SCREAM INN was an excellent strip by Brian Walker that started in SHIVER AND SHAKE in 1973 where it ran for 79 weeks, totalling 158 pages (plus two guest-appearance pages in The Wizards Anonymous strip), and continued in WHOOPEE! after the two comics merged in 1974, totalling 153 weekly episodes, or 306 pages. I covered both runs in my two series on this blog (Part One of the SHIVER AND SHAKE series can be found HERE, and Part One of the WHOOPEE! series – HERE; further installments of both series can be found by clicking ‘newer post’ at the bottom of the two links above).
After SCREAM INN concluded in WHOOPEE! for 1st October 1977, the ghostly gang returned a week later in a new strip called SPOOKTACULAR 7, lasting 42 weekly two-page installments, till WHOOPEE! cover-dated 22nd July, 1978. Most of the original SCREAM INN magic (which largely came from the fact that it was a reader-participation feature where fans could suggest candidates who could try spending a night at the haunted establishment and winning a million pound) was gone, but Brian Walker’s brilliant artwork still made the strip shine. In the last part of my old WHOOPEE! series I said I would cover SPOOKTACULAR 7 later on, so here we go.
Fans of SCREAM INN will know that in the last episode Innkeeper won the prize of £ 1,000,000, and the glorious series ended with this teaser:
The new strip was called ‘SPOOKTACULAR 7’, and although the title suggests it was inspired by the popular American film, in fact it is a lot like Reg Parlett’s ‘HIRE A HORROR’ and ‘RENT A GHOST’ in IPC sister publications. In the new series, the old SCREAM INN motto ‘We’re Only Here for the Fear’ was replaced by a sign that read ‘S.O.S. Send Our Spooks Service’ but otherwise things stayed more or less the same. Here’s the front cover of WHOOPEE! with the first episode of SPOOKTACULAR 7, followed by the complete two-pager introducing the S7:
This post is the full account of the ‘mirth filled missions’ of SPOOKTACULAR 7 in 1977. The next post – or maybe two – will cover the antics of the lovable spooks in 1978, till the strip was put to rest. Always remember, that:
15th October 1977 ● S7 help a store deal with its shoplifting problem; the issue of WHOOPEE! also offered an Innkeeper cut-out mask:
5th November 1977 ● S7 are called out to deal with a ferocious foreman at the new building site
12th November 1977 ● S7 are called out to a beauty competition finals to deal with some local ruffians who turn up to cause trouble:
26th November 1977 ● S7 recover a stolen Egyptian Mummy – along with dozens of treasures – from a wicked owner of the museum of stolen goodies
3rd December 1977 ● S7 deal with a pesky park keeper
10th December 1977 ● S7 act as replacements for injured players in a football match and stand up to tough opposition and foul play...
24th December 1977 ● S7 help Lord Hardup get rid of some unwanted guests – a wealthy family who rented a suite in his castle but wouldn't pay or leave
31st December 1977 ● Xmas episode: S7 teach Fred Cratchit's great-grandson a lesson for trying to take revenge on Ebenezer Scrooge's grandson by forcing him to work on Christmas:
Characters are © Rebellion Publishing Ltd
Click on the POWER PACK banner in the right-hand column and get your copy of the POWER PACK OF KEN REID - the deluxe two-volume set of Ken’s strips in WHAM!, SMASH! and POW! comics of the ‘60s.
