DS Forums

 
 

'SCREAM!' weekly comic (IPC, UK)


Reply
Thread Tools Search this Thread
Old 03-08-2015, 17:35
Daniel Dare
Forum Member
 
Join Date: May 2015
Posts: 1,427

The Spring of 1984 brought a splash of horror and mystery to the newsagent stands, beckoning me and thousands of other gruesome children with some reverse psychology to buy and read 'if we dare' with 'Not for the Nervous!' becoming their weekly warning.
Edited by some undead chap known as Mr.Ghastly McNasty, dressed in a ragged hood and robe, his face always in shadow and unseen, introducing each comic strip within with a sinister yet friendly tone. Strip stories such as The Thirteenth Floor, Monster, The Dracula Files, Terror of the Cats, The Nightcomers and a couple of anthology type stand-alone stories courtesy of the Tales from the Grave and Library of Death.
Issue #1 had a pair of free 'Dracula fangs', and issue #2 had a rubber spider.

I remember the TV adverts promoting its launch (I've tried looking on youtube for it, but to no avail) and as I was a fan of Fleetway/IPC's range anyway (I was already collecting Eagle, 2000AD, Battle, Jackpot), this comic was right up my crooked path as I adored the Hammer Horror double bills that the BBC used to show in the late 1970s and early 80s, also owning a couple of Hamlyn horror film hardback books, those 70's Horror Top Trumps, and a set of Horror Laffs bubblegum cards, this was a comic tailored for me!
An standing order (thanks to the TV ad) was placed even before my newsagents had it in!
Unfortunately, it was launched during a turbulent time at IPC's printers and their union of workers. After 15 weekly issues later, talks broke down and the printers went on strike, abruptly affecting a whole plethora of IPC magazines and comics. There were no warnings from the previous weeks' issues across the range that there may be a hiatus with some titles. Some continued, a few skipped a week but a couple had been given the chop entirely with Tammy and Scream! being the casualties.
There is an urban myth that Scream! was banned because of its horror content but nothing as glamourous as that I'm afraid.

Did anyone else here used to collect it too? What are your memories of it and which strips were your favourites?

There's a great website dedicated to the memory of Scream! here:
http://www.backfromthedepths.co.uk/
Daniel Dare is offline   Reply With Quote
Please sign in or register to remove this advertisement.
Old 03-08-2015, 17:51
stud u like
Forum Member
 
Join Date: Aug 2005
Location: The Sunny Side Of The Street
Posts: 40,099
"The Thirteenth Floor" was my favourite.

It merged with "The Eagle" comic.
stud u like is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 03-08-2015, 18:06
Daniel Dare
Forum Member
 
Join Date: May 2015
Posts: 1,427
"The Thirteenth Floor" was my favourite.

It merged with "The Eagle" comic.
Indeed it did merge with the Eagle, although not right away, amalgamating three months later.
As mentioned, there was no 'customer care' back then saying what had happened to the comic, leaving newsagents to bear the brunt of disgruntled children and teenagers (myself included).

The Thirteenth Floor was the comic's most popular strip at it had no boundaries to where or what it could do, the perfect format and naturally made the transition to the Eagle.
Daniel Dare is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 04-08-2015, 11:17
CELT1987
Forum Member
 
Join Date: Oct 2006
Location: Scotland
Posts: 10,230
I remember getting this in 1984.
CELT1987 is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 04-08-2015, 12:35
mred2000
Forum Member
 
Join Date: Nov 2008
Posts: 8,671
Hibernia Comics reprinted some of The Dracula Files and Library of Death earlier this year. Both are very good reprints:
http://www.comicsy.co.uk/hibernia/st...rary-of-death/

http://www.comicsy.co.uk/hibernia/st...-dracula-file/
mred2000 is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 04-08-2015, 17:10
Daniel Dare
Forum Member
 
Join Date: May 2015
Posts: 1,427
Hibernia Comics reprinted some of The Dracula Files and Library of Death earlier this year. Both are very good reprints:
http://www.comicsy.co.uk/hibernia/st...rary-of-death/

http://www.comicsy.co.uk/hibernia/st...-dracula-file/
I've yet to place an order for these, along with 'The House of Daemon'. Will do though.
I do have their The Thirteenth Floor and Doomlord collections.

I'm surprised that Egmont (the owner of rights to Scream! and Misty) aren't reprinting their back catalogue in these days of where a lot of kids (aged 9 to 15) are into supernatural teen-demographic films and novels.
Daniel Dare is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 04-08-2015, 22:00
HystericGlamour
Forum Member
 
Join Date: Feb 2010
Posts: 276
I loved Scream! too, and I also bought all 15 issues. I may even have entered the art competition to guess what Ghastly McNasty looked like. I was devastated when it suddenly stopped. Like everyone else, the strip that sticks in my mind most is The Thirteenth Floor. Me and my friends actually managed to incorporate it into our games by playing "Tax Man" (referencing the issue when Max sent a tax man harassing one of his tenants to the 13th floor to be thrown into a Pac-Man style game where he was being pursued by tax men with umbrella's which delivered a jolt of electricity. We just used amble around a giant chess board in the play park while poking each other with sticks while repeating "tax, tax, tax..." monotonously. Who needs X-Boxes and iPads?

OP, You might enjoy http://cobwebbedroom.blogspot.co.uk/
There seemed to be a glut of horror themed goodies in the early 80s. I also had the Horror Top Trumps, and another personal favourite were Spooky Chews badges. Remember them?
HystericGlamour is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 06-08-2015, 00:44
Daniel Dare
Forum Member
 
Join Date: May 2015
Posts: 1,427
I loved Scream! too, and I also bought all 15 issues. I may even have entered the art competition to guess what Ghastly McNasty looked like. I was devastated when it suddenly stopped. Like everyone else, the strip that sticks in my mind most is The Thirteenth Floor. Me and my friends actually managed to incorporate it into our games by playing "Tax Man" (referencing the issue when Max sent a tax man harassing one of his tenants to the 13th floor to be thrown into a Pac-Man style game where he was being pursued by tax men with umbrella's which delivered a jolt of electricity. We just used amble around a giant chess board in the play park while poking each other with sticks while repeating "tax, tax, tax..." monotonously. Who needs X-Boxes and iPads?

OP, You might enjoy http://cobwebbedroom.blogspot.co.uk/
There seemed to be a glut of horror themed goodies in the early 80s. I also had the Horror Top Trumps, and another personal favourite were Spooky Chews badges. Remember them?
Great post.
The Thirteenth Floor often touched satirically on the ugly aspects of Thatcher's Britain.

Yea, The Cobwebbed Room is a great blogsite, 'been visiting there these past five years. I've sold quite a few horror/monster related items to the blogger via ebay and he's posted them onto his pages. From memory, a set of monster puffy stickers, set of horror Weetabix glow-in-dark stickers, backpage adverts, Smiths Crisps Horror Bag and a couple more things.
Never the less, thank you anyway, your link is appreciated and hopefully it'll be fun for anyone yet to come across it.
Daniel Dare is offline   Reply With Quote
 
Reply




 
Forum Jump


All times are GMT. The time now is 06:08.