Nightmare 1974 Yearbook

Vicente Segrelles provides the cover for this special issue of Nightmare. For the first time since all the way back with Nightmare 2, a Skywald issue is dominated by reprints. Only the first story is new. The reprints are predominantly from early in Skywald's run, and primarily by American artists, making this issue quite a contrast to those around it.

First is "The God of the Dead" by Al Hewetson (story) and Jose Martin Sauri (art, credited as Bob Martin). While not labeled as such, this story is part of the Dracula series. His castle destroyed, Dracula swears to teach the nearby peasants a lesson by making their daughters vampires and having them kill their parents. Dracula starts biting the neck of various women, turning them into vampires. He is confronted by a man, but has his daughter, whom he has turned into a vampire, kill him. Eventually he is confronted by a boy with a small cross and finds that it is deadly, killing him. It looks like this story will conclude the Dracula series, with a rather predictable ending. The highlight of this story is easily the art; Sauri's style is really similar to that of Esteban Maroto, one of my favorite Warren artists. It will be a blast seeing the remaining Skywald stories he has for that reason.

"The God of the Dead"

Next is "A Rottin Deal" by Bruce Jones (story and art), using the pseudonym Philip Roland. This story was originally from Nightmare #3. A young man named Peter travels with his uncle Felix, seeking an old mine around five days away. As they travel through the desert wasteland, devoid of water, Peter decides to kill his uncle and take his canteen. He travels from oasis to oasis but finds that Felix's corpse is following him, beating him to the water, contaminating it. Peter rushes ahead of the corpse, making it to the next oasis in time to drink some water. However he soon finds that his uncle had leprosy, and having uses his canteen, he now has it too! Jones' story and art here is quite strong, making this the best reprint story of the issue.

Third story is "Let the Dreamer Beware" by Jerry Siegel (story) and Ralph Reese (art). This story is originally from Psycho #5. Alex's wife Florence makes his life absolute hell and refuses a divorce. Alex dreams of being in another realm filled with beautiful people. One of them, Dileeth, says she loves him, but he is suddenly whisked back to reality. Dileeth tells Alex he can return by killing his wife, so he poisons her with rat poison. Upon falling asleep he is back in the realm, but now the facade is gone and all the beautiful people are now demons, including Dileeth! Alex wakes and tries his hardest to not fall asleep, even after being arrested and brought to jail for Florence's murder. Eventually he does fall asleep and the demons throw him in acid, which also affects his body in the real world.

"A Rotttin "Deal"

Next is "Escape" by Dennis Fujitake (story and art) from Psycho #4. This is a brief 2 page story. The evil Baron Renphrew is captured and chained to a wall in a dungeon. He plans on getting away by having men he paid for dig him out. They are able to dig into the dungeon, but break their way through a stone above the Baron's head, which crushes him! A brief, fun story. Fujitake's art reminds me a lot of Jeff Jones.

Next is "Whence Stalks the Werewolf" from Nightmare #5 by Len Brown (story) and Carlos Garzon (art). Dr. Allan Bund has found a way to transport is patient's consciousness to the past. Using this ability, he has him go back further in time, including military battles and even a werewolf appearance! His colleague Dr. Tracy wants this to stop and leaves to get the police. However once he has come back, we find the patient has turned into a werewolf for real and goes on a rampage! Garzon provides some good art here, reminding me somewhat of Eugene Colan, but I didn't particularly care for the story, not its predictable ending.

"Hag of the Blood Basket!"

Next is "Power of the Pen" from Psycho #5, by Doug Moench (story) and Doug Wildley (art). The author Jeff Dennings is working on a new book, having already written a few characters. Having named his lead after his friend George, Jeff is shocked to find that what he writes actually happens to George in real life! George is sent to the hospital, having been struck by a car and is investigating a drug ring under cover, but Jeff decides to write things such that he forgets about it and change the name of his character to someone else. He then smashes his typewriter, thinking it is responsible for this. Jeff soon realizes he named a character in another story of his after his friend Sandy. He goes to her apartment, to find herself trapped in a mirror, and gets trapped there himself, much like in his story.

Last is "Hag of the Blood Basket"!" by Al Hewetson (story) and Tom Sutton (art, credited by Sean Todd). This story was originally published in Nightmare #4. The Hag of the title appears visually inspired by the Old Witch, one of the 3 hosts from EC's 1950s horror comics. Sutton was obviously a fan, and would eventually do a story for Warren that was a tribute to Graham Ingels, the artist primarily responsible for drawing her. Anyway, this lengthy story (16 pages!) tells the journey of the Hag of the title as she is initially executed during the french revolution, with her head chopped off in the guillotine. We witness her lengthy journey into hell, the various creatures and monsters she encounters there and her desire to escape, only for the story to end with her headless body being chained up in an insane asylum. This story didn't always make the most sense, but the journey was worth it, and Sutton does a great job with the art work.

Nightmare #11

Today I cover issue 11 of Nightmare, cover dated February 1973, with a cover by Jose Antonio Domingo.

The two-page table of contents features art by Pablo Marcos, and the character Mr. Pook.

First story is "The Wetness in the Pit" by Al Hewetson (story) and Pablo Marcos (art). Our protagonist, a homicidal maniac is on the run from the police and flees underground, finding himself in a wet pit filled with numerous corpse monsters. Another monster, with a horn on its head approaches him and stabs him. On the final page we find out that the man had simply gone into a fun house of horrors tunnel at an amusement part and was stabbed by the horn on a railway cart.

Second is "Taw!!!" by Ed Fedory (story) and Antonio Borrell (art). An expedition occurs in the Himalayas where the abominable snowman-like creatures known as Taw rage. The expedition finds its way to a temple who warns them that they will find death and the Taw upon the mountain. Many Taws soon attack them during a storm and most of the men are killed. The leader of the expedition returns to the temple where he discovers that the men there transform into the Taw, and kill him. This story is Borrel's Skywald debut; he'll also get the final story of the issue. His art is fair, similar in nature to that of Pablo Marcos, at least for this story.

Next up is the one page "Lon Chaney Sr. in the Phantom of the Opera" by Al Hewetson (story) and Pablo Marcos (art). It features who else, but the phantom of the opera terrorizing a woman.

Third story is the latest in the Nightmare World series, "The Beasts of Tomb Beach!" by Al Hewetson (story) and Wayne Howard (art), based on a dream by reader Mike Black. Sitting down, reading a book, Mike suddenly finds that a large slime is traveling across the ground and starts grabbing a hold of him. He grabs onto a tree branch and is able to climb up it, then to a cliff, fleeing from the slime. These Nightmare World features are usually pretty out there, but this one isn't as so. It's just okay.

"Corridors of Caricature" by Jesus Duran

Fourth is "Where Gods Once Stood" by T. Casey Brennan (story) and Carlos Garzon (art). The city of Olympus lies in ruins, and the high priest Serbius finds himself deserted by all his fellow priests. Only the woman Electra remains to tell him of this. She begs him to stop considering himself a god, but a man, and yet he refuses. A harsh storm strikes the city and his attempts to stop it do no good. Lightning strikes the temple, destroying it and Serbius is quite injured, but makes his way to his alter, admitting to Electra that he is a man. Then the storm fades away. Brennan did a number of stories for Warren, often confusing hippie messes and this story is quite like one of them. I hope this is his only Skywald story! Garzon appeared to have deserted Skywald by this point so I wonder if this is an inventory story.

Next is "Corridors of Caricature" by Al Hewetson (story) and Jesus Duran (art). A group known as the Sanctum Club gathers at a mansion and talks about a Miss Ingels, a schoolteacher in Cleveland whose students were extremely unruly and she discovered to be vampires! Ingels talks to them then they investigate, and are told she was a nut who was about to be fired. Since a new teacher took over everything has been perfectly normal. The Club is then revealed to be a group of vampires themselves. The principal at the school reveals that he had them investigated and has discovered this and brings them to join a feast with the children, who are indeed vampires. Duran's art is pretty effective here, for a story that would have come off as a bit foolish perhaps with someone else drawing it. I assume Miss Ingels is named after Graham Ingels, the famous EC horror artist.

Next we have the one-page feature "Man Bat" by Al Hewetson (story) and Pablo Marcos (art). It features what else, but the half-man, half-bat creature biting a man's neck.

Zesar brings the bizarre with "Where Are the Inhabitants of Earth"

Sixth story is "Where Are the Inhabitants of Earth?" by Al Hewetson (story) and Zesar Lopez (art). This story appears to be a part of the Shoggoths series for which Zesar had previously drawn another story for (although aside from the Shoggoths there appears to be no relation to the plots in these two stories). A man named Crawford who has lived in outer space on his own returns to Earth, finding Manhattan largely destroyed and sinking into the ocean. He heads to his hometown of Arkham in New England where he is attacked by a Shoggoth which accidentally electrocutes itself. He comes across a hiding woman named Francine who claims that the Shoggoths have killed all the humans including her husband Joseph, and that she is pregnant. Crawford and Francine are able to make their way to a space ship and escape the Earth, but when she gives birth, it is a baby Shoggoth! Crawford shoots the baby into space as the story ends. Zesar's art continues to be quite strong and this is a pretty decent story, including the shocking ending.

Seventh is "Titan Weep" by Al Hewetson (story) and Pablo Marcos (art). During a play in ancient Rome, an actor playing Flavius Titan stabs himself. A couple of men in the crowd talk about the true story, how a few months ago Titan led his men into Sicily and due to the plague all but one of them perished. They notice a hooded man nearby in the audience. When he gets up to leave, the man reveals that he was the one who led the men to Sicily and that it wasn't a plague that got them, but rather the leprosy he had that spread to all his colleagues. A pretty decent short 3 page story, although the leprosy angle was just tackled in the latest issue of Psycho as well with "The Transplant".

The Horror War stars.... Richard Nixon!?!?

We wrap up the issue with "The Horror War" by Al Hewetson (story) and Antonio Borrell (art). Planet Earth is contacted by another planet whose children have revolted and are attacking the adults, wielding not only traditional weapons, but even flying beasts. Edward Dixon, the planet of Earth offers his assistance and tells the leader of the other planet to invite in the leader of the children, feigning surrender, but to kill him once he's in their clutches and that without the leaders the revolution will fall. This all goes according to plan and the other planet succeeds. As the story ends we find the same thing had happened on Earth, with their children crushed under a similar rebellion and either locked up or dead. I question what the future will be for both Earth and the other planet with the children of their society dead or locked up. The present rulers will get old and die eventually. President Edward Dixon in this story is modeled after then US President Richard Nixon, even including what appears to be a super imposed photo of his head on one of the panels.

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.

Nightmare #6

Jeff Jones makes his Skywald debut painting the cover for this issue of Nightmare, cover dated December 1971 and featuring the Love Witch character.

The one page frontispiece for this issue is "Medea" by Michael Kaluta.

We start with "Love Witch and the Battle of the Livng Dead" by Marv Wolfman (story) and Ernie Colon/Jack Abel (art). Well, I speculated at the end of the previous Love Witch story that this may be a continuing storyline and that appears to be the case here as the Love Witch is young again, and we even have her pet lizard Friji alive. This story is even more of a confusing mess than the previous one. The Stonehedge priests rise from the dead the hag Atulak to battle Burnick the Love Witch. At some point Atulak succeeds in slaying Burnick, but her spirit rises from her body and the fighting continues, with Burnick eventually winning. The story concludes saying this is only the beginning, but I really hope that is not the case as these Love Witch stories have been awful. The only redeeming part is the Ernie Colon art.

Next is "The Living Gargoyle" by Jerry Siegal (story) and Carlos Garzon (art). The ugly, bald, malformed Julio is angry at the world and the people who mistreat him solely because he is ugly. He gets assaulted on the street merely for looking at a woman. Julio makes his way into a museum where he stands before the Gargoyle Shrazzgoth. He asks for two wishes, both of which the gargoyle grants. First, he is made incredibly handsome, and second everyone else is made ugly. He goes outside to taunt people and they kill him. The ending for this story was quite easy to guess once Julio wishes everyone else ugly. The role of the Gargoyle in this story is a rather odd one as it is just there to grant wishes, something I didn't know gargoyles could even do. Skywald would eventually have gargoyles as one of its more well known continuing characters, but this appears to be an unrelated story.

Third is "Broken Sparrow" by Larry Todd (story and art). Kenzor is a tiny alien who looks somewhat like a humanoid bird. His ship explodes and he crashes on Earth, where he is found by some boys who take him and bring him home in a glass jar. Kenzor is kept there as a pet, who fascinates the family, aside from the mother, who wants him to get rid of him. Kenzor can understand everything being said but can't communicate until he fixes a translation device he has with him. He is finally able to do so and calls out to the mother, who freaks out, and flushes him down the toilet!  This was one of my favorite Skywald stories yet; I feel quite bad for Kenzor and his fate though!

Kenzor in "Broken Sparrow"

Next is "Corpse by Computer!" by Robert Kanigher (story) and Doug Wildey (art). Millionaire inventor Phillip Talbot has created the supercomputer Debbie, which operates many things in his mansion. Upon bringing a woman home with him, Debbie kills her with a mechanically controlled knight. Debbie desires Phillip as her companion and won't let him have anyone else. When Phillip starts a relationship with the psychiatrist Karen Benton, Debbie kills her too. Phillip has had enough and tries to delete Debbie's memory, only for her to electrocute him to death. Another more sci-fi type story, although not as good as the previous one.

Fifth is "The Cosmos Strain" by Steve Stern (story) and Mike Kaluta (art). Richard Arndt, in his book "Horror Comics in Black and White" speculates that Stern isn't a real person, but rather a pseudonym for Kaluta. The story features the starship Parnassus, which travels the universe, studying a contagion that has destroyed all life on the planet Medallion. The scientist Broome, his assistant Zork and the robot Darukk investigate, heading to the planet where Zork mistakenly lets out the contagion and Broome is killed. Zork and Darukk realize the only thing to do is use the Sterilibomb, blowing up the planet, and killing them. Kaluta's art is good but I wasn't the biggest fan of the story. This is now three sci-fi stories in a row! Surprising to see in what is supposed to be a horror magazine.

The Geek

The issue concludes with "The Geek" by Pat Boyette (story and art) making his Skywald debut. Its great to see some work here from Boyette, he was an artist I enjoyed quite a lot at Warren, although he didn't do too much work for them (maybe 10 stories or so). Max Schuller finds the bizarre Geek during the winter, eating one of his hens raw. Max, whose wife had died, leaving him alone, takes in the Geek. Eventually word of the Geek spreads and the local Baron has him seized, brought to his castle where he can amuse him. One day the Baron strikes the Geek, and the Geek in retaliation kills him, putting his head up on the tower with some stone ones. The Geek then flees, returning to Max's home where he seems him one last time. The Geek disappears, and is never seen again, but Max finds that he did him one final act of kindness, digging up his wife's body so he wouldn't be alone. Boyette doesn't disappoint as this is quite a strong Skywald debut for him, both the story and art.

Nightmare #5

The cover for this issue's story is provided by Boris Vallejo, illustrating the interior story "Creature of the Deep!". This issue is cover dated August 1971. Oddly enough, issue 5 of Nightmare came out before issue 4 of Psycho!

First is "Slime World" by Chuck McNaughton (story) and Ralph Reese (art). A couple, Sidney and Susan, make their way into the Parisian sewers after a mysterious man tells them to follow them. Underground they find a race of people who have been mutated by the slime in the sewers. They capture and mutate people, either joining their forces, or serving them as food. Sidney and Susan escape their bonds and split up, and after a few weeks Sidney starts transforming into one of the mutants, both physically and mentally. Eventually he is permitted to become someone who tricks people into following him into the sewers, much like what originally happened to him. A strong way to kick off the issue, Reese also provides some good artwork.

Second is "Whence Stalks the Werewolf" by Len Brown (story) and Carlos Garzon (art). Dr. Allan Bund has found a way to transport is patient's consciousness to the past. Using this ability, he has him go back further in time, including military battles and even a werewolf appearance! His colleague Dr. Tracy wants this to stop and leaves to get the police. However once he has come back, we find the patient has turned into a werewolf for real and goes on a rampage! Garzon provides some good art here, reminding me somewhat of Eugene Colan, but I didn't particularly care for the story, nor its predictable ending.

A strong start to the issue with "Slime World"

Third is "The Doom Star!" by Chuck McNaughton (story) and Tom Sutton, Dan Adkins and Ralph Reese (art). It is the year 1000 A.D., and many are in fear of the doom star, a comet that crosses the skies. As chaos reigns supreme, the knight Berthold carries a diplomatic message with him, hoping it will unite Europe. Eventually upon seeing a woman being burned at a stake, he slays those doing it and brings her with her, treating her as his property. Suddenly a bizarre group of humanoid animal-like knights attack him. They eventually reveal they are aliens, and that the doom star comet is actually their spaceship. In the stars, alien races live in peace, but they have found that isn't the case here on Earth. Berthold will need to bring peace among man and animals; Earth can be welcomed into the fold if he succeeds, or destroyed if things get worse. Berthold rides off, eager to spread the message, only to get immediately shot and killed by some burglars. This story took a bizarre turn in the second half, but is quite good, despite the downer ending.

Fourth is Creature of the Deep" by Chuck McNaughton (story) and Jack Katz/Jack Abel (art). The oceans have become dreadfully polluted, and a Professor Daniels is given grant money to fight said pollution. Daniels' team released radioactive material into the ocean, thinking it may help bring more things to life, but instead it results in horrifying mutations. Mutated sea creatures terrorize the world, forcing military intervention and even the Russians dropping nukes on them! As the story ends, Daniels heads to the hospital where his wife has given birth to his son, who was born a mutant due to the polluted water.

Fifth is "Nazi Death Rattle" by Al Hewetson (story) and Serg Moren (art). A Nazi boot camp in 1943 is plagued with several deaths. The commander, Snookler, brings in an S.S. officer to help them find the person responsible. Said S.S. officer immediately turns on Snookler as he was born in Austria, not Germany, and starts purging the camp of anyone not German. Eventually he tortures a man who claims Snookler is behind it all, and Snookler is executed. The S.S. officer knows this is all a ruse though and demands the man show him where the real killer is. The man leads him to a cabin where hidden rebels kill all the officer's men, then Snookler, revealed to be a vampire, kills him.

Things get weird in "The Doom Star"

Sixth is "Within the Torture Chamber" by Kevin Pagan (story) and Doug Wildey (art). 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). I fear that these confusing endings will just get more and more common as I make my way through these Skywald issues...

Creepy 36

An early issue of Creepy featuring a terrific cover by Kenneth Smith. The frontis is "Creepy's Loathsome Lore: The Body Snatchers Who Stole A Giant!" by Tom Sutton.

First is "One Way to Break the Boredom" by Jack Sparling (art) and James Haggenmiller (story). A rich man is bored with his life, and when the devil arrives he gives him his soul in order to become a vampire, a life that he plans to be very exciting. It is exciting for a while, he travels from place to place, kills many people, and always survives the execution whenever he is captured. Eventually however he arrives at an old city in the country with an old custom for executions, shooting with wooden arrows, something which kills him for real.

Next is "Weird World" by Tom Sutton (art) and Nicola Cuti (story). An astronaut arrives at a bizarre planet where he meets a beautiful woman, but also a talking frog and her father, a bizarre looking alien creature. He soon finds out that the planet is a mental asylum for crazy aliens. He heads into his ship to take off from the planet, but once he goes inside he becomes insane for real.

Third is "Frankenstein is a Clown" by Carlos Garzon (art) and Bill Warren (story). A famous clown later in his career becomes well known as an actor playing a friendly monster on TV. Unfortunately for him he perishes in a car crash. A mad scientist brings him back as a real Frankenstein monster. He heads to a memorial for himself, but realizing how dangerous he is, he decides instead to kill himself for good by jumping out of a window.

Fourth is "On the Wings of a Bird" by Jerry Grandenetti (art) and T. Casey Brennan. As good as Grandenetti's art is it can't save this absolutely horrific story which was startling enough awarded by Warren as the best story of the year! A man, Ahzid, is trapped in a desert prison with a talking statue. He dreams of the day that he'll be able to escape due to a bird that sits there, but never takes off. He has a dream of actually leaving on the bird, but when he wakes up he finds that the bird has already left and that he's trapped here due to sleeping in. This story would have a sequel in issue 42.

Fifth is "Forbidden Journey" by Rich Buckler (art, his Warren debut) and Greg Theakston (story). This story tells of four astronauts heading to a world with a natural resource, 'thurium' that will make them rich. One of the astronauts kills the three others, but when he arrives at the planet he finds it is nothing more than a waste dump and his ship falls into quicksand, trapping him there.

Sixth is "If A Body Meets a Body" by Jack Sparling (art) and R. Michael Rosen (story). A man is in a car crash with his friend. He awakens and heads home only to find his wife crying over his death. His friend arrives and tells him that they're both dead and they should head to the spirit world. At the urging of his friend the man jumps off a cliff. It ends up all being a trick however as the friend and wife are together, and he falls to his death. Only it ends up that the friend truly is dead, something he and the wife soon discover.

Last is "Frozen Beauty" by Richard Corben (story & art). This was Corben's Warren debut. A hideous queen, Maleva, summons Darman, a sorceror, offering him gold in exchange for making her look like her beautiful niece. They head to a cave in the icy mountain where he casts a spell such that Maleva will have her niece's exact appearance. Her niece is left frozen there in the cave so she'll always look the same. Instead of paying the sorceror however, Maleva has him stabbed and left in the cave. Maleva doesn't get to enjoy her beauty for that long, as Darman, still left alive due to the cold starts eating the corpse of Maleva's niece, resulting in her body being torn to shreds. A very nice debut for Corben.

Eerie 29

Ken Kelly provides this issue's cover, his first for Eerie. A so-so issue; the stories for the most part aren't particularly great, and one artist gets three stories in this issue alone, which takes away some of the variety.

First story is "Loophole". Art is provided by Jack Sparling, his first of three stories this issue. The story is by Nicola Cuti. This story is about a group of time travelers who go throughout time killing people, which of course eventually results in them vanishing after doing away with their ancestors.

Second is "The Fiend Planet" by Dan Adkins (art) and Buddy Saunders (story). Astronauts head through space for a hundred years to reach a colony planet, but when they reach it they find bizarre creatures and many end up getting killed. It later becomes apparant that the creatures are actually humans who came to Earth long before due to advanced technology, changed in appearance due to adapting on the planet.

Third is "The Bloodstaff" by Rich Buckler (story & art). A warrior uses a weapon provided to him by his dying father, the Bloodstaff to fight a woman in the woods who is killing people to feed a vampiric plant. He soon discovers that she didn't kill his allies through, his bloodstaff did. He soon dies himself, appearing in an impish form to those around him.

Fourth is "Gallery of Horror" by Carlos Garzon (art) and Buddy Saunders (story). A writer buys a haunted house hoping to draw inspiration from it. He finds horrific paintings inside which were actually the inspiration for classic stories by Poe and other authors. The house is clearly haunted however, and even a dog he obtains ends up dead. He destroys all the paintings, thinking they are responsible, but it is actually a giant spider living on his ceiling that is responsible for the horror within.

Next is "The Vorpal Sword" by Tom Sutton (art) and Nicola Cuti (story). A young warrior is given the 'Vorpal Sword' by a wizard and heads off to save the wizard's daughter. He rides a giant slug as he heads through the medieval landscape. It soon becomes apparant that the sword transforms to a beautiful woman, Nina whenever he says her name. When he finally faces his enemy, she saves him by using a dagger... which ends up being their son! A fun ending to this story.

Sixth is "Strange Gateway" by Jack Sparling (art) and T. Casey Brennan (story). This story is about a poor man who buys a mirror for his wife which ends up being a gateway to another dimension; a paradise as long as the person who comes there has a good heart. The man and his wife head there to live the rest of their life. Quite an optimistic ending for a Warren story!

The issue concludes with "Snow Job!" by Jack Sparling (art) and Doug Moench (story, his Warren debut). A group of men head to the snowy mountains where it is rumored the abominable snowman lurks. As they soon discover however, its not a snowman, but rather werewolves that are occupying the mountain.

Eerie 34

This issue of Eerie features a cover by Boris Vallejo with a warrior battling a harpy. The frontis for this issue is "Eerie's Monster Gallery: The Man Who Played God" by Tom Sutton.

First up is "Parting is Such Sweet Horror" by Tom Sutton (story & art). This story features a man whose twin brother is a hideous mutated monster. The man tells his lover that he's killed his brother but is obsessed about there being a link between them. She brings him to a mansion to convince him that no such link exists, but the monster brother ends up being there, and absorbs her, then kills his brother.

Second is "Eye of Cyclops!" with art by Jaime Brocal, in his Warren debut, and story by Buddy Saunders. The story features soldiers battling a giant cyclops, who has a small creature always accompanying him on his shoulders. The cyclops captures many of the men and starts eating them. One of the men attacks the cyclops, blinding him, but the cyclops still manages to kill him as he was always blind, and used the creature on his shoulder to see.

Third is "He Who Laughs Last... Is Grotesque!" by Mike Royer (art) and Al Hewetson (story). This story features a rich Scottish Baron who is killed by the townspeople. He swears revenge, but he is refused the ability to do that in hell, which just ends up being his personal hell to him.

Fourth is "Food for Thought" by Tony Williamsune (art) and Steve Skeates (story). The story features an astronaut who kills his fellow astronauts and eats them when they run out of food. He arrives on an alien planet, where the plants eat him! A pretty good art job by Williamsune in his final Warren appearance.

Fifth is the cover story, "Vow of the Wizard" by Ernie Colon & Frank McLaughlin (art) and Ernie Colon (story). A wizard tells a warrior that he'll take his woman from him someday. The warrior battles a harpy, but it ends up that it was his lover, transformed by the wizard!

Sixth is "The Sound of Wings" by Carlos Garzon (art) and F. Paul Wilson (story). The story features a pair of men in the desert who come across a journal. The journal tells of a man who summoned a demon to kill the man who was going out with his daughter, whom he felt unworthy of her. He is killed, but upon finding out that his daughter needs to be sacrificed, he runs away to the desert, where he dies. They don't believe the story, but the ending shows the giant footprint of the bird demon.

Seventh and final story is "Lair of the Horned Man" by Alan Weiss (story & art). The story features a native american chief fighting a horned beast to save a woman. It ends up that the beast was created by the local medicine man, who changes the woman, his daughter into a snake to fight him. She ends up biting her father, killing him.

Eerie 31

This issue of Eerie features Richard Corben's first cover for Warren, featuring a trio of monsters over a dead body.

Up first is "Point of View" by Tom Sutton (art) and Buddy Saunders (story). It takes place from two points of view, monsters inhabiting Earth, and the last few humans left. Both view each other as aliens and fight until only one remains.

Next is "The Drop" by Tony Williamsune (art) and Chris Fellner (story). A basketball player quits drugs but gets one more hit from his dealer. He and is girlfriend take it while in a haunted house. The guy grows to a large size while she shrinks, and he ends up stepping on her!

"The Devil's Hand!" by Bill Dubay (story & art) is third. It features a society that cut off the hand of Satan and keeps it in a cage. It passes down over the years to an old man who wants to bargain with it to gain wealth power and eternal life. He brings in another man to help who is greedy and kills the old man. However Satan's hand kills him when he opens the cage it is in and escapes.

Fourth is "The Alien Plague!" by Billy Graham (art & story). This story, featuring a pair of teams investigating an aliens has as a mysterious monster... staples! Pretty good art and not bad a story.

The Oasis is Fifth, by Carlos Garzon (art) and Buddy Saunders (story) about a battle between men and spiders over an oasis in the desert, which ends up having a monster that destroys the victors.

"The Lady in the Ice" is sixth, by Frank Bolle (art) and Nicola Cuti (story). This is the second and last October Weir story, featuring the psychic detective visiting an old friend whose wife dissappeared. She was actually murdered by the friend and his lover and comes back from the dead to take revenge.

Another Carlos Garzon drawn story ends the issue, "The Killer Slime", writen by Steve Skeates. Garzon's artwork channels Angelo Torres's throughout the story. The story features a slime that can actually think and communicate which plots to take over the world.

Eerie 30

A funny cover for this issue, by Basil Gogos, featuring a stalking mummy being pulled apart by a boy behind him! This issue's frontis is "Eerie's Monster Gallery: BEM!" by Dan Adkins. The art for this story is an obvious swipe from Adkin's mentor, Wally Wood, from the cover of the EC comic Weird Fantasy #27.

First up is "The Entail" by Pat Boyette (story & art). A young man is invited to a town run by a Baron, who offers him eternal life if he becomes a king, working under his influence. The young man refuses since the drink the Baron gave him already gave him eternal life and he has no reason to be loyal to him. The Baron has his minions eat him, and he is turned into a scarecrow! Pat Boyette was a consistently good artist and writer, and this story is no exception to that trend.

Next is "Mirror, Mirror" by Frank Bolle (art) and Nicola Cuti (story). This story stars 'October Weir', a recurring character that appeared in this issue and the next one. It features him solving a case regarding a man who was killed by a demon. His travels bring him and his wife into a mirror to a seperate world where things are backwards. An okay story, but not great.

Third is "Life Species" by Bill Dubay (story & art). This is a very short story about astronauts arriving at a destroyed planet and piecing together a habitant of the planet. It ends up the planet is Earth, but the interesting twist is that put together a car and think it was the dominant species of the planet! Very short, but good story by Dubay.

Next is "I, Werewolf" by Ken Barr (story & art). The story features a man picked up by gypsies who was turned into a werewolf by a vampire. He battles the vampire while he's a werewolf and manages to defeat him. A segment of this story seems highly influenced by Frank Frazetta's cover to issue 7 of Creepy.

"In Close Pursuit" by Jerry Grandenetti (art) and Gordon Matthews (story) is about a man who made a lot of money using cheap material to build a skyscraper and got it blamed on his partner, resulting in him getting off scott free. However he ends up being pursued by someone after getting off a bus and falls to his death while running from him. Only it ends up that the man meant no harm in the first place.

The cover story is "The Return of Amen-Tut!" by Jack Sparling (art) and Don Glut (story). A mummy is excavated and brought into a museum. He comes back to life and seeks to commit murder, but the boy of one of his prospective victims pulls the wrappings off of him, reducing him to dust! Hilarious ending to this story.

Last is "The Creation" by Carlos Garzon (art) and Doug Moench (story). Yet another one of Warren's countless Frankenstein-influenced stories, this one isn't any more original then the others. A doctor seeks to create life, has a hunchbacked minion kill a former assistant, only for the assistant's brain to end up in his creation and kill him. Nothing special here, although the art is nice.