This article on Scream appeared in the Horror issue of ComicScene. You can get all copies of ComicScene publications as an add on with the current Tara Togs kickstarter – over 4000 pages of articles! The kickstarter is here
If there was a UK version of the Comics Code Authority at the time, Scream would have never have passed first base. The first issue even featured a story by future American Comics Code baiter Alan Moore! You have to remember, this was a children’s comic. This was a comic that got away with murder, for a short time anyway!
Horror comics in the UK were quite rare. in girl’s comics we had great titles such as Spellbound and Misty. There was nothing really for male horror fans, except for Dez Skinn’s The House of Hammer in the 1970’s. so, when IPC management decided to launch a boy’s horror comic in 1984, it was seen as a big risk.
Video nasties were big news in the uK at the time, and IPC were still wary of getting bad press, after the Action comic banning in 1976. The task of bringing this comic to fruition was given to Group editor, Barrie Tomlinson, who then passed the dummy version of Scream! to new editor, Ian Rimmer. The Assistant Editor on the title was Simon Furman.
I conducted an interview with Simon, who is better known these days as the co-creator of Marvel’s Death’s Head and the definitive writer on Transformers comics… He says, “At the time,1984, I was working for IPC Magazines in their Competitions Department, writing copy for a host of different titles, so moving onto Scream was a step sideways, and came with no long-term guarantees, but being a comics fan, I couldn’t resist the chance to work on a weekly comic ,especially one in the vein (no pun intended) of 2000 AD, which was very much the punk rock of comics.”
The team decided to go for a fictional editor, Ghastly McNasty (the name apparently coming from a band in Liverpool, who were called Filthy McNasty!). These fictional editors were a staple of British comics, which featured editors such as Tharg, Starlord, Misty and The Big E, who was actually Dave Gibbons in disguise. This fictional host harks back to EC Comics ‘Tales from the Crypt’s’ The Crypt Keeper. In fact, the comic had a few similarities with its us predecessor, featuring an anthology format, and a sprinkling of ‘one and done’ stories, with a sting in the tale. So, in Scream, McNasty (not Scottish as far as I can ascertain!) was this mysterious hooded figure, who launched each issue ‘from the depths’ of IPC’s Kings Reach Tower, in London. There was even a competition to draw what lay beneath his cowl!
Let’s focus on the most popular strips over the comics initial run. Scream! was famous for the use of 2000 AD stalwarts such as John Wagner, Alan Grant, Cam Kennedy and, in the first episode of Monster, Alan Moore. The first episode is a master-class in building mystery and suspense, and deftly introduces the main characters, except for the titular Monster character. To say this first episode is dark is an understatement! it features mental and physical abuse, extreme violence and, ultimately, murder and the disposal of a body! The climax to the first episode is such a good cliffhanger, that readers would not be able to help themselves coming back for more in the next issue… if you pardon the pun! However, Moore, and the artist Heinzl, would not return in the next issue. Due to other work commitments (so the official story goes), Alan Moore left the strip, after setting up the premise in the first issue. ‘Rick Clark’ picked up the scriptwriting duties, yet another pen name for John Wagner and Alan Grant, of Judge Dredd fame. Moore had allegedly written a treatment for the whole story, which was at odds with the direction that the IPC 9 board wanted. The strip, once the Monster was revealed, (in reality, Kenny Corman’s badly disfigured uncle Terry.) became a ‘Fugitive’ style horror/thriller; it even featured a police pursuer, in the guise of inspector Halley. Wagner and Grant were seen as a safe pair of hands, but the strip would not be without controversy. There was the problem of Uncle Terry ‘accidently’ killing people along the way! In fact, he seemed to make a habit of this! Kenny and Terry left a trail of bodies in their wake over the initial run of issues! There was also a problem with some of the physical violence depicted in the strip. An original page recently became available to buy on eBay. If you compare the page to the final printed version, you can see that the art has been changed quite significantly, to crudely erase the hand which is choking Kenny. This ‘bodge’ job is quite rough, as we can see by the quality of the face in the final printed version. Also note the ‘Next Week’ panel has been changed from ‘Double-barrelled trouble’to ‘Monster Minder’. The board were obviously nervous.
Simon Furman recalls, ‘‘I quickly had to develop a whole different skill set and get used to weekly deadlines and constant revisions. IPC management were watching us like hawks ,never really comfortable with the idea of a ‘horror’ comic for kids, even though I assume it was their idea in the first place. We had to continually self-censor the content, and even then, there were constant ‘requests’ for changes, to both story and art.’’
Furman continues, “Two good things came out of that. One, I got to work with editor, Ian Rimmer, who taught me a lot and bore the brunt of the management stuff. That taught me patience, tolerance and how to work within constraints. We’re still friends to this day. Two, the constant deadline pressure ,made worse by the last-minute changes, meant I got my first script work, doing last minute, often overnight fill-ins on Terror of the Cats and The Dracula File.”
The Dracula File was a weird hybrid of hammer horror and espionage, set in the U.K. The script is unlike any other Dracula adaptation. It has a tone and eccentricity that can only be found in British comics. It was one of the more popular strips in Scream, with stunning black and white gothic artwork by Eric Bradbury.
The Thirteenth Floor was a high concept story featuring a computer, Max, who utilises virtual reality for revenge against people who have wronged his tenants. The punishment always fitted the crime! This strip written by Wagner and Grant again, under the guise of Ian Holland, was beautifully realised by Spanish artist Ortiz, who drew every episode and never missed a beat! This strip featured many grisly deaths and the body count was high! unfortunately, Max had a habit of accidentally going too far and scaring the villains to death! Death by a skeletal Grim Reapers, spiders, sharks and most bizarrely of all, psychotic Debt Collectors! Max would then have to hypnotise his human helper, Jerry, to help him cover up the murders… all this taking place in a kid’s comic! And we are just scratching the surface. The first fifteen issues packed in vampires, zombies, gothic horror, body horror, dark humour and killer cats!!!
The cancellation was not signposted. usually, we got a ‘Big News inside for All Readers!’ slogan on the cover, to signify an imminent merger into another comic, but this time, nothing. No new issue was forthcoming after number 15…we waited… and waited.
Simon Furman picks up the story… “Scream only lasted 15 issues, the casualty of an NUJ (National union of Journalists) strike – though in truth, management just grabbed the opportunity to shut us down without it looking like it was a management decision. But in that time, it taught me all my editorial skills and set me on the road to becoming a full-time freelance scriptwriter. I owe it, and Ian, a lot. Especially as Ian went to work for Marvel UK afterwards and kind of took me along with him.”
Sadly, Scream was no more, but a merger did eventually happen, after a break, with the 1st of September issue of the Eagle. strangely, only two stories carried over from Scream, Monster and The Thirteenth Floor. The Dracula File and the other continuing strips, were never completed.
The Dracula File’s artist, Eric Bradbury did transfer over to The Eagle, and became the artist on Doomlord, another Wagner and Grant creation. The New Eagle and Scream! hybrid continued until the 30th of March 1985, with Monster completing its story arc in issue 158 and uncle Terry settling in Australia, a happy ending of sorts!
The Thirteenth Floor moved away from its horror roots and Max was eventually moved into a department store where he starts working for MI5, as you do! Of course, his Thirteenth Floor still existed, in a changing room! The stories are still fun but do stretch credibility a bit! As if admitting a wrong turn, the writers eventually returned Max to Maxwell Tower, where he continued his reign of terror against any downbeat that terrorised his precious tenants. A brief return to form follows,until the strip is finally put to bed in 1987, when the tower burns down and Max is shipped out.
In a frankly bizarre turn of events, Max is installed as the new editor of the Eagle comic! Obviously, a homicidal computeris the ideal candidate to run a kid’s comic! Again, Max is added to the roster of British Comics fictional editors, although this one has blood on his hands!!! Max held onto the editors role, until another new look sent Max to the great junkyard in the sky. Max did eventually get un-boxed last year in Rebellion’s Scream and Misty special, with more special issues planned.
Back to Scream, and the stories seemed to have lived on in British comics readers collective memory. With the recent acquisition of the old Fleetway characters by Rebellion, we are seeing collections of some of these fondly remembered stories, such as trades of Monster, The Dracula File and a new Thirteenth Floor collection.
To conclude, Scream pushed the boundaries of what is acceptable in children’s comics in the 1980’s. Much of the horror and violent content went under the radar of parents and the press. In many ways the comic dodged the bullet but was eventually a victim of bad timing.
Had the NUJ strike not happened, could Scream have survived, like its stable mate, 2000 AD? We shall never know. But for a short while, Scream delivered stories which were indeed ‘Not fort he Nervous!’. Well, ‘Not for the iPC board’ anyway!
The last word goes to Simon Furman, “i look back on Scream with great affection, and don’t wince too much when I re-read my stuff from back then. It was a steep learning curve but everything that followed rolled out of that time. As a great writer once wrote, “it was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom.”
Author
Phillip Vaughan
Get the Scream collection from Rebellion here
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