Taken from the Black Tower Comics and Books blog:
Hello.
I’m sure that most of you regulars must have thought that I’d forgotten
about the BTCG web blog! Now, if you were on our Face Book page you’d
know things have been busy.
Firstly, Ka-Blam! printers, after months of messing about, told me that they cannot handle A4 sized publications. As all BTCG books are A4…well, that was a pain.
CreateSpace approved books but wanted changes to covers (even though no one else ever has a problem with them) so I made the changes they asked for…books rejected. Why? Well, on the legal frontispiece of books is Black Tower Comics Group in small text. Below this is, in large text, the book title. Standard publishing practice. But oh no -”The cover reads Krakos The Egyptian but your interior page shows Black Tower Comics Group!” Also, every single page is saved at 300 dpi (lulu.com would reject them if one page was out) but CreateSpace rejected books for “including images of 150 dpi” -I opened the pdf and ALL were 300 dpi. I told them so.
Then I was told that an approved book, now rejected, had “pages that were not legible. These must be made legible to be approved.” I checked the pages they listed -ALL 300 dpi. Then it hit me. When I am writing about the artist in question, William A. Ward, pasted into the middle of the pages are two roughly A6 repro pages -these are what they are referring to?????? Even at A4 the images are not readable which is why I used them to break up the heavy text.
Let me explain: this would mean of of their incompetent ‘reviewers’ could reject a book because it had a small art panel which, seperated from the rest of the page might look bad or “too small”.
How can they approve a book then reject it then approve the cover and reject it? I have a suspicion something fishy is going on.
Anyway, back to the fun comic part of things. Black Tower Adventure 8 is finally ready. There is part 2 of The Cross-Earths Caper in which some cowboys and one native American (or is that first nations person now?) gathered together by a rather insane Ace Hart back in Adventure (in 1997?) finally find out what is going on…and along the way encounter Spring-heeled Jack, Mr Bat and others. And…on another Earth, the Avenger and his team are briefed by Ace Rogers on a selenite plan to destroy Earth with a planet bomb!!
Kelvin Jones and His Helmet of Power (finally) gets into Adventure. Wandering the country lanes drunk, what does a young man do when an old beardy bloke offers to give him his shiny magic helmet?
The Thinker does what the Thinker does. Don’t question him. It’s all cosmic, man.
The descendent of Iron Warrior inventor, Dearth, along with two companions has found the Iron Warrior itself…or is it? Read part 1 of Jungle Terror!
Runestone, part 3, and David Brown gets to find out just what the mystic Celtic rune embedded in his hand means!
And THE highlight for me are two Phantom Detective strips by Ben R. Dilworth. For the first time in a VERY long time, the Phantom Detective features in stories showing us just why he was one of Victorian England’s greatest paranormal detectives -and more.
Hello.
I’m sure that most of you regulars must have thought that I’d forgotten
about the BTCG web blog! Now, if you were on our Face Book page you’d
know things have been busy.Firstly, Ka-Blam! printers, after months of messing about, told me that they cannot handle A4 sized publications. As all BTCG books are A4…well, that was a pain.
CreateSpace approved books but wanted changes to covers (even though no one else ever has a problem with them) so I made the changes they asked for…books rejected. Why? Well, on the legal frontispiece of books is Black Tower Comics Group in small text. Below this is, in large text, the book title. Standard publishing practice. But oh no -”The cover reads Krakos The Egyptian but your interior page shows Black Tower Comics Group!” Also, every single page is saved at 300 dpi (lulu.com would reject them if one page was out) but CreateSpace rejected books for “including images of 150 dpi” -I opened the pdf and ALL were 300 dpi. I told them so.
Then I was told that an approved book, now rejected, had “pages that were not legible. These must be made legible to be approved.” I checked the pages they listed -ALL 300 dpi. Then it hit me. When I am writing about the artist in question, William A. Ward, pasted into the middle of the pages are two roughly A6 repro pages -these are what they are referring to?????? Even at A4 the images are not readable which is why I used them to break up the heavy text.
Let me explain: this would mean of of their incompetent ‘reviewers’ could reject a book because it had a small art panel which, seperated from the rest of the page might look bad or “too small”.
How can they approve a book then reject it then approve the cover and reject it? I have a suspicion something fishy is going on.
Anyway, back to the fun comic part of things. Black Tower Adventure 8 is finally ready. There is part 2 of The Cross-Earths Caper in which some cowboys and one native American (or is that first nations person now?) gathered together by a rather insane Ace Hart back in Adventure (in 1997?) finally find out what is going on…and along the way encounter Spring-heeled Jack, Mr Bat and others. And…on another Earth, the Avenger and his team are briefed by Ace Rogers on a selenite plan to destroy Earth with a planet bomb!!
Kelvin Jones and His Helmet of Power (finally) gets into Adventure. Wandering the country lanes drunk, what does a young man do when an old beardy bloke offers to give him his shiny magic helmet?
The Thinker does what the Thinker does. Don’t question him. It’s all cosmic, man.
The descendent of Iron Warrior inventor, Dearth, along with two companions has found the Iron Warrior itself…or is it? Read part 1 of Jungle Terror!
Runestone, part 3, and David Brown gets to find out just what the mystic Celtic rune embedded in his hand means!
And THE highlight for me are two Phantom Detective strips by Ben R. Dilworth. For the first time in a VERY long time, the Phantom Detective features in stories showing us just why he was one of Victorian England’s greatest paranormal detectives -and more.
I was overjoyed when John Erasmus sent me a complete book starring none other than….
Denizen Ark Unemployed Crime Fighter!
JOHN ERASMUS
A4
Paperback,
157 Pages
Price: £9.00
Ships in 3–5 business days
It was the 1980s and the Small Press had a hero for that age of
Thatcherism and bleakness. Amongst the three million unemployed was a
man. An athlete. A street-fighter. A man who would not stand by while
crime spread.
DENIZEN ARK…Unemployed crime-fighter. But whatever happened to him?
Read the further adventures of Denizen by one of the most under
rated comic artists in the UK -JOHN ERASMUS! Superb black and white
artwork that will make any wannabe comic creator weep.
Action, adventure and crime-smashing in black and white so luscious you ask yourself: “Do we really need colour?”
Then, a project I was not really interested in publishing. Seriously.
RETURN OF THE GODS: TWILIGHT OF THE SUPER HEROES
Terry Hooper-Scharf
Paperback,
197 Pages
Price: £8.00
Ships in 3–5 business days
Originally published, after 12 years, in Black Tower Adventure #s1-6, Return Of The Gods: Twilight Of The Super Heroes sees several storylines combined into one big event.
Heroes from around the world begin to disappear after being chased
by glowing orange spheres -the world (and super hero community, though
holding out some hope) believes them dead but they have actually been
transported to a huge walled city on a dimensional plane. The home of
the gods.Pax Olympus
Unknown to the heroes, they are pawns in a game by the gods to use
them to fight of the return of the Ancient Old Gods. Meanwhile, on
Earth, an alien invasion beach-head action has taken place. the hero
community as well as world governments find their resources stretched on
several fronts.
Join BTCGs Indian, Pakistani, Chinese, Singaporean, British and
other international heroes where heroes DO die and death is final.
Four extra added pages link into the big anniversary book from Black Tower -Green Skies- and the Dr Morg Trilogy (and you will not have to buy the trilogy to understand things!).
DERVISH ROPEY AND THE TOTEM POLE!
JOHN ERASMUS
Paperback,
95 Pages
Price: £6.00
Ships in 3–5 business days
What can you possibly say about John Erasmus? He is a very
under-rated artistic genius. And Dervish Ropey? One of the great
action/adventure characters to emerge from the UK in the last 25 years
apart from Denizen Ark.
Join Dervish on his latest adventure as the
archaeologist-cum-adventurer and righter of wrongs ends up in mystery,
intrigue, danger and fights!
Kick yourself if you never got a copy of The Maximin Sword!
The Ultimate British Comics Gold Collection
VARIOUS
Edited by Terry Hooper-Scharf
Paperback,
405 Pages
Price: £20.00
Ships in 3–5 business days
Combining volumes 1-6 of the BT Golden Age British Comics
Collections (minus adverts) this is the ultimate for any Golden Age
collector or historian or just plain comic lover. Lost gems from the UKs
Golden Age of comics and publishers such as Swan, Foldes, Streamline
and other -and a big THANK YOU to the scanners who were willing to share these -a very, very rare thing in the UK.
Features Ace Hart, TNT Tom, Electrogirl, Wonderman, The Phantom
Raider, Captain Comet, Acro Maid, Phantom Maid, Dene Vernon,The Iron
Boy, The Boy Fish,Professor Atom, The Tornado,Super Injun, The Haunted
Prefab, Bring ‘em Back Hank, The White Gorilla, Zeno At The Earth’s
Core, The Super Sargasso Sea, The Terror of Lost Man’s Gulch and MANY
others!
All in one book and cheaper than if you had bought the books seperately!!
Never a big money spinner, the Gold series was a work of love and
dedicated to all the creators and publishers who faded into obscurity
after entertaining a generation!
My appearance at the 2nd International Alternative Press Fayre has
had to be cancelled due to circumstances beyond my control. It means
that Black Tower’s main event will be the 2013 Bristol Comic Expo.
I would also like to say a big THANK YOU here to all of those from outside
the UK, Germany, France, Belgium, USA, Canada, etc., for their kind
words and support of Black Tower Comics. It is so rare to hear anything
similar from the UK that I can think of…just checked -one (1) positive
comment from the UK. I’m glad you all enjoy the art and books!
Now, off to sort out what has been the disaster of a book -Tick Tock It’s The Clock! -if not for Ben Dilworth the book would not be happening. THANKS, Ben!!
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