My Top Skywald Stories

Many years back when I covered Warren I made a post of my favorite Warren stories; now the time has come to do the same for Skywald. For Warren it was fairly easy to determine my top stories, as there were quite a number that really stood out to me just from memory. For Skywald it was a bit harder. Very few stories were as striking to me, especially from an intellectual level. Not that I didn't enjoy going through the Skywald library; I absolutely did, but it unfortunately never hit the heights for me that Warren did. That said, I've spent the time going back over my prior posts and synopsis and have come up with my list of what I considered the highlight of Skywald. While my picks were primarily based on the writing, I will admit that the art at times also came into play, and many of the stories were concentrated from a few artists. Hewetson was the writer for all but one of those included in my top 10 list.

This list is specifically one-time stories; all ongoing series have been excluded. This wouldn't have had that major an impact on the list aside from a few stories that come to mind including one of the stories in the Shoggoths series, one of the stories in the Autobiography of a Vampire series and the Saga of the Victims series as a whole. I'm not sure if all 3 would have made my top 10, but they'd at least rank among my honorable mentions, which I have included below:

Time Stop - Nightmare #2
Gruesome Crewcut - Psycho #3
Slime World - Nightmare #5
Broken Sparrow - Nightmare #6
Horror Has 1 Thousand Faces - Psycho #7
Alone - Nightmare 1972 Special
The Transplant - Psycho #10
The Comics Macabre - Scream #1
What the Hell is Dracula Doing Alive and Well in 1974?! - Nightmare #19
A Tale of Horror -Nightmare #20
I Never Heard of a Ghost Actually Killing Anyone! - Scream #9
Kill, Kill, Kill, and Kill Again - Nightmare #22

My Top 10 Skywald Stories

10. "Whether Man or Scarecrow" - Nightmare 1973 Winter Special; story by Al Hewetson, art by Felipe Dela Rosa

This one is a fun combination of a Pinocchio-type story (with a scarecrow coming to life instead of a puppet) and the concept of having wishes. A scarecrow named Perry is approached by an old man one day who claims he can grand him three wishes. In a traditional tale, Perry would take advantage of this to become human and be with his crush, the farmer's daughter, Judy. And well, while he certainly tries for that, things go spectacularly bad for him in every way possible. Like many stories on this top 10 ranking, Hewetson takes things really over the top here, and its a blast.

9. "...Suffer the Little Children" - Psycho #9; story by Al Hewetson, art by Xavier Villanova

A governess arrives at a mansion to take care of two young children, Flora and Miles, only to find that things are totally not what they seem. Both children are mentally disturbed, impacted by the recent death of their brother. From here the story takes a lot of twists and turns, bringing the reader on an exciting ride up to its surprising ending.

8. "A Plot of Dirt" - Psycho #9; story by Doug Moench, art by Felipe Dela Rosa

Like EC comics, Skywald did a number of stories featuring corpses returning from the dead; this story was one of the best. It features Philip, a corpse summoned from the grave by the evil Craig, who was responsible for his death due to jealousy over a woman. Largely told from Philip's perspective, we have a sympathetic protagonist, despite being a corpse and hope he will be able to come out of Craig's spell and get his revenge.

7. "The Old Vampire Lady" - Psycho #16; story by Al Hewetson, art by Jesus Duran

Every once and a while Hewetson would eschew the typical type of plot and instead provide us a story that acted more as a historical account or biography. This is one of such stories. A young photographer comes across the titular vampire lady, who tells him her horrifying life from her childhood to now. Jesus Duran was one of my favorite Skywald artists and he does an effective job providing a scary atmosphere throughout.

6. "Now... Another Maniac!" - Psycho #18; story by Al Hewetson, art by Maelo Cintron

This story was a rare one drawn by Maelo Cintron that did not feature the human gargoyles characters. It also is unique for a Skywald story in that it has no supernatural element to it. Our protagonist plans to kill a man. While he is able to successfully pull it off, a bike he ran over comes back to haunt him in a big way. The story also is memorable for me as the first Skywald story I ever read, due to coming across it in a collection of horror comic stories years ago.

5. "The Artist's Other Hand" - Psycho #14; story by Al Hewetson, art by Jesus Suso Rego

One of the really fun things about Skywald was their willingness to break the fourth wall, and this story is a perfect example of that. It stars the story's artist, Suso, who gets sick of the ridiculous story his editor, Hewetson, writes for him. The two get into a big conflict over how to improve the story, and neither can come to an agreement resulting in a fist fight between the two. Hewetson loved to put himself in his stories (off the top of my head I think this happened at least 10 times, if not more) and this is the best such example.

4. "Limb from Limb from Death" - Nightmare 1972 Special; story by Al Hewetson, art by Pablo Marcos

One of Skywald's most gory and over the top stories. A trio of men are trapped in the Sahara desert. One of them, a doctor, convinces the other two that the only way they have to survive is to eat each other. Each of the other two men gives up an arm for this, under the promise from the doctor that if they are saved he will have his own arm sawed off. Well, they are saved before that happens, so the big question is whether the doctor will actually go through with it?

3. "Diary of an Absolute Lunatic" - Nightmare #14; story by Al Hewetson, art by Felipe Dela Rosa

A man named Munro appears in the 1920s in an insane asylum, claiming to be a time traveler. Coming from 70 years from the future, he tells of how a madman threatens to destroy the Earth if his demands are not met. Munro makes his way through time, including witnessing the Earth blow up! Is he telling the truth? While we don't know with absolute certainty, the ending to the tale provides a pretty strong indication. Beyond being a fun story to read, this story also boasts some strong artwork from Dela Rosa, particularly during the time travel sequence.

2. "The Day That Satan Died" - Psycho #13; story by Al Hewetson, art by Felipe Dela Rosa

This story proves that Hewetson could turn out a great story even if the ending is literally spoiled in the title. A young woman hijacks a small plane and then purposely causes it to crash into a snowy mountain. Its all part of a plot on her part to get one of the other passengers to sacrifice their soul so she can satisfy a deal with Satan to preserve her youth. Only she soon learns to her dismay that her fellow passengers include the abominable snowman, a vampire and Satan himself! The sheer ridiculousness of this story makes it quite a fun one to read and Dela Rosa's artwork serves the story quite well.

1. "The 13 Dead Things" - Psycho #15; story by Al Hewetson, art by Jesus Duran

An imprisoned count in the 17th century sits in a cell in a tower, and comes up with an idea about how to fake his death so he can escape and take revenge. For pages on end we see our protagonist imagining himself going on a rampage and brutally killing those who have wronged him. When he realizes a possible flaw in his escape plan this doesn't stop him from continuing to plot his revenge, and we see him once again slaying those who have wronged him, but this time as a corpse! The story is topped off by a hilarious, but very fitting ending. This story is so ridiculously over the top it needs to be seen to be believed. Just when you think it can't get any more absurd after seeing our protagonist kill so many people in horrifying ways, we get it repeated with him doing it as a rotting corpse.

Psycho #24

Today I'm covering Psycho issue 24, cover dated March 1975. The cover is provided by Sebastia Boada. This is both the final issue of Psycho and the final issue of Skywald overall! The end has finally come. Gene Day provides the one page frontispiece.

We start with "A Fragment in the Life of Dracula: Within the Walls of Castle Dracula!" by Al Hewetson (story) and Jose Martin Sauri (art). This story continues the storyline started up in Scream #10. Vlad the Impaler is a werewolf, but has not become a vampire yet, with this story telling how. He goes to where he has many prisoners locked up and speaks to one, a gardener, Rathskeller, whose son fled rather than provide him service. Vlad decides to free the man during the full moon, telling him he can go free if he can escape him. Ratskeller flees through the dark woods and eventually is come upon by a number of vampire bats. Vlad consumes not only Rathskeller's body, but that of the bats as well. He returns to his castle, having become a vampire. As usual, really strong art from Sauri here, although he once again appears to be taking clear inspiration from Esteban Maroto's "A Most Private Terror" from Creepy #52.

Second is the return of the series, "Monster, Monster" after a long absence with "Visions of Bloody Death". While Augustine Funnell still provides the story, Ricardo Villamonte has been replaced as artist by Paul Puigagut. Our protagonist, currently living in New York under the name Vincent Crayne continues to turn to a werewolf at the full moon. The woman with the amulet whom he is seeking decides to send a demon after him, while also fearing for her son, his roommate. The demon attacks Crayne and she also transforms the landlady into a demon as well to fight him. Crayne comes out on top and turns back into a human, but his roommate is dead. He realizes the woman is going to England and decides to pursue her there. This series continues to be meandering and rather pointless to me. Puigagut's art is very impressive though and a big upgrade from Villamonte. The downside is it can be somewhat confusing at times to figure out what is going on.

Third is "Daughter of Darkness" by Joan Cintron (story) and Maelo Cintron (art). A rare Cintron story that is not part of the Human Gargoyles series. It is his wife providing the story. The story claims this is her first work for Skywald, but she also had contributed to a short story by him early in his Skywald career. A prince's wife is giving birth, but she passes away due to it, making him quite upset at the child, especially when he realizes it is a girl. Two decades pass and the girl is now grown up, asking the midwife about her mother. She is forbidden from leaving, nor from ever loving anyone. That night a vampire appears, flying down to her room and bites her neck. She goes down to see her father later, asking permission to be married, but he refuses and says she is forbid an heir. Suddenly the vampire appears and along with her, bites her father's neck, and she claims there is no need to worry about an heir as he will now live forever. A pretty decent story, and it was good to see Cintron do something outside of the Gargoyles series.

Next is the two page "The Book of the Dead!" by Al Hewetson (story) and Domingo Gomez (art). This brief feature is about H.P. Lovecraft's Necronomicon, and features various monsters and best. It also features an old woman for whom I've seen drawn by at least 3 other Selecciones Illustrada artists, what must be from a very popular photo reference.

Next is "From Hell to Eternity!" by Ed Fedory (story) and Jose Cardona (art). Two men and their assistant Carlos have come to the Pacific island of Zacatecas, with a map on human skin that they believe will lead to riches. They are seeking the tomb of Moran-Kula, ruler of the Toltecs, whom upon his death was bound up in the tomb, his mouth sewn shut. Eventually waters rose and covered their entire city and the tomb. After diving underwater, they find the tomb, and riches within. Thinking there are jewels in Moran-Kula's mouth, they cut open his sewn lips, but flesh eating beetles come out of his mouth and devour them. Meanwhile, Carlos celebrates above water, returning to shore with a giant chest they brought up, but the beetles are inside it as well and consume him too!

Next is "The City of the White Wolf" by Dave Sim (story) and Luis Collado (art). The hunter William Ashton Perry has brought a group to hunt in the winter wilderness. He decides to use himself as bait, putting himself in a fake bear trap. A white wolf approaches him, but then turns, getting William upset as he thinks he can make a thousand dollars from its pelt. William heads out on his own at night and finds the wolf, shooting at it and successfully killing it. In short order however he finds himself surrounded by a pack of wolves. The next morning William's body is found, with much of it having been eaten by the wolves. A unique type of story in that it has no supernatural element to it at all. Sim does a good job in his one and only Skywald story, as does the artist Collado.

The following story is "..If I Should Die Before I Wake..." by Al Hewetson (story) and Jose Cardona (art). A vampire grows nervous about what may happen if his body is found in the graveyard where he makes his home, knowing that even children could kill him during the daytime. He decides to move to some other place the next day. Unfortunately for him, that very day men come to destroy the mausoleum he sleeps in and put his coffin outside, unopened. The coffin is brought to the morgue where his body is discovered and believed to be that of a dead man. As a result, his body is frozen. The vampire dies as he feared, but not in the way he thought! This story's ending is very similar to "I Was a Vampire for Hire" from Scream #2.

Our final story is a second story in "The Fiend of Changsha" series, with "Dead by Day, Fiend by Night" by Al Hewetson (story) and Sanho Kim (art). Our protagonist Chan Hai returns to life after a thief takes the blade that is sticking out of his body. He finds himself unable to step outside in the sunlight due to his being a vampire. Meanwhile the police chief visits the scholar Man Lao, who recognizes Hai to be a vampire. They find Hai, who was a former student of Lao. Hai agrees to go with Lao who can teach him about being a vampire and what he can do about it. The police chief leads him into an ambush though. Hai slays him by drinking his blood, then turns into a bat and flies away. Lao worries the curse he has put upon China by spreading vampirism. A pretty good story to wrap up this issue of Psycho, and Skywald as a whole. Too bad the series has to stop here partway through!

And with that, my coverage of Skywald's individual issues comes to an end. It has been a fun ride to finally experience their works, which while not at the level of Warren, was still a pretty memorable journey. I do plan on making a few more posts about Skywald now that I have finished, focusing in particular on matters such as my favorite stories, features on some of the artists, a discussion of the series used and some other things.

Nightmare #23

With this we have hit the final issue of Nightmare, issue 23, and also identified as the 1975 Nightmare Winter Special. It is cover dated February 1975 and has a cover by Vicente Segrelles.

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

Our first story is the latest in the Human Gargoyles series, "The Human Gargoyles vs. the Human Dead" by Al Hewetson (story) and Maelo Cintron (art). This issue also includes a one page summary of the series and a Vicente Segrelles promo cover of a future Gargoyles special which was never published. Edward and Mina are now in their castle, talking about their son Andrew's schooling. Meanwhile, outside, Satan plans his next move. Edward has publicized his battles with Satan, but Satan wants humanity to stop believing in him so they can't reject him. But for now, rather than focus on that, he decides to revive a number of corpses from the dead and send them to attack the castle. Edward makes quick work of them but then he and Mina find their son has been kidnapped. With the end of Skywald coming soon, this would be the last story in the Human Gargoyles series and is mediocre as the rest. In fact it is largely pointless and a retread beyond perhaps some of Satan's scheming which will never come to pass due to the end of the series. The kidnapping of Andrew is something that this series has already done before and seems to be used largely just to give the story a cliffhanger. Once my coverage of individual Skywald issues is over, I'll do a post or two speaking to the company's main series and will offer some final thoughts on this one at that point.

"Tradition of the Wolf"

The second story is "Tradition of the Wolf" by Ed Fedory (story) and Jesus Martin Sauri (art). A blacksmith and his son work in their shop and the father tells him he is going to go out tonight, the night of the full moon, in order to hunt a werewolf. The werewolf indeed appears and slays one of the men in his party. One of the men believes he has found the werewolf and fires, only to realize he shot one of his colleagues, the blacksmith. The father tells his son something behind closed doors, and dies. The son continues his father's work as a blacksmith and heads out to hunt the werewolf on his own. But he is not really hunting him, but in fact has become a werewolf himself! While the story itself is nothing special, Sauri's artwork continues to be quite amazing. That said, probably more so than any other story of his, the numerous swipes he is making from other artists is quite noticeable. In particular the stories "Werewolf by Frank Frazetta in Creepy #1 and "A Most Private Terror" by Esteban Maroto in Creepy #52.

Third is "Death Walk" with story by Ed Fedory and art by Jose Cardona (credited to Andy  Crandon). At the funeral for a young girl, a doctor who is said to have drained her blood is told off. A gnome approaches him, wanting to buy the blood he has drained, but the doctor claims he is a phlebotomist and is doing this to research blood disease. He refuses, and the gnome claims he will still get the blood. That night, the gnome's master, the vampire Baron Korlok arrives at the doctor's home and senses that he has seen him somewhere before. The doctor shows no fear and instead uses a stake rigged up behind a canvas to slay the Baron. The doctor transforms, revealing him to be the king of death, which is why the vampire had recognized him. I was expecting a more ingenious way to slay the vampire (what if he missed?) but at least the end reveal of the doctor's true nature somewhat makes up for it.

"Death Walk"

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

Fourth story is "The Vampire Freaks" by Al Hewetson (story, credited as William Davie) and Paul Pueyo (art, credited as Stan Connerty). A group of freaks, about to be let go by a circus try to determine a new business to form and decide on a cruise ship, the Good Ship Fortune. Suddenly someone is found dead, bitten by a vampire. There is a lot of blame tossed around, in particular at the freaks and a smaller one in particular, Tony, who dies when the boat hits the shore. One of the little kids on board reveals that the victim actually died of a heart attack and was bit by a water rat. The freaks decide to continue their cruise and tell someone to get off their boat, although the final panel is so small we can't tell who. This is a bit of a mess of a story, with some rather weak or confusing art by Pueyo as well. I can't figure out for the life of me how Tony died or why it was a little kid who figured things out.

Fifth is The "Thing in the Ragged Mountains" by Al Hewetson (story, credited as Ted Freeman) and Amador Garcia (art, credited as Walter Fortiss). A trio of men hunting in the West Virginia mountains come across a Bigfoot-like creature. One of them shoots at it but it has no effect and the Bigfoot kills him. The other two wait in a cave but one of them swears revenge and fires right into the head of the Bigfoot, to no effect. One of the men tries to flee, but trips over a rock and is come upon by the best. It then heads towards the cave where the last one is. It suddenly turns around though. Shots fire out and the last survivor, Ted, finds a rescue party outside. It is the sheriff and some deputies come to arrest him for shooting his colleagues. There is no trace of the creature and his colleagues were killed by bullets. Ted is put into an insane asylum, with this story as his defense, which the writers claim was provided to them. He believes the creature shot the men in order to frame him! While Garcia's art is average at best, I enjoyed this story quite a lot for its uniqueness.

"The Thing in the Ragged Mountains"

Sixth is "Fistful of Flesh" by Al Hewetson (story, credited as Leslie Jerome) and Folsengo Cabrerizo (art, credited as Denis Ford). A movie shoots a scene featuring a vampire biting a young woman in an old town in Arizona. Later, when shooting a scene about a mob forming to slay the vampire they realize the actor playing the sheriff is dead, slain as if it was by a vampire. A detective has five suspects, those actors who weren't necessary for the day, but the one playing the vampire is the chief suspect. We then cut to a courtroom, where the vampire actor's defense attorney claims his client was on Malibu beach and the stuntman is the real killer. The attorney claims the stuntman is a vampire himself and was worried that he would be found out when he went under the makeup chair. He pulls open the curtains, letting the sunlight in and it kills the stuntman, who really is a vampire. This story is over rather abruptly and surprises me in that there really wasn't a twist at the end.

We wrap up with "Snakewizard!" by Augustine Funnell (story) and Jose Cardona (art, credited to Andy Crandon). Two men, Murray and Lee, travel through the jungle in search of gold, stealing from an innkeeper along the way. Lee is soon attacked and bitten by a snake, which escapes into the jungle. Soon a native comes out, claiming he can help and sucks out the poison. The native claims the snake was his pet and he is a snake wizard. They demand he lead them to the temple of the snake and he does so, at gunpoint. They are soon brought there and find a tremendous amount of gold. But the snake wizard claims they are trespassers and must be dealt with. He turns into a snake and bites them, causing them to turn into gold. The snake wizard being the snake was incredibly obvious to me from the outset, but kudos to Funnell for adding in the gold element which at least provided slightly more interest to the ending.

Nightmare #22

This issue of Nightmare has a cover by Salvador Fabia and carries a date of December 1974. It features a werewolf bursting through panels from several old Skylwald stories.

This issue's contents consist of what was supposed to be the first issue of The Tomb of Horror, which would have been Skywald's fourth horror magazine. Its theme was to have a host for each story, often the artist or writer for that story. Alas, that magazine never came to see the light of day and was included as part of this issue of Nightmare instead. The inside front cover features drawings of many Skywald contributors by Maelo Cintron.

We start with a "Tomb of Horror Introduction" by Al Hewetson (story) and Domingo Gomez (art). This two page feature is introduced by Gomez, who also stars in it, as he shows us various monsters such as Dracula, Phantom of the Opera, Frankenstein's monster and others.

"Mercy, Mercy, Cries the Monster"

First story is "The Tales of the Vulture: The Bat - Mercy, Mercy Cries the Monster" by Al Hewetson (story) and Jesus Martin Sauri (art). A vulture hosts this story, claiming he will use his feature as an opportunity to introduce various new characters that the reader has the ability to request more stories of. Brock Stans is a professor and archaeologist from Manhattan, yet while in the jungles of Central America he is attacked by a swarm of vampire bats. He makes it back to Manhattan, but finds himself transforming into some sort of man-bat. After attacking and killing a woman he justifies it to himself thinking he is somebody now, having been a meek cripple before his transformation. Traveling to a graveyard he comes across a man who believes himself to be a vampire and they argue, with Brock trying to convince him he is not really one, but a dull nobody. The cops come upon him and the "vampire" claims he was being attacked, leading to Brock being arrested as he turns back to human. As the story ends we see him returned to his man-bat form, but locked in a padded cell, hoping to get out. Sauri's art continues to be quite the highlight, and this story comes off in part as a more macabre take on Batman.

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

Second is "When I Was a Boy I Watched the Blood-Wolves!" by Augustine Funnel (story) and Jose Cardona (art). The story is hosted by Funnell. Our protagonist is a boy who hates all other humans and instead finds friendship with wolves, who share some of their food with him. When his parents punish him without dinner he doesn't care. Eventually he grows up and becomes a  killer, slaying a couple and getting arrested. The two officers holding him talk of how he considers himself a werewolf. However we soon find out that one of the officers is a werewolf instead, slaying his partner and freeing our protagonist. After all, they are like family. Some pretty good art by Cardona here and the way the story ends I could see a sequel.

Third is "Kill, Kill, Kill, and Kill Again" by Al Hewetson (story) and Ferran Sostres (art). This story is hosted by Ferran Sostres. Satan orders his archangels to cause havoc. We focus on one in particular, Simon Ingels who causes a man to murder his wife then promptly departs him to decry what he has done. We see Ingels cause various other horrible situations such as a cop striking a hippie, a milkman breaking into a house and other assorted things. We then learn of Ingels' life and how he was practically perfect. Heaven rejected him for being inhuman (due to being so perfect) so he became a servant of Satan and continues to cause havoc as the story ends. This was a very different type of story for Skywald, lacking a more traditional narrative but rather focusing on Ingels in his role as minion of Satan and the things he is causing to happen. Some well done art by Sostres as is typical for him. Also a great title!

"Kill, Kill, Kill and Kill Again"

Fourth is "The War of the Hell-Damned" by Al Hewetson (story) and Jesus Duran (art). This story is hosted by Jesus Duran. Professor Peter Cushman tells his students the tale of a skeleton that he owns. As a young man he was part of an occult group that would spend time in caves and search for monsters such as vampires. Spotting some tracks in the cave they go to see the local professor (also Peter's father), who doesn't believe in vampires or werewolves, offering up real life explanations for what they were inspired by. Peter and his friends later return to the cave where the professor is waiting, claiming he believes one of them, Rolf, to be a werewolf. Rolf confirms his suspicions and turns into a werewolf, but claims the professor to be a vampire! He pulls out a stake and mallet and tries to kill the professor, but Peter jumps him, revealing himself to be a vampire too and slays Rolf. The professor dies of his injuries though, and Peter carries on with his father's legacy. As we return to the present, he explains that he is a vampire, and he had killed all his fellow students that night. Duran's art here is quite strong (the page with Rolf the werewolf trying to stake the vampire professor is in particular a great one). Modern day Peter is modeled off of actor Peter Cushing (and obviously his name is based on him too).

"The War of the Hell-Damned"

Fifth is "The Cox-sackie-Axe Murder" by Ed Fedory (story) and John Agras (art). Ed Fedory hosts this story. Our story initially focuses on two lovers, however the woman's father, Silas Lowell does not want them together. Once the two of them depart, Silas has the man seized and slays him with an ax, but not before he proclaims a curse on Lowell and all that shall follow him. He rises from the grave as a monster, slaying Lowell. Lowell's daughter, Patience, hangs herself in grief. Years go by and every Lowell male dies before his 30th birthday. We turn to the present and focus on Ned Lowell, who is about to turn 30. The monster comes to slay him but upon hearing the name of Ned's daughter, Patience, thinks back to his lover, goes to her grave and dissolves. A pretty good story by Fedory, although some only so-so fart by Agras. Also the failure to name our protagonist is frustrating.

Sixth is "The Mummy Khafre: The Funeral" by Al Hewetson (story) and Cesar Lopez (art). This story is hosted by Al Hewetson. The titular Khafre is wife of the Pharoah Nefercheres, but her madness and mistreatment of her subjects causes her to be put ot death. She is mummified alive! We then head to the modern day where professor Peter Flinders and his assistant Tom find her tomb. Tom hopes to bring the still living Khafre to T.P. Barnum's circus and slays Peter in order to do so. He smuggles her out of Egypt, keeping her handcuffed and eventually finds Barnum, who doesn't buy her outright but pays him to stay with the circus using her as one of the attractions. Khafre is able to convince Tom that he is the reincarnation of Nefercheres and has him unwrap her head, revealing her to be as beautiful as she was when she was mummified. She then reveals her deception, strangles him and leaves. It looks like this will be the start of a new series starring Khafre.

NIghtmare #20

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

We start with the one page "Horror Fragments: The Demon Whale" by Al Hewetson (story) and Ferran Sostres (art). It discusses Moby Dick, and Captain Ahab's obsession and eventual defeat to the giant white whale.

Next is the latest in the Shoggoths series, "The Scream and the Nightmare" by Al Hewetson (story) and Jose Cardona (art). Much like with prior stories, we have Al Hewetson and Jose Cardona themselves star in the story. Upon seeing a report of a Shoggoth, they go to a library where the librarian, Suzette, brings them the Necronomicon. Suddenly a Shoggoth appears and grabs the book. Finding a secret passageway through a bookshelf, they head down an underground passage and find a library of the Shoggoths, who attack and knock out our heroes. Waking up, they find themselves in the center of the Earth. Brought along by the Shoggoths to an ancient city, they are eventually able to escape, keeping the Shoggoths away by collapsing a bridge. They then find themselves in an Egyptian tomb where a mummy wakes up, but they slay it. As the story ends the various characters ask the reader if they would like to join them on an expedition to discover Shoggoths. Like previous stories in the series, Hewetson does a good job of aping the Lovecraft style, although this story is a bit long (a whopping 20 pages) and too familiar with previous entries.

"The Scream and the Nightmare"

Third is "Wanted: ...More Dead Than Alive..." by Al Hewetson (story) and Emilio Bernardo (art). A creature rises from a swamp and we flash back to see what led to its death. A man named Ingels comes across a wanted poster for a man named Ortega and is told he is up on a nearby hill. Ingels is caught on the way up there and Ortega shoots him in the leg, although leaves him alive. We see how in the present, the monster has arrived at and attacks a camp. Ingels pursues Ortega again, this time getting shot in the head. Meanwhile a gypsy woman turns into a werewolf and bites Ingels, turning him into one. He attacks and kills Ortega. At the end we realize that Ortega is the swamp creature, seeking revenge against Ingels. A so-so story with a decent end twist, but the narrative at times is a bit confusing.

Fourth is "A Tale of Horror" by Al Hewetson (story) and Luis Collado (art). In the later days of World War II we focus on a reluctant German soldier, stationed in a destroyed Berlin. The soldier, a former farmer, desires to return back to his family. He is come upon by a superior who tells him that Hitler himself requires a messenger. The soldier is brought to an underground bunker and instructed by the officer to deliver the message to the front lines. Hitler himself meets with the soldier, telling him its an important to an underground group. The soldier departs and hiding from the Americans, opens the letter and reads it. Despondent, he tosses the letter away and says to hell with the war, deciding to head back to his family. We then see a panel of those he was to deliver the message to, deciding that without receiving word from Hitler, they are to go into hiding. In the final panel we read Hitler's message, that he was recruiting werewolves! A really funny ending to this story, which is most notable in my eyes for the amazing art done by Luis Collado. While the quality isn't there throughout every panel of the story, much of it is quite beautiful.

"A Tale of Horror"

Next is "The Black Cat", an Edgar Allen Poe adaption with Al Hewetson doing the story and Ricardo Villamonte doing the art. Our protagonist, Edgar, has a black cat he loves, Pluto, but in an argument with his wife attacks it, cutting out its eye, then he decides later to hang it. A fire ruins Edgar, and he is reduced to poverty, feeling that the murder of Pluto caused this. He eventually finds another black cat, with white marks around its neck and blinded in one eye. He takes it home with him, but then decides to kill the cat. When his wife tries to stop him, he kills her instead. He takes his wife to the basement and puts her behind a brick wall that he lays all the bricks in. He soon discovers that the cat has disappeared. Upon hearing some screams, the cops arrive and they find them coming from behind the wall. It is broken down and there they find his wife's corpse and the cat. This is a fairly good adaption of a story that I've also seen adapted by EC Comics and Warren.

Next is "The Castle" by Al Hewetson (story) and John Byrne/Duffy Vohland (art). In this two page story, some construction workers work on demolishing a castle that is in the way of a new highway. One of the workers feels shame and ominous about doing it, but they go ahead and do so, blowing it up with dynamite. Only then do they discover the castle was some kind of prison for a giant monster! The closing caption explains that somehow the castle is rebuilt and the highway is made to go around it. A mere two pages, but the story does mark the professional debut of Byrne.

"The Black Cat"

We wrap up with "I, Gargoyle", the latest story in the Gargoyles series by Al Hewetson (story) and Maelo Cintron (art). Edward is released from jail by Judge Wallace who says he doesn't want to see him in this courtroom again. Upon leaving, Edward along with his wife Mina and son Andrew discover that Edward's autobiography, I, Gargoyle, has been published and is a best seller. Money is rolling in from the book and Edward's agent/ghost writer Paul Hawkins has gotten him spots of TV shows. During one such one, another gargoyle appears, sent by Satan, claiming Edward is an impostor and fights him. Edward is able to defeat him, and realizes that with this happening on TV Edward now has millions of witnesses who have seen that he is not evil but defending himself against Satan. As the story ends, Edward and Mina come upon a castle he has bought, not knowing that Satan has forces waiting here. This series continues to get more and more dreadful. The notion that Paul could have written Edward's biography in mere days and that it would become such a big hit is quite absurd. As we approach the end of Skywald's run I hope we get as few of these Gargoyles stories as possible.

Psycho #20

This issue of Psycho features a cover by Salvador Faba, and is cover dated Augsut 1974.

First is "The Dead and the Superdead" by Al Hewetson (story) and Jose Cardona (art). This story takes place in a future where the Americas have reverted back to prairies and jungles, and Europe is the center of civilization. Other continents/countries are overrun by Shoggoths, mutant apes and other monsters. We focus on the President of Europe who departs his home, and travels with a homeless orphan girl he found on the street. He speaks of how acts of violence started occurring and aliens arrived, with no bodies, so their minds started occupying human bodies. This results in mass deaths, war and the like. For several pages we see how society further collapsed. The President eventually shows the girl a button he can push which will set off nukes and likely destroy the world. The President is stabbed to death by a maniac soon after and as the story ends we see the girl about to push the button. This story goes a bit all over the place, but Cardona's art is good. Usually he reminds me of Jose Gonzales, but he has several images here reminding me of Rafael Auraleon.

"The Dead and the Superdead"

Second is "The Burial Vault of Primal Eld!!!" by Ed Fedory (story) and Antonio Borrell (art). This story's style is extremely confusing, switching back and forth between a pair of soldiers in two storylines; I think the intent is they are the same soldiers? In the first storyline a couple of soldiers fighting in Southeast Asia come across a small town and order some peasants to dig them a trench. When complete, they kill all the peasants. In the second storyline, what I am presuming to be the same soldiers fall into a pit, which they discover to be a tomb. They open a door in the tomb where a giant hand grars them, dragging them to hell. Fedory's poor storytelling reminds me of how confusing his early Skywald stories were.

Third is an Edgar Allen Poe adaption, "The Masque of the Red Death" with adaption by Al Hewetson and art by Ricardo Villamonte. The plague ravishes the countryside. Yet Prince Prospero summons his friends to his castle, where they keep away from everyone and are happy in their seclusion. To get over the boredom, Prospero decides to have a great ball, where everyone wears masks. And yet during the party a mysterious figure enters, with the mask of one diseased and rotted from the plague. Prospero tries to unmask him, but dies upon touching him, having contracted the plague from him. The other party goers throw themselves at him and all end up perishing from the plague. A decent adaption of a story I recall being adapted several times by Warren as well.

"Requiem for a Human Being"

Fourth is "Tomorrow the Snowman Will Kill You!" by Augustine Funnell (story) and Luis Collado (art). Two men, Todd Williams and Ben Mathenson have traveled into the wintery wastelands hoping to kill a Yeti. That night a trio of Yeti come upon their tent, but not knowing what it is, do nothing. The next morning they see the footprints and head out, eventually coming across the three Yeti as they are about to turn in for the night. However as they aim to shoot the Yetis, they find they are unable to. They instead, due to the influence of the Yetis, turn their guns on each other and kill each other. As the story ends the narrator reveals that the Yeti are an evolved form of man, what we will eventually become. A pretty decent story although I found it funny how much our two protagonists would go on about how killing Yeti would cause women to be attracted to them. Most panels in this story are small, causing Collado's art to not be as strong as I am used to it being.

Fifth is "Requiem for a Human Being" by Al Hewetson (story) and Antonio Borrell (art). In the jungle of South America, a man named Hawkins leads a rich woman and her two children. She is seeking to find the city of Maa-r, which her husband had searched for a year ago, never returning. Hawkins is killed by a snake, and the tribesmen he hired leave to return to safety, with the woman refusing to go along with them. She and her children eventually find Maa-r, seeing many monstrous bat creatures flying above it. One of the bat creatures fights off the others, and the woman heads to the city, reading a book that says how they will find peace and happiness here, but will never leave. In the final panel we see that she and her children have become bat creatures as well and are reunited with their husband/father. The final panel of this story hints at a sequel; we'll have to wait and see if we get it.

"The Freaks"

Sixth is the latest in the Gargoyles series, "The Freaks" by Al Hewetson (story) and Maelo Cintron (art). Edward sits in jail, awaiting a hearing for his crime of destroying a lion statue. His wife Mina and son Andrew come to visit, telling him they've found a hotel to stay in. While eating out, Mina is approached by a reporter, Paul Hawkins, who has been interested in Edward's story and thinks by writing an autobiography, he can tell his story to the public. Edward agrees and Paul records him as he tells his story so he can write it. When Edward is told by a guard that his wife is not at the hotel, he freaks out, thinking Satan is behind it and breaks out, only to discover that she got a job at a daycare and was there. Edward turns himself back in and returns to jail. The Gargoyle series continues to bore me. Edward is his own worst enemy, getting violent over something that is revealed to not be a big deal at all. Perhaps he should be in jail if he's going to be this out of control. The character Paul is modeled after author Al Hewetson, and an unnamed man he is sitting with is modeled after artist Maelo Cintron.

Nightmare #19

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

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

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

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

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

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

"The Kingdom of the Dead"

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

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

"My Tomb is My Castle"

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

Psycho #18

Xavier Villanova provides the cover for this issue, cover dated May 1974. An interesting concept, in the form of a jigsaw puzzle!

First is "The Macabre" by Al Hewetson (story) and Ricardo Villamonte (art). Movie actor Basil's agent comes up with an idea for him to hype up his role as vampires by having him pretend to be a vampire in real life, carrying around a coffin with him. But this leads to a real vampire encountering him, and when he discovers it is all a gag, the vampire bites him, turning him into a vampire for real! Basil flees from society, living on an island and only succumbing to his urges to bite someone occasionally. He eventually comes up with a cure for vampirism and drinks it, turning himself back into a regular human. Unfortunately for him at that very moment a mob of villagers have come to the village and slay him with an ax! Villamonte's art as often is the case leaves a lot to be desired, but this was a fairly strong story with a hilarious ending.

Next is a one page pin up of Lady Satan as drawn by Pablo Marcos. I'm not sure why we are featuring her in Psycho when she usually appears in Scream.

"The Rats'

Next is "The Rats" by Al Hewetson (story) and Felipe Dela Rosa (art). Our protagonist, Syd, has gone insane and we go to when he became insane, when he is riding a tractor and sees his family's entire home collapse into a fissure in the ground. We then see that he is in an asylum with people watching over him as he proclaims the rats will get him. We cross cut between them talking about him and him thinking back to him driving around, heading to a city but it being flooded and then running into an elevator overrun with rats. Syd eventually admits he is insane. We find that he is one of many individuals, who after being coddled by the government couldn't take it when some natural disasters happened. They head outside revealing that things actually have been flooded and he is obsessed over rats because he ate some when trapped in an elevator for three days. This story comes off as a less successful attempt at a redo of "Diary of an Absolute Madman" from the same creators a number of issues back in Nightmare.

Fourth is "A Descent into the Maelstrom", an adaption of the Edgar Allen Poe story by Al Hewetson, with Cesar Lopez providing the art. Two men look into the sea at a maelstrom, aka a whirlpool far off. The older of the two tells of how he was caught up in one a while ago. His ship was blast into pieces, with only him and his brother left alive. He eventually realized that in order to survive he had to be as light as possible and tied himself to a barrel. Meanwhile his brother refused to leave the much larger remains of the ship and was sucked into the whirlpool while he survived. As the story ends we realize that despite looking old with his white hair, he is a young man and looks that way due to his experience. A rather unconventional Poe story, that isn't macabre as usual and is more of an adventure tale.

"Now... Another Maniac!"

Fifth is "Now... Another Maniac!" by Al Hewetson (story) and Maelo Cintron (art). This is actually the first Skywald story I ever read, from a horror comics story collection I read a few years ago. It is a rare appearance for Cintron outside of the Gargoyles series. Our protagonist gets up at night, planning to kill a man. While pulling out of the driveway he runs over a bike. He finds his victim, takes him at gunpoint and forces him to dig his own grave, striking him in the head with it once its done, then buries him. When he arrives home he is shocked to find the police there. But it is not for his murder, rather he had run over a kid and killed him when he hit the bike at the start of the story. A fairly strong story with some effective art as well, this reads a lot more like a Warren story from this era than a Skywald one.

Next is "Uncle Ed's Grave" by Al Hewetson (story) and Alphonso Font (art). The titular Uncle Ed speaks to his nephew Ralph, admitting that he is a vampire. Ralph does not believe him, but Ed claims that most fantastical things related to vampires aren't real and he is nonetheless one. He speaks of how his own uncle made him a vampire when he was a child and once a year he drinks someone's blood, but otherwise lives a normal life. Ed tries to attack Ralph, but he throws him to the ground and he appears dead of a heart attack. We find that Ralph came here to seize his uncle's jewels, but with him now dead he needs to dispose of the body. He plans to bury him in the local graveyard. He talks of how Ed wasn't ever discussed as part of the family and his apparent insanity was the reason why. Yet when about to mark a gravestone for him, Ralph realizes that Ed was born in 1822 and is 150 years old, which explains why he was never spoke of. Suddenly Ed's arms break out of the ground and grab a hold of Ralph. It is here where the story ends, quite abruptly. I wonder if we'll get a second part as this seems like an odd place to end it.

"Uncle Ed's Grave"

Seventh is "The Boutique Macabre" by Al Hewetson (story) and Antonio Borrell (art). This is a brief story at only three pages. A man stops by the store Leah's Boutiques and inside meets Leah, a young woman who has many paintings of her killing people. She reveals how each of them are real. She killed the drunk that was rude and tried to assault her, she poisoned the old women who claimed it was immoral for a woman to operate her own business and then she shows him a blank painting. Leah claims he will be the subject of that painting and stabs him.

Last is "Monster, Monster, Watch Them Die" by Augustine Funnell (story) and Ricardo Villamonte (art). The story begins with our werewolf protagonist going on yet another rampage. Then we see Dominik, prince of the gypsies shoot Kirsten and we find that the veiled woman from the previous story has seized the amulet and restored her beauty. She leaves Nola to Dominik, who takes her at gunpoint and we later find has killed her. Our protagonist, discovering this, becomes enraged, turns back into a werewolf and kills Dominik, then cries over Nola's death. The gypsy storyline finally resolved, this would be the perfect place to end this very mediocre series, but alas, the ending states we will get more chapters...

Psycho #15

Vicente Segrelles provides the cover for this issue of Psycho, cover dated November 1973.The cover identifies this as an all ghoul issue, although the cover is a man turning into a werewolf! In fact, not all stories are ghoul related, although most are.

The frontispiece for this issue is "How to Make a Mummy" by Al Hewetson (story) and Maelo Cintron (art). It features what else, but directions on how to make a Mummy.

We kick the issue off with "The 13 Dead Things" by Al Hewetson (story) and Jesus Duran (art). This story was originally intended for issue 13, and was the cover feature for that issue, but due to a delay in the artwork wasn't published until now. It was certainly worth the wait! This is the most over the top, hilarious Skywald story yet. In the 1600s, the Count of Monte Godo lays chained in the black cells of an asylum, with rats for company. When an old man in the fellow cell dies, our protagonist gets an idea, about how he can fake his death and escape the asylum when they toss a sack with his "dead" body into the moat outside. He imagines how he will get his revenge on the 13 who wronged him. We are treated to panel after panel, for three full pages of our protagonist brutally murdering people one after another. He strangles his wife and her lover. He stabs people through the chest, he cuts their heads off. He bashes a banker's head in, he shoves a knife through the head of his lawyer, he smashes a judge in the face with an ax, on and on, and collects everyone's heads to feed to the rats in the cells. Our protagonist then realizes the downside of his plan, what if the sack is tied too tight, and he drowns? He swears that won't stop him though, and we once again are treated to panel after panel, page after page as our protagonist, now a rotting corpse, brutally slaughters the 13 people all over again. Back in reality, our protagonist decides to set his plan in motion and play dead. But when he realizes he can't move, he discovers that most of his body has been consumed by the rats! This story is such a perfect representation of the Skywald style. There's not much of a plot to this story, but wow, across 12 pages we are treated to about as much over the top mayhem one can possibly get in a short story. Just when you think page after page of our protagonist brutally murdering people is as ridiculous as you can get, we go through it all over again, even more ridiculously as his corpse does it! This was such a blast to read, the best Skywald story thus far.

"The 13 Dead Things"

Second is "When the Bad Moon Rises... I Am a Ghoul!" by Rodion Eis (story) and Maro Nava (story). Got no idea who Rodion Eis is; it wouldn't surprise me if its one of Skywald's usual authors under a pseudonym. This story features a couple of newlyweds, Peter and Tina who are on their honeymoon. When Peter gets asked by his employer to take photos of the Andes for a travel feature, they decide to go ahead with it and hire a bush pilot, Stein. Stein is a drunk and due to the plane's battery being dead they are forced to touch down in the Andes, then travel through them, making their way into the mountains where they are attacked by ghoul bats. Eventually Stein is killed and Tina reveals that she is a ghoul herself, desiring to eat his body. Nava's style here is drastically different than that which he used in his prior story, where he looked a lot like Jerry Grandenetti. None of that here. Also the art style is really grimy and dark throughout, at times making it hard to read.

Third is "The Ghoul" by Al Hewetson (story) and Ferran Sostres (art). The passenger ship S.S. Captain Cook makes a trip across the Atlantic. One of its passengers is killed by a beastly ghoul. The passengers of the ship start questioning the captain, even offering their own thoughts on what it could be (a werewolf, a homicidal maniac, a vampire, etc...). The captain is hesitant to believe any of them and soon there are more victims. Because they can't find the killer, the captain believes it must be one of them doing it and orders everyone to stay in their cabins. Eventually though we realize why they couldn't find the killer, the ghouls have actually been coming aboard through nearby icebergs! Soon a group of them jump on board and kill everyone on the ship.

"When the Bad Moon Rises... I Am a Ghoul!"

Fourth is "The House of Demons" by Chic Stone (story) and Amador Garcia (art). Vincent and his wife Melanie go to visit his dying uncle Sinclair. There they meet his nurse, Christine and she leads them up to him. Sinclair tells off Vincent, saying he knows he is here because he is dying and has been foolhardy since his parents died. He nonetheless lets them stay the night. Behind closed doors Vincent and Melanie fight with one another. Meanwhile a stranger watches them, then Christine, as she goes to the basement to feast on something. A scream emits out, waking Vincent, who heads downstairs and starts coming onto Christine. She tells him of a ghoul, a being with a rare disease which eats away at its cells unless it consumes new flesh, which will in turn make it younger and more powerful. Just then we realize that both Sinclair and Christine are ghouls, and Sinclair has been able to restore his youth by eating a local visitor. Vince is killed, but Melanie and the stranger come upon them. The stranger says by shattering the reflection of a ghoul he can kill them and he does so, causing both Sinclair and Christine to age to death. The stranger reveals himself to be Sinclair's son, but then reveals that he is a ghoul as well and strangles Melanie. This story is a bit over complicated and it is hard to tell the male characters apart because they look so much alike (granted, they are related).

"The House of Demons"

Fifth is "Ghouls Walk Among Us" by Augustine Funnell (story) and Ferran Sostres (art). A trio of ghouls kills a man in a graveyard. The next day the police, Bill and Carl, find the body. They report to the police chief who refuses to believe anything supernatural is going on and thinks it is just a clever insane man. The ghouls continue to find victims, including Bill and Carl. As the story ends we find that the police chief was one of the ghouls and has been wearing a mask. Sostres' art is fairly strong here, helping make up for a story which is only so-so.

Sixth is "The Town That Crumbled" by Al Hewetson (story) and Jesus Suso Rego (art). This one pager talks about corrupt, dead places on Earth, such as a ghost corpse in the wild west and a corpse in Atlantis, underneath the ocean depths.

Seventh is "I Laugh the Laugh of the Graceful Dead!" by Al Hewetson (story) and Felipe Dela Rosa (art). Suzette is a ballerina dancer, jealous of her rival Monique who gets all the accolades. She kills Monique by stabbing her with a knife then hides her body in a coffin. When Monique fails to show for a dance, Suzette is able to take her place as she had hoped. Yet suddenly Monique appears on the stage with her and gets everyone's applause. After it is over Suzette chases after Monique, finding her in the coffin where she left her. Monique rises from the coffin and strangles her, telling her she can't kill someone who is already dead. I'm not used to seeing a Dela Rosa story with predominantly female characters. There's no indication that Monique is a ghoul, she just as easily could be a vampire or a body risen from the dead.

"I Laugh the Laugh of the Graceful Dead!"

The issue concludes with a one page advertisement for Scream, featuring some strong art from Zesar Lopez.

Nightmare #15

Happy black Friday, everyone! We've got another Ken Kelly cover for this issue of Nightmare, cover dated October 1973.

The frontispiece for this issue is "How They Killed the Chicago Vampiress" by Ed Fedory (story) and Emilio Bernardo (art). It features a dead young woman having her body burned due to feat of her being a vampire. In what may have been a production error, an image from the story "15 Dead Things" which was originally intended for Psycho #15 appears on the table of contents page, rather than an actual story from this issue. That story will finally appear soon in Psycho #15.

First story is "Dracula Did Not Die!" by Al Hewetson (story) and Antonio Borrell (art). The first few pages of this story act as a historical account for the real life Dracula, Vlad the impaler. It was thought he was dead, but when his coffin is dug up only a horse's skeleton is found inside. Vlad/Dracula laughs at being able to fake his own death, but does regret that he'll have to hide himself and not be able to take advantage of his wealth, influence and power. Dracula explains how he was able to fake his death and killed any witnesses. He heads towards his castle, finding it on fire and swears those doing so will pay. The story suddenly stops here, implying that his will be the start of a multi-part series. Some pretty good art from Borrell here, although this is much more of just an introduction than a full story.

"Dracula Did Not Die!"

Next is "The Gargoyle Who Went to War", a two page feature from Al Hewetson (story) and Fernando Rubio (art). This brief story takes place in Paris France where some people gather to look at the gargoyle statue on the Cathedral of Notre Dame. Natzis arrive and take over the city, lining up people to be shot. Then suddenly, the gargoyle comes to life and kills the soldiers. This story is unrelated to the long running Gargoyles series.

Third is another two pager, "The Truth Behind the Myths About Bats... Particularly Vampire Bats" by Al Hewetson (story) and Domingo Gomez (art). Rather than being a typical story, this is rather a two page feature providing factual information about different types of bats.

Following this is "The Kid and the Killer and the Bum Rap" by Al Hewetson (story) and Francisco Cueto (art). A man named Miller is brought to jail, claiming he's been framed. He is put in a cell with a man named Eddie, who claims that he was beat up by him when he was a kid. Miller admits to being a killer, but claims he didn't commit the murder they claimed he did. Eddie and Miller start talking about things that Miller did when he was younger, including some murder he actually committed. Eddie tells Miller that he is in here for killing his wife, and his brother, his father, his landlord, a gay neighbor, many cops, doctors, etc... and says now he's going to kill Miller. We hear the guards laughing as the story ends. A rather abrupt ending to this, and we gotta presume Miller died, although why the guards would be in on it I'm not sure. Cueto's art is at least a little better than usual here.

"THe Kid and the Killer Bum Rap"

Fifth is "Tapestry of Blood" by Ed Fedory (story) and Fernando Rubio (art). A man finds himself shipwrecked on an island in the south Pacific. To his horror, he soon sees a fellow man killed by a giant snail! He beats the snail to its death but it is too late to save the man. Suddenly another man wearing an overcoat, hat and sunglasses appears. Calling himself a doctor, he leads our protagonist into the woods and to his camp. There he tells our protagonist of how his wife lies in the waters beyond the reef and he can never leave. Our protagonist later follows him, and the doctor explains how he died and was resurrected, and how our protagonist killed "Grayson" who is revealed to be the snail he attacked earlier. The doctor removes his sunglasses, revealing himself to be a snail like creature and bites into our protagonist! Quite a fun ending to this story, which I enjoyed.

Snail man!

Sixth is another in the Shoggoths series with "The Grotesque Green Earth" by Al Hewetson (story) and Zesar Lopez (art). Hewetson and Zesar are actually characters in this story! They receive a letter from a Howard Hay in Arkham, Massachusetts. Upon arriving he tells them of manuscripts he's found from a woman from approximately a century ago who lived by the river. We then flashback to see the woman as she writes. At her husband's grave she finds a hole that leads her down into a lengthy pit. This eventually leads to a large cavern where she finds an underground city. Inside she finds a library filled with zombies,, writing of man's doom. Suddenly some Shoggoths arrive. They chase her back up to the surface and even after she makes her way there they make it through. Hay, Hewetson and Lopez head to where the papers were found and it leads to an underground tunnel where they find her skeleton, where she's written that they will come to the Earth, in 1973! This story's style is much like the previous Shoggoths story in Scream #1 and reads as if it was a Lovecraft story itself. Zesar's art is strong as well, making this a pretty high quality story.

The Shoggoths return!

Next is "Ravings of the Damned" by Ed Fedory (story) and Juez Xirinius (art). A pair of archaeologists in a temple find a desecrated corpse of one of their men in front of a large statue. One of the men thinks a monstrous snake did it, while the other thinks it is Quontotaz, an Indian legend. Later that night, one of the men hears the other screaming. It is the statue, come to life and crushing him in its arms. Months later another expedition arrives. The remaining man is now worshiping Quontotaz, and is in a beast like form. Just there, the stories stops rather abruptly. A quick ending to an average at best story.

We wrap up with another story in the Gargoyles series, "Once Upon a Time in Alabama: A Horror" by Al Hewetson (story) and Maelo Cintron (art). Edward and Mina, with their child Andrew hitchhike their way to Birmingham, Alabama. Edward is able to get a job on a construction work site and saves a man falling from above. Just then, another, evil gargoyle arrives. He demands Edward fight him, or his wife and child will be killed by being shot by a madman at a riot (how a gargoyle can be killed by mere bullets eludes me...). Edward has had enough, decides to fight the enemy gargoyle and kills him. He then finds Mina and Andrew, safe and sound at a rally. This is standard fare for the Gargoyles series, pretty good art, but a rather uninteresting story. Gargoyles face some discrimination. Edward fights some sort of monster. Rince and repeat.