Tuesday, 24 April 2018
Monday, 23 April 2018
Apathy done it!
As I mentioned at the start of April, the PayPal donation button to the right was put there in a last ditched attempt to keep this blog going. A friend urged me to do this and I guaranteed him that, as before, it would just be there gathering internet dust.
Everyone coming to this site sees that PayPal donation box.
Everyone ignores it. Yes, that's right, thousands of you are just here for the freebie. I doubt any of you even noticed that CBO was gone for a number of hours.
I run the Alan Class blog, the UK and British Golden Ages blogs, the AOP blog -many, many visitors -combined the views reach well over 4 million. Now, these blogs contain original material and images often thought lost or unknown about. I had thought that inspired by these blogs people might actually buy a book or two and get far, far more information and comic work. No one buys books.
So, I closed down the AOP, British and Golden Ages blogs. I have just closed the Alan Class blog. There is a lot of work running these blogs and much of it gets stolen by others to use as 'their' work. If I do not get feedback, sales or anything out of these groups why continue with them? If the many thousands visiting them do not want to buy books but just take...fair enough. Let them find somewhere else.
Todays 7 hour closure of CBO did not solicit one question or querying email.
Tried everything. Given up now. Eventually I am just going to say "fuck it" and pull the plug here, too. Most of you probably have not noticed how many comic blogs have been vanishing?
The promise I made was that the PayPal donation box would remain open until may or, at the very most, the 15th May. Then it goes and as I get weary of typing to myself so will I.
Apathy done it!
Everyone coming to this site sees that PayPal donation box.
Everyone ignores it. Yes, that's right, thousands of you are just here for the freebie. I doubt any of you even noticed that CBO was gone for a number of hours.
I run the Alan Class blog, the UK and British Golden Ages blogs, the AOP blog -many, many visitors -combined the views reach well over 4 million. Now, these blogs contain original material and images often thought lost or unknown about. I had thought that inspired by these blogs people might actually buy a book or two and get far, far more information and comic work. No one buys books.
So, I closed down the AOP, British and Golden Ages blogs. I have just closed the Alan Class blog. There is a lot of work running these blogs and much of it gets stolen by others to use as 'their' work. If I do not get feedback, sales or anything out of these groups why continue with them? If the many thousands visiting them do not want to buy books but just take...fair enough. Let them find somewhere else.
Todays 7 hour closure of CBO did not solicit one question or querying email.
Tried everything. Given up now. Eventually I am just going to say "fuck it" and pull the plug here, too. Most of you probably have not noticed how many comic blogs have been vanishing?
The promise I made was that the PayPal donation box would remain open until may or, at the very most, the 15th May. Then it goes and as I get weary of typing to myself so will I.
Apathy done it!
New UK Comic Magazine
Yes, I know there is a new one. Someone sent me a copy they got for free.
No, I am NOT supporting it. Support works two ways. Do you know how many "New UK Comic Magazines!" I have seen since 2000? How many of them lasted....none.
Why? Same old, same old and re-writing comics history to help someone who ruined UK comics tell people how brilliant he is and how much we owe him for....well, no comics industry.
I really do not care about fake UK fandom or the rebooting of history to suit a certain person or group.
And, after all, the best fan press in online -it's called Comic Bits Online.
Not going to lie to you here.
No, I am NOT supporting it. Support works two ways. Do you know how many "New UK Comic Magazines!" I have seen since 2000? How many of them lasted....none.
Why? Same old, same old and re-writing comics history to help someone who ruined UK comics tell people how brilliant he is and how much we owe him for....well, no comics industry.
I really do not care about fake UK fandom or the rebooting of history to suit a certain person or group.
And, after all, the best fan press in online -it's called Comic Bits Online.
Not going to lie to you here.
JEO -Jack Edward Oliver: A True (and very underpaid) Comics Genius!
In May, 2007, Jack Edward Oliver (JEO), without doubt one of the greatest British humour strip creators, passed away. He had married his long time girlfriend, Liz, in March of the same year. Liz was kind enough to send me a photograph of "a famous person lived here" Blue Plaque that Jack had designed.
He was a crackpot genius and I interviewed him in 2002 for Comic Bits (the publication, later reprinted in The Hooper Interviews). The J. Edward Oliver tribute page carries scanned copies of that interview here:
http://www.jeoliver.co.uk/comicbits.htm Note: I have checked and the interview is no longer online. It was to feature in Comic Bits #3 but lack of interest in British comics history saw that title put on hiatus. So until there is enough interest ....
Before you ask: I know I do not normally approve of scanned full interviews, etc., but I am linking to the scanned interview out of respect to the man's genius.
Note how the plaque reads -nothing has changed since except the 'fans'. Jack was a true genius.
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Sunday, 22 April 2018
Saturday, 21 April 2018
It's My Gemini Mind! Small Press, Indie Comics, French BD and Mainstream
People used to ask "How could you give that pile of
crap a good review?" and "You hate that man's guts -and you gave a
book he worked on a good review -how?"
I have explained this so many times over the years I now
just shrug.
Let me explain here. I cover Small Press, European BD, US
comics and Independents. I get a, say,
Marvel book I expect a high standard. I get a Small Press or Indie comic I do
not expect high standards. Oddly, some
Small press and Indie comics are better drawn than Marvel ones.
But each book is looked at and reviewed based on art and
story as well as production quality. I
do not look at Tommy Bobs Shirtless Turtle (it doesn't exist but I don't want
to name a real title) SP comic and think "Let's see how it compares to DCs Batman comic" because
that is ludicrous.
Tommy Bob may be producing his zine for fun. He's not
expecting the Netflix TV or even movie contract.
You look at Richard Anthony Pester, Tommy Ross or Paul
Ashley Brown and what they produce -all three art different. Different art
styles, different influences that they base their stories on. All three produce work on very good quality
paper stock. All three are low print run
publishers and (like others I will not mention such as someone typing this) all
would at least like to be able to earn a living from their work.
Pekka A. Manninen in Finland has also noted that comic
buyers there tend not to purchase a lot of Small Press/Indie books. He's been publishing Sarjari for many years
and it is currently at it's 101st issue.
His Kapteeni Kuolio has featured in a good few quality graphic novels
and collections. His books are in Finnish which puts people off yet the stories
are easy enough to follow as they are good examples of sequential art. He's not
making a living from his books.
Independent comic publishers vary in quality -again I must
point out that Image and Dark Horse are NOT "Independent" comics and
form part of the "Big 5" -Marvel, DC, Image, Dark Horse and IDW who
make far more money and sales than any Indie publisher.
Then we have the established book companies who want to
publish the hip and trendy graphic novel by some new sweet heart. Again, the
quality varies and some of it can be quite bad.
There are the comic albums and collections from Titan Books
that are top notch quality. I get European BD or comics occasionally and even
Chinese Manhua.
Let's not forget Cinebook the 9th Art and their English
translations of Franco-Belgian comic albums.
Each one of these books, as they arrive, has to be looked at
"as it is". No "Not as good as that Titan Book..." and I
tend to go by my first impression and reading.
If I see a big fault I point it out but I do that in the politest way I
can -I have to remember that a great many creators (those who do not think that
they are the greatest creator ever without doubt, there are a few) do not mind
positive criticism when they know the person writing knows what they are
talking about. That said a great many
are filled with self-doubt and concerns about their work. The number of artists who will throw a page
away, then another and then more until that one "fecking panel I cannot
get right is passable" is quite high. We all see the image in our heads
but getting it to look right on the page....
The point is that I turn my mind off of anything other than
the book I receive. There are two specific comic writers whose work you will
never see on CBO. They are black-listed
for life and that means life. I enjoyed
the stories they adopted into graphic novels -two for Classical Comics- and
when CBO was still on the old Yahoo 360 this one particular writer took me to
task in a very long comment for giving credit to the artists involved. After all "I wrote those scenes and
panel descriptions so the art looking good is down to my work!" Princess stamped his foot. I pointed out I had given him praise but he
had NOT drawn or coloured the pages and that is why the artists got good write
ups. But, no, he wasn't taking that -he wanted credit for everything. I
informed the company -they had seen his comments- and pointed out that his
attitude and rudeness (particularly against myself as a reviewer) were not on.
The company understood -I doubt that they had words with the
writer because he did the same thing when CBO moved to WordPress. He was so far
up his own backside I doubt he had seen daylight in years. Despite my being polite he continued and was informed,
as was the company, that any work from him was black-listed for life.
The artists were great though one was quite obnoxious -still
the work got a good review.
I do honest reviews without bias but thinking I am going to
lick your arse because you write a comic or book...not going to work.
With Independent comics I have met publishers who really
have no idea. I spoke to one at a
Bristol Comic Expo and his comic was good quality. He used Print on Demand and
I asked why he just used a black and white illo on the cover. It was not impressive (I didn't say that) but
explained that he needed to attract customers to view and buy and as it was no
more expensive to get books with a colour cover....no. He had been in this
business a year. He admitted to not
selling many books. A year later he had a colour cover on his comic and it was
actually selling well. He told me (obviously forgetting our chat the year
before) how a good colour cover attracted customers.
Another person, Small Presser sent me a thick mini comic
that had good production but every other page was blank. I wasn't too popular
with him. The quality was good but 25% of the book was blank. I reviewed the
book. Months later he sent me a version
up-dated as I suggested. He had his one review though. Oddly, had I reviewed based on the pdf he had
sent he would have gotten a good review for a project that when printed looked
bad.
No hard copy -no review. In the mid 1990s to early 2000s it
seemed "a thing" to send pdf of books and the art in them varied in
quality. People ordered
copies....nothing arrived. I was asked where the books were? How would I know I just review. Some of the pdf came from people who had no
intention of publishing but just getting money and others took the money but
orders never reached the minimum figure they decided on so books never
appeared. Customers wanted their money
back and I reviewed the PDFs so ...at this point PDFs became banned.
Every individual has his/her own style or their own styles:
remember Girl Comic from Scotland .
Several issues were reviewed her and each contributor had their own styles so
the book could not be looked at as "a" comic but a comic filled with
several contributors.
It might be because I am a Gemini but even if I want to see
McAllister McAllister III run over by an intercity train if I get a book he has
worked on for review my personal opinion of the person has nothing to do with
it. I have seen people quite literally
tearing at their hair when I explain this.
Just live with it.
So if it is Small Press "fun" or to try to earn a
few quid, Independents, mainstream comics, French BD -whatever: each gets
individual treatment.
DENIZEN ARK -Unemployed Crime Fighter:Special offer
DENIZEN ARK
-Unemployed Crime Fighter
John Erasmus
Paperback,
A4
B&W
158 Pages
List Price: £15.00
Price: £12.00 (excl. VAT)
You Save: £3.00 ( 20% )
Prints in 3-5 business days
He was the epitomy of 1980s Thatcherite Britain : Denizen
Ark
But a couple decades and you might think people had
forgotten about him…but it looks like someone is stalking the crime-stalker!
One of the UKs finest comic illustrators, John Erasmus
brings his classic character back into the glaring limelight of 2018!
Return of the Gods:The Twilight of the Super Heroes and The Cross Earths Caper
These are the bare minimum prices and only for a short while so grab them while they are this cheap!
ALL artwork and characters are (c)2018 T. Hooper-Scharf and BTCG
Invasion Earth Trilogy I & II-The Return Of The Gods:Twilight of the Super Heroes/Cross Earths Caper
I -The Return Of The Gods:Twilight of the Super Heroes
Paperback,
A4
Black & White
331 Pages
Price: Reduced to £20.00 (excl. VAT) That's 331 pages for £20!!!
Prints in 3-5 business days
Earth’s heroes and crime-fighters are going about their daily tasks –fighting a giant robot controlled by a mad scientist’s brain, attackers both human and mystical -even alien high priests of some mysterious cult and their zombie followers and, of course, a ghost and a young genius lost in time.
Pretty mundane.
But psychics around the world have been sensing something. A "something" that sends feelings of sheer terror through their psyches.
There is a huge alien Mother-ship near the Moon. Undetected by deep-space radar and other instruments, only a few on Earth have sensed it and they cannot penetrate the hull but only feel psychic screams and....worse.
And then it begins: strange orange spheres isolate and chase some of Earth’s heroes who then vanish into thin air –are they dead? An attack by an old foe or foes -?
Black, impenetrable domes cover cities world-wide.
Then it becomes clear to those within the domes what is going on: Alien invasion of Earth!
A war between the Dark Old Gods and the pantheons that followed!
Warriors from Earth’s past having to battle each day and whether they die or not they are back the next day!
No one suspects the driving force behind the events. One single evil guiding events. Events that could cause destruction and chaos throughout the multiverse.
Assaulted on all fronts can Earth’s defenders succeed or will they fail...is this truly the end?
II-The Cross Earths Caper
The Cross-Earths Caper: Part II of the Invasion Earth Trilogy
Paperback,
A4
Black & White
107 Pages
List Price: £15.00
Price: £12.75 (excl. VAT)
You Save: £2.25 ( 15% )
Prints in 3-5 business days
Following the events on Neo Olympus and the Boarman invasion of Earth, many heroes and crime-fighters have withdrawn from activity. Some are trying to recover from injuries while others are fighting the mental scars left by the events.
But things have to go on. As heroes from other parallels who helped during the recent events return home, members of the Special Globe Guard are shocked at the sudden appearance of Zom of the Zodiac. Never a sign of good things a-coming!
Very soon, a group of heroes mount a rescue mission and find that a quick rescue mission can turn sour equally quickly. As they overcome one challenge the the heroes become lost between parallel Earths and face new threats.
Sometimes one Earth just is not enough. The complete story published in issues 7-10 of Black Tower Adventure now in...one handy dandy book!
ALL artwork and characters are (c)2018 T. Hooper-Scharf and BTCG
Journey Of The ID:The Dr Morg Trilogy
Journey Of The ID:The Dr Morg Trilogy
Terry Hooper-Scharf
Paperback,
52 Pages
B&W
A4 format
Price: £8.00 (excl. VAT)
Prints in 3-5 business days
Metapsychophysics meets comics.
It’s the next natural evolutionary step in comic books!
Are you prepared to have your mind expanded? Are you really prepared to discover whether you are one of the Brotherhood of Dreams? Are you ready to have your eyes bulge, your ears pop and your bowels expand??
For the first time all three parts of the highly acclaimed Dr. Morg Trilogy are combined into one volume: WWW (Words Within Worlds), After Orwell and the final explosive The Death of Dr Morg!
Can three men connected by one scientific project truly be witnessing the end of everything?
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