Hibernia Comics latest “Fleetway Files” title, Slave of the Screamer, is available now, written by Tom Tully, with fantastic art from Jesus Blasco.
“They say Tony Steel doesn’t know the meaning of Fear… he soon will.”
“Slave of the Screamer”, first published in Valiant in 1970 and running for just 33 episodes, brought to an end when the weekly adventure comic merged with SMASH!, is a tale of greed, tyranny and humiliation, wrapped in a facade of Weird Science. Lowly lab assistant Mervin Small discovers the means to transform himself into what he believes will be an alpha human, a Manthroid. Before using it on himself, he experiments with it on the unwitting stuntman and daredevil Tony Steel…
Influenced from diverse sources (the film, Hand of Death, and Marvel’s The Incredible Hulk likely inspirations), “Slave of the Screamer” is an oppressive and tense tale, brought to life by the master of chiaroscuro comic art Jesus Blasco and British comic legend Tom Tully.
The sixth volume in Hibernia’s “Fleetway Files” – a partwork-style collection of forgotten treasures from Rebellion’s Treasury of British Comics’ vast archive, publisher tells us the release of Slave of the Screamer is something of a a milestone for the independent publisher – the first to feature a script by Tom Tully.
As ever, the work that has gone into representing the strip is top notch – no matter what your possible opinion of the bonkers plotline!
“Tully was one of British comic most prolific writers, in a career spanning the 1960s to the the 1990s,” publisher David McDonald notes. “He was equally at home writing scifi or football with ‘Roy of the Rovers’ and ‘Inferno’, and war and humour with ‘Johnny Red’ and ‘The Wild Wonders’.
“Tully wrote countless self contained stories like ‘Slave of the Screamer’, and ‘Slave’, Illustrated by Jesus Blasco, in one of his best.
“Those who buy Hibernia’s output might know I’m a fan of Blascos, this being Hibernia’s third collection featuring his art (and one more on the way!).
“We are also delighted to have a fantastic introduction by comic expert Steve Holland,” David adds. “Indeed, Holland himself had hoped to release ‘Slave of the Screamer’ a decade ago under his Bear Alley Book imprint, and kindly helped us with scans for this collection.”
“Slave of the Screamer … sits in the centre of a Venn diagram that overlaps weird menace with monstrous beasts, which were popular around that same time, including giant robot ape Mytek the Mighty, alien monster Galaxus, and Gargan, a yeti-like creature,” Steve himself notes in his introduction to this enjoyable collection.”
Steve also charts the history of the strip, its run interrupted by industrial action, which perhaps didn’t help its success – and when Valiant merged with Smash!, the latter’s sales presumably more badly impacted by the strikes than the former, it came to an end – albeit one wrapped up quite neatly, despite a rather wordy final page.
“… Despite its bumpy history, ‘Slave of the Screamer’ is a gripping tale of good versus evil, with some of artist Jesús Blasco’s best work,” Steve feels.
As always the print run on Slave of the Screamer is limited. There is no kickstarting, no preordering, these are for sale now, and when they’re gone, they’re gone!
• Slave of the Screamer is only available to buy here – comicsy.co.uk/hibernia | 72 B&W Pages | Perfect bound
Fleetway Files Bonus Promotion!
Hibernia are also offering discounts on previous titles Sergeant Strong and Blazing Battle Action when bought in a bundle with Slave of the Screamer. This is a limited offer, get it while you can!
This book is sent from Ireland and all postal charges are charged extra and at cost at checkout. Please allow three weeks delivery to the UK and Europe, four weeks for US Asia and Africa and six weeks for Australia, New Zealand and South America. Delivery is usually much quicker but delays do happen. Irish orders can be expected within a week
Slave of the Screamer: The Creators
Glasgow-born Tom Tully was one of the most prolific writers in British comics, and in a career spanning the early 1960s to the late 1990s he wrote thousands of comic pages, mostly for Fleetway/IPC.
Tully was known for his versatility, being equally comfortable writing for “Roy of the Rovers”, scripting Dan Dare’s space adventures, or entertaining readers with the teen superhero adventures of Billy Farmer in “The Leopard from Lime Street“. A master of writing longer running action strips like “The Steel Claw” and Johnny Red, he also had a knack for weaving kitchen sink drama into series like the aforementioned “Roy of the Rovers” and “Look Out for Lefty“. “Slave of the Screamer” is one of many, many shorter series that he wrote.
Tully stepped away from comics in the 1990s, leaving the industry to become a publican in Wiltshire. He passed away in 2013.
Jesús Blasco was born in Barcelona in Spain in 1919. He made his professional comics debut at the age of 15, creating the character Cuto who would go on to become one of the most popular Spanish comic characters. Blasco served during the Spanish Civil War, returning to comics after completing his military service.
Hugely popular in Spain and France, his career in British comics began in Sun in the 1950s, and he was a permanent presence on the newsagents shelves thereafter with his work appearing in comics like Comet, Valiant, Action, 2000AD and Look and Learn.
“The Steel Claw” is the strip he is perhaps best known for and Blasco illustrated the bulk of Louis Crandell’s (mis)adventures. Rightly regarded as a Spanish master, Blasco was a remarkably versatile artist and his fine lines and realistic depictions inspired artists like Brian Bolland and Dave Gibbons. He died in 1995.
Back in 1983, Spanish publisher Norma Editorial released a Jesús Blasco – Un Hombre mil Imágenes No. 3, one of a series of monograph titles about top comic creators . You can find copies on sites like ebay, Spanish sites such as IberLibro, and Abe Books, and there’s an online, view only version here on Issuu
• Slave of the Screamer is only available to buy here – comicsy.co.uk/hibernia | 72 B&W Pages | Perfect bound
- About the Author
- Latest Posts
The founder of downthetubes, which he established in 1998. John works as a comics and magazine editor, writer, and on promotional work for the Lakes International Comic Art Festival. He is currently editor of Star Trek Explorer, published by Titan – his third tour of duty on the title originally titled Star Trek Magazine.
Working in British comics publishing since the 1980s, his credits include editor of titles such as Doctor Who Magazine, Babylon 5 Magazine, and more. He also edited the comics anthology STRIP Magazine and edited several audio comics for ROK Comics. He has also edited several comic collections, including volumes of “Charley’s War” and “Dan Dare”.
He’s the writer of “Pilgrim: Secrets and Lies” for B7 Comics; “Crucible”, a creator-owned project with 2000AD artist Smuzz; and “Death Duty” and “Skow Dogs” with Dave Hailwood.
Categories: British Comics, British Comics - Collections, British Comics - Current British Publishers, Comic Previews, Comics, downthetubes Comics News, downthetubes News