''Scream!'' was a British weekly

horror comic Horror comics are comic books, graphic novels, black-and-white comics magazines, and manga focusing on horror fiction. In the US market, horror comic books reached a peak in the late 1940s through the mid-1950s, when concern over content and the ...

anthology In book publishing, an anthology is a collection of literary works chosen by the compiler; it may be a collection of plays, poems, short stories, songs or excerpts by different authors. In genre fiction, the term ''anthology'' typically categ ...

that was published for 15 issues by IPC Magazines in 1984. Controversy over horror comics had led to the introduction of the

Children and Young Persons (Harmful Publications) Act 1955 The Children and Young Persons (Harmful Publications) Act 1955 (c.28) is an Act of Parliament of the United Kingdom Parliament that prohibited comics that were thought to be harmful to children. The Act was introduced by the Home Secretary, Gwil ...

, under which the first prosecution occurred in 1970. The editorial approach to ''Scream!'' was to de-emphasise the horror label and deliberately not repeat the style of its more controversial precursors, making it more tongue-in-cheek for younger readers, as evidenced by its coverline "not for the nervous".

List of stories

Stories included: *'' The Dracula File'' — the lead strip, about

Dracula ''Dracula'' is a novel by Bram Stoker, published in 1897. As an epistolary novel, the narrative is related through letters, diary entries, and newspaper articles. It has no single protagonist, but opens with solicitor Jonathan Harker taking ...

hunting in 1980s England. Written mainly by Gerry Finley-Day and occasionally written by Simon Furman. *''

The Thirteenth Floor ''The Thirteenth Floor'' is a 1999 science fiction neo-noir film written and directed by Josef Rusnak, and produced by Roland Emmerich through his Centropolis Entertainment company. It is loosely based upon '' Simulacron-3'' (1964), a novel by ...

'' — ''Scream!s most popular strip, concerning Max, a crazed computer, in charge of an elevator in a 17-storey apartment building - when someone bad or evil steps inside, Max would take them to The Thirteenth Floor, a virtual reality where they would be tormented or killed. It continued in ''

Eagle Eagle is the common name for many large birds of prey of the family Accipitridae. Eagles belong to several groups of genera, some of which are closely related. Most of the 68 species of eagle are from Eurasia and Africa. Outside this area, just ...

'' for several years after the demise of ''Scream!''. The first 11 episodes were reprinted in Hibernia Books' 2007 collection ''The Thirteenth Floor''; the first 48 episodes were reprinted by Rebellion in 2018. Originally written by John Wagner and Alan Grant (under the pseudonym Ian Holland). *''

Fiends and Neighbours Fiend may refer to: * An evil spirit or demon in religion or mythology * A person addicted to either a pernicious act, a cause, a hobby or sport Music * ''Fiends'' (album), by Christian post-hardcore band Chasing Victory * Fiend (rapper) (born 1 ...

'' — a reprint from a more mainstream IPC comic Cor!!, about a family of monsters living next door to an ordinary couple. *'' A Ghastly Tale'' — one-off strips introduced by the comic's fictional editor, Ghastly. *'' Library of Death'' — one-off morality tales. *''

Monster A monster is a type of fictional creature found in horror, fantasy, science fiction, folklore, mythology and religion. Monsters are very often depicted as dangerous and aggressive with a strange, grotesque appearance that causes terror and fe ...

'' — serial about a deformed man ('Uncle Terry') who grew up locked in an attic, similar to the

Monster of Glamis Thomas Lyon-Bowes (born and died 21 October 1821) was the first child of Thomas Lyon-Bowes, Lord Glamis, and his wife Charlotte Lyon-Bowes ''née'' Grimstead, great-grandparents of Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon, who became queen consort in 1936. Although ...

. The strip borrowed from the 'gentle monster on the run'

archetype The concept of an archetype (; ) appears in areas relating to behavior, historical psychology, and literary analysis. An archetype can be any of the following: # a statement, pattern of behavior, prototype, "first" form, or a main model that ot ...

as espoused by the

Hulk The Hulk is a superhero appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. Created by writer Stan Lee and artist Jack Kirby, the character first appeared in the debut issue of ''The Incredible Hulk (comic book), The Incredible Hulk' ...

, as Terry inevitably escaped, tending to murder people he didn't like due to his inhuman strength and lack of social restraint. The script for the first instalment was credited to Alan Moore, with subsequent scripts credited to "Rick Clark", a pseudonym of John Wagner. After ''Scream!'' closed, "Monster" continued in ''Eagle'' for some years. *''

The Nightcomers ''The Nightcomers'' is a 1971 British horror film directed by Michael Winner and starring Marlon Brando, Stephanie Beacham, Thora Hird, Harry Andrews and Anna Palk. It is a prequel to Henry James' 1898 novella ''The Turn of the Screw'', which ...

'' — about a haunted house that killed a husband-and-wife investigator team - their children were drawn to the house to continue the investigation. Written by Tom Tully, with art by John Richardson *'' Tales from the Grave'' — short stories illustrating the depravity of

Victorian era In the history of the United Kingdom and the British Empire, the Victorian era was the period of Queen Victoria's reign, from 20 June 1837 until her death on 22 January 1901. The era followed the Georgian period and preceded the Edwardia ...

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

. *'' Terror of the Cats'' — an ill-fated experiment to harness the psychic energy of cats resulted in local cats becoming enraged and attacking people in a small town. This too was written by Simon Furman.

Editor

''Scream!'' was edited by

Barrie Tomlinson Barrie Tomlinson is a former editor and writer of British comics in the 1970s and '80s. Tomlinson began his career at IPC Magazines in 1961, initially as a writer and then later as sub-editor on the comics ''Lion'' and then ''Tiger'', becoming ed ...

, Ian Rimmer and Simon Furman, but in the tradition of counterparts such as '' 2000 AD'' and ''

Tornado A tornado is a violently rotating column of air that is in contact with both the surface of the Earth and a cumulonimbus cloud or, in rare cases, the base of a cumulus cloud. It is often referred to as a twister, whirlwind or cyclone, altho ...

'' it was claimed to be edited by its fictional host, Ghastly McNasty. Rimmer claims to have taken inspiration for the name Ghastly McNasty from a Liverpool band called Filthy McNasty. Ghastly's face was concealed by a hood, and a regular feature of the comic involved readers sending in drawings of what they believed he looked like.

Cancellation

Despite fan speculation that ''Scream!'' was cancelled due to complaints from the public the reason it, along with five other IPC titles, ceased publication was in response to an industrial dispute. It subsequently merged with ''

'' (#128, 1 September 1984) to form ''Eagle and Scream!'', in which the series ''Monster'' and ''The Thirteenth Floor'' were continued. There were also five seasonal halloween specials released from 1985 to 1989, mostly consisting of reprints of horror-themed stories from IPC's back catalogue.

Collected editions

''Monster'', ''The Dracula File'', and ''The Thirteenth Floor'' have been collected in the following omnibuses by

Rebellion Publishing Rebellion Developments Limited is a British video game developer based in Oxford, England. Founded by Jason and Chris Kingsley in December 1992, the company is best known for its ''Sniper Elite'' series and multiple games in the ''Alien vs. Pre ...

2017 specials revival

After Rebellion Developments acquired the rights to the stories, a ''Scream! &

Misty Misty may refer to: Music * ''Misty'' (Ray Stevens album), an album by Ray Stevens featuring the above song * ''Misty'' (Richard "Groove" Holmes album), an album by Richard "Groove" Holmes featuring the above song * ''Misty'' (Eddie "Lockjaw" ...

Halloween Special'' was published in October 2017. This included all-new stories based on characters from both comics. Following the success of this one-off a second special was produced in 2018. This one, however, had a choice of covers where readers could opt for either ''Scream! & Misty'' or ''Misty & Scream!'' This followed some debate online about how the ''Misty'' logo was much smaller than the ''Scream!'' logo on the 2017 special with Pat Mills (creator of ''Misty'') feeling that it made ''Misty'' seem like a "poor relation" and that Rebellion perhaps didn't understand the female market. The 2017 special eventually had a ''Misty & Scream!'' variant made available, but only through specialist stores. In 2019 a further ''Scream!'' special was produced but without the ''Scream!'' branding - an entire collection devoted to ''The Thirteenth Floor'' with new stories. ''Scream! and Misty'' did return in 2020 and this time there would only be one version of the cover with the title given as ''Misty and Scream!'' (with a separate ''Misty Winter Special 2020'' also available). 2021 then saw what was marketed as a ''Scream! One-Shot Special'' in US comic book size under the title of ''Black Beth and the Devils of Al-Kadesh''.

References