BRIAN WALKER'S SCREAM INN IN WHOOPEE! - PART THREE (YEAR 1977)

 

Here comes the third - and final - part of Scream Inn guestbook, documenting who and when called at the spooky establishment in 1977 in a bid to win the prize of a million quid.

January 1, 1977         · Sleeping Beauty

January 8, 1977         · Tortoise

January 15, 1977       · Blacksmith

January 22, 1977       · Attila the Hun

 

January 29, 1977       · Red Indian Chief – situation appears to be desperate so the Innkeeper calls his dear old buddy Jack Frost for help 

February 5, 1977       · Lumberjack

February 12, 1977     · A Beautiful Lady Ghost

February 19, 1977     · The Pied Piper

February 26, 1977     · Sidney the Spider – a reader nominates one of the in-house spiders as candidate for the grand prize:

March 5, 1977            · Henry the Eighth – King's treasury is a bit low and he needs the million, but the ghosts of his nagging wives scare him away. 

March 12, 1977          · Road Mender

March 19, 1977          · William Shakespeare – the greatest playwright of all time ends up writing for WHOOPEE! The episode has the last invitation card for readers to suggest a character to spend a night in the haunted bedroom. I like the frame of the card, with the portraits of the Scream Inn Gang. I don't think I've come across the name of the Union-Jack centipede anywhere else - turns out he went by Longfellow (see the bottom of the frame): 

March 26, 1977          · A Speaking Grandfather Clock– this was one of the most unusual characters to call at the Inn… The Scream Inn’s own grandfather clock offers his advice how to get rid of the old tick-tock. 

April 2, 1977              · Psychiatrist. The first panel below shows the Innkeeper as a young lad:

April 9, 1977              · Film Star Berk Reynolds

April 16, 1977            · Thumpty Dumpty. In this Easter episode Humpty Dumpty’s descendant meets his very old ancestor and glues himself inside the broken nutshell in the process of putting it together.  

April 23, 1977            · Professor Nuttymug, builder of the ghost exterminating machine. Scream Inn’s own Iron Maiden Irma (who was known as Old Agata in the SHIVER AND SHAKE run) saves the day. In the first panel below Bertie calls the contraption ‘box of tricks’. Brian Walker’s fans will know Boxatricks – a strip that he illustrated in BUSTER comic, but it didn’t start before August 1979.

April 30, 1977            · R.A.F. Helicopter Pilot

May 7, 1977               · Cowboy

May 14, 1977             · Potter

May 21, 1977             · Caveman

May 28, 1977             · Ghost Train Driver – I hoped it was going to be the vampire from Brian Walker’s old strip in WHOOPEE!, but it looks like it was someone else: 

June 4, 1977               · Clown. The episode features one of Cooky’s pets. The octopus went by Okky in the SHIVER AND SHAKE run though: 

June 11, 1977             · Strong Ghost

June 18, 1977             · James Bond Junior - Agent 003 1/2

June 25, 1977             · Paddy McGinty's Goat 

July 2, 1977                · Smiler – The only guest appearance of a fellow WHOOPEE! character in 1977 – see the full episode HERE.

July 9, 1977                · Ice Cream Man

July 16, 1977              · Jake the Peg - With an Extra Leg. Luckily for the Innkeeper, Cooky’s pet octopus Olly has even more legs. 

July 23, 1977              · The Invisible Man

July 30, 1977              · Big Game Hunter

August 6, 1977           · Famous American Cop

August 13, 1977         · Laughing Policeman

August 20, 1977         · Gymnast 

August 27, 1977         · Company Sergeant Major

September 3, 1977     · Lad Who Bends Things and Makes Them Move Just by Concentrating

September 10, 1977   · Poet Called Lear Who's Got Nothing to Fear

September 17, 1977   · Robert the Bruce

September 24, 1977   · Giant Snail - a heavily-armed man-operated Mechanical Job. It reminds me of one of the monsters in Major Jump Horror Hunter strip in MONSTER FUN COMIC… 

October 1, 1977         · The Innkeeper wins one million pounds. It was the last of the 153 weekly two-pagers in WHOOPEE! comic. Scream Inn gang returned a week later in a new strip called Spooktacular 7 that lasted 42 episodes, till WHOOPEE! cover-dated 22nd July, 1978. Most of the original magic had gone but Brian Walker’s brilliant artwork still made Spooktacular 7 shine, and I plan to cover it in my next blogpost, which hopefully won't take me long to compose. In the meantime, here’s the last episode of Scream Inn: 

Characters are © Rebellion Publishing Ltd