Let's be honest for a moment since it seems that honesty is not a common commodity in 2019 and has rarely been known in British comics.
Firstly, and I know the person (based in the West Midlands) who started and spread this. He accidentally sent me an email intended for a publisher that was pure character assassination. I am very professional when it comes to work
For reviews I have given fair to excellent reviews of books produced by persons I hate with a vengeance because of things they have done. I know people find it hard to understand since I could NOT review the book or even get back at the person involved. No.
I switch off "personal" and look at things solely as a professional (unpaid) reviewer. The thing is that Comic Bits Online could easily be used to totally destroy someone but that then puts me in the same corner as the hack mouthpieces. It would mean embroiling CBO readers from damn near every country in the world in my own personal grudges. That I would NEVER do. I respect the readers and provide them with good content.
If people choose to believe comic book 'nice guys' who seem to be embroiled in non-stop back-stabbing and arguing online then that says more about them.
I do not "scream" or get "very aggressive" at the drop of the hat. If people lie or cheat me then that is between them and me and I do not act unprofessionally because I'm pissed off. If you are in comics and you wanted to contact me but heard the "rumours" then you should contact me.
End of story on that one.
My ego. ahem. I laughed at that. I really, seriously do not have an ego. If I did and went to bars at most conventions then I'd be...someone else. Ask anyone who actually knows me -there are very limited numbers!- and also ask them MY opinion on MY own work! I was told by a senior comics editor "You need to actually develop an ego!"
My 'drunken behaviour'. If you see someone write or talk about that you are hearing/reading the words of a liar. I very very rarely touched alcohol (it used to burn out of my system within an hour) and I had my last Berliner beer along with my mother in the 1980s and after her death, some years later, even the rare once a year beer was gone. So not touched alcohol since c 1989.
I set out to be a publisher of comics in the 1970s and, perhaps, a writer. Definitely not drawing. I still get very embarrassed if someone says they like my work and how good it is. I see faults in every line. However, when you have scripts and artists being work shy with deadlines or just dropping out partway through a project...you need to do what you need to do. The statement that I believe I am a massively talented artist actually leaves me in hysterics at times.
Apart from du Pruytens (hardening in the hands) and suspected severe arthritis in my hands -very painful- my eye sight with Type 2 diabetes (minor bleeds at the back of the eyes) aint getting better (So "He thinks he looks so cool in those wraparound sunglasses!" doesn't even come into it). I do what I can do because if I am not writing (and I am shocked this laptop has not ceased functioning once during writing this!)then I have to draw and still have more projects than I can ever hope to complete in my allotted time.
Sales for 2019 up to today (8th November)stand at £31.00 (depending on currency fluctuation when I get the payment that could turn into £25.00). That is not keeping Black Tower Books in business and definitely not getting me a computer and without the computer I cannot publish or in fact write any more books (I still have my two old portable typewriters but that is pointless of course!).
I'm blocked at UK events (all that is on CBO so let's not go into that here) so cannot sell boos direct and I have four boxes full of stock! Small Press events consider me too slick with my product -yes, three times I've been told my publications are too slick and professional looking by event organisers.
as for my more arty Maakika Book -not sold a copy since it came out in...2014? Yet that work got a LOT of online praise. Go figure.
I have Green Skies to letter but cannot -the scans from this laptop are awful anyway. I certainly cannot publish the 8 issues of Black Tower Super Heroes -PDF converter is VERY expensive and all my programmes I used were on the old computer and would cost (right now) around £400 to purchase and install..luckily I dont have a computer then!
I had hoped that people who bought books might at least spread the word. They never do. That said, people who have the books in Europe have not only given them good reviews on their blogs but links to my online store. Only thing missing from that is sales!
Very bleak all of this. Maybe I should have made it a Christmas message? I wish I could blame Brexit!!
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