Tuesday, 31 December 2024
Monday, 30 December 2024
Sunday, 29 December 2024
This Month
We might still have a couple of days of 2024 to go but the view figures so far this month stands at 41,778 and if I had $1/£1 for each view I would be very happy indeed.
Sadly, I don't get a penny! 😂😂😂
I shall earn my fortune elsewhere.....yoy
Interestingly, once again, the Blogger stats counter has been reset (and not by me) so that "officially" it only shows a total of almost 6 million views of the blog and only 363 thousand views this year. Luckily I keep a good record!
Saturday, 28 December 2024
Cinebook Ltd Newsletter 204- december 2024
A A quick response to a question about why I never include the list of reviewers of Cinebook titles in the summaries like this. Well, do you think they mention CBO? Also, it may not be much but CBO has reviews (even though Cinebook forgot to include a link to this blog again) so why push people in the direction of other blogs?
Now, get on to reading what really matters!
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Friday, 27 December 2024
Room Chaos Really Needs A Tidy Up....or to be blown up!
I have technical papers to finish and some other projects and then in 2025 (fingers crossed) Room Chaos needs a good reorganising.
As someone put it; "If there was ever another lockdown then THIS is the place to be locked in!" but it still needs a good sorting.
Thursday, 26 December 2024
THANK YOU
Just to say ...
THANK YOU!
To the 2700 to 3000 visitors each day, especially over this holiday season. Although no one leaves comments I guess something must be going right post wise to keep you all entertained 365 days of the year.
The support is appreciated.
A Second Christmas Posting Is A Sign Of A Bored Mind (or someone with no personal life)
I should have mentioned in yesterday's post that any of the newer British Golden Age discoveries I have made over the last couple of years will not go into another Golden Age collection. There seems to be no interest in the rare and hard to find series, as proven by the 6 volume series and massive collected edition. ..or the Comic Bits magazine dedicated to the subject which was highly praised by those who read it but sales were so low the amount of time and effort put into each 80 pager was far from worth it.
Any of the characters found will appear in one of the new style one off anthologies. Two I have already mentioned in the previous post.
The main focus in 2025 will be to try to boost sales (I do not have a pension plan!) because, despite the people who have read the titles and given them good reviews or even (2023) (because Black Tower has been hiding since 1984!) the "New company to watch" 😂 it does not add up to sales and though I love writing and drawing comics I do have bills to pay and food to buy.
The idea of a one day, old style comic mart is one I want to look into as books tend to sell better at these than they do online -showing what I called "the lie of internet commerce" years ago. "Get on the internet to sell and use social media" -those people vanished themselves pretty quickly as they made their money and ran before the big con was realised. Face Book, LinkedIn, Twitter/X and so one as well as various internet sites get high numbers of views of publication items BUT views do not put money in the bank.
It might be worth pointing out, again, that the online store means that if you order a book it is sold to you in the local currency (so dollars, Yen or whatever), printed and posted to you in your region. No international shipping or customs fees. This blog gets a huge number of views from the United States, Singapore, Hong Kong, Germany, Austria -basically world wide so you might expect some interest or curiosity. As a visitor pointed out the other day when I was showing the stats; the UK, where CBO is based, provides the lowest number of views. Work that one out.
There are, therefore (is that a near double negative?) plans for 2025 and over 200 books to push so, hopefully, I'll see you next year!
Wednesday, 25 December 2024
THE BALLAD OF RENÉ GOSCINNY an Update Comment
Is It Too Soon To Say "Goodbye Christmas"?
Right, Christmas day and I've tidied up the kitchen and gone through some boxes. Also emptied the kitchen bin and put out the recycling. What a glamorous life we international publishers live!
Anyway, I am almost finished with the big technical paper I have to put together on the 80+ fox post mortems and draw the conclusions. I hope to get all of that out of the way just after the new year. Then I can get back to the comic projects.
The first will be the long awaited werewolf story starring the Questors, The Prof, Tarot the Gipsy sorcerer and a lot of other guests. It'll be a howl once finished (see what IU did there? Pathetic, wasn't it?).
Then there is the old and new combined art of the Parallel Motions book which has literally taken since 1995 to complete. Lots of cleaning up (almost done) and then lettering.
Had a fantastic story idea while sleeping and it will never be drawn of course. I started to put together a list of storylines (series or one offs) I have and they are hard to stop coming so I just tend to ignore them these days. I got up to idea 25 and then realised what I was doing was pointless without a stable of unpaid artists working away so gave up.
In 2025 I can start concentrating solely on Black Tower Comics and books such as the "Mystery" books covering cryptozoology, ghosts, mystery beasts and, of course, UFOs. The comics, comic albums and graphic novels I will also be pushing and I hope to put together a one day comic and zine event somewhere.
I have a lot of other plans but I tend not to announce things until I have everything sorted. In the mean time there are over 200 books on the online store!
Hope you all get over Christmas and have a good 2025!
Tuesday, 24 December 2024
Sunday, 22 December 2024
Saturday, 21 December 2024
Chinese Manhua in 2025
.webp)
So keep your eyes open in early January.
Friday, 20 December 2024
Thursday, 19 December 2024
Wednesday, 18 December 2024
Tuesday, 17 December 2024
Monday, 16 December 2024
Black Tower Corporal Religion! (It's Baaaack!)
A4
B&W
20pp
£7.00
https://www.lulu.com/en/en/shop/terry-hooper/corporal-religion-no-1/paperback/product-nj4yw7.html
Over thirty years since Corporal Religion Against the Pinko Commie Menace and the world thought that it was safe.
It was wrong!
His religion is Hard Capitalism
His dream is total anarchy
And his motto is:"American Might Is Always Right"
No, this is not the Trumpster.
This is....well, it's...complicated.
I know what people will say but this has NOTHING to do with a Mr Donald Trump. Honest.
Black Tower Streamline and Moon Man #1
Dennis Holmes Wilberton & Friends
80pp
A4
black and white
£8.00
Streamline the Golden Age British speedster created by Denis Gifford and Moon Man get the Black Tower treatment in this one off comic with a difference.
These are new stories and art and not Golden/Silver Ages reprints but remaining true to the original action, adventure and FUN ethic!
Black Tower Tales of Terror 5
Once again the library of the Black Tower is opened and its files delved into. Robert Lovett -back from the dead for vengeance?
A mysterious case of two men falling into a strange dimension -the Black Abyss! The Living dead!Sunday, 15 December 2024
Saturday, 14 December 2024
Friday, 13 December 2024
Black Tower Classic Come On, Steve!
A4
B&W
32pp
£6.00
https://www.lulu.com/en/en/shop/terry-hooper/classic-fun-comics-1come-on-steve/paperback/product-1gq92mwe.html
Steve The Horse the creation of Roland Davies was a hugely popular newspaper comic stripin the UK and the Steve movies of the 1930s had an international audience.
Learn how Davies got started in animation and comic strips as well as more about his career as a fine artist.
And, of course, see some of the Steve strips reprinted and Ben R. Dilworth's modern take on the innocent character!
Black Tower Classic Dene Vernon -Ghost and Mystery Detective
A4
B&W
24pp
£7.00
https://www.lulu.com/en/en/shop/terry-hooper/dene-vernon-mystery-detective/paperback/product-124edpvm.html
After more than 70 years John McCail's ghost and mystery detective, Dene Vernon is back.
Black Tower Classic Hurricane Hurry -The Stranger On A Horse
http://www.lulu.com/shop/terry-hooper/hurricane-hurry-stranger-on-a-horse/paperback/product-24490237.html
Hurricane Hurry is seemingly always at the right place and right time to come across bush-whacking skunks, low down varmints and plain old killers.
Under cover U.S. Marshall or Pinkerton Man? Or just a stranger on a horse "moving along"?
William A. Wards Western hero slaps-irons and uses his fists to deals out some Wild West justice.
Reprinting strips not seen in 60-70 years.
Saturday, 7 December 2024
Thursday, 5 December 2024
Press Release: Lucky Luke 83!
This month, Cinebook will publish our 83rd (!) Lucky Luke adventure, Trouble Brewing, available in the UK from the 12th of December - barely three weeks after it came out in France.
On sale from Thursday 12th December
A Lucky Luke adventure in the style of Morris
TROUBLE BREWING
Script: Jul
Artwork: Achdé
Colours: Mel Acryl’ink
Depressed cowboys and gloomy saloons ...
NOTHING IS RIGHT IN THE OLD WEST ANY MORE!
A large-scale ’beer strike‘ paralyses the country’s breweries, leaving all the saloons dry and bringing them to a standstill!
The inhabitants of New München beg Lucky Luke to help them end the movement that threatens the way of life of the entire Wild West. The lonesome cowboy gives in and agrees to go to Milwaukee, but his arrival in the ’beer capital of America”, a largely industrial city with Germanic influences, is a shock. A meeting with his old Native-American friend Two-headed Eagle, who has become a factory worker and married a German woman, will help him navigate the ruthless world of breweries. Having to deal on the one hand with the all-powerful businessman and ’Beer Baron‘ Frederick Martz, and on the other with trade unionists following Karl Marx’s philosophies, our bewildered righter of wrongs will need double his usual efforts and skill to bring the Old West back to its former glory ... and that’s not even taking into account the Daltons’ interference!
Shootouts in factories, chases through the slums of the city, the fate of breweries decided at poker – will the man who shoots faster than his shadow, thrown into ’modern times‘, succeed in reconciling workers and bosses, and save the culture of the Wild West.
It’s a revolution in the Lucky Luke series: for the first time, this title confronts Lucky Luke with the modern industrial era of America! Unions, bosses, factory workers … What if the big city was wilder than the Wild West? Rooted in historical facts in true Lucky Luke fashion, this adventure features some of the most iconic symbols of America – hamburgers, hot dogs, ketchup and the Christmas tree – and their inventors, as well as the language of their community, which came this close to becoming the official language of the United States: German! Although often forgotten, German immigrants made up the majority of the northern population of the Old West. This thriving Germanic community, which counted among its members Donald Trump’s grandfather as well as the first communists on the continent, is an inexhaustible source of gags in this Lucky Luke title. So, put on your cowboy hat and your lederhosen, and you too can face the ‘Trouble Brewing’ , a fast-paced adventure that’s as hilarious as it is informative.
JUL
This former press cartoonist released his first graphic novel in 2005. His cult series Silex and the City was adapted for television by Arte, then made into a feature film. With Charles Pépin, he co-writes The Planet of the Wise and Fifty Shades of Greeks. Awarded the Goscinny Prize in 2007, Jul has been writing Lucky Luke’s scripts for ten years.
Dropping Lucky Luke in a factory is almost revolutionary, isn’t it?
I found it amusing to send him to a factory, as he embodies wide open spaces, freedom and individualism. For him, it is a real shock, but there is nothing anachronistic about this situation. The story takes place at the historical turning point when the United States tipped into modernity, represented by the industrial revolution. Lucky Luke seems to embody a resistance to this world.
Have cowboys ceased to exist in the United States?
Not at all. They’re still part of the American Midwest’s landscape, even if there are no longer large-scale cattle drives. They still compete in rodeos, go to saloons, and have a passion for weapons – just like in the adventures of Lucky Luke.
We discover that the German-speaking population played an important role in building the country...
As in previous albums, I wanted to champion the voice of a community that contributed to the formation of the United States, in the same way as the African-American and Jewish communities. Immigrants of Germanic origin settled in several waves starting in the 18th century, and German almost became the official language of the country! In States like Dakota, Wyoming and Wisconsin, the majority of the population is of German descent.
What mark did they leave?
They introduced the most iconic symbols of the American way of life such as the hamburger, ketchup and the hot dog. We also owe them the idea of Kindergartens and the Christmas tree.
Despite being a hero, like many people Lucky Luke has back problems...
That’s hardly surprising, as he carries all the justice in the world on his shoulders! I made him gain weight in The Promised Land, he got seasick in A Cowboy in Paris, the Daltons needed toilets in A Cowboy in High Cotton… Giving emotions to the hero and reminding us that he has a body is a way of humanising him while respecting the blueprint of the series. Something ‘Spaghetti Westerns’ did well, but Western comics had not dared attempt much so far.
ACHDE´
He bought his first Lucky Luke when he was nine years old … and a calling was born! After studying radiology and radiotherapy, he signed on with publishing house Dargaud, and worked on several well-known series (C.R.S = Distress / C.R.S = Détresse, The Wretched of the Road / Les Damnés de la route...), and of course The Adventures of Rin Tin Can. Since 2001, he has been illustrating the adventures of the Lonesome Cowboy, as well as the Kid Lucky books, which he also writes.
In this title, Lucky Luke faces a major culture shock…
He discovers an industrial world with which he is not familiar, as well as a different side of his country, the United States. As for me, I don’t like the city, and drawing an urban environment was no walk in the park! But this sort of artistic challenge forces me to leave my comfort zone and push myself, which is not a bad thing.
Your description of the United States does not match the traditional portrayal of the country…
Because of Hollywood movies, we have long believed that the population of the United States was homogeneous and everyone spoke perfect English. In reality, at the end of the 19th century, some towns were French, others were German, Danish or Russian. Nowadays, populations of foreign origin have melted in the proverbial pot. Thankfully, recent waves of Hispanic immigration continue to speak Spanish, and we are witnessing a resurgence of French thanks to African and Haitian immigrants. Bilingualism is always an asset.
Jul sent you a ‘panel by panel’ script, sometimes adding sketches to the dialogue. What was your margin of freedom?
The artist must not simply follow the instructions given to them to the letter. They’re there to magnify the scriptwriter’s work.
Therefore, I operate on the principle that it’s my job to take care of the staging, but not to the detriment of the original idea. Consequently, I haven’t always followed his layout exactly, and I’ve re-arranged it when I deemed it necessary. In cinema, the screenwriter does not tell the director how he should hold his camera ... By mutual agreement, our tasks are well defined. I always plan my scenes in advance, create the sets, choose my actors, and position my camera according to the action proposed by the script. Well, when I say ’camera‘, it’s really my pencil and my brushes! Attractive and readable art – that’s the key.
Has your job as the artist evolved since the previous Lucky Luke titles?
On this story, I have at times moved away from the traditional grid layout and instead drawn certain panels in a more modern way, often for the sake of efficiency, like the panel that shows Joe Dalton falling into a beer vat. Today’s readers are used to alternate layouts, and you have to keep the series evolving. Working away from the writer can also be an advantage, because it forces me to fend for myself when I am faced with a difficulty. But, I am never satisfied with the result: I re-drew the scene that takes place at the opera fifteen times! I finally found the solution by looking at an illustration from the beginning of the 20th century …
ACHDE´
He bought his first Lucky Luke when he was nine years old … and a calling was born! After studying radiology and radiotherapy, he signed on with publishing house Dargaud, and worked on several well-known series (C.R.S = Distress / C.R.S = Détresse, The Wretched of the Road / Les Damnés de la route...), and of course The Adventures of Rin Tin Can. Since 2001, he has been illustrating the adventures of the Lonesome Cowboy, as well as the Kid Lucky books, which he also writes.
© Charlie Ambrose
Wednesday, 4 December 2024
Tuesday, 3 December 2024
The Amazing Adventures of CAPTAIN V!
A Re-post from 2014 and September 2023
The comic was CAPTAIN V!
CAPTAIN V
CAPTAIN V was the "scientific experiment" of DR EVIL and at the time he was working for the Singapore Police Force. The good Captain was super fast [but not Flash standard fast?],very strong and bullet proof thanks to his costume.
As is always the case,Dr Evil had an hidden agenda and went into hiding with his "experimental formulas" [so we assume CAPTAIN V was the human result of scientific enhancement]. Obviously,this could not be allowed and so Captain V was assigned the task of stopping his mentor.
Oooh. 23K (again)
Views for the last 30 days stands at 23,000 and some new countries have started to appear in the "Where they from?" data.
To the newcomers -welcome!
To the regulars....carry on! 😁
Monday, 2 December 2024
The Amazing World of Alan Class
Before everyone who thought they could push up the price on these black and white reprint comics from Alan Class I set up the first Alan Class and Class Comics web page and blog (check blog roll) and I interviewed him. https://alanclasscomics.blogspot.com/
This publication was the result
A4
B&W
24pp
£7.00
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 Suspense, 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!