PLEASE Consider Supporting CBO

Please consider supporting Comic Bits Online because it is a very rare thing in these days of company mouthpiece blogs that are only interested in selling publicity to you. With support CBO can continue its work to bring you real comics news and expand to produce the video content for this site. Money from sales of Black Tower Comics & Books helps so please consider checking out the online store.
Thank You

Terry Hooper-Scharf

Friday 27 April 2012

Black Tower Comics & Books

Cinebook Newsletter April


 



Signing times at Bristol Expo 2012


We can now confirm signing times at the Ramada:
Saturday
11-12 12-1 1-2 2-3 3-4 4-5
Henry Flint Alan Davis Cy Dethin Mike Carey Rob Williams Lew Stringer Paul Cornell Denny O’Neil Mark Buckingham Victor Santos Lee O’Connor Dominic Reardon
Sunday
11-12 12-1 1-2 2-3 3-4
Paul Cornell Adam Millard Denny O’Neil Alan Davis Rob Williams Ben Oliver Mark Buckingham Victor Santos Lee O’Connor Dominic Reardon

EXpo EXclusives from John Higgins – Watchmen & Razorjack


johnhigs2
Old and new Twisted supporters will all be welcomed to our table at Bristol. Were we will have fresh Razorjack merchandise, new embroidered patches done specially for Bristol by Sally Jane Hurst, a Twist Bitch Poster and as I write we are working on the design for a metal Razorjack plectrum.
John is also having a special Watchmen section on his table, to consolidate his collection. Turmoil Colour Studios is overflowing with some very interesting Watchmen merchandise and related items John has received over the years, particularly since the movie promo machine started rolling in 2010.
Oh and MOST importantly, Razorjack her very self will be stalking the Bristol halls looking for any suitable victim to eat their brains, accompanied by one of the dark Misters. Please avoid her if you value your soul! If not she will give you a card you can bring to the stall and get a 20% discount off the few remaining Razorjack Graphic Novels!






johnhigs1
JUST RELEASED!
John has now looked into some of his Watchmen boxes and found some rather interesting Watchmen artifacts that he is bringing to Bristol, posters, prints and books, but this item might be of particular interest for serious Watchmen collectors, see image. This item will go to the highest bidder on the weekend of the Bristol Comicon, but bids can be made starting today.  Contact John through his website if you want to make a bid on this limited edition memorabilia. www.turmoilcolour.com
A couple more Watchmen boxes are still lying unopened in the studio at the moment, so come over to John’s table on the 12th and 13th of May at Bristol to find out what more he found!

Guest Signing by author Adam Millard – Sunday 11-12pm


adam1 adam2 adam3
Adam Millard is the author of ten novels, including the bestselling Dead series. His short stories have featured in anthologies by Knightwatch Press, May December Publications, Damnation Books, Crowded Quarantine Publications, and many more. Last year his releases included Olly, a twisted version of the Dickens classic, and Peter Crombie, Teenage Zombie, a YA comedy horror with zombies, vampire-ghosts and capuchin monkeys.  He is currently working on the fourth book in his zombie saga, Dead Thaw.

Thursday 26 April 2012

Casterman: Comes -Silence




Silence
Author: Didier Comès  
Collection: Universe of authors
Soft cover
Black and white
152 pages
ISBN: 2203332093
EAN: 9782203332096
Dimensions: 22.9×30.3×1.6 cm
Price: € 17.00
Release Date: 02/06/2005

“I wanted to illustrate the problem of lack of communication, specifically the instinctive distrust towards “different” people, distrust that often leads to violence. Personally, I’ve always had a kind of tenderness towards the marginal beings, whoever they are. Perhaps because I too, I fall into this category. The mere fact of liking jazz, in a small village passed, if not as a perversion, then at least for a quirk.”

Interview by Thierry Groensteen for Cahiers de la Bande Dessinée No. 55.

Ahh, I think that the above might explain Comes’ depiction of his characters as oddities. Once again there is some great work on show here –sadly the book won’t fit on my scanner but there are some nice extra touches in here –including a lovely snow effect but above all the village, the characters –at times slightly sad and scary.

These books really do need English language versions!


Casterman: Comes -La Belette/The Weasel


La Belette/The Weasel
New edition 2012
Author: Didier Comès
Collection: Universe of authors
Series: Comès
Soft Cover
Black & white
142 pages
Dimensions 23.5 x 29.5 cms
ISBN: 2203060514
EAN: 9782203060517
Price: € 20.00
Release Date: 02/05/2012


Two urbanites, Gerald and Anne, had just settled in a village in the Ardennes with their son Peter, an autistic teenager. The first contacts with the locals are a neighbour whose manner is very elusive, a rather peculiar priest  and a strange woman dressed all in black, known as the “Weasel.”  These initial contacts are difficult, sometimes heated, however the tension heightens when Gerald, a television producer who is very condescending vis-à-vis the “superstitious” local, decides to make a documentary about the ancient rites of sorcerers still alive in rural areas.

Unspoken feelings and old hatreds are still raw and to cap things off strange events are increasing.  The new pregnancy of Anne becomes an issue in the clashes that shake this wild countryside …

In late 1981, shortly after seeing Silence triumph, Didier Comès undertakes the publication of his new graphic novel: The Weasel. A great story with fantastic art which, more than three decades after its release, has lost none of its dark beauty.

My only problem here was working out whether the film Comes saw was “Silence Triumphant” or “Triumph of Silence”.

The production on this book is superb and it all adds to the style of Comes’ art.  Characters are almost “grotesques” and the wonderful black and white art dazzles the eyes.  The book is not heavily dialogued so is no great trial. You see, black and white artwork can be as good, if not better, than colour on so many levels.

Superb.





Casterman: Soraia



Soraia
Author: Renaud De Heyn  
Collection: Universe of authors
Hard cover
Full colour
120 pages
Dimensions: 19.2×27.9×1.5 cm
ISBN: 2203040688
EAN: 9782203040687

Price: € 18.00
Release Date: 09/05/2012


Soraia and Mehdi, brother and sister are from a very poor family living in the Rif region of Morocco.  However, the destruction of a “unique local resource” –hashish plantations- forces the family to sell Soraia to the citizens of Tetouan.  Becoming one of the countless modern day slaves in the Near and Middle East. She is over-exploited, humiliated, beaten and subject to the lust of her boss.

Mehdi, learning of his sisters fate, sets out to rescue her.  There follows a succession of painful trials and fateful encounters, his quest sees him encounter the militant jihad, who are violent, bigoted and who exploit for their benefit the squalor of the slums Morocco…

The art style is not quite something I can get used to but I have only read through this book once.  It is graphic and pretty ****** grim.  But it tells a story that many of those sold into slavery might well recognise and it is a story that needs telling.