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Terry Hooper-Scharf

Monday 29 November 2021

The Ultimate British Golden Age Collection

 



A4
Paperback
B&W
405 pages
Price: £25.00 (excl. VAT)Prints in 3-5 business days

Combining volumes 1-6 (still available as individual issues but that works out far more expensive) 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.

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
Powerman
Wonder Boy
Slicksure
Masterman 
Dane Jerrus
Alfie
Tiny Tod
Maxwell The Mighty 
Back From The Dead
Zeno At The Earth's Core
Colonel Mastiff
Ally Sloper
Super Injun
Super Porker  (oo-er, no, Madam, ooh),
Tiger Man
King Of The Clouds
Captain Comet 

and MANY others!

Plus text features defining The Ages OF British Comics (Platignum, Gold, Silver), the artist William A. Ward and more.

If you knew nothing about British comics of the Platinum, Golden and Silver Ages then once you buy and read this book you'll be a goddam omic intellectual dinosaur! Yipes!

All in that beautiful Iron Warrior cover exclusively drawn for Black Tower by that meta-gargantuoso talented Ben R. Dilworth!

I sold my family to be able to get this book out! Help me buy them back by purchasing your very own 

whizz-o copy today!

Black Tower Gold Volume 6

 



A4
Paperback
B&W
35 pages
Price: £5.00 (excl. VAT)Prints in 3-5 business days

Yes! Now at issue 6 and bringing you more lost strips of the British Golden Age of Comics.There's a collection of strips featuring non other than TNT Tom and one of the weirdest UKGA characters -the Iron Boy.

Ever heard of Ingy Roob? Or his pet "Stretchy"? You will have if you read this issue.How about Dennis M. Readers Cat Girl?

Two other UK comics are reprinted in full, both from 1946 and the only issues ever published:Lucky Dice and The Fudge.

Black Tower -keeping UK comics history alive!

Black tower Gold Volume 5

 


A4
Paperback
B&W
68pp
Price: £8.00 (excl. VAT)Prints in 3-5 business days

William McCail’s 1940 classic is reprinted for the first time in 60 years.
If you are into British Golden Age comics or early comics in general this is for you.
Robert Lovett rises from the dead and finds he has some startling powers: deaths follow, as does a Scotland Yard detective determined to track down the mysterious killer!

Black Tower Gold volume 4

 



A4
Paperback
B&W
86 pages
Price: £8.00 (excl. VAT)Prints in 3-5 business days

The fourth volume of this series features some great finds of the lost era of British comics:
Ace Hart The Atom ManCaptain Comet -Space RangerTNT TomClive Lynn -Space ReporterSuperstooge"The White Gorilla"Atomic TuffyCast Iron ChrisSigord
and many others!

Black Tower Gold volume 3

 



A4
Paperback
B&W
68 pages
Price: £8.00 (excl. VAT)Prints in 3-5 business days

This is the third volume in Black Tower Comics’ collection of Golden Age British comic strips that have not seen print for 50-60 years!
Included in this volume is a bumper crop of Ace Hart:The Atom Man strips and an article on the character.
A complete 1949 comic in Smugglers Creek; Denis Gifford’s Search For The Secret City and science fiction legend Bryan Berry’s rendition of Kid Carter -Teenage Tec! A must for all comic collectors and historians.

Black Tower Gold volume 2

 


A4
Paperback
B&W
Price: £8.00 (excl. VAT)Prints in 3-5 business days

The second collection of British 1940s comic strips featuring Maxwell The Mighty, Slicksure, Iron Boy,Alfie, Ace Hart and more.
Featuring the work of Golden Age Greats Alf Farningham and Harry Banger.
Specifically designed to feature more humour than the previous volume this should be a treat for all comic collectors. Reprinting the full content of The Meteor and The Rocket Comics from 1948.

Black Tower Gold Volume 1

 



A4
B&W
94 pages
Price: £8.00 (excl. VAT)Prints in 3-5 business days

For the first time in 60 years some of the lost gems of the British Golden Age of Comics are reprinted!

Scanned and cleaned to the best standard possible -see
The Phantom Raider,
Ace Hart,
Secrets Of The Super Sargasso Sea,
Phantom Maid,
Electrogirl,
Skybolt Kid,
Wonder Boy,
Dene Vernon,
Professor Atom
and many, many others!

Its fun and action all the way -The British Golden Age shines through!

Thursday 25 November 2021

Finally Completed by UK Tarzan (hardback) Annuals

 Ridiculously cheap £7 incl p&p. Not seen one offered in ten years so yes I grabbed it and it will complete the UK Tarzan annual run.


Would be interesting to see Tarzan comics in other languages but postage and getting whacked with tax uh a "handling fee" (by HM Cutoms & Revenue puts it way beyond my means!

Future Projects -Unedited Covers

 At the moment there are a number of things I need to get sortedand over the Christmas period I will be increasing the cover prices on almost all of the books at the online store.

https://www.lulu.com/spotlight/hoopercomicsuk

After that I can then look at future projects and how they may need to be re-formatted since there has been absolutely no news on the handling charge and other increase though it seems to publisher (me) has to take the brunt of that.

The following are some rough cover illoes that are unedited and will need cropping and, of course, lettering. Maybe all in 2022?








Monday 22 November 2021

Saturday 20 November 2021

The Amazing World Of Alan Class

 


A4
B&W
24pp
£5.00
https://www.lulu.com/en/us/shop/terry-hooper-scharf/the-amazing-world-of-alan-class/paperback/product-1rgkeq5p.html

Marvel, Timely, Atlas, Charlton, ACG, MLJ/Archie Dennis the Menace (US) -one man published them all. Alan Class. Who? Class is legendary for bringing black and white reprints of US comics to a country starved of the medium thanks to a certain war! 

From 1959-1989 Suspence, Sinister, Astounding and Uncanny gave us a comic fix for a few pennies. Learn more about the man and how Class Comics came about in the long awaited print version of Terry Hooper's exclusive interview!

Liz & Jen

 


A4
B&W
21pp
£5.00
https://www.lulu.com/en/us/shop/terry-hooper-scharf/liz-jen/paperback/product-1m4g7pe4.html

Originally drawn back in the 1980s, this story of the coming out of two life long friends has never been properly published. 

Up-dated for 2011 with story and pencils by Terry Hooper and inks by Ben R. Dilworth

The Job Interview

 


A4
B&W
10pp
£5.00
https://www.lulu.com/en/us/shop/terry-hooper-scharf/the-job-interview/paperback/product-1qz79wvm.html

In a world with ever increasing population and food resources being stretched to the limit unemployment is a major problem. A drastic solution is needed. 

Ben Dilworth delivers a warning and is back on great frorm with his latest one-off!

Dilworths Aesop's Fables

 


A4
B&W
10pp
£2.00
https://www.lulu.com/en/us/shop/terry-hooper-scharf/dilworths-aesops-fables/paperback/product-1yzq2662.html

Once a very tall man in Japan decided to do a version of Aesop's Fables that he could read to his young daughter. He wrote it, illustrated it and decided that it was too "dark" for a little girl. In England, a bearded gnome got a copy and published it. 

True story.

 


A4
B&W
27pp
£4.00
https://www.lulu.com/en/en/shop/terry-hooper-scharf/thaddeus-twatt-book-ii/paperback/product-1ggqrg42.html

Following their escape from the planet Friggia, Twatt and Tomas find what appears to be a jungle planet –complete with rather odd life forms. 

However, as Professor Twatt casually strolls around the Jungle Planet he finds a mine complex using slave labourers —then he sees the crystal-like flying saucer and realises that the impossible has happened…. 

The Crystallids are here! But what are the Crystallids and what is Twatt’s connection to them. Some of the secrets of Professor Twatt’s earlier life could be exposed by a chance encounter with a Crystallid prisoner —a man who knows Twatt...the question is: will Twatt and Tomas live ? 

The complete first story arc from Black Tower Adventure in one book.

Thaddeus Twatt Book I -The Fearful Fate of Friggia

 


A4
B&W
27pp
£4.00
https://www.lulu.com/en/en/shop/terry-hooper-scharf/thaddeus-twatt-book-i/paperback/product-15g6rgjr.html

Eccentric scientific genius Professor Thaddeus Twatt has decided to look in on one of his late father’s experiments… ...but then his nephew, Tomas, arrives for the Summer. 

Tomas has been warned that his uncle is a little “odd” but expects to have a carefree holiday in the Somerset countryside. That was his plan. 

In the late 1940s, Twatt’s father, along with other scientists, had created a miniature galaxy in chambers deep beneath the Cheddar countryside. A miniature galaxy into which groups of settlers flew. After decades it seems time to visit the “Twatt-verse” and see how things have gone. 

Tomas thinks it’s all a joke...

until he is miniaturised! 

The duo find the entrance to the mini-verse mined and then their craft crash-lands on the first planet they approach.

 They find what seems to be a barren, frozen world —until captured by a group of survivors and a story is told of betrayal, sabotage and a great “Worm” that devastates cities. 

Are the duo trapped of frozen Friggia forever…?

Cruisers In The Clouds

 


A4
B&W
40pp
£6.00
https://www.lulu.com/en/us/shop/terry-hooper-scharf/cruisers-in-the-clouds/paperback/product-1k8w97q5.html

If you have any interest in history or the development by the pioneers of hot-air ballooning,including the first use of parachutes in the 1800s,then this collection of articles by John Lea from 1905 and illustrated by H. J. Hodges,is for you.

Thursday 18 November 2021

Hexagon Comics: HEXAGON GROUP #2 -HEXAGON VS HEPTAGON

 



7x10 squarebound comic, 
96 pages 
b&w
ISBN-13: 978-1-61227-933-6 -
 US$12.95

Jean-Marc Lofficier & Juan Roncagliolo Berger & Eduardo Garcia. Cover by Eduardo Garcia.

Contents:

THE COMING OF GUN GALLON
Story: Jean-Marc Lofficier; Art: Juan Roncagliolo Berger 
THE TERRIFYING THREAT OF HEPTAGON
Story: Jean-Marc Lofficier; Art: Eduardo Garcia 
THE SUP’VILLAIN WHO STOLE XMAS
Story: Jean-Marc Lofficier; Art: Eduardo Garcia 
THE DEADLY TRAP OF THE NECROMANCER
Story: Jean-Marc Lofficier; Art: Juan Roncagliolo Berger


The Hexagon Group was born either in 2002, when they made their first retroactive appearance in Strangers #1, or in the 1960s, depending upon how one looks at it.

Like The Justice Society of America and The Avengers, the group gathered together a single team of different heroes published by Editions Lug in their own series between 1964 and 1974.

There is Jeff Sullivan, a.k.a. the Man of Brass, descended from a long line of heroes; the powerful Dark Flyer; the beautiful Black Lys from France; joined here by a bevy of new members, such as astronaut Max Tornado; the African sorcerer Mozam; Gun Gallon, exiled from an extra-dimensional realm; the Lakota warrior Rakar; and Plasma, Jeff’s own daughter.

In the four stories collected in this volume, Hexagon faces the Heptagon group, an evil cabal comprised of its deadliest enemies; fight sJeff’s evil brother; teams up with the French Guardian of the Republic; and is almost defeated by the evil Necromancer.


Art by Juan Roncagliolo Berger and Eduardo Garcia. 

I've been in one of those moods where comics just are not cheering me up or getting me excited as I only really follow Marvel's The Avengers and Fantastic Four since DC killed off the Justice League (reboot, reboot, reboot and then reboot was too much). Sadly not a lot else comes in these which is odd since you might think publishers would want potential readers to know what they have. When I found out the review for this book had vanished ('thank you' -again- blogger) I really did not want to review again. Deep breath.

Actually, five pages in I was feeling happier -I have no idea I am soooo old! Now the stories are good and they maintain a good continuity, pace and use action where it should be used which may sound odd but writers who are not that good often use the "I'll throw a fight in here!" trick. Now I have been reading comics a very long time and to me the stories here reminded me of Marvel at its Silver-Bronze ages best but also when Archie Comics brought back its Red Circle line in the 1980s. In other words fun and enjoyable.

The art. Well, not a single complaint there. Firstly, the use of negatives (black and white) by the artists is spot on. It's all well balanced and there are a few examples of how artists misuse b&w and get the balance very wrong. The figures are well drawn and the scenes set and drawn well. 

There are times that you read a comic or book for review and you stop and ask yourself "Should I be enjoying this? Why aren't I finding anything bad here?"  Rather like Cinebook, Hexagon Comics maintains a standard where, on reviewing books you cannot find anything wrong with them. I once put my hand on Olivier Cadic's shoulder (Olivier is owner of Cinebook) and told him: "So far your titles have all been good quality and but but if Cinebook publishes a book I don't like then no nice review!" He accepted the challenge and I'm still waiting for that one below par book. I would issue the same challenge to Jean-Marc but a voice in my head shouts out: "You're English (part) -don't let the French humiliate you again!" 😂😂😂😂😂

These are enjoyable and considering some of the "art" going into the big two tiltes these days these books are a treat for the eyes.

I am still recommending Hexagon Comics 

________________________________________________________________________

In case you want to catch up on What Hexagon Group #1 was about...


Jean-Marc Lofficier & Juan Roncagliolo Berger & José Luis Ruiz Pérez. 

Cover by José Luis Ruiz Pérez.

Contents:
A CALL TO ARMS
Story: Jean-Marc Lofficier; Art: Juan Roncagliolo Berger 
IN THE DEPTHS OF THE DARK HIVE
Story: Jean-Marc Lofficier; Art: José Luis Ruiz Pérez 
O, BITTER VICTORY
Story: Jean-Marc Lofficier; Art: José Luis Ruiz Pérez 

 7x10 squarebound comic, 

76 pages 

b&w

ISBN-13: 978-1-61227-928-2 
US$12.95
https://www.hexagoncomics.com/shop-hexagon-group-1-the-dark-hive.html

History

The Hexagon Group is a private organization of six super-powered heroes gathered together to protect Earth against superhuman threats. The group is financed by the personal wealth of its members, but mostly Nerotek. It is named thus because a hexagon is the perfect structure offering maximum resistance and tensile strength. The Hexagon Group is headquarted in New York; it has worked together with C.L.A.S.H. and other U.N. organizations. It has at its disposal a vast array of advanced technology, mostly invented by Cletus and Dominik Nero and Sweet.

The FOUNDING MEMBERS of the Hexagon Group were Jeff SullivanDark Flyer (I)Black LysThe Mysterious Archer (I)White MaskAster and Pinky, who were brought together to defeat Melanos. After the disastrous affair of the Black Hive, White Mask resigned and swore to never work with the Group again.

Max Tornado and Mozam then joined the Group, but Max Tornado soon asked to become a "Reserve Member" because of his duties towards NASA.  Dax (Mysterious Archer I) was recalled by the Brotherhood of Archers and replaced by a second Mysterious Archer, Jukka Häyhä. At that time, after a battle with Fred "Blackie" Sullivan, Gun Gallon, exiled from the other dimensional realm of Orios, joined the Group.

Eventually Cletus Nero (Dark Flyer I) retired, only to be replaced by his son, Dominik Nero (Dark Flyer II). Gun Gallon returned to Orios and was replaced by Plasma, Jeff Sullivan's daughter. Mozam left and was replaced by Rakar (II), who had just left the Marines and helped Hexagon against their arch-enemy, the Necromancer.

Later, the Necromancer managed to get control of the Group and forced them to battle the Strangers on the Moon. Jeff Sullivan appeared to die there and was replaced by his brother, Fred, who had reformed. Ben Leonard then joined the Group under the alias of "Râ". The Group was recently manipulated into fighting the Enchanters, but soon teamed up with them to battle the dark goddess Aruna.

I know what you are asking: "Terry, what can you tell us about this book?" Nothing.  Seriously, if that history above does not get you curious then having a full plot synopsis will do nothing!

There is some character information so you don't sit there thinking "Who's this?" -in fact, you could just take these as new characters. The artwork within compliments the stories superbly. Honestly, I neverread the story until my third pick-up of the book. I was dealing with another computer breakdown and glanced at the cover of this book and next thing I knew I had forgotten the PC!

The art, especially by Berger, is superb. This is what Harrier Comics could have been. The art is so smooth and detailed and the printing quality is so good that panels pop out at you.

I will be honest with you: I have only been really excited  three in the last few decades when it came to new comics. Once was in the 1970s with Seaboard's Atlas Comics and the other time was in the 1980s when Archie brought out its Red Circle Comics and the 1980s Hong Kong Jademan Comics. Since then things have just plodded along. Is it weird that at my age I am now getting so excited by a new (rejuvenated) line of comics?  

Please do yourself a favour and try a copy of this book. I hope it might spark fresh enthusiasm in others.