Comics Are What Are Important Not Egos and Bragging About Reviving an Industry

  It is a simple fact that Black Tower has been continuing publishing new and established characters in anthology titles, comics, comic albums (over 40pp) and graphic novels since 1984.  We have over 200 books at the online store. Horror, ghosts, super heroes, crime-action, slice-of-life, Sci Fi and much much.

I, personally, have promoted Small Press comics and publishers since 1984 and that includes non UK publishers and helped pave the way for the 1980s UK Zine invasion of the 1980s. 

I have promoted British comics history, creators and dug into the history of the genre and revealed some long lost and very forgotten characters -I have even been credited as keeping interest in the old characters alive in two books.

My bio appears in comic/BD data bases around the world in which my work is mentioned.

In the UK any mention of me on comic forums or sites met with immediate insults. Some of my old Yahoo groups were heavily trolled by certain minor "comic personalities" in the UK. Remember when, back in the early 2000s I suggested that British comic creators unite to try to revive a British comic industry?  I was met with a torrent of abuse on the old WordPress CBO and the nastiness went on a long time as, along with the 6 year long email trolling the eventual file on the case came to over 50 pages. Most of the attacks came from people I had never heard or met and certainly they never bought my books. One silly little troll is well known and warnings moved them along although they continue (after two decades!!!) to follow what I am doing and make comments on private comic forums.

My comics work entry on Wikipedia that someone wrote was deleted and "contributed nothing of significance" to comics was the reason. Interesting that the creators I got into Marvel and DC and elsewhere never once offered moral support or spoke up.  Same for my Small Press Wikipedia entry. And that the same people year after year since the early 2000s put pressure on cowardly event organisers to stop me getting a table at events (but they wanted the publicity of being on CBO (which I stopped) to promote their events led to my eventually refusing to publicise British comic conventions.

Now, were I to be a big egotist that might adversely affect me but as more than one person has pointed out I do not have a moderate ego. I do the work and that is it.

So why am I mentioning all of this?   To make it clear to people why I will not be at any convention in the UK selling my books.  To explain why yet another attempt to "revitalise British comics" by a small group is of no interest to me -I was not contacted so when you see the comments from certain factions that I refused to join in it is an outright lie. 

I also draw on over 30 years of going to UK conventions and how at every one there was a person or group that were "unstoppable. We are going to do this and get a comic industry back!"  What we got was in-fighting, back-stabbing, no idea what they were doing  and people who liked to talk and post but never got out of the chair until the next convention.

If the UK is to try to at least revive a small part of its former comic industry it will take investment and that would be from a non UK source as businessmen and banks do not see comics as a worthy investment or even to back as a tax loss.

I carry on doing what I have been doing with Black Tower since 1984 and that is creating comics and books that are fun and thought provoking or inspire other creators. The comics are what are important and not egos or massive boasting.