Saturday, 7 March 2026
Kult Creations: REVEREND CROSS: DEFROCKED!
44 pages
Full colour
US sized
Square-bound
Story by John A. Short and illustrated by Gabrielle Noble
Order details at https://reverendcross.blogspot.com/
REVEREND CROSS is back! And this time she's in full colour and in her longest adventure ever!
Hold on to your dog-collar as everything is about to change for the first ever female vicar action hero in REVEREND CROSS: DEFROCKED!
Cast out by the church that trained and armed her... Can Abby Cross save the world from the monsters of Greek mythology with no back-up? Will anything ever be the same again?
It's always nice to see a Short and Noble book turn up as they are probably my only favourite UK based creative comics team!
Firstly let's get the simple stuff out of the way as I know there are people out there who MUST know this before buying: the printing quality and paper stock used are high quality and bound well enough. All the colours are as vibrant as they should be and the text is readable.
The story is what you expect from Short; everything flows smoothly from dungeon action, clerical inquiry to unexpected rendezvous in a public lavatory (oh, get your minds out of the gutter), museum and Mount Olympus. There are the usual pop culture references such as The Prisoner and Quatermass and The Pit and more than a few tongue-in-cheek jokes.
I think that the stand out line was: "Armed Cleric! Fall to your knees and pray!" I will never look at the Right Reverend Henry Bloatesbottom the same when I go to church (which I do not). The story was fun and that is something people forget today: comics should be fun. I do wonder where the end of this story will leave Cross in the future.
Noble's artwork is something I first saw when someone told me that I would "not like" her Spliffy the Stoner Chick because it was not "a classical comic style"....which made me buy the magazine it was in (Wasted). I was told the same thing about Paul Grist's Jack Staff but fell in love with that series (which also heavily featured British TV pop culture of a certain era).
I have seen comics with great stories where the artwork left me cold and not caring that much. Even though it is hard work the artist has to enjoy their work and that really does tell in print -the best review I ever gave a small press comic was for something badly drawn BUT it was very clear that the artist was enjoying himself. The Fun Factor is what you see in Noble's work.
The use of colours to set certain scenes works well. The various characters, whether supernatural, mythical, cyborg or ordinary human. Noble always presents great artwork that works with the given story and she does have a couple of blogs but these have not been updated in a while.
Would I recommend this book? Hmm. Let me think about that.
YES.
Now go and buy a copy and have some fun action and adventure!
DON'T Sleep -WAKE UP! :-)
Well I found out what "slept on" means:
"When a product is described as being "slept on," it means it is undervalued, overlooked, or not getting the attention, popularity, or sales it deserves."
So...WAKE UP!
Oddly someone said to me that two books purchased for £24/$24 was at least £48 in my pocket. No. Print on demand does not work that way. As the publisher you do all the work but the POD company "stores" your file so they take a big cut and the printer obviously needs their cut. That £24 sale earned me £250 -you work out who makes the money. Also, even though a UK publisher with items printed outside the USA because the POD company is US based I have to pay US Taxes (but get no benefits from that).
I never understood why no UK based POD company ever set up. Those are the drawbacks so although a customer can order a book in their own currency and it is printed and delivered in their region I still get the short end of the stick and still pay US tax!!
Stick to your own Small Press publishing unless you can get a guaranteed audience and selling in hundreds -the current interest isn't adding to my bank account!
oh...or get a job to pay your bills and eat in the meantime😂
Friday, 6 March 2026
For Stat Lovers
Today#'s views as of 1500hrs GMT 21, 899
Please note these figures DO NOT include views from PR China which Blogger doesn't show.
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.
Paperback
A4
Black & White
331 Pages
Price: Reduced to £21.89
Prints in 3-5 business days
Earth’s heroes and crime-fighters are going about their daily tasks –fighting a giant robot controlled by a mad scientist’s brain, attackers both human and mystical -even alien high priests of some mysterious cult and their zombie followers and, of course, a ghost and a young genius lost in time.
Pretty mundane.
But psychics around the world have been sensing something. A "something" that sends feelings of sheer terror through their psyches.
There is a huge alien Mother-ship near the Moon. Undetected by deep-space radar and other instruments, only a few on Earth have sensed it and they cannot penetrate the hull but only feel psychic screams and....worse.
And then it begins: strange orange spheres isolate and chase some of Earth’s heroes who then vanish into thin air –are they dead? An attack by an old foe or foes -?
Black, impenetrable domes cover cities world-wide.
Then it becomes clear to those within the domes what is going on: Alien invasion of Earth!
A war between the Dark Old Gods and the pantheons that followed!
Warriors from Earth’s past having to battle each day and whether they die or not they are back the next day!
No one suspects the driving force behind the events. One single evil guiding events. Events that could cause destruction and chaos throughout the multiverse.
Assaulted on all fronts can Earth’s defenders succeed or will they fail...is this truly the end?
The Cross-Earths Caper: Part II of the Invasion Earth Trilogy
Paperback,
A4
Black & White
107 Pages
Price: £12.00
Prints in 3-5 business days
Following the events on Neo Olympus and the Boarman invasion of Earth, many heroes and crime-fighters have withdrawn from activity. Some are trying to recover from injuries while others are fighting the mental scars left by the events.
But things have to go on. As heroes from other parallels who helped during the recent events return home, members of the Special Globe Guard are shocked at the sudden appearance of Zom of the Zodiac. Never a sign of good things a-coming!
Very soon, a group of heroes mount a rescue mission and find that a quick rescue mission can turn sour equally quickly. As they overcome one challenge the the heroes become lost between parallel Earths and face new threats.
Sometimes one Earth just is not enough. The complete story published in issues 7-10 of Black Tower Adventure now in...one handy dandy book!
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
Varik Dann is but one character as we follow the attempts of heroes and adventurers as well as the military as they try to confront the Clone Zone Boys with no idea of who or what is behind them. And in space the very existence of not just the Earth but the solar system rests on efforts to stop an alien invasion fleet and if it cannot be stopped them there will be no conquest: the entire solar system will be destroyed by a doomsday device.
Thursday, 5 March 2026
"Specced" and "Slept on" -What??
Just been Face Book chatting (via the Black Tower Comics and Books page) with someone who put in a largish book order who told me had had been on some comic forums and that discussion centred on "Black Tower being a much slept on company".
I have no idea what "slept on" means!! Mind you it did take me a while to realised that "Specced on" meant speculated on re investment.
No one uses clear English any more!
Presents 1
Black Tower Presents (or, simply, Presents) appeared in September, 1985 alongside Adventure the big problem is that these were photocopied by Darron Northall so producing two titles meant extra time and work. In the end I decided that apart from one off issues I would filter everything into one title. Hence why stories mentioned in the post for Adventure 1 started here.
The 32 pager featured the alien and last survivor of the Freelancer Corps aptly named Freelancer and his arrival on Earth. The issue kicked off with the origin of Elizabeth Flare aka Mayfly and features a cameo by Dr Faustus and Dr. Wulf as well as first mention of the COTA team. The final panel features the first appearance of the Cougar.
The issue also features the origin of David Brown aka Runestone and his Celtic gods given powers as Hero-champion.
There are a number of first appearances/cameos in Crime Busters and Link. Starting at a circus and moving on to John Clane's (Solar) somewhat conditions stipulated inheritance. Making Solar, Willy Soames/Cane aka The Human Ball; Madelein Bell aka Bell and the Missing Link Black Tower's first published super team.
Scratchy art but part of the early history of Black Tower and Runestone's origin was re-told by Ben Dilworth in Black Tower Adventure vol. 2 no, 7 and you can see the few pages here:
20,511
Yesterday views hit 20,511.
Apparently I do not get £1/$1 for every view 😂
Thank you for your readership
Update
By the end of day total views stood at over 25,487
Wednesday, 4 March 2026
Adventure 4, 1986
Cut, paste, Tippex and photocopy days. The artwork may not have been that great back then but it was fun and for some reason zines kept selling out.
Adventure 4, September 1986. Crime Busters UK and Link go up against Beta Man and the Metal Man makes his first appearance. Kotar and Sabuta are there to witness the coming of The Ghost (also on front cover). Meanwhile two hard working cops look into the mysterious deaths and try to find out just who Wild Mane is.
Meanwhile Jon Future in his civilian guise gets into a car with agents of Special Intelligence which is then blown up by the international hit man known as the Marksman. In the second part of his origin story the Owl (David Holmes) looks into the murder of his old friend and that leads to some nastiness close to home.
The Avenger and Purple Hood breach the headquarters of Intercrime and the Mad Cutter makes his first appearance. In Guppy Terror (seriously) an injured Duncan McCrae (aka Barracuda) washes up on an island where he meets the mysterious Laguna before finding himself captured by the Black Shark's crew.
40 pages of black and white fun from a time when making comics was fun and there was a comic creators community.
Monday, 2 March 2026
Sunday, 1 March 2026
Saturday, 28 February 2026
Black Tower Animation? Oh -and speculation!
I posted previously about "speculation" on Black Tower Comics and Books due to the only printed on demand and therefore "rarity and collectability for investment" (as someone put it).
I have now had four offers in the last two weeks and they all follow along the same lines. I ought to point out that "animation cells" may have come about as I have posted previously about the failed Paranormals animated series. Apart from a company in Germany called "ADV" (no longer in existence) who wanted to look at developing D-Gruppe I have never been involved in animation.
I have tons of art pages but these are not like American comic book boards. Also, the expense with taxes and postal/courier charges to get just ten pages to the US is waaaaay too high.
"Terry
"I wanted to reach out to you following recent investment speculation online regarding Black Tower. I wanted to see if you might have any animation or comic art for sale. I'm looking for comic pages, cells from your animated sereies, pencil art, hand painted background art, model sheets, storyboards, concept art, model packs, proofs, illustrations, even scripts. We have purchased 31 million popular culture items including 12 million animation & comic book art pieces since 2000.""A similar one was phrased almost the same but looking at the people involved it seems to be two separate companies:"
"Hi, Terry
"I wanted to reach out to see if you might have any animation or comic art for sale. I'm looking for comic pages, cels, pencil art, hand painted background art, model sheets, storyboards, concept art, model packs, proofs, illustrations, even scripts. We have purchased 51 million popular culture items including 12 million animation & comic book art pieces since 2000.
"I wanted to reach out to see if you might have any animation or comic art for sale. I'm looking for comic pages, cels, pencil art, hand painted background art, model sheets, storyboards, concept art, model packs, proofs, illustrations, even scripts. We have purchased 51 million popular culture items including 12 million animation & comic book art pieces since 2000.
"I've been in the comic book industry for over 50 years, our company, Pop-King Inc purchased the Filmation, DiC, & Nelvana Studio Animation Archives. We have also purchased inventory directly from 300 animation artists and am currently looking for sketches/convention style drawings. I would love to be in business with you."
Notice no requests to purchase my underwear. No offers for worn down pencils, clogged up brushes or old ink pots.
I'm insulted. I am THAT person who would sooner people buy books while they still exist since the online store will eventually close and the books will be gone -you won't even find them on Ebay😖
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