Scream! was a British weekly comic that ran from March 24, 1984 until June 30, 1984 and was published by IPC Magazines. Scream! was supposedly edited by the fictional Ghastly 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.
Scream! comprised weekly serials including
The Dracula File - the lead strip, about Dracula hunting in 1980s England.
Monster – a serial about a deformed man (Uncle Terry) who grew up locked in an attic.
The Thirteenth Floor - Scream!'s most popular strip, concerning Max, a crazed computer, in charge of an elevator in an apartment building - when someone bad or evil steps inside, Max would take them to The Thirteenth Floor as punishment.
It also included short stories, such as
Fiends and Neighbours - a light-hearted comical strip about a family of monsters living next door to an ordinary couple.
A Ghastly Tale - one-off strips introduced by Ghastly himself.
Library of Death - one-off morality tales.
Tales from the Grave - short stories illustrating the depravity of Victorian era London.
As well as the stories being popular, the artwork was even more so. A regular of Scream! was the double-page cover art and the "Monsters of the Deep" 4-page poster that was never completed due to the series' untimely death.Fifteen issues were published before the title was cancelled. It is rumored that with IPC not being able to print any comics for several weeks due to an industrial printer's strike, they felt the publication had lost momentum (and comic sales in the UK had declined) so they opted to cut their losses and cancel it, leaving the strip stories within unfinished. Another rumor of its demise was that it was banned due to a backlash of complaints from concerned parents over cover art and content, supposedly claiming that it was pushing graphic violence (mainly horror and fantasy) on younger children.
Scream! Did reemerge 8 weeks later as the amalgamated Eagle and Scream!, with the two most popular strips continuing. There were also five Summer Specials released, mostly consisting of reprints of horror-themed stories from IPC's back catalogue. However, these were nowhere near as ghoulish or macabre as their predecessor.
Issues of Scream! can still be bought on Ebay for a reasonable price, and all 15 issues (as well as more information on this publication) can be viewed at the Back from the Depths website.
But remember, it's "Not for the nervous!"
Which comics had you counting down the days til the next issue and rushing to the store each week to buy?
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