Previewing ’40 Years Of Scream!’ — Brit Classic Horror Returns With New ‘Scream 2024 Special’ For The Spooky Season
by Richard Bruton
Get ready to return to Ghastly McNasty’s world of terror – Scream! 2024 Special released on 4th November 2024…
It’s now 40 years this year since the classic Brit horror comic, Scream!, was first published by its mysterious editor ‘Ghastly McNasty’ – so, to celebrate that 40 years anniversary, it’s time to keep the spookiness alive (or dead, or even undead) with the release of an all-new petrifying and pulse-quickening 64-page Scream! 2024 Special this November. (Although surely, a week before would have been even better?)
Anyway, the new Scream 2024 Special has a fearsome foursome of tales from creators Alex Paknadel, Alejandro Aragón, Torunn Grønbekk, Emily Schnall, J.P. Jordan, Anna Readman, George Pooley, and V.V. Glass. It’s a mix of new versions of classic strips with revitalised and reinvented versions of The Dracula File and The Thirteenth Floor, alongside two original stories – And His Skin Is Cold, a peek at the dark history of a legendary ’70s rock band, by Anna Readman and George Pooley, and a claustrophobic descent into the Paris catacombs with Inverted Burial, written and drawn by V.V. Glass.
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Scream! was first published in 1984 and, as was the way of comics of the time, had it’s own fictional host in editor Ghastly McNasty. Whilst it may only have run for a measly 15 weekly issues before being merged into the Eagle comic, it had a phenomenal impact on readers and comics, bringing horror comics to a new generation and featuring what would become enduring strips from a host of big names, including Gerry Finley-Day, Eric Bradbury, Alan Moore, John Wagner, Alan Grant, Jose Ortiz, Cam Kennedy and plenty more.
We’ve recently seen the publication of a massive, all-encompassing collection 40 Years of Scream! – The Archival Collection (previewed here) but one of the really great things about Rebellion having the huge Treasury of British Comics archive means that not only do we get all the archival goodies, meticulously restored and beautifully presented, but we also get brand-new, up-to-date versions of classic strips and all-new strips created with those classic comics in mind. And so it is here, as the Scream! 2024 Special is a perfect example of this…
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The four stories included in this collection are:
The Dracula File by Alex Paknadel and Alejandro Aragon.
“A mysterious figure breaks into the home of Piper, a journalist who has been working on a story about mysterious disappearances across London. What does this stranger know – and how does it connect to the Lord of Darkness himself…?”
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The Thirteenth Floor by Torunn Gronbekk and Emily Schnall.
“Welcome to Maxwell Tower, your dream home of the future! Your every whim will be catered for by our in-house AI “Max”, who will make sure that you come to absolutely no harm during your stay. Unless you start to cause trouble, that is…”
(No preview for this yet – just in case you thought I’d forgotten to add it in here!)
And His Skin Is Cold by Anna Readman and George Pooley.
“Head back to the 1970s, as a British rock n’roll band head out on their breakout American tour. But on one fateful evening, they find that while talent can bring them fame, fortune and immortality… that isn’t the only way to live forever…”
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Inverted Burial by V.V. Glass.
“Paris is the City of Love – but beyond the cosy cafes and romantic roads, what lurks deep down underneath the streets? Enter on a claustrophobic descent into the Paris catacombs…”
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SCREAM! 2024 SPECIAL – released by Rebellion on 4 November 2024