From robotic alien invaders dealing with ancient barbarians (or barbarians dealing with them), Dene Vernon Ghost Investigator, The Iron Boy (seriously), Cast Iron Chris, Ingy Roob, Bring 'em Back Hank, Devil Fish Treasure, The Iron Warrior and much more. It's special -there you go!
Oh and did I mention there is a beautiful colour cover by none other than the great Richard Anthony Pester? Well I have now!
80+ pages £8.00
Once I have seen the proof copy and it';s approved I'll post out links.
A4
B&W
52pp
£8.00
1951 at the start of the UK Silver Age of comics appeared Electroman!
Then he vanished to become a legend.
After 70 years he is back -Dan Watkins a criminal wrongly accused of murder and given the electric chair by the State.
But then...Dan did not die. He was a reformed person and what is more he had a double existence as newspaper boy Dan Watkins and righter of wrongs - Electroman!
This collection contains:
The Birth of Electroman
The Treasure of El Chimborazo
The Million Dollar Robbery
3 Ring Circus
Electroman and Tim meet Benjamin Franklyn
The Great Train Robbery
plus - Electro Girl Battles the Gremlins' Pot-War Plot
86pp
A4
Black and white
£10.00 UK
The Prof, investigator of the paranormal, encounters two werewolves in Castle Park...and Devilina who has a "sort of" message for him. Kotar, Sabuta, Lady Silana, Tarot and others deal with new werewolf activity and Dr Lycaon is granted access to the labs at the HQ of the explorer/adventurer group The Questors. Lycaon believes he is close to a serum that will cure the curse of lycanthropy but someone or something is trying to stop him. Meanwhile in space Freelancer delivers justice to the Central Galactic Council after its betrayal (see The Green Skies) and on Earth the equally treacherous Council of Light meets its fate. Will Lycaon succeed with his cure or does the increased werewolf activity even in the halls of one of the UKs most secret buildings indicate that the cure is too late?
A4
Colour/BW
80pp
£10.00 UK
Comic Bits is the only journal dealing with the Platinum, Golden, Dark and Silver Ages of British comics and the creators involved.
This edition looks at the number of British "Bat men" -characters lost to time. The Bat by William McCail stars in his only ever appearance
We take a look at Tom Browne and Oliver Veal recognised as creators of what became the "British style" for over 100 years.
Prolific creator Terry Bave and his wife Sheila give us a glimpse of working in Silver age weekly comics.
Then there three rarities: the first is the origin of T.N.T. Tom a true star of Swan comics. Secondly we have the other star of Swan in Dene Vernon -Ghost Investigator. His very first pouting from 1940.
Third...well, a massive shock was the discovery of a super heroine not mentioned in any sources and this one off appearance drawn by E. H. Banger (we look at his career in this issue as well) -after 60 years Wanda the Wonder Girl is revealed!
Comic strips from some of the greats of British comics add extra zing to this issue.
Why miss out!
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!
"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😂
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"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
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!
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
