Re-posted From The Black Tower Face Book Page

Hope everyone has gotten over the daftest day of the year? Personally I spent most of it tidying up the house which gave me time to think things through. Cleaning the bathroom today. Oh joy.

Anyway, while being unwell I have looked at all of the options open to me in 2020 and what it might mean for Black Tower Comics & Books. Didn't turn out too good.

I currently have 9 books (comic albums and graphic novel)that are just sitting on an external drive. Covers and everything done. The problem is that none are converted to PDF format which means that they are not ready to be uploaded to the Print On Demand (POD) company. The problem here is not really a problem but m ore a case of what is the point. There are 90 books covering all genres on the online store front but no one buys. I have a couple of boxes of publications that are not on the store front -so 130 plus I think in total. No one is buying. So what would be the point of putting up more books?

"They contain UK Golden Age reprints -people want those!" Well, no. There are the original single volumes of British Golden Age comics that have not sold a single copy and some of those have been on the store 10 years.  The 400 plus pages collection has had 5 sales since it was first published but even promoting them on my olf Yahoo groups resulted in no sales.  So a mix of GA, Silver Age and contemporary strips I cannot see selling any better!

Then I have the biggest graphic novel I have done to date -the last one I'll do- The Green Skies. Hundreds of pages that I cannot letter or give a last tidy up to.  The problem here is that when the old PC died I lost my Microsoft Office Publisher/Word and Adobe Photoshop. I cannot hand letter (my hands are too far gone) and pages need to be sized and formatted. To purchase replacement programs would cost several hundred £/$ and that is money from fantasy land as far as I am concerned. Also, I have a barely functioning laptop so throwing non-existent cash at it is pointless.

I had thought that, in 2009, when I shifted everything to POD and offered far better quality of paper and print sales would pick up.  In fact, I get far fewer sales now than I did when everything was Small Press -another lie about how the internet will increase your business profitability proven. Remember that my books are listed on book sites around the world -even those listed on Amazon (still listed though I withdrew them from the site as I earned something like £1 if a £25 book sold!) never sold a copy.

There are things I am working on, as I have shown here, 35 pagers that cannot be lettered. I'm into another book that, again, will not be lettered.

I could go back to the Small Press method -as Ben Dilworth has done on his Black Tower books and they look quite effective. But that is still producing more books that in all likelihood will not sell.

Once the laptop quits (I am concerned that it has only screwed up this posting once!!) that is it. I am off the internet.

I need a new computer.

In the past I have asked book companies that do really well out of Comic Bits Online whether they might consider paying for adverts on the site. No. "We do not budget for advertising" -and my ad rates were LOW. I tried approaching other companies because if CBO does well it means book production continues. No. I tried Patreon, GoFundMe -even a PayPalMe box on CBO but absolutely not a single penny yet CBO has had millions of views and even the promise of more content such as videos saw no interest. This Christmas I posted about Chinese comics -Manhwa (a lot of it has been reposted by others taking the credit). Views sky-rocketed and not from Chinese language countries -there was the usual absence of any comments but the views still hit the roof. Donate a £/$ each time you visit CBO...no. It's all grab for free.

So I have tried everything but unless some computer manufacturer offers a free computer my time on the internet is limited -and book production has ground to a halt. I don't even have the ability to work on my manuscripts has stopped. Having said that, the prose books have not sold so perhaps its for the best!

What it all comes down to is that 2020 as far as I am concerned will be no different than 2009-2019: maybe one sale and then...nothing.

Even on the Black Tower Face Book page I notice the views have trebled- yet questions/comments seem lacking.

That is the situation as it stands so if I suddenly vanish off the net you'll know why.

Honestly....

I was laughing so loudly

Just around Midnight last night I decided to check on a comic from a British creator and checked his Face Book page. Not a word about the new comic so I just assumed, his having messed me about a couple times in the past with interviews and other things, he was too interested in living the "comic life" to complete the project.

As I was about to leave the page I noticed two very prominent names. Checking further it seems that these names (one was one of the comic "nice guys" and the other a convention organiser) were good old mates. In fact bosom buddies (though I know one (the artist) had stuck the even organiser in the back at least twice) and then I noticed another name that led me to another FB page where there was a whole gaggle of these "nice guys" and that included at least two other event organisers who had rejected my applications for tables at events just after I had announced bookings were available for them on CBO.

All stirring up trouble but in a 'jolly fun' manner the way these slime rolls do. Then came another name -the fella who had mistakenly sent me a character assassination (of me) email and it seems had been up to this for years while we were 'friends' and I supported him.

It did not shock me.  

In fact, it was like one of those 1000 pieces puzzles where you find a piece that fits in and suddenly so does everything else. I had felt slightly sorry for even organisers who strongly indicated that they were being intimidated until I decided to tell them that they were not at school anymore and to not accept bullying. It now turns out that their intimidation stories were a pack of lies  (maybe they thought I'd expose them on CBO if I found out the truth?).

Of course, in my "previous job" connecting a large number of  seemingly unconnected threads, names, incidents and digging deep became almost casual. By 00:45 hrs I had pieced it all together. It was -almost- unbelievable to see the amount of effort put into trying to ruin my business and blocking work at companies.  If these people put this effort into revitalise UK comics we might be in a very good place right now. Getting 'friends' to try to friend me on Face Book, try to join as a member of the Black Tower Face Book page -it is an OPEN page and does not require membership- and even getting them to 'innocently enquire' what problems I had been having (good luck with that) to dig up something -anything!

When you see others refer to a "UK Comics Mafia" they are not joking -I used to put it down to exaggeration but private messages telling me to block any news from certain artists or small press publishers, followed by threats of "ostracising" me if I did not and a block in sending me news items...and personal experience such as 5-15 trolling emails every day (all safely printed out and on file) for seven years before I got the ISP involved and they received legal warnings ('nice guy' and several mates working harder than they ever did in comics).

This is why I said that I very rarely support UK comics as an 'industry'. I tend to deal with established publishers who have grown ups in charge. I do support (rarely) individuals and small press items.

How did this 'explosive' discovery affect me?

My sister called out from the other room to ask why I was laughing so loudly.

Miscellania

Just some bits and pieces.  Also a correction as I stated that Cross-Over/The Ultimate Game part 1 had 26pp. In fact it has 33 pages!

Question answered I hope!

After the post about German views of the Black Tower blog I was asked how many views come from the UK since, after all, BTCG is UK based.

Here are the stats for this morning

United States	118
Germany	57
Canada	46
Argentina	25
Mexico	17
Ukraine	15
Portugal	12
Russia	12
Unknown Region	11
Brazil	9

I just checked the stats for last week, today (so far) and Now...the United Kingdom does not appear at all and has been absent from stats for some time. I don't think this is down to not knowing about Black Tower -just check Goofle or Internet Explorer with those words. BTCG has been around since 1984 and CBO since the 1990s.  CBO does get views from the UK even if not as many as from Ukraine, Russia or the United States.

Comics just are not appreciated in the UK as they are elsewhere. I remember Germany in the 1980s when I picked up comic albums at the kaufhaus and got weird looks. Now comics seem far more accepted with more items on TV than the UK ever gets.

I am sitting on four boxes of books from the online store as well as comics not available on the store front and no one is interested.

This is why I am looking at 2020 and what I can do, though I am very far from even mild optimism.

Question answered I hope!

Look at the colour of that sky

The Origin of Runestone part 1

The origin of Runestone redrawn from the 1985 story by Ben R Dilworth

Yes! It's 80 page Giant time! The final chapter in Return Of The Gods:Twilight Of The Super Heroes! Thaddeus Twatt faces the Ultimate Crystallid! The Purple Hood versus The flame! Whatever Happened To Mark Tyme? Atomic Tommy! Dr Sorrow! And the origin of Runestone! It's 80 pulse-pounding pages of graphic delineation!
http://www.lulu.com/shop/terry-hooper-scharf/black-tower-adventure-6/paperback/product-16069877.html

Who knows

I've updated things here but from today on things are very gloomy. Posted to CBO but relevant. 

I have put some posts on "auto post" (IF Blogger lets it work this time) and so you will not miss me....as if anyone visiting this blog is going to miss me 😐

Anyway, if I vanish from the internet it will be down to two reasons:

1) the laptop has finally died so...no internet for me (the laptop was a gift a few years back so I AM grateful otherwise there would have been no CBO after 2017)

2) even though (1) is the likeliest explanation I need to sit back and re-assess things. There are no sponsors (despite the number of views this blog receives) and my money is rather non-existent to say the least. At the moment I have tried but no one wants to put up anything to keep CBO going and contributions stand at zero.

I need to plan and see whether it is even possible to save Black Tower Comics and Books (there will NEVER be a "closing down sale" and once it goes so does the online store:There are 90 books on the online store if you ever felt interested (I have many more NOT available online in stock boxes in my room!)). The UK does not support Independent creators or publishers. It is dead.  Europe? 


Who knows but in case this is my last post -have a good Christmas.

Sprechen Sie "Comic"? (don't worry everything is in English!)

An interesting point was made -sadly not on the blog- that I think needs answering.

Noting that I had created Germany's first super heroes while living as a youngster in Germany in the 1960s -Germany's first German super hero team, D-Gruppe was first published in the UK in the mid 1980s and around the same time in a German publication looking at TV, movies, pulps and comics (Watcher Magazine) and had publish/posted on lost German comics history, why I had not attempted to get deeper into the German comics scene?

Right, I have posted on this over at CBO but I knew and exchanged publications with a lot of Germany Smaller Pressers in the 1980s into the early 1990s.  My collection of German Small Press publications is, I am told, "impressive".  Most wanted to promote and publish German creators work -and that is how it should be.  Some of these creators I also promoted in the UK and US.

http://hoopercomicart.blogspot.com/2016/01/and-myth-continues-germany-had-no.html

My involvement with Bastei Verlag has also been covered -they were to originally publish D-Gruppe before they were taken over by Egmont and cancelled everything. Interestingly, the Watcher translation misspelt the name of one of Germany's great historical monuments Externsteine with which the publisher was unfamiliar!

Oh, Lemgo the "Hexenburgerstadt" (Witch town) as well as Hermann's Denkmal have all featured in my stories.

In those days of letter writing and sending bulky packages to each other I found German Small Pressers pleasant and quite funny -these were the less "up-tight"  faction because the arty crowd definitely looked down their noses as us lesser creators.  When it came to the internet things went..."bad".  Do not get me wrong because there were some great people on forums and comic sites but there were also the downright arschlochs.

After my mother died (she was German) my use of the language became almost non-existent so what I used to do was write dual language comments/posts.  First in my rusty German followed by the same but in English.  The nastiness over my German made me less willing to use it but I did get some people who not only defended my posts ("Hey, he is trying at least!") but also supported me by pointing out that I was well known in German Small Press/comics and had contributed to German Samizdat comics taken into East Germany. The nicer people also helped me get scans of rare and expensive German comics so I am always grateful to those genuine comic fans.

Being an old fart I find it difficult to understand why a lot of German comickers know their American comics but few know a lot about German comics history. Maybe it is not so glamorous but when you mention a German creator or publication from the 1930's/1940's people think you are making it up!

If  I look at Comic Bits Online all time stats I see:

United States	1340765
China	1128594
United Kingdom	215802
France	171132
Russia	171027
Ukraine	120382
Germany	87898
Poland	21517
Bulgaria	18125
Romania	13521

Germany and France, more recently the Ukraine, have always provided high views -87, 898 is quite a sizable number.  So what do the stats show for this blog? Well, considering I have not been up-dating this blog as I ought to so views are lower  we find:

United States	17397
Russia	4690
United Kingdom	2314
Germany	1895
France	1833
Ukraine	1053
Unknown Region	972
United Arab Emirates	620
Netherlands	613
Poland	483

Germany is still in fourth place when it comes to views.  So German comic fans visit CBO and this blog -I have no idea about the Face Book page since they do not give that kind of insight.  I even got re-acquainted with some old time zinesters of the 1980s a while back. In other words I do not need to go out of my way to attract German readers.

The idea of translating D-Gruppe into German died a quick death because my German is not up to English-German translating and the language has changed slightly over the decades to which you can add new technical or sci fi/fantasy terms I am not familiar with. "Go full colour!" someone said but I don't think he realised that pushes up the cover price.

I have plenty of German characters featured in D-Gruppe, Return of the Gods and other publications -older and newer German characters are featured in The Green Skies.

I have tried finding paying German publishers but I think my books are seen as being a little "low-brow" and, yes, I have encountered the snooty arty types ever since the 1980s and don't think they only exist in Germany!

As for attending a German comic con -the expense is too high and if I was a trader...higher!

With Yahoo closing the Yahoo Groups down the D-Gruppe/German Comics group is no more after 15 years of work.  But my interest in German comics has not lessened.

EP 667 -The Missing Link by Ben R. Dilworth

The Trial -featuring Germany's First and only super hero group:D-Gruppe

This strip, intended initially for the Fleetway JAG 97 title features a host of heroes and will be serialised in Black Tower Super Heroes 2-7.  Artwork and completed books are on file "pending".