. Black Tower is a
publisher of Independent books -we have no support from the UK so it seemed better to change.
Then came the news, reviews, previews and interviews publication backed up by the mart and mail order service -
In 2009, with the innovation in publishing of Print On Demand (POD), Black Tower jumped in head first!
This saw the complete story, begun in Black Tower Adventure vol. 1.
William A. Ward's long lost 1940s character once again saw print as he
fought a host of enemies in an attempt to reclaim his homeland.
And while The Bat may have fought fist and nail to reclaim his homeland, another 1940s Ward creation,
,
seemed far from willing to claim a new Egyptian Empire as promised to
him by the Gods. Tackling a number of foes and even encountering the
Many-Eyed One, Krakos turned his back on the gods and the final panel of
-eventually reaching new heights when the legendary Ben Dilworth jumped
on board! Volume 2 consisted of ten issues. Just look at these
covers....
And, with something like 40 years worth of files and investigation
reports could all that much delving into UFOs, lake and sea creatures
and many other mysteries not result in a book or two...or three?
Some Things Strange &
Sinister, Some More Things Strange & Sinister as well as
Pursuing The Strange and Weird: A Naturalist's Viewpoint set a precedence.
Whereas for decades those involved in "UFOlogy", "Cryptozoology" and
"Forteana" declared many mysteries, that photographs were lost "to
history" and so on, these three books swiped away the false claims.
Alleged lost photographs -found. 'Mysteries' solved by doing actual
research work and reading the sources -something others had never done.
And, of course, mention natural history and Black Tower Books broke new ground with that in
The Red Paper: Canids.
But not all the prose books covered mysteries and wildlife.
And if there is one thing "Herr Professor" loves it is discovering and
presenting long lost UK Golden Age (1939-1951) comic strips and
characters from publishers such as Gerald Swan, Foldes, Denis M. Reader,
Cartoon Art Productions and others.
Scanned and restored as best as can be considering the poor print
quality of the rationing years -especially red, orange, yellow, blue and
purple ink printing!
Ace Hart The Atomic Man! The Tornado! TNT Tom! Dene Vernon!
Acromaid! Cat-Girl! Bring 'Em Back Hank! Robert Lovett:Back From The
Dead and so many other action heroes and humour strip characters
-William A. Ward, Jock McCaill and a host of known and unknown creators
contribute -either in single volume "
Black Tower Gold" albums or all six collected into the 400+ pager -
The Ultimate British Golden Age Collection!
Another great love is Centaur Comics from the United States. Right at
the very start of the American Golden Age of Comics Centaur had creators
who were ahead of the others! Before Plastic Man there was
Plymo! Before The Human Bomb there was
TNT Todd! Before Green Arrow and waaaaaaay before Hawkeye there was the mysterious red hooded archer called
The Arrow! And, to just break your comic mind world there was even a
Black Panther -decades before Kirby came up with his character of the same name.
The Eye Sees All. The Owl. The Iron Skull. Amazing Man. The King of
Darkness. The Invisible Terror. The Blue Lady. The Shark. Mini Midget
& Kitty. Mighty Man. Super Anne. The company may have been
short-lived but it's characters -oh boy!
The two volume
Centaur Heroes Collection has been compiled into one sweet 140 page comic collection!
Horror. Ghost stories. The twist-in-the tale. Did you think that a
publisher who is a big horror comic/film fan would ignore these?
Nope. Each year since 2010, BTCG has published a
Tales Of Terror
anthology album and 2014s included some fun and spooky lost Swan Comic
strips. I mean how can you go wrong -even Ben Dilworth is in these!
The Church Of England has it's own basher of dark forces in the Reverend
Merriwether -"God's Demon0-Thumper" as the press billed him. From an
ancient Egyptian demon to a village of the damned and Varney the
Vampyre, werwolves and a final confrontation with Satan himself
-Merriwether pulls no punches and offers no compromise. And in those
last few seconds between life and death, Merriwether's mind recalls past
cases -thanks to Ben Dilworththe Tall Man of Osaka.
Merriwether: God's Demon Thumper and
Merriwether: The Test Of Satan are available as individual comic albums or in one swanky book
The Collected Merriwether: God's Demon Thumper.
Oh, did I forget to mention Dene Vernon -British comics' first
investigator of the supernatural and strange mysteries? I did?
Unbelievable since Gavin Stuart Ross drew the 1948 based
Dene Vernon: The Thing Below!
And did you know Ross also drew the two adventures of Victorian mystery man Chung Ling Soo?
Chung Ling Soo: The Curse Of The Jade Dragon and
Chung Ling Soo: The Case Of The Thames Serpent
were two cracking tales of magic, adventure, murder and deception
-still available as single comic albums or collected together to form
The Adventures Of Chung Ling Soo!
Ben Dilworth is no slouch either! Chung Ling Soo's police
"counter-foil" isnone other than old London "Jack" (police man)
Inspector Wilberforce and when Dilworth says "Here's a Wilberforce
one-off: PUBLISH IT!" you do not argue!
And did you know you can be a Gold Master of Japanese Haiku? Well,
neither did I -but guess what? Ben Dilworth is such a master and his
Osaka Brutal features his Haiku in English!
Old saleman that he is, Dilworth just keeps on going. He produced
Aesop's Fables -a darker version of the childrens tales and then went on
to write two well illustrated prose albums looking at spirits and
demons -
Dilworth's Japanese Yokai and
Dilworth's Western Yokai.
Osaka and the
Yokai books were combined with
Aesop's Fables into the one volume
The Collected Ben R. Dilworth -though the single volumes are also still available.
Horror comics yes but also some nice illustrated prose from Dilworth in...Dilworth's Horror & Ghost Stories but for the connoisseur those stories were collected together with the Phantom Detective comic strips into The Complete Phantom Detective!
And could anyone forget the sensational
Iron Warrior Versus Big Bong:When Giants Fought? But add to that the various Iron Warrior strips from Adventure and you get
The Iron Warrior Collection -When Giants Fought! In
the 1940s, William A. Ward's creation was to be the most graphically
violent comic strip seen until the 1970s. That is some legacy. It
continues....with a touch of fun!
In case you are wondering, yes, obviously there are super heroes. Mix
in ancient pantheons of gods, giant robot, alien invasion, Lovecraftian
dark ones and so much more that the book runs to over 320 pages then you
have part 1 of Terry Hooper-Scharf's
Invasion Earth Trilogy" or as it is titled
Return Of The Gods: Twilight Of The Super Heroes!
And epic ending with the words: "Dr Morg has killed us all" -and if you
have never read the mind altering counter actuality that is
The Dr Morg Trilogy you may be saying "What? Who-?"
And part 2 of the trilogy
The Cross Earths Caper ought to get you in the mood for 2015s big 31st Anniversary third part of the trilogy
The Green Skies.
If you pass the ESTC (Epileptic Seizure Test Cover) on Dr Morg well, you
are fit and healthy enough to read it and to check out all the Black
Tower Comics and Books at the online store -see why we are the
UKs
largest publisher of Independent Comics!
