The year was 1989, around Halloween. 12 years had passed since Brian Walker’s last episode of Scream Inn in WHOOPEE! comic. But then out of the blue Innkeeper and his crew made a surprise appearance in THE DANDY cover-dated 4th November 1989 published, of course, by IPC’s competition – DC Thomson!
A few things had changed since the haunted establishment was last seen more than a decade ago: the sign above the door was gone, and the grand prize of a million pound had shrunk to a mere tenner. Resident spooks had lost their haunting zeal and Smasher easily claimed the prize but Brian Walker clearly had fun going down the memory lane. The pair of spiders was there, as was the centipede and the mysterious evil eyes in the dark corners. Smasher’s snail cheekily commented in the last panel – “Do you ever get the feeling 'I’ve been here before?'...” For some reason, the artist didn’t sign the page with his full name…
love the last two panels... it was the same place!! Great find..
ReplyDeleteI don't care about copyright, it was a lovely way to say goodbye to Scream Inn, 10 years after we'd last seen them in the '79 Holiday Special. A final "Heh!" from the Innkeeper would've made it perfect!
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