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Post by Calenture on Nov 7, 2007 12:39:51 GMT
Psycho 7, July 1972For a still larger picture, click it then click the 'all sizes' button above it at Flickr. I didn't believe my luck when I got this cover in my sweaty palms in '72. The title story was about a sexy news reporter who receives a message that some guy in the Arctic has found "Strange, endless caverns beneath the surface of the ice. Within them are..." But the message has been cut off. With a male companion, she investigates, and parachutes in to find that the team at the weather station are all dead - of shock. In an opening in the snow, they find a cavern with some half-dead prisoners, guarded by a telepathic dwarf brandishing an evil looking stake. The dwarf attacks the man. She breaks the dwarf's neck with a karate chop (really!). But it turns out that the prisoners are telepathic murderous mutants, and with the dwarf gone, the couple are doomed! The Asylum of Frozen Hell was drawn by Pablo Marcos. The script was by Al Hewetson. Somewhere here I've read that Skywald got around the Comics Code people by simply not submitting their comics to them. Others: Kerene Horror Has 1 Thousand Faces A Spawn of Satan The Tormented One! The Masters of Blood I - Am Demona and...The Discombobulated Hand...? (The hands of "dying people" (sic) are put to good use by entreprenours. Charles Black
"Discombobulated"
Wow! What a word.I just tried putting it into Google to check the spelling. A dictionary reference didn't pop up, but apparently it's an 'informal' word. What got me was the line about putting the hands of dying people to good use. Don't they even wait until they're dead?
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Post by Calenture on Nov 23, 2007 22:00:57 GMT
I couldn't find this over at the old place, then to my horror realised that I'd only put it in the blogs. *Shame* Anyway, it's remedied now. I think I've removed most of the redundant waffling, but who's bothering to read this anyway? If you click on the pictures, you can view full-size versions at the Dolls House. P.S. I suggest after clicking once that you use the back-button to get back here, as clicking on the enlargement takes you to the blog. Sorry. Forgot I'd done that. I’m told that I’ve been guilty of good taste on occasion, so to remedy this I decided the world should be reminded of The Victims. Drawn by SU SO, for Sywald’s Scream magazine, the frames shown here appeared in the August and September 1974 issues, providing proof if any were needed that the ‘70’s was indeed the decade good taste forgot. Thank god. The story featured two young ladies being put through episode after episode, in which they faced perils worse than any Pauline ever dreamed of. Who the victims were, or how their ordeal began, I don’t know. But previous to their being grabbed by this giant squid, they had been captured by a crew of rotting zombie pirates; later, they were to find themselves imprisoned beneath the waves by a Nazi dwarf submarine captain at the helm of his giant squid robot. But you probably guessed that. And getting back to the accusation of ‘good taste’? Well, I was working on a web page intended to provide an extra portal for Gruesome Cargoes from the Dolls House. I showed the page - which is still unfinished - to site moderator Demonik, whose comment was that it was... ‘very tasteful’. Hmph! Talk about damning with faint praise! No one ever accused Christine Campbell Thomson or Herbert van Thal of being tasteful! For completists who would like to view the frames as they appeared on the complete comic pages, you can view the first page here, and the second page here. Find out will the Victims learn that "Death by drowning is perhaps an easier, kinder, faster death than death by utter suffocation"? They sure knew how to write this stuff!
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Post by redbrain on Dec 1, 2007 23:49:14 GMT
Well worth clicking to see the larger pictures - so many details are lost in the smaller ones - including those of the very lovely boots.
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Post by nightreader on Jan 26, 2008 9:06:43 GMT
Have to say I don't go in for comics that much, but these strangely lurid efforts drew me in. I know absolutley nothing about them, but I'm sure someone on here will
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Post by justin on Jan 26, 2008 9:29:54 GMT
The mags are the product of Al Hewetson's Skywald company. Rivals of Warren, the three key horror titles were Scream, Nightmare and Psycho. They have something of a cult following with many people attributing this to the strange feel the mags had, which Hewetson described as Skywald's Horror Mood'! They were very Tigon compared to Hammer in terms of the difference in finish, gloss and budget. David Kerekes of Headpress published the definitive guide to Skywald a few years back, a beautiful A4 compendium of the best stories and interviews with key creators. I think it's called Horror Mood and I'm sure copies will still be available (it nearly bankrupted him from what I can gather- books on cult horror mags don't sell 2,000 copies!), check out www.headpress.comPete Normanton's From the Tomb also covers Skywald, including articles on their Lovecraft inspired stories, the Human Gargoyles series and their Poe adaptations. John Gallagher's Chimera Arts publishes Skywald inspired comics in Bedlam and Usher, ressurecting Skywald characters such as The Heap and Lady Satan for new adventures. John was the guy to track Hewetson down before his untimely death, and let the guy know what a cult following he had. John also self-published The Saga of the Victims, reprinting and completing Skywald's most controversial serial. Again he normally broke himself doing this, so copies are available. One of the covers is from a Top Sellers licenced reprint, who also published a British version of Vampirella from Warren. I picked up all of my Skywalds and Warrens in the early 90s when they were out of fashion, typically 50p a time and having to ask the dealer if they had a dusty box stashed away in their stock room. They're pretty collectible these days, although as they are so 'niche' I can't see that lasting. Hopefully that gives you a few trails to pick up if so interested....
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Post by nightreader on Jan 26, 2008 13:29:52 GMT
Thanks for the info Justin - and thats a great link to Headpress...if only I had some money now...
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Post by dem bones on Mar 17, 2009 19:48:10 GMT
Psycho # 4 (Skywald, Sept. 1971) Cover: Ken Kelly The Innsmouth Apparition The Heap: Night Of Evil (Script, Ross Andru: Art, Ross Andru & Mike Eposito) Out Of Chaos - A New Beginning (Script, Mary Wolfman: Art, Rich Buckler) Museum Piece (Script, Len Wein: Art, Serg Moren) Comes The Stalking Monster (Script, Larry Todd: Pencilled, David Cook: Inked, Syd Shores) Psycho Delivery: Letters Pages Beyond The Planet Of The Apes: A Psycho Photo Special (Introduction & Photo Captions, Allan Asherman) Escape (Story & Art, Dennis Fujitake) Plague Of Jewels (Story & Art, Bruce Jones) Frankenstein: Freaks Of Fear (Story, Sean Todd: Pencilled, Sean Todd: Inked, Jack Abel) Psycho Presents The Heap (Artwork, Bill Everett)Once you were a man, now you are a stinking, oozing blob of miasmic flesh with a fevered brain! A brain struggling to retain sanity, finding it more difficult with each passing moment to remember what it feels like to be human ... That's THE HEAP, once handsome Jim Roberts, the happy and proud fiancée of the beautiful Laurie - but that was before his plane crashed and burned in the Army chemical depot. Now he's a walking, putrid HEAP, hence his name. His one slim hope of salvation is the hope that he can persuade his old friend, Professor Monty Elliot to search for an antidote to his revolting condition. The Prof agrees in the space of nine panels, but .... whose car is that pulling up outside the laboratory? Laurie's! She mustn't see him like this! The HEAP flees across the swamp, just in time to interrupt a pair of escaped killers who have a pretty young hostage tied to a tree in preparation for some twisted fun and games. The sicko's reminisce on the night they busted out of the Death House and chanced upon the HEAP pulling two violent creeps to pieces. Well, he won't disturb them now. THE HEAP has other idea's: these two are witnesses who can prove his innocence! With the Sheriff's men closing in, HEAP rescues the girl and tries to restrain the murderers, but he's too clumsy and doesn't know his own strength! Leaving the mangled corpses behind, he squelches off into the night and .... oh no! Quicksand! Is this the end again? There's a Gallery featuring all the covers at ComicvineMore Terror, More Fear to come ....
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Post by doug on Mar 31, 2009 7:18:03 GMT
Hi! I grew up in Ohio and Sykwald must have had some the worst distribution in the world. But then again, maybe Newark was too small. We only had one News-stand in town that carried all of the Warren and Eerie Publishing titles. No Skywalds though! The only copy of a Skywald comic that I ever managed to get my hands on was a copy of Psycho one time down in North Carolina while visiting my grandparents.
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Post by ripper on Jan 4, 2013 10:33:33 GMT
I used to pick up the Top Sellers version of Nightmare from my local newsagent, but the imported US original was more difficult to obtain where I lived. I only managed to buy a couple of issues; one showed a strapping amazon lady who was holding a pack of dogs (or it might have been one dog with three heads) on a leash, who were savaging a naked man's chest. There were some very violent and graphic images shown in the stories, and they were much more extreme than similar publications from DC and Charlton, due to Skywald not being bound by the Comics Code Authority.
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Post by mattofthespurs on Jan 4, 2013 15:58:58 GMT
Issue 2
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Post by Craig Herbertson on Jan 4, 2013 16:59:31 GMT
Issue 2 Wow!
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Post by ripper on Jan 4, 2013 19:46:08 GMT
Thanks, Matt :-). The Skywalds had some very striking covers and illustrations, and more of the stories have stayed in my mind than have from similar publications from DC and Charlton, even after nearly 40 years.
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Post by doug on Jan 5, 2013 11:51:39 GMT
I hardly ever got my hands on the Skywald titles as a kid. For some odd reason the only news dealer who even carried the Black and White horror comics had only the Warren and eerie Publications titles. The only times ever saw the Skywalds was down in North Carolina when we would drive down in the summer to visit my mom's people. They weren't up to par with the Warren titles, but they sure did stand head and shoulders above the comics from Eerie Publications. To be fair though, when it came to pure garrishness, the covers of the Eerie Publications comics couldn't be beat. Take care. Doug
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Post by Calenture on Jan 5, 2013 12:58:49 GMT
I hardly ever got my hands on the Skywald titles as a kid. For some odd reason the only news dealer who even carried the Black and White horror comics had only the Warren and eerie Publications titles. The only times ever saw the Skywalds was down in North Carolina when we would drive down in the summer to visit my mom's people. I only found a couple of Skywald's here in Cornwall in the 'Seventies. I'm surprised to learn you found a similar situation in the States! They weren't up to par with the Warren titles, but they sure did stand head and shoulders above the comics from Eerie Publications. To be fair though, when it came to pure garrishness, the covers of the Eerie Publications comics couldn't be beat. Never seen these Eerie titles (though I'll bet someone here has). Eerie looks like the Badger Books of the comic world? They can't be any worse than the comics published in the UK (Topsellers - see Justin's post earlier in thread) in the 'Seventies which took the titles of the Skywald comics but none of their content (there was a thread here about them...).
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Post by doug on Jan 5, 2013 16:41:28 GMT
I hardly ever got my hands on the Skywald titles as a kid. For some odd reason the only news dealer who even carried the Black and White horror comics had only the Warren and eerie Publications titles. The only times ever saw the Skywalds was down in North Carolina when we would drive down in the summer to visit my mom's people. I only found a couple of Skywald's here in Cornwall in the 'Seventies. I'm surprised to learn you found a similar situation in the States! They weren't up to par with the Warren titles, but they sure did stand head and shoulders above the comics from Eerie Publications. To be fair though, when it came to pure garrishness, the covers of the Eerie Publications comics couldn't be beat. Never seen these Eerie titles (though I'll bet someone here has). Eerie looks like the Badger Books of the comic world? They can't be any worse than the comics published in the UK (Topsellers - see Justin's post earlier in thread) in the 'Seventies which took the titles of the Skywald comics but none of their content (there was a thread here about them...). I read somewhere once that Skywald had terrible distribution problems. The Eerie Puclications comics were truly bottom of the barrel content. Old pre-code reprints of bad comics and also a lot of reprinted Mexican stuff. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eerie_Publicationswww.amazon.com/The-Weird-World-Eerie-Publications/dp/1932595872An on-line Archive!! www.empire-of-the-claw.com/Eeriepubs_html/ddemons.htmtake care. Doug
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