GHASTLY TALES FOR KIDS...
‘NOT FOR THE NERVOUS’
James Rose takes a nostalgic trip back to the Britain of 1984 to celebrate the ground-breaking British horror comic, Scream!
In the early years of the 1980s, Britain was being flooded with imported horror films due to both the burgeoning home video market and a loophole in UK film classification law. This allowed them to enter into the country without being subject to scrutiny by the British Board of Film Classification.
Appalled by the violent and graphic content of these (often low budget) films, the National Viewers and Listeners’ Association made clear their concerns about the possible damage such films were having upon the nation’s youth. As a result, films were being withdrawn or banned outright if they were added to the Director of Public Prosecution’s ‘video nasty’ list, culminating in the Video Recordings Act, 1984. Yet, despite this furore around censorship, a new British horror comic appeared on the shelves of newsagents across the country.
Released on Monday 24th March 1984, the first issue of Scream! retailed for just 22p and featured a free pair of plastic fangs taped to the garish cover image of a vampire and Grim Reaper, both framing the tag line ‘Just when you thought it was safe to sleep in the dark’.
Nothing quite like it had been seen before: an anthology horror comic written, illustrated, and produced in the UK and featuring a range of ghastly content, such as The Dracula Files, The Terror of the Cats, The Library of Death and Monster. All were lavishly drawn and featured stark moments of horror, all sealing the attraction and success of the comic. Yet, after only 15 issues, Scream! abruptly ceased publication, having only survived until June of its debut year.
GHASTLY MCNASTY, EDITOR
From its initial run to its final issue, Scream! was owned and published by the International Publishing Corporation. IPC was, for the majority of the 20th Century, one of the three largest British
Comics publishers, alongside Marvel UK and D.C. Thompson.
Their range of titles was extensive, covering titles specifically aimed at boys (2000AD, Hurricane, and Tornado) and girls (Tammy, June, and Misty) as well as the more conventional humour for both audiences (Buster, Whizzer and Chips and Whoopee!). Much like its IPC counterpart, 2000AD, Scream! claimed it was edited by an otherworldly presence.
While 2000AD had Tharg the Mighty, Scream! had Ghastly McNasty, “the once human editor of this gruesome publication”. And, just like Tharg, McNasty positions himself above the reader through his descriptions of them: “Snivelling surface dwellers!”, “crawling cowards!” and “miserable specimens!” McNasty promises in his opening editorial to publish stories “that will chill you to the bone and make your blood run cold”.
Accompanying the full-length portrait of McNasty is a drawing of a modern tower block which is identified as King’s Reach Tower and as having twenty-nine floors but McNasty comments that he works “twenty-nine floors beneath it”.