The current line of T-shirts and mugs etc can be found here
https://blacktower.myspreadshop.net/
Monday, 31 January 2022
Maakika Enough For You?
As a publisher, artist, writer....editor...uou know. Anyway, it is odd for me that the Maakika art * has received the most critical acclaim and the following piece is a tad old now as views of the art have exceeded 6,000.
Now read on and at the end I will explain why I am talking about Maakika again!
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Yes, to answer a couple of queries, the book is still available. Also, I was surprised to find that the Art Wanted page had 5, 331 views and 14 comments -mostly from female artists who appreciated Maakika.
Here are some comments:
"i said in another post that these make me think of some hinted at mythology. you should do a book of these with just title s to hint at things so we can read them and let our mind run wild!"
"Seriously, these are the best things you do and you should concentrate making more or using them as a design project (T-shirts, posters whatever). Clean 'em up just a little and they'd be incredible."
"interesting.. kind of tribal... - the shapes down the left hand side, do they symbolise the moon phases, by any chance? :)"
"These Maakika pieces are wonderful Terry!! I find them really fasinating."
"So charming! A real treasure!"
"very cool"
Pity that none of the art was ever purchased -and neither has a single copy of the book. Artists really do need support you know.
Whenever I try to explain to someone the origins of The Maakika I get odd looks. I have no idea why, unless the people I'm explaining this to have no artistic minds and have never known a fevered mind!
However, the story I told on the original Maakika Art site in 2008 is factual. These pieces have been called some of the best work I've done -my comic work getting swiftly dismissed! I'm also told, though I never saw it that way myself until I went through all the pieces again, that the pieces seem to form a type of mythology or at least hint at one. I'll let YOU decide.
The Origins
"What is Maakika Art?" I get asked that a great deal and to be honest it is a very brief story!
In 2006 I had a serious respiratory infection. It came and went but,in 2007,it came back with a vengeance over several months and with complications I thought it would see me shift this mortal coil -and I am NOT joking!
Around May, 2007, it got really bad. Then, suddenly,pouring with sweat, while seated on a bus, my mind started getting a rush of images -maybe 50-60. I got home exhausted but I sat down and began to draw. Honestly, at 50 years of age I had drawn many things but these new images were so out of my usual frame of image reference that I was stumped.
I drew a few, sat back and thought "What the bloody hell have I drawn?!" Almost instantly the word "Maakika" [pronounced "Mah-kee-kah"] came into my head. At the same time I got the definition "solid black and white art under guidance from the Maakika". Ahh, a fevered mind -and no drugs involved!
I've searched the word on the internet, in books and anywhere else I can but it seems not to exist. I cannot find anything similar.
And with each came a title or description.
So,a divine gift from the Maakika pantheon seems credible!
And lucky.
The original images are all 21x29cms and though I've not parted with the first "inspired" drawings which look crude to my eye, several were sold for between £150-£300 each.
I still have the original images in my mind [they won't shift!] but I've been inspired to work on larger images [60x42cms].
So,if you have any questions or comments get in touch!
And remember:only one person does Maakika art -me (and I have absolutely no idea what's coming next!)
The Maakika Art ~ you can buy the book!
Paperback,
A4
32 Pages
Price: £10.00
Prints in 3-5 business days
According to one review:
"Unique and eye catching. It is equal parts disturbing and wonderful. I've cut a few out and put them in frames on the wall in my work room. They are, I tell you, really quite though provoking. Recommended to someone with an interest in primitive art or hypnosis-state painting. Look at these images deeply for a while, they will seep into your soul."
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I have decided that with nothing else to lose I need to utilise the Maakika. Therefore during February I will be making prints available via the Art Wanted site as well as postcards -the ones I printed myself sold well.
But there is more. Oh, yes, getting ready for summer (or any time really) I will be creatinf Maakika T-shirts. I think that baseball caps may be a tad ...over kill,
So await the announcement my munchkins!
Maakika is (c)2022 Terry Hooper-Scharf
Sunday, 30 January 2022
Cinebook Ltd: MUTATIONS 1 - EPISODE 1
Authors: Leo & Corine Jamar; illustrated by Fred Simon
Age: 12 years and up
Size: 21.7 x 28.7 cm
Number of pages: 64 colour pages
Publication: August 2021
£9.99 incl VAT
ISBN: 9781849185509
https://www.cinebook.co.uk/mutations-1-episode-1-p-4455.html
Two years have passed since the event of Mermaid Project, and Romane and Brahim have paid the price of their courage and integrity. Ignored, even censored, by their superiors, they’re now reduced to taking lousy private eye jobs to earn a living.
Meanwhile, though, the same cetaceans whose advanced intelligence the UN had refused to believe in are attacking fishing trawlers … with rockets! Before long, the authorities ask our two investigators to take their old jobs back …
I saw the cover and thought I had been sent an old book. I recognised the characters after all then I read. It was Romane and Brahim from The Mermaid Project!
This starts off like a good action movie "What's going on?" "What?!" then the scene shifts to a more sedate location and we catch up with our duo (I still want to Kbow how Romane hides such a big gun under her jacket!!
Now read that story blurb again. Okay, armed cetaceans. How about snow sleds pulled by...hyenas? Giant snow lion? Seriously. I was speeding through this book then going back to look at it all again before...reading. Then I read it in one go without intending to. The "chemistry" between Roxane and Brahim works and straight away I realised that this was going to be one of Cinebook's fun action books of 2022!
Art, colour work, locations and more all fit in together so well. Really, if you missed the previous series DO NOT miss this one and the next cover.....
Cinebook Ltd: XIII MYSTERY - IRINA
Authors: Eric Corbeyran & Philippe Berthet
Age: 15 years and up
Size: 18.4 x 25.7 cm
Number of pages: 56 colour pages
Publication: October 2021
ISBN: 9781849182355
£8.99 incl VAT
https://www.cinebook.co.uk/xiii-mystery-irina-p-4460.html
Belarus, in Soviet times. Irina is an unremarkable young woman growing up in an orphanage. One night, a mysterious visitor demands to see her and her best friend Julia. The latter goes first, then Irina is told she won’t be needed after all. The next day, Julia has vanished without a trace...
Thus begins a quest for truth and vengeance, from Minsk to Moscow to Washington – one that will lead Irina to discover her true calling.
Initially I looked at this and was unsure of the cover art. I mean it is okay but not the more "realistic" style I am used to withthe XIII series. Then I looked through it and decided not to look at it again for a few days. Basically I just removed "XIII" from my mind (no secret government agency was involved) and started reading. The art is pleasing and the shadows and colours used were atmospheric.
The story? Considering that Van Hamme is only the supervisor on this it was a gripping story. Dare I write all the plot twists and double dealings you expect from the main series itself?
And the last page again!!
Looking at the individual characters and their stories is quite effective -the first volume was The Mongoose but I cannot remember a thing about that other than the cover but, luckily, Cinebook reviews are always in the top 20 swirling about and.. got the link. Wow. No wonder I can't remember anything about the book -the review was posted 26th September 2014!
https://hoopercomicart.blogspot.com/2014/09/cinebook-9th-art-xiii-mystery-i-mongoose.html
Am I going to still be alive when volume 3 is published??
Joking aside these are good stand alone books well worth adding to your XIII collection....you DO have an XIII collection, right?
Wednesday, 26 January 2022
Wednesday, 19 January 2022
Sunday, 16 January 2022
The 3.75 Inch Figure Conversions
I was asked what happened to my 3.75 inch figure conversions?
Well, super Golden Age speedster Streamline was completed and sits on a shelf.
Diamond era character Dr Syntax I completed (see images below) however, I was finding it difficult to create a tricorn hat from scratch.
The Diamond and Golden Ages (and Bronze age) character Ally Sloper I also completed but the hat was the problem
See...odd type of top hat
There are a couple other British Golden Age characters but as I no longer have a camera and there is no way I will be able to get one in the foreseeable future I'm afraid you'll not see them!
Like scanners, cameras cost money and that is something I do not have. But, the figures are done and I am working on thpose hats (the suggestion of a 3D printer...I do not have the money and for two hats??)
Thursday, 13 January 2022
Stop Yapping and Put Your Money Where Your Mouth Is
This morning I got this comment:
"If the all the titles are collected into one volume and put on indyplanet print on demand, I'd buy a copy."
My response was blunt for which I make no apology since the comment seemed more like a tout for business:
"If all titles are collected on Indy Planet do you know what? Weeks of work and having to change format size because Indy Planet do not handle our book size and...you'd probable still not buy.
Heard this all before.
My online store is secure and offers books in local currency and local mail prices and they are printed locally to where ordered from. Ordering on the online store is easy.
WHY would I want to use a service like Indy Planet that had absolutely no interest in adapting to our publishing needs?
Are you touting for for business for Indy Planet?
There are almost 200 books online and I ought to resize and move all to Indy Planet?
If you are genuinely wanting to support Black tower You know where our store is 😁"
Here is the giveaway. The Martin Stephenson profile leads to the page "Comic Designer Project" where there is one brief post from May 2011 and no information other than that. You work it out.
Wednesday, 12 January 2022
Monday, 10 January 2022
Wednesday, 5 January 2022
A New Year And (If I can be bothered doing the work) T-shirts and Prints!
I set up an Art Wanted account in 2006 and ignored it for a long while but I have 28,160 views and my Portfolio Power is 70%
What I did not know was that Art Wanted operates a print on demand service where I can buy prints at Wholesale and set a price retail -they handle printing and shipping etc (in my situation thats a plus).
What do I have to lose in designing some prints to sell online?
Also I need to work on some designs for spreadshirt where I have a store but unbelievably nothing sells 
I need to give it a go so why not?
My online book storefront has almost 200 books and despite thousands seeing my posts on the books since November....no massive sales and my circumstances mean I need money coming in.
It will mean, as with the T-shirt, some new colour designs which, again, is a lot of work.
Tuesday, 4 January 2022
Books and Pricing
Me and my big mouth. I sit down to do the re-pricing and dead foxes start popping up so that work takes precedence.
To those who have ordered so far Thank You.
Sunday, 2 January 2022
It's....No Longer A Mystery!
Mr Mystery comic from September 1951 published by Stanley Morse (Key) it ran until 1954 and although scans of the Public Domanin comic are available online the character never saw the light of print again until Return of the Gods: Twilight of the Super Heroes where he and the Phantom Detective appear.
Originally published in colour these pages are in black & white and do not include any of the strips reprinted in that format by Thorpe and Porter in the 1970s (which I purchased rights of). The original idea was to publish a selection of stories but those in the first issue so good I decided to change my mind (I do that a lot).
When will the title be published? Certainly after the others I have mentioned in the previous posts, however, there is a delay due to the repricing I need to start asap.
Keep popping back here and I'll tell you "when"!
Saturday, 1 January 2022
Here We Go...another update
At 0300hrs this morning I made a decision that the 60pp book would now shift to 80pp so chose the art pages, scanned nad they are ready to go...as is a 32pp secret book which reprints some 1951 stories featuring a character that made a cameo in Return of the Gods.
Who? What? Well, he introduces horror/ghost stories, is a rather immaculate dresser rather like our own Phantom Detective but is American. His title ran from 1951-1954 and he also appeared in some of yje 1970s Thorpe & Porter b&w reprints such Ghoul Tales.....those are the only clues you are getting!
Probably one of the teeth gritting jobs when it came to scanning was a Geral Swan album. Scanning a page I found "tiny bits" on the platten. Turned out is was all part of the page. Quite literally touching the top, bottom or side of a page had a small piece coming away in your fingers. The paper (remember there was still paper rationing until the early 1960s) is card like and almost like chipboard (particle board in the U.S.?). It could have been pulped and recycled paper but after over 60 years and kept under whatever conditions...it had me panicky.
This is why I try to reprint as much as the UK Diamond, Golden Ages stuff as I can -scanning and cleaning and offering them in a better condition than you'll find them in the originals. I've learnt a lot of tricks since I started using the computer to preserve the books since 2010!
Anyway, time to....I have a list here of what to do next....oh! a text feature (for publishing as I dont get paid or supported to do all of this for CBO,
This is 2022?