package arrived
Tuesday, 17 December 2019
Cinebook the 9th Art -Thorgal "0": The Betrayed Sorceress
Authors: Rosinski & Van HammeAge: 12 years and upSize: 18.4 x 25.7 cmNumber of pages: 96 colour pagesPublication: November 2019
TOTAL: £13.99 INC. VAT
ISBN: 9781849184434
The first two volumes of the adventures of Thorgal, published in 1980, translated into English at last in this retroactively numbered double volume.
Thorgal’s coming-of-age is painfully similar to the rest of his life: the young man finds himself tied up to the stone of sacrifice by Gandalf the Mad, king of the Vikings of the North and father of his beloved Aaricia. There, the Child of the Stars can do nothing but wait for the coming tide – and death. Until, that is, a mysterious sorceress with flaming red hair comes to offer him a deal: his life, and revenge, against one year in her service.
When I looked at the cover I was confused. I recognised it but was sure I had not already been sent this by Cinebook. Even more confusing (I'm getting old -Brussel sprouts on a plate confuse me) was the spine of the book told me this was volume "0"...were all the previous volumes of Thorgal just in my aged brain? What was going on here?!
Luckily, Cinebook explains not just the "0" but why this is a double sized book. These are the very first stories published in French -The Betrayed Sorceress and The Island of the Frozen Seas- but, with the permission of the creators, Cinebook started its series with Child of the Stars. The "0" numbering shows its position in the Thorgal run (before volume 1) to avoid confusion.
So these would have been stories I saw or got to read parts of in German looooong ago. Mystery solved and I breathed a sigh of relief!
You get what you expect here: good story and good art. It was nice to see a smattering of faery lore in the first story even if the ending was quite sad. There are vikings doing viking type things such as fighting, arguing and having to fight off wolf packs -if the vikings get a bad press think about the poor wolves!
In the second story we see more of young Thorgal and his viking comrades as they pursue the mysterious Lord of Three Eagles -whose identity is something of a surprise and shock to our hero. Not quite as devastating a shock as what the mysterious one tells him....however, things end on a much happier note.
If you are a series completist then, yes, you need this one especially as it is a double story volume and at the cover price it is a bargain. You may want to start with this book then get volume 1 -it is a great series and the creators are top notch.
Sunday, 15 December 2019
Crrrrrrrr-unch!
I have put some posts on "auto post" (IF Blogger lets it work this time) and so you will not miss me....as if anyone visiting this blog is going to miss me 😐
Anyway, if I vanish from the internet it will be down to two reasons:
1) the laptop has finally died so...no internet for me (the laptop was a gift a few years back so I AM grateful otherwise there would have been no CBO after 2017)
2) even though (1) is the likeliest explanation I need to sit back and re-assess things. There are no sponsors (despite the number of views this blog receives) and my money is rather non-existent to say the least. At the moment I have tried but no one wants to put up anything to keep CBO going and contributions stand at zero.
I need to plan and see whether it is even possible to save Black Tower Comics and Books (there will NEVER be a "closing down sale" and once it goes so does the online store). The UK does not support Independent creators or publishers. It is dead. Europe?
Who knows but in case this is my last post -have a good Christmas.
Anyway, if I vanish from the internet it will be down to two reasons:
1) the laptop has finally died so...no internet for me (the laptop was a gift a few years back so I AM grateful otherwise there would have been no CBO after 2017)
2) even though (1) is the likeliest explanation I need to sit back and re-assess things. There are no sponsors (despite the number of views this blog receives) and my money is rather non-existent to say the least. At the moment I have tried but no one wants to put up anything to keep CBO going and contributions stand at zero.
I need to plan and see whether it is even possible to save Black Tower Comics and Books (there will NEVER be a "closing down sale" and once it goes so does the online store). The UK does not support Independent creators or publishers. It is dead. Europe?
Who knows but in case this is my last post -have a good Christmas.
Saturday, 14 December 2019
Someone has mass kidnapped CBO readers...or no one is bothering
If it were not for the Ukraine providing thousands of hits each day then the stats would be very bad. I'm not sure whether there are connectivity problems at the moment but the US hardly provides 100 hits a day.
I know Blogger (Google) has moved it servers (currently) to Taiwan, tomorrow a European country then back to normal?
But thank you Ukraine and all the other countries keeping the stats counter going (even if Blogger does not like that)
I know Blogger (Google) has moved it servers (currently) to Taiwan, tomorrow a European country then back to normal?
But thank you Ukraine and all the other countries keeping the stats counter going (even if Blogger does not like that)
Jutta Harms (1962-2019)
The team of the international comic salon Erlangen mourns for Jutta harms. For over 15 years she was one of our most important advisors. Professionally of the highest competence, incorruptible, sincere, helpful, warm, humorous... a great woman. The German comic scene and the international comic salon Erlangen have a lot to owe it. We will miss Jutta, professionally - and of course as a friend!
Lars Von Torne has written a very appropriate and dignified obituary for the Tagesspiegel, which you should definitely read:https://www.tagesspiegel.de/kultur/comics/wegbereiterin-fuer-den-autorencomic-jutta-harms-gestorben/25330366.html?fbclid=IwAR3G5EqISLjyKzliH1Irzcf8_QOuj-tI8xW_RKdKgM9oxorzSWN8VDHdHxo
There is also a tribute on the Reprodukt blog https://www.reprodukt.com/jutta-harms-1962-2019/
Friday, 13 December 2019
UFO Contact? Unidentified-Identified and Contact!
530 pages
Prints in 3-5 business days
Since 1947 it has been claimed that UFOs/flying saucers are evidence of aliens visiting the Earth. Since the 1950s claims of encounters with landed craft and alien beings were talked about but not taken seriously.
In the 1960s the subject of UFO abduction was a "slow-burner" until the whole "Grey" abduction phenomenon and claims made by researchers such as Budd Hopkins, Prof. John Mack and Dr David Jacobs and Whitley Streiber.
But is there evidence to back up any of the claims -and what about those encountering Alien Entities but who were not abducted?
Are these people all hoaxers, psychotic or suffering from some other mental illness as some claim?
Are those people who were exposed by Ufologists against their wishes, people who wanted to report what happened and then just get back to their everyday lives -thrust into the media glare against their will?
And if US authorities were so interested that in one case at least they broke into the home of two abductees and this was later proven -why?
Why did a hard core of these people never want publicity or to make money from what happened to them?
Above all, why did a major UFO landing incident take place on a US Inbterstate road in front of a large number of observers (all willing to talk to investigators) never get investigated? If it were not for a radio presenter interviewing and taking notes we would know nothing of the case -it would be labelled "insubstantial".
James and Coral Lorensen -the Scopolamine Kids; using a very notorious "truth drug" on alleged UFO witnesses and selling stories to newspapers. An investigator (a veteran) showing a witness images of "aliens" encountered in other cases before any memories were retrieved. Worst of all, the constant "pissing competition" and breaches of trust between UFO investigators.
2017 is the time to assess the past evidence and look at the faults within Ufology.
Not everyone is going to be happy -debunkers or ufologists.
Smaller format version:
Second Book in the series
220 pages
Prints in 3-5 business days
http://www.lulu.com/shop/terry-hooper-scharf/unidentified-identified/paperback/product-23799953.html
The follow up to the comprehensive book "UFO Contact?"
The Author spent 1974 to 2018 specializing in the investigation and research of Close Encounters of the Third Kind (CE3K) and alien entity cases; the former involving an Unidentified Flying Object and the latter, apparently, involving none.
Previously unreported cases as well as 'lost' cases are looked at as well as the possibility that some percients suffer from Post Traumatic Stress Syndrome after their encounters.
A must read for those with a serious interest in UFOs
Some of the contents:
The Nottinghamshire UFO Crash of 1987…or 1988
The Llandrillo ‘Saucer’ and Berwyn Mountains
Strange Pennsylvania Entity Encounter
UFO Abductees and Post Traumatic Stress Syndrome
The UFO That Landed On A US Highway
My Encounters With The Men In Black
A Previously Un-noted Alien Entity Type UK Close Encounters of the Third Kind
Close Encounter with a Boggart
Some Odd and Unusual Cases
Rosa Lotti and the Happy Entities
The Strange Case of the Woollaton Gnomes and the Mince-pie Martians
What Happened on the Isle of Wight and at Felixstowe?
The ‘Lost’ Belgian UFO Landing Case
Strange Aliens from Outer Space? UK CE3K/Alien Entity Catalogue
Third Book in the Series
These cover everything from UFOs and Close Encounters of the Third Kind to encounters with unidentified humanoid creatures, ghosts, poltergeists, mysterious and unidentified creatures at sea, on land as well as bizarre carcasses washed ashore. Loch Ness, Sasquatch, previously thought lost photographs of a city in the sky and others.
And if you want to concentrate solely on alleged alien abductions or encounters then UFO Contact? (receiving some praise from the Centre for UFO Studies) and the follow up, Unidentified-Identified are the books you need
Contact! Encounters With Extra Terrestrial Entities?
Format A4
370pp
Black & white
Profusely illustrated
£15.00 SPECIAL LAUNCH PRICE
The Search for Extra Terrestrial Intelligence (SETI) says that we may have to wait many thousands of years before any signals sent gets a response if they are detected.
The real SETI may already have established the there is alien life –and it has been visiting Earth for at least 70 years.
Once the mass of reports of Close Encounters of the Third Kind and entity encounters are sifted there remains a strong core of cases that defy logical explanation and suggest that these encounters have resulted in physiological effects and post traumatic stress.
Terry Hooper-Scharf of the CE3K/AE Project has led research into these reports for over 40 years and in this work takes a look at rare or obscure reports as well as cataloguing encounters from Germany and Portugal and focuses in on correlations in the reports and how the Dandenong (Kelly Cahill) encounter could be the best case ever reported.
Have the serious investigators and researchers looking into UFOs been unearthing better evidence of extra terrestrial life and contact with humans than established
SETI ?
530 pages
illustrated with maps, photographs and more
A4 format
B&W
Paperback: List Price:£20.00 £18.00 (excl. VAT) |You Save: 10%
Prints in 3-5 business days
Since 1947 it has been claimed that UFOs/flying saucers are evidence of aliens visiting the Earth. Since the 1950s claims of encounters with landed craft and alien beings were talked about but not taken seriously.
In the 1960s the subject of UFO abduction was a "slow-burner" until the whole "Grey" abduction phenomenon and claims made by researchers such as Budd Hopkins, Prof. John Mack and Dr David Jacobs and Whitley Streiber.
But is there evidence to back up any of the claims -and what about those encountering Alien Entities but who were not abducted?
Are these people all hoaxers, psychotic or suffering from some other mental illness as some claim?
Are those people who were exposed by Ufologists against their wishes, people who wanted to report what happened and then just get back to their everyday lives -thrust into the media glare against their will?
And if US authorities were so interested that in one case at least they broke into the home of two abductees and this was later proven -why?
Why did a hard core of these people never want publicity or to make money from what happened to them?
Above all, why did a major UFO landing incident take place on a US Inbterstate road in front of a large number of observers (all willing to talk to investigators) never get investigated? If it were not for a radio presenter interviewing and taking notes we would know nothing of the case -it would be labelled "insubstantial".
James and Coral Lorensen -the Scopolamine Kids; using a very notorious "truth drug" on alleged UFO witnesses and selling stories to newspapers. An investigator (a veteran) showing a witness images of "aliens" encountered in other cases before any memories were retrieved. Worst of all, the constant "pissing competition" and breaches of trust between UFO investigators.
2017 is the time to assess the past evidence and look at the faults within Ufology.
Not everyone is going to be happy -debunkers or ufologists.
Smaller format version:
Pages 530
Binding Perfect Bound
Paperback
Interior Black ink &white
Weight 1.05kg
Size 18.9 x24.59cm
£18.00
Second Book in the series
220 pages
A4
perfect bound
paperback
Fully illustrated with photographs and illustrations
Paperback: List Price:£20.00 £18.00 (excl. VAT) |You Save: 10%
Prints in 3-5 business days
http://www.lulu.com/shop/terry-hooper-scharf/unidentified-identified/paperback/product-23799953.html
The follow up to the comprehensive book "UFO Contact?"
The Author spent 1974 to 2018 specializing in the investigation and research of Close Encounters of the Third Kind (CE3K) and alien entity cases; the former involving an Unidentified Flying Object and the latter, apparently, involving none.
Previously unreported cases as well as 'lost' cases are looked at as well as the possibility that some percients suffer from Post Traumatic Stress Syndrome after their encounters.
A must read for those with a serious interest in UFOs
Some of the contents:
The Nottinghamshire UFO Crash of 1987…or 1988
The Llandrillo ‘Saucer’ and Berwyn Mountains
Strange Pennsylvania Entity Encounter
UFO Abductees and Post Traumatic Stress Syndrome
The UFO That Landed On A US Highway
My Encounters With The Men In Black
A Previously Un-noted Alien Entity Type
Early 20th Century UK Close Encounters of the Third Kind
Close Encounter with a Boggart
Some Odd and Unusual Cases
Rosa Lotti and the Happy Entities
The Strange Case of the Woollaton Gnomes and the Mince-pie Martians
What Happened on the Isle of Wight and at Felixstowe?
The ‘Lost’ Belgian UFO Landing Case
Strange Aliens from Outer Space?
Encounter with Black Aliens and Landed UFO
Preliminary UK CE3K/Alien Entity Catalogue
Third Book in the Series
These cover everything from UFOs and Close Encounters of the Third Kind to encounters with unidentified humanoid creatures, ghosts, poltergeists, mysterious and unidentified creatures at sea, on land as well as bizarre carcasses washed ashore. Loch Ness, Sasquatch, previously thought lost photographs of a city in the sky and others.
And if you want to concentrate solely on alleged alien abductions or encounters then UFO Contact? (receiving some praise from the Centre for UFO Studies) and the follow up, Unidentified-Identified are the books you need
Contact! Encounters With Extra Terrestrial Entities?
Format A4
370pp
Black & white
Profusely illustrated
£15.00 SPECIAL LAUNCH PRICE
Contact! Encounters With Extra Terrestrial Entities?
Format A4
370pp
Black & white
Profusely illustrated
£15.00 SPECIAL LAUNCH PRICE
The Search for Extra Terrestrial Intelligence (SETI) says that we may have to wait many thousands of years before any signals sent gets a response if they are detected.
The real SETI may already have established the there is alien life –and it has been visiting Earth for at least 70 years.
Once the mass of reports of Close Encounters of the Third Kind and entity encounters are sifted there remains a strong core of cases that defy logical explanation and suggest that these encounters have resulted in physiological effects and post traumatic stress.
Terry Hooper-Scharf of the CE3K/AE Project has led research into these reports for over 40 years and in this work takes a look at rare or obscure reports as well as cataloguing encounters from Germany and Portugal and focuses in on correlations in the reports and how the Dandenong (Kelly Cahill) encounter could be the best case ever reported.
Have the serious investigators and researchers looking into UFOs been unearthing better evidence of extra terrestrial life and contact with humans than established
SETI ?
Mysterious & Strange Beasts
Mysterious & Strange Beasts/Strange & Mysterious Beasts
Above: cover for smaller format version
B&W
324 pp
Illustrated throughout
Paperback: £18.00 (excl. VAT)
Strange & Mysterious Beasts
Paperback: List Price:£20.00 £17.00 (excl. VAT) |You Save: 15%
Strange & Mysterious Beasts is the smaller format book while Mysterious & Strange Beasts is the standard larger A4 format.
IGNORE the "only ships from North America " as that is just a site message error
The Monster of the Forest of Mouliere
The Beast of Lyonnais
The Beast of Cevennes , Gard and Vivarais
The Beast of Sarlat
The Beast of Gevaudan
British Man Beasts
Bigfoot and Werewolves in the West Midlands
The Strange Creature in Repton Woods
Bigfoot Returns – To Kent !
Werewolf!
The Curious and Frightening Case of the Hull Werewolf
The Gnome of Girona
The Caponi Close Encounters and Photographs
Return of the Shark Killing Thing –a Possible Identification
The Dingellchough Mystery Creature
The Unidentified Corfu Sea
Strange Sea Creature Found In Persian Gulf
The Devil of Gatagon
The Supernatural Invasion: Slender-man and Black Eyed Kids
The Sheep Killer of Niali
Mystery Creature of the Bay of Flamanville
Things Caught on Camera –Fact and Fiction
The Bat Creatures
The Owl-man
The British Pig-man and Snake-man
The Pictish Beast
Shunka Warak'in –A Hyena Too Far?
The Chupacabra
A REALLY Early Christmas Word
Posted on the Black Tower Face Book page:
I have written a good few times now, in detail here as well as on CBO and the Black Tower blog, how many people visit and view posts about Black Tower Books -couple hundred a day here alone- as well as the fact that those items have been viewed a couple million times since 2011.
But no one buys. So why visit this page every day?
Why click on every post about a BT title?
Black Tower Comics and Books via CBO alone has a world wide audience (even someone in the Sahara and Antarctic!!).
But no one buys the books -there are over a hundred covering various genres, graphic novels, comic albums and so on over at the online store.
Black Tower went through the "Can it continue" barrier a good while back. What does get sold won't even be considered a living income by HM Tax and Revenue and books sold in the US get taxed by the Revenue Service heavily (I'm a foreigner selling in the US).
To be honest I think it is clear that no one is really bothered other than me. PayPalMe box on CBO...covered in internet dust. I've tried it all and even GoFundMe -all zero responses. So how about all of those on my Face Book and online screaming that we MUST support independent creators (do they mean just themselves?).
As it stands I have closed blogs and FB pages as I might as well just be talking to myself -people are reading but giving no feedback.
Black Tower IS my only income and at the moment it looks as though 2020 will see it vanish.
Selling books -VERY lightly priced, too- is the only route to survival so when you get the time please check out the online store. And I type that knowing it goes to blind eyes.
Nothing else I guess you have to keep on pushing the dead horse.
THAT is my Christmas speech for 2019.
Luckily I don't do Christmas and the laptop will keep me off the internet for a good while....
A Quick Break From Comics "Normalicy"
Here are my final words on this matter,
We have learnt this election that:
1) there are a LOT of people out there pretending to be liberal and claiming they will vote Labour or Liberal.
2) people voted for a right wing, recognised bully-boy who snatched a journalists phone and put it in his pocket (all filmed), never apologised for racist remarks ('free speech'), he was caught out with lying to the Queen, Parliament and the British people as well as caught telling outright lie that were obvious lies as he spoke them and do you know what? He doesn't give a shit -it's part of the inbreeding thing.
So (1) proves that the public are idiots and maybe we should IQ test everyone before they vote (where was this massive wave of student Labour votes...were they too hung over to get somewhere by 10 pm?).
And (2) was not in the least bit hard to predict since the description sums up the average British voter.
Serves that Corbyn right! Having Jewish friends for decades, attending Jewish functions while being anti-semitic.
Oh, you fucking idiots.
The people got what the people voted for. Watch as they moan and complain when things go wrong, they don't earn as much money or they lie on hospital floors for several hours as there are not enough hospitals, staff or beds. Everyone else will be to blame.
I'm going to sit back and laugh.
Thursday, 12 December 2019
as you were everyone.
Also, Adsense (Google) twice robbed me of money I made. First time via "technical problems with your account" -for which they refused to give an explanation so I lost a couple hundred £ but next time I got:
The account associated with publisher ID ca-pub-19753----8002 has been disapproved
But WHY??
AdSense account disabled for invalid traffic
It has taken a few years (about 8) to find out what went on. The account was disabled after I noted on CBO that the blog was finally making money -I think £350 at the time. It turns out that two particular ISP addressees were constantly clicking on Ads deliberately (you cannot do that by accident) which registered as "suspicious".This was, apparently, a deliberate attempt by UK comic book 'nice guys' to get CBO shut down. It seems that copyright strikes CBO got were also part of this attempt -claiming that my reference to a couple thousand year old mythological characters was an infringement of copyright. Blogger did not respond at the time but did remove the copyright strikes after a legal notice.
Luckily, as a veteran in comics I am used to not getting paid and to slimy little, bald-headed comic turds.
This is why support from blog readers has always been important. Unfortunately, blog readers don't care. What you do not see are the problems in running a blog...no. I won't explain as I'd have to think someone cared.
as you were everyone.
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