Zombina and the Skeletones "DEEP CUTS STREAM" (mixtape)

The Scare Crow

 The first strip in the Chief Annual from PM Productions is uncredited

Enjoy

The Chief Annual 1947-1949(?)

There are some Wild West themed text stories but if you are expecting Western strips you will be disappointed.

PYM or PyraMid Productions was Pyramid Productions based in London and Letchworth. It appears to be another 1940s publisher of juvenile (or kids) entertainment. It could have been part or owned by a regional newspaper publisher rather like the tracing/drawing books and annuals published by Renwick of Otley https://britishgoldenagecomics.blogspot.com/2020/07/do-you-know-anything-about-renwick-of.html

The strips from the annual include one by Denis Gifford and another by Glinbo (Glyn Prothero) and spread throughout are the red, black and white strip Bad Men of Stone Face Mountain which is credited 1947 King Features Ltd. (but I cannot find it listed on any site dealing with King)  Now that helps as the album is thin, paper browning and very brittle and 64pp. It is typical of other annuals/albums at the time where war time restrictions were still in force and typical of 1947-1949 annuals.

NOT a "1930s" or even "undated" annual as all sellers write -because they never looked inside and if it reprints a 1947 newspaper strip then it cannot be from the 1930s -can it?
 

PM Prods also produced drawing books.

   They also published Little Bo-Peep 10pp; b/w ills; Little Bo-Peep finds her sheep with a little help from Jeremy Crumpet.

Or, a favourite type of book around the world a cut out book so that you can dress a figure.

 All of these are dated as "war time 1940s" but without finding out more about who owned the company all I could say is that everything is consistent with a 1944-1949 publishing venture and I suspect there is a newspaper connection due to the King Features strip being included.    As before, I will look for both the King Features strip as well as the publisher behind PM Productions which also do not appear in any of the Denis Gifford reference books.

A-Ladd-In Luck!

 From Chief Annual 1940s writer and artist Denis Gifford

Review Credit

 I would just like to point out that the review of  "The Wonderful and Frightening World of J.Webster-Sharp" was by Paul Ashley Brown and not, as some are crediting, me (Terry Hooper).

I am glad so many people enjoyed and read the post but full credit does have to go to the reviewer.

40th

 

Toon collection Webstor review

Cinebook Ltd Newsletter Newsletter 200 - August 2024

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Dear Reader, Ships! Rivers! Wild oceans and stormy seas! Oh, have we got a nautical selection for you, mateys! Let’s start with our old friend Thorgal, back in the adventuring saddle after his youngest son was kidnapped by mysterious mages. We get to see how our mariner friend – he is a Viking, after all – fares on a dangerous icebound river, while his other son Jolan learns more about his own destiny. Epic and exciting, as always with Thorgal! From frozen to sweltering, we head next to Amazonia, where British agent and alien expert Kathy Austin must now travel further up the mighty Amazon and enter the rainforest proper to continue her investigation. Leo and Rodolphe weave an intriguing mystery, but kudos to Bertrand Marchal’s art – his claustrophobic rendition of the Brazilian jungle is so on point you can practically feel yourself start to sweat as you read … Finally, at the end of every river, eventually there’s the sea, and that is forever the domain of Redbeard. There’s hidden treasure to find, and the crew of the Blackhawk head to Tortuga. But there’s a sorcerer involved, and Mami Wata, goddess of the sea and mistress of the elements, may well lay down her wrath on those impudent enough to defy her … August with Cinebook – books ahoy! Amazonia 2 Bertrand Marchal, Leo & Rodolphe Episode 2 On the trail of the bizarre, potentially alien creature photographed in Brazil, Kathy Austin has reached the isolated mission where the photographer died. Unfortunately, the road forward leads into the heart of the rainforest and the territory of extremely hostile natives … Read more Redbeard 3 Stefano Carloni & Jean-Charles Kraehn Mami Wata Redbeard is in Tortuga, once a free haven for pirates, now a French colony. Here he hopes to find his old nemesis Morgan’s hidden treasure. His only clue is a name – Mami Wata. But Mami Wata is a Vodou goddess, the Mother of Waters … Thorgal 25 Grzegorz Rosinski & Yves Sente The Blade-Ship While Jolan and his companions finally learn from Manthor what their grand destiny will be, Thorgal is still on the trail of the men who kidnapped his other son, Aniel. Along with jolly mercenary Petrov, he sails down a frozen river aboard a Blade Ship – a trade vessel equipped with heavy metal blades to break the ice … Read more Buck Danny Classics 8 The Eagle’s Nest North-American readers, to locate a comic book shop near you that stocks or can order these titles and many more, use this handy Read more   Or, if you're a retailer yourself, please go to: Read more Black Mary 1 The Departed Black Mary 2 Passage to the Hereafter Comic Bits Online – Terry Hooper Harry Dickson 1 – Mysterion Lucky Luke by … Blutch – Untamed The Bluecoats 17 – The Draft Riots  – On the Edge of Life

"The Wonderful and Frightening World of J.Webster-Sharp" Review by Paul A. Brown

"The Scrapbook of Life & Death" by J.Webster-Sharp
Published by Avery Hill
Paperback A4 

88 pages

 Black & White 

£14.99

You know, I'm the last person qualified to review comic books. If I'm honest I'm rarely convinced by the validity of the Graphic Novel as a form deserving of its' hype or status. I personally feel that despite the positive nature of a wider and more diverse array of artists and subject matters, it's become an orthodoxy as tedious and damaging as the Superhero genre was to the wider perception of comics, and rarely does it's content go beyond an appeasement of a certain need for the acceptance of a largely wider middle-class readership ,and the seeming  constraints both directly and indirectly imposed on publishing regards market trends, content, taste and lately political ideology. Ever so now and again though, something comes along to tell me I'm a great big know-nothing idiot ( for which I'm always thankful) ,and which goes some way to restoring my faith that there are still people out there willing to make brave, courageous and challenging art that refuses to tow the line in conforming to whatever the current criteria of how things should be or what should be written and drawn, J.Webster-Sharp's first book, "The Scrapbook of Life & Death" does just that.

The stark, unnerving cover alone should tell you you're in for an uneasy ride; a garish yet beautifully rendered disembodied head with smaller head appendages extending from it on stalks in a void of black, and hand-lettered titles that create the impression of something off-kilter and out of time, a hand-made artefact, an illicit secret discovery best left unopened. The entire contents do nothing but add to the disquiet and unease, as well as a continual tension that what you're engaging with isn't remotely comfortable, possibly bordering on the distasteful and pornographic; the subject matter and themes permeated by sex, horror, death and an underlying perversity. It's interesting in her own introduction to the book that Webster-Sharp states that the latter half of the book "evolves out of a deteriorating sense of self and a collapsing of a will to survive". I want to return to that later, but you could be forgiven for feeling something similar as a reader, under the weight and nature of the artistic language the artist employs in relation to the subject.

Webster-Sharp's starting point as subject are the scrapbooks of one George Cecil Ives ( 1867-1950 ) poet, writer, penal reformer and homosexual law reform campaigner, who in the course of his lifetime amassed a collection of interesting and unusual newspaper clippings and articles.Splitting the book into two halves, Webster-Sharp includes a description of those items and stories she has used and been inspired by to illustrate, as a hand-lettered appendix to the visuals, reinforcing the sense of her Graphic Novel being an almost parallel visual version existing in a different time. The pieces of Ives' archives she chooses to illustrate are indeed interesting and unusual, as well as horrific.absurd and perverse, the kind of stuff the likes of the News of the World or National Enquirer would have had a field day with, such as the crimes of child murderer Albert Fish, a Dentist who took out womens' teeth to "satisfy his cravings",a woman who fed her son like a bird, and a man who had thousands of pictures of pigs. Taking these snippets, Webster-Sharp weaves these pieces and others into a patchwork of comic pages and strips that illuminate an overall sense of grotesque visual surrealism.

And what pictures, panels and pages they are. From my first discovery of her work via her Instagram page, I have been utterly blown away by the audacity of Webster-Sharp's art. There aren't many artists you can say are unique, but right now I think she is. There hasn't been anyone in comics since Eleanor Davis who has made me so excited to see their next drawing, their next page. Webster-Sharp has. And oddly, hers is not a drawing style I would consider one I either like or would usually find interesting. So what is it I find that makes her work special ?

Well, it's about drawing that looks like it's been drawn by a human being, that doesn't look like every other tedious, bland, graphically and artistically reductive, spineless, anodyne, visually dull, badly observed and unexciting bore-draw that seems to populate most graphic novels and comics these days. Webster-Sharp's art here does everything comic art used to do; it has detail, it has passion and courage and guts, and wit and intelligence. It's daring and takes risk in both subject matter and execution.It also makes you unnerved, uncomfortable, intrigued, repulsed, excited. It's singular and unique, it doesn't really look like anyone else, even though there are other artists that use a similar style ( think Drew Friedman). It's also the way she juxtaposes the vocabulary of her visuals, a collage of images and objects that create a tension by their proximity  and opposition to each other, whether it's human-animal body hybrids, butchery, genitalia, dolls, gasmasks, fetish gear and assorted meat products, it's a disturbing visual lexicon that is likely to give you nightmares, or a strange erotic frisson, if so inclined. The devil is in the meticulous detail of the drawing, a pointillist stippling style that I would suggest was fashionable in the Sixties and Seventies, but has since gone way out of vogue, which also lends it an eerie, out of synch feel. For me there's an odd nostalgia for such drawing and the genuine insanity of it's time-consuming nature, but when it works, there's also a certain sublime quality to the imagery, and in some of these individual panels and pages, Webster-Sharp executes some quite brilliant and dare I say it, strangely beautiful artwork, even if the content of those drawings might make some reach for the sick-bag and the censored sticker. If I was to make any artistic comparisons, my immediate thoughts were to artists of the earlier decades I hinted at, but not comic artists. Her sense of collage and juxtaposition of content, allied to a threatening and frightening worldview, reminds me of the art of Crass' Gee Vaucher and the collages of Linder Sterling, also, and perhaps not so obviously, the artwork of 1970's/80's British illustrator Stewart MacKinnon, and maybe also the surrealist Leonora Carrington. I doubt any were an influence or inspiration, but I find echoes of a similar feel in her work. There are also echoes of David Lynch and Charles Burns somewhere too maybe. If I haven't described individual pages here, it's because I think it's a book that must be looked at, and I don't want to spoil it -you should all go out and find it and look at it,and keep looking, take it all in. All its' beauty and horror and tension.

It's this tension, as well as the actual pages and imagery itself, that perhaps account for Webster-Sharp's admission of that "deterioration of a sense of self " mentioned earlier. The images of the final pages and section of the book seem to move away from a certain formal cohesion of the earlier short narratives depicting the Ives archival material, to imagery and pages that suggest a more personal narrative direction taking hold, resulting in singular illustrations that mark a visual representation of the "physical and psychic abandonment "she suggests occured in making the work. By the end, the drawings have gone from full-page, full-blown horror to  become smaller, encapsulating the merest fragments of strange small microscopic crying faced worms or larvae, before completely disappearing to blank, black pages. Whether intentional or not, I feel it works as a conclusion of sorts, the effect of inhabiting someone else's collection of disturbed psychic debris, the result of a kind of possession, leaving us all in the dark.

This is a rather wonderfully frightening book, in all the right ways. Credit also to Avery Hill for having the guts and courage to publish a book like this. J.Webster-sharp is that rare thing. An artist to excite and disturb, an artist with courage, intelligence and wit, and no small amount of skill and visual flair. I can't wait to see what she does next. Fondant anyone ?

Paul Ashley Brown

Thomas Tenney, Marvel and DC legend at risk for homelessness

 Once again we see a comic creator hit hard times and, although there is no blame on the comics industry (despite what some say) it would be nice to see former employers who earned big time from his work actually do a humanitarian thing and help him out -charitable donations are tax deductible after all.

Best wishes to him and hope he is not going to lose his home.

Little did he know, his life would take a turn in 2017 when he was diagnosed with Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease. He says he couldn’t afford the treatments and his girlfriend’s mother died that same year.

“When that happened, everything got dumped onto our lap. We had no idea. It was that immediate," Tenney said.

Tenney says his financial situation has gotten so bad, that he will lose his home at the end of the month. He says he tried drawing again to make extra money, but had no luck.

“I see other guys in this business my age or a little younger, I can’t get any work. I don’t know why, I’m doing everything I can, I am drawing well. It’s the same old formula," Tenney said.

A week out from losing his home, Teeny says his legacy does not change the reality of what he is facing.

“They tell me 'I still read your books, I go back and read them.' But in the back of your head you hear that echo of 'Am I letting them down? Have I let them down? And then I get some who say, 'I understand man, because I am going through the same thing.' I go through a lot too.”

Tenney says at this point he’s relying on family and friends for help. A GoFundMe page has been created to help Tenney at this link: https://www.gofundme.com/f/help-artist-tom-tenney-and-family

Crazy Gang Singing "Free". From 'Okay For Sound' (1937)

Mail Away Toys - GIJoe, Ghostbusters, Mighty Max, Starcom, Action Man, S...

New DC Collectables and Mini Score | Walmart and Target Toy Hunt

Super Thriller Annual 1960 -The Last Ace Hart!

 Oh, I am soooooo kind. Rather than make you wait here is the third and final set of illoes.

I know people just pinch these things and use them but please at least give credit to where you got them from: I cracked the annuals open and spent time scanning and cleaning them up so that should not be too much to ask.

Super Thriller Annual 1959 -Ace Art Illustrations

 

Here we go -part 2 and if you wondered what the artist Edgar Hodges looked like -here you go. He's at the drawing board in the 1960s.

Chang3lings Comic: My 5th Big Book Of RAP

 

•  US Letter, 8.5×11 in, 22×28 cm
  no.  of Pages: 20
• Publish Date: Jul 21, 2024
• £5.00
• https://www.blurb.co.uk/b/12062919-5th-big-book-of-rap
• 
  
• Underground comic legend Richard Pester returns with more of his autobiographical tales in Trials of the Cosmic Oddity, Derna continues her train journey in Assumed, additionally we get two short tales from his impressive (unseen) archive.
• A "Summer Special"?  Don't worry it is all explained inside and if you are my age or slightly younger you will remember UK weekly comics and their bumper specials.  Trials of the Cosmic Oddity continues and we learn about his love of music and a certain Toyah.  There is the growing rebellious streak and a swift interruption by two...yes, two, Cosmic Oddities!
• If you have ever watched the movie Prince of Darkness then you will get the joke in The Transmission.
• What would happen if the Terminator met Judge Dredd? And, say, a sword wielding mystery woman? Guess where you can find them?
• My only complaint about this series is that there are not enough pages!
• In today's self publishing field it is good to have personal comics that are not complaining about "the bloody Tories" or "I spent my Uni allowance now I have to ask the oldies for extra cash" or "Oh my life is hell" and so on.  If you are going to produce a comic to entertain and tell a story then make it good -add a text feature like Derna Assumed (part 4 in this issue) where you will see how not to use a syringe.
• It really is fun when these books arrive and I finally have some energy to actually re-read and review!

Ace Hart In Super Thriller Annual 1958

  I mentioned Ace Hart In Super Thriller Annual in a previous post and I am sure that I promised to show the illustrations accompanying the text stories -only one per annual.  So here you go.

https://britishgoldenagecomics.blogspot.com/2024/06/ace-hart-in-super-thriller-annual.html

There is an excellent interview with artist Edgard Hodges along with art and photographs over at the Sodor Island Fansite

https://www.sodor-island.com/edgar-hodges

Chang3lings Comics: 4th Big Book of Rap

 

• US Letter, 8.5×11 in, 22×28 cm
  number of Pages: 20
• Publish Date: Jun 02, 2024
• £6.00
• https://www.blurb.co.uk/b/12020717-4th-big-book-of-rap
• 
  
• "Underground legend Richard Pester continues exploring decades of work never before seen."
• A simple statement but it hides a lot.  Apart from the covers that are very eye catching and different there are the interiors.  Trials of the Cosmic Oddity continues and in this part "Davey" is caught out drawing...comics! Know the feeling from when my own parents taunted me over writing science fiction when I was at school.  
• Derna Assumed and Derna A Lost Episode are nice changes as the text stories featuring colour as well as black and white illoes (19 in total) nicely and is reminiscent of the old British comics where there were illustrated text stories.  Even the old Class Comics featured these and as someone who learnt mainly to read from comics ("Gran -what does 'psychokinesis' mean?") I approve. If you just want pretty pictures (this one has those) but really don't want to strain yourself by reading...you are in the wrong place.
• The front cover as well as the back (interior and external) feature two lovely pin up pieces and, oh, right; there's also a short piece on why to never trust Fantagraphic Books or a contract from them.
• I still say that A Cosmic Oddity would make a great graphic novel and having already read it all in black and white I think it is fair to say it would make a great British rival of Harvey Pekar's American Splendor -and that is not bull-shit. I re-read the first volume twice and bored people talking about it.
• This is bound to get a big thumb's up and if you don't buy it now you are going to be rather daft looking in the future!