Shades of 'Broken Britain' in the Scream! and Misty Special.

              ‘Not for the Nervous!’ was the warning the first Scream! comic carried on its cover. But the free gift of a set of plastic vampire teeth and the fact that it was printed on IPC’s standard toilet roll quality paper made it look a bit silly.  Like so much of that publisher’s output, it looked cheap, dowdy and even a little desperate.  I didn’t read it during its short run and only discovered it a few years later when a stack of unsold copies was being sold half-price in a suitably dusty old newsagent’s.

                By that time I had become a regular reader of 2000AD so the gothic humour of Scream! did appeal though it lacked the frequently mind-bending quality of the Galaxy’s Greatest. Despite its very short run (it was cancelled during a publisher’s strike after its fifteenth issue) Scream! attracted a band of hardcore devotees who helped the comic maintain an online presence and re-published some of the stories. More recently, Rebellion’s purchase of IPC’s stable of comic characters in 2015 led to the publication of collected editions of Scream! strips Monster, The Dracula Files with The Thirteenth Floor to receive the same treatment in 2018. It’s an impressive feat for a weekly that only lasted for four months.

               Scream!’s predecessor, the Pat Mills-created girls’ comic Misty (1978-1980) was an anthology of supernatural stories that also had an impact that belied its relatively short lifespan.  And some of its best stories have been reproduced in collected form too, beginning with last year’s pairing of Moonchild with The Four Faces of Eve.

                 As well as republishing old stories, Rebellion have been able to create new adventures for the old characters and their first attempt has led to the Scream! and Misty Special.  But this is much more than a nostalgia fest for those of us in the throes of a mid-life crisis…

                  What is particularly striking about this comic is the way in which the re-booted stories, like all good horror tales, reflect contemporary concerns. In the Special version of The Thirteenth Floor, in which Max, the deranged computer who controls a tower block, exacts punishment on wrongdoers by bringing them by lift to the mind-shattering location of the title, there are echoes of the Grenfell disaster when it is revealed that the building fell into ruin and was then cheaply restored.

                Unsavoury echoes of modern Britain are also apparent in The Sentinels, in which there are hints of the worst emissions released by the Brexit debate.  In a rundown area on the outskirts of the city (urban decay is a running theme) a cranky older man shouts racist abuse at a teenage boy wearing a turban.  Overlooking the scene is an abandoned tower block (again!) which functions as a portal into an alternative reality where the same man is the totalitarian leader of a Britain that was defeated in World War II.  

                 But the original Scream! never took itself too seriously and there is plenty of levity in these pages. Those old enough to remember IPC characters from the early to mid-1970s will doubtless get a kick out of seeing the revival of the tremendously eccentric Black Max (a perma-grinning World War I pilot assisted by an army of bats!) and the host of vintage characters who make up the supporting cast of Death Man, while the joint editorial team of the putrescent Ghastly McNasty and the ethereal Misty makes for a comical clash of styles.

                  What will perhaps be most gratifying for older readers (and the vast majority of readers will be older) is seeing these characters and stories at last in full colour, and on high quality paper, and seeing once again the jagged Scream! logo jumping out from the newsstands.  A worthy revival.  

Blade Runner 2049

A review of the new Blade Runner film? There can’t be too many of them on the internet… Yes, here I am adding to what must certainly be floods of opinion on Denis Villeneuve’s sequel to the much fetishised 1982 original.  Is it coldly beautiful? Yes. Is there an overwhelming sense of alienation and emptiness? Yes.  Is Ryan Gosling a convincing lead? Yes. 

                So why do I feel slightly non-plussed about the experience? Maybe it’s because the original worked so well on its own, with its riddles and mysteries generating so much debate among fans. Maybe it’s because the sequel doesn’t add much to the overall story of Decker, the replicants and the future L.A. –  the idea that replicants were made with the ability to become pregnant is intriguing but the virtual girlfriend feels a little passe and bland (the same idea was explored with greater success in Spike Jonzes’s Her). Whatever the sequel was saying, it felt like much of it had already been said in the original.

With its slow pace, waves of synthesisers on the soundtrack and faithful recreation of the dark and rainy, neon-lit sets, the film often feels like an homage to the original and I wondered if the director might have spent more time beyond the city limits (some of the best scenes were in San Diego's mega dump). I wondered whether the studio might have been better off investing in a brand new idea – Villeneuve’s own Arrival and Jonathan Glazer’s Under the Skin are much more interesting science fiction films that were not burdened by the heavyweight legacy of a famous predecessor, they cost a lot less to make but were infinitely more impressive.

After much musing, I came to the conclusion that my main criticism of the film (and I did actually enjoy it!) is strongly linked to what I know about the tortured production of the original. As wonderful as CGI animation can be, when you know about the restrictions and obstacles faced the crew on the 1982 film – having to film at night-time throughout the shoot with buckets of waters falling constantly, having to make a model the size of a large jigsaw puzzle ‘become’ the Los Angeles of 2019 – it’s hard to be really impressed modern-day special effects that can be created indoors, in all seasons, without even having to build anything, and can then be tinkered with later, in endless ways.

Blade Runner 2049 has some excellent moments but should perhaps be considered on its own terms rather than in close connection to its predecessor. It’s spectacular but most of the ‘wows’ feel re-heated. And there’s no replacing Rutger Hauer and Darryl Hannah.