Skull Comics #3 features a rare horror illustration from Spain Rodriguez on the front cover and four stories from Greg Irons and Tom Veitch, Richard Corben, Jack Jackson and Dave Sheridan. The issue leads off with chapter one of Sheridan's lovely "Tales of the Leather Nun," which still manages to be the most wholesome story in this issue (it was reprinted two years later in Tales from the Leather Nun). Jackson gives us a bloody (and quick) yarn with "Testicles the Tautologist," followed by a pleasant Richard Corben romp, "Horrible Harvey's House."

Greg Irons and Tom Veitch close the book with the grotesque, necrophilic tale, "Cleanup Crew." This solid third issue is highly recommmended for those with strong stomachs.



HISTORICAL FOOTNOTES:
There are reportedly six printings of this comic book, all by Last Gasp and all with 50-cent cover prices. The printings are differentiated by small marks on the back cover and the color of the star on the hooded character on the front cover. The variations of these markings are oddly sequenced and so minor that it makes me think that some of the changes might have taken place within one print run. The print identifications presented below are the most accepted definitions available, but just about everyone (including Kennedy) has some doubt about identifying the middle printings.

1st - Back cover has a registration mark inside a dark red pentagon near the spine.
2nd - Back cover has the registration mark, but the pentagon is gone.
3rd - Back cover has the pentagon, but there is no registration mark.
4th - Back cover doesn't have either the registration mark or the pentagon. The front cover has a blue-green star on the hooded character's hand (the star was cyan blue in previous printings).
5th - Back cover doesn't have either the registration mark or the pentagon. The front cover has a cyan blue star on the hooded character's hand.
6th - Back cover doesn't have either the registration mark or the pentagon. The front cover has a cyan blue star on the hooded character's hand. For the first time, the front cover includes the phrase "Adults Only."

I have a printing that appears to have a "blue-green" star on the front cover, but it also has the "Adults Only" phrase on the front cover. This could potentially cause me to rearrange the 4th through 6th printings while adding a 7th printing, but the evidence just isn't strong enough to make that declaration. Suffice to say that there is no way to know exactly the number of printings of this book or the sequence of printings, especially after the 1st printing. The 4th and 5th printings could easily have taken place in reverse order.

The 1st printing had 20,000 copies and all subsequent printings are presumed to be 10,000 copies, like the previous issue.

COMIC CREATORS:
Spain Rodriguez - 1
Jack Jackson - 2, 9-12
Dave Sheridan - 3-8
Richard V. Corben - 13-23
Tom Veitch - 24-35 (script)
Greg Irons - 24-35 (art), 36