CHRISTMAS CELEBRATIONS AT SCREAM INN - PART THREE

1976 was a good year for Scream Inn – WHOOPEE! didn’t miss a single week and the two-page feature was in every issue of the comic. The readers kept the Innkeeper and his team busy by suggesting all sorts of candidates who they thought might try their luck at spending a night in the Haunted Bedroom and winning the coveted prize of one million pounds. Some of the notable guests included Innkeeper’s twin, Dr. Livingstone, Old King Neptune, WWI Air Ace Der Red Baron, Al Capone, Mad Hatter from Alice in Wonderland and Doctor Doolittle, to mention but a few.

Here’s how the resident ghouls of Scream Inn celebrated the X-mas of 1976:

There was also a 4-pager in the Shiver and Shake 1977 Annual published for the X-mas of 1976. The last panel of the set is perhaps the most nicely drawn slap-up feed scene in UK comics ever.

The fourth and last part of this Christmas series will be up soon.

All Images 2015 © Egmont UK Ltd.  All rights reserved. Used with permission.

CHRISTMAS CELEBRATIONS AT SCREAM INN - PART TWO

The Christmas of 1974 was unfortunate for Scream Inn: by then its home comic Shiver and Shake had folded and was absorbed by WHOOPEE!; to make things worse, the publication of the new combined comic was disrupted by industrial action of the printers, hence no Christmas issue of WHOOPEE AND SHIVER & SHAKE in 1974…

This next festive episode of Scream Inn is from the issue of WHOOPEE! cover-dated 27th December, 1975:

There was also an episode of Scream Inn in the SHIVER AND SHAKE Annual 1976 (published for the Christmas of 1975). Although it didn’t contain direct references to Christmas (such as a fir-tree or Christmas decorations), I believe it is safe to assume that the presence of snow and the overall festive mood, in addition to that fact that the episode was in an Annual packed with Christmas goodness, suggests that the Innkeeper and his crew were celebrating the Holiday Season (rather than a birthday or something else):

Come back soon for Part Three of X-mas celebrations at Scream Inn!

All Images 2015 © Egmont UK Ltd.  All rights reserved. Used with permission.

CHRISTMAS CELEBRATIONS AT SCREAM INN - PART ONE

At about this time each year I do a retrospective of Xmas episodes of my favourite characters in UK comics.  I have covered Buster, Faceache and Frankie Stein so far; you are welcome to revisit the posts by clicking on the “Christmas issues” tag in the labels column on the right.

In keeping with the fine tradition of this blog, this time I decided on Scream Inn by the excellent Brian Walker. In an unlikely event if you aren’t familiar with this brilliant feature, I covered it in detail in my SHIVER AND SHAKE series a couple of years ago. Click HERE to access the post.

Here is the first festive episode from the only X-mas number of Shiver and Shake weekly (Dec. 29th, 1973, No. 43):

In 1973 Shiver and Shake also surprised fans with a Christmas Holiday Special. Summer Specials were a norm back then but a X-mas Holiday Special was something out of the ordinary. It included this nice 4-pager of Scream Inn:

There was also a 4-page episode in SHIVER AND SHAKE  Annual 1974 that came out for the X-mas of 1973:

Part two of X-mas celebrations at Scream Inn will be up soon…

All Images 2015 © Egmont UK Ltd.  All rights reserved. Used with permission.