Review by Luke Williams
WARNING: POTENTIAL MILD SPOILERS FOR THE UNWARY
Scream continues its slow renaissance, with this release, and the volumes collecting the entire original run and all the Specials up to 2024.
A mix of horror, sci fi, gore and psychological tension, five strips lurk behind a striking Salvador Lavado cover for this year’s Scream special, timed for release with Halloween.
It’s been two years since the last Scream-related Special was released, and the opening strip, “Dracula Files: Realpolitick” by Alex Paknadel, Alejandro Aragon, Jason Wordie, with lettering by Jonthan Stevenson, carries on a story from 2024’s 40th Anniversary Scream special.
The whole premise of the original strip in the short-lived comic was that Dracula is alive and well in modern times and being hunted down by the British Govenrment. The creative team change this slightly, continuing their contemporising of the Dracula legend, but with a conspiracy and policitcal bent. They succeed in making Dracula more of a shadowy, fearsome creature, rather than the slightly campe character of the original strip, but whose power is increasingly political rather than just supernatural.
The art by Aragon and Wordie, is scratchy and moody, like 1990s’ Vertigo output, with some unusual but effective colour choices, but they suit the subject matter. There is just enough claret to be splashed without it slipping into wholesale gore. Plot and script wise, there is plenty of enough paranoia and intrigue, but enough action to keep readers interested. Hopefully, we won’t have to wait two years for the next instalment.
Zac Thompson and Mattia Monaco’s “The Thirteenth Floor: Conversational Reality Generation” on the other hand, is a one and done tale. For those who aren’t aware of the concept, “The Thirteenth Floor”, presciently for a strip conceived in the early 1980s, tells of a tower block that is controlled by artificial intelligence called Max. The strip allowed creators to present one offs in much the same way as 2000AD’s “Future Shocks” do, an encompassing umbrella label for one off twist in the tale, or in this case, horror strip.
Thompson and Monaco neatly and succinctly introduce the concept to new readers, while telling a seemingly tragic tale of loss and the effects of grief, but with the requisite twist. Monaco has a touch of the Guy Davis about his work with some manga influence. Imaginative page layouts and a tight script elevate this instalment above the humdrum.
One off “Consent is Key” by Zoe Tunnell, Chloe Brailsford and JP Hordan, with lettering by Jodie Troutman, could have been a “Future Shock”, as it deals with the dangers of technology, borrowing themes from a number of different classic sci fi tropes, and the perils of not reading the small print. Here, the protagonist rents out her body to a large tech conglomerate and finds that, gradually, it affects her life more than she expected. It’s nicely paced, with bold linework from Brailsford and lurid but highly effective colours from Jordan, with a payoff that sticks the landing.
“The Bog Body” by Oliver Gerlach, Vic Malhotra and lettered by Maco is more traditional fare. Basically a spin on the horror trope of the mummy, an academic takes possession of the titular bog body that has more than a passing resemblance to him, but it begins to affect his dreams and his life. Paced well, with atmospheric art and spindly figure works from Malhotra, sadly the payoff doesn’t live up to the build up.
Finally, there is “Welcome to Bishops’s End: Lights Out”, by Michael Gorman, Babas Tarr, Kyle Fewell, and letters by Maco. Set in 1975, a young girl is besieged in petrol station by demons, or at least something deeply unpleasant. Great art by Babs Tarr and Kyle Fweell, but a four pager that sadly had lost me after page two.
Despite the two-year wait for this Special, these one-shot releases now seem to be a fairly regular occurrence, so Rebellion seem to have got distribution options and availability sussed now. Extent wise, I’d argue it’s still, perhaps, a little short on page count. I would prefer an annual special to be a little longer, but that may involve reprints (the plague of their annuals, which I find not good value for money, and pricey for what you get in terms of original content).
The specials annual / bi-annual frequency also means that anything with an ongoing storyline (“Dracula Files”, I’m looking at you) progresses at a snail’s pace. Scream doesn’t seem to have the following of Battle-Action, although that property is bolstered by the talents it attracts, but there is a lot of potential here to create at least a mini series in the way that Battle-Action became.
A worthy purchase.
Luke Williams
The Scream! Halloween Special 2026 is available select newsagents including TG Jones not staked in the heart by capitalist parasites, and in Local Comic Shops from Wednesday 28th October 2026, direct from the 2000AD webshop here, and major retailers such as Forbidden Planet (Affiliate Link)
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Brought up on a diet of Commando, British Boys Annuals and Asterix, Lucas Williams’s day job limits his reading time. Luckily for everyone else this also restricts his writing time.
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