Gone but not forgotten: Skywald: Naked ladies, Heaps and monsters

My first encounter with Skywalds’ “horror mood” line of magazines was in the playground of my secondary school in 1971 where I came across a group of older kids reading and waxing lyrical about one of their titles. It wouldn’t be until 1972 when I managed to purchase my first Skywald magazine, which were not that easy to pick up at 12 years old (and looking about 10) as they were considered to be “for mature audiences” . Luckily for myself, the staff in my local newsagents (Johnny’s) who knew me, were happy enough to let me have a copy of the 1972 Psycho annual. Although I never managed to pick up many Skywald magazines at the time the issue I did have contained some genuinely interesting horror tales, and more than a few illustrations of semi-naked ladies, what more would a 12 year old boy want!?.

Skywald made its comic magazine debut in December 1970 with the first issue of their black-and-white magazine-format comic book, “Nightmare” with their second title, Psycho, appearing just one month later followed by “Scream” in 1973 . All 3 titles included artwork by some of US comics most popular artists/writers including Gerry Conway, Mike Friedrich, Len Wein, Rich Buckler, Syd Shores, Pablo Marcos, Bill Everett, Tom Sutton and Ross Andru.

In amongst the standard standalone horror tales Skywald also produced strips featuring several return characters including their version of the 1950’s Hillman monster “The Heap” that first appeared in the second issue of Psycho (cover and splash page - by Ross Anru - above) . Although the origin of this version of the Heap was similar to the Hillman character, there were slight differences in that Jim Roberts (the Heap) was a crop duster pilot who crashed his plane into a secret government nerve gas storage facility. The resultant fire combined with the gas turned him into a shambling monster.

Other regualr strips included Frankenstein II. This strip first appeared in Nightmare #1 (splash page - by Tom Sutton - above) this strip was an interesting sequel to Mary Shelly’s original novel and took the monster on a quest find and resurrect his “father” Victor Frankenstein.

Lady Satan’s tales appeared in Scream magazine (October 1974 – cover below and splash page - by Pablo Marcos -above) and followed the tales of a witch called Black Anne who rejected the King of Hells offer of betrothal in order to father the antichrist.

In addition to their more mature black and white magazines Skywald also published a few colour comics including, Wild Western Action, Blazing Six-Guns, Jungle Adventures, and a single issue of the The Heap (see cover above and splash page below by Tom Sutton -images taken from eBay).

Allegedly it wasn’t poor sales that killed the company as they they sold very well with Nightmare lasting for 23 issues, with 3 annuals, Psycho clocking up a slightly more impressive 24 issues and 2 annuals and Scream lasting for 11 issues. Seemingly it was the introduction of Marvel’s black-and-white comic magazine line that signalled the end of the companies output. Marvel controlled the distributor Curtis Circulation, that Skywald had depended upon to distribute their magazines however, Curtis wasn’t about to handle their "owner’s" competition, so Skywald magazines were abruptly no longer available on newsstands, effectively killing the line.

Gone but not Forgotten: Hell-Rider - Skywald Publishing

As we enter the Halloween season, I thought it would be a good time to look at one of the 1970's most underrated (and almost forgotten) publishers of horror and violent comics, Skywald. The brainchild of Israel Waldman and Sol Brodsky, Skywald (the name being a blend of their surnames) was primarily known as the publisher of contemporary gothic black and white comics referred to as "Horror Mood" . The core of the companies’ output were the titles Psycho, Nightmare and Scream however, they also published the short lived costumed " Hell-Rider" magazine (above: cover to issue 1 -August 1971) - by Harry Rosenbaum).

Hell-Rider(created by Mile Friedrich) was Vietnam war veteran and lawyer Brick Reeves who rode a flame-thrower equipped bike and with his temporary super strength ( obtained through the experimental drug Q-47) he would violently dish out his own form of justice (as can be seen from the above splash-page and the page below by Ross Andru and Mike Esposito).

Hell-Rider also featured 2 other strips “Butterfly" (by Gary Friedrich and Rich Buckler) who was the first ever African American super-heroine in comics and the "Wild Bunch" (by Friedrich and Esposito) - splash pages to both stories below.

Sadly, Hell-Rider would only last for one more issue before ceasing publication. Not long afterwards Mike Friedrich would be working for Marvel where he would co-create a similar bike riding hero that used fire...Ghost Rider.

Above: The seconds and final issues of Hell- Rider (cover from "Cover Browser").

End of an era – After 40 Years - the final death of AKA /A1 Books and Comics, Glasgow

I was sad to see that A1 Books & Comics had ceased trading after some 26 years in their current location in Parnie Street. For those of you that do not know “A1” was of the successor to the legendary “AKA Books and Comics” shop which served in the 1980s as the meeting place where future comic book superstars Grant Morrison, Mark Millar, Frank Quitely (Vincent Patrick Deighan) Jock, and many others would meet to plan their future domination of the world of comics.

Above: John McShane the co-founder (along with Bob Napier and the much-missed Pete Root) of the original AKA Books & Comics with a young Alan Moore at an AKA book signing. - Below the original location of AKA Books and Comics in Virginia Galleries.

In 1983 the original AKA store opened in the Virginia Galleries, a bohemian shopping arcade with around 40 traders in the city centre. The store was originally located in a single small unit on the ground floor of the Galleries before moving to larger premises in the same area. By the summer of 1984 the store was a resounding success and was firmly established as the main comic shop in the city, this led in 1986 to the failed experiment that was “AKA 2” a new more upmarket shop selling mostly SF/fantasy books in the trendy west end of the city - a few months later “AKA 2” had closed its doors.

Above "Avengers" issue 96 (cover by Neal Adams) and below "The Fly" issue 1 (Cover by Jim Steranko) two comic books I vividly recall purchasing in the original AKA shop from John and Pete.

In 1998 the Virginia Galleries were deemed to be unsafe and were closed after sinking 10 inches over a single weekend as excavation work was going on at the adjacent Marks & Spencer store in Argyle Street. At this point AKA moved to its final location in Parnie Street and was renamed “A1 Books and Comics”. Over the years that followed “A1” changed management and slowly focused more on toys, collectors’ models, and games, all of which were already being sold in the company’s partner store “Static” just a few doors along on the same street - it was obvious something had to give and that sadly was A1 comics.

Above: The Virginia Gallaries just before it was demolished.

On its last day (searching in vain for some bargains of interest to myself) the manager of the store informed me that the “Static” store would remain open and that “A1” would continue as a Facebook online store. As good as online stores may be they will never provide the great memories that stores like AKA and A1 books and comics provided to many comic fans.

Thats all folks!

Thanks to all the folk that have visited my wee blog over the years. Sadly, due to various personal reasons culminating in a health issue that has landed me in hospital ( for some time) I won't be updating this blog again. Take care and watch your health.

Top Tens: Jim Aparo

From the first time I saw Jim Aparo’s art in the pages of DCs “The Brave and the Bold” #100 he has remained one of my favourite comic book artists of all time. His style was both realistic and yet at the same time cartoony which only added to the appeal of his storytelling. For many comic book fans Aparo’s Batman is the definitive version of the character, although that accolade for myself rests with the equally legendary Neal Adams, Jim Aparo will always be the artist that defined both Aquaman and the Spectre for me. Below are a few of my favourite covers by the great man:

Jim Aparo began his artistic career working in advertising at a Connecticut ad agency, but his true passion as a lifelong comic book fan was to become a comic book artist. In his pursuit of that goal he gained his first professional work with Charlton comics where he worked with the companies then editor Dick Giordano, providing art on (among other strips) “Nightshade” a female super-hero back-up feature that appeared in Captain Atom, and most notably on Charlton comics version of Lee Falk’s “The Phantom”.

When Dick Giordano moved to DC Comics, he took Jim Aparo with him where he worked on Aquaman and the Phantom Stranger. After seeing his excellent art on the Phantom Stranger, editor Murray Boltinoff asked Aparo to work on a Batman/Phantom Stranger team-up for “The Brave and the Bold” #98 - The rest is the stuff off comic book legend and Jim Aparo stayed on this title for almost every issue until the final 200th issue.

The mystery skier in the above cover was "Two Face"

I have shown Jim Aparo's covers for his excellent run on the Spectre when it appeared in "Adventure comics" . I couldn't leave out showing an Aparo Spectre cover and recenlty came across this issue of "Ghosts" #97 which features a great Aparo Spectre cover (sadly he didn't draw the actual strip).

Jim Aparo passed away in 2005 at the age of 72. His final work for DC during his life, was the cover of the trade edition of “Batman in the Eighties” published in 2004. To this day everytime I see one of his great covers, it always makes me smile.

Gone but not forgotten: Near Myths - The early work of Grant Morrison and Bryan Talbot

Near Myths was an A4 SF magazine (similar to Dez Skins’ “Warrior”) published out of the Science Fiction Bookshop in Edinburgh under the ”Galaxy Press imprint”. Although the magazine only ran for 5 issues between 1978 -1980, it has gained a bit of a cult reputation over the years (in the UK at least) as it was the first home of Bryan Talbots excellent “Adventures of Luther Arkwright” series. The magazine also featured some of Grant Morrisons earliest published work with his "Gideon Stargrave" character. In line with many British comic magazine at this time Near Myths was printed in black and white on newsprint with full colour (glossy) covers.

I can still recall the first time I saw the first issue of "Near Myths" in 1978 in a small village newsagents, from memory the initial excitment of seeing a new sci-fi comic magazine (and a Scottish one at that) was tempered by the fact that most of the strips were pretty poorly illustrated, the exception being the excellent "Adventures of Luther Arkwright" by the talented Bryan Talbot (splash page from #1 above).

Above: "Near Myths" #1 (cover from internet as my copy has lost its cover)

Above:"Near Myths" #2

Above: "Near Myths" #4 (issue 3 at header).

Above: the contents page to #4.

Above: from #4 the splash page of Grant Morrisons "Gideon Stargrave" strip which he wrote and drew as a teenager. Below from #4 a page of Bryan Talbots "Luther Arkwright" series.

Although Near Myths had national (UK) distribution and was planned as a monthly title most issues arrived late following its debut in October 1978, with the final issue (#5 cover below) appearing around 18 months later in April 1980. This along with the magazine being clearly tagged as being for “mature audiences” may have resulted in its demise although there were also some pretty serious finacial issue at play with the magazine.

The Science Fiction Bookshop at this time was run by Rob King who edited issues 1-4 of "Near Myths". Sadly Rob King and the Science Fiction Bookshop were heavily in debt with Mr King abandoning the shop, his debtors and the magazine leaving Brian Talbot to edit the final issue (cover above from Internet). Due to the long delays between issues I missed the last issue of "Near Myths" (or perhaps I lost interest) which looks to have been heading in a more commercial (for an "alternative" magazine) direction with excellent creators like Hunt Emerson and Trina Robbins contributing.

How the duck got his trousers: When Disney took legal action against Marvel

Around thirty years before the Walt Disney Company bought Marvel Entertainment (Dec 2009) they threatened a trademark lawsuit against Marvel due to the similarities between their own duck superstar “Donald”, and Marvels irreverent “Howard” character. At the time in the 1970’s this was big news among comic book fans, but in the decades that have passed since this legal “battle” took place I had forgotten about this, well that was until I purchased a new copy of “Howard the Duck” Magazine issue 8 which discussed this very subject (cover to issue 8 below).

It was around 1977 when the Walt Disney Company threatened to sue Marvel claiming that Howard the Duck infringed on their Donald Duck trademark, so in order to avoid a legal battle Marvel's management team signed an agreement with Disney regarding the design of Howard the Duck. According to the Marvel article that appeared in issue 8 the original Howard the Duck, to be known as "the 'old' Howard the Duck" would never be used again, except in reprints. Instead Howard would be replaced by a new design that included bleary eyes, a new shape of his head, a swollen beak and most important of all Howard had to wear trousers. The above design sheet seemingly created for Marvel by John Romita, was sent to Disney for their approval along with the letter below that was sent to the Marvel creative team that worked on Howard.

Steve Gerber (Howards co-creator) wasn’t happy with Disney's meddling and satirised this episode in “Howard the Duck” #21 (1977) in the story S.O.O.F.I (Save Our Offspring From Indecency).

Later in issue 2 of the "Howard the Duck" magazine (1979) Bill Mantlo addressed the issue of the Disney redesign less discreetly in the excellent story “ Animal Indecency” with the character Sidney Land. Although Disney and Marvel remained in communications over this issue and with Disney issuing a final cease and desist letter in the late 1970's, Howard's popularity had faded and the Magazine ended in 1981 with issue 9. At the end of the day despite all this back and forth and with legal threats being issues, Marvel never did fully implement any of Disney’s changes.

Strangely with Disney now owning Marvel and Howard they still seem intent that he should not look like his “real” 1970’s design, instead the more duck like image is what they plan to use - It's not a great look for such a cool comic character.