Saturday, 31 October 2020
Friday, 30 October 2020
Thursday, 29 October 2020
I'd be happy to find a copy of Crisis on Multiple Earths volume 5!
Image Comics new title Cross Over is getting the hell publicised out of it and I thought "give it a try"
£6.99 for #1?? What the -mother flipped that toast out the door. £6.99 seems to be the cheapest and my resp[onse to that is that I will continue not to buy any Image Comics which all seem to be pricey as heck -I can buy two new Marvel Comics for £6.00. So fro.
As it is the choiuce of covers for Avengers #37 in the UK is £3.65 for bland..uninspiring cover or 2-3 times that for an alternative cover.
Seriously, Black Tower it's one groovy cover and zero alternate covers.
Honetly, I used to buy a good few Image comics but the two local stores kept mising iues and they were always more expensive than Marvel or DC. Comic seller with the cheapest prices online is the one who i going to urvive the current comic store crisis due to that thing going on.
I'd be happy to find a copy of Crisis on Multiple Earths volume 5!
£332?? Why? Oh, flippers and slimy dealers because there is nothing in the collection that makes it rare.
Wednesday, 28 October 2020
Tuesday, 27 October 2020
Justice League (who cares?), The Avengers and a few thoughts
I caught part of a video today discusing the latest Justice League series from DC Comics. I just could not care less.
As with Marvel's The Mighty Avengers, I have followed the JLA since volume 1. On the shelf next to me are volumes 1-4 JLA The Silver Age, volumes 1-6 of the b&w DC Showcase JLA, JLA: Earth 2, JLA-JSA:Virtue and Vice as well as vol. 1-8 of the 2015/2016 eries (trades), vol 1-5 of the 2017 and 1-7 of the next volume. series so on and so forth.
That was it. Reboot after reboot after reboot after reboot after reboot and the stories had less "meat" to them -some nice art but heroes were becoming less heroes and more like villains and characterisation was bad. Not urprising since the characters changed so often. My Justrice League of America megapost I think shows that I was a fan -yes, even of "the Detroit period".
DC just took the reboots too far and really told us old fans to go uck our finger.
The current Avenger title started out well even though it seemed to be all over the place -1
Million BC and so on. But when the team got together -great fun (even though they ruined She-Hulk). Then it moved along and -because the movie was a success- the series became The Black Panther with cameo by some Avengers. Currently the Panther appears to be ...well, not the Panther he was in Jungle Action or other Avengers series. He is now more super human.
Some of the covers look good but a good few such as the one to the right is definitely "MEH!" With all the variant covers unless you want to pay 2-3 times the usual cover price you have to take what you get. The days of happily looking at Avengers comics are gone. Yes, American readers. the UK is not set up for comic fans but people who can squeeze every penny out of comic fans (a week after an issue appears the cover prices can rise by £4-5 and there is nothing special just a regular issue.
Some of the stories in the current run I think are stretched out too bfar and the current Moon Knight one could have been concluded in 2 issues but...
So I have given up on Justice League and that stance is not going to change. Avengers I stick with and I'm just dreading the next reboot!
I'd like to see how others are dealing with "uper groups" -Independent but until I get rich that ain't gonna happen.
Now, back to my own comic work....
Monday, 26 October 2020
‘Batwoman’ Unveils First Look at Javicia Leslie in the New Batsuit
The CW has released two first-look images for the “Batwoman” suit redesign based around actress Javicia Leslie’s character, Ryan Wilder.
The outfit will be featured starting in Season 2, episode 3, and is the first original design for the new Batwoman, as Leslie takes over the mantle from Ruby Rose, who led the show during its first season. Leslie is the first Black woman to portray a live-action version of the superhero on TV or film.
“I love the fact that Ryan is becoming her own Batwoman — it’s her style, her swag, and her moment,” Leslie said in a statement. “I felt it was important that viewers could tell by the silhouette that Batwoman was a Black girl. With the form-fitting suit and beautiful Afro, we definitely nailed it!”
The new outfit was conceptualized by Maya Mani and created by Ocean Drive Leather, while Janice Workman crafted the wig and Cory Roberts styled the makeup. Mani said the design is meant to highlight Leslie’s physical athleticism and offer a fresh take for the new character.
The black and red outfit features various new differences, but most notably, a new wig. Gone is the straight red hair, as the new design swaps in curly hair with red streaks. Also new to the character are the red gauntlets and a new belt with the bat logo. The laser-etched suit has other differences as well, visible in the first looks offered by the CW.
The suit embodies Ryan’s shift from using the Batwoman persona for personal gain to discovering the importance of the superhero as a symbol to Gotham City, said executive producer Caroline Dries in a press release. As she’s not the same person as Kate Kane (Rose), the woman who donned the suit before her, changes must be made to reflect her own style.
“As Ryan embraces everything that makes her special, she adjusts the suit to fit her physically and figuratively,” said Dries. “This meant creating a new body design and new cowl that was undeniably a statement that screamed ‘powerful.'”
Take a look at the images of Leslie as Batwoman below.
Dark Night Detectives, Covers and Volume 1
Thankfully, The Dark Night Detectives was the last book on my desk and I can now concentrate on other comics work. When you have to fight your own computer to get work done it isn't great.
The cover you see in the post was the third choice.
The first I dumped straight away.
This was the second choice:
50 Pages
Price: £8.00 (excl. VAT)
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.
The Dark Night Detectives 2: The Ministry of Safety
A4
28pp
B&W
£5.00
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 dar, bleak and depressingly familiar in a way.
The ending will make you ask more than a few questions.
Sunday, 25 October 2020
Four Lovely Old British Comic Covers
I just found out that it is Sunday. Wow.
To brighten things up I thought I would show the covers of four British comics from the 1960s. For me there are special attachments -Gadget Man and Gimmick Kid appeared in Part 1 of The Ultimate Game (which became Return of the Gods). The Phantom Viking also featured in Ultimate Game a did Texas Jack. Only Phantom Viking made it to the post Ultimate Game project Looking Glass.
These comicxs are a mix of humour, action, war and, of course, super heroics in 40 pages a week. How could kids not like that?
The covers were also quite simple and colourful but grabbed your attention. I think that these days we tend to get bound up in over-complicated covers that can often look crowded and make you go "meh" and move on.
A pity that the 111 pages of looking glass will never get published as I think I would have loved to add a few more pages just so Texas Jack could get in on the action.
This PC is playing up so I'll not go into the contents like I alway wanted to in bigger feature posts but...
Mystic Tel Says That You Are About To Ask.....
"Just how did you publish a book with no scanners and a failing computer?"
I started trying to scan last Thursday. My Mustek A3 Pro failed me. My Canon scanner failed me. My computer was shutting down and not saving edits. I finallyfinished editing at 16:45 hours and published about 20 minutes ago.
Every page the scanner and computer tried to fight me on and right up to the very last page it was a fight but over 2 decades of using a PC and all types of scanners teaches you skills. There is a reason I am known as "Master of the Mystic Farts" "Master of the Mystic Scans". Even now my PC is trying to screw up my typing this brief post.
Buy my books and help me my new equipment (I'm trying that one a "to pay bills and eat" has not worked over the last 10 years...)
I am now going to take a rest and heal my eyes and head!
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.
My up-date on the Up-date (I'm just saying WHICH update)
Up until gone Midnight trying to fix the A4 scanner problem. It will print (combined scanner/printer) and according to all the computer messages it is working correctly. Unfortunately the computer is also schizophrenic as it then tells me that no scanner is connected...even while telling me that it works perfectly.
So, another two hour try earlier. Nothing.
Guess I now spend a pointless day trying to fix the A3 scanner.
I'm telling you: unless you have access to spare cash ignore the computer age a much as possible.
Saturday, 24 October 2020
I've Walked Away To Look At The Rain
I should have done just that. I finally got the Mustek scanner to work and on preview the pages looked okay. Scanned 24 pages -all looked okay. Saved them.
Now, as I'd starting to edit the page I note that somehow and AFTER scanning the images all had a page length marking that would require me to re-scan all of them (like ****) or take days to clean then them with a computer that constantly shuts down documents on "Save" meaning you have to start editing from step 1 again.
And so I am closing documents and walking away from this. There were just two book to be scanmned and edited and as far as I am concerned they can wait and gather dust. No new scanner + No new PC = No new books. I'm sure you are all quite 'devastated'.
Off to stare at the rain.
Friday, 23 October 2020
The Cross Earths Caper
Return of the Gods: Twilight of the Super Heroes
Thaddeus Twatt -Two Complete Adventures
Thaddeus Twatt Book I -The Fearful Fate of Friggia
B&W
27pp
£4.00
https://www.lulu.com/en/en/shop/terry-hooper-scharf/thaddeus-twatt-book-i/paperback/product-15g6rgjr.html
Eccentric scientific genius Professor Thaddeus Twatt has decided to look in on one of his late father’s experiments… ...but then his nephew, Tomas, arrives for the Summer.
Tomas has been warned that his uncle is a little “odd” but expects to have a carefree holiday in the Somerset countryside. That was his plan.
In the late 1940s, Twatt’s father, along with other scientists, had created a miniature galaxy in chambers deep beneath the Cheddar countryside. A miniature galaxy into which groups of settlers flew. After decades it seems time to visit the “Twatt-verse” and see how things have gone.
Tomas thinks it’s all a joke...
until he is miniaturised!
The duo find the entrance to the mini-verse mined and then their craft crash-lands on the first planet they approach.
They find what seems to be a barren, frozen world —until captured by a group of survivors and a story is told of betrayal, sabotage and a great “Worm” that devastates cities.
Are the duo trapped of frozen Friggia forever…?
