The Time Conqueror! Crasher Cave! I could go on but as there is general disinterest I won't. After all, if anyone is genuinely interested in the UK Golden Age of comics they would be buying the Gold Collection. I mention these two strips only because they were new discoveries to me and date back to 1946.
Both strips were drawn by Reginald Beaumont (1919-1976) and usually written by his brother George Harry Beaumont (1924-2004). Some might say crude by today's standards (but some of today's standards aren't that great) but these were four pagers in which everything had to be crammed. Week-in, week-out.
There is an uncredited 9 pager "epic" in The Bubble Terror and at first I thought this was Len Fullerton's work but I have doubts. Great fun all around.
If you read anyone claiming to be a British "ahem" Comics historian write that Glynne Protheroes was mainly a humour artist kick them up the arse. I wrote a piece on the man in Comic Bits (Vol. 2, No. 1); "The Distinctive Style of Glynne Protheroe" (born 1906 but no DOD). His serious style was fun but some recent discoveries have made me a fan: "Scoop Smithy of The Sentinel in The Murdered Mephisto and The Moor House Murders and Britain's leading exponent of the art of science deduction -Miles Martin in The Case of the Tarantula!
There is more of Len Fullerton's Halcon of the Crater Land, with an assist from Karen.
There even more but my decision is that all of this will only appear in print as part of the Black Tower Gold series. In its short life the British Golden Age Comics blog had reached 33,193 views which, you might assume means that many were interested in those comics. No. Material was ripped off -on occasions word-for-word - and with no credit given. There is one small presser in the United States that stole many of the scans to produce a "public domain" UK Golden Age characters comic -he has a series of them covering Europe, Canada etc and has no concept of copyright. In total, views of the British Golden Age blogs and news items totals over 1 million. 1% of those readers buying a book would make me happy.
So, I closed that blog down as well as the UK Golden Age Heroes blog (over 10,000 views) and I archived the Face Book page. No one buys the reprints despite all of the "I'll have to get that when it comes out!" and "That's a must buy!" and when someone asks when the next volume ios due out I always respons "Buy volumes 1-6 and we'll see!" Each book takes weeks of tedious work to produce and I tried adding up all the money I spent over the years (excluding what I paid Gerald Swan) on acquiring Diamond and Golden age comics and at a certain point I got a cold sweat and stopped. As someone pointed out -this is a work of love for me. But I would like to get some of my money back! 😂😂
Scans or pdf -No. Through internet piracy and thieves with their "Oh, if I like it I'll buy a copy" liwe I have been robbed blind over the last 20 years. Just earning 1% from illegal downloads would ,again, make me a happy man today (and mean not another meal of baked beans on toast!).
I know that when I croak (apparently I am not immortal???) one day I know that my collection will end up in bins or a fire. My online store will also be shut down because if I cannot earn a living from my books while alive then NO ONE is making money from me when I'm dead. I'm practical that way.
Any how, on that happy note (are you sure that I'm not just going to regenerate??) I'll leave you as I have a couple UK Golden Age books waiting to be read!
Black Tower Gold vol 1
For the first time in 60 years some of the lost gems of the British Golden Age of Comics are reprinted!
Black Tower Gold vol 2
A4
Paperback
B&W
The second collection of British 1940s comic strips featuring Maxwell The Mighty, Slicksure, Iron Boy,Alfie, Ace Hart and more.
Black Tower Gold Vol 3
A4
Paperback
B&W
68 pages
This is the third volume in Black Tower Comics’ collection of Golden Age British comic strips that have not seen print for 50-60 years!
Black Tower Gold Vol 4
A4
Paperback
B&W
86 pages
The fourth volume of this series features some great finds of the lost era of British comics:
Black Tower Gold Vol 5 -Back From The Dead
William McCail’s 1940 classic is reprinted for the first time in 60 years.
Black Tower Gold Vol 6
A4
Paperback
B&W
35 pages
Yes! Now at issue 6 and bringing you more lost strips of the British Golden Age of Comics.There's a collection of strips featuring non other than TNT Tom and one of the weirdest UKGA characters -the Iron Boy.
Ever heard of Ingy Roob? Or his pet "Stretchy"? You will have if you read this issue.How about Dennis M. Readers Cat Girl?
Two other UK comics are reprinted in full, both from 1946 and the only issues ever published:Lucky Dice and The Fudge.
Black Tower -keeping UK comics history alive!
The Ultimate British Comics Gold Collection
A4
Paperback
B&W
405 pages
Features....Ace HartTNT TomElectrogirl Wonderman The Phantom RaiderCaptain Comet Acro MaidPhantom MaidDene VernonThe Iron BoyThe Boy FishProfessor AtomThe TornadoPowermanWonder BoySlicksureMasterman Dane JerrusAlfieTiny TodMaxwell The Mighty Back From The DeadZeno At The Earth's CoreColonel MastiffAlly SloperSuper InjunSuper Porker (oo-er, no, Madam, ooh),Tiger ManKing Of The CloudsCaptain Comet
and MANY others!
Plus text features defining The Ages OF British Comics (Platignum, Gold, Silver), the artist William A. Ward and more.
If you knew nothing about British comics of the Platinum, Golden and Silver Ages then once you buy and read this book you'll be a goddam omic intellectual dinosaur! Yipes!
All in that beautiful Iron Warrior cover exclusively drawn for Black Tower by that meta-gargantuoso talented Ben R. Dilworth!
I sold my family to be able to get this book out! Help me buy them back by purchasing your very own
whizz-o copy today!
No comments:
Post a Comment