Psycho #12: Welcome To My Asylum!

The Skeletal Spotlight shines this time on:
"Welcome To My Asylum" from Psycho #12, May 1973

So, I was digging through some stacks of magazines in one of my collection bookcases last night, scanning in a whole bunch of new old stuff to use on my various blogs. I put stuff that I'd like to share in three stacks; one for Sweet Skulls, one for Monster Memories, and one for Held Over! Movie Ads. Going through my stuff for this is so much fun; because if I didn't have an excuse to actually sit down and do it, I might not see it for a long time otherwise. I'm rediscovering a lot I had forgotten about, or at least hadn't thought about for ages. So, blogging is a good thing! I hope you are enjoying the results of my collection-sifting as much as I am.

I only have a few issues of Skywald's Psycho, and they're all a lot of fun. Since the criteria for being featured in this blog is to have "skull-terior" motives, or containing at least one or more of the calcified cadaverous creeps, this story qualifies.

Here's a brief (and I do mean brief) little tale from Issue #12 that I bought in spring of 1973... it places you in the role of the first person, taking a tour of an infernally bad asylum. Did I say infernally? Well, I meant nothing by it... nothing at all!

The End.

Betcha didn't see that one coming, did ya? You know, how it turned out that you were the new inmate.. and that you were dead and all... and in hell... yep, a real shocker of an ending. A twist, if you will. Totally unexpected, infernally surprising, even. Um... uh... well, see ya next time! (Hurriedly beats it.)

1971 Psycho Cover

The skeletal spotlight shines this time on:
The January 1971 cover of "Psycho" by Brendan Lynch.

Click for a higher-res version.

Sometimes, you just don't have to say a lot about an image... it speaks volumes for itself. This one screams horror like few magazine covers ever did. Artist Brendan Lynch delivers an unforgettable image of a man whose flesh is being stripped away in what is obviously a painful experience. Never mind that he already has a large hole in his skull, exposing his brain. This is beyond an Exedrin headache.

One has to question the logic, though, of a beam or whatever-the-heck kind of syndrome that removes all flesh and tissue from the skeleton, and yet leaves the soft gray brain matter. Or in this case, purple brain matter. But, perhaps I'm expecting too much. It's still one of the coolest covers I ever laid my bloodshot young eyes upon.

This is one issue that I hope to someday own so I can read the story behind it, "The Skin And Bones Syndrome," written by Roger Elwood and drawn by Gray Morrow. But for now, I'm satisfied to view this awesome cover and share it with you. Yeah, we're bonding.