The History of Ulysses 31: A Worldwide Hit Barely Registered in the US

Some Old Black Tower Comic Covers

Just found the cover scans to these BTCG Adventure (volume 1) Nos. 52, 53 and 54 and oh sweet Fanny Craddock on a biscuit is my memory off!

No. 52 clearly shows the date box -"Sept 2000".  No. 53 was October 2000 and No. 54 was November 2000 and not 2003 as I thought!

These were from the colour covers run and the last, after Lis and Jen, Classic Western Action and Classic Adventure to come from my Canon FC220 desk top photocopier which had cost £200 and each toner cartridge cost (as refills) £50 whereas in Ryman and other stores it cost £160-175 per new cartridge.  Far too expensive to be kept going -especially since certain retailers simply refused to pay for the copies they sold and that includes a certain zine service that came along (£65 I was owed by them).



"The Ten Dancing Monkies" storyline included a little parallel Earth action, Wagner the Werewolf, Melmoth the Wanderer, the Monk and other old Penny Dreadful characters.  I no longer have a copy of No. 55, yellow cover, that concluded the story nor the original art.



Here is one that was ahead of its time. No. 53 introduced the illegitimate son of Chronos the Watchman.  "Chronos" having never fully recovered from injuries sustained while fighting the Dark Lord Kaos found his son had been chosen (no choice really) to assume the role on Gull Island. His son was "black". From the very outset Black Tower had many characters of (I hate this term) "ethnic background"  -Arabic, African, Afro Carribean, Chinese, Japanese and soon.  Notice the little "GB made" sticker at the bottom left.

At the time I had no computer programs or way to add text to strips or add text and design covers so it all looks pretty rough now!

The Skeleton Horseman (yes, I do have the very thick book containing this Penny Dreadful classic) along with his team of Red Hand and Paul Peril almost met the SGG in 1746 while battling Lord Perish in The Master Plan of Lord Perish which included a giant armoured mechani-man. Quite a few fans of Adventure and not just in the UK.

I had completely forgotten the "Little Terry" with the "It's Fun!" -since 2009 I've simply used "Comics Are Fun!"

Zine Zone No. 4, April, 1987. Lovely Terry Ford cover used to promote his strip in an issue of Previews comic...I think it was titled "Egg Chase". I was thinking about reprinting it as part of the Black Tower Anniversary however I have no copies of any of the 5 Previews and the art was photocopy not originals.

Jeezo I've wasted my life! 😆

But that is my latest find.

In a "Thriving industry" who has time to argue?

I have a pretty nice collection of comics and comic related books going back to the 1800s. I also study comic book history. I read comics from around the world. I've interviewed many comic creators. Above all I see trends in comics and what changes saw declines in readership.

The Beano and Dandy threw out the formula that made the comic a must read back in the day -the titles started fading out in the 1980s and at the same time a top Thomson executive announced that "comics will be dead in ten years or less" (that was around 1983/1984) so by 1994 they were all gone? No but the problem is that if the bosses get an idea in their heads like that the comics are doomed.

On one of my regular visits to see former Fleetway Managing Editor Gil Page he showed me a huge stack of letters. I'd guess around 60. I was shown these after mentioning that there were no longer any comics for girls: "We get this many letters every week" he told me "but they don't understand there is no intertest in girls comics".  Now, statistically only about 1-2% of people with an interest in something would take time to write about it. I explained this to him and the response? "I wish you were one of the people in the boardroom!"

 Why? Well, there had been a number of projects put forward including ones using the old action heroes but the board had vetoed them all. Even 2000 AD was regularly checked by "The Board" -it could be as violent as it liked but when it came time for a copy to go to the board it was all toned down. Gil even liked some of the horror stuff I had done for Bastei in Germany -"I would love to publish a proper horror comic" he told me.

You see, members of a boardroom are there to count the pennies and not take chances on losing the odd 0.5p. They have no idea about comics or the people buying them and I was told how one board member at Fleetway was presented with a comic and "looked as though someone dropped dog poop on his plate" and he asked "What? Do I have to actually look at it and read it?"

The formula for a successful anthology series is not a difficult one. Obviously weekly comics can no longer be a thing but a monthly?  Why not?

The point Gil made was valid because as he put it "You eat, sleep and breathe comics daily" and that was why he tried to put me forward to do editing work -it was a suggestion certain people did not like but in the end the fact that I would need to be paid was the board's deciding factor 😂😂😂

Of course that led into the famous Robert Maxwell meeting. I think I would have had a better chance with Rupert Murdoch.

At the moment the fictional UK "comics community" spends 97% of its time arguing, lying about each other, back-stabbing and so on. Look at what work these 'celebrities' produce in a year. Not a lot. I've published 32 books this year with 10 others "in the works" and by the end of 2020 there should be over 140 books on the online store -in an earlier post I wrote that there were 141 books spread over 14 pages at the online store: my mistake as the actual number is 131 books.

I mention all of this as it seems certain people are trying to goad me into online bitch-fighting over former British comics.  I really do not care. Call me all the names they like -my work speaks for me and, after all, in this "strong, thriving comics industry" shouldn't they be working flat out? Just saying.

Comics should be fun and that is fun for creators and readers,

X+X-1 +X-2+X-3+x-4....that is a lot of X's!

 Yesterday I did not have the energy in me to start lettering the 128pp Green Skies V.3 Pt. 2 so I thought I might do some scanning but one look and I didn't want to fire up the old Mustek Pro.

Sit down and read something? Unfortunately I just cannot sit down and do the whole "relaxing" bit. It drives me nuts.

So I looked on one of the USB storage devices and there was a strip already scanned and cleaned that needed lettering for a Black Tower Super Heroes issue. Once I added the title to the strip that was it -I was gone!

If you have ever read a Black Tower comic you will have read of Professor Thaddeus Twatt -a rather eccentric character I created back in the late 1960s. He featured in the strips The Fearful Fate of Friggia and The Jungle Planet. By the way, the house in the page to the left looks quite good -far better than on the A3 page!

Anyway, I was reading through some old Gerald Swan annuals about three years ago and there are at least two nutty old professors who look like Twatt. Back in the 1960s I did not even know that Swan existed let alone seen any of the strips published in his comics. Even the Iron Boy looks a little like the character. As I was looking at the strips all sorts of idea ran through my head and they gelled pretty fast and it all fitted with Prof Twatt's background story that we got a glimpse of in The Jungle Planet.


Then there were the X Brothers.  Well, they are biomechanicals and some have featured along with other characters in the past -

X-10 for instance became far more “human” after a sojourn with other members of the Special Globe Guard to 1746 during which Count St Germaine placed a fragment of the Philosopher’s Stone within him (Black Tower Adventure Vol. 1 No. 54, 2003). Initially they had no idea that they were connected by mutual creator but the pieces fell together and the only mystery is really why he created and then abandoned them?

X to X-10 were created, again, in the late 1960s when most of us kids were into robots (yes, I was a kid at one point).

In this 9 pager the Xs are tracking down reports of "robot boys" around the world and one includes Tim -"The Iron Boy".  What does it all mean and what was Thaddeus Twatt up to and how could he have been creating biomechanicals back in the 1940s that are in some ways more advanced than those created in the 1960s and 1970s how old is he??

I threw all that together in text and three hours later (I had to cook something to eat) it was completed and I realised the project built on this 9 pager was going to be big but not 300 pages big so don't panic!

Lots of little things were added to the dialogue since there are no scripts. It was good to add "Robot Patel" the India based character I created for a certain company over there as well as Billy Amazo who has featured in Return of the Gods.

I am ashamed to admit it but...I had fun.

That was yesterday and today...something new I think.

Oh, just to let you know that the online store carries 141 books covering 14 pages -you can also find them listed with links on the Black Tower Comioc Shop News blog.

Stay happy. Stay safe.

On A More Serious Note -Updates!

Yesterday I scanned the 127pp for Vol. 3/Part 1 of The Green Skies. It's rather monotonous work  and since I do not have an A3 auito-feed scanner it is the only way ...I won't bore you with the number of cliocks needed to scan and save.

On some of the pages there is pencilled in text but as I went through the pages the text was constantly being changed -that is the one thing about having no script; once you get the text into word balloons you can play around a ;little and add the odd humorous line to what is a serious and grim story. I never used to look forward to lettering (the only thing I use the computer for other than scanning) but all being free-hand itcan be fun.

I decided to leave in references to "the virus" (from 2014) because it is never made clear how or where it originated.  I did laugh at one point because back in 2014 I thought "Who would be the most useless, ridiculous Prime Minister to have ion a crisis?" I actually made Boris Johnson PM!! Virus -well predicted.  Johnson...well predicted.  Uh, bare with me a moment "in case"...in 2021 I become a millionaire and get engaged to one of the hottest Hollywood stars ever (fingers crossed).

The sad side of the Green Skies is that, like Return, characters die. In part 2 it's theturmn of two characters who have been with me since I created them back in the late 1960s. I even thought about cutting those pages but...it's what the story let unfold so there it is. Another character getting the rough treatment has always been the fun one. No spoilers.

There are a couple hints at future projects such as Enfants Perdus but that does not mean you would have to buy any books those parts are in -they are not "must haves".

One thing I did realise is that the final part of the series will be a slimmer volume. However, this will allow me to add some post event pages.  One I think is essential as it should be the last ever use of a specific character.  The second will set the scene for something....I need to remember no spoilers.

I am, between the lettering that I want to start tomorrow to finish by next week, finishing off Black Tower Super Heroes No. 8 which will be the final issue and lead off into Green Skies Vol. 3 Part 1. As always: I never publish anything that is part of an ongoing story until all of it is complete.

Hopefully the clapped out old laptop and the aging scanner (2004) will last until I can get the books finished and uploaded!

In the meantime, remember that the online store has 130 books -all very delicious.

Hootin, shootin, bootin, tootin, cootion -do you knowe how hard (ooh-er) it is tocome up with post titles?

By the time I came up with that heading I'd forgotten what I wanted to post about.

My famous pasta recipe?  My equally famous brown sauce recipe? The mass food poisoning incodent of December 1987....no, that last one definitely not.

Oh! Right, some asked why I do not have a personal blog. I thought they were kidding at first but, no. Well, I have no personal life and all my time is spent working. My Black Tower ana AOP blog along with CBO ARE personal blogs.

Considering the amount of furore caused when that news story about meand that model broke (well, it was more about her than "mystery boy friend") I tend to kleep anything private.

Last week I was constipated on Tuesday but an overhead bolt of lightning quickly cured that.  Uh, I cooked pasta yesterday. I had to sign an updated copy of the Official Secrets Act last Monday. My fallen buddleija tree is blooming very well and has lots of flowers on it. I'm expecting a food delivery between 13:00-14:00 hrs today if that's any good?

I could tell you about being driven over an East German minefield in the 1980s in a British army jeep after shouts of "Vopos!" But that might be problematical. Certain people know the story but...

Quite a boring life since I retired from chasing up UFO reports, monsters and ghosts....I had far more energy.

See -boring.

That is why I do not have a personal blog.

Two Finds From Requiem (1986)

Today was supposed to be my weekend to relax but I ended up clearing out and looking over old files. I did try relaxing in 1977 but ended being driven in an army land rover at speed over an East German minefield. That won't be in my autobiography.  As for the files well you can see over at the AOP blog.

Anyway, splice me a vegetarisan kipper sandwich for lunch iof I did not make a related find! Yesterday I was looking at the back of a Zine Zone and there was the back page ad for Requiem Two and amongst contributors was one Paul Brown.  "What did he contribute?" my aged brain asked me...I often have conversations and arguments with myself but I am NOT medicated (unlike my shampoo).

Well out of the cupboard and from behind the skeletal remains fell a copy of the book itself. The zine was edited by Dan Rickwood and Adam Thomas who,  last I heard, were doing time at Her Majesty's pleasure over an act of gross indecency with a tadpole.

The whole point of the British Comic Book Archive was not to just focuss on the professional artists, writers and publications but also the Small Pressers who often produced work based on more contemporary life and events.  Their contributions to art, etc are just as important as that of H E Pease, Marie Duval, E Banger, John Cooper or Mike Western.

So I opened up the zine and there was Paul Ashley "Smash the state" Brown's contribution. Bang on for the time.

Luckily I guided Paul away from the Crayola crayons and since this piece in 1986 he has made good progress and in another 35 years he should be fine.  oooh I can be such a beyotch!

But that issue also contained a strip by Ben Dilworth -published in portrait format so that is the way I present it here. Again, Ben was lucky that I found and guided him into obscurity  fame if not fortune.

I miss the cutting edge, raw zines that had that dark feel and was more about what was going on. I despair at modern zines where the creator constantly moans about mummy and daddy not sending their allowance so they will miss the pub crawl or how....well, more "I need attention" stuff.

I may be wrong: prove it.

A Few Notes On Influences

over at the Black Tower blog
https://blacktowerbooks.blogspot.com/2020/07/influencesi-have-few.html

Crash Carew: Daredevil of the Stratosphere 5 -Rescue by Ben R. Dilworth

Crash Carew: Daredevil of the Stratosphere 3 -"The Pirate Queen" by Ben R Dilworth

"Who would give a rocket-ship to someone called 'Crash'?"

Time For A Blog Cross-Over!

Sounds exciting doesn't it?

But the British Golden Age blog has these two posts that might interest some readers:

https://britishgoldenagecomics.blogspot.com/2020/07/thats-scary-old-man-on-cover.html

And also....
https://britishgoldenagecomics.blogspot.com/2020/07/do-you-know-anything-about-renwick-of.html



Enjoy!

NEW COMIC BOOKS RELEASING JULY 8TH 2020 MARVEL & DC COMICS PREVIEW COMIN...

All the facts for The Green Skies plus Scheduling

Oh yes; when I get to work I get to work.

All pages sorted now so I can reveal how many Parts will make up Volume 3 as well as the page count.

There will be four volumes to be published in monthly installments covering October, November and December 2020 and January 2021.

Part 1 consists of 124 pp
Part 2 consists of 128pp
Part 3 consists of 132pp
Part 4 consists of 80pp

A whacking great total of 464 pages which breats Return of the Gods 331pp by a fair margin.  This is much expanded from what was to have been published in 2014, however, that would have been slimmed down from the then total of 500 pp.

The cost of each volume I am keeping down as low as I can, baring in mind the printers and print on demand company want their big chunk of cash. At the moment I am looking at a £10 per part cover price which considering the (please do not laugh) years it took to draw and eventually get to a publishing state is cheap. Return was only £20 for 331 pages but as it is clear no one wants a big book even at that price I have to adjust accordingly.

Remember these four parts DO NOT require you to go out and buy other titles to understand or complete the story. As someone pointed out: you could read Return and Cross Earths Caper as two separate self contained books and not read Green Skies (that type of attitude will keep me poor!).

I now need four eye-ball bursting covers (you understand that I do NOT mean covers with actual eye-balls bursting, don't you?) to finish it all off. After that I need to finish off (c)2020 Enfants Perdus (Lost Children) and ....no. I think you have enough info for now.

Up The Tower!

Green Skies -I Know What You Are Thinking

Normally if I announce that there is a new book on the way or put out a preview image that book appears the same day or the day after.

I announced that The Green Skies Vol. 3, Part 1 was completed a couple weeks ago. So where is it?

Well a preview/test copy has gone off to the Big Man in Osaka. The completed file for the book is stored.

You see, The Green Skies begins as soon as Black Tower Super Heroes is released. I am getting BTSH No. 5 ready to publish. The run ends at No. 8 and most of those issues (bar No. 8) are fully completed. So No. 8 should be out in October meaning the first part of The Green Skies will be out October/November and be released monthly after that.

I have just re-shuffled the pages for Vol. 3 Part 2 and can tell you it will contain 128 pages. This volume will contain major plot elements and ....no spoilers. There are deaths, though. And death in the BT Universe is permanent -no reboots.

If Part 1 had 124 pages why does Part 2 have 128? Simple: to help the plot and story develop and flow easily. It is a little extra work for me but as an Independent publisher I can be flexible on content.

It's good to be the Boss. Money is lousy, though ! 😂😂

I will begin the scanning of pages this weekend -I need a rest and have soldiers to paint and jobs in the garden!  Lettering will probably start next week by which time I will know how many pages are in Part 3 (I will NOT tell myself until that time).

There's your update :-)

I never imagined that we would get to 2020....

There are currently 130 books at the online store covering sci fi, horror, super heroes, westerns, jungle action as well as text books covering nature and World Mysteries...and comic creator interviews.

I mention this as someone on Face Book, in passing asked "What are your main goals with these books?"

To sell them. The books are product and I know so many people whince when I call them that. But they are product and stock that will be available until I turn up my toes.

Yes, comics are there to be fun and entertainment and I am a comic fan and collector (after 59 years I can no longer deny it!) but for myself and contributors it is a lot of hard work but you try to have fun and sometimes I get surprised.

The new Halcon book has a story in it titled "Werewolf" and the last panel had me smiling and chuckling because it was not what I was expecting. Mr Dilworth did similar with the last page of Silvermaigne: Knight Ghoul Hunter...I sat back on seeing that.

So hard work but fun. The hard wortk and pain in the ass comes when I have to scan all the pages to a book -24 to150 at times- resize, clean up and do other editorial stuff before even getting to the publishing stage which in itself can be an even bigger pain. The potential buyer/reader does not see or have to deal with any of that just read and enjoy a book.

So, yes, I do indeed want to sell my books because that is the only way the creators (and me!) are ever going to get paid for all of the work.  Black Tower Comics & Books is an Independent publisher. No one is living off of mom and dad or living on a huge inheritance. Vegetarian sausages and beans can be the meal of the day...or a cheese toastie!

I never imagined that we would get to 2020 and that comic artists and creators would still be seen as people who "just draw" and need a proper job. At least ion Europe there is appreciation of artists or writers of comics. That the "just draws comics" mind-set still exists in the United States (where crooks are still ripping off creators) seems ludicrous. In the UK...well...

Once all the people get their cut of a book's sale price (the POD company and printer) there is no profit margin. I once worked out that I would need to sell 20 copies of a title to get back the actual cover price of 1 copy.  It is not glamorous. Distributors have dirty deals which mean you will never see our books in comic shops (shops outrightly refuse to take books unless as freebies that they can then price as they want-I am not kidding) because their "bread and butter" are, or were, Marvel, DC, Image and Dark Horse and if you think you msake money selling via a distributor...NOT as a small Indie you won't and I know that from experience.

The online store is almost better than a comic shop. You order a book it is printed and posted in YOUR region. I need to keep emphasising that (it's why I dropped "UK" in BTs title) because some think they need to order from the UK. You do not. Japan -books are printed in the region. Germany -diotto.  Finland -ditto. Your books are only printed in the UK if you reside in the UK.

I want to sell books. Pay bills and eat...am I going to get wealthy off of this?  Very much doubt it which is why I look forward to my state pension.....hang on....retirement age is even higher now???

Enjoy your day. I'm off to see what's in the cupboard.
:-)

https://www.lulu.com/spotlight/hoopercomicsuk