MINOR SPOILER WARNING!

2000AD publisher Rebellion’s eagerly-anticipated Scream & Misty Halloween Special 2017 goes on sale on Wednesday 18th October – and we have a sneak peek for you.

The Special features some classic comics from Misty, Scream and Thunder, offering a great line-up of modern takes on some wonderful British comics, with plenty of cameos; confirming plans are surely in the works for a return to what seems to be a “shared universe” of fondly-remembered comic characters.

Scream & Misty Halloween Special 2017 Variant Cover by Glenn Fabry and Adam Brown

And what a line up! Steel Commando,  Thunderbolt – revived from strips first published in Buster back in the 1960s – and the Leopard from Lime Street, all make tantalisingly brief appearances. Meanwhile, other great characters such as Black Max (from Thunder) and Dracula (of “The Dracula File”, from Scream) get their own strips, rubbing shoulders nicely with a smashing  “Return of the Sentinels” tale , and “Fate of the Fairy Hunter”, both inspired by Misty strips.

“The Thirteenth Floor” by Guy Adams, John Stokes and Frazer Irving

Without a doubt, the decision to give prime position to “The Thirteenth Floor” by Guy Adams, John Stokes and Frazer Irving was the right one, a terrific revival of a strip that began in Scream but continued into Eagle. The creative team are firing on all cylinders with this revenge-fuelled tale, and the same is true for other strips.

(A shout out here for artist DaNi’s work on “Fate of the Fairy Hunter” by Alec Worley, which successfully captures the sprit of many a one-off creepy tale from Misty).

“Fate of the Fairy Hunter” by Alec Worley and DaNi

While there’s very much a sense of the laying of the foundations of bigger plans for the characters featured, this Special still offers plenty of standalone adventure to entertain both the casual reader who wants to try something new and those who remember the original characters. This Special, which comes with a variant cover by Glenn Fabry and Adam Brown offered to comic shops, is well worth your attention.

The Rebellion team have given some classic characters and strips a great outing in modern form, the stories respecting the originals, echoing the approach tried with the Albion mini-series attempting to revive older British comic characters owned then by IPC (now TimeUK)

The Scream & Misty Halloween Special 2017 is well worth your attention, offering both comic strip and background features about characters featured, as well as some fun items harking back in content to the original comics.

Check it out in your local newsagents, digital stores and comic shops on Wednesday!

The Strips

• “The Thirteenth Floor” by Guy Adams, John Stokes and Frazer Irving (above)

• “The Dracula File” by Grainne McEntee and Tristan Jones

• “Death-Man: The Gathering” by Feek and Henry Flint

• “Black Max” by Kek-W and Simon Coleby

• “Return of the Sentinels” by Hannah Berry and Ben Willsher
• “Fate of the Fairy Hunter” by Alec Worley and DaNi

• The Scream & Misty Halloween Special 2017 goes on sale on 18th October 2017 priced £3.99 and will be on sale in newsagents, comic shops and digital platforms 

John Freeman

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, downthetubes Comics News, downthetubes News

Tags: downthetubes News, Girls Comics, Horror Comics, Misty, Rebellion, Rebellion, Scream, Scream & Misty Halloween Special, Thunder