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SCREAM! & MISTY SPECIAL: Decomposition Jones

The most spooktacular time of the year is nearly upon us again, which means it’s time for the Halloween Horrors of two of Britain’s best-loved comics of the ’80s to return to haunt us – it’s the SCREAM! & MISTY SPECIAL 2018!

Featuring a petrifyingly perfect cover by Kyle Hotz and a 2000 AD webshop exclusive creeptacular cover by Lenka Šimecková, the comic is out now in print and digiral!

Inside you’ll find tales to terrify and stories to scare you stiff, including the return of The Thirteenth Floor by Guy Adams, John Stokes, and Frazer Irving, undead WWI pilot Black Max by Kek-W and Simon Coleby, Black Beth by Alec Worley and DaNi, and Best Friends Forever by Lizzie Boyle and Yishan Li.

Decomposition Jones is a new horrific mash-up of zombie/vampire DNA by Richard McAuliffe and Steve Mannion. But what’s it all about? Richard Bruton braves the horrors to save you the scares!

So far, all I’ve heard of this one is that Decomposition Jones is a horror mash-up of zombie and vampire DNA…

Richard McAuliffe: I know! How awesome is that? What more do you want out of a comic? Sex and violence? We got that too.

Steve Mannion: Yep… A Zombie Vampire!!

Ok then, aside from the whole zombie vampire thing, what’s Decomposition Jones all about?

RM: Well as I mentioned earlier, this six-pager is basically the character’s secret origin showing how he went from being a smooth talking, ass kicking ’70s cop to something even more badass and, as you’d expect from this comic, horrific. It’s a fun character and the whole ’70s movie world was an awesome playground so I for one would love the chance to tell at least one of his adventures now we’ve established who and what he is. I already know who I’d like to have him take down first so fingers crossed we get the chance at some point down the line. Failing that I’ll just be the first person to ever sit at home writing fan fiction for one of his own stories.

SM: Basically, it’s Decomposition Jones’ origin story real quick-like. It’s got a great ’70s vibe with all the cop show influences that I grew up with.

What brought the pair of you together to work on this one?

RM: I’m guessing in a previous life I did something really, really good! (It wasn’t in this life that’s for sure). This was all written and locked down before Mr Mannion was brought onboard by the all-powerful Ghastly McNasty and for me it was just a kickass bonus when I found out he’d be drawing this. Actually it was probably for the best I was unaware he’d be involved as I’m a HUGE fan of Steve’s Fearless Dawn comic. If I’d known he was gonna do it I probably would have crumbled under performance anxiety pressure.

The editor, Ghastly, apparently read and enjoyed story I’d done for a recent Zarjaz. Off the back of that he told me about a character he had in mind for the Scream! & Misty Special and gave me a shot at writing an origin story. I sent in a submission expecting to get a “nice try but we’re gonna go with something else” reply but somehow what I sent seemed to match what they were looking for and here we are. Most of the stuff I’ve done before has either been full on horror or comedy so this and my love of VHS era B-movies worked out as a good fit as they wanted something a bit different.

SM: [Editor] Keith [Richardson] just got a hold of me and sent over the script after I said…”Heck Yeah! I’ll draw this thing!!!. I didn’t know it was Richard who wrote it. Just started drawing it, you know?

Do either of you have any memories of either Scream! or Misty from the first time around?

RM: I had the entire Scream! run back in the day but as this was prior to my discovery of alcohol my memory of it is more than a little fuzzy. I remember being a big fan and being gutted that it ended so quickly and, from memory, without any notice. I was and still am a big 2000 AD fan but to be honest I’ve always been more horror than sci-fi so this felt more like it was being made just for me.

Despite being a girls comic so therefore “icky” and to be avoided as a young boy in the ’70s I do actually have a vivid Misty memory. I was staying with an aunt and uncle who had daughters and out of boredom I pulled a Misty annual off the bookshelf and read it. I remember being surprised it had cool ghost stories and wasn’t just about ballerinas and ponies and immediately grabbed another annual off the shelf. Sadly this one was about ponies and ballerinas and crushing depression (seriously, read some ’70s girls comics, they’re brutal) so my childhood flirtation with girls comics came to a sudden end. Did read the recent Misty reprints though and loved them.

SM: I’m an old yank. I didn’t hear nothing!

What is it about both comics that fills both readers and creators with both nostalgia and a desire to see both new versions of the classic strips from the comics and new strips with a Misty/Scream! vibe?

RM: I can’t really speak for Misty but with Scream! the fact it was a proper horror comic when nobody else was doing one made it seem very cool and almost like you were getting away with something by reading it. It only had a short run but now looking back that kinda makes it even cooler as it’s nice to imagine it was SO awesome and horrific they had to take it off the shelves. I like to think Mary Whitehouse hated it and parents were outraged their kids were being exposed to such horrors. For me at least if a comic isn’t slightly offending the old farts, of which I’m now sadly one, then it’s doing something wrong so I was really happy to see the Scream! & Misty Special appear last year and am, as you’d expect, even more excited about this one. I don’t know what it is about nostalgia that gives you such a warm and fuzzy but as I’m typing this with Kings of the Wild Frontier playing in the background I will say it works.

SM: I wasn’t familiar with Scream! and Misty but I can say that I googled it when I found out I got the drawing job. It seems as though folks are psyched to see Scream! and Misty again… and that’s cool!

What is it that makes something a Scream! or Misty strip, as opposed to, say, a 2000 AD Terror Tale? And would you say Decomposition Jones is more Scream! or Misty?

RM: Terror Tales tend to have a bit of sci-fi to them and would work in any modern comic anthology. For me, Scream! and Misty stories have to feel a bit like you should adjust the video tracking to read them properly and I thought last year’s edition really managed to capture that ’70s/’80s feel brilliantly. I’d say Decomposition Jones is definitely more Scream! than Misty with a bit of ’70s Marvel Comics horror and a dash of grindhouse cinema thrown in for good measure. Misty stories seem to me to be a bit more subtle and this is anything but subtle!

With Rebellion now having access to the entire Egmont and IPC archive, are there any strips, whether Scream!, Misty, or anything else in the archives that you’d absolutely love to have a go at in future?

RM: My first comic love as a kid was Monster Fun so I’d absolutely love the chance to play with some of those characters either as straight kids’ stories or to take the premise of a something like Creature Teacher or Martha’s Monster Makeup and go really dark and nasty with them. Make a Monster Fun comic aimed at the age the original readers are now as if the original stories were the watered down fairy tale versions for kids. Can you imagine what an artist like Leigh Gallagher could do with that type of story?

For both of you, this is your first 2000 AD related work. What does that mean to you?

SM: Yes, Decomposition Jones was my first work with 2000 AD. Honestly, it was a joy to get the call because years ago, probably 1996, I had sent some stuff in and got rejected. It was a nice rejection though! Anytime this type of thing happens to an artist, you know…it feels good. Got accepted!

RM: I was a ’70s kid who grew up on this stuff. As such it’s a total bucket list situation and being paired up with one of my favourite comic creators has been an absolute dream come true. If this does turn out to be my only mainstream comic work I couldn’t have asked for anything cooler. It’s the type of fun story I love in the actual, official Scream! comic with Steve Mannion! This is my first go in the big leagues. Prior to this I did an original graphic novel of horror stories for Markosia called Damaged Goods and a load of small press stuff.

The 2018 Scream! & Misty Special is out now!

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SCREAM! & MISTY SPECIAL: Black Max!

The most spooktacular time of the year is nearly upon us again, which means it’s time for the Halloween Horrors of two of Britain’s best-loved comics of the ’80s to return to haunt us – it’s the SCREAM! & MISTY SPECIAL 2018!

Featuring a petrifyingly perfect cover by Kyle Hotz and a 2000 AD webshop exclusive creeptacular cover by Lenka Šimecková, the comic is out now in print and digital!

Inside you’ll find tales to terrify and stories to scare you stiff, including the return of The Thirteenth Floor by Guy Adams, John Stokes, and Frazer Irving, Black Beth by Alec Worley and DaNi, Best Friends Forever by Lizzie Boyle and Yishan Li, and Decomposition Jones, a brand-new horrific mash-up of zombie/vampire DNA by Richard McAuliffe and Steve Mannion.

Today, we chat quickly to artist Simon Coleby about Black Max as well as his love of all things batty and biplaney!

This is your second outing for Black Max, the German World War One fighter pilot descended from a race of bat-people. It’s one of those strips that so many readers remember fondly, all biplanes and giant bats. With the Scream & Misty Special last year you showed us Black Max in limbo, with a young girl dreaming of the sound of giant, beating wings who has the chance to free Max. What is it about the character and the set-up that brought you back to it this year, and would you fancy bringing Black Max back for more than just this annual appearance? Is there a series you have in mind?

Simon Coleby: Black Max is such a gloriously gothic character, he’s a joy to draw! Kek’s script, last time, was wonderful, so I was delighted to have the opportunity to take the story a little further. I feel there’s a nice balance and contrast between the contemporary, dismissive, fiery attitude of Maxine and the fierceness and anger of Max himself. Kek is superb at telling a story while subtly opening up the potential for future tales, so I’d be hugely keen to do more with the story if the opportunity arises. I feel I’m just getting to know the characters, and I’d love to know them a lot better. We’ll see…

The original stories had superb art, and evoked a wonderful, gritty atmosphere. It’s a creative challenge and a lot of fun to try and retain the essence of that work while taking it a little further and pushing the fundamentals of that story in a more current direction. The stories in Thunder and Lion were a superb foundation and I’d like to hope that Kek and I have begun to build something enjoyable and worthwhile upon that.

Have any of you got any strips from Scream! or Misty that you’d absolutely love to have a go at in future if we get another special? Or more generally, given that Rebellion have access to the entire Egmont and IPC archive, If you could bring back something (strip, character, comic) what would it be and why?

SC: Clearly the archive of work, newly available to Rebellion, is vast! In all honesty, I haven’t fully got to grips with all the characters and stories which are now part of their catalogue, but the potential for new stories appears to be enormous. There are obvious stories which would be fun to explore, such as The Steel Claw. I’ve always wanted to draw a real horror story, as I feel that’s something which would suit my art style very well. I wonder if there’s something in the new catalogue which might suit that ambition. I don’t know if it’s viable, but it’s something I’d like to explore.

What do you have coming up next?

SC: I’m currently drawing the next instalment of a story for 2000 AD but it hasn’t been announced yet, so I probably shouldn’t say what it is. (Stak!)

The 2018 Scream! & Misty Special is out now!

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SCREAM! & MISTY SPECIAL: Black Beth

The most spooktacular time of the year is nearly upon us again, which means it’s time for the Halloween Horrors of two of Britain’s best-loved comics of the ’80s to return to haunt us – it’s the SCREAM! & MISTY SPECIAL 2018!

Featuring a petrifyingly perfect cover by Kyle Hotz and a 2000 AD webshop exclusive creeptacular cover by Lenka Šimecková, the comic is out now in print and digiral!

Inside you’ll find tales to terrify and stories to scare you stiff, including the return of The Thirteenth Floor by Guy Adams, John Stokes, and Frazer Irving, undead WWI pilot Black Max by Kek-W and Simon Coleby, Black Beth by Alec Worley and DaNi, Best Friends Forever by Lizzie Boyle and Yishan Li, and Decomposition Jones, a brand-new horrific mash-up of zombie/vampire DNA by Richard McAuliffe and Steve Mannion.

Amongst the tales to terrify, you’ll find a new strip, Black Beth, by the returning writer and artist team of Alec Worley and DaNi. Richard Bruton caught up with Alec Worley to talk terror…!

You did ‘Fate of the Fairy Hunter’ in last year’s Scream! & Misty Special and here you’re writing Black Beth. Is it a new character or something from Scream! or Misty?

ALEC WORLEY: Black Beth’s actually an old strip, albeit an obscure one… She first appeared in the 1988 Scream! Holiday Special! Oddly for a Scream! strip, Black Beth wasn’t horror, more a sword opera with occult overtones. She’s this self-made knight on a quest to punish evildoers with the aid of her blind hunchback sidekick Quido. Think The Punisher meets Red Sonja meets MacBeth!

I picked up that Holiday Special at an age when I was beginning to fall so very deeply in love with Warhammer, Fighting Fantasy, Conan, Hawk the Slayer, etc. and would obsess over any scrap of sword and sorcery I could get my hands on. When I heard there was to be a second Scream!/Misty book, I begged Keith Richardson to let me pitch him a Black Beth story with Dani…

The original strip’s actually got a cool bit of back story: it was created in the early 1970s for another IPC title (also called ‘Scream’). The identity of the writer appears to have been lost, but the artist was Spanish illustrator Blas Gallego, who was working on movie adaptations for House of Hammer at the time (and to whom I reached out while researching the pitch; an absolute gentleman!) But the comic got canned before issue one saw print and so Black Beth ended up in a drawer for over ten years! She eventually got exhumed by the Scream! editors looking for material to fill up the specials.

How do you go about creating something that has that perfectly nostalgic feel of former Scream! or Misty strips?

AW: Nostalgia is its own special poison, I think. But we did want to tap into that vintage Scream! magic – and further back to things like Warren’s Creepy and Eerie, and Marvel’s Savage Sword of Conan books. Break down what made those things work and play those same techniques but for a modern readership. Those stories are not self-aware like so many strips today. They’re not tied down by any kind of dialogue with the readership beyond telling a thrilling adventure story. So we dared to be unhip! We didn’t have much room on this one, but we really wanted to tell the kind of story that just transports you, the way fantasy comics, books, and movies do when you’re eight years old. And you simply can’t engage a reader in that way if you’re constantly cracking jokes about how dumb it all is, or having the characters rolling their eyes at the tropes of their own adventures.

We tweaked the original concept in a few ways. The Scream!/Misty specials are for a YA audience (or so I’m told), so we made Quido more of a hunk and Beth slightly younger (we based her on a young Barbara Steele). Dani wanted to do an original design for Moldred the witch, and came up with something more original and feral with all these gorgeous textures. I’ve worked with Dani twice now and hope to do so again. She’s a consummate pro, and a badass to boot!

Do you have any fond memories of either Scream! or Misty the first time around?

AW: Misty was a little before my time, but Scream! was my 2000 AD! I was at that age when I loved horror, but was too young to watch anything scarier than Boris Karloff. But Scream! was inventive enough to deliver the scares you were after without resorting to gore. Re-reading the back issues, it’s amazing just how clever and inventive many of those stories are.

What is it about both comics that fills both readers and creators with both nostalgia and a desire to see both new versions of the classic strips from the comics and new strips with a Misty/Scream! vibe?

AW: For me, this Black Beth had to be new and forward-looking, a fresh take on an old concept. This had to be primarily for new readers. The core concepts are what make these old stories work and to get the best out of those concepts they need to be plugged into a modern context by creators with a grasp of modern storytelling and keen to communicate with a modern readership.

I’ll be honest, I’m sick to death of nostalgia. Sick. Sick. Sick. From Stranger Things to Ready Player One. I’m bored out of my freaking skull by all of it. “B-b-but, what about my childhood?” Your childhood’s gone! It’s over! Let it go! Grow up! Move on. Develop. Progress. Crave and champion the new, the innovative – with the same imaginative hunger you had as a kid! That doesn’t mean you can’t revisit the past, but do it to say something new about the present! Stories have to be about more than just an exercise in spot-the-reference fan service! You’re supposed to be telling a story, not posting a bunch of memes!

With this second volume of Scream! & Misty there are fewer strips returning from the classic comics and more all-new series. For those of you who’ve delivered new strips, what is it that makes something a Scream or Misty strip, as opposed to, say, a 2000 AD Terror Tale?

AW: With a Terror Tale for 2000 AD, you can afford to be more adult and graphic (certainly today), whereas Scream! and Misty were first and foremost books for children (or young adults in Misty’s case). But that age restriction ended up becoming a creative constraint for the editors and creators, forcing them to be more inventive and find more engaging strategies to spook the readers, rather than just going for the gore or nasty twists.

Maybe it was all that spidery black and white art by geniuses like José Ortiz, but Scream! always struck me as distinctly gnarly. Like so much British horror and fantasy, it was full of grotesquery, unlike the American stuff, which always felt more slick. Misty, on the other hand, felt more refined, eloquent and dreamy, like a big sister who was really into Kate Bush!

Have any of you got any strips from Scream! or Misty that you’d absolutely love to have a go at in future if we get another special? Or more generally, given that Rebellion have access to the entire Egmont and IPC archive, If you could bring back something (strip, character, comic) what would it be and why?

AW: There’s plenty of Scream! tales I’d like to take a crack at, but Black Beth was my favourite. So I’ve already hit the jackpot in writing her, as well as working with Dani again. We’d love to bring the character back for a longer adventure sometime soon…

The 2018 Scream! & Misty Special is out now!

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SCREAM! & MISTY SPECIAL: The Thirteenth Floor

Well, the most spooktacular time of the year is nearly upon us again, which means it’s time for the Halloween Horrors of two of Britain’s best-loved comics of the ’80s to return to haunt us – it’s the SCREAM! & MISTY SPECIAL 2018!

Featuring a petrifyingly perfect cover by Kyle Hotz and a 2000 AD webshop exclusive creeptacular cover by Lenka Šimecková, the comic is out now in print and digital!

Inside you’ll find tales to terrify and stories to scare you stiff, including the return of undead WWI pilot Black Max by Kek-W and Simon Coleby, Black Beth by Alec Worley and DaNi, Best Friends Forever by Lizzie Boyle and Yishan Li, and Decomposition Jones, a brand-new horrific mash-up of zombie/vampire DNA by Richard McAuliffe and Steve Mannion.

Today, Richard Bruton talks to two-thirds of the amazing team behind the return of the computer who cares far too much as we journey back to Maxwell Tower with The Thirteenth Floor, somewhere you really don’t want to end up…!

The Thirteenth Floor led 2017’s Scream! & Misty Special with a new tale of the tower block controlled by Max the computer, sending vile visitors and repugnant residents off to the nightmarish thirteenth floor, where they’ll find their comeuppance waiting for them. We’ve also seen the publication of the classic The Thirteenth Floor series written by John Wagner and Alan Grant, drawn by Jose Ortiz.

In the revamp, we saw a damaged Maxwell Tower with a dormant Max just waiting for the right moment to bring back his thirteenth floor judgment. That came when a young resident seeks sanctuary, running from a local gang of nasties, and accidentally reactivates Max, who does the thing he does so well and sends the gang off to the thirteenth floor to learn the error of their ways!

What do we have to look forward to on The Thirteenth Floor this year?

GUY ADAMS: The story continues, though hopefully in a manner that won’t completely throw any new readers. We introduce someone who may get in the way of Sam and Max, because it’s actually rather hard to pick people off and not have the law notice.

(COUGHS AWKWARDLY)

Or so I’m lead to believe.

FRAZER IRVING: Cops and choppers!

You could say that the premise for The Thirteenth Floor, like so many of the strips of the time, is incredibly limited but would you like the chance to run The Thirteenth Floor for longer, maybe reintroducing it in the pages of the Megazine, or, who knows, some future new comic featuring these classic strips? And, if so, have you already thought of the way forward for yourselves, for Max, and for the residents of Maxwell Tower?

GA: Thirteenth Floor is the story of an affable serial killer, really. Dress it up as a morality play all you like, have the reader egg the psychotic nightmares on, but it’s still a nuts computer and — in our, modern version — a disturbed kid breaking people they don’t like (because, yes, fine, they don’t necessarily KILL their victims but that’s not always a blessing if you break someone viciously enough). That grey area of storytelling interests me and I think it’s what would give the story legs as a longer whole.

Honestly? From the word go I came at this assuming it could be something longer. I enjoy playing with form and what I’ve done so far is write two capsule stories that could be read independently, or as one longer piece, or… and this is the really fun bit… as a set up for a continuing story. To do that and still deliver a satisfying experience is the trick and hopefully we’ve pulled that off.

FI: There should be a regular The Thirteenth Floor strip, it’s got way more legs now than it did back in the day.

Artistically, with both John and Frazer on board once more, we’re assuming you’re going for the same brilliant artistic look of the first tale last year. Having John cover the ‘normal’ events in the tower block in b&w, harking back to the look of the original, and then having Frazer go full-colour and over the top, full-blown nightmare vision, of the vistas on the The Thirteenth Floor, was a brilliant touch, something that definitely improves upon the original. Who first came up with the idea to get two very different looks for the strip?

GA: It was the editor of the special, Keith Richardson. When I was commissioned, John was already on board — and I couldn’t have been more thrilled — and Keith asked if I had any preferences for the other artist. I mentioned Frazer as being a depraved genius, Keith agreed. The dance between them is just so beautiful; it’s such a great pleasure to write for both of them in one strip. This artistic polyamory is a delight.

FI: Blame Keith. Leigh Gallagher is still mad that I got the gig instead of him!

Guy, do you find yourself deliberately writing for the two artists to really play to their strengths, or is it simply a case of trusting them to deliver the goods?

GA: A bit of both. I have complete and utter trust in them, of course I do, they’re John Stokes and Frazer Irving! At the same time I’d hardly be doing my job if I didn’t try and offer them things I thought they might like to work with. If only so they don’t hate working on my scripts! John’s character work is always wonderful, his pencils could act Jacobi off the stage, so I try and throw those moments his way as I know he’ll make it look exactly as effortless as it really isn’t. Frazer’s a beast, so I throw him bones. Bones few would easily imagine the flavour of.

What do you remember of both Scream and Misty the first time around?

FI: Scream!: free vampire teeth. Misty: girls!

GA: I don’t remember Misty but Scream! pleased me immensely. A joy of fleshy, Eric Bradbury tombstones and dusty Jose Ortiz cobwebs. It felt, as all good comics should to a kid, illicit.

What is it about both comics that fills both readers and creators with both nostalgia and a desire to see both new versions of the classic strips from the comics and new strips with a Misty/Scream! vibe?

GA: Like any great art it’s about storytelling. Most of us are very visual creatures, certainly when it comes to memory. The comics we read when we were young loom large for a lot of us don’t they? I’m certainly haunted by images held between childhood thumbs. To tap back into that, to live it again, that’s always going to be appealing. Of course, the creators’ job is to ensure it’s not just a familiar dance, that there are a few fresh new moves in there too.

Have you got any strips from Scream! or Misty that you’d absolutely love to have a go at in future if we get another special? Or more generally, given that Rebellion have access to the entire Egmont and IPC archive, If you could bring back something (strip, character, comic) what would it be and why?

GA: I’d love to play with The Steel Claw. The Leopard of Lime Street (what did Billy become when he grew up?), so many characters from BattleD-Day Dawson, the soldier who fights like he’ll be dead any second, thanks to a bullet lodged near his heart. Lofty’s One-Man Luftwaffe! A British air pilot infiltrates the Luftwaffe and ruins missions from the inside!

The 2018 Scream! & Misty Special is out now.

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INTERVIEW: Scream! & Misty Special Lizzie Boyle and Yishan Li

It’s the most spooktacular time of the year and that means it’s time for the SCREAM! & MISTY SPECIAL 2018!

Featuring a petrifyingly perfect cover by Kyle Hotz and a 2000 AD webshop exclusive creeptacular cover by Lenka Šimecková, the comic is released in the UK and digitally in time for Halloween!

Inside you’ll find tales to terrify and stories to scare you stiff, including the return of undead WWI pilot ‘Black Max’ by Kek-W and Simon Coleby, more computerised chaos on the ’13th Floor’ by Guy Adams, John Stokes and Frazer Irving, ‘Black Beth’ by Alec Worley and DaNi, ‘Best Friends Forever’ by Lizzie Boyle and Yishan Li, and ‘Decomposition Jones’, a brand-new zombie/vampire mash-up by Richard McAuliffe and Steve Mannion.

Richard Bruton talked to Boyle and Li about their stand-alone strip for this new special…

Your strip in the 2018 Scream! & Misty Special is entitled ‘Best Friends Forever’, can you tell us what it’s all about?

LIZZIE BOYLE: Best Friends Forever is the story of a girl growing up in the Louisiana Bayou whose best friend is a giant albino alligator… It’s a new strip, a one-off short story about the unbreakable bonds of friendship. It also features a giant alligator so, you know, what’s not to like!

YISHAN LI: And it’s super fun to draw the alligator eating people!

Given that it’s a new strip, would you say that it’s more in the vein of a classic Scream! scare or more of a mysterious Misty strip?

LB: It’s a Misty story! Misty herself makes an appearance as she occasionally used to do in the older comics. To me, the Misty tone is one where the happy world we see masks some serious nastiness underneath, and where feisty, competent girls go into battle with the unexpected.

YL: I missed the last page when i first read the script, and thought it was a great story already, then I read the last page, and I was like… I totally didn’t expect that.

What do you remember of both Scream! and Misty the first time around and what is it about both comics that fills readers and creators with such nostalgia and a desire to see new strips with a Misty/Scream! vibe?

LB: I was too young the first time round (blushes), but I read the 2017 special and loved it. Once I heard that I would be writing for this year’s special, I read back to try to get under the skin of what is uniquely Misty.

A lot of Misty stories have a nostalgic ’40s/’50s, Enid Blyton feeling – sensible girls in sensible shoes who find themselves in bizarre and dangerous situations (often of their own making). So we’ve got a double espresso of nostalgia now: for the late ’70s original comics and for the older vibe that flavoured them. Also: we all like a good scare. Short, stand-alone scary stories aren’t going out of fashion any time soon.

Is this your first 2000 AD related work? And where else can people find your work?

YL: This is my first 2000 AD work. A lot of my friends are working with 2000 AD now and luckily I am as well. Very happy with that! My style was originally Manga, but over the years it’s become more and more comic, really influenced by many artists. I worked on the Buffy the High School Years graphic novels for Dark Horse, Convergence: Blue Beetle for DC, Sugar for Top Cow, and I’m currently working on another graphic novel for Top Cow, Swing [which] will come out next year published by Top Cow/Image, and I’ll have another new series with Lion Forge.

LB: This is my first official 2000 AD strip, though I’ve featured in Zarjaz; I have a story in the current issue based on the Wagner/Ransom classic Button Man. I’ve had a graphic novel, The Heart Which Makes Us, published by Batten Press. That’s a story about a forensic investigator who gets caught up in a child abduction case. The artwork by Aaron Moran in that book is among the darkest I have ever seen. I’ve also written a choose-your-own-adventure comic, Secret Gardens, in partnership with the Lowther Castle and Gardens Trust in the Lake District, contributed to a lot of anthologies and created four-part animal-based horror-comedy series, Sentient Zombie Space Pigs.

Who would you list amongst your influences?

LB: I love the tautness of John Wagner in thriller mode (hence the Button Man story in Zarjaz); the forensic examination of urban chaos of Will Eisner; the lyrical-yet-twisted worlds of Margaret Atwood and Fabio Moon and Gabriel Ba; the historical world-building of Hilary Mantel and Neal Stephenson. And Neil Gaiman, who gets his own category!

The Scream! & Misty Special is out on 17th October – order your copy now!

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Pre-order the next Scream & Misty Special!

Following the success of last year’s fright-filled outing, the Scream and Misty Special returns this Hallowe’en!

With a creepy cover by Kyle Hotz and webshop exclusive cover by Lenka Šimečková, two of Britain’s best loved comics reunite for an anthology of brand new tales – guaranteed to terrify and entertain you!

With more treats than tricks, this issue features Black Max by Kek-W and Simon Coleby, 13th Floor by Guy Adams, John Stokes and Frazer Irving, Black Beth by Alec Worley and DaNi, Best Friends Forever by Lizzie Boyle and Yishan Li, and Decomposition Jones by Richard McAuliffe and Steve Mannion.

The Scream and Misty Special is coming to a newsagent or comic book shop near you on 31 October – or you can pre-order via 2000 AD‘s webshop now!

Pre-order the Scream and Misty Special (Kyle Hotz cover) >>
Pre-order the Scream and Misty Special (Lenka Šimečková exclusive cover) >>

Cover art by Kyle Hotz 

Cover by Lenka Šimečková

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SCREAM! & MISTY SPECIAL: Gráinne McEntee on The Dracula File!

Just in time for Halloween, the Scream! And Misty Special promises a chilling, thrilling set of comics reimagined for today from two of Britain’s finest frightfest comics.

Stakes and garlic at the ready, Richard Bruton sat down for a chat with writer Gráinne McEntee, who gets to take a bite out of classic Scream! strip The Dracula File.

The Scream! and Misty Special brings back some fantastic old favourites from British comics past. Were you aware of them at the time, or is this a completely new experience for you?

Gráinne: I’m an Irish lass and to be honest, comics weren’t really encouraged growing up so I missed out there. Aesop’s Fables, Tales of Greek heroes and Irish mythology were my literature fodder at a young age. My comics epiphany came when I saw Watchmen at the cinema and I devoured a heap of graphic novels after that. I’ve only recently gotten into single/monthly issues. Unsurprisingly, I’m stuck into the current Dynamite run on Bond, and I support as much independent stuff as I can.

Can you tell us a little about your strip, what you took from the original, what you might have added?

Gráinne: I read the original Dracula File and loved the idea of hauling the story into the 21st Century. There have been so many takes on the trope and to be given a chance to put my own spin on it was incredibly exciting. Our story picks up from where he last disappeared and is set in here and now. Dracula is slowly reintroducing himself to London society after having been underground for many decades, waiting for his time to come again. We learn of his past and that he has chosen this time to reveal himself and strike. There is interplay between the hunter and the hunted which provides the action, but I won’t say more on who his version of Van Helsing is. You can find that out when you get hold of the special!

I’m actually obsessing a bit about where we could take Dracula if the reboot takes off and Tristan and I find ourselves working together again. That’s really exciting, and I’m such a big lover of the Vampire trope, it would be amazing to be able to evolve the story.

How did you get involved with the Scream! and Misty Special?

Gráinne: I’m going to go with just being in the right place at the right time! Matt (my partner) and I attended quite a few comic conventions last year, and it was at MCM London, Keith Richardson was on the lookout for some fresh blood to contribute to the revamping of the title (am I using too many puns here? It’s entirely deliberate!) He picked up my existing titles – Bubbles O’Seven and Apes ’n’ Capes – and I guess he liked what he saw because he got in contact a few months later and asked me to write the Dracula reboot. Needless to say, as a complete unknown, I was blown away by the opportunity.

With Rebellion having access to loads of classic Brit characters and strips, is there anything you’d love to bring back?

Gráinne: I haven’t read that much of the original stuff to be honest, but I love the idea of The House of Dolmann. I’m having a lot of fun with my own James Bond parody comic and the Q-inspired element is one of my favourite parts so to get to play around with a crime-fighting inventor would be great.

Gráinne, can you give us a quick idea of who you are, what you’ve done?

Gráinne: I started creating comics with my partner, Matt Rooke who wanted to get back into drawing a few years ago. I wrote a story called Apes ’n’ Capes and that was it – I was hooked! Four issues later, I put that on the back burner to get some experience working with other creators and was lucky enough to contribute to Mike Garley’s Dead Roots anthology and Brett Uren’s Torsobear and most recently Jimmy Furlong’s Shit Flingers, Ken Reynold’s Sliced Quarterly and Andy W Clift’s Amazing Tales (WIP). I’m heading into my fourth issue of and Kickstarter for my own title Bubbles O’Seven: Simian Agent – a parody on James Bond. I’m part of a five-person group called Bounce Comics, informal and low key at the moment but we have hopes to develop that further down the line.

Gráinne and artist Tristan Jones take a bite out of the Count in The Dracula File, part of The Scream! and Misty Special, out now!

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SCREAM! & MISTY SPECIAL: Alec Worley on The Fate Of The Fairy Hunter

It’s Halloween and what better way to commune with worlds sinister and dark than picking up a copy of the Scream! & Misty Special – out now from all good newsagents and comic book stores!

The 2000 AD blog’s Richard Bruton sat down for a chat with writer Alec Worley, who gets to tell an all-new Misty inspired tale with artist DaNi: The Fate Of The Fairy Hunter.

The Scream! and Misty Special brings back some fantastic old favourites from British comics past. Do you remember the originals?

Alec: Misty was a tiny bit before my time, but I had the entire run of Scream! Loved it! I re-read it recently and it’s a cracker of a comic with consistently atmospheric art. The fact that it’s for younger readers, and so couldn’t resort to gore and violence for effect, forced the creators – whether the realised it or not – to find more imaginative ways of spooking the reader, I think. The Library of Death stories were probably my favourite.

Can you tell us a little about your strip, an all-new thing created for this special?

Alec: It’s an original Misty four-pager called Fate of the Fairy Hunter. It’s about Wanda Hannigan, a stressed-out publishing intern visited by a vengeful Faerie Queen, who needs Wanda’s help… I read a stack of back issues to get a feel for Misty and get an idea about how I might preserve that refined gothic atmosphere. I had to tell a traditional Misty tale but with contemporary storytelling and for a generation of readers that will only know Misty as a character from Pokemon! There’s easter eggs in our story for old-timers who may have read Misty first time around, but this story had to be for younger readers.

Your artistic collaborator on this one is DaNi, a spectacular young artist from Greece. She’s relatively new to comics, and was possibly first seen by 2000 AD readers in the 2000 AD Free Comic Book 2016 comic. What has she brought to the strip? Looking at her work online I can certainly see why she’s a good fit for a dark tale of fairies!

Alec: DaNi’s amazing! Her pencils are beautiful and her storytelling is absolutely on point. There wasn’t a whole lot we could do with this story in terms of visuals, given that it’s set in present-day London, but I gave her complete license to do whatever she wanted with the Fairy Queen character. When I was writing, I pictured some kind of fancy Regency lady and Dani came up with an ‘owl shroom lady’. Mental! We worked really well together and I’d love to write else for her again soon.

Did you get a chance to select and pitch the strips you fancied bringing back or were they assigned to you?

Alec: We didn’t get to choose, I’m afraid. The strips all got assigned by the editor Keith Richardson, who gave me a two-word brief: ‘evil fairies’.

Have any of you got any strips from Scream! or Misty that you’d absolutely love to have a go at in future if we get another Special? Or more generally, given that Rebellion have access to the entire Egmont and IPC archive, If you could bring back something (strip, character, comic) what would it be and why?

Alec: There’s a lot you could do with Misty and Scream!, I think. Though you’d have to do a lot of work in terms of marketing if you’re aiming any new material at younger readers. A series of ‘Misty/Scream! Presents…’ original graphic novels, would work, I think. I’d love to work on one of those. I’d LOVE to take a swing at Hookjaw. I’ve got a crazy mythological take on the concept that I’d love to do, if anyone in Rebellion’s editorial department is reading this… Just saying…

What hopes do you have for comics like Scream! and Misty acting as that all important gateway drug to getting teens into comics?

Alec: I’ve worked quite a bit in comics for younger readers now and can firmly say that your intended readership dictates everything! For someone like Rebellion it’s not hard to create an amazing, fresh, reader-friendly comic. 2000 AD does this all the time! The challenge is getting those comics under the noses of the people who will love them and want more. I’ve not yet read any of the other strips in this anthology, but I’ve no doubt they’ll be amazing. There’s too much talent in there for them not to be! But whether those stories will reach their target audience will depend on good marketing and ton of luck. If comics as a medium is to be considered a serious art form comparable to literature, cinema, theatre, etc, then creators need the freedom to experiment, to explore ideas, express ambiguities and complexities, break rules, find new ways in which to adapt the form, and – yes – even offend. I’m sure Misty and Ghastly McNasty would agree!

You can read Alec and DaNi’s all new fairy tale with a Misty-inspired twist in The Scream! & Misty Special, out now!

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SCREAM! & MISTY SPECIAL: Hannah Berry and Ben Willsher on The Sentinels

It’s Halloween and what better way to commune with worlds sinister and dark than picking up a copy of the Scream! & Misty Special – out now from all good newsagents and comic book stores!

Of the classic strips revived in this new comic is The Sentinels, which ran in Misty in 1978 from issue one until issue 12. Written by Malcolm Shaw with art by Mario Capaldi, it is set in two large blocks of council flats, which people nicknamed the Sentinels. While families happily live in one of the buildings, the other is left abandoned due to strange things happening like people disappearing or seeing ghosts.

The 2000 AD blog’s Richard Bruton sat down for a quick chat with Hannah Berry and Ben Willsher, responsible for bringing back one of Misty‘s most memorable strips…

Can you tell us a little about The Sentinels, what you took from the original, what you added for this new version?

Hannah: We have all new characters and storyline, but kept the basic premise: Two tower blocks, one occupied and the other empty save for a portal into an alternate universe where the UK is run by a brutal fascist dictatorship. In the original version this was because Nazis won the war, but in our version we decided it would be far more relevant if this nationalist horror show was not due to an outside force but entirely home-grown; risen to power through years of dog-whistle politics and hysteria. It’s pretty close to the bone. Unfortunately we didn’t have the time to explore this, but how this situation came to be is something we’d very much like to explore if this story should *ahem* continue as a series.

Ben: It is uncertain what happened with Occupied Europe and the Axis powers in the first half of the early 20th Century in our version of the story, but Hannah has tapped into the real horror of the story that ‘we’, as a nation, went into this willingly; but like any good War epic (and real life), there are always pockets of resistance giving us hope. It has been a fantastic experience, working with a slightly different genre than I tend to work on, and it has been a pleasure to work with such a talented writer, and I’d jump at the chance to work with her again. Maybe even on a series of Sentinels. Ppsssst- Hannah, do you think we have dropped enough hints yet? 

I Imagine there’s so much stuff there you could go into, all the background of the alt-history. But I also imagine you’re a little constrained by page count. 

Hannah: The page count was a bit of a nightmare! Trying to write a standalone story in seven pages that leaves potential for a series, sets up the premise, gives room for characterisation, allows enough beats for building tension and leaves space for Ben to get his action game on. That was by far the hardest part for me. Fortunately comics are all about suggestion and we could use the visuals to do some of the heavy lifting on the world-building front.

Ben: That’s the dilemma, what to leave out, and what to keep in the story? There is so much we could have covered, but Hannah has cleverly left all these clues and nuggets for further tales should we get the chance to in the future.

Hannah, this is something a little different for you… and given that your last graphic novel (the brilliant Livestock) took a solid three years of hard graft to complete, I’d imagine something like this is a fun distraction?

Hannah: God, this felt like a proper holiday in comparison. I couldn’t help but approach it as if it was a much bigger project though – it’s hard to get out of that marathon-mindset once you’re in it! Felt a bit weird to be finished so soon. This was also the first time I’d ever been given the opportunity to reboot a story and it was actually a lot of fun; like moving into someone else’s house. I hope Malcolm Shaw would’ve like what I’d done with the place.

You can read Hannah and Ben’s scarily prescient take on The Sentinels in the Scream! & Misty Special, out now!

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Watch the Scream! & Misty Special trailer now!

Two of Britain’s best-loved supernatural comics have been resurrected this Hallowe’en and merged into one terrifying tome featuring all-new stories!

Max the crazy computer makes a welcome return in The Thirteenth Floor by Guy Adams, John Stokes and Frazer Irving; the fangs are out in The Dracula File by Grainne McEntee and Tristan Jones; weirdos, warriors and weasels plucked from the pages of various 70s and 80s British comics congregate in Death-Man: The Gathering by Henry Flint; Kek-W and Simon Coleby collaborate on Black Max, the German World War One fighter pilot that’s descended from a race of bat-people; the high-rise horrors of Birdwood are back in Return of the Sentinels by Hannah Berry and Ben Willsher; and fairies can be frightening in Fate of the Fairy Hunter by Alec Worley and DaNi.

Make sure your Halloween goes with a scream this year – get the Scream! & Misty Special!

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