History: The Meta dimension was linked to Earth, and the people of Meta were fascinated by the planet. Wizor the Changemaster selected a young changing man to take part in an experiment where he was dipped into a culture tank and exposed to an overdose of Americana. The changing man became quite insane and fell into the Area of Madness, the buffer between Meta and Earth. The American culture pumped into him became its own sentient force and made its way towards Earth. The agent returned to Meta, but his warped mind exploded, killing hundreds of Metans, and Wizor was forced to kill him by nuclear disintegration. The Americana entity, calling itself the American Scream, infected a mental patient on Earth, and began warping reality.

(Shade, The Changing Man II #2, 3) - Rac Shade was assigned to bring the American Scream back to the Area of Madness, from which he'd escaped to Earth. He inhabited the body of dead serial killer Troy Grenzer, and was accompanied by Kathy George, the daughter of Grenzer's last victims. The American Scream wanted to take a tour of the USA's mental highways, and chose to start by possessing Duane Trilby, a journalist obsessed with writing the definitive book on the JFK assassination. The Scream manifested as gigantic faces of Kennedy and Lee Harvey Oswald that grew from Trilby's body, and used his obsession to spread madness across Dallas. Shade and Kathy followed the madness and reached Dealy Plaza, where a giant stone Kennedy Sphinx demanded to know who killed him, and ate those who failed to answer his riddle. Shade used his powers to save a woman and her child from the sphinx, and followed the madness to the book depository where Lee Harvey Oswald had his sniper nest, admitting he was just winging it. Duane Trilby was there along with versions of Jackie Kennedy and others. The Scream caused Shade and Kathy black out, and awoke as Kennedy and Jackie in the motorcade right before the assassination. Duane arrived, and forced Shade / JFK's head down, saving him. He told the Kennedy's he'd made it his life mission to solve his murder, which was really a distraction from him not understanding why his daughter Mary-Ann had to die of a heart defect. JFK told him they were going to the White House together, and make the most of his presidency. Shade finally came to his senses, and all three returned to the present day and themselves. Kathy was freaked out, and Shade was sorry to tell her she was part of the madness now too. The Kennedy sphinx swallowed Kathy when she couldn't answer his riddle, and Shade needed to pull Duane out of his madness and away from the American Scream. He appeared to him as Mary-Ann and showed him shadows of the past, of which there were mutiple branching possibilities. A government or mob hit was the most likely culprit, but there were many others who could or did kill Kennedy, but Shade needed him to realize one hand was behind all the outcomes. The American people were all guilty he said, because they had to kill their god-king to keep his legend pure. Shade ended the visions, to find that Kathy had escaped the sphinx by herself. Duane came unhinged when Shade refused to turn back into Mary-Ann, and shot him dead. He answered the Sphinx's riddle, dispelling the Scream's presence. Shade expected this outcome, and had switched mind and body with Duane, so with the Scream gone they resumed their own identities, and Duane was dead by his own hand and Shade alive. Federal agent Stringer had been pursuing Kathy and Shade since Shade's entry to our plane, and finally tracked the duo down. The Scream had manifested to Stringer as a colossal skeletal Uncle Sam, and Stringer liked his vision of America.

(Shade, The Changing Man II #4) - Shade was drawn back to the Area of Madness, leaving behind a two-dimensional outline of his body. Stringer took Kathy into custody, and listened to her story about Shade. He chose to leave Kathy and the outline alone in the interrogation room and observe them. In the Area the American Scream said he'd destroy Shade's soul and mind until he was just a mouth, pelting him with a torrential storm and leaving him mired in mud while he fully remembered his past. The Scream showed him his decaying body, telling him that the Changemasters that sent Shade after him had betrayed him, and he'd be locked in the body of Tony Grenzer. Kathy entered the Area through Shade's outline, and he feeling of love snapped Shade out of his despair, enabling him to return to Earth.

(Shade, The Changing Man II #5, 6) - The American Scream went to Hollywood to see the production of zombie horror flick Hollywood Monsters. He revealed his presence by slipping into the scenes, and began broadcasting the deepest darkest secrets of the stars and producers, showing films of them caught in the act of horrible behavior. Star Guy Fable was a child predator, Emerald Darling abandoned her child, and Candice Flowers was ashamed of her background in adult films. The Scream killed the director and turned him into one of the zombies from the movie. The zombie pursued two moviegoers, who fled to their daughters house, only to have their daughter's boyfriend killed by the monster. Shade and Kathy arrived, and Shade killed the zombie, but when they returned to their lodgings they found the Scream had turned it into an elaborate movie set. In the midst of the Busby Berkely set the Scream summoned a number of ordinary citizens, who fell into the set's waters and were devoured by the shark from Jaws. Shade and Kathy were sucked into the exploitation film Biker Trash before being forced to reenact scenes from the action flick Lethal Acting. Kathy was strapped into a chair in an empty theatre and forced to watch her parents being murdered until Shade saved her. She told Shade that when she was in the Kennedy sphinx she'd met Duane's daughter, and knew she was a spirit and not part of the madness because she'd given Kathy her stuffed toy which still existed once she was out of the sphinx. She told Shade she suspected the M-Vest could contact the spirit world, and her experience was proof that there was life after death. Shade knew she wanted to see her parents again, but tried to dissuade her from the idea. Their conversation was cut short by a tidal wave, and at Kathy's suggestion Shade used the M-Vest to rewrite Scream's script, even as he submerged all of Hollywood into multi-layered movies. Their plan worked, beating back the madness, and Shade located the video camera the Scream had possessed to terrorize Tinsel Town. He smashed it to bits, and reality returned to normal.

(Shade, The Changing Man II #7) - The Scream latched onto a prisoner in NYC named Greely who volunteered burying the nameless on Hart Island. He saw himself as ending up as one of the nameless, and the Scream made his plea for the humans treated like refuse into a garbage storm that consumed Manhattan. The garbage turned everyone it touched into homeless and forgotten vagrants and junkies, using the potential within them to fall, and showing them what might have been. Kathy was transformed into an alcoholic living in the slums of Alphabet City. The Scream created a garbage golem, and Shade entered it to reach Greely's cell. From there he went to Hart Island, and the grave of the nameless man Greely had buried. He saw his whole history, from a hopeful young man looking to make a name for himself in the city to his slide into alcoholism. His name was Gregory Stephenson, and once Shade gave Greely that knowledge the Scream lost his power over him, and NYC was restored to relative normalcy. Kathy was still in the slums, and Shade went searching for her, but the madness stream swept him away from the city to pursue Scream.

(Shade, The Changing Man II #8, 9) - Shade arrived in San Francisco, where the Scream had endowed aging hippy Arnold Major with the power to see into different aspects of reality. Major populated each realm with communes, and Shade explored the Pink Heaven Commune filled with the power of love and flower children. Major told Shade to stop fighting the Scream, and to allow America to spiritually die so it could be reborn. Shade just wanted to leave and find Kathy, and managed to briefly manifest in NYC, where Kathy had hit rock bottom with her new friend Lenny. Shade was pulled back to Pink Heaven where Flowerchild convinced him to make love to her to keep the energy flowing. The experience convinced Shade that Major's vision was correct, and the American Scream's madness could be channeled to recreate America as a nation of love. Shade's subconscious was transformed into a giant fetus, and manifested in Lenny's apartment. The fetus told Kathy he loved her, even if his conscious mind didn't realize it, and asked her to help him pull away from Arnold Major be calling to him. Shade saw cracks in Major's work, and when he upset Major he was attacked by werewolf boy scouts. Major tried to merge himself to Shade and Scream, and succeeded to a degree. Shade entered the All the Girls Really Like Me Commune, where the members were dissatisfied with Major. Major said he was a jealous god, and blinded the complainers. Pink Heaven began to unravel, but Major refused to admit that the Scream was manipulating him for his own ends. The Pan-Weirdness Church of America, who saw the madness spreading across the country as divine, broke into Lenny's apartment and proclaimed Shade the fetus as the Anti-Weird and prepared to burn him alive. Lenny and Kathy fought off the cultists while Shade, seeing Major on a crucifix, finally made him see that his vision of love was really one of ego, causing his worlds to crumble. Shade emerged from his fetus self, and Kathy demanded the cultists leave. Kathy decided to spend the night with Shade, but as passion dulled his reason he manifested the dying Major, turning off Kathy. Lenny reported that the government had performed a surgical strike on the center of San Francisco, destroying Major and his communes.

(Spectre III #50) - The National Interest wanted to create the Spirit of America in their own image, and collected pieces of the fragmented American talisman that made up Uncle Sam. They performed their ritual, but something went wrong, and they brought forth the American Scream, the dark side of the American Dream. The scream fed off their racism, patriarch, and every other way America had gone wrong, feeling he was never as powerful as the troubled present let him be. Spectre emerged to fight him, and was backed up by the Patriot, the new avatar of America that the Spirit of America created itself. The heroes were victorious, and the Scream was banished after leaving its followers in the Interest mad, and filled with vestiges of the Scream.

Comments: Created by Peter Milligan & Chris Bachalo

American Scream received a profile in Who's Who in the DC Universe #15.

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