Hibernia Comics latest Fleetway Files title, The Slave of the Screamer, collecting a 1970s strip from Valiant comic by Tom Tully and Jesus Blasco.
These Fleetway Files titles tend to sell out very quickly, so you’d be well advised to grab your copy now, because it’s a cracking story.
“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…
Much like other strips of the period era “Slave of the Screamer” is a fast paced yarn, Tully clearly pulled a lot of elements from Marvel comics of the previous decade, but giving the strip a British twist, complemented, as ever, by Blasco’s moody art.
It’s a cracking story, unfortunately wrapped quickly, the result of Valiant’s merger with SMASH!. Along with quickfire arcs, Steel wrestling with his unexpected mutation, I particularly enjoyed the sight gag of a newspaper editor that, to me, resembles Stan Lee as the strip’s Jonah J. Jameson character, and Hulk-styled mysteriously reappearing trousers.
Reading the story, it hit me that not only was writer Tom Tully telling an episode of a story per issue for the weekly comic, but also telling a new reader a story, every issue, which is why these strips may sometimes come across as featuring several “information dumps” along the way, not just in “recap boxes”. At the time this strip was running, I didn’t have many comics on order at my newsagent, apart from Countdown, and you could so easily miss an issue of something you might hope was still in the newsagents back then. Very different times we sometimes forget the publishers were aware of, and did their utmost to address.
(Managing editor Richard Starkings advice to Marvel UK editors, “Every issue is a first issue for someone” still echoes).
Reproduction of the pages, scanned from comics, is terrific. If you own copies of the original comics, you’ll know how often its printing resulted in “muddy” reproductions, depending on how early in a print run your copy comes from. The Hibernia Comics team have, as ever, done a standout job on this front. Recommended.
• 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, Comics, downthetubes Comics News, downthetubes News, Features, Reviews
In Review: The Leopard from Lime Street – Birthright 
Retro Review: Third World War Book Two: Back to Babylon