THE IMPRESSIVE POSES OF 12 LITTLE SOLDIERS

Black Tower Wilberforce: A Jack's Lot Is Not A Happy One

 

A4
B&W
28 pp
£6,00
https://www.lulu.com/en/en/shop/terry-hooper-scharf/wilberforce/paperback/product-1zkwmp8n.html

Wilberforce—a Sergeant on the Metropolitan Police Detective Force. 

But Wilberforce was no common “Jack” (police officer). Even before working with the famous Chung Ling Soo (The Case Of The Thames Serpent), Wilberforce had “tasted the chin strap” on many tough cases –even a stint in the Army saw him used because of his detective skills. 

Here, Ben R. Dilworth, gives us a sneak peek into Wilberforce’s Case Notes for 1896. 

“A Jack’s lot is not a happy one” and Wilberforce was not just dealing with the ordinary criminals such as the nobblers, rampsmen, smashers, mobsmen, snoozers and skinners…. ...there were the spectres, the satanic followers, vampires and other monsters —things the ordinary copper never usually encountered and often scoffed at the stories of. Wilberforce knew better.

Black Tower Xendragon: The Legacy of Frankenstein

 

A4
19pp
£5.00
https://www.lulu.com/en/en/shop/terry-hooper-scharf/xendragon-the-legacy-of-frankenstein/paperback/product-14m92rvv.html

Paranormal investigator Xendragon answers a priest's call for help and travels to Europe. 

The priest is missing. A wereman. A Frankenstein monster. A mad scientist.

 What more needs to be written?

Black Tower Colloquium cum diabolo

 

A4

B&W

12pp

£5.00

https://www.lulu.com/en/en/shop/terry-hooper-scharf/colloquium-cum-diabolo/paperback/product-1ggdrvgp.html

As a vital point in the battle raging on Neo Olympus (Return of the Gods:Twilight of The Super Hewroes) two entities who could shift the balance both ways meet...

One of them is the Devil. 

While their truce is active the duo pass the time recounting two stories.

features a superb cover by Richard Anthony Pester

THIS IS N O T ESSENTIAL READING FOR RETURN OF THE GODS BUT A STAND ALONE ILLUSTRATED TEXT BOOK.

Black Tower Tales of Terror III

 

A4
B&W
62pp
£6.00
https://www.lulu.com/en/en/shop/terry-hooper-scharf/tales-of-terror-iii/paperback/product-16qnwmd7.html

Each year Black Tower likes to bring you a little bit of extra horror/ghostly goodness in Tales of Terror. 

In the third volume there are contributions by Ben R. Dilworth -Krakos and Merriwether. While Paul Ashley Brown brings us the tales of The Worlds Best Mom and revisits his fear of trees! 

Darron Northall and Danny Jenkins bring us the horrific tale of Bud and Lou Go To Hell while George McQueens The Bat deals out justice and Art Wetherell's one pager is designed to make men wince! 

And Terry Hooper-Scharf finally includes issue 1 of The Paranormals to make this a true horror/ghost fest book!

Black Tower Tales Of Terror No. 2

 

A4
B&W
42pp
£6.00
http://www.lulu.com/shop/terry-hooper-scharf/tales-of-terror-2/paperback/product-12674020.htm

Meet Finlands own mystical hero -Kapteeni Kuolio or, if you prefer English: Captain Gangren!

The Thinker..thinks!

David Gordon brings us the first appearance of Callex -and she's on a quest.

Mark Stafford assks "What is the meaning of This?" Find out.

We also dare to ask what happens if you Marry A Monster From Outer Space?

Terror and fun the Black Tower way!

Learn about the terror of The Machine! by Andrew (Fantomex) Hope and Ben R Dilworth

Black Tower Tales of Terror! (aka Tower Tales of Terror)

 

A4
B&W
72pp
£8.00
https://www.lulu.com/shop/terry-hooper-scharf/tower-tales-of-terror/paperback/product-11921861.html

The main feature,"The Curse Of The McQuilligans", starring Xendragon, leads off this collection of horror, ghostly and twist-in-the-tail stories. 

The classic Torch Of Vengeance is a tale of a wife’s rather Gothic vengeance while Graveyard is a cautionary tale for those curious to look into graves! Demons,time travel and much more.

THE OWL -MASTER OF THE NIGHT

 

A4
B&W
80pp
£8.00
https://www.lulu.com/en/en/shop/terry-hooper/the-owl-master-of-the-night/paperback/product-1vk5e79w.html

A Fan Project. 

The Owl. Created by Frank Thomas in 1940 for Crackajack Funnies:this book contains three Golden Age stories including the rare first appearance of Owl Girl plus the rare 1967 Owl Man and Owl Girl in their own comic. 

Are You An American Independent Comics Publisher?

 I have heard from many who ventured into comic publishing that, despite all the talk of comic

stores being willing to stock Indie titles, very few were willing to.  I have also hear how, at conventions where they spend a lot -a LOT- of money on tables they are pushed out of the way of the main crowds, mainstream comics and toy sellers.

Please, if you are an Indie publisher let me know the problems you have had at events as well as trying to get stores to take your books.  

We all need to help each other out and highlight problems small publishers face.

Thank You

The Golden Age of the British Small Press?

 This 2008 posting from the old Word Press CBO should have been saved here but I can't find it so let's do another reposting shall we?

_________________________________________________________________________

Well,you will have to excuse me and the fact that this is going to be a lengthy text/illo item.  The article was written a year ago for someone but never used.  As I looked through my boxes of Small Press items I realised that there were some publications I missed out -unintentionally.

In reality,the article I wrote would make a hefty little book!

The joys back then were getting the latests from Hawarden,Cheshire -from Rich Holden’s Caged Comics -A5 and mini comics.  They were a riot of fun.

The same can be said of the great Merv Grist and his Gristavision comics.  I still have the classic cassette tape he sold at the time -”The Slugs That Ate Manhattan” -WHERE are you,Merv?!

And Cosmic Comics produced by Steve Lines between running his band Stormclouds [I still have the cassette tapes from back then and they are still a great listen];Blake The Egg was the oddest lines character -and Steve’s music zine,The Marden Beat,was a source of much interest if you were into Indie music at the time.

Fran Ashcroft.  What can one possibly say about Fran Ashcroft -or creation Spoonsy?!

So,to all of those I’ve missed out:my apologies.  You made the 1980s great!

Above:brother Mike,publisher of Zine Ager,to the rear Doc N,scribe of Vigilante Vulture,

the superb John Erasmus and some bearded maniac;Tom “lovely” Elmes. Westminster,c.1987

 

above:a rare newspaper photo c.1988 from the Bath mart:Jerry Holliday of KYO Comics,brother Mike,Sally & David Johnson and Dave’s dad.

And now -the article!

 

British Small Press –The Golden Age

Terry Hooper-Scharf

 

It can truly be said that the 1980s to early 1990s was the Golden Age of the Small Press,or Zines as they were known.

The term “Zine” was derived from “magazine”,basically because the fan press was mainly text and illoes only at one time –and later we saw “strip zines” added to these. But Zines was an all-encompassing term.

One of our [UK] first,if not the first fanzine was Heroes Unlimited in 1967.  This was a gestetner copied publication and the major contributing illustrator was none other than Paul Neary –a memorable Justice Society of America cover amongst his contributions.  Fantasy Domain in 1973 was a kind of “what comics are out now” and reviews along with “for sale” ads.   Blitzine was Phil Elliott and Paul Chester’s gestetner [look it up on the internet,kids!] magazine from 1975.  Paul E. Schofield came along in 1979 with the A5 [Digest] sized New Aeon.

 

It has to be remembered that the gestetner printer was,for many years,the only way of producing your fan magazine.  Basically you typed cutting into the stencil sheet which eventually went onto the roller of the hand cranked copier.  Any typoes had to be corrected using such stuff as nail polish!  My own school magazine from 1972 was produced by using the gestetner –don’t try looking for copies because the magazine was banned while being printed.  Starkers –The Magazine That Tells The Naked Truth would,I am sure,have lived on in infamy!

 

 

In the mid-1970s I well recall that fantastic new machine the photocopier.  You could walk into a printers or stationary shop and they would copy off your pages!  Copies became cheaper and so more and more would-be publishers decided to leap into the future!

 

Our mainUK news,reviews and articles publication would have been BEM and then Fantasy Advertiser,published by Martin Lock [the Harrier Comics publisher] and later Martin Skidmore. And for those looking for style and distinction there was Paul Gravett’s Escape magazine –now an online site.   

 

 

Strip-wise,we had the superb Super Adventure Stories published by Michael Gibas –which gave us classics such as Johnny Kurzman’s “Red Dragon”,whose saga was great fun and pre-dated both my own and Grant Morrison’s [Zenith]Red Dragon.  

 But it was in the 1983-84 period that things really went crazy.  We had great zines from Shane Oakley [ofAlbion fame] and Andrew Yoxall in the form of Hardware –which featured the very early work of Matt [D’Israeli] Brooker,Art Wetherell and the “where is he now??” Iskander Islam;and I must mention the inimitable John Erasmus. But there were other contributors –including the Oakster and Yoxies  own mad-cap work.

Dan Rickwood and Adam Thomas brought us the insane and often near legally prosecutable Bum Comic!  The often ‘saner’ contributions came from Matt Brooker and Ben Dilworth.  There was even an experimental Landscape format one off REQUIEM with a Dilworth dash of water colour added for colour.

 

Mark E. Ford produced,before being told to stop by DC,Eat The Magic Batzine which was a fan mag with covers and illoes by…Ben Dilworth!  Steve Lines produced his spooky,pop art orientated Fantastic Stories and Creepy Crawlies –again,Ben contributed and so did I with a Christmas tale featuring my sorcerers Kotar,Sabuta and Lady Silvana along with the “Keeper Of Tales”,The Creeper himself!

 

Of course,Ben produced his own publications under the Penguinflight banner.  A Letter From Siberia was A3 [larger than US B3] in size and in the middle was stapled the Digest sized Picasso’s Café.  This publication was produced using colour washes,ink washes and even colour pens.

 

Later,Ben and I designed acetate covers for my Preview Comic wherein we used stencilled images and car spray paint!  Ben was probably one of the group of ground-breaking creators responsible for the “Golden Age” of British Small Press and when he moved toJapan things were never the same.

But we also had Help Shark! And titles such as “Love Given Lightly” and “Splendid”,

both by Steven Martin.  Cally Stapleton produced wonderful art using linoleum cutting and Myra Hancock was…well,fab!

 

 

Cover designs and even art style techniques were experimented with and there was a huge interest in British zines from the US,Europe and beyond.  Ed Pinsent ran Fast Fiction but in 1985 I joined up with Jerry Holliday,Paul Brown and Darron Northall [on copying] to create the news,reviews,previews and interviews mag Zine Zone,which also became a mail order and mart service.

 

 

Zine Zone and the “Zine Zone Zoot Suit Crew” actually started out-selling Fast Fiction and promoting creators such as Rich Holden and his Caged zines and Fran Ashcroft’s Fenlock,Paul Grist’s Dancing Elephant Press and other new creators that were emerging kept the scene fresh.  I used to have “open house” in the apartment I was living in and anyone involved in the Small Press passing through or near Bristol popped in –the door bell ringing at anytime [including 3am in the morning thanks to my legendary insomnia!].  I could get 30-60 packages of publications or art samples a week

 

 

Bristol tended to be the place to be and 1984 had seen school kid Jerry Holliday and pal Joe Leigh produce Knock Yaself Out Comix –this developed into one of the best mixed-bag publications around and spawned some spin-offs such as Jerry and Joe’s Doxi The Dog [something Jerry is still working on over 20 years later].  How the magazine ever got published between the drinking bouts seems incredible!

The legendary anthropomorphic series Vigilante Vulture was written by Darron Northall and drawn by Paul Brown –based in the urban war zone known as Kowle West!  Even today,after so many years,it’s still a good read!  Interestingly,at one of the UK Comic Art Conventions,Shane Oakley and Andrew Yoxall were overjoyed to meet Brown and Northall –apparently,VV had been Oakley’s favourite “pick-me-up” read during his college years!  Sadly,the plans of Seattle based MU Press to publish the series in the US came to nothing. 

Tom Elmes,last heard of heading for France,produced the often gorey Post War Funnies,Post War Casualties and even the wickedly named [nothing to do with the contents] shocker titled Incest!  The Worm sticks in my mind.  However,the most cringable was without doubt “The Man Who At Himself To Death” –and he did! These days Tom is back in the UK and working on some award winning animation projects.

Another creator who liked to shock to see the reaction was Stephen Harrison and he drew the Andrew Yoxall written “The Little Git With The Chainsaw” –inspired by the Daily Mirror newspaper strip Andy Capp and the film ”The Evil Dead”!!!

It seemed that everyone knew everyone else in the Small Press back then,if they didn’t then either Ben Dilworth or myself quickly introduced them.

 

 

By the early 1990s most of the creators were either working in other media or had gone on to professional comics.  Zine Zone had become Zine Zone International covering the Small Press from around the world.  The UK Small Press,however,was deteriorating fast. 

Probably the most successful,or best publicised,Small Press comic of recent years has been the O-Men,seemingly inspired by the great Silver Age comic series’ such as Doom Patrol –for those who missed out,the early issues have been compiled in “trade book” style.

Magic Malcolm is a US sized comic of superb quality which,from issue 10 onward will only be appearing in graphic novel style books.  Blink Twice Publications are Robin Etherington [creator and writer] and Lawrence Etherington [co-creator and artist].  This is a superb series that looks like a combination of Little Nemo,Alice In Wonderland and much more –but even that doesn’t do it justice.  You can check out more at www.studioblinktwice.com and learn not just about Magic Malcolm but also Tusk and Moon!

Dutch born,Bristol resident,Willie Hewes,has even featured in the local press with her stylish Amaranth comic;the story of a young woman living in Bristol who discovers she is a demon trapped in a human body and gets whisked off to meet the Lord of Hell.  A book that has achieved a cult following.  Learn more at Willie’s site  www.amaranthcomic.tk

My personal favourite,not just because it has Goth chicks,but because of some superb black and white artwork is Marcus Jones’ ZELTA.  Not for the faint hearted,this is definitely an adults only comic under Jones’ Screaming Demon Comics banner.  The story is about unhappy tattooist,Alex,who meets the girl of his dreams [or is that nightmares?],Zelta.  However,Alex starts getting strange dreams and visions….is Zelta really the Devil’s daughter??  Check out www.zeltacomic.co.uk

 

The big problem is that,with easier access to photocopiers and,of course,computers and printers,creativity has given  way to the more boring and mundane.  More and more Small Press items appear with “biographical” on the cover and high prices for just a few pages.  At one time,I can recall there being so many zines of quality that it was hard to select which to buy!  Talking to others who have been buying Small Press since the 1980s,I’ve heard the same thing “99.9% of what’s out there is crap” and “There is nothing out there these days”.

Well,there are a few,as I’ve noted,but where has all that creativity gone?  Staff at one comic shop that stocks Small Press items came up with the comment “we keep getting sent all this rubbish”!

When I had the chance to promote Small Pressers in the UK on the internet and via printed publications I put the word around –to publishers and even a service selling the publications.  It was now I learned just how much had changed.

 

The service promised to forward the information to publishers via its newsletter.  It never did.  Publishers who did respond [and that was unbelievably few] said that,yes,they would like their zines reviewed and publicised…..and I could buy those review copies direct!  Buy review copies?!! 

Unbelievably,the opportunity to let,potentially,thousands more comic buyers know about their publications was not good enough. The attitude was “why should I give away a copy of my comic  –you want to review it then buy a copy” 

And the mail order zine service I’ve had no explanation from.  Theirs was the “purchase from” address I was going to give. 

In all my years reviewing Small Press publications,from Zine Zone to Comic World,Comic Collector and Comics FX,I have nevercome across such negativity and lack of support to publicise zines.  It may be controversial but I think it safe to say that over-priced,uncreative publications are the norm in the UK these days with few exceptions.  A pity considering the

UK once led the way.

I am still interested in the Small Press!  It would be interesting to know what is being published in the US,Canada and elsewhere so,if you are out there and publishing,email me or send me a copy of what you’re publishing.  But don’t give up –if you want to produce your own zine:do it!

Email:hoopercomicsuk@yahoo.com

Terry Hooper-Scharf

Gestetners, Murder and the Small Press (which may include the Falklands War and Kung Fu -I have no idea)

 

Zine Copying On The Quiet -A Thorny Subject-?

A couple people have said that it "must" be a "bit of a come down" to have to set up business at Small Press events.

I'll not apologise if I was a little brusque in my response.  Read "About" at the top of this page for goodness sakes!

There is no real comic industry -well, there isn't one- in the UK.  I started out doing small press comics then writing a drawing comics for a living.  The industry as it was back in the 1980s/early 1990s was on its last legs. I have no interest in discussing why. Anyone with the slightest knowledge knows why it was dying. All I will say is that if you have publishers who just really cannot be bothered anymore and incompetent editorial staff then...

Back in the old days -you kids who were not born until 1988 or later will have no idea- Gestetners were used to produce early fanzines and some well known comic creators got into comics that way.  The Small Press -which in 1982 I started calling "zines" because the genres covered and types of publication were so varied- was a "seat of your pants" affair.  Cut and paste -kids, I mean "cut" literally with a pair of scissors and paste down with Gloy Glue (until the goddess Pritt Stick appeared!) onto paper after typing up was just part of it.  Photocopying was still a bit pricey -5p per copy was 1/- for goodness sake (look it up). In the days of the C30, C45, C60 and C90 tapes (go listen to Bow Wow Wow and  "c30 c60 c90 go") zinesters were the Ninja Shadow Warriors.

Right. Yes, I may have over-hyped zinesters a little there but there used to be a campaign: "Watch Out. There's A Thief About!" and that could have easily been changed to "Watch Out! There's A Zinester About!"


You see, first trick of the game was to learn where the office photocopier was or the copier room/cupboard. There then followed days of surveillance as you noted who used the copier.  Whether people had a regular schedule for copying.  When the copier engineer turned up to change the toner and so on.

In your rather dilapidated little bed-sit (or bedroom at home) you would have maps, charts, photographs, marker pins all on display on the wall.  You would sit back.  Slurp a mouthful of cold or tepid coffee.  Maybe wave away the smoke if you were a smoker.  The sunlight cutting shafts of light through the blinds over the windows would give you just the right amount to see by.  A bite of a stale sandwich or doughnut.  At the important moment your eyes would decisively narrow into slits as you clenched the back of the rickety old char you were sat on.  "It's tomorrow.  I go in tomorrow."

Or maybe I'm thinking of the TV series Private Eye with Alfred Burke 

(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alfred_Burke )?  That's him below...
Anyhow, unless you were palsy -that's "palsy" -friends and not "Palsy" which is a medical condition. I am getting so old I keep losing threads...and that jacket does need sewing.  That reminds me of my stint in the Army and the Falklands campaign.

We'd worked our way into the jungles of the Falklands and hiding from an Argentinean plane, Brigadier Jeff Chandler was on the radio telling Margaret Thatcher that keeping his 3,000  jungle fighters hidden from the enemy for 200 miles was "driving me nuts". Basically we made it to the jungle swamps but were spotted and the main column was soon under artillery  fire. Lt. Chalky Stock's platoon  take out the artillery battery mainly due to platoon sniper "Bullseye" who shot their commander and we destroyed the emplacement with covering fire and hand grenades.Chalky Stock reported to the fatherly Chandler that...wait a minute.  Were the Argentineans Japanese-like? And Claude Akins....why was Jeff Chandler a Brigadier in the British Army in the 1980s -he died in 1961!

Ah, I'm thinking of the movie Merrill's Marauders, arent I?
Yeah, that wasn't the Falklands War.

Right, so, if you were matey  with the boss (Matey was a very popular kids bubble bath back in the day) and he let you do a "bit" of copying then it had to be all done by stealth. "Oh, I'll tidy up the place after work, boss. No problemo!" (in like Flynn -which was a film...no).  

Copying. Look over shoulder.  Copy. Look over shoulder.  Copy.  "OH MY GOD -IS THAT HIM COMING BACK? No." Copy and so on. Pages askew, poor quality since the copier was used as toner was running out.  Hey, never use the copier when the toner has just been put in!  Boss: "What?! The toner was only changed yesterday and it looks like its run out! Why does the copy counter read 2345?"   And that was the other high-tech piece of espionage you learnt early on -tampering with the copies counter.

The thing was to always -always- remain calm and keep a clear head if the boss did walk back in. Otherwise things could get a wee bit out of hand...

Because if you lost it then you'd realise just how bad things are and how stupid you were and the consequences -NO ACCESS TO A PHOTOCOPIER!


And, uh, yes, the quality of paper used to copy on.  Some of it like kitchen towel -well, you grabbed what you could and there was one person of my acquaintance (he did NOT commit murder) who photocopied onto brown wrapping paper, a tissue-tracing paper "stuff" and...well, he used to staple zines together on his knee.  Owch.

uhhh, I can't remember what this was all about?

Anyway, whether for music zines, comic zines, fan zines, poetry zines -small pressers used to use quite clever design techniques as well as packaging.  Spray painted acetate covers, home-embossed -the creativity was boundless.  

A lot of creators tried to draw their comic zines à la the Americans but a lot tried to get more creative in page design. Open panels, panels laid out diagonally with a full page image in the background, Panels laid out in a big "X" formation.  Use of water colours to tone, not to forget home-made spray effects.  These were all things that you were not really allowed to do in a mainstream comic.  Today some creators have tried the unusual panel layouts and people go "Wow!" "Amazing!" "That is so cool and original!"  No. We were doing that thirty years ago.

With the passing of the UK comics industry and the birth of print-on-demand, home publishing via your computer-printer and so on "comics" have changed a lot.  Don't get me wrong, the UK could still have a strong mainstream comic publishing industry but it needs to have someone with the finances and the faith to back projects.  The one thing I've learnt from attending small press events is that 99% of the creators and visitors know absolutely nothing about comics!  Stan Lee is a character from The Big Bang Theory TV show!  "Jack Kirby -does he do that zine with---?"  "Oh, The Avengers is based on a comic?

Even programmes people watch like The Walking Dead (yes, I know the Big Bang Theory is watched!) or Arrow these new kids have no idea are based on comic books.  Some of them, say 90%, will lose interest in the small press in a year or two. But it is interesting to see what they come up with.  Much of the 'originality' harkens back to the 1980s/1990s -but they do not know that!

And, yes, maybe 75% of them cannot draw but they do and they do it because they are having fun.  When I did zine reviews for Comics World"back in the day" (I gave up when they stopped 'forgetting' to send my payments) the best review I ever gave was to a zine, and I wish I could remember what it was called, that was badly drawn and written but you could feel that the creator didn't really care -the book just exuded FUN!

Just like Punk Rock (my record "****!  ****!  ****! **** You!" is best forgotten like my wrestling career), where you never really had to be a musician or singer -you relied on total and utter energy and having a good time- so small pressers create for fun.  They are accountants, teachers, school cooks, international assassins, teachers, students and it's all just a fun hobby.  And, yes, I get odd looks when I refer to my books as "stock"!

I never had a big ego.  I never thought I was some big star. I wrote and drew comics for a living.  Some people in comics today seriously have major issues ego and talent-wise.  Brown-nosing keeps them in work, though.  The UK has never really accepted my enormous talent -whereas outside the UK I get more recognition. Initially I got frustrated "Why aren't they trying to pitch their books to punters? They'll never earn money just talking and drinking coffee!"  

But then my Shaolin comic mentor explained to me that I needed to be "like the pebbles on the beach.  Accept that some times the sea will caress them but at other times it will roll like thunder into them" and "Even the strongest buck grass must bend before the wind.  Accept the wind.  Do not try to imprison the wind.  Let the wind out" and that taught me a lot.

No, it is not a come down to have a table at a small press event.  I never get invited to UK comic conventions (though I have an open invitation from one organiser).  Pity but that's how it goes -same old guests from one event to another and that includes traders, which sort of makes you wonder about this bidding for a table at events...it has to be rigged.

So, as long as I get to see interesting things, talk to interesting creators and sell books I am happy.  Better than some of the back-stabbers out there in 'the industry' today.

I eat dead pigeons and sewer rats can't you tell from the way I act I'm born from the blood of Spring-heeled Jack?