Thursday, 26 November 2020
Wednesday, 25 November 2020
Tuesday, 24 November 2020
Thursday, 19 November 2020
Wednesday, 18 November 2020
Thursday, 12 November 2020
Wednesday, 11 November 2020
Tuesday, 10 November 2020
Sunday, 8 November 2020
The Ultimate Game is back on....
I have (yes I have) in the pat mentioned The Ultimate Game that was a Fleetway project. With The Green Skies drawn and ready to publish I had a look at the old Ultimate Game as well as another storyline that never got published -all from the 1980s.
Well, I have fully drawn issue 1 but stopped p[artway through issue 2 of what should be a 4 issue series combining both -The Ultimate Game!
Why waste a good story and this will show I do not need 300+ pages to tell a story.
There is also another story (issue 1 fully drawn back in the 1980s) that I want to turn into a two part story.
Hopefully I'll have a few more details soon.
"You know that's going to be taken out of context?"
Listen: "Hello -I hope you are all doing well" can be taken out of context. This is the internet.
I have noted this before many times but just for the hard of understanding and IQ impaired. One more time.
The deal I have/had with artists is simply. Any profits it's a 50-50 split, though in the past I've tended to let artists have any profit because profit is rarer than (think of something funny to put in here) ! But I do all the leg work and out of pocket expense stuff and..,and I think I may have been selling myself short on this deal!
Characters are my copyright -with the exception of those created by people such as John Erasmus, Tom Elmes et al who created their own characters/stories. Those creators own copyright to their characters and art and can sell off and use their art as they please. Character copyright is mine for my characters only and in this case the opriginal art is the artist's but he cannot republish it as a full story without credit and permission (for obvious reasons).
These days I never take stories featuring original characters belonging to other people. The horror stories I could tell you but I cannot without citing the names and that I just cannot be bothered with any more.
In one case even getting a book back into print so that an artist's wife could get money from sales resulted in me getting abusive emails and legal action threatened against having the book published...by the widow who (after a lot of headaches over her actions) then aid it was okay to publish. I refused and put a legal binder on her so that the book could not be republished without MY approval. Basically: a person is drowning and you throw out a life jacket and they throw it back at you.
Even though two other creator gave approval for me to take over using their characters they passed away and I decided that when it came to relatives wanting to make money it was too much hassle so changed the names.
Then we have three -3- artist who produced strips for publicatio0n. Were very happy with the e4nd product. Then, some time after, demanded that they ought to be paid and that their characters were being developed into ones that could be picked up by Marvel, DC or Image (yeah, they thought Image paid!) and go on to be optioned for movies. Yes, they were bthat egotistical and after ten years their names have vanished from comics. As for their contribution I removed them all immediately that they started their games -a benefit of print on demand.
Unless things are in writing I say "No!" but even then I've known a few twisters so I avoid other peoples characters.
So, I accept contributions but I have to either go "Wow!" when I ee the art or get grabbed by the story -as with Dilworth's Silvermaine twist at the end or the Halcon werewolf story twist.
It' a hard, lonely, poor life being a comic and book publisher and those lottery numbers never come up!
ps. Since writing this I have been told that I need to buy lottery tickets in the hope of winning. Damn.
Mr Dilworth
Your books apparently shipped yesterday -let me know when they arrive and have fun or I'll send Devilina over with a wet cabbage leaf.
Saturday, 7 November 2020
Maybe Tales of Terror Will Return......
I was asked why I stopped the once a year Tales of Terror title. Well, it used to appear in October but the truth of the matter is that I didn't have time to draw loads of horror or ghost stories.
I did start on some Chinee ghost strip but....
Thing is if you cannot pay contributors and two copies of the book with their work in is not acceptable....you're stuck. I have a lot of material that could go into bumper "annuals" but reprinting material isn't that exciting.
Maybe one day Devilina will be back to introduce horror tales. Who knows!
But remember there are six isue of illustrated text stories in A Little Midnight Horror!
Friday, 6 November 2020
Thursday, 5 November 2020
The Green Skies Are Coming!
The idea started out in 1986 as Invasion Earth but when Fleetway became interested it was adapted and became The Ultimate Game but cut-backs in the company meant that the project was shelved. Then it became less epic as Looking Glass and then Fleetway backed out again.
A name change to Parallel Motions/Cosmic Fulcrum when it was considered by two other publishers –before they went out of business!
Come print on demand and self publishing the story, now Return of the Gods: Twilight of the Super Heroes, ran across 6 issues of Black Tower Adventure -136 pages that, after a reworking putting events on an even grander scale and making it the UKs first major action graphic novel, that page count rose to over 360 pages and Return of the Gods: Twilight of the Super Heroes became volume 1 of the Invasion Earth Trilogy.
That book was followed by volume 2 of the Invasion Earth Trilogy –The Cross Earths Caper.
Both books featured super heroes and action spread around the world and in outer space: a giant robot. Warring gods. The Boarman invasion of Earth and much more. In both books the alien Vampirons stayed in the background and plotted and schemed and awaited the time for the arrival of their god –The Many-Eyed One.
In 2020 the final volume of the trilogy is published in three parts as The Green Skies. Alien craft and refugee vessels shoot through the Sol System and soon information reveals that a great alien invasion fleet is heading into our solar system attacking outer planets and destroying any vessel they come across. On Earth a virus is sweeping the planet and people are being infected by another virus –this one an alien nano virus. Victims become the mindless puppets of the Vampirons who are called The Cl;one Zone Boys.
Amidst global panic heroes as well as Earth own defence forces attempt to stop the spread of the virus. In space peaceful Mars is bombarded. OPn the Moon the Selenite Council calls on Johnny Apollo to head its combined defensive fleet against the invaders…and if defence fails a dooms-day device will be detonated wiping out the enemy and the entire Sol System.
On Earth its sorcerers and other magic users are trapped as the Vampirons make their move. A lone survivor from a parallel Earth heralds the coming of The Many-Eyed One and the end of everything while a young hero traverses interstitial time and space attempting to slow down the coming while working on a plan –a plan that may fail.
A death tolls rise it becomes clear that some world leaders have thrown their lot in with the Vampirons and the betrayals begin.
In a small park in
Is this the end of Mankind?
The Green Skies has been called “an epic scale story with twists and turns at every point” and in the Black Tower Universe if you did…there is no coming back.
Are You Confused? Allow me to explain.
Sales have started picking up on the online store. However, they all seem tyo be from the UK and it seems, from what some have said to me, that the problem lies in people not understanding the order process and expecting to pay international postage and import duty.
I have explained this several times but I will explain it again because it is important.
Black Tower Comic and Books is based in the United Kingdom. However, with print-on-demand (POD) there is an online store front and when you go onto it you will see the cost of books in your local currency whether Yen, dollar or Euro. The reason for this is that the book(s) you order will be printed in your region and so are posted from your region.
Easiest way to see thi is by placing a book in the Cart. Don't panic because unless you actually pay you ARE NOT ordering the book. Anyway, once the book is in the cart proceed to postage and you will see three options to choose from. You will see that those are local postal rates.
There is absolutely no ordering or shipping from the UK to another country so no import duty or very high international mailing costs.
Books are priced at thye absolute minimum and on average I never make a profit. Of course, if thousands of you order books I'll be very happy :-)
Please feel free to check out the store front and see for yourself how it works.
https://www.lulu.com/spotlight/hoopercomicsuk
Thank you.
Wednesday, 4 November 2020
Monday, 2 November 2020
Sunday, 1 November 2020
I'll give it a think
Published in and dated "2000" and I date my work a year before publication when it is fully drawn (so 1999 really) I was looking at the Ten Dancing Monkeys" story arc -the final chapter of which is missing. It mnay look crappy now as it was hand lettered, I was wondering whether I ought to scan the old work (it would be over 60pp!) and just publish it on the Black Tower blog.
The finale featured "The Monk", Wagner the Werewolf and other Penny Dreadful characters. I have a good few art chores that I cannot get the "push" to fdinish and that includes covers for The Green Skies and the final pages for Black Tower super Heroes 8.
I'll give it a think.
Cinebook Ltd: Newsletter 154 - October 2020
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Dear Reader, |      | |
Please give a warm welcome to a new, three-volume period series: The Battle. Based on a multiple award-winning novel by French writer Patrick Rambaud, The Battle chronicles the terrible Battle of Essling in 1809 – Napoleon’s first stumble after a string of stunning victories. Take an uncompromising tour of the battlefield as seen through the eyes of several characters – simple soldiers, dashing young officers and exalted marshals and dukes … More nobility with the latest Gomer Goof – though the ‘Duke of Goofington’ belongs to the aristocracy of walking disasters. You can’t fault his intentions, but the results … Oh dear. Fortunately, it’s all perfectly harmless – and hilarious! Finally, Yakari shows once again a nobility of spirit and a bravery no one would expect from such a young boy, when another tribe steals his people’s horses and he joins his father and other warriors in attempting to take them back. Expect a fine adventure to follow! October with Cinebook – the noble art of comics! |        | |
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 | Gomer Goof 7 Franquin Gomer, Duke of Goofington Among the many obstacles to Spirou Magazine’s productivity, two of the most formidable are Gomer’s little protégés: a very playful cat and an evil-tempered black-headed gull. Between the bird’s dive-bombing attacks and the feline’s recurrent bouts of madness, Prunelle and the others don’t have it easy ... Read more |
 | The Battle Ivan Gil & Frédéric Richaud Book 1 of 3 Louis-François Lejeune, young colonel attached to the emperor’s staff, meets his old friend Henri Beyne in occupied Vienna. He also meets the beautiful Anna Krauss, with whom he is madly in love with. Nearby, though, Napoleon is attempting to crush the Austrian army... Read more |
 | Yakari 18 Derib & Job The Wall of Fire In the middle of the night, a daring thief from another tribe makes off with the horses of Yakari’s people. Only Little Thunder managed to escape him by fleeing into the forest. While the warriors hurry after their precious mounts, Yakari goes in search of his friend ... Read more |
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