weird Fantasy #15.

The hilarious ending to "Artifacts"

Next is the cover story "The Altar of Blood" by Bob Kirschen (story) and Pablo Marcos (art). The demonic queen, Tonia, calls forth slaves to her in hell. Tonia desires Satan's powers and hopes for him to cringe before her voice. Any slave that speaks up against her is destroyed. Soon Satan himself arrives, but is unable to pass beyond the forces protecting her lair. Tonia requests one of her slaves bring the sword of Lucifer down on her neck. Every 5,000 years, the stars align, leading all to a single moment.  But the slave momentarily hesitates, staring at her beautiful body, and that is enough for the moment to be missed and Tonia meets her end for real as the sword comes down upon her.

Sixth is "A Father's Lament" by Ed Fedory (story) and Francisco Cueto (art, credited here as Frank). A father and son pair of hunters come across a body in the woods with an axe buried in its chest. Along with the body is a journal. The journal tells of how a man hunted a beast attacking the local populace. The writer created his axe, pursued the beast and killed it, even though it was his own son! Back in the present, the father removes the axe from the body, revealing it to be silver. Desiring the money the silver can bring him, he tells his son they are leaving, without even burying the body. This turns out to be quite the mistake, as the beast was a werewolf, and pulling out the axe causes it to return to life! The premiere of yet another S.I. artist, Cueto's work is drawn quite well in some panels, but a lot looser and lower quality in others. He also doesn't do the best job on his werewolf. But the story at least is pretty decent, and Fedory finally leaves behind the gimmick he'd be using on his other stories.

Seventh is "Artifacts" by Dennis Fujitake (story and art). The third world war has hit, and mankind is no longer the dominant species on the Earth. They have left their sacred relics in a cave and head off to meet their final destiny. Many years pass. The Earth becomes covered in ice, which eventually recedes. Eventually a group of lizard-like aliens arrive on the Earth and find a crucial artifact of mankind, a film showing Porky Pig! This is quite a fun story to read in its brief four pages with a hilarious ending. The story as well as the style of the aliens reminds me a bit of an old E.C. story, "The Aliens" from Weird Fantasy #17 where lizard-like aliens land on a part of the destroyed Earth and find one of the few remaining relics of humanity. a comic book.

Ramon Torrents makes his Skywald debut

Our final story is "The Essential Horror" by Al Hewetson (story) and Ramon Torrents (art). It is the year 2056. A pair of mercenaries, dressed in special gear, arrive at the underwater city of Pala. Nearly 80 years before, the founders of Pala, seeking to escape the pollution on the surface, created a civilization underwater, which has now grown to 300,000 people! However a mutated squid has attacked their city, warranting the calling of the mercenaries. The mercenaries are able to defeat the squid, but are unable to stay in the city. As the story concludes and we see what they look like under their gear, we know why; those on the surface are horribly deformed due to all the pollution. A fairly decent story which is all the more impressive with the art from Ramon Torrents. Torrents was quite a prolific artist over at Warren, and one of my favorites, and he is one of the few S.I. artists who contributed to both Warren and Skywald, although he does quite a lot more stories for Warren than Skywald.

The issue concludes with a one page drawing of a mummy by Pablo Marcos.

Warren Swipes (Part 2)

Today's post is the second in a series showing some of the swipes that I've spotted in Warren comics over the years. While the first entry (see here) focused on swipes from outside sources, this one focuses on swipes that are completely contained within stories that appeared in Warren's magazines. Note: In all instances the original is posted first, then the swipe.

WARNING - This post contains nudity

Exterminator One/Love Strip
Exterminator One was a continuing series drawn by Paul Neary that appeared in Eerie. The second part of the series (appearing in Eerie #63) introduces a character named Slaughter who acts as an antagonist against the Exterminator. The character's design was a direct copy of the main character of the comic story "Love Strip" as drawn by Luis Garcia that appeared in the french publication Pilote. Several panels are direct swipes from that story, a couple of notable examples I have included here. The character from Love Strip was modeled after Spanish comic book artist Carlos Giminez, a friend of Garcia's who had contributed art on that story. Ironically enough, Warren ended up reprinting Love Strip in Vampirella (in issue 44), and the issue ended up coming out right about the same time as the issue that featured this Exterminator story.



The Castle, The Dungeon and All/The Winter of the Last Combat

Vicente Alcazar, who had a number of stories in Warren's comics (mostly in Creepy) came off as a sort of Luis Garcia-lite, and there were several instances where his stories contained swipes of Garcia's work. The one today is from the story "The Castle the Dungeon and All", from Vampirella 51. This image was a swipe from the Luis Garcia story "The Winter of the Last Combat", which also appeared in Pilote. This was another story reprinted in Vampirella (issue 43) as "The Wolves at War's End".

Three Old Women

This particular image of an old woman was used in three seperate Warren stories, by three seperate artists, making it particularly notable. I am not sure of the original source. Of the three, the Ramon Torrents story was the first published, although that doesn't necessarily mean the other two swiped from him.

These are from the stories:
The Stone of Power (Creepy 53) - art by Ramon Torrents
Return Trip (Vampirella 27) - art by Jose Gonzalez
Memoirs (Vampirella 30) - art by Fernando Fernandez

Herma/The Saga of Honey Dew Melons

"The Saga of Honey Dew Melons", which appears in 1984 #1 features some amazing and sexy Esteban Maroto art, although like his story in the subsequent issue (covered in the prior entry), it contains multiple swipes. This one features multiple panels taken from "Herma" by Jose Gonzalez. Incidentally enough Herma ended up being reprinted in a later issue of 1984 (issues 8 - 10), causing one to believe that Gonzalez may have swiped from Maroto, but Herma was originally done several years earlier.