Nightmare #11 - Skywald

February 1973 - The magazines produced by Skywald have been woefully under-represented here on the blog; that's mostly due to the fact that even copies in terrible condition are going for high prices on eBay and at cons--it seems that the people that didn't buy Skywald's product at the time are now realizing what they were missing, and are rectifying that original error.

But once in a while I get lucky and find a decent-looking Skywald mag for a price I'm willing to pay, and I especially wanted to get one in here during this week of new posts.

First off--the cover: a beautiful, wonderfully nightmarish image from the artist known as "Jad". Perfectly designed and executed, it made we want to get this issue and see what was inside, like a good cover should.

The first story is "The Wetness In The Out" by Al Hewetson and Pablo Marcos:

(click to see a bigger version)

This story of a homicidal murderer on the run is told in nursery rhyme; certainly and unusual structure that works fairly well. The ending is a typically gruesome-yet-morbidly funny conclusion that always seems to work, this being no exception.

Next is "Taw!" by Ed Fedory and Borell, about some explorers who run afoul of a race of murderous snow creatures:

...another "twist" ending, well executed by artist Borrell.

There's a short feature on Lon Chaney, featuring an excellent illustration by Pablo Marcos highlighting Chaney's most famous moment from Phantom of the Opera, along with some Captain Company-esque ads for merchandise.

Next is "The Beasts of Tomb Beach!" by Wayne Howard:

This is a really unusual story, in that it ends on page four, asking you--the reader--to write in and submit what you thought Mike's dream/nightmare was! Now I want to get the later issue to see what ideas were submitted!

Next is "Where Gods Once Stood" by T.Casey Brennan and Carlos Garzon:

Set in Olympus, no less, this story stands out as a nice change of tone and setting. Well drawn by Garzon.

Next is "Corridors of Caricature" by Al Hewetson and Duran:

A bunch of people get together, for an as-yet-unknown purpose. Beautifully, precisely drawn by Duran, with one gruesome ending!

After the letters page, the setting changes once again with "Where Are The Inhabitants of Earth?", by Al Hewetson and Zesar:

Very reminiscent of the sci-fi movies of the time, featuring one man trying to survive in a post-apocalyptic world. Nothing terribly new here, but still fun, and with a weird ending.

Next is "Titan Weep" by Hewetson and Marcos (the Scorsese/DeNiro of Skywald):

...a three-page(!) tale, with a lot of high-falutin' dialog, but also featuring a gross-out "twist" ending. Don't shake hands with this Titan guy, that's all I'll say.

After some movie reviews (man, the Movie Still Industry just got decimated once VCRs showed up) is "The Horror War" by Hewetson and Borell:

This is one of those stories that starts off pretty typically, and then takes the off ramp into Crazyville. Case in point: amid all the sci-fi stuff like spaceships and kids riding things calls "Weapon Birds", we have an appearance by...President Dixon!:

Not only is it weird to have the current, 1973-era President still in office during the telling of this tale (Ha! And Alan Moore thinks he's innovative!), but in one of the panels, for no apparent reason, the artist dropped in a stat of Nixon's head (Ha! And Matt Groening thinks he's...oh, never mind), making for one goofy panel. I had a hard time concentrating on the rest of the story after that.


...whew, that's a lot packed into one issue! While the various stories vary wildly in quality, you can't say Skywald didn't give you a lot of entertainment for your sixty cents.