Daniel Bristow-Bailey The Screaming (2020)
At just sixteen pages, The Screaming might appear almost too brief for any sort of meaningful write up, particularly given that it's a single issue comic book painting a brief psychological portrait rather than telling a story in the sense of anything which could be transposed to telly with Ross Kemp in the title role; but the thing is too beautiful - although that may not be quite the right term - to slip past without notice. It's properly printed with a colour cover, albeit one that's mostly shades of grey and brown, with an interior which picks up every subtlety of scratchy pencilwork in contrast to the violent splatter of ink and a truly harrowing combination of light and dark. The Screaming is a phone call about a dream, incorporating the dream itself, and all framed within a psychological landscape bleeding to the very edge of the page. It's short and very intense with a power comparable to visually related(ish) efforts by the likes of Bill Sienkiewicz or Ted McKeever, and actually doesn't need to be any longer. In fact it's possibly one of the best small press comics I've ever seen, all things considered.
At just sixteen pages, The Screaming might appear almost too brief for any sort of meaningful write up, particularly given that it's a single issue comic book painting a brief psychological portrait rather than telling a story in the sense of anything which could be transposed to telly with Ross Kemp in the title role; but the thing is too beautiful - although that may not be quite the right term - to slip past without notice. It's properly printed with a colour cover, albeit one that's mostly shades of grey and brown, with an interior which picks up every subtlety of scratchy pencilwork in contrast to the violent splatter of ink and a truly harrowing combination of light and dark. The Screaming is a phone call about a dream, incorporating the dream itself, and all framed within a psychological landscape bleeding to the very edge of the page. It's short and very intense with a power comparable to visually related(ish) efforts by the likes of Bill Sienkiewicz or Ted McKeever, and actually doesn't need to be any longer. In fact it's possibly one of the best small press comics I've ever seen, all things considered.
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