Elvira's Movie Comic Adaptation Cover

From 1988 comes the cover of the magazine-format comic adaptation of "Elvira: Mistress of the Dark." A nice painting that makes Elvira look about 16, but the details in the crowd faces is where most of the humor comes from.

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"The Corpse" story from Nightmare #13

Another post imported from my first blog "Sweet Skulls," that spotlights The "Nightmare" issue #13 cover and story. If you missed it there, enjoy it now, here!

(Click on images to enlarge)

In the summer of 1973, my skinny, bookish young 14-year-old self saw this issue of Skywald's Nightmare on the magazine rack at Chichesters Pharmacy on Vineville Avenue in Macon, GA. A cold thrill coursed down my spine, not only because I knew the Skywald mags to be the good stuff, but because the cover art was truly the fabric of nightmares. The beautifully rotting face of the living corpse on the cover was riveting. I quickly snatched it up, had it paid for and out of the store within 30 seconds flat.

Driven mad by high gas prices, he just had to let off a little steam.

Now, most all of the items that I would pick up at the drugstore during the weekend stay's at my Grandma's house, I would read as I walked back from the drugstore. Be it the latest Star Trek novelization, comic book, Monster Times, Famous Monsters, Castle of Frankenstein, Planet of the Apes, Dracula Lives, etc., they would all be perused as I walked the four blocks back home. But the rare issues of Skywald's Nightmare or Scream I lucked upon were saved til the night-time hours. It wouldn't be right to read them in the bright light of the daytime... no. That would be missing some of the special thrill.

After chowing down on the bagful of cheese Krystals I brought home for our supper, watching Kung Fu and the Saturday Night Movie on TV with Grandma, and finishing all the other magazines or comics I had bought, then... and only then...when it was after midnight, came the time for Nightmare. I retreated to my room, with a bedside lamp and a candle lit on the dresser. With a bottle of blue cream soda and some snacks on the table, I would almost reverantly take out the issue and open it. The horrors inside were devoured and absorbed into my young monster-hungry mind, filling it with delicious chills.

This is the first time I've presented an entire story in the Sweet Skulls blog. Usually I only feature the skull-centric cover art. But as I took out my old copy of this issue and scanned in the cover, I re-read the story and decided it would be a shame not to share the whole thing with you. So I spent about an hour scanning in the pages, then another hour cropping and formatting the images for posting. It took another hour to upload them to the blog page. The time required for all this is another reason I don't do it much; how Karswell does it on a daily basis is a mystery to me. I also don't want to encroach on territory already excellently covered by his blog "The Horrors Of It All," but since he mostly features pre-Code comics, and this is from a B&W horror magazine, I thought it was worth doing. As I have time, and if the story is good enough, I may do it again occasionally.

In the page details posted above you can see some of the panels that I really liked. Now, here for your enjoyment (I hope), is the complete story of "The Corpse," scanned in high-resolution. The ending really went differently from the expectations one usually has in these "revenge of the living dead" stories, another reason I liked it so much as a teen.

There you go... bet ya didn't see that one coming, did ya? Well, maybe you did, being so smart and all, but 14-year-old Fred didn't, and that's the standard I judge these old stories by.

Here's a bonus scan of a splash page about H. P. Lovecraft that I thought was well done. It looked like I did after I fell asleep reading the magazine and dreamed about all that weird stuff! Unlike most, I actually enjoyed my nightmares... they were like a realistic movie, and the scarier the better.

Tomb of Dracula #4: "Death Vow"

As the doors of the collection cabinet slowly swing open on squeeking hinges, the thunder of the spring storm echoes through the sighing trees. With trembling fingers I take out the ancient publication of "The Tomb Of Dracula" #4 from its resting place, blow off the cobwebs and dust, and remove it from the protective plastic bag. The scrawled text is briefly visible as the lightning flashes through the wind-blown drapes, revealing the date it was written: the fourth month of the Year of Our Lord nineteen-hundred and eighty. The stories in it were created at a time when the memory of vampires was still terrifyingly fresh in the minds of men, and not relegated to the bedtime stories told to frighten children. Cast your gaze, if you dare, on the painting of the cover below, and feel the terror anew...

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From this issue I present the entire story titled "Death Vow." In its pages we learn that the price of evil's promises are far too costly; yet the grace of God can still triumph in the end.

It is sad, but true, that there will always be others who fall for the temporary and deceptive "solutions" offered in times of weakness by the powers of darkness... let us hope that none of my readers are among that number.

"Monsters Unleashed " #4 Wolfman story

Marvel monster magazines were always high on my list of "must buys" whenever and wherever I found them, and they comprise a big part of my monster magazine collection. This time I'm bringing out of the collection cabinet issue #4 of "Monsters Unleashed," published in February, 1974. I was 15 when I bought it, and I remember reading it in the back seat of the car as my mother drove us and my Grandma over to visit a relative.

Since there is a new "Wolfman" remake in the theaters right now (which I haven't seen yet, and will probably wait to get when it comes out on DVD), I thought I'd post this werewolf story to coincide. More of a detective story than a horror tale, with an attempt at the "noir" style (even to the heroine dresing in a trenchcoat and fedora), the hairy one only appears in the end.

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And, the werewolf is killed, as usual, by one that loves him. As a followup there was a one-page article in memory of the greatest werewolf actor, Lon Chaney, Jr.