Phantom of the Rock Era

We're celebrating 150 years of Brian Barnes today with a birthday boy salute about a creepy old rocker. Ummm, nuff said? Brian had initially requested a few other Skywald terror tales but I'll be damned if I can remember what they were, --so if this one doesn't make the 'ol amplifiers squeal, then I guess I'll try again in another 150 years! Yes, it's truly amazing how close that cover art not only predicted Brian's current physical appearance and fashion sense, but also his "no-strap" guitar playing style. Happy birthday, we're all looking forward to the feedback! From the June 1971 issue of Nightmare #4.

Slime World

A few years back, THOIA friend and Snark Master General, Brian Barnes, mailed me a huge pile of Warren and Skywald mags-- seriously, right from the bottom of his snarky rocker heart! It took me awhile but I believe I've finally gone through them all and found one Skywald issue in particular here that stands out among all the others I received from him-- the August 1971 issue of Nightmare Vol. 1 #5. Featuring a wide, weird range of terror tales involving werewolves, nazis, torture, and giant sea creatures (plus a cool article about Boris Karloff and a Boris Vallejo cover no less!), I guess for xmas this year I will deliver unto you all this issue in its entirety, (possibly minus the pretentiously drab Doom Star sci-fi tale-- we'll see.) So let's kick things off with the nicely slimy first tale in this issue containing some wild, violent Ralph Reese art as well as truly inspired sound FX --did you know the sound of a head being ripped off is "SQUEEZRRIP!" ?!! Yeah, me either...