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Friday 4 August 2017

Black Tower Up Date

The BTCG Face Book page has been up~dated.  Any questions just ask!

https://www.facebook.com/Black-Tower-Comics-Books-136656043030326/


Dene Vernon From The Burning Heart To The Thing From Below




If any of you out there has purchased Black Tower Golden Age Collection vol.1 you would have found the strip Dene Vernon -The Burning Heart”.  But who is Dene Vernon and why is he important to British comics history?

Firstly,his proper credit was “Dene Vernon. Ghost Investigator”.  In the 1930s and 1940s the work of ghost investigators such as Harry Price [despite what people write about his work at Borley Rectory] and the great Elliott O’Donnell could be found reported on in national newspapers as well as on radio.  
If they could inspire me as a teen to get involved in this type of work imagine the effect on everyday folk in the pre-TV era and before all the faking of Most Haunted and Ghost Hunters, Ghost Adventures as well as others.
Comic Book Cover For Funnies Album 1949 Part 2
But Amalgamated Press and D.C. Thomson were too “clean” to touch this type of subject unless it was a “real hoot” in a humour strip.

Gerald Swan changed all that.  His comics introduced a whole group of paranormal/occult types fromKrakos The Egyptian to Robert Lovett:Back From The Dead [all subjects of Black Tower collections].    Vernon’s appearance in Thrill Comics No.1,April,1940,marked the very first truly supernatural strip series in British Comics.
https://blacktowercomicsandbooks.files.wordpress.com/2011/06/smalldv-006.jpg?w=626&h=886
Tall,lean with a high forehead and thinning hair,Vernon bore a resemblance to the young Harry Price in a way.  However,his cases seem to have been pure O’Donnell and in case you are asking who O’Donnell is I give you Wikipedia's somewhat weak entry on the man:

Elliott O’Donnell (February 27, 1872 – May 8, 1965) was an Irish author known primarily for his books about ghosts. He claimed to have seen a ghost, described as an elemental figured covered with spots, when he was five years old. He also claimed to have been strangled by a mysterious phantom in Dublin.

He claimed descent from Irish chieftains of ancient times, including Niall of the Nine Hostages (the King Arthur of Irish folklore) and Red Hugh, who fought the English in the sixteenth century. O’Donnell was educated at Clifton College, Bristol, England, and Queen’s Service Academy, Dublin, Ireland.
In later life he became a ghost hunter, but first he traveled in America, working on a range in Oregon and becoming a policeman during the Chicago Railway Strike of 1894. Returning to England, he worked as a schoolmaster and trained for the theater. He served in the British army in World War I, and later acted on stage and in movies.

His first book, written in his spare time, was a psychic thriller titled For Satan’s Sake (1904). From this point onward, he became a writer. He wrote several popular novels but specialized in what were claimed as true stories of ghosts and hauntings. These were immensely popular, but his flamboyant style and amazing stories suggest that he embroidered fact with a romantic flair for fiction.

As he became known as an authority on the supernatural, he was called upon as a ghost hunter. He also lectured and broadcast (radio and television) on the paranormal in Britain and the United States. In addition to his more than 50 books, he wrote scores of articles and stories for national newspapers and magazines. He claimed “I have investigated, sometimes alone, and sometimes with other people and the press, many cases of reputed hauntings. I believe in ghosts but am not a spiritualist.”

Remember that bit about being strangled by a ghost [not unique in the lore itself]. This is what Denis Gifford wrote about Vernon’s first adventure:

“..Vernon spends the night in a haunted bedroom where a weary wanderer was found on the floor. ‘A gasp of horror came as they gazed on the terror-distorted features of the dead traveller!’  Vernon saves Dick from being throttled by a grinning black monster,chained by its neck since 1785.  But he had to burn the house down to do it.”


https://blacktowercomicsandbooks.files.wordpress.com/2011/05/dv-016.jpg


You know, I am quite sure that there is a similar O’Donnell story -though he never burns places down!

The creator of the strip was Jock McCail who also drew oriental detective Ah Wong for Swan’s New Funnies [1940-1949], Darrell King Of The Secret Service in Thrill Comics [1940-48],New Funnies [1949] and Slick Fun [1950].  McCail also drew Get-Your-Man-Gilligan, a Western strip for the Amalgamated Press title Jolly between 1938-39.

Dene Vernon ran as a strip between 1940-1946 so must have been popular -as many of the Swan horror strips were.
https://blacktowercomicsandbooks.files.wordpress.com/2011/06/smalldv44.jpg
It would be nice to put together a complete Dene Vernon book at some point but these old British comics are very rare to get hold of either as printed items or scans!

But, in 2011, Vernon featured in his first adventure since 1946.  Yes, post-war Britain was the setting for…

DENE VERNON -THE THING FROM BELOW!

A4
B&W
54 pages
£8.00
https://blacktowercomicsandbooks.files.wordpress.com/2011/05/small-dene-vernon-the-thing-from-below.jpg

I think over 60 years was a long enough rest for him -and THE THING FROM BELOW was enough of atough task for him but...well, his final fate in The Green Skies is really ...."gutting"

hehehehehe er, Sorry.

But maybe an appearance in Black Tower Super Heroes before that?  I can't really say -I don't want to spoil the fun!!

Remember the name, though: Dene Vernon!

Silvermaigne:Knight Ghoul Hunter

-

Paperback, 
A4
Black & White
42 Pages
Price: £8.00
Ships in 3–5 business days
 http://www.lulu.com/shop/terry-hooper-scharf/silvermaigneknight-ghoul-hunter/paperback/product-21843686.html

The Silvermaigne line is said to go back to the time of the Ancient Britons.

Silvermaignes ancestors were part of a druidic clan based in the great forest that is today known as Leigh Woods, overlooking the River Severn entering (today) Bristol. All the members of the tribe had white hair from birth and they were known as the mwng arian (Silver Manes).

Even the druids bowed to their knowledge of demons, spirits and things of the darkness.

But at a point several centuries ago the family split and took two paths -one embraced magik for its own fight against evil.  The other renounced the use of personal magik so as not to become tainted and seduced by it.

For the first time Ben Dilworth looks at the latter branch of the Silvermaigne family and what one of them endures to keep the fight Holy! 

Wednesday 2 August 2017

On Goth and The Fearful Fate Of Friggia




According to Steve Thomas of The Comic Project "The Black Tower Adventure series is a ten issue 

run and full of gems that very few comic fans know about!"

Thank You, Steve.  Oh and he is not talking about the 1980s zine version....

But despite all attempts these comics just do not sell. Apart from review copies send out not one has ever 
been sold (and only two of the 'reviewers' who asked for copies did review them. So as part of clearing things 
out of the way the Adventure titles will be deleted this month.  Only copies existing then will be the box full I
have archived and they will not be sold off cheap.

A few other titles are set for deletion because the online store has 90 books over 9 pages and it is pointless
keeping even a virtual store that full so as soon as I order my archive copies (some to sell off at higher prices later)
they will be deleted.  The bulky Tom Elmes and John Erasmus books will probably be first.

You see, I have the only existing copies then the books ARE very rare and I've made no money being an honest 
publisher so time to get devious -after all, a few of my old small press Adventures have sold for £30+ (no, even I don't 
get that because I have a good few extra copies I printed off for myself back in the 1980s and they are all
safe in my Small Press collection).

He's talking about these.  And he is quite right.  The book was Black Tower's flag-ship title yet it was never pushed 
or publicised as some other books so....why not?

All the books are A4 with a card cover so are given the European classification of Comic Albums.  All have between 
50+ to 80 pages and yet, as part of Black Tower's "fair deal" for comic fans the series all have the same cover price 
of £7.00 -even the first issue.  Adventure was intended as a springboard for trying out different characters but to provide 
a good read for those into comics.

Now the details!


Black Tower Adventure 1 
Pages 67
Binding: Saddle-stitch
Paperback
Interior Ink Black & white
Weight 0.26 kg
Dimensions (centimetres) 20.98 wide x 29.69 t
Price: £7.00 (excl. VAT)
Prints in 3-5 business days


In 1984 the A5 (digest sized) Black Tower Adventure first appeared featuring some later-to-be top UK
comic book and was a must-read in Small Press circles and sold so well that even the publisher does not
have a full run!

The title was put on hiatus in 2007 but in 2010 was relaunched, bigger and better than ever!

This first issue of volume 2 contains: Part 1 of the mega series Return Of The Gods:Twilight Of The Super Heroes
which comes in at 43 pages!Thaddeus Twatt In The Twatt-Verse -first part of a truly microscopic titanic tales (which
makes sense if you read it!). And those Third Level sorcerers Kotar & Sabuta race to face The Deadly Dilemma Of 
Sigismund Benfriggisund! The cold war between China and Russia couldn’t get any hotter in the 1980s but one strip
that appeared in the new talent comic Preview was The Phoenix Team and that story has been much requested over
the years as the team, and the Soviet Red Star Squadron, stumble into The Evil of the Salamander and his master plan.


And more?  Well, of course there is!



Black Tower Adventure 2
Language English
Pages 69
Binding Perfect-bound
Paperback
Interior Ink Black & white
Weight 0.26 kg
Dimensions (centimetres) 20.98 wide x 29.69 tall
Price: £7.00 (excl. VAT)
Prints in 3-5 business days


Things begin to pick up apace as Thaddeus Twatt and Tomas go on foot to explore The Fearful Fate Of Friggia. Both, naturally,
oblivious to the mystery and action that continues in Return Of The Gods:Twilight Of The Super Heroes. In a more, uh, “fun” vein,
we learn why using reptilean DNA to replace human limbs might not be a good idea in Out On A Limb!  Of course, when dealing with
criminal gangs the Crimson Cowl packs a punchline.

And how could we forget Kotar & Sabuta as they confront...The Ghost! So, you may ask, if you are old enough, “Whatever
happened to the 1980s craze for Yucca plants?” Well, we learn the deadly secret in The Day Of The Yucca!

There is also the obligatory “much, much more”!



















Black Tower adventure 3
Language English
Pages 72
Binding Perfect-bound
Paperback
Interior Ink Black & white
Weight 0.27 kg
Dimensions (centimetres) 20.98 wide x 29.69 tall
Price: £7.00 (excl. VAT)
Prints in 3-5 business days


Things get grim as heroes begin to fall and the truth is realised in Return Of The Gods:Twilight Of The Super 
Heroes part 3. Lady Sivana and Tarot help Kotar & Sabuta tackle a nasty lycanthrope problem. With things looking
VERY grim will Thaddeus Twatt and Tomas escape The Fearful Fate Of Friggia? Ben Dilworth provides not
 one -not two -THREE Purple Hood strips.

Is there more? Can there possibly be more?  Don’t be silly -YES!!!!!



Black Tower Adventure 4

Language English
Pages 56
Binding Saddle-stitch
Paperback
Interior Ink Black & white
Weight 0.23 kg
Dimensions (centimetres) 20.98 wide x 29.69 tall
Price: £7.00 (excl. VAT)
Prints in 3-5 business days


Krakos takes care of some burglars who have to “take the heat” in a very literal sense!  The Purple Hood
deals with a suicide banker so you have to ask how that will turn out?   Kotar & Sabuta rescue a young woman
in Antarctica, but what mysterious force took here there and how is it connected to Kotar? The action gathers
pace in Return Of The GodsTwilight of the Super Heroes as more mystery enfolds those taken from
Earth…and those on Earth.

Thaddeus Twatt and nephew Tomas land on The Jungle Planet -and it looks as though this could be their
deaths as Thaddeus realises too late what has colonised the planet!

The Thinker decides that thinking alone can get a little boring while one of China's Phoenix Team has to deal
with..well, you'll see and it’s probably not what you expected!

What more could you ask for? More? You got it!



  
Black Tower Adventure 5
Language English
Pages 60
Binding Saddle-stitch
Paperback
Interior Ink Black & white
Weight 0.24 kg
Dimensions (centimetres) 20.98 wide x 29.69 tall
Price: £7.00 (excl. VAT)
Prints in 3-5 business days


It's the penultimate part of RETURN OF THE GODS:TWILIGHT OF THE SUPER HEROES and on Earth and
in space heroes confront the invading Boarmen! Who will pay the ultimate price for defending the planet and how
many will fall on Neo Olympus?

Kotar and Sabuta try to have a quiet night in but..well...you remember they are Third Level Sorcerers with enemies,
right?

Xendragon (see Tales of Terror 1)investigates The Legacy of Frankenstein which might not be as straight forward
as it sounds.

Thaddeus Twatt and Tomas are held by the Crystallids and we hear of their origins and get a glimpse at how the
eccentric scientist may not be all he seems.

Lord of the Flies teaches a very naughty boy a lesson. No school children were harmed in the making of this comic strip.

The Iron Warrior rushes to the rescue down the Amazon way while The Bat (but probably not the one you think) and
Reverend Merriwether, God's Demon Thumper put in appearances.

Its 60 pages of Black Tower Action!





Black Tower Adventure 6
Language English
Pages 81
Binding Perfect-bound
Paperback
Interior Ink Black & white
Weight 0.29 kg
Dimensions (centimetres) 20.98 wide x 29.69 tall
Price: £7.00 (excl. VAT)
Prints in 3-5 business days


Yes!  It's 80 page Giant time! (Well, 81 pages)

The final chapter in Return Of The Gods:Twilight Of The Super Heroes. Everything is finally revealed as the heroes
on Neo Olympus mourn their dead and learn that one of their number must also die!  Meanwhile, on Earth, things seem
to be turning more favourably….we think.

Thaddeus Twatt has brace himself certain death as his past catches up with him and he faces the Ultimate Crystallid!

The Purple Hood versus The flame! And we don’t mean he has to sort out a chip-pan fire, either.

Whatever Happened To Mark Tyme? A good question because he appears to be lost in time and one German
hero, Zeit Meister, survivor from a destroyed parallel Earth, is determined to find him.

Atomic Tommy has a slight alien problem to deal with and the Missing Link  is caught up in it all. 

Dr Sorrow has problems while Ben R. Dilworth takes us back to a re-telling of the origin of Runestone!

It's 80 pulse-pounding pages of graphic delineation! (plus an extra blank page because we’re keeping it real!).












Black Tower Adventure 7
Language English
Pages 60
Binding Saddle-stitch
Paperback
Interior Ink Black & white
Weight 0.24 kg
Dimensions (centimetres) 20.98 wide x 29.69 tall
Price: £7.00 (excl. VAT)
Prints in 3-5 business days


The First part of a new series! How do you follow up Return Of The Gods after many heroes have died while others have gone into
seclusion or retirement and yet heroes are needed? "The Cross Earths Caper" is how! And when we say “Cross Earths” we mean
the multi-verse, time and space and….buy it and see!

In the final part of the Xendragon story our hero confronts the Legacy of Frankenstein and things could get from very bad to
fatally bad. 

And following his confrontation with the Ultimate Crystallid there are tragic if not fatal consequences for Thaddeus Twatt in the
final part of The Jungle Planet.


Silvermaigne tracks down a vampyre.  The Thinker over thinks and Dilworth’s re-telling of the origin of Runestone continues apace.
Oh. And more.  Well, of course there is!




Black Tower Adventure 8
Language English
Pages 58
Binding Saddle-stitch
Paperback
Interior Ink Black & white
Weight 0.24 kg
Dimensions (centimetres) 20.98 wide x 29.69 tall
Price: £7.00 (excl. VAT)
Prints in 3-5 business days


At last! After cameo appearances in Tales of Terror and one strip over the last twenty years, Herbert Kirby’s
THE PHANTOM DETECTIVE returns in two tales to horrify!

Plus, The Thinker...thinks DOOM!  He over stresses at times but we see that as him just being a kind of cosmic
pressure release valve (he does tend to fart).  Meanwhile, having discovered the Iron Warrior in the African jungle,
three adventurers are about to get a shock that ends in a loud “Bang!”

In the UK a wizened old man offers to give a rather over inebriated Kelvin Nolan his helmet -which creates a few
misunderstandings in Kelvin Nolan and His Helmet of Power!  Runestone, with the help of his science pal, George,
begins to test the rune stone that has embedded itself in his hand and is in for a few surprises.

In The Cross-Earths Caper (pt.2) Bristol is, quite virtually, The Wild, Wild West Country..and Selenites threaten to
destroy Earth with a huge interplanetary cannon. Why?  Well, maybe a misunderstanding but have no fear –Earth’s
finest from the 1920s have been unfrozen and are ready to fight. Thought that ought to be mentioned.






Black Tower Adeventure 9
Language English
Pages 65
Binding Saddle-stitch
Paperback
Interior Ink Black & white
Weight 0.25 kg Dimensions (centimetres)
Price: £7.00 (excl. VAT)
Prints in 3-5 business days


This is it!! 

Yes, the one that someone has been waiting for!  It may well have been you but you just never realised it.

Runestone gets to try out his new powers as he faces...The Beast of Exmoor! And believe us this ain’t no
puma or leopard.  That might be weird enough but this Beast is a tool of the Celtic dark god himself!

Kelvin Jones gets to try out his shiny Helmet of Power and by this point some may ask if he’s capable of even using a
TV remote control.

Our heroes are on a parallel Moon and fighting off Selenites in The Cross Earths Caper! And their new mysterious companion,
“Bob” deisplays some super human abilities leading to the question: who the hell is “Bob”??

Kotar has his hands full in a solo adventure while Lady Silana faces a demon of her own. The quest for the Iron Warrior
continues in the Amazon and this one has a few surprises for our lady adventurers.


There is a prequel to two British Golden Age comic strips in Return To Lost Man's Gulch and more...including The 
Thinker and The Phantom Detective -all in the UKs TOP SUPER HERO-ACTION COMIC!



Black Tower Adventure 10
Language English
Pages 54
Binding Saddle-stitch
Paperback
Interior Ink  Black & white
Weight 0.23 kg
Dimensions (centimetres) 20.98 wide x 29.69 tall
Price: £7.00 (excl. VAT)
Prints in 3-5 business days


The 10th and final issue of volume 2!

Our three lady adventurers are in the Amazon and have encountered the ape-men but are they ready for Rodney
Dearth and his Iron Warrior to return?

The Cross Earths Caper concludes and for one hero it is the parting of the ways and two others face life altering
situations and many months away…only to find on their Earth they were hardly gone a few seconds.  Ben Dilworth
concludes the re-telling of Runestone's origin.


There are lots of other goodies and this issue guest stars a gun-toting crime-buster that Elliott Ness would love -
The Clock! Sit back and read Ben Dilworth’s crime-busting tale –it’s far better for you than the internet! Its just too much fun!

The Purple Hood


Destroy The World!

This was requested, however, I am not going to publish cleaned up hi~res scans!  Those are in the book itself and there is nothing like reading these stories in A4 format!

















The Purple Hood Collection


The Purple Hood Collection
A4
Black & white
Perfect bound
Paperback, 108 Pages
£10.00 (excl. VAT
)Prints in 3-5 business days

It was the Swinging Sixties! Britain was hip as hip could be -The Beatles ruled Pop! And everyone was looking toward a bright future…if there wasn’t a nuclear war! Middle Eastern threats,Eastern European fascists,flying saucer flying megalomaniacs and super mole machines and others threatened our little island. But we had the ultimate answer to these:The Purple Hood -International crime-smasher! Michael Jay’s Purple Hood now collected into over a hundred pages of action and text back-up. This is THE ultimate collection!

THE PURPLE HOOD LAND OF HOPE AND GLORY

THE PURPLE HOOD LAND OF HOPE AND GLORY
                                      

Paperback,
A4
74 Pages 
Price: £8.00 (excl. VAT)
There has always been a Purple Hood.

“The Kings Man” and then the international agent used by HM Government to deal with external and internal threats. Mad men with nuclear bombs.

Organised drug cartels. Power hungry dictators.
The Britton family have always been Purple Hoods.

The Purple Hood is precise and clinical in his work.

But above all else those wearing the Hood have had guidance from their consciences. So when the military stand idly by, unable to act when civilians are massacred –when politicians only draw up policy and blow warm air…..
...does the Purple Hood –does John Britton– sit back on his hands idly awaiting a change in policy?
Or does John Britton pull on the Hood and say:

“Enough! The line is drawn and crossed!” Time for the bad men to run.
Time to hide.
Or time to die!

Ben Dilworth writes and draws this mini epic

Rule Britannia...Land Of Hope....Glory