A Pictopia to Call One's Own: A Brief History of Team-Ups, Crossovers, a...

Cinebook Ltd Newsletter 188 - August 2023

 

Dear Reader, Let the byword for this month be: skulduggery! If nothing else, because it’s an awesome word. But also because there’s plenty of it in all three of our new titles, of course … Take Redbeard, for example. It’s a pirate story, after all. With three sides in the ongoing conflict – Redbeard, the Spectre and the Spaniards, there’s a heck of a lot of betraying and double-crossing taking place, and getting out of his growing heap of problems will call for plenty of cunning and underhandedness from the old privateer – plus a sharp blade and a steady aim, of course! Then there’s Highlands, and while most of the betraying has been done in volume 1, now our hero Joseph has to clear his name and get a measure of revenge – secretly, since he’s still wanted by the authorities. Also, there’s a whole uprising taking place, though perhaps an army lining up for battle is a tad too obvious to qualify as sneaky behaviour … Finally, we welcome our latest addition to the team, Michel Vaillant, and his Legendary Races series. This first volume takes us to the Indianapolis 500 in 1966, a real race that is remembered as being extremely exciting and full of surprises. This book offers a nail-biting narrating of the race itself combined with a great deal of – you guessed it – skulduggery going on in the background, possible explanation for some of the aforementioned surprises. It’s smart, it’s captivating, and you can almost hear the roar of the cars as they dash around the speedway! August with Cinebook: ladies, gentlemen, start your reading! Michel Vaillant Legendary Races 1 Vincent Dutreuil & Denis Lapière In the Hell of Indianapolis Indianapolis, 1966. The Vaillante team is there to prepare for the legendary Indianapolis 500-Mile Race. The competition promises to be fierce, but the two drivers, Michel Vaillant and Steve Warson, are confident. Soon they meet Rhona, a charming young woman who’s being harassed … Read more Highlands Philippe Aymondn Book 2 of 2! Joseph is in hiding and believed dead. Wrongly accused of seducing Amelia Menmuir, gravely injured by her brother William, he now rests and prepares his revenge. Against Peter, his apprentice, who altered his drawings to frame him, and against William … Read more Redbeard 2 Stefano Carloni & Jean-Charles Kraehn The Sea Wolves Redbeard’s mission has turned into a disaster. He and his ship, the Black Hawk, are now in Spanish hands … His son and his lieutenants have been captured by the mysterious Spectre, who turned out to be none other than his nemesis Morgan … Read more A Christmas Carol   Thorgal 24 The Battle of Asgard XIII 26 Cuba, Where it all Began North-American readers, to locate a comic book shop near you that stocks or can order these titles and many more, use this handy Read more   Or, if you're a retailer yourself, please go to: Read more Michel Vaillant Legendary Races 1 In the Hell of Indianapolis Outlaws 1 The Cartel of the Peaks Rin Tin Can 1 The Mascot

Over a decade of collecting TOYS in JAPAN : PART TWO

NEW COMIC BOOKS RELEASING SEPTEMBER 6TH 2023 MARVEL COMICS & DC COMICS P...

Masterverse New adventures Slush-head review

LEGO Star Wars 75370 STORMTROOPER MECH | Build and Review!

Masters of the universe origins Frog monger

How Many Views From The United States?

 Asked specifically about views from the United States the Blogger stats reveal that in the last 7 days 27.5k views came from the USA which is usually the top country in the views. All time (since 2012) totals 1.61 million.

China is runner up with 1.13 million views.

Black Tower Silver Age Volume 1 -Electroman featuring Electro Girl

 

A4

B&W

52pp 

£8.00

https://www.lulu.com/en/en/shop/terry-hooper/black-tower-silver-age-volume-1-electroman/paperback/product-wqmp6m.html

1951 at the start of the UK Silver Age of comics appeared Electroman! 

Then he vanished to become a legend. 

After 70 years he is back -Dan Watkins a criminal wrongly accused of murder and given the electric chair by the State. 

But then...Dan did not die. He was a reformed person and what is more he had a double existence as newspaper boy Dan Watkins and righter of wrongs - Electroman! 

This collection contains: 

The Birth of Electroman 

The Treasure of El Chimborazo 

The Million Dollar Robbery 

3 Ring Circus 

Electroman and Tim meet Benjamin Franklyn 

The Great Train Robbery 

plus - Electro Girl Battles the Gremlins' Pot-War Plot

HUNTING for BRAND NEW JAPANESE TOYS in TOKYO @ BIC CAMERA

East Tennessee Hot Wheelers | Die-cast and Toy Collectables Show

Desk top Publishing For Zinesters -Advice On Why Printing Yourself Might Not Be A Good Idea

 

Many years ago I purchased a Canon FC220 Desk Top photocopier.  Total cost was £110. At the time printers for computers were very expensive and, when I started, only commercially available to companies because of the cost.  So a nice, compact copier seemed ideal.

Above: The FC220

I used the copier to put together a few of the zines I put together (around 2000 to 2004) as well as advisory leaflets and Exotic Animals Register (f. 1977) and Vale Wildlife Group newsletters.

At the time you could pick up a toner cartridge for £50, though I found two office supply stores who sold them for £35.  Now, next time it was £65...then £75. As each store explained to me (and I tried others) "The copier is nothing. It does not make money.  The money is made through the consumables because without those you cannot use the machine."

About 5 years ago I went into the local Staples as I had repaired a roller problem with the FC220 and wanted to use it again. E30 Toner Cartridge -£130.  I blinked.  Over came the sales assistant and asked whether he could help me?  I pointed at the cartridge box and told him someone had put the wrong price under it.  I was told it was the right price.  "How does that help someone with the copier if to replace the toner cartridge will cost more than the copier?" I asked. He just smirked and actually walked off!

Here is the thing you have to remember when you think of purchasing something like this: the cost of the "consumables".  There are a lot of bigger photocopiers out there that are cheap.  You think "I can get that and just start printing my own books!"  I have known a few people who have done this and then discovered they are left with a useless copier.  Why?  Because they never looked at the price of "drums and cartridges"  and if you are going to spend £90+ (depending on copier model) every time you need a new toner cartridge -and they do not last long- you might as well take your zine to a printer and get 80(?) copies for that price.

It is a con.  The prices should get lower because of stores vying for business as well as the cost of production of the cartridges (mainly now produced in China or the Far East).  Even "refills" -where a company refills an old cartridge with toner is near extortionate. Because this is how companies make their money -including Canon.

Looking at an E30 toner cartridge today and I see Amazon have them starting from £75 while Staples want £117.  There are a lot of people selling off FC220 copiers so do not just jump in and buy! There is a reason why they are selling them.

The same thing applies to good quality PC printers. You can pick up printers so cheap it is unbelievable...until you find out what the Colour and Black ink cartridges will cost.  Ink jets are a con.  As I pointed out in posts before: you need three colour cartridges and a black cartridge -as soon as one is lower than the rest the printers are designed to stop working -you have to buy a cartridge to replace the low one and it goes on and on.

This is what I publisher on Comic Bits Online on 7th September, 2014 and it seems I was not alone in having these problems!

Review (well an Angry diatribe) Epson Stylus SX130 -Why NEVER To Buy One!

Right, firstly, when I got this machine it seemed to be a gods send. A scanner and copier all in one -fast.  Yes, I had been warned that "it is a bitch when it comes to ink!"  In fact, I never realised how bad it was. This is the machine -Sleek. Smooth. Look at those curves....ohhh, yeah.  They always say that evil hides behind beauty.

As I've written, this is a quick scanner and the copier is a bit slower but since my old desktop Canon FC220 is now beyond repair (and, unbelievably, twenty years on the toner cartridges have increased so much in price (I could buy one for £35-50 back in 2000 and now Staples and Office World want £100-150!!! THAT is far more than the machine cost) its a good deal.

One thing I noticed is that the copier will NOT copy in colour.  Now if I put a colour image on the plate to scan I get a colour image to save.  If I put a colour image on the plate to photocopy I get...black and white and to be honest not that good a quality.  Something Mr Stransky can probably verify!

But so what -its okay for copying a letter.  If I want a good copy of an image I HAVE to scan, save and print it from there.

Look at the SX130....begging to be used....

But here is the BIG problem.  No, not "big" as that under-states it.  The major problem comes with the ink cartridges.  Take a look at the bottom right of that photo above.

And here is your close-up.

You see that absolutely moronically designed piece of plastic over the cartridges?  Yes, that is molded in place. It cannot be move. You'll note they show the cayan cartridge removed and this is so you think its easy. It is not.

Run out of ink and an orange light flashes above that tear shaped symbol. Your ink is running low.  That makes me laugh.  The tear-drop is there to indicate the huge amount of grief you are in for.

The slider is supposed to move the cartridge that needs replacing to the point you see above -where the cyan cartridge has been removed. You pop it out and replace it then press that button above the tear drop and the yellow cartridge moves along to be replaced.  My ass.

The machine runs through the whole 20-30 second roll action after each cartridge is replaced...IF you can replace them. The cartridges tend not to move into place. After minutes of trying to get the bloody cartridges to move into place you think "if I take out the first one then I can get to the second one to replace it!" No. Just no.

Now, I've used HP and canon printers in the past and when cartridges need replacing you lift up the panel and the cartridges tend to move into place for removal. NEVER ever had a problem with that in...over twenty years of using printers.  Not this one.  No. That piece of shit plastic shaping means that you cannot -cannot- get to the cartridges.

You DO have options. One is to try to slide the cartridges along but this takes quite a bit of effort and I would NOT recommend that.  The best option, sadly I do not have the tools for this, is to cut out that piece of shit plastic.  Am I angry? Yes.  There is absolutely no reason for that plastic to be there other than to cause the user major problems.  The designer is a complete ass-head.

But there is more.  If you manage the approximately ten minutes or more it can take to replace the cartridges (my record is 45 minutes) the machine itself...well, it tries to screw you up.  Runs through the motions....yes, cartridges replaced.  Good.  Now to print!

"Cartridge not recognised"....whaat?  Run it all through again to print "Cartridge not recognised" and then you are told to use Epsom only cartridges.  Yes, I have put in an Epson cartridge.  So, you remove the cartridge again...replace it.  Run through okay...."Cartridge not recognised"....I have, before now, spent over an hour trying to sort this problem out.  Suddenly...the cartridge is okay.  Phew. Three copies into your printing "Cartridges not recognised"....yes, now all three -Cayan, magenta and yellow are not recognised and you "need Epson cartridges"....but they ARE Epson cartridges!!!!

Some times you only need to remove one cartridge, some times all three and then two will be recognised but not the third.  More hassle then....success! Continue print.....black cartridge not recognised. Here we go again.

And here is a thing. This week I have printed off some black and white illoes.  Not a large number -I have, in three days, used 18 cartridges.  I have them here in front of me and if I shake them they have a good deal of ink in them...but the printer says no.  It is why I now use Epson Compatible cartridges -same end results, cheaper but still all the replacement problems....I just save money.

So, I asked the fella who works in PC World about the Epson SX130 and...he laughed.  Apparently I had NOT purchased a damaged machine as I'd thought.  "I've not met anyone with the SX130 that hasn't had a problem" he told me.  That plastic crap over the cartridges?  "If it was me I'd cut the ***** out. There isn't any reason for it to be there."   A customer standing three feet away joined in. "The SX130?  They are utter crap. My boss had one for each office because he thought scanner, copier and printer all in one -brill! So in total five offices each had one.  In six months they were thrown into the waste skip!"

WHY do you never meet these people BEFORE you buy?  And the PC World man?  "People want one we sell it."  Good customer service there!

So, yes, I am going to look for a new scanner/copier/printer and it will not be an Epson. Oh, did I mention your print outs can be ejected by the printer half done because the ink has run out even though it says you have enough?

  Epson UK, incidentally -in two phone calls-  tried every single excuse including that I probably buggered the machine up in some way.

There, Epson, a blog that has had over 2 million views has called out your awful printer.  Hey, send me a free

machine that does all the SX130 is supposed to do and we'll see how that goes.

                              *********************

Of course, Epson never sent the free printer! I currently have a Canon Pixma MG25505 and it prints good...but each cartridge costs £21 each.  Now work that out.  Even if you had someone supplying you with free copier paper or you buy a ream @£2.50 you need to be able to print and sell enough copies to cover your £42 ink cartridge costs. So let's say total cost with paper is £45. 

You print 50 zines.  Say you sell each copy @£3.00 you will make £150 so your cartridge costs are covered and you get a big profit.

Suppose you sell only 30 at £3.00....£90.  Not bad.

20 copies?  That would be £60 and that would have to be your bare minimum number of sales to make back your cartridge costs and have a meagre "fun publishing" profit.

When you consider these things (I am not touching on electric costs nor postage costs if you sell mail order) It is far easier if you can find a cheap printer somewhere and get them to print off the copies you need.  Even Print On Demand is cheaper.

So although getting your own photocopier or state of the art printer seems like a good idea always -always- check what the consumables are going to cost you.

Ultra-Updated: Berol Pens, Sharpies and the Drawing Essentials

 

When I first wrote this post it was the early 2000s. I've up-dated it a few times since and I have had to drop and change implements as things change.  If  Berol, Sharpie, Spirograph or any other art related company would care to sponsor CBO just get in touch!

My hands are now such that using Chinese brushes is difficult ( I LOVE these brushes and first started with in the mid-1980s after picking some up in China Town (London) while visiting Fleetway and Marvel UK.  Well, no more business trips since the comic industry died and when my old Chinese brushes eventually reached the end of their work lives I purchased a set of Crimson and Blake Chinese brushes from an old Chinese supermarket in Bristol...ten years or more ago.

I just realised it was much longer ago than ten years!!

Here is my article as published in 2016 and I'll update as I go.

Comic Artists and What To Draw With -Berol, Uni Ball and Rotring Tikky Graphic

Considering I had a conversation today with someone who had no idea what to draw comic strips with -he was starting out and was telling me how he was about to order the most horrifically expensive "graphic pens" you can get, which are not much good- I remembered the old post.

I keep getting asked by people trying to get started in the industry what I would recommend to draw with.

Okay, you see an artist uses pure sable brushes or this tech-pen or that one -all very highly priced.  The thing is that unless you are rich or have stepped right into a very well paid long term art job you are wasting money.  For an artist every single penny counts and job security is …well, not something artists get very often! (I have no idea whether I was being sarcastic there -comics and job security??).

I have used Rotring pens (over priced and not great -this was in the 1980s), Guillotte nibs, caligraphy pens and even the very cheapest fibre tip you can get. I HAVE used brushes and still do but mainly for inking in large areas or effects. I used to go to the old Westminster Comic Mart in London and visit China Town to buy cheap brushes and b-i-g bottles of black ink.  I am not joking about big bottles of ink. A bottle would cost under £2.00 which is what you could pay for a 14 ml Windsor & Newton bottle of black ink. Take a look at this -the label went years ago but think of the amount of ink and that saved an artist a LOT of money (I think the bottle last 4 years).

However, if you try Berol you can find Broad and Fine tips but also Handwriting pens that allow you to draw using an even finer line.  You can do almost everything the very expensive pens can and quickly.  The only thing I would say is, once you’ve inked art using a Berol pen give it time to dry and do not try to erase pencil lines straight away as it can smudge.

Since the 1980s I have (despite the fact Berol seem to be harder to find in Bristol) used various pens but the main ones have been Berol Fine and Broad -the line is so good (until the tip wears down and even then are still good) that other professionals have sworn blind that I am using brushes!  And when I say “use” them I mean a lot -the last little stationer I used sold me the pens in the boxes at a discount after the owner saw me looking at the pens and said “You’re an artist, aren't you? You can get a trade discount”! (Was it so obvious -must have been the tatty clothes and hungry look!)

You can also take Berol pens around with you for sketching.

The colour Berol pens I have had little experience with as they are harder to find. However, I knew one artist back in the 1980s (Paul Slydel) who only used Berol colour pens to colour and when I first saw his work I thought he had been using brushes and colour inks.  Hard to find these days and if you do the price can be high.

You have to find the bloody pens first but I’ll come back to that in a while.

 At the moment there are a selection of pencils/pens on my table because I do like experimenting a bit -the joy of being your own publisher is that you can do this. However, the main items I use are these:


 There is the Uni Ball “Eye” which is about 0.5 despite saying “Fine” and most “fine” pens you’ll find in stationary shops and W. H. Smith are 0.5 which is not what I call fine at all.

In fact, the Berol Fine is about 0.3 when new but after usage will get to a 0.5 line but the good thing is, if like me, you live in a cluttered working area with LOTS of brushes, pens and pencils, if you lose your Berol Broad -good for filling in large areas of solid black though BIG areas of solid black I still use brush-ink, then the Fine can handle the Broad’s job!

The effect? Well, I tried drawing with a migraine the other day (the current weather is **** up my head) and my eyes…yeuch.  But I did a rough for a cover I wanted.  Yes, I can see the faults in the illo but no one is perfect and I’d not use this one any way!

I posted it on Face Book and another site and then came the comments -was I using a “dip-pen” (Guillotte nib)? What type of brush was I using?   I explained but some still think I’m joking. Seriously, this was all Berol Fine.

 I did, at one point, use Papermate Rotring Tikky Graphic -these are designed by Rotring but came in a pack of three -0.3, 0.5 and 0.7 -a nice range of nib sizes though I would have loved a 0.1 and 0.2 combination as well.  The three pens cost about £4.95 in Summer 2011 but have currently hit £7.90-£8.00 in Tesco and other outlets so, for me, that is getting too pricey.


There were problems with these pens. I bought about three packs in 2011 and I found pens from different packs began seeping ink from them -just by the red seals you can see in the photo above.  Now, unless they are clogging like the old Rotring pens (and you wonder why so many artists stopped using them?) then there has been a problem in filling them during manufacture. Each 0.7 from two packs got two uses out of them and then…no ink.  This also happened with all three 0.3s which really **** me off. What also annoyed me was that in all the packs I purchased the nibs fell out of the 0.1 as soon as it touched paper.

For, now (2016), £8 a pack of three I just simply would not recommend them. Put it this way, okay, they look sleek and well designed, but a Berol Fine, used properly can do the job of all three -skillfully used the Broad could replace the 0.7 if you had to.

“Spatter” effect.  No, I do not use a computer created effect (NEVER!!!) it is the traditional old way -ink on toothbrush and careful use of the thumb to get the spray right -experiment if you want to try this BUT make sure everything is covered up first and that includes other panels of art on a page you are trying it on!!!  Bit of advice: some of us used to blow onto the brushes  to make the ink splatter out -it'll make you dizzy so stick to thumb on brush!


At the moment I have a big tub of about 50 pens -if you work like me then use a pen. Put it down. Lost,. Next!

 A better view from the side!

These the basics I use:left to right -Uni Pin Fine Line with nibs 0.05/ 0.1/0.2/0.3/0.5/0.8.

Pen #7 is a Pilot Marqueur A Dessin 0.2.

The next a Uni-ball Eye Fine.

Then the Luxol Micropoint 0.5.

The legendary Berol Fine (blue) is next followed by the Berol Broad.  

Now I do have a big tin full of all sized brushes mainly for large solid black areas but you then have to wait for the ink to dry.  So, for speed, that big chunky grey pen is a bog standard Permanent Marker -Berol did them but they are far too pricy.  You can pick these up for 35p each or even packs of four for £1.00.

Nice effects can be achieved with biro pens but that is something you’ll find out eventually through experimentation.

Also, I have used Spirograph effects.  Enlarge them or same size.  Nice results.  In fact, last time someone asked me how I achieved certain effects in an interview people started going out buying sets!  Mad but...


Now, such is Room Oblivion that I have lost all my Spirograph wheels.  They are here but where I have no idea. I was about to order a new set when my sister returned from shopping and carrying a 1965/1966 Spirograph set -complete for £2 from a charity shop. The box is not in perfect condition but these can fetch up to £29 on Ebay.

Lovely photos of the set:

 All seems to be present and correct

 Interior box lid showing the various wheels and what effect they achieve

 There are extra wheels and I forget to put two of the smaller wheels into this display but they are there with the other parts.

 More instructions

 These instructions make what you get today seem almost for dim-wits. This is good stuff and no wonder it won a prize!

 I had to check this several times before I could believe it.  The original Spirograph paper (divided into squares) in wrapper!

 More guides.

 The original base board (thick piece of cardboard) is still there!

 Oh yeah, this may get a lot of useage!

Never ever be afraid to try odd things to see whether they work for you. The computer for a real hands on artist should always be the very last resort for special effects.  Maybe if they had used Spirograph those people who claimed "This is done on the computer!" would know better.  After 40 years Spirograph is still a good tool for me to use.

But as freelance artists tend not to make a lot of money they need to keep costs down so Berol pens are perfect -as are various nib sized gel pens.

Back in the 1980s-late 1990s you could not walk into a supermarket, newsagents or other store without seeing the tubs of Fine and Broad (black as well as the other colours) but today..  Saturday morning I went into W. H. Smith in Broadmead, Bristol and was astounded at what little selection in pens they have -all sorts of brands and prices but generally all 0.5! There was a big  (b-i-g) box of Berol colour pens but at the price Smith’s were asking (I think £20 plus) I didn’t even consider them.  But Broad and Fine black? No. Not one.

In fact, I spent around an hour looking around City Centre shops -not one Berol pen in sight.

This is a great pity because I think that for a working cartoonist/ comics artist/ illustrator there are no better pens. I’m told Berol may no longer be making Fine or Broad pens but as this only came from two store owners who did not seem interested or, at first, know what I meant, I’m hoping they are wrong.

In fact I can add an up-date to this item.  Everyone seems to be stocking Sharpie pens and they are relatively cheap but I hate them.  Firstly, they smell!  Secondly, with fat nibs they are nowhere near as versatile as Berol pens.  A Sharpie cost 65p. A Fine Berol pen set me back £1.00!!!

Berol produce excellent products but they do not seem to be pushing them at all.  Who ever is in charge of promotion and sales -bad job.  Over thirty years I've championed and recommended Berol pens and I still do and it's great to hear budding artists have tried them because of recommendation

Berol needs to get on the ball because I would hate to see those Sharpies be the only pen out there!!

And, yes, I asked Berol twice whether they might sponsor some features on CBO about their pens -supplying a selection so their use could be demonstrated.  Nothing. Not a word.

I have known any number of artists who have no idea how to use a pencil or pen on paper. 90% act very superior to you when you say you are what they call "old school"...but then you have to put up with their nervous breakdowns when their computer or tablet or whatever they use crashes (and they have not saved their work on external storage devices). If you cannot use a pencil, pen or brush and use your hands to draw on paper then you are NOT an artist. You may use a computer to 'draw' but storing up images to copy and paste onto new work because it saves time is without real soul -it's letting the device do the work.

Where's the challenge?
                                                         

(c)2023 Terry Hooper-Scharf