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, as "JAD".]] Brodsky, who also served as Editor , brought in Al Hewetson — briefly an assistant to Marvel chief Stan Lee and a freelancer for the Warren Publishing horror magazines and others — as a freelance Writer . "Archaic Al", as he later jokingly called himsellf in print, quickly became the associate editor, and when Brodsky returned to Marvel after a few months, Hewetson succeeded him as editor. Under Hewetson, the horror magazines attempted a somewhat more literary bent than the twist-ending shockers of early Warren Publishing , the field's leader with such popular titles as ''Creepy'' and ''Eerie.'' Hewetson called this "the Horror-Mood", and sought to evoke the feel of such writers as Poe , Lovecraft and Kafka . Comics professionals who produced work for the Skywald magazines include writers Gerry Conway , Steve Englehart , Gardner Fox , Doug Moench , Dave Sim , Len Wein , and Marv Wolfman , and artists Rich Buckler , Vince Colletta , Bill Everett , Bruce Jones , Pablo Marcos , Syd Shores , Chic Stone , and Tom Sutton . Many who also contributed to rival Warren employed Pseduonyms . Non-horror magazines .]] Skywald also produced two issues of the magazine '' Hell-Rider '' (Aug. & Oct. 1971), featuring a vigilante motorcyclist with a Flamethrower -equipped bike. The character was created by Gary Friedrich (who would go on to co-create the Marvel motorcyclist '' Ghost Rider '') with artists Ross Andru ( Penciler ) and Mike Esposito ( Inker ). Backup features were "The Butterfly" and "The Wild Bunch", both written by Friedrich, with art credits disputed by different sources for issue #1; the second-issue "Butterfly" story is credited to penciler Syd Shores and inker Esposito, the second "Wild Bunch" to penciler-inker Rich Buckler . Another two-issue title, ''The Crime Machine'', consisted solely of comic-book Crime Fiction reprints from the 1950s. A remaining title, ''Science Fiction Odyssey'', was planned for September 1971 publication, but withdrawn; some of its stories eventually appeared in the horror magazines. The company also published a small number of magazines unrelated to horror or comics. Among these was '' Judy Garland '' (1970), a "special tribute issue" {Link without Title} . COMIC-BOOK LINE The short-lived, color comic-book line, edited by Brodsky, was comprised of the Western titles ''Blazing Six-Guns'', ''The Bravados'', ''Butch Cassidy'', ''The Sundance Kid'', and ''Wild Western Action''; the Romance title ''Tender Love Stories''; the Horror series ''The Heap''; and ''Jungle Adventures''. These each were combinations of new material and reprints. Contributors, in addition to some of those noted above, include Dick Ayers , Mike Friedrich , Jack Katz , John Severin , and John Tartaglione . Notably, ''The Sundance Kid'' #1-2 (June-July 1971) contained Jack Kirby Western reprints from ''Bullseye'' #2-3 (Oct. & Dec. 1954). None of the comics lasted more than three issues. SKYWALD'S END Skywald's first publication was ''Nightmare'' #1 (Dec. 1970). The company lasted through the end of 1974 or early 1975, with ''Psycho'' #24 (March 1975) its final publication. Hewetson, in an interview given shortly before his death of a heart attack on Jan. 6, 2004, asserted the demise of Skywald was caused by
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