Comic Bits 3 -A Treasure Trove of Lost, Found and Forgotten!

 

A4

Colour/BW

80pp

£10.00 UK

https://www.lulu.com/shop/terry-hooper/comic-bits-no-3-2026/paperback/product-q6wqden.html?page=1&pageSize=4

Comic Bits is the only journal dealing with the Platinum, Golden, Dark and Silver Ages of British comics and the creators involved.

This edition looks at the number of British "Bat men" -characters lost to time. The Bat by William McCail stars in his only ever appearance

We take a look at Tom Browne and Oliver Veal recognised as creators of what became the "British style" for over 100 years.

Prolific creator Terry Bave and his wife Sheila give us a glimpse of working in Silver age weekly comics.

Then there three rarities: the first is the origin of T.N.T. Tom a true star of Swan comics. Secondly we have the other star of Swan in Dene Vernon -Ghost Investigator. His very first pouting from 1940.

Third...well, a massive shock was the discovery of a super heroine not mentioned in any sources and this one off appearance drawn by E. H. Banger (we look at his career in this issue as well) -after 60 years Wanda the Wonder Girl is revealed!

Comic strips from some of the greats of British comics add extra zing to this issue.

Why miss out!

Black Tower Super Heroes: Werewolves

  

86pp

A4

Black and white

£10.00 UK 

https://www.lulu.com/shop/terry-hooper/black-tower-super-heroes-werewolves/paperback/product-84wwge7.html?page=1&pageSize=4

The Prof, investigator of the paranormal, encounters two werewolves in Castle Park...and Devilina who has a "sort of" message for him. Kotar, Sabuta, Lady Silana, Tarot and others deal with new werewolf activity and Dr Lycaon is granted access to the labs at the HQ of the explorer/adventurer group The Questors. Lycaon believes he is close to a serum that will cure the curse of lycanthropy but someone or something is trying to stop him. Meanwhile in space Freelancer delivers justice to the Central Galactic Council after its betrayal (see The Green Skies) and on Earth the equally treacherous Council of Light meets its fate. Will Lycaon succeed with his cure or does the increased werewolf activity even in the halls of one of the UKs most secret buildings indicate that the cure is too late?

I Am NOT Just Able To Walk Into any Comics Company and get work

  

 People have said that bot realising they are talking absolute rubbish. Yes, I have beenwriting everything from comics, technical and general intertest articles since the 1970s. I have been involved in editorial work, publishing comics and magazines as well as books since the 1980s. I heavily promoted MU Press, Blue Comet Press and other companies in the 1980s-1990s and before they became "cool" for a short period I promoted and pushed Archie Comics before they decided to just stop for no reason. 

I did scripts for Marvel UK, Fleetway and others over the years and I get more ideas for comic strips and series in my head daily.

However, none of that means that I can just "walk into" comic work with a company because experience is not valued as much as ticking the right trendy boxes.

It is that simple.  I was asked the other day whether I had ever submitted project ideas to Archie since I have never made a secret of the fact that I am a big fan of the companies action characters?  Yes, I have. Last time was December 2025 and as usual not even the "professional courtesy" of a response.

I hate the shatter illusions but that is just how it goes these days. There are things I regret  such as backing and supporting and heavily pushing companies who tell you how grateful they are that you are supporting them but then, when it all pays off, it's a case of "Terry who?"  I've even had artists who I helped get into the industry do similar and even claim they've never met me when there are interviews I carried out with them in print.

Comics have always been a back-stabbing industry as Louise H. Diamond and others have found out over the decades. A contact with Fantagraphic Books in the U.S. showed that even written contracts are worth nothing if a publisher wants to screw you over with illegal sales of rights to foreign publishers against the contract. Money is the only interest people have so I learnt early on.

New ideas are NOT valuable while rechurning the same stories and events over and over again are. How many "Crises", how many "Secret Wars" how many "This worked and sold in the 1979s/1980s" and the saps will still buy it can companies churn out -they are doing it again now. 

I have to put all the ideas have into Black Tower comics because, putting aside bigger companies, I have tried smaller Independent companies/publishers. No deal.

So please get the idea out of your head, if you ever think it, that I can make a living through other companies as a writer, etc. I cannot.

A Note

 

Having completed two books I am set to start lettering the third which is a graphic novel (over 100pp) and then I have to finish art on another project then letter some other books.

Since Mr Dilworth became ill BT has become a one man show and no one seems interested in working on projects for the fun of it (I certainly do not get paid!).  So things can go fast or slow. I will update on projects as and when I can.  

Just awaiting the ordered proof copies of CB3 and BTSH 2/1 then I can post how to order.

Comic Bits 3 Final Cover

 

Black Tower Super Heroes 2/1 Final cover

 

February 2026 book updates

Here is the update for anyone interested out there.

Comic Bits 3 was finally finished late last night after a few technical problems which, honestly, never happened in the old cut and paste days before computers and PDF. Just fixing things I don't like (as well as some cover text) about the cover and it should be on sale later this month.

 And... Black Tower Super Heroes volume 2 number 1is now completed. 80+ pages that I lost the dialogue text to but that never worries me as the story actually got improved. I blush at my genius 😂

This is NOT the final cover but the mock up. Apart from the Ben Dilworth art everything else has to go.  Again, a later this month release.

Then onto the next book!

If I could pay I would have a team of artists!

Werewolves and Comic Bits 3

 

Well, despite all the setbacks recently I have now finished lettering and editing the Werewolves story for Black Tower Super Heroes Vol. 2 number 1.  

I want to finish off Comic Bits 3 (almost completed) so that it will be a double February release.   

As noted previously I will be reprinting the full strip which I believe was a one off, of a long forgotten  early Silver Age British super hero.  No hints or clues -all will be reviewed in CB 3!

The lettering then needs to start on the Parallel Motions story for BTSH 2 and I am hoping that will appear in March. 

After that a lot of strip work to finish for summer release,

So fingers crossed kiddoes
 

Halcon Lord of the Craterland No. 1

 

A4
24pp
B&W
£6.00
https://www.lulu.com/en/en/shop/terry-hooper/halcon-lord-of-the-craterland-no-1-july-2020/paperback/product-7jy675.html

Halcon Lord of the lost craterland. Created by Nat Brand (Len Fullerton) in 1940 for Swan Comics and seen occasionally in various Black tower titles now gets his own one off books thanks to Ben Dilworth. 

Action and fun all the way with stories such as - 

"Alligator", "Lake Monster", "Monkey", "Pteranodon", "Into the Moon" and "Alien". 

The twist ending to "Werewolf" even had the old bearded one surprised!

Black Tower Silver Age Volume 1 -Electroman featuring Electro Girl

 

A4

B&W

52pp 

£8.00

https://www.lulu.com/en/en/shop/terry-hooper/black-tower-silver-age-volume-1-electroman/paperback/product-wqmp6m.html

1951 at the start of the UK Silver Age of comics appeared Electroman! 

Then he vanished to become a legend. 

After 70 years he is back -Dan Watkins a criminal wrongly accused of murder and given the electric chair by the State. 

But then...Dan did not die. He was a reformed person and what is more he had a double existence as newspaper boy Dan Watkins and righter of wrongs - Electroman! 

This collection contains: 

The Birth of Electroman 

The Treasure of El Chimborazo 

The Million Dollar Robbery 

3 Ring Circus 

Electroman and Tim meet Benjamin Franklyn 

The Great Train Robbery 

plus - Electro Girl Battles the Gremlins' Pot-War Plot

The Tower of Power!!

https://www.lulu.com/spotlight/hoopercomicsuk?srsltid=AfmBOorSyC3ZviomzQOpspxrJDYgAlXrPo_cVaVvklJDGZstS6-f4cqy 

Another Update

 After a few days of set back I can report that I am now up to page 71 of lettering on the next book which means it will be out in February along with Comic Bits 3  

It can take a while but I get there.

Below the unfinished CB3 cover

The Green Skies Vol. 3 Part III

 

 A4

B&W

208pp

£16.45

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?

The Green Skies Vol. 3 Part II

 

A4

B&W

126pp

£15.33

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

The Green Skies Vol. 3 Part I

 

A4

B&W

124pp

£15.34

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

Phantom Detective -The Hellfire Cab

 

Ben R Dilworth
A4
B&W
14pp
£6.18
https://www.lulu.com/en/en/shop/terry-hooper/phantom-detective-the-hellfire-cab/paperback/product-166jne8e.html

There are times you REALLY want to see the sight of a cab coming along the road. 

Then there are times that you REALLY do not want to see a cab...especially the Hellfire Cab and its passenger. 

For the Phantom Detective it could all just be another supernatural scuffle before tea and scones. Or it could be DEATH

The Collected Ben R. Dilworth

 

Ben R. Dilworth
A4
Illustrated text/Haiku
84 pages
paperback
Price: £12.38
 Ships in 3–5 business days
 http://www.lulu.com/shop/terry-hooper-scharf/the-collected-ben-r-dilworth/paperback/product-21848146.html

Collecting together the best selling illustrated prose of Ben R. Dilworth.

In Osaka Brutal, the Haiku Gold Belt holder presents his own personal Haiku beating the ear drums like a Taiko ensemble!

In Aesop's Fables the childhood favourites become rather darker and threatening. 
Originally intended for his own daughter, Dilworth had second thoughts because of the darker stories. You never heard these fables at Sunday School!

Osaka Brutal

 

Paperback

A4

12 Pages

Price: £5.17 (excl. VAT)

Prints in 3-5 business days

http://www.lulu.com/shop/terry-hooper/osaka-brutal/paperback/product-16356832.html

When Ben Dilworth revealed he had a Golden Belt award for Haiku and offered up a book titled “Osaka Brutal” my first thought was that I was going to get a nob-stop martial arts classic based in Osaka, Japan.

I was slightly disappointed.

Osaka Brutal  is a collection of llustrated Japanese Haiku by a very tall Englishman living in Japan.  If you have never come across Haiku before this may surprise you but there are a great many people in the UK and Europewith an intense interest in the art.

Black Tower got the Golden Belt wearer though!

The Masked Marshal & Friends

 

A4

B&W

18pp

£7.00

https://www.lulu.com/en/en/shop/terry-hooper/the-masked-marshal-and-friends-no-1/paperback/product-7jpnzd.html

 He rode the Wild West dispensing two gun justice and wore a mask. Driven by the need to exact justice and bring law to the West, the Masked Marshal had no idea the cost he would eventually pay. 

In this comic the Marshal is joined by other popular Black Tower characters such as The Iron Warrior, The Clock, The Owl and the Purple Hood. 

Dilworth, Stransky and Labatt producing more action and fun

Ah, now where did I put the dialogue pages?

 

Well today I managed to letter and edit 11 pages and it might have been more but for one problem. I do not use scripts but dialogue, etc I will write on the back of pages.

With these pages I wrote notes on separate sheets attached to the art pages. Those notes I put aside while I scanned and tidied up art. I have no idea what happened to them.

Which means I had to make up all the dialogue while sticking to the story and luckily this meant I could add dialogue which was better than in the original.

Gradually getting there and fingers crossed nothing else happens.

12 Pages in one day ain't bad

For those interested..... 

Okay, so now my fingers are stiff and my neck aches but I have just lettered and edited 12 pages today so that means I am up to page 40 and half way to completing the book.

So exhausted Terry is now off for a painkiller gargle!

See if I can do more pages tomorrow.

Black Tower Comics on Face Book

 https://www.facebook.com/groups/219476711895340/members

Some might scream

 Five more pages lettered and edited today...well, six pages as one plus its source file vanished!   Some might scream...I just got on with it!

Well Put a stale bit of cheese on a cracker!

 

The eye problem (likely cluster migraines) has gone for now so managed to letter, edit and re-size nine pages today.

If things hold up like this the book (you know that werewolf one) should be out by February.

DeviantArt

 

 I have to say that after almost two decades on Deviantart and 18K+ views I was thinking of just seeing what their Core Membership entailed. But then... I read that a lawsuit had been taken out against DeviantArt:

"The lawsuit, which also named Stability AI and Midjourney as defendants, alleged that the companies misused copyrighted works to train generative AI models without consent or compensation"

Still open apparently but when I looked around I found that I had a lot of pushes from DeviantArt to create better or "dream art" by using AI.  My stance has always been that if you do AI art for fun -no problem. But if you produce it to put real artists out of work -no.

I could produce cover after cover using AI and it would save me the time and effort but 😡that!

The problem is that the majority of DC and Marvel as well as Image etc artists all work on computers so produce digital art. There is no pencil, pen/brush or paper involved and even lettering put humans out of business a long time ago -people who were skilled. Yes, I DO use a very basic program to do my lettering because my hands are not in a state to do the work. Moebius once4 told me that the artist must letter their own work as it is part of the process. I showed him my own lettering and he nodded and smiled.  An ant stepping in ink and lettering for me would make it more legible. If I used scripts and had the money I'd pay a letterer.  Big companies can afford to pay skilled letterers. 

Colouring art is also carried out using a digital process -no brush, ink or paint and we can all issue a big "sigh" if we want.

"NO AI!" declares Marvel, DC, etc. Uh, that is very double standard. If you cannot produce art by AI on your computer then you should NOT be having creators use a computer to draw, colour or letter. It's all being a little virtue signalling and hypocritical but then this is comics and companies are as crooked now as they ever were and if they could get away with using AI art to make comics and therefore not pay real artists they would. It just needs the right pushing point and it will happen.

So do I do what many -many- creators have done and walk away from DeviantArt?  I have invested a lot of years, time and energy and endured all of the changes and technical problems to just close down the account which, I ought to add, in 20 years has brought me only one offer of work (my "chance" to draw a 150pp graphic novel for nothing).

Do I Have a Dream Team list? Do I??

 Someone said "You always ask people for their "dream team" of British heroes but what about yours?"

Oh, babies: I have a dream team of US Golden Age characters and story ideas (I got rid of scripts years ago) that I submitted to Marvel, DC, Image, ONI, etc etc).  

As for a British team...oh come on. I have a Platinum, Golden and Silver ages British teams -as in Cross Earths Caper and The Society for the Suppression of Criminal Activity with characters from the early 1900s and, yes, I have had loose alliances between characters from the Penny Bloods/Penny Dreadfuls.   

How many will appear in future? Who knows because I already have too many projects that will never be drawn. 

 But oh those obscure and forgotten characters...all bouncing about in my head.

Tales of Terror 5

 

Terry Hooper-Scharf, Ben R. Dilworth et al

Pages 75

Binding  Perfect Bound

Interior Black & White

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

£8.00

https://www.lulu.com/shop/terry-hooper/tales-of-terror-5/paperback/product-nvq7mmg.html?page=1&pageSize=4

Once again the library of the Black Tower is opened and its files delved into. Robert Lovett -back from the dead for vengeance?

A mysterious case of two men falling into a strange dimension -the Black Abyss! The Living dead!

Black Tower's two sorcerers Kotar and Sabuta try to intervene in The Deadly Dilemma of Sigismund Benfrigisson!

Oh and there is more and you will sharpen your vampiric fangs, file your lycanthropic claws to razor sharpness to get this one!

 

Tower Tales of Terror Special

 

Pages 80

Perfect Bound

Black & White

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

£8.00

https://www.lulu.com/shop/terry-hooper/tower-tales-of-terror-special/paperback/product-dyngve9.html?page=1&pageSize=4

From robotic alien invaders dealing with ancient barbarians (or barbarians dealing with them),

Dene Vernon Ghost Investigator,

The Iron Boy (seriously),

Cast Iron Chris,

Ingy Roob,

Bring 'em Back Hank,

Devil Fish Treasure,

The Iron Warrior and much more. It's special -there you go!

Cover by Richard Anthony Pester