Nightmare #21

This issue of Nightmare features a cover by Jose Miralles and is cover dated October 1974. Unfortunately we're back to another reprint dominated issue (two in a row now for Nightmare), with only the first story being a new one.

Said new story kicks us off, with "Let Her Rot in Hell", by Al Hewetson (story) and Jose Cardona (art). A man is sentenced to a night in the Cardona prison. The man begs the judge for anything else, but is taken away. A young woman is then brought before him and also sentenced to the prison. Once inside, she wonders why the man before her was so frightened. When the man is let out he begs to be kept there, but when they free him he instead jumps to his death. The woman is then brought into the cell, which seems normal. But later that night a vampire appears and bites her neck, turning her into one. As the guards come to free her the next morning she begs to not let them leave, to expose her to the sunlight. But they don't listen, so like the man before her she jumps to her death. This is a fairly strong story, with a good twist. Cardona's art is well done, as usual.

"Let Her Rot in Hell"

Next is "Valley of Blood" by Chuch McNaughton (story) and Jack Katz/Frank Giacoia (art), from Psycho #2. A couple, Bart and Valerie head to a mysterious temple in the Himalayas. On the way they are warned by a man, Dargos, about a vampire castle and find a dead vampire skeleton in the ruins of the temple. After getting into a car accident, Valerie is found to need a blood transfusion and gets one from Dargos. The two of them then disappear. Suddenly vampire attacks from a pair of vampires start occurring. Bart eventually comes across the vampire woman, staking her and Valier turns back to human, dying. Dargos then appears and attacks him.

Next is "The Cosmos Strain" by Steve Stern (story) and Mike Kaluta (art) from Nightmare #6. The story features the starship Parnassus, which travels the universe, studying a contagion that has destroyed all life on the planet Medallion. The scientist Broome, his assistant Zork and the robot Darukk investigate, heading to the planet where Zork mistakenly lets out the contagion and Broome is killed. Zork and Darukk realize the only thing to do is use the Sterilibomb, blowing up the planet, and killing them.

"The Cosmos Strain"

Fourth is "Comes the Stalking Monster!" by Tom Sutton (story) and Tom Sutton/Syd Shores (art) from Psycho #4. Dr. Aleister Kohner is obsessed with the occult and along with his girlfriend Erica summons the demon Asmodeus in a pentagram. Asmodeus agrees to teach him the knowledge of the ancients, which he does. However over several weeks Al finds himself growing weaker, his hair losing color and falling out. He summons Asmodeus who reveals that radiation has been emitting from the pentagram. Erica, having worn a pentagram necklace is unharmed and at story end is revealed to be the master of Asmodeus.

Next is "Sleep" by Steve Stern (story) and Jeff Jones (art), originally from Psycho #6. This story takes place in space on a space pod where a Doctor Zim hypnotizes his assistant, Robinson. He then has Robinson speak of what he senses an hour from now (at which point Zim expects him to have been dead from an injury) so he can find out about life after death. As the hour approaches, Zim realizes the horrible truth though, that they will both be dead as their space pod has approached the sun! Jones' art is quite good here, and this was a fairly good sci-fi story.

"Sleep"

Next is "Corpse by Computer!" by Robert Kanigher (story) and Doug Wildey (art), from Nightmare #6. Millionaire inventor Phillip Talbot has created the supercomputer Debbie, which operates many things in his mansion. Upon bringing a woman home with him, Debbit kills her with a mechanically controlled knight. Debbie desires Phillip as her companion and won't let him have anyone else. When Phillip starts a relationship with the psychiatrist Karen Benton, Debbie kills her too. Phillip has had enough and tries to delete Debbie's memory, only for her to electrocute him to death.

We wrap up with "Sand Castles" by Ed Fedory (story) and Pablo Marcos (art), originally from Psycho #6. A pilot is transporting two criminals, Benny and Tony, to Mexico, when their plane's engine explodes, forcing them down to the desert sands below. Thus starts a long journey to civilization. With their water running out, the pilot kills Tony, then fills the canteens with his blood. So it probably shouldn't come as that big a surprise pages later when the pilot reveals to Benny that he is a vampire! he kills Benny, filling his canteen with his blood but the days continue to pass and the blood congeals, becoming undrinkable. The pilot eventually finds a castle however and makes his way inside, finding Benny and Tony's ghosts waiting and they throw him down a chasm into hell. Yet again a Skywald story has a rather confusing ending though as our last panel shows their destroyed plane, with several skeletons there making one wonder if any of what happened was real. This was a fairly good story (although a bit too drawn out) and I don't mind them mixing things up at the end, I just wish it was more definitive on what was real.

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.