Werewolf of Estonia

 I stated that I thought all of the pages barring one of this strip drawn by Terry Ford were destroyed. In a box I found the first page so here are both of the surviving pages.

(c)2025 BTCG/Terry Ford

More! More! More!!

 

I have a problem. I just have to take something short and sweet and make it enormous!  

The original Return of the Gods: Twilight of the Super Heroes series ran in 6 issues of Adventure vol. 2. I then looked at it and expanded and then re-lettered 97 pages to over 300. It's what I do.

Yesterday I found a folder with the original Looking Glass series that featured all of the ole IPC/Fleetway characters that was to appear in Valiant They Were. 57 pages.  Now, after talking to Gil Page at Fleetway and two of the board members (before they lost interest) it was planned to serialise the series in a Fleetway comic (Buster was the title put forward) and so I re-lettered and re-drew and added pages until the final count was 111 pages.

I just had to stop myself doing something similar again. I don't think I have the amount of time needed for what I am doing/planning already but another huge book?

Coming In August 2025

 

Black Tower: Streamline 2 The Dr Rose Agenda

 

Ben R Dilworth writer/artist

24 pages

A4

Black and white

£8.00 UK

https://www.lulu.com/shop/terry-hooper/streamline-2/paperback/product-yvyd549.html?page=1&pageSize=4

Keenan King aka Streamline of Earth Parallel 669 meets agent Grimes of MI5 in Westminster Abbey for a briefing. A briefing that seems to indicate that the man who helped King and gave him his powers, Dr. Rose, has mass produced the formula used on him.

If the man who helped give him the powers of Streamline has turned rogue for money or other reasons he has to be stopped.

An army of Streamlines would be unstoppable and a threat to not just the UK but the world.

Power Women...They Could Have Been A Thing

 The first issue of Power Women was eventually drawn by David Gray and I believe those pages are now gone. A publisher (I think Aircell) was very interested but after receiving first issue art I heard no more which created problems for myself and annoyed the publisher -this is why I insist any series drawn for submission has to be completed first because once committed to a project and soliciting it to a publisher you HAVE to guarantee you are not wasting time.

 An American artist then set to work -character sketches and, I was told some actual comic pages. and the story was a "shocker" back in 1990/1991 but today would seem a bit tame. Again, the artist used an undecipherable signature and never put name or details on the reverse of artwork. At the time a company was very interested and it had links to an animation studio though my main concern was to get the comic completed.

I never heard from the artist again and he never responded to emails or letters.  Here, though, are the surviving sketches.

all characters and artwork (c)2025 Black Tower Comics

The Silvermaigne Failure -not the masked one

  Going back to the 1980s.... Silvermaigne's first failed attempt as a comic strip. One person drew the first part but for the "victims scene" used newspaper  photos of road accidents and inked over the figures. As soon as I saw that I said "no" as if you cannot draw four people standing around a blanket covered body you cannot draw a comic. As it  was the artist was a never-hear-from-again.

above art by K Earl

Then another artist and I think his name was Kieron or Karl(?) Earl -I keep telling people to write names and contact details on the back of art!  The first part was drawn and...the artist was never heard from again despite my having sent the script for part 2.   Then we have a page by Terry Ford (who drew Torch of Vengeance  reprinted in Tales of Terror 1).  Ford left comics and after what happened with Space Junk comic I'm not surprised.

art by Terry Ford

I believe that these are all of the art pages that survived.

Huge White Columns Rising Into Infinity

 Writing about images just flooding into the mind at odd hours... This sketch I had to do bleary eyed because as I was just dropping off to sleep I had a flood of comic images of characters from different parallels suddenly appeared in a all white "place" with tall white columns that rose into infinity. 

Nightbird who was involved in the Return of the Gods story thinks she is back on Neo Olympus and has a panic attack. I have most of the story and scenes loosely worked out so if I ever get to draw it then it should be fun!

The End of the Story is hardly ever the end of the story..ever

 Just to show why I do not use scripts for my own work. I do just sit down with blank paper and then come up with page one and an idea of how the story will go. However, as I just draw what comes to mind it can mean that a story ending I planned or even plot twists have to be dumped.  

For The Green Skies I have pages of handwritten notes (when I used to write on a daily basis). I think it was three different endings and even as I was drawing the story changed. In one image that flashed to mind of  Jack Flash and his parallel Earths counterparts  "suffering"  -it was planned as the final page. Below is the rough sketch I quickly drew at 0320hrs (time written on the reverse side)  -you can still see some of the rough pencils.

Needless-to-say that last page never happened and JF never met any of his counter parts on other Earths. 

Johnny Neg Dawn in the Burn Pits

 The cover design I settled on for Johnny Neg: Dawn in the Burn Pits. The back cover is The Regent Park Ghost and Mr Stransky used gel pens to colour this. It gives a weird almost Roger Corman movie effect.

Book should be out in August.

Cover Designs sorted for 2025

 

By the time it was 0430hrs I had decided on how I will be presenting covers for both the SGG and others this year.

Today I finish the last of the SGG lettering and then work on the back up feature.

If this was 25 years ago it would already be done.

It's 0130 hours...Time For Bed?

 Well, I re-lettered the SGG pages up to page 19 and if that was not enough I just finished scanning the next book which is scheduled for August release -Johnny Neg 2

Now I am aching all over and my eyes are bleary so time to....go through more pages of art!

unedited art

"Publishing is SO Easy These Days"

 The joke is on me. Straining eyes and painful hands after yesterday's re-lettering work and I thought "Go for the burn, lad!" I was going to get all 22 pages lettered today.

Well, this morning the postman delivered my copy of Slick Fun no. 1 and...ugh. Four pages badly reproduced and 9 pages missing. Files uploaded -perfect.  Print ready files downloaded -perfect so, today, I had to re-do the whole PDF.

Are my eyes ready for more?

Not until this evening maybe....

WAHOO! Slick Fun 1

 

 

Pages

34

Binding Type

Paperback Saddle Stitch

Interior Color

Black & White

Dimensions

A4 (8.27 x 11.69 in / 210 x 297 mm)

£8.00

https://www.lulu.com/shop/terryhooper/slickfun-1/paperback/product-gjymqp2.htmlq=&page=1&pageSize=4

You like your Fun to be Slick? You like your Slick to be slick? Well her you have Slick fun -and with a little added "Wahoo!" from the star himself -Dr Atomutt! You will also see The Iron Boy on his never ending quest to find and consume metal. Not to mention GoBo And Gobo and Captain Cardiff Oh, and if you like your Westerns anthropomorphic then there is Sheriff Merrybark! As GoBo says "Pi Quo Bo Bo!" -wise words (which means there is more inside)

The Difference: 1998 Hand Lettering and 2025 Computer Text

 I was going through Black Tower Adventure 51, August 2000 and I found it odd that some of the art looked different to my style at that time. Turns out I drew the strip, Special Globe Guard, in 1998 well in advance of issue 51's deadline.

The strip was a tribute to Golden Age British artist "Ramon" aka Bob Monkhouse!  There is an explanation in the issue as to why.

I thought I could publish and just leave my awful lettering as it was (now you know why the PC was a welcome gift! However, if I expect people to spend their money on a book then they should expect legible text (sorry, Moebius but in this case the artist's lettering destroys the look!).

One day and quitting at 2100hrs saw 14 pages re-lettered and you can see the difference with original above and new lettering below.

I will not lie but admit that my hands after the typing are painful, however, what I enjoy is the fact you can add more text and add to character conversation. Will I complete page 22 by tomorrow? If my hands and eyes hold up I hope so!

Why Not More Colour Comics?

 I need to explain something about Print On Demand printing.  It is cheaper to print a black and white book in high quality ink/coated paper than colour.

If you have a 52pp book and only 4 pages are in colour it does not matter: all 52 pages are charged as colour. No option. It's all down with very little if any human (printer) interaction from file to print machine, stapling and folding.

For that reason I tend to avoid colour printing and will continue to do so unless a very special reason.

Try publishing -enjoy the eye strain and headaches!

Micky Marvel's Multi-Gun: It Could Have Been A Thing

 

Buster, January 1968 and Micky Marvel hit ink! Micky owned the Multi-Gun (based loosely, ahem, on the Johnny Seven One Man Army toy) which only he could turn into a real weapon.. How did Micky get such a thing? Well, this was the 1960s and we all had mad cap inventor fathers, right? It was designed by his scientist father and it could transform to do virtually anything Micky desired of it.

So what? Well, I found a copy of Comic Bits  volume 1, no. 4 from August, 2004 earlier and there was this project announcement.

Poor quality copy but you get the point. I will not mention the artist involved but he jumped on board to draw this and a European publisher liked his style. It had taken me months of letter writing and emails to find an editor that dug the style. I sent him copies of some pages as I got them.   

Then the artist told me "I have the last few pages to do and all 48 pages will be finished. I told the editor and he told his boss who said okay and we waited..... 

and waited....

The artist would not respond to letters or emails and then his phone number blocked calls. After a month of trying I had to tell the editor that the artist had bailed out with -allegedly- all the pages. The editor got a roughed up ear from his boss.    

It is why I never ever start publishing a series or push a book to publishers unless I have everything complete and in my hands. 

There were rumours that the whole thing was a hoax perpetrated by certain out of work British comic creators but another rumour was that those people put the artist under pressure to drop out and he was too ashamed to tell me why. Those same people still follow everything I do. Sad.

I was out of pocket but learnt my lesson and I had similar with at least two US based artists. Long stories but ancient history now. And, yes, I was given full permission to use the character.

A Quick Look Inside Comic Fun

 

The Looking Glass -Supposed to Have Relaunched Fleetway's Old Hero Line

One of the ideas that then Managing Editor at Fleetway, Gil Page,  liked was Looking Glass which I put together in 1996 with the intention of another artist drawing it.  Couple of things I would "tidy up" but these pages from The Looking Glass that Gil Page asked me to put together are now hitting 30(?!!) years old now.  

IPC gave permission to use their old characters who they had no interest in as "We are not involved in comics any more". So it made a good, complete package.

All 112 pp are still in the folder but legally I can still publish if I wanted to....but it would need redrawing.

On Its Way

 

Faster Than You Think!

 

Black Tower Comic Fun Album 1

  

A4

32pp

Black and white and colour

£12.00 UK -the online store will tell you cost in your currency if outside the UK

https://www.lulu.com/shop/terry-hooper/black-tower-comic-fun/paperback/product-w4ynq4r.html?q=&page=1&pageSize=4

It's FUN! FUN! FUN! All the

way (except for the action). Black Tower Comic Fun reprints some of the strips that are now going on for three decades old. Starring Dr Sterno: Man of Science as he attempts to stop a seemingly out of control cyborg from rampaging into Finland...and is betrayed! Dru gives advice on getting a job. The Thinker offers his thoughts on things in general. The Legendary Wrecking Crew pop up. The Iron Warrior gets to work with his huge chopper. Garza shows why he is the jungle boss. And...Garbage World in which intergalactic demolition decides the Earth is a waste tip of sorts. Just one big bundle of fun in black and white and colour!

Black Tower Comic Fun -Out Next Week!

 

Black Tower: The Attacker -Dark Origins

 A4

25pp

Black and white

£8.00 UK

https://www.lulu.com/shop/terry-hooper/the-attacker-dark-origins/paperback/product-8458282.html?q=&page=1&pageSize=4

When urban crime seems to be out of check with the police unable to handle every incident and people too scared to even walk along the road what happens?

Do the police give up as resources are over stretched while the public scream for action? How can the police be everywhere: at every location where there is going to be a minor or serious crime? They can't.

Is vigilante action required?

The early 1980s created Attacker could have been anybody. He appeared in a series of no text strips dishing out violence for violence. 42 years later his/her identity is still unknown. With some takes on the character by Ben R Dilworth and a Preview to the Return of the Gods series this is action all the way.

The Visitor

I have no idea what happened to Niall Richardson but he had a nice art style. This strip is circa 1987

 

Heroes In.....Because

Garza -Jungle Duel

 

The Purple Hood