You Asked For It (you did, right?) A Green Skies Mega Post!

  

A4

B&W

124pp

£10.00

https://www.lulu.com/en/en/shop/terry-hooper/the-green-skies-vol-3-part-1/paperback/product-5j4y7e.html?page=1&pageSize=4

It all began in 1987 and the Black Tower Universe has seen alien attacks, heroes kidnapped to be put into the middle of a war of the gods. 

Despite the deaths and losses the heroes -crime fighters, super powered and members of the magical union have come back but now unaware that alien races are escaping through the Sol system and that a mysterious space fleet is heading towards the inner planets, they find themselves trapped or distracted. 

The Many Eyed One is finally coming. 

The Multiversal Council has quarantined Earth and forbidden any to help. 

The evil has spread and there is treachery striking at the very core of Earth's defenders

A4

B&W

126pp

£10.00

https://www.lulu.com/en/en/shop/terry-hooper/the-green-skies-vol-3-part-ii/paperback/product-nj7wqr.html?page=1&pageSize=4

Following on from events in Green Skies V. 3 Part I the Clone Zone Boyz are increasing in number while those who created them, the Vampirons, continue to plot and await the arrival of their 'God' -The Many Eyed One. 

The Druid finds that his physical and mental state are deteriorating and even the Rev. Merriwether cannot help him. 

Shockingly, the Clone Zone Boyz claims someone close to Merriwether and this leads him to team up with two 'unsavoury' characters. 

In space Krii and Tyn hrrn face a seemingly unstoppable enemy. 

On The Moon the Selenites and representatives of other worlds meet and decide that Johnny Apollo, the Z-Man, is the only one who can lead the counter invasion fleet. 

With the enemy striking Mars and then the Moon things look grim for Earth

 A4

B&W

208pp

£10.00

https://www.lulu.com/en/en/shop/terry-hooper/the-green-skies-vol-3-part-iii/paperback/product-kj6r7r.html?page=1&pageSize=4

The gathered Sol Defence fleet is prepared to make its final stand led by Johnny Apollo the Z Man. If it fails to halt the invaders then the doomsday weapon will be detonated and destroy the entire Sol System. 

Meanwhile, unaware of the threat in space, Jack Flash, the Avenger and others prepare for a final show down with the Many Eyed One; a final confrontation they know they do not have the power to win. 

Is this Humanity...the Earths...final day?

And woven into The Green Skies is the story of the harbinger of destruction: the story of Varik Dann -The Man Who Walked Through a Door and Into Another World

Varik Dann is but one character as we follow the attempts of heroes and adventurers as well as the military as they try to confront the Clone Zone Boys with no idea of who or what is behind them. And in space the very existence of not just the Earth but the solar system rests on efforts to stop an alien invasion fleet and if it cannot be stopped them there will be no conquest: the entire solar system will be destroyed by a doomsday device.

And now, in no particular order -some more art pages!

SSC -Society for the Suppression of Crime -The Best The British Empire had to Offer

In the pages of The Cross Earths Caper I introduced  the SSC and its original member line up.  

Formed in 1932 the SSC was created and chaired by Professor Radium a rather (obviously) eccentric scientist. The youthful Master of Mesmerism Freddie Fluence and Ronnie Roy the India Rubber Boy joined at the same time as Merry Marge The Invisibility Girl. The group's strongman was none other than the so called Bob the Pet Navvy who had taken part in Professor Flynnt's various scientific experiments. The group was then joined by Abra and Cadabra the Persian Masters of Pipe Magic. The team, although rather eccentric to say the least, were quite successful in bringing down crime in England.

They were "at a loose end" in 1937 when Prof. Radium suggested that they ought to use a Cavor machine to journey to the Moon and see whether Prof. Cavor had died there. Firmly holding on to their British passports the team took off and soon landed on the Moon. However, the team was unaware that Cavor had wiped out a Selenite "commonwealth" with Earth germs. This had led to the plan to devastate Earth with a space cannon. The team were captured and suspended in a chamber "for all time".

From The Cross Earths Caper (2013) (c)Black Tower Comics & Books

The heroes from Earth 664 find themselves in the year 1954 on a parallel Earth and a wounded Ace Rogers warns them of the threat to Earth. Once Rogers recovers the team are told of the Northern Selenite Commonwealth and its space cannon which they intend to fire at Earth (the SSC had apparently damaged the cannot in 1937 and it had been rebuilt and was more powerful. The heroes set off to the Moon and having infiltrated the Selenite caverns found the suspended SSC members. Tech-man released the team and everything was explained and the SSC updated. 

From The Cross Earths Caper (2013) (c)Black Tower Comics & Books

An attack by Selenites and the revelation that a Selenite ship was heading to Earth to devastate it led to Rogers taking the 664 heroes to his rocket ship and they took off to intercept the Selenite craft. The SSC attacked the Selenites and carried out their plan to destroy the cannon -the explosion on the lunar surface seen from Rogers' rocket seemed to indicate that the SSC had succeeded but at the cost of their lives. 

After the 664 heroes moved on Rogers contacted other adventurers and the SSC continued the battle on crime and evil.

There are plans for the SSC but whether they will include the original team, supposedly killed in 1954, is uncertain.

Abra and Cadabra -Puck 1926-1935

Bob The Pet Navvy -Jester and Wonder 1903-1906

Freddie Fluence  -Favourite 1912

Ronnie Roy -Funny Wonder 1940-1950

Professor Radium -Puck 1904-1916 (the image at the top is all I have and is VERY low res)

Merry Margie -Knockout 1939-1940

That's it.

Now.......

READ COMICS!!!

Up-date: it took a week but Merry Margie can now be ticked off the list but I've no objection to further sample strips!

 

It's Been A Long Journey But May End Soon

 

There is enough written about Black Tower Comics and Books history on its Face Book page and elsewhere -even been a long interview with me in 2010  (I very -very- rarely do interviews). You can read that here: 

https://blacktowerbooks.blogspot.com/2010/11/phil-latter-interviews-terry-hooper.html

Yeah, it took a lot of persuading to get me to do the QRD interview so its roughly 10 years between me boring you!

In 2009 I officially moved from the Small Press publishing (1984-2008) of Black Tower to Black Tower Comics & Books. The shift was to more professional printing and quality as well as filling the niche left behind when British comics died out. Gil Page, the former Managing Editor at Fleetway once told me that he wished he was allowed to publish new material and expand things -I also learnt that at one point he had suggested me as a new editor to push new titles but the board had told him it was "not affordable"!

The first new book to be put onto the online store was The Bat Triumphant and it concluded a story started in the Small Press version of Black Tower Adventure (vol. 1) in 1999. 

The second book published in 2010 featured another British Golden Age character -and without "rebooting" but sticking to the character established by William A. Ward- Krakos -Sands of Terror. The cover got a lot of attention and was put forward for an award, however, in one of its many screw-ups, the print on demand company I use removed the book from sale (they never explained why but I think they updated their system and a lot of things vanished); I could only get the award for an available book so there went the award. 

After the comics I published the first of the "World Mystery" books -Some Things Strange & Sinister- and then The Hooper Interviews which included interviews with Marv Wolfman, Michael Cho (now a popular comic artist), Franco Francavilla and many others.  You might think that comic fans might find that an interesting read -I even kept the initial price so low that I only made 20p/20c from any sale. The book has never sold a single copy. 

British comic forums, Yahoo Groups and other sites had plenty of people asking why no one ever publishes British Golden Age material -"I would buy that in a second!" So I published 5 volumes of rare and (if yo find them very expensive to buy) hard to find comics and strips and after that run was complete all the volumes (though still available singly) were put into The Ultimate British Golden Age Collection -the added benefit was that this volume would cost less than if you purchased volumes 1-5. Very poor sales though I am glad that the late Brian (Bib) Edwards -who was doing steampunk comics before anyone else- saw a copy before he passed. He was "over joyed" and said that it brought back so many happy memories.  

I have, since 2009, kept prices very low to attract sales and help fans save money. Never worked. I made other offers -signed copies, free A4 illoes and more but no takers. It's odd since there is no international shipping involved with an online world-wide store. You order in your own currency and the book is printed and posted in your region. Too easy?

I have seen one Independent after another vanish because people are more interested in marvel or DC -most buy those comics because they have never read a comic before or have seen the movies and TV series and so "its cool" (declaring yourself a "comic geek" is a sure sign that you are a trendy). "It's not in colour!" declares one shocked person looking at an Indie comic interior. These are people playing at being comic fans. Publishers have tried everything to make sales and stay in business but if you are dealing with people with no real love of the medium or only buy because they have been told their purchase will be worth "a few grand in a year or so" it's not good.

The idea of offering PDF comics is one that I will never consider. Along with artists David Gordon and Art Wetherell I wrote they drew two best selling "adult comics" for Fantagraphic Books (a contract we found meant nothing and we were all ripped off) and in total probably made £/$2000/3000 from massive sales. So, when someone who does internet searches and analytics told me (and showed me the data) that each book had been illegally uploaded and illegally downloaded from internet sites I told Fantagraphics and got the response "nothing we can do" (in fact they knew full well that as US publishers they could alert authorities to copyright theft).

The last check revealed that the ("if I like the downloaded comic I'll buy it") people on these sites had downloaded both books in such numbers that if each of the creators had only received £1/$1 for every download each would be worth over £/$3 million right now. That is why anyone tells me that "if I like the downloaded comic I'll buy it" lie I tell them outright that they are a criminal and have taken part in theft. "if I like the downloaded comic I'll buy it" is not a defence that would work in court.

Even a quarter of that amount would have secured a solid ground for publishing to continue but the truth is that no one really cares. 

Next year Black Tower will reach 40 years of age. It has at times been a struggle with trolling, lies and worse from "good guys" who used to work in British comics as well as on the production side where I have had to update every book online at least seven times since 2010 and in many cases had to re-upload and re-publish books due to "technical upgrades" to systems that screwed up a lot of people. That work alone took two weeks day after day to complete and then there are the sudden price hikes because "Our printers want more money and so do we".

I want to complete a few projects before or during 2024 because I doubt Black Tower will be surviving beyond that. Over 200 books -graphic novels, comics, comic albums and books covering all genres- and sales so low it means a sale and my cut of the "profit"  (especially after US Taxes -the print on demand company is in the US and though I am in the UK and books published all over the world I stil, have to pay US taxes) can total 75p/c to £/$7 if I am lucky.

I have a plan that will involved closing the online store because I do not want to spend more years sorting technical problems. I will make the store private and there will only be a limited number of books I will have in stock and these will only be orderable in the UK. I should point somethings out.

Firstly, since this blog was set up in 2011 it has, according to the home page counter, only had 70,000+ views. In fact, Blogger changes it server so often and suddenly stat counters show less views -after the last server change this blog lost 10,000 views. Comic Bits Online has a world wide audience and the stats on home page says just under 5 Million views. I keep an eye on the stats and the actual view total is 9 million. So looking at the views of Black Tower books from all of the blogs I can tell you that world wide views total 4 million. Again, a quarter of those people buying the cheapest book would make me happy.

Twitter before it screwed up saw 2000+ views of items posted per month and the old Google+ had total views of over 2 million. Look at Pinterest and other social media and I have had what two people have called "publishers can only dream of numbers". 

Social media will NOT sell your books.

When UK comic events charge between £/$150-300 for a 6ft table and usually tucked away from the "big sellers of toys etc" then no publisher can afford that. It is a scam price because it means you have to sell books to that value and many more to cover costs. You are quite literally bleeding out money and losing. Oh, and Small Press events do not look on me favourably as my books look "very professional and high quality" and those words are uttered with a look of disdain.  

Basically, I should be in Europe rather than the UK which does not treat well or consider its creators as anything worth bothering with.

So, new projects need to be put out and then in 2024 I can consider the actual options though those do not look good at the moment. Sales at the moment for 2023 stand at (my 'profit') £/$7.15.

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