The Dark Night Detectives: Everything Is Under Control and The Ministry of Safety

 With the way things are going at the moment these two books might be considered "topical" by some.

 

A4

Black & White
50 Pages
Price: £6.00 (excl. VAT)

Ships in 3–5 business days
 http://www.lulu.com/shop/terry-hooper-scharf/the-dark-night-detectives/paperback/product-21975325.html

Its a world where if you stand up for what is right you'll be lucky if its just a beating you get.

A world where people are starving (if poor) and the rich live in luxury.

A world where you have to have birthing Rights.

Where sacrificing someone to the Devil is acceptable -as long as they pay the wages.

A world where if you DO NOT take that bribe you WILL be made an example of.

This shows off Dilworth's skill at writing dark and brooding stories with a hint of satire but just too true to modern life!  It also shows his skill as an artistic story teller and designer.  Some of Ben Dilworth's most provoking and dark work in ages.

 

A4

28pp

B&W

£7.00

https://www.lulu.com/en/en/shop/terry-hooper/the-dark-night-detectives-no-2-november-2020/paperback/product-7jr8g8.html

Its a world where if you stand up for what is right you'll be lucky if its just a beating you get. A world where people are starving (if poor) and the rich live in luxury. A world where you have to have birthing Rights. Where sacrificing someone to the Devil is acceptable -as long as they pay the wages. A world where if you DO NOT take that bribe you WILL be made an example of. 

This was the dystopian world set up by Ben Dilworth in Small Press publications in the 1980 and some strips in Black Tower books and led on to The Dark Night Detectives: Everything Is Under Control. 

Now Detective Inspector Black and Special Constable (Community Policing) Jones are back and it is still dark, bleak and depressingly familiar in a way.

 The ending will make you ask more than a few questions.

Black Tower Gold - British Golden Age Comics Reprinted in high Quality

 Going by what people are asking now IF you can find the comics reprinted in these collections, just the comics in the first volume would cost you around  £200/.$210.  The complete collection -for which in a number of instances there are absolutely no copies being sold-  would cost you around £500+

Which means you get some rare gems to see for more than cut price!

A4

B&W

94 pages

Price: £8.00 (excl. VAT)Prints in 3-5 business days

http://www.lulu.com/shop/terry-hooper-scharf/black-tower-british-gold-collection-1/paperback/product-12183527.html

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!

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A4
Paperback
B&W
68 pp

Price: £8.00 (excl. VAT)Prints in 3-5 business days

http://www.lulu.com/shop/terry-hooper-scharf/black-tower-british-gold-collection-2/paperback/product-12183569.html

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.

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A4
Paperback
B&W
68 pages

Price: £8.00 (excl. VAT)Prints in 3-5 business days

http://www.lulu.com/shop/terry-hooper-scharf/black-tower-british-gold-collection-3/paperback/product-12183586.html

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.

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A4
Paperback
B&W
86 pages

Price: £8.00 (excl. VAT)Prints in 3-5 business days

http://www.lulu.com/shop/terry-hooper-scharf/uk-gold-collection-4/paperback/product-12184087.html

The fourth volume of this series features some great finds of the lost era of British comics:

Ace Hart The Atom Man, Captain Comet -Space Ranger, TNT Tom, Clive Lynn -Space Reporter, Superstooge, "The White Gorilla", Atomic Tuffy, Cast Iron Chris, Sigord.....

and many others!

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A4

Paperback

B&W

68pp

Price: £8.00 (excl. VAT)Prints in 3-5 business days

http://www.lulu.com/shop/terry-hooper-scharf/black-tower-gold-5back-from-the-dead/paperback/product-12184231.html

William McCail’s 1940 classic is reprinted for the first time in 80 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!

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A4
Paperback
B&W
35 pages

Price: £5.00 (excl. VAT)Prints in 3-5 business days

http://www.lulu.com/shop/terry-hooper-scharf/black-tower-gold-6/paperback/product-16249586.html

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!

And if you want all of the above in one huge volume then....

A4
Paperback
B&W
405 pages

Price: £25.00 (excl. VAT)Prints in 3-5 business days

http://www.lulu.com/shop/terry-hooper-scharf/the-ultimate-british-comics-gold-collection/paperback/product-22041282.html

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 comic 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!

Why Don't I Do Interviews Anymore> Because No One Wants To Give Interviews These Days

 I was asked why I do not do interviews with creators or publishers any more?  The truth is that no one is standing out enough for me to be interested in interviewing them.  Also, as with Michael Cho, I like catching people at the start of their careers and at the time I stated that Cho had the talent to make it into mainstream comics and he did.

When a company or independent/small press publisher had a book to promote they would get in contact because they knew I would have an attitude that was not negative or overly butt sniffing positive. The best reviews I have given are for books the creators of which I really hate but it is not personal opinion it is the work I am looking at. 

Now people think "I have a blog so I can publicise my books myself!" but 20-30 views a day or even a week is not great.  On average CBO gets between 2500-3000 world wide views a day and publishers tend to see interest in their web sites and blogs picking up after links are given here -even sales increase slightly (that is never a guarantee).   

And, of course, so many people who publish a 20pp small press comic feel they are stars and I know of four who stated that they were headed for the Big Time (they stated that 15-20 years ago and no sign of them yet).  I had three creators self publishing who wanted me to promote their comics and I responded that I reviewed everything sent in. I was then told how much a review book would cost me.  Bye-bye!  

I do get 3-6 people each week tell me they have a new book and they are open to interviews but their books do not exist and they want their crowdfunding promoted. I do not do that.   "I'll send a review PDF" usually gets the response "No. Not interested" because after LOTS of problems with promoting books by PDF reviews in the early -books that never appeared and people who ordered never got their books or money back CBO does not even open PDFs sent.

People assume that they do not need people promoting them and so no interviews whether mainstream  ,Independent or small press. I have not stopped but in a world where someone publishing one book that no one has ever heard of tells you what he expects to get paid for interviews you can tell things have gone wrong!

The Hooper Interviews -Comic Book History

 

From a huge selection of interviews covering the Small Press, Independent and mainstream Comics from the UK, Europe and US. Here are a few of the best interviews from 30 years.

Paperback

Perfect Bound

A4 (cms=20.98 wide x 29.69 tall)

B&W

365 pages

profusely illustrated with art and photographs.

£25.00   $29.58

ISBN  9781326210113

Prints in 3-5 business days

http://www.lulu.com/shop/terry-hooper-scharf/the-hooper-interviews/paperback/product-22078000.html

 Someone referred to it as “Comics 101” –background info on creators, how they got started, what tools and even paper/board they use.  Damn near damaged my wrist because it is a BIG book. And Who exactly is interviewed in this book?

Karen Rubins  -The Dark, The Witch and other books

Alan Class        -the man behind the Class Comics series

Kate Glasheen -the incredibly talented artist on Hybrid Bastards, Bandages and other works

Tom Pinchuck -writer of Hybrid Bastards

Dave Ryan       -the artist/writer behind War of The Independents

Jon Haward    -UK artist who worked of Tales of the Buddha, Dan Dare and more

Ron Fortier     -the man behind Mr Jig-Saw and Airstrip 27 books

Michael Cho  -creator of Max Finder Mysteries and some really cool art

Then there are a bunch of interviews related to The Black Coat that was published by Ape Entertainment -Francavilla may be a name familiar to DC and Marvel comic fans these days:

Jeremy Colwell

Ben Lichius

Adam Cadogan

Franco Frankavilla

The comic character Gumby also returned to comics and that created another series of interviews titled: The Gumby Interviews (Gumby, himself, was never interviewed)

Mel Smith

Paul H. Birch

Rick Geary

Joe Martino -from Ripperman to Shadow Flame

Yishan Li    -Seriously, do I have to explain who Yishan Li is? DCs Blue Beetle, the Buffy comic and much more!

Pekka Manninen -As far as I am concerned, Finland's top comic creator and I'm not saying that because I am the UKs top Kapteeni Kuolio (Captain Gangrene) fan!

Lauren Watton -Pink Apple Jam and Sweatdrop Studios

Willie Hewes      -Amaranth and Itch! Publishing

Emma Vieceli     -come on. Star of stage and musicals not to mention one of the UKs top Manga artists -Manga Shakespeare, Dragon Heir and more.

Sonia Leong      -another noted UK Manga artist whose credits include Romeo and Juliet for Manga Shakespeare.

Nick Defina -the man behind Septagon Studios and Scorn

Donna Barr  -The Desert Peach and so much more that you can check up on at her Midnight Library blog.  She's a comic book Goddess.

Roberta Gregory -The other comic book Goddess and pioneering female creator. 

Roberta created Bitchy Bitch and many other characters.

Jeff Brooks  -the man behind the UK editions of Classics Illustrated

Matt (D'Israeli) Brooker -from zines to "proper comics" including Deadline in the 1980s

Tania Del Rio -Sabrina the teenage Witch and more for Archie Comics

Holly Golightly -Broadsword Comics, Archie, Schoolbites and much more

Vanessa Wells -superb creator of a comic I loved titled Shrouded and much more these days -http://www.vanessa.withbits.com

Marv Wolfman -Yes. The Marv Wolfman.

Morag Lewis -another UK Manga artist who worked with Sweatdrop Studios

The Etherington Brothers -if you've ever been to a good UK event you will have seen the duo behind Malcolm Magic, The 8th Moon Sketchbook,  Moon and more.

Nicole Damon -CBOs favourite fantasy art model. Nicole has worked with Ben Uriegas, Loprenzo Sperlonga, Greg Hildebrandt and others.

Olivier Cadic -the man who brought Franco-Belgian comics to the English language readers via Cinebook The 9th Art!  Everything you need to know.

Mike Western -"The Guv'nor" of British comics with strips such as The Wild Wonders, The Leopard From Lime Street and so many more to his name they would need a book to list.

John Cooper -Again, a creator who worked on many UK comic strips from Judge Dredd, One-Eyed Jack, Johnny Red and many others.

CBO Background Theme Image

 Is the front cover art by Paul Ashley Brown for Dr Morg: Journey of the ID (a Black Tower comic album)

La Mujer Murcielago * 1968 * Restaurada en Blue Ray * En Español * Batwo...

Daredevil: Born Again - Official Trailer (2025) Charlie Cox, Jon Berntha...

Meet The King of Kaiju Collectibles! | 怪獣王ソフビ! | Certified Geek Ep. 5

Diamond Distributor Files for Bankruptcy

 

Even before the "hiccup" of what we call the !pandemic" I was writing about problems with Diamond and its comic distribution.  In fact, if you go back to 2016 I noted that people working for Diamond in the UK were reporting things were not great.

Much as the comic book drama queens  jump onto anything comic related -whether scandals such as Alan Moore, Warren Ellis, Nil Gaiman or comic book creators/podcasters who in the latter case, before anything was officially processed, piled in on the man and caused him to commit suicide...before all jumping in and accusing "comic fandom" of driving the said creator to suicide: this is jumped on.

"The death of the comic industry!".  "This is THE END!"  and so on and so forth. It needs to be pointed out to these  view whores for You Tube money that there ARE other distributors and this is just them taking part in the whole"the internet must scare or frighten people daily".

The comic book companies will continue. Other distributors will take over. Oh, but this is THE American comic industry. Schmucks.

This is the most straight forward online piece I could find from The Verge

 https://www.theverge.com/2025/1/14/24343544/diamond-comics-bankruptcy

"Diamond Comics Distributors, one of the biggest companies involved in getting graphic novels into physical retailers for purchase, is filing for bankruptcy and scaling its business back as the industry braces itself for a new wave of economic challenges.

In a letter sent to comics retailers and publishers today, Diamond president Chuck Parker announced that the company has filed for Chapter 11 Bankruptcy and plans to sell off its Alliance Game Distributors arm to Universal in order to “protect the most vital aspects of our business.”

“This decision was not made lightly, and I understand that this news may be as difficult to hear as it is for me to share,” Parker explained. “The Diamond leadership team and I have worked tirelessly to avoid this outcome but the financial challenges we face have left us with no other viable option.”

Founded in 1982 by Stephen A. Geppi (who still serves as CEO), Diamond became a heavyweight in the comics business by securing a number of exclusive distribution agreements with various publishing houses like DC, Marvel, and Image. For decades, Diamond — which also publishes its Previews magazine showcasing upcoming titles — was instrumental in bringing comics to market and played a huge role in determining a book’s success because of how Previews influenced retailer orders.

News about Diamond’s bankruptcy comes weeks after the company suddenly shuttered its flagship fulfillment center in Plattsburgh, NY, which the company’s VP of retailer services Chris Powell described as a necessary step to address longstanding operational issues that made its distribution process unsustainable.

“Ideally, changes would have been planned and tested while we continued to operate as we had been at Plattsburgh,” Powell said. “With that no longer an option, we must make changes and test them with live data and shipments while trying to minimize the impact on retailers.”

In recent years, many of Diamond’s bigger name publishing partners have dropped them as the company failed to meet expected delivery deadlines to retailers, which left stores struggling to meet customer demand. Given the tough time Diamond has been having as of late, the announcement that it’s filing for bankruptcy isn’t entirely surprising. It sounds like the company’s leadership very much wants to stay in the comics game as long as possible, but as it stands now, it seems like all Diamond can really do is to staunch the bleeding as much as it can.