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Friday, 31 October 2025
Black Tower The Iron Warrior Vs Big Bong: When Giants Fought!
A4
16pp
£6.00
https://www.lulu.com/en/en/shop/terry-hooper-scharf/the-iron-warrior-vs-big-bong/paperback/product-12vr5r7n.html
In the 1940s, deep in the South American jungles, Rodney Dearth,inventor and adventurer, is searching for the lost explorer Percy H. Fawcett and City Z.
Then he hears the stories that terrify his native bearers. There is a city -guarded by Big Bong! But Dearth is not afraid -he has his own creation to protect him -THE IRON WARRIOR!
Ben Dilworth continues the adventures of the Iron Warrior, created by William A. Ward,presenting an action romp featuring one of the UKs most violent characters -tongue firmly in cheek. We think!
Black Tower Halcon Lord of the Craterland
A4
24pp
B&W
£6.00
https://www.lulu.com/en/en/shop/terry-hooper/halcon-lord-of-the-craterland-no-1-july-2020/paperback/product-7jy675.html
Halcon Lord of the lost craterland. Created by Nat Brand (Len Fullerton) in 1940 for Swan Comics and seen occasionally in various Black tower titles now gets his own one off books thanks to Ben Dilworth.
Action and fun all the way with stories such as -
"Alligator", "Lake Monster", "Monkey", "Pteranodon", "Into the Moon" and "Alien".
The twist ending to "Werewolf" even had the old bearded one surprised!
Black Tower The Masked Marshal: Life by the Gun
A4
B&W
24pp
£7.00
It's the Wild West and one man, his identity hidden by a mask, has been made a United States Marshal with a remit to travel where ever he needs to and an even more secret remit: rid the West of the outlaws and killers and make it safe for American citizens -use any and all methods.
The toll A Life By The Gun will take is unknown to the Masked Marshal but is inevitable.
Ben Dilworth guides Stransky & Labbat to bring us stories of gun law:
Bad Law
Bushwackers
The Old Man of the River
Snowball
Clayton Gang
Some times even hitching up your horse while you take a drink can lead to death.
Black Tower Corporal Religion!
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.
Black Tower The Masked Marshal & Friends
A4
B&W
18pp
£7.00
He rode the Wild West dispensing two gun justice and wore a mask. Driven by the need to exact justice and bring law to the West, the Masked Marshal had no idea the cost he would eventually pay.
In this comic the Marshal is joined by other popular Black Tower characters such as The Iron Warrior, The Clock, The Owl and the Purple Hood.
Dilworth, Stransky and Labatt producing more action and fun
Black Tower Super Heroes 4
A4
B&W
80pp
£8.00
https://www.lulu.com/shop/terry-hooper/black-tower-super-heroes-no-4-2020/paperback/product-ejq7y4.html?page=1&pageSize=4
Yes, the fourth issue of BTSH is here and it is so crammed full of eye boggling action that we had to use adamantium staples to keep it all together!
Kotar, Sabuta along with Tarot and Lady Silvana face the werewolf while the Zero Heroes are in a church surrounded by zombies and what happens to "the other guy" at the end...I'm asking -what happened?
Jack finds that he could have had a fatal dose, while The Trial continues and the mystery deepens.
There is more -much much more!
Blue Saviour is the cover star and a tribute to creator David A. Johnson who brightened up Bath comic marts with his Blue Saviour, Madame Mystery and Enigma comics!
Cinebook Ltd Newsletter 214 - October 2025
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Thursday, 30 October 2025
Wednesday, 29 October 2025
Time For A Non Connected Halloween Blather
I know that a blog with "only" 13-15k views per day is not much in the scheme of things but you might think that, considering this is a world wide audience, some people might want their comics or zines reviewed? In the past I've reviewed DVDs of new film releases sent (Howl and so on) and Titan Books were regularly sending in review books and those book reviews are still being read 8-10 years later!!).
So why all the reticence? And why is it so difficult to find a sponsor with those type of viewing figures?
The problem is everyone now has the mindset of "I want everything NOW and for FREE!" I just ignore emails now where I am told I can BUY a book or zine to review. People seem to have forgotten how it all works.
Back in the 1970s-early 1990s and the internet becoming more available people learnt the skill of writing and drawing comics through Small Press/zine work. The point was that it showed what they could do and gave them portfolio material to show around. There are people out there who for 10 years have had nothing published other than in their own small press comics which really doesn't count, and still expect Marvel, DC or Image to grab up their talent. Work on someone else's script as editors need to know you can do that.
All rather depressing really. Rather like having 13-15k views a day blog and no one bothers commenting..... oh
Black Tower -Krakos: The Sands Of Terror
64pp
black and white
comic album (A4)
£6.00
https://www.lulu.com/en/en/shop/terry-hooper-scharf/krakos-sands-of-terror/paperback/product-1rg8ngqv.html
Created by William A. Ward for Swan Comics in the 1940s,Krakos was one of Ward’s supernatural anti-hero types.
Used,with Swan’s permission,in Black Tower Adventure strips in the 1980s/1990s,this is the character’s first solo outing.
But will Krakos fulfill the Goddess Isis’ dream and become the new pharoah of a New Egyptian Kingdom that will encompass all of the Middle East? Did anyone actually ask Krakos?
The book contains information on Ward and his work plus sample pages rescued after 60 years of neglect!
Black Tower - The Bat Triumphant!
A4
B&W
60pp
£6.00
https://www.lulu.com/shop/terry-hooper-scharf/the-bat-triumphant/paperback/product-12046091.html
In 1941,The Bat sets about modernising the backward Duchy of Stahl,over which his dynasty has ruled since 1410 A.D..
The Bat is soon involved in experiments with the infamous Count Cogliostro. One of these experiments involves suspended animation;The Bat deciding he will be the test subject. When he wakes,The Bat finds that not days have gone by but 51 years!
Worse,his kingdom is in ruins and an enclave of Kamora.
The Bat tries politics to win back his homeland and when that fails he decides to fight for it!
However,he is unaware that some old,and new,enemies are lying in wait to stop him and all of them want one thing:The Bat dead!
Originally a back up strip in Black Tower Adventure in 1994,The Bat proved very popular as an anti-hero. The story was never completed. It is now. New edition -added art pages
Black Tower Chronos The Watchman
40pp
Price: £7.50 (excl. VAT)
Prints in 3-5 business days
on which stands an ancient, war-scarred tower, left to him by an uncle he never knew.
will carry out until his death.
stands between our world and that of...
The Return of the Gods and Green Skies Invasion Earth Series
"I read the original quote from that German blogger and thought it was a lot of hot air. When Return of the Gods: Twilight of the Super Heroes arrived I thought "thick book" and knew you'd taken it from 96 pages to 360+...it looked impressive. I read through it in two days and -robots, aliens, "gods", super heroes, sorcerers, alien invasions and more and world-wide. And you tell me this was done without a script?! It's the only one I can think of so, yeah, the greatest British super hero graphic novel fits as a description." Pete Clark
"You say this is your final big story? The Green Skies was fantastic and everything laid out into chapters was a great touch!"
David Stephens, Comic Reviews
" 'Holy ******* ****!' was all I could say. I even tried counting the number of characters and how the **** you produced all of this without a script beats me. Return of the Gods: Twilight of the Super Heroes and The Green Skies could only have been better if George Perez had drawn it!"
Dan's Comics
"I have no idea why you are not pushing this even harder. The books Return of the Gods: Twilight of the Super Heroes and The Green Skies I would love to see in German or at least get German fans to read since it has a good number of German heroes in it. Next big comic event over here send me copies and I'll sell them on my table!"
Gerd Hammer, German comics historian and trader
Selected comic readers were also chosen to review copies and, obviously, two of these were people from Hong Kong who I corresponded with on Manhua over the years.
"I just wish someone like Tong Li would publish this in Chinese -I mean there are Chinese heroes in this so why not?"
Wang Xiuying
"There HAS to have been a script and more than one person working on this! Brilliant!"
Mike Wayne, Australian comic dealer
Generally, these comments were all similar and I only quote these as any more would be very egotistical. The books should speak for themselves.


A4
B&W
124pp
£15.00
It all began in 1987 and the Black Tower Universe has seen alien attacks, heroes kidnapped to be put into the middle of a war of the gods.
Despite the deaths and losses the heroes -crime fighters, super powered and members of the magical union have come back but now unaware that alien races are escaping through the Sol system and that a mysterious space fleet is heading towards the inner planets, they find themselves trapped or distracted.
The Many Eyed One is finally coming.
The Multiversal Council has quarantined Earth and forbidden any to help.
The evil has spread and there is treachery striking at the very core of Earth's defenders
A4
B&W
126pp
£15.00
Following on from events in Green Skies V. 3 Part I the Clone Zone Boyz are increasing in number while those who created them, the Vampirons, continue to plot and await the arrival of their 'God' -The Many Eyed One.
The Druid finds that his physical and mental state are deteriorating and even the Rev. Merriwether cannot help him.
Shockingly, the Clone Zone Boyz claims someone close to Merriwether and this leads him to team up with two 'unsavoury' characters.
In space Krii and Tyn hrrn face a seemingly unstoppable enemy.
On The Moon the Selenites and representatives of other worlds meet and decide that Johnny Apollo, the Z-Man, is the only one who can lead the counter invasion fleet.
With the enemy striking Mars and then the Moon things look grim
A4
B&W
208pp
£16.00
The gathered Sol Defence fleet is prepared to make its final stand led by Johnny Apollo the Z Man. If it fails to halt the invaders then the doomsday weapon will be detonated and destroy the entire Sol System.
Meanwhile, unaware of the threat in space, Jack Flash, the Avenger and others prepare for a final show down with the Many Eyed One; a final confrontation they know they do not have the power to win.
Is this Humanity...the Earths...final day?
woven into The Green Skies is the story of the harbinger of destruction: the story of Varik Dann -The
Man Who Walked Through a Door and Into Another World
Black Tower: Streamline 2 The Dr Rose Agenda
Ben R Dilworth writer/artist
24 pages
A4
Black and white
£8.00 UK
https://www.lulu.com/shop/terry-hooper/streamline-2/paperback/product-yvyd549.html?page=1&pageSize=4
Keenan King aka Streamline of Earth Parallel 669 meets agent Grimes of MI5 in Westminster Abbey for a briefing. A briefing that seems to indicate that the man who helped King and gave him his powers, Dr. Rose, has mass produced the formula used on him.
If the man who helped give him the powers of Streamline has turned rogue for money or other reasons he has to be stopped.
An army of Streamlines would be unstoppable and a threat to not just the UK but the world.
Tuesday, 28 October 2025
Monday, 27 October 2025
Comic Bits: THE British Golden Age of Comics magazine!
A4
B&W
80pp
Text, comic strips and some rare photographs!
£8.00
The return of THE British Golden Age of Comics magazine!
Interviews with Mike Western, John Cooper and Jon Haward plus a look at Ally Sloper on film, Defining the Ages of British Comics, William McCail plus a lot of art and stripwork.
Comic Bits No. 2
Ed T Hooper-Scharf
A4
B&W
80 pp
£8.00
https://www.lulu.com/shop/terry-hooper/comic-bits-no-2/paperback/product-2ed6pe.html?q=&page=1&pageSize=4
The second issue of the magazine celebrating creators, titles and characters of the British Platinum, Golden and Silver Ages of comics.
In this issue William A. Ward finally gets some long deserved recognition for his contribution to comics John McCail gets "bigged up" something rotten!
We look at comedian and actor Bob Monkhouse's comic creation career
Steve Dowling -Father of the Garth newspaper strip speaks to Denis Gifford (the ONLY interview he ever gave)
There is a look at Dennis M. Reader and his comics work that spawned some of the UKs first super heroes.
also a look at William Fletcher Thomas, Ernest Wilkinson, Jos Walker, Mary Byfield and William H A Chasemore... oh, and LOTS of lovely art and stripwork!
Dare You Read...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!












We will be present at the wonderful Yorkshire comic festival



















