Alex Ross Finally Addresses Alan Moore's Influence on Kingdom Come

 Oddly, about two years after Return of the Gods: Twilight of the Super Heroes was first published in Black Tower Adventure vol. 2, no. 1 I was asked "is it based on Alan Moore's Twilight of the Gods?" and "That was Alan Moore's comic title".

Well, I do not go onto comic news sites or forums -not since 2000 and no one ever mentioned any of this on those groups.

Anyone who knows me knows that history and mythology is something I have been interested since a kid when I read the 12 Tasks of Hercules and Gilgamesh. The Larousse Encyclopedia of Mythology is a bulky and very interesting book -it's where I found an Australian aborigine cave painting of something that looked remarkably like The Iron Warrior!

I had a story about the various ancient pantheons being faced with a threat from ancient old gods. No one seemed to think that would be interesting other than me!  I then thought that I had heroic/super hero characters going back decades and that might help if they were put in the mix.

That original 96 pager became a 360+ pager later!

In this video Ross does not give out much of Moore's plot and to be honest what is related seems to be "typical Moore" -almost a school boy idea of how to be outrageous and shock. I am told the script is online or was. Really I have no interest in it but I would have bought a series or graphic novel out of curiosity. As noted before I have a good few Moore books/series in my collection.

Originally the series title was War of the Gods which was then used by DC Comics. Return of the Gods needed something added to it to give it "oomph!"  I then caught part of a Japanese anime series (I think) in which "Twilight of the Super Heroes" was a subtitle so I thought add that and "Return of the Gods -Twilight of the Super Heroes" summed it all up nicely,

Black Tower Super Heroes The Ultimate Game Update

 

 Black Tower Super Heroes The Ultimate Game is 180 pages and I have so far lettered 40 before the eyes said it was too much.  

The good thing is that. like Werewolves, the text pages are gone. Why is that good?  Well, it means that although I can remember a lot of the dialogue I am coming up with new dialogue that helps the story flow much better.  

I am hoping that the book should be finished by the end of March -so long as I don't go blind

Temptation Awaits

  https://comicsshopsnews.blogspot.com/

WAKE UP!

 

😂

Well I found out what "slept on" means:

"When a product is described as being "slept on," it means it is undervalued, overlooked, or not getting the attention, popularity, or sales it deserves."

So...WAKE UP!

Oddly someone said to me that two books purchased for £24/$24 was at least £48 in my pocket.  No. Print on demand does not work that way.  As the publisher you do all the work but the POD company "stores" your file so they take a big cut and the printer obviously needs their cut. That £24 sale earned me £250 -you work out who makes the money. Also, even though a UK publisher with items printed outside the USA because the POD company is US based I have to pay US Taxes (but get no benefits from that).

I never understood why no UK based POD company ever set up. Those are the drawbacks so although a customer can order a book in their own currency and it is printed and delivered in their region I still get the short end of the stick and still pay US tax!!

Stick to your own Small Press publishing unless you can get a guaranteed audience and selling in hundreds -the current interest isn't adding to my bank account!

oh...or get a job to pay your bills and eat in the meantime😂

"Specced" and "Slept on" -What??

 

 Just been Face Book chatting (via the Black Tower Comics and Books page) with someone who put in a largish book order who told me had had been on some comic forums and that discussion centred on "Black Tower being a much slept on company".

I have no idea what "slept on" means!!   Mind you it did take me a while to realised that "Specced on"  meant speculated on re investment.

No one uses clear English any more!

BT Adventure 1 -aliens, mutants and super heroes

 

 Black Tower Presents (or, simply, Presents) appeared in September, 1985 alongside Adventure the big problem is that these were photocopied by Darron Northall so producing two titles meant extra time and work. In the end I decided that apart from one off issues I would filter everything into one title. Hence why stories mentioned in the post for Adventure 1 started here.

The 32 pager featured the alien and last survivor of the Freelancer Corps aptly named Freelancer and his arrival on Earth. The issue kicked off with the origin of Elizabeth Flare aka Mayfly and features a cameo by Dr Faustus and Dr. Wulf as well as first mention of the COTA team. The final panel features the first appearance of the Cougar.

The issue also features the origin of David Brown aka Runestone and his Celtic gods given powers as Hero-champion.

There are a number of first appearances/cameos in Crime Busters and Link. Starting at a circus and moving on to John Clane's (Solar) somewhat conditions stipulated inheritance. Making Solar, Willy Soames/Cane aka The Human Ball;  Madelein Bell aka Bell and the Missing Link Black Tower's first published super team.

Scratchy art but part of the early history of Black Tower and Runestone's origin was re-told by Ben Dilworth in Black Tower Adventure vol. 2 no, 7 and you can see the few pages here:

 https://hoopercomicart.blogspot.com/2020/01/the-origin-of-runestone-part-1.html

In The Heady Days of 1986

 

Cut, paste, Tippex and photocopy days. The artwork may not have been that great back then but it was fun and for some reason zines kept selling out.

Adventure 4, September 1986. Crime Busters UK and Link go up against Beta Man and the Metal Man makes his first appearance.  Kotar and Sabuta are there to witness the coming of The Ghost (also on front cover). Meanwhile two hard working  cops look into the mysterious deaths and try to find out just who Wild Mane is.

Meanwhile Jon Future in his civilian guise gets into a car with agents of Special Intelligence which is then blown up by the international hit man known as the Marksman.  In the second part of his origin story the Owl (David Holmes) looks into the murder of his old friend and that leads to some nastiness close to home.

The Avenger and Purple Hood breach the headquarters of Intercrime and the Mad Cutter makes his first appearance.  In Guppy Terror (seriously) an injured Duncan McCrae (aka Barracuda) washes up on an island where he meets the mysterious Laguna before finding himself captured by the Black Shark's crew.

40 pages of black and white fun from a time when making comics was fun and there was a comic creators community.