Scream! #15, 30 June 1984 – last issue published

• Monster (artist Jesus Redondo, writer Rick Clark)
• The Dracula File – (artist Eric Bradbury, writer Ken Noble)
• The Thirteenth Floor (artist José Ortiz, writer Ian Holland)
• Tales from the Grave: The Man They Called Dr Death (artist Jim Watson, writer Ian Rimmer (but credited as Rick Hunter))
• Library of Death: Out of the Fog! (artist Rafael Boluda, credited as Bollida, writer Angus Allan)
• A Ghastly Tale – Blood Track! (artist Tony Coleman)
• Fiends and Neighbours – cartoon (artist Graham Allen)
• The Nightcomers – final episode (artist John Richardson, writer Tom Tully)

This was the last issue of Scream ever published. Like Tammy, it abruptly disappeared in the 1984 IPC strike, never to be resumed. Exactly why it was not resumed is not clear. One factor could have been the Ghastly Tale “Blood Track!”, which prompted a threat of legal action, though it was eventually dropped. That story will be omitted from discussion here.

Later, Eagle picked up the tab with Scream to some extent. The Thirteenth Floor and Monster continued in Eagle to reach ultimate, respectable conclusions, and are now enjoying their own reprint volumes. The Ghastly Face competition continued in Eagle and the top prize was eventually split between two contestants. I have no information about whether or not the new Creepy Caption Cartoon Competition in this issue was concluded there as well.

When The Thirteenth Floor and Monster stopped in Scream, the former was about to deal with an extortionist who charges heavy fees in return for not breaking bones. In the latter, Uncle Terry and Ken have just fought their way through yet more bounty hunters and the police, and now they are taking a boat.

At least “The Nightcomers” managed to complete their story in this issue, so that was not left dangling. The Nightcomers, with eager help from Edna the ghost and unwitting help from Baphomet the demon when it kills Cutler, destroy the evil that haunts Raven’s Meet. We are told the Nightcomers will start a new adventure in the next issue, so they must have been planned for an ongoing series. Sadly, they did not get it in Eagle. Fortunately the second Nightcomers story was reconstituted and finally published in “It’s Ghastly! The Untimely Demise of Scream!” in 2016. Better late than never.

However, The Dracula File was left open by the cutoff, which is annoying. Dracula does at least manage to complete the flashback of his clash with vampire hunter Alexander Quinn, but we don’t find out where things end up with his new adversary, Colonel Stakis. And just when it sounded like it was about to get really exciting, because Drac says he’s getting really pissed off at living on the run because of Stakis and he’s jolly well going to turn things around!

The Tales from the Grave story was also left on a loose end. The last episode of “Dr Death” got cut off entirely and the story was never finished. It was left forever dangling on the penultimate episode (below), just like “Cora Can’t Lose” in Tammy.

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Fortunately, in “It’s Ghastly!”, writer Ian Rimmer (writing as Rick Hunter) was able to say he thinks the ending went something like:

“Fox turns up at Phillary’s lab, only to be startled and attacked by the re-animated hand. Phillary hears the rumps and enters too. He desperately tries to intervene, but Fox is killed and equipment is knocked over. Suddenly the lab bursts into flames…I think in a panic Phillary looks to escape, yet is prevented from doing so by the hand. The conflagration consumes the hand, all of Phillary’s notes, and Phillary himself. We then have the Leper tending to his fire at the cemetery at the end, saying something suitably caustic.”

In the Library of Death (fortunately not another two-parter like the previous story), Barry Holls is on the run from an orphanage where everyone picks on him because his father is in prison for murder. Barry knows his dad’s innocent – and so does the murder victim. He returns from the grave to guide Barry to the crucial evidence that will clear his father. Awww…

Later, Scream produced two holiday specials, which actually produced some unpublished material from the parent comic. This included Black Beth, who returns in the Scream & Misty Halloween Special II, the actual face of Ghastly McNasty from the Ghastly Face competition, and what looks like part 16 of The Dracula File. Here, Stakis finally gets a shot at Dracula with a stake and Dracula gets pinned. Unfortunately Stakis fails to get one in the heart, and Dracula escapes on a train.

Scream did not produce an annual.

 

Scream #14! 23 June 1984

• The Nightcomers (artist John Richardson, writer Tom Tully)
• Library of Death: The Sea Beast part 2 (artist J. Parkhouse, writer Simon Furman)
• The Thirteenth Floor (artist José Ortiz, writer Ian Holland)
• Tales from the Grave: The Man They Called Dr Death – first episode (artist Jim Watson, writer Ian Rimmer (but credited as Rick Hunter))
• A Ghastly Tale – Dumb Animals
• Monster (artist Jesus Redondo, writer Rick Clark)
• Fiends and Neighbours – cartoon (artist Graham Allen)
• The Dracula File (artist Eric Bradbury, writer Simon Furman)

 

Nobody has hit the jackpot with Ghastly’s face, so he’s dropped another clue to help things along. Ghastly also reveals some facts about the popularity ratings of the serials. The Thirteenth Floor is first, Monster second, and The Dracula File and Library of Death are close behind. The letter page this week indicates The Nightcomers are also popular.

Looks like Ghastly really did not care much for opera – he gagged the latest victim in the London Dungeon for opera singing rather than have her sing high notes as suggested.

This week’s Ghastly Tale feels even more relevant today, where we are in an era of accelerating mass extinction, with poaching and animal trafficking being among the reasons. Yet some people still hunt endangered animals for trophies – and post it proudly on their Facebook pages – or for body parts, animal trafficking and so on. So the story has been posted here.

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Ghastly insisted that the artwork of the sea beast from the Library of Death tale be the best it could be, and they must have shown him the cover to prove it. The sea beast, a giant mutant created by radioactive waste dumped in the ocean, certainly makes for a magnificent cover. Once the beast is ashore, it’s “The Horror of Party Beach” Scream style. After the party’s over, with the aid of antidotes to the radioactive waste and the sea beast mutation, the authorities are relieved that at least the radioactive waste did not come into contact with a human being. Unfortunately the final panel indicates they may have spoken too soon…

Max is cheesed off to find a kid nicknamed Cheezy has taken to spraying graffiti on the walls of Maxwell Towers. Needless to say, it’s the Thirteenth Floor for Cheezy, where Max forces him to spray graffiti on the Empire State Building in increasingly dangerous conditions until he falls right off. Don’t worry – Cheezy will only land where he will be well and truly painted.

Dracula is still reminiscing on a prior encounter with another vampire hunter, Alexander Quinn. The flashback may be interesting and adds something to Dracula’s character, but really, it’s not doing much to advance the plot of Dracula vs. his current vampire hunter, Colonel Stakis.

“The Nightcomers” finally reaches the stage in the plot where the villain Simon Cutler captures our heroes and explains everything. Yes, he did dabble in demonology and summoned a demon, Baphomet. He did it for the power Baphomet would bring him, but instead found his life has been hell ever since he summoned that demon. The unhappy ghost is his wife Edna, who was accidentally killed when she stumbled onto his rituals, and he dumped her body down the well. Cutler believes the only way to satisfy Baphomet is to sacrifice the Rogans to him. He is not listening to Beth’s pleas that what Baphomet is really doing is using Edna, who can’t rest without proper burial, as a conduit to fully enter the world as a corporeal demon.

The Leper begins a new story with a Frankenstein theme. Dr Phillary has invented a machine that can bring body parts back to life, but is having trouble finding decent body parts for it. Phillary finally stumbles across an arm that’s a perfect specimen, but the body was whisked away to the graveyard before he could amputate the arm for his experiments. Undaunted, he’s turning to a bit of grave robbing to get it, and recruiting a couple of criminals, Fox and Hopkins, to help him.

It finally happens – Uncle Terry finally comes face to face with the policemen who have been pursuing him and Ken. The policemen – and their patrol car – come off the worst after trying to tackle Uncle Terry, but at least they are alive. Then Ken spots a means to get them to their destination – a boat. But how is Uncle Terry up for sailing? He doesn’t even know what a boat is.

Scream! #13, 16 June 1984

• The Nightcomers (artist John Richardson, writer Tom Tully)
• Library of Death: The Sea Beast part 1 (artist J. Parkhouse, writer Simon Furman)
• The Thirteenth Floor (artist José Ortiz, writer Ian Holland)
• Tales from the Grave: The Escape – final episode (artist Jim Watson, writer S. Goodall)
• A Ghastly Tale – Unlucky for Some
• Monster (artist Jesus Redondo, writer Rick Clark)
• Fiends and Neighbours – cartoon (artist Graham Allen)
• The Dracula File (artist Eric Bradbury, writer Simon Furman)

Scream hits its 13^th issue, which is a celebration for a comic like that, and that is precisely what Scream does. On the cover, The Thirteenth Floor (what else?) kicks off the theme of 13 and unlucky for some. In the story itself, Mr Bullock the callous housing official is subjected to a shark-infested ocean and being attacked by giant crabs on a desert island until he agrees to give five-star treatment to the family he treated so badly.

The Ghastly Tale also has an “unlucky for some” theme, with a boy showing the yearly pictures of his birthdays. They progressively show his life going on a downward spiral that includes falling strangely ill and being put in a top secret MOD establishment, until he hits his nadir with – you guessed it – his 13th birthday photograph shows what he has become by then. There are no photographs of his 14th birthday.

Dracula’s a bit unlucky as well, you might say. Having a vampire hunter on his tail is giving him horrible nightmares of his previous experiences with vampire hunters, which range from torch-wielding lynch mobs attacking his castle to a professional vampire hunter, Alexander Quinn.

In this episode of “The Nightcomers” Raven’s Meet is really throwing everything but the kitchen sink at Rogans to destroy them. The Rogans dodge everything but clonks on the head from Simon Cutler. He’s taken them prisoner and he intends to sacrifice them to Raven’s Meet. At least it sounds like they’re going to hear the full story now.

The Library of Death does something new – a two-part story. It’s about a giant sea beast that emerges from the depths of the ocean and lands on the beach – and boy, is it a whopper! Eat your heart out, Jaws! Of course it’s scaring the hell out of everyone. The sea beast was probably inspired by “The Horror of Party Beach” as it was created from radioactive waste dumped in the ocean.

In the final episode of “The Escape” from Tales of the Grave, Barry White thinks he has gotten away with murder (which becomes double murder in this episode) and his booty by stowing away in a coffin that is sailing away to America. But he finds out too late that the coffin was intended for a burial at sea! Well, there’s his execution.

Unlucky for some, they say, but in this week’s episode of “Monster”, Uncle Terry and Ken turn out to be lucky – for a while, anyway. They finally met a more friendly person, a lady named Mrs McCrone who is not fazed by Uncle Terry’s appearance. Mind you, that’s because she’s blind. Mrs McCrone wants to turn them over because she says Uncle Terry needs help. But when Ken insists, she gives them a motorbike to help them along. But then they bump right into the police! Luck’s run out again.

Scream! #12, 9 June 1984

• The Dracula File (artist Eric Bradbury, writer Ken Noble)
• The Nightcomers (artist John Richardson, writer Tom Tully)
• The Thirteenth Floor (artist José Ortiz, writer Ian Holland)
• Tales from the Grave: The Escape – first episode (artist Jim Watson, writer S. Goodall)
• A Ghastly Tale – The Final Cut!
• Library of Death: Terror of the Tomb (artist José Casanovas, writer Simon Furman)
• Fiends and Neighbours – cartoon (artist Graham Allen)
• Monster (artist Jesus Redondo, writer Rick Clark)

More attempts at Ghastly’s face, and another clue is dropped. The fourth entry is the one that is paying more attention to the clues already dropped, but Ghastly makes no acknowledgment of it. Nobody is in the London Dungeon this week.

Here we have another wrap-around cover, this time of this week’s Library of Death story. The story is rendered by the ever-popular José Casanovas. Well, we don’t often see Casanovas drawing ancient Egypt and walking mummies, so here is the story for Casanovas fans.

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Dracula is using some surprising tactics in his quest for blood tonight: first he turns bus driver (now where did he get his HT licence?) and later he lies in wait in a post box. But he’s also rumbled that vampire hunter Stakis survived his trap, and it’s rousing memories of another vampire hunter. Woo…has our Dracula actually been traumatised by his experiences with Van Helsing?

The Nightcomers make their way into Raven’s Meet and discover the first evidence of why it is so horribly haunted. Someone was clearly messing around with the supernatural and unleashed forces they couldn’t control, and it could only have been that Simon Cutler. Beforehand, they found a very unhappy woman haunting the well, and think she might be the key to the mystery. But now there is a more pressing problem they haven’t seen yet – a bony hand reaching for Rick…

Max is at it again. This time it’s with a pompous housing official, Mr Bullock, who made a blunder in the booking for new tenants, the Sopers, and is not exactly anxious to correct his mistake. Instead, the remedy he offers splits the Soper family up and he doesn’t care squat. The punishment of the Thirteenth Floor has Bullock washed up on a raft and headed for a desert island, with sharks right behind him. Not quite sure how this punishment fits the crime, but let’s see how it plays out next week.

The Leper begins a new story about another nasty undertaker, Old Jeb, who likes taking rich pickings off corpses and counting them each night (talk about Scrooge!) and his ill-used apprentice, Billy White. But don’t spare any sympathy for Billy; he’s just as bad and greedy as Old Jeb. So bad in fact, that he murders Old Jeb, takes his pickings, and puts himself into a client’s coffin, which is intended to carry the corpse away on a ship. It looks like a great way to escape, but we suspect this will only have grave consequences for Billy…

In “Monster”, a bounty hunter has a go at Uncle Terry with a rifle. The result is another death at Uncle Terry’s hands and Ken being shot. Uncle Terry carries the injured Ken to a house in search of help. Unfortunately for him he has no concept of what “Beware of the Dogs” means and can’t read the warning sign because he has never been taught to read – and the dogs are lunging for him already.

We also get an Uncle Terry type in the Ghastly Tale, who takes the film director’s call to “cut” a bit too literally…

Next issue is #13, and for a comic like this, that’s a call for a special celebration. Indeed, we have a half-page blurb on how Scream will celebrate its 13^th.

Scream! #11, 2 June 1984

• The Dracula File (artist Eric Bradbury, writer Ken Noble)
• Monster (artist Jesus Redondo, writer Rick Clark)
• The Thirteenth Floor (artist José Ortiz, writer Ian Holland)
• Tales from the Grave: A Fatal Extraction – final episode (artist Jim Watson, writer R. Hunter)
• Library of Death: Ghost Dance (artist Mario Capaldi, writer Angus Allan)
• Fiends and Neighbours – cartoon (artist Graham Allen)
• A Ghastly Tale – Behind the Door! (artist Eric Bradbury?)
• The Nightcomers (artist John Richardson, writer Tom Tully)

More attempts at Ghastly’s face this week. None succeed, but one extracts another clue and a second has the honour of being on the back cover (above) because it is so well drawn.

Stakis manages to escape Dracula’s trap and put the stake into one of his servants. That’s one down, but there are two more and Drac himself to go. Meanwhile, Drac has to resort to a condemned house for his new hideout, and shows that even he turns up his nose at drunks because booze makes their blood unfit to drink. He throws a good scare into them instead.

Groan. Uncle Terry kills again. This time it’s self-defence against two men who tried to kill him because of his appearance.

Max shows mercy to the latest visitor to his Thirteenth Floor, who is being punished for shoddy repair jobs, because he begged for it. This shows Max is learning where to stop with the Thirteenth Floor and trying not to let it go too far, as happened in some of the earlier episodes.

The (yeouch!) cover gives you an idea of how things end up for Sweeney Todd dentist Thorpe in the final episode of the Leper’s tale, doesn’t it? Yes, it turns out Makepiece the ghost had more than just revenge on his mind in killing Thorpe’s assistant Grimes. He uses his dark magic powers to turn Grimes into an animated corpse to wreak his revenge on Thorpe. Makepiece sends Grimes and Thorpe straight to Hell through their own Sweeney Todd chair – after having Grimes give Thorpe a taste of his own dental treatment, of course.

This week’s Library of Death tale is an intriguing one. It raises a few eyebrows and is full of surprising ironies, some of which you may find amusing as well as scary. The lead of a pop group mocks his fellow members for believing in ghosts although they use a ghost gimmick. So what happens when they shoot their latest video in a place with a reputation for genuine ghosts? Read it and find out.

(Click thru)

In a Ghastly Tale, a boy dreads what is behind the door. And what is behind the door? It is a common thing that boys don’t like. Clue – there is a lot of steam coming out from the door.

In “The Nightcomers” Beth rescues her brother Rick just as Cutler and his flunky are about to burn him alive, along with the house and the demon haunting it. However, it’s the flunky who gets burned alive and he throws himself down the well. Then another entity appears, and appears to be an unhappy female. Cutler clearly knows who it is and is terrified of it…but why do we sense it is more friendly than the demon?

Scream! #10, 26 May 1984

 

• The Dracula File (artist Eric Bradbury, writer Simon Furman)
• The Nightcomers (artist John Richardson, writer Tom Tully)
• The Thirteenth Floor (artist José Ortiz, writer Ian Holland)
• Tales from the Grave: A Fatal Extraction – (artist Jim Watson, writer R. Hunter)
• Library of Death: Night of the Cobra! (artist Julian Vivas, writer Angus Allan)
• Monster (artist Jesus Redondo, writer Rick Clark)
• Fiends and Neighbours – cartoon (artist Graham Allen)
• A Ghastly Tale – Goodbye Uncle George!

The latest attempt at Ghastly’s face is more successful than most so far because it actually hits on something about Ghastly’s face. Reckon the entrant should have been given extra money for that?

Dracula’s latest feedings are in the headlines as murders, but only Stakis realises their true nature. Unfortunately, Dracula has realised there is a vampire hunter on his tail after Stakis has a close encounter with Dracula’s new servant. Dracula does a runner while setting a trap for Stakis in his abandoned hideout. And Stakis walks straight into it!

The Rogans finally make their way into Raven’s Meet. While disposing of Cutler’s dead dog, Rick gets knocked out by Cutler and his flunky – who looks like Frankenstein’s Monster, minus the bolts on his neck.

This week’s Thirteenth Floor story is one that everyone who has been hit by a dodgy repairman should love. Two sleazy plumbers, who did shoddy work that actually hurt someone, find themselves on the Thirteenth Floor where pipes burst and threaten to drown them. Then they are trapped by raging fire.

In part two of the Leper’s story, the ghost of George Makepiece is out for revenge against dentist Thomas Thorpe, who murdered him Sweeney Todd-style. Too bad for Thorpe Makepiece was an occultist, as he and his assistant Grimes discover when they try to rob Makepiece’s house. Makepiece uses his powers to kill Grimes with a Sweeney Todd stunt of his own and sends him to the bottom of the river!

In the Library of Death, a laboratory in Malaysia is home to every species of snake. A newcomer on the science team is an unpleasant type who is only in it for the money that will get him out of debt. He is warned never to underestimate a snake. He would also be well advised not to underestimate a place that is nicknamed “the house of death”. But of course he doesn’t heed those warnings.

Oh dear, Uncle Terry’s done it again. He’s trashed a café with that horrible temper of his. At least he didn’t kill anyone this time. But now there are enough eyewitnesses for the police to get an identikit of Uncle Terry. And it’s one that will stick in anyone’s mind, because he looks just like the Hunchback of Notre Dame. Meanwhile, Uncle Terry and Ken continue on their way to Scotland to find the doctor who could help.

In the Ghastly Tale, the Jordans aren’t shedding a tear at Uncle George’s funeral. They think they are well rid of their kooky scientist relative and those crazy experiments of his. They throw the last one he made, labelled “life potion”, down into his grave as he is being buried – er, life potion?!

Scream #9, 19 May 1984

• The Dracula File (artist Eric Bradbury, writer Simon Furman)
• Library of Death: Ghost Town (artist Steve Dillon, writer Simon Furman)
• The Thirteenth Floor (artist José Ortiz, writer Ian Holland)
• Tales from the Grave: A Fatal Extraction – first episode (artist Jim Watson, writer R. Hunter)
• A Ghastly Tale – The Summoning (artist Tony Coleman)
• Monster (artist Jesus Redondo, writer Rick Clark)
• Fiends and Neighbours – cartoon (artist Graham Allen)
• The Nightcomers (artist John Richardson, writer Tom Tully)

The cover for Scream #9 is one of Scream’s gorgeous wrap around covers, so both back and front cover are produced here. In addition to the regulars on the cover we see some familiar faces from complete stories in previous issues (The Punch and Judy Horror Show, The Drowning Pond and Beware the Werewolf!). No attempts at Ghastly’s face are published in this issue. Ghastly launches a second creepy captions competition because the first was so popular.

The writing credits for The Dracula File change again. Was Gerry Finley-Day writing under pseudonyms for this or were some of the episodes farmed out to other writers?

In the story, Drac’s a bit put out to find his servants have housed his home soil in the (hee, hee!) bathtub because there is no coffin in his new hideout. Waahh! Wanna coffin! While his servants scramble to find one Drac is off in search of more victims to feed on. Meanwhile, Stakis arrives in Britain to hunt the vampire down, and he’s assembled a full vampire-hunting kit.

The Library of Death story is about an American ghost town, which is haunted by skeletal ghosts. The ghosts constantly set a deadly trap – which includes lynching – for unsuspecting motorists. It’s their revenge for a motorcar causing a catastrophe that destroyed their town years before, albeit accidentally.

Max demonstrates a new power – the power to hypnotise people. He uses it to get a tenant to take the latest victim of his Thirteenth Floor back home because he can’t risk any more Thirteenth Floor victims, dead or otherwise, to be found in that lift.

We know going to the dentist in the 19^th century must have been murder, but this is ridiculous. In the new Tales from the Grave story, dentist Thomas Thorpe isn’t “too particular” in how he treats his patients, but for the rich ones he has an extra-special treatment – murdering them Sweeney Todd-style in order to rob them. However, Thorpe’s latest victim, George Makepiece, is rising up from the river swearing revenge, and he looks kind of ghostly…

This week’s Ghastly Tale has some dark magic practitioners in a graveyard trying to summon a demon. Instead, they get one angry corpse telling them to stop making such a racket.

Ken and Uncle Terry went on the run without any place to run to. But in this week’s episode of “Monster” they finally find a destination from a newspaper – a doctor who could help with Uncle Terry’s temper problems that can cause him to kill. The trouble is, the doctor is in Scotland, which means a long trek to get there. They manage to sneak aboard a lorry, but while Ken is buying food the lorry takes off – with Uncle Terry on board. Oops!

In “The Nightcomers”, Raven’s Meet is making The Amityville Horror look like a G-rated film. First, the Rogans meet an enormous demon. It is obvious that this demon is what is haunting the house, and Beth’s psychic powers tell her it killed their parents too. Next, blood comes pouring down the front steps of the house!

Scream! #8, 12 May 1984

• The Dracula File (artist Eric Bradbury, writer Ken Noble)
• The Nightcomers (artist John Richardson, writer Tom Tully)
• A Ghastly Tale – The Pharaoh’s Curse (artist Tony Coleman)
• The Thirteenth Floor (artist José Ortiz, writer Ian Holland)
• Library of Death: Beware the Werewolf! (artist Steve Dillon, writer Simon Furman)
• Tales from the Grave: The Cabbie and the Hanging Judge – final episode (artist Jim Watson, writer Ian Rimmer)
• Fiends and Neighbours – cartoon (artist Graham Allen)
• Monster (artist Jesus Redondo, writer Rick Clark)

Dogs, wolves and werewolves are cropping up a lot in this issue, starting with the cover. Even our vampire in “The Dracula File” takes his wolf form. He rescues his servants, claims a couple more victims, and sets up shop in London. Meanwhile, Stakis is on his way to stop the vampire, but at the cost of defecting from the KGB, becoming a fugitive, and getting out of the Eastern bloc without paying the price of a Soviet gulag or something.

The Nightcomers arrive at Raven’s Meet. They are quick to realise that whatever is in there wants them dead. Simon Cutler, who definitely knows something about it, escaped by the skin of his teeth after the evil of Raven’s Meet possessed his dog and nearly killed him. At least the blurb for next week will tell us what the horror actually is.

A dog also attacks and frightens a man to death during a visit to King Tut’s tomb. The twist is the hieroglyphics on the door aren’t about a pharaoh’s curse – they say “Beware of the dog”.

In “The Thirteenth Floor” Max manages to squirm his way out of the cloud of suspicion. How very prudent of the policeman to tip him off about the error that aroused his suspicions, which enabled Max to cover it up quickly. Back to business, which Max resolves must be conducted with more care in future. The next victim at the Thirteenth Floor arrives in response to Max’s call about knocking down a girl’s dog and not stopping. He finds himself in the middle of a road filled with cars threatening to knock him down.

In “Tales from the Grave” we learn how the wheels of justice turned for “The Cabbie and the Hanging Judge”. There is a final twist that has the Leper laughing, but might have someone turning in his grave…

The Library of Death story is of the werewolf that appears on the cover. The hunter on his tail looks a bit like a fascist in the way he is dressed and is the werewolf’s own father.

In “Monster” the police hunt for Ken and Uncle Terry intensifies now they have a very good lead – a man who almost got killed by Uncle Terry and got a very terry-fying look at what looks like a monster. And they’re bringing in tracker dogs. Dogs again…

Scream! #4, 14 April 1984

• The Dracula File (artist Eric Bradbury, writer Gerry Finley-Day)
• The Library of Death: All Done with Wires (artist Cam Kennedy, writer J.H. Teed)
• The Thirteenth Floor (artist Ortiz, writer Ian Holland)
• Tales from the Grave: “The Undertaker” – final episode (artist Jim Watson, writer Tom Tully)
• Terror of the Cats (artist John Richardson, writer Simon Furman)
• Fiends and Neighbours – cartoon (artist Graham Allen)
• A Ghastly Tale! – Mirror, Mirror
• Monster (artist Jesus Redondo, writer Rick Clark)

Ghastly introduces another competition. Meanwhile, he publishes another failed attempt to capture his likeness.

The vampire from Rumania has turned the agent who was on his tail into another servant to do his bidding. Then he’s off to the cinema in pursuit of more victims. And they would just happen to be watching a movie called “Dracula’s Death”. Dracula, of all things!

In the Library of Death a fraudulent medium gets his punishment-fitting-the-crime comeuppance, and it’s all done with wires. And in the Ghastly Tale “Mirror, Mirror”, the mirrors in the Hall of Mirrors are, shall we say, producing some unusual effects on people.

As shown below, the punks out to beat up a tenant emerge from The Thirteenth Floor as nervous wrecks. They won’t be in any condition to beat up anyone for a long time. But another transgressor is always coming along to the Thirteenth Floor, and this time it’s a gang of actual criminals.

(Click thru)

It’s the last episode of the Tales from the Grave story, “The Undertaker”. Murder plotters Sleeth and Emily discover too late that Emily’s fiancé Clive had committed the murder himself, for the same reason as Emily. The wires of the two murder plots got crossed, causing everything to backfire on all the plotters. Clive kills Sleeth and goes down for double murder. Emily tries to feign innocence with the police, but Sleeth’s apprentice Smyte is a witness to the truth, so she ends up in prison. And whose coffin on the cover is the Leper burying? Sleeth, the undertaker he was talking about the whole time, of course.

It is finally revealed why “The Terror of the Cats” is attacking the hospital. The cats are after a male nurse, Jim Wardon. Wardon helped Dr Kruhl with his diabolical experiments that are making the cats go crazy, and now he’s regretting it. Wardon’s making a run for it, not realising Kruhl’s cats are watching. Meanwhile, Woodward makes his way into Kruhl’s lair surprisingly unmolested by the killer cats. But then he bumps into a killer cat of a different sort – a tiger!

“Monster” Uncle Terry is out of his attic prison for the very first time in his life. It’s in response to one of Dad’s dodgy creditors, Joe Thacker, attacking Kenny and robbing him of money in order to reclaim his debt. Unfortunately Uncle Terry ends up killing Thacker. Oh, no, that’s the second time he’s killed someone, and it’s another corpse for the garden.

 

 

Scream! #3, 7 April 1984

• The Dracula File (artist Eric Bradbury, writer Gerry Finley-Day)
• Terror of the Cats (artist John Richardson, writer Simon Furman)
• The Thirteenth Floor (artist Ortiz, writer Ian Holland)
• Tales from the Grave: “The Undertaker” (artist Jim Watson, writer Tom Tully)
• The Library of Death: The Drowning Pond! (artist Julian Vivas, writer B. Burrell)
• Fiends and Neighbours – cartoon (artist Graham Allen)
• A Ghastly Tale! – Green Fingers (artist John Richardson)
• Monster (artist Jesus Redondo, writer Rick Clark)
• Ghastly’s Creepy Creature Quiz!

No free gift came with the third issue of Scream!, which goes against the tradition of a free gift with the first three issues of a new IPC title. However, the first attempt at Ghastly’s face is in, as is the second person to spend the week in the London Dungeon.

A British agent is on the trail of the Rumanian defector who’s a vampire and the nurse he’s hypnotised into becoming his servant. But the vampire escapes him. In the preview for next week there’s a panel of the vampire going to the cinema, and it looks like he’s going to make a Dracula film more realistic than usual…

Last week “Monster” changed credits completely. This week it is “Terror of the Cats”, with new artist John Richardson and writer Simon Furman. In the story, the cats have the hospital under siege now. The man in charge of the cat victims tells Woodward he suspects Dr Kruhl is behind the crazy cat attacks. So Woodward is off to check out Kruhl – and finds the killer cats waiting outside. How can he get past them?

The second round of transgressors arrives for Max’s special treatment on “The Thirteenth Floor”. A tattoo one of them has provides the inspiration for their punishment, as seen below.

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In “Tales from the Grave”, Sleeth the Undertaker thinks he’s got the murder he was contracted to commit all sewn up and his victim is now at the bottom of the river, eaten up by rats. But his client Emily has a nasty surprise for him – she has just found that same victim (her uncle) poisoned. So who the heck was Sleeth killing just now? Er, it looks like that horribly injured, but still alive and very angry man who’s now barging in through your door, Sleeth. What’s more, he’s saying, “I have survived to wreak the vengeance of death on your foul and treacherous soul!”

The story in this week’s “Library of Death” is the one that readers request the most on Ghastly’s “Back from the Depths” site. It appears below for the benefit of any curious readers.

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It’s back to the one-page format in this week’s Ghastly Tale, and the moral is never to touch strange meteors. A boy does and it gives him the power to make plant life grow out of everything and everyone he touches – including his mum, and now’s she’s a horrible plant freak. He’s worried about what will happen when his father comes home. Never mind that, laddie – how are you going to eat when everything you touch turns into these freaks?

This week we learn more about Uncle Terry from the note Kenny’s mother left behind. As we do, we are more horrified by how Uncle Terry has been treated all his life than his appearance. Poor Uncle Terry has spent the whole 32 years of his life locked in the attic, in neglect and squalor, because his parents couldn’t stand his appearance. As a result, he is retarded, clearly brain damaged, and can barely string a few words together, but he is dangerous if provoked and can kill. Terry’s treatment improved somewhat under Kenny’s kindly mother, but she could not help him fully because of her abusive husband (why the heck did you marry him, lady?). After she died, cruelty towards Terry resumed under the husband. Now Kenny has inherited the task of minding Uncle Terry, and he’s only 12, but the note says Mum was dead against the idea of institutionalisation for Uncle Terry. As if an institution could be any worse than that squalid attic.