WANTED: Your 2000AD / UK comic anecdotes for charity book!

[Stegron]

Hi guys, I meant to post earlier but (thanks to bloody Virgin) we've had no internet or telly for two days!

I was originally going to say that it's just 2000AD / UK comic related memories I was after from everyone... but to be honest, everything posted so far is great! Keep them coming!

[Stegron]

That is it!!! Woop!

That film really scared me... no idea how old I was. Trying to remember which house I lived in but can't. My Dad was in RAF if I remember 'I lived THERE when THIS happened I can hone in on an age a bit better.

I think 1977 is a possibility, left alone in the house with 12 year old brother when I was 10... very possible... No way my Mum woulda let me watch it, Dad maybe... Dunno. But it was SCARY!

I remember Horror Express! Christopher Lee! Peter Cushing! Telly Savalas! And it was pretty gory, if I remember correctly...

[Stegron]

TV: I remember visiting family & having to miss an episode of Dr Who because my cousin (3 months older than me) was scared of it. That scarred me, missing an episode due to someone else's terrors!!!

2000ADFlesh (book 1) really engaged with me, I loved feeling a bit scared for Earl Reagan & young Joe. Old One-Eye didn't scare me but the huge spiders under the machines did!

Film There is a film that left a huge mark but I haven't seen it as an adult & can't recall the title... (anyone giving me the title will be popular) an alien being is on a train and takes the appearance of people, killing them. I was reminded of the plot by Doomlord when I read Eagle... So it was well before the Eagle reboot that I saw it... Creepy! I was convinced that if I slept with the cover over my head no such beastie could ever harm me.

I run a blog and I'm happy to publicise this project for you if you have a website, FB Page, etc. let me know.

Some great memories there, Bat King (I didn't like those spiders in Flesh, either).

We have a FB page (search for 'scarred for life book') - if you could give us a mention on your blog, it'd be much appreciated!

[Dandontdare]

It's strange looking back at the things that, as a child, had us cowering behind the sofa. With time and maturity, they lose their power to terrify us in that unique way where we are as excited as we are frightened. And yet there's something about a puppet that still makes me feel...

Well, on the tv side I can remember being totally freaked out by The Singing Ringing Tree. It was an East German production and as creepy as hell. It was as if Cocteau had made The Never-Ending Story while high on crack and LSD!

Bizarrely that was my first experience of the painful longing of unrequited love - I was only about 3 but I remember being totally besotted with the vision of that blonde princess *sigh*

However the one thing that did scare me was Hector's House - I was okay with Kiki the frog and Zsazsa the Cat, but apparently whenever Hector spoke in his deep booming voice, I'd burst into tears.

And the opening music to Tomorrow People still gives me the willies today.

Whenever I have that common dream of trying to run away or hide from something that you just KNOW is going to catch you, it's Daleks every time, always has been.

[Stegron]

It's strange looking back at the things that, as a child, had us cowering behind the sofa. With time and maturity, they lose their power to terrify us in that unique way where we are as excited as we are frightened. And yet there's something about a puppet that still makes me feel...

Well, on the tv side I can remember being totally freaked out by The Singing Ringing Tree. It was an East German production and as creepy as hell. It was as if Cocteau had made The Never-Ending Story while high on crack and LSD!

Bizarrely that was my first experience of the painful longing of unrequited love - I was only about 3 but I remember being totally besotted with the vision of that blonde princess *sigh*

However the one thing that did scare me was Hector's House - I was okay with Kiki the frog and Zsazsa the Cat, but apparently whenever Hector spoke in his deep booming voice, I'd burst into tears.

And the opening music to Tomorrow People still gives me the willies today.

Whenever I have that common dream of trying to run away or hide from something that you just KNOW is going to catch you, it's Daleks every time, always has been.

We've already written a little box-out on the Tomorrow People title sequence and music, funnily enough...

Bursting into tears at Hector's voice - that's going straight in the book. If it makes you feel any better, my co-author used to cry at the whistling at the beginning of the Skippy The Bush Kangaroo theme music... 

[Steve Green]

Comics-wise, I remember being mildly freaked out by the main human character in Hookjaw getting his head washed up on a beach.

There was a PIF with cars having angry cartoon faces that snarled at pedestrians.

This from the Charlie X episode of Star Trek



I wasn't too fond of Balok either. (Not helped that he popped up on the end credits)

[Link Prime]

2000AD had a huge effect on my early life, but as far as genuine horrifying moments go, I can't bring any to mind.

There was a short lived sister publication called Scream that contained a one-off that shook my young soul to the core: 'The Punch & Judy Horror Show' (from Scream number 7).

It can be read here on fellow forum member Ghastly McNasty's website:

http://www.backfromthedepths.co.uk/thetheatreofterror/2011/comic-scans/the-punch-just-horror-show-from-scream-7/

The sheer terror in the eyes of the tales protagonist, brilliantly illustrated by Brendan McCarthy, haunted my nightmares for weeks. It's a superb one-off tale in its own right too, with a terrifying yet simple denouement.

One other comic tale struck a black chord; Marvel's 1st issue of 'A Nightmare on Elm Street' (1989).
I was known in my primary school class as being a comic & horror fan, and a classmate who'd been on holidays in the states brought me back an illicit copy of this.
I think I was genuinely unprepared for the content within, the most shocking moment portrayed a man being coldly murdered by a young couple who had invaded his home, with the female carrying out the act ("Burying the knife in his chest").
I think it was the first time I realised that 'real life' horror was far scarier than any fantasy story, and worse, a similar grisly fate could feasibly befall my Dad any night of the week.

[Spaceghost]

As far as 2000 AD goes, I don't remember ever being scared by anything in the comic but the death of Johnny Alpha's partner, Wulf Sternhammer, in the Strontium Dog strip, brutally murdered by the sadistic Max Bubba and his gang, really shocked me.

He was a carefree, friendly giant of a man. He loved a beer, he loved a fight (and cucumbers). He was seemingly indestructable. He was Johnny's only true friend and would always pull him out of the brooding silent moods he was prone to.

And then he was killed. Just like that. Bang! Bang! Bang! Dead.

I read and re-read that sequence over and over again, not really believing what I was seeing. Wulf died.

I'd stopped reading 2000 AD in the nineties by the time Johnny Alpha was killed off so that never really had the same impact for me as Wulf's almost casual murder. Bye big guy.

[judda fett]

Not sure I've ever been scared by a comic but I remember a children's book about the paranormal (the title escapes me but the cover had a montage of Bigfoot, the Loch Ness Monster a UFO and strangely Lon Chaney as the Phantom Of The Opera iIrc) that scared the crap out of five year old me. Reading a piece about a haunted house the line that tipped me over the edge was
'He looked up and saw a severed hand covered in blood, floating above his head'.
That shat me up to the point of hallucinating a decapitated head in a whicker basket in our bathroom. Needless to say the book was confiscated from me by my mum. I don't think the threat of Nuclear war or A.I.D.S had as profound effect on me as that book, whatever it was called.

[hippynumber1]

The storyline from Sapphire & Steel set in a train station about the WWI soldier. So creepy and atmospheric in fact that when bought them on dvd fairly recently it still made me uncomfortable. Thinking about it, every episode of Sapphire & Steel made me feel that way...

[Stegron]

Not sure I've ever been scared by a comic but I remember a children's book about the paranormal (the title escapes me but the cover had a montage of Bigfoot, the Loch Ness Monster a UFO and strangely Lon Chaney as the Phantom Of The Opera iIrc) that scared the crap out of five year old me. Reading a piece about a haunted house the line that tipped me over the edge was
'He looked up and saw a severed hand covered in blood, floating above his head'.
That shat me up to the point of hallucinating a decapitated head in a whicker basket in our bathroom. Needless to say the book was confiscated from me by my mum. I don't think the threat of Nuclear war or A.I.D.S had as profound effect on me as that book, whatever it was called.

If anyone out there knows what that book is, please post the title here! I'd love to look into that a bit more. And hallucinating a decapitated head? Blimey...

'The Unexplained' magazine used to have much the same effect on me - I'll never forget their article on Spontaneous Human Combustion, or the accompanying photos *shudder*

[Stegron]

2000AD had a huge effect on my early life, but as far as genuine horrifying moments go, I can't bring any to mind.

There was a short lived sister publication called Scream that contained a one-off that shook my young soul to the core: 'The Punch & Judy Horror Show' (from Scream number 7).

It can be read here on fellow forum member Ghastly McNasty's website:

http://www.backfromthedepths.co.uk/thetheatreofterror/2011/comic-scans/the-punch-just-horror-show-from-scream-7/

The sheer terror in the eyes of the tales protagonist, brilliantly illustrated by Brendan McCarthy, haunted my nightmares for weeks. It's a superb one-off tale in its own right too, with a terrifying yet simple denouement.

One other comic tale struck a black chord; Marvel's 1st issue of 'A Nightmare on Elm Street' (1989).
I was known in my primary school class as being a comic & horror fan, and a classmate who'd been on holidays in the states brought me back an illicit copy of this.
I think I was genuinely unprepared for the content within, the most shocking moment portrayed a man being coldly murdered by a young couple who had invaded his home, with the female carrying out the act ("Burying the knife in his chest").
I think it was the first time I realised that 'real life' horror was far scarier than any fantasy story, and worse, a similar grisly fate could feasibly befall my Dad any night of the week.

There'll be an article about Scream in the book - I'm lucky enough to still own my full run from when I was a teenager. Brilliant, brilliant comic, and I vividly remember that story. Great stuff.

[Stegron]

The storyline from Sapphire & Steel set in a train station about the WWI soldier. So creepy and atmospheric in fact that when bought them on dvd fairly recently it still made me uncomfortable. Thinking about it, every episode of Sapphire & Steel made me feel that way...

@pack Up Your Travels In Your Old Kit Bag' never had the same meaning to me after that story. And as for the story about the entity that could hide in old photos, but had no face... Terrifying.

It looked something like that Star Trek photo Steve Green posted!

[Trout]

The storyline from Sapphire & Steel set in a train station about the WWI soldier.

Yes. Me too.

I need a hug now.

[judda fett]

Not sure I've ever been scared by a comic but I remember a children's book about the paranormal (the title escapes me but the cover had a montage of Bigfoot, the Loch Ness Monster a UFO and strangely Lon Chaney as the Phantom Of The Opera iIrc) that scared the crap out of five year old me. Reading a piece about a haunted house the line that tipped me over the edge was
'He looked up and saw a severed hand covered in blood, floating above his head'.
That shat me up to the point of hallucinating a decapitated head in a whicker basket in our bathroom. Needless to say the book was confiscated from me by my mum. I don't think the threat of Nuclear war or A.I.D.S had as profound effect on me as that book, whatever it was called.

If anyone out there knows what that book is, please post the title here! I'd love to look into that a bit more. And hallucinating a decapitated head? Blimey...

'The Unexplained' magazine used to have much the same effect on me - I'll never forget their article on Spontaneous Human Combustion, or the accompanying photos *shudder*

Wish I could remember the name of it myself. It was on loan to me from a friend who looked like Fergal Sharkey which is of course no help at all.