Scare Tactics (comics)



Scare Tactics is a comic book series published by DC Comics. A total of twelve issues appeared, dated from December 1996 to March 1998. The series, written by Len Kaminski, was a part of DC's Weirdoverse group of titles.

The series focused on the band Scare Tactics, which was a group of monstrous rock and roll musicians that encountered supernatural adventures while on the road.

The band/team consisted of:

 * Arnold Burnsteel (manager/bus driver)
 * Fang (Jake Ketchum - werewolf, lead guitarist)
 * Gross-Out (Philbert Hoskins - mutated human, drummer)
 * Scream Queen (Nina Skorzeny - vampire, lead singer)
 * Slither (James Tilton - reptilian human, bass guitarist)

The series contains examples of:

 * Accidental Kidnapping: When Van Zandt steals the Scaremobile, he unwittingly also kidnaps Screamqueen who was asleep in her coffin.
 * Aliens Steal Cattle: One of R-Complex's jobs is to clean up alien cattle mutilations.
 * Automatic Crossbow: Graveyard Shift carry multi-shot, stake firing crossbows.
 * Bat Family Crossover: "Convergence"
 * Big Eater: Grossout
 * Campbell Country / Deep South: Fang comes from a werewolf clan somewhere in the Appalachians. The region is also home to a clan of very Lovecraftian ghouls.
 * The Clan: The Skorzenys (vampires), the Ketchums (werewolves) and the Knightbridges (ghouls).
 * Cool Car: The Scaremobile
 * Conspiracy Theorist: Arnie Burnsteel
 * Extreme Omnivore: Grossout
 * Feuding Families: The Ketchums (werewolves) and the Knightbridges (ghouls)
 * Five-Man Band
 * Goth: Screamqueen
 * Hulk Speak: Grossout
 * The Hunter: Graveyard Shift
 * I Am Big Boned: Grossout's mother kept insisting he was just 'big for his age'.
 * Kiss of the Vampire: Screamqueen
 * Lesbian Vampire: Screamqueen is only ever seen feeding on female victims.
 * Magic Meteor: Grossout gained his powers (and became a giant walking tumor) from exposure to an exploding meteor.
 * The Men in Black: R-Complex
 * Metallicar Syndrome: The Scaremobile is scarcely an inconspicuous ride for a group of monsters on the run from a secret government project.
 * Monster Mash
 * My Beloved Smother: Grossout's mother, as revealed in flashback.
 * Of Corsets Sexy: Screamqueen
 * Runaway Bride: Fang was a runaway groom.
 * Secret Project Refugee Family
 * Shotgun Wedding: Fang was on the run from one.
 * Silver Bullet: When Fang is captured by his clan, they are toting shotguns loaded with silver buckshot.
 * Tears of Blood
 * Your Costume Needs Work: Slither is refused admittance to a nightclub because of his 'green body paint'.
 * Your Mind Makes It Real: The waking nightmares engendered by the 'town' of Beaumont.
 * Your Vampires Suck: Screamqueen is mightily pissed when the band's manager/minder Arnie Burnsteel lines her coffin with grave dirt. She rails at the stupidity of a man who believes that the movie JFK was part of a massive disinformation campaign but accepts everything he sees in a Universal horror film as gospel.