Scream! and Misty - Halloween Special (2017)

Scream! and Misty - Halloween Special (2017)

Authors: Guy Adams / Grainne McEntee / Feek / Kek-W / Hannah Berry / Alec Worley | Artists: John Stokes / Frazer Irving / Tristan Jones / Henry Flint / Simon Coleby / Warwick Fraser-Coombe / Ben Willsher / DaNi / Mike Hoffman | Page Count: 52

'His thirst for blood could be sated, but his longing for something else took hold. He wanted to be part of the hedonism, the nihilism, the dawning of another cycle in life's great illusion.'

Both Scream! and Misty have enjoyed a revived success of late, with two collected editions each (so far), so it made sense for publisher Rebellion to give us more. But what I wasn't expecting was that they'd give us NEW stories set in those worlds!

And they've been updated, set now in the current era of ubiquitous mobile phones and internet access. I can't speak with regards Misty, because I didn't read it back in the day, but the Scream! stuff works just as well despite the cultural and social sea-change since its original run (1984).

There are six stories included, two for each of the titles already mentioned, and two others that feature or bring together characters from other long-dead comics (e.g. Thunder, Buster, Speed, and Jet) that were not deemed important enough, it seems, to get a mention on the front cover and whose surprise inclusion makes it feel like we're getting less of what was advertised by the eye-catching cover art.

The Scream! entries are The Thirteenth Floor and The Dracula File and in both cases, without going into spoilery detail, there's a nice blend of old and new, a fair balance of being respectful to the past but acknowledging the present. I enjoyed them both, but wish that they'd been longer, becuase they feel all too brief.

Next up is the two non-S/M titles: Death-Man and Return of Black Max, both of which are colourful and more closely resemble a cross between a regular 2000 AD strip and a US style comic book. Both of them also feel like beginnings that were in need of more work.

The two Misty entries, namely Return of the Sentinels and Fate of the Fairy Hunter, come at the end of the book. With no prior experience of Misty, I really didn't know what to expect, but they were both well-written and intriguing enough to make me willing to some day check out the current collected editions, if they ever drop to a price that my wallet will be happy with.

All of which brings me to my biggest criticism, and it's a fairly BIG one: the entire collection feels like an advert for possible future titles. I'm not just referring to the full-page adverts that appear in-between stories, but at least half of the actual stories lack the self-contained aspect that I was hoping for. It feels like I paid for Rebellion's dipping of a toe, and not a full swim in the old waters. But if it helps finance more of the old stuff getting a reprint, then all will be forgiven.