Former Fleetway editor Barrie Tomlinson recently posted a superb unused cover for the short-lived horror comic Scream! on his social media. The post is part of his ongoing items about the history of the title, some for ComicScene, as we near its 40th anniversary.
40 Years of Scream! The Archival Collection, a collection of strips, is out soon from Rebellion, on 25th April, our exclusive coverage of that here on downthetubes here and here, courtesy of the publisher.
The unused cover for the never-published Scream! Issue 17 is by Jose Casanovas, Sr. (1934 – 14th March 2009 born José María Casanovas Magri), a Spanish comic artist who did work for Fleetway and DC Thomson and various European publishers, until at least 2006.
The cover promoted a one-page humorous story drawn by Casanovas, last reprinted in the Eagle Adventure Special published by Hibernia Comics in 2016, reviewed for downthetubes here by Ian Wheeler.
It also features on the cover of the now sold out slipcase collection of 40 Years of Scream!
Steve Holland notes, in a tribute that marked his passing, that his early work included “El Pequeño Mundo” for Futuro (1957) and “Superfuerte” for Super-Strong (1958), both published by Ferma. He began inking the adventures of “El Jabato”, written by R. Martin (Victor Mora) for Bruguera in 1961 before taking over the artwork fully in 1962.
In the UK, his credits for 2000AD include “Judge Dredd”, “Tharg’s Future Shocks”, “Ro-Jaws’ Robo-Tales” and Tharg’s Time Twisters, and two one-off stories and three serials from Mark Millar’s re-imagined “Robo-Hunter”, plus “Max Normal” in the first four editions of the Judge Dredd Annual.
He also drew “The Amstor Computer”, “Star Rider” and a couple of one-off stories for ‘New’ Eagle, and drew strips for Starlord (including “Good Morning, Sheldon, I Love You!”) and Scream!
For DC Thomson, Casanovas drew the first five issues of DC Thomson’s SF digest title, Starblazer.
Although his work was anonymous, he drew strips for various girls’ titles throughout the 1960s, 1970s and 1980s, including True Life, Love Story, Star Love, June, Tammy, Sandie, Jinty, Lindy, Emma, Penny and Mandy.
In addition, he drew for both Starlord (notably the memorably horrific one-off story, “Good Morning, Sheldon, I Love You!”) and Scream!.
His son, an artist also called Jose Casanovas, collaborated with him on “Robo-Hunter”.
• 40 Years of Scream! The Archival Collection goes on sale on Thursday 25th April 2024 | Hardcover, 464 Pages | ISBN: 978-1837861071
• Follow Barrie Tomlinson on X
• ComicScene: 40 Years of Scream by the title’s editor, Barrie Tomlinson
• Steve Holland’s Bear Alley tribute to Casanovas, published in 2009, is here
• The brilliant Tebeosfera website, published in Spanish, pays tribute here
• The Jinty web site has a gallery of some of his identified work for that title here
Back from the Depths was originally founded as a tribute site dedicated to Scream! Browsing this site you will find character, bios, story lines, cover art and more. The site runners’ aim is to make sure Scream! is never forgotten.
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, Comics, Creating Comics, downthetubes Comics News, downthetubes News
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