You Wanted It…You Got It.

In more than 30 years in comics there is one things I am proud of. I have never ever mistreated a fellow creator, cheated anyone or lied to anyone –there would be no point.  Unlike the multitude of people who attack me online in groups or on CBO, my details are public.  I do not use a pseudonym anywhere.

I notice “Mr Ben” has gone quiet after making an accusation against me and my promising to sue him for every penny (ISPs no longer protect flamers and you get a legal notice and they bend over quick) because I had never ever worked with him on Thundercats comic!!! How I cheated him on that I have no idea but he won’t put up.

The internet has allowed one thing: it has allowed cowards who hide behind pseudonyms and disposable emails (you cannot hide your IP Address) to lie and spread malicious rumours. They think that in the computer age they are safe.  They act all friendly toward you at events but then immediately snipe at you anonymously on the internet and stating as “fact” things I’ve deliberately told them to make them look idiots.

Why not put all this negative energy into trying to revive the UK comic industry? Is it because now it is the “done thing” to be absolutely negative about everything and everyone while making sure “number one”(self) is taken care of?  Not surprising when this is the sort of attitude promoted by every newspaper and TV programme that (to roars of laughter from audiences) mocks celebrities or people in the news using any disability?

Charles Kennedy, for Liberal Democrat leader resigned and announced that he was struggling with alcoholism. That was a few years ago but still the jokes flow.  A certain muslim cleric with hooks for hands was the subject of non-stop sick jokes on Mock The Week (a weekly ‘new satire’ show) for 20 minutes in a 30 minute programme.  Okay, I don’t like the man and his ideas but to ridicule over physical disabilities?

The same show brought out a “Too Hot For TV” dvd in which blind politician David Blunkett was incessantly the butt of jokes…because he was blind.

You can pick examples from every walk of life and every media. What was it Morrissey sang “don’t you hate it when your friends are famous and Northern”? Now it is ANYONE trying to be positive and do something good who is attacked.  Two people on the bus today were reading the Metro newspaper and something about a person raising money for charity –“Yeah, and how much of that do they pocket?” was the remark.

I’ve seen this same attitude sweep into comics and it is why we do not have any industry now.

I took a look at The Dandy comic today.  No wonder its sales are still falling.  Will they try something new? No. Thomson is in the position where it could make itself a big –if not the only- player in comics.  Instead it allows the same people to flop from one disaster to another.

How long before someone in management looks at what is going on and actually decides its time for a clean sweep?  I can see them cancelling comics –sorry “comic”- and saying “there is no market there any more”. Bullshit.

I sell more books than Thomson sells copies of Dandy.

Why do Cinebook sales rise?  Why are people telling me that each month they are ordering Franco-Belgian BD from Europe?  Within two years Thomson’s comic output could be increased and its position strengthened. WHY would any company produce inferior product and put it on the market place and see awful sales and continue to produce that product. I seriously think this is a tax dodge.

It was one of “The Big Two” but that was over 30 years ago.

I can seriously see European publishers (and they are looking) move in and take over the UK with no opposition because they respect the creators, the art and the product as well as the customer.

Weekly comics?  No. Never happen. In the last 25 years there has been no attempt to encourage kids to go out and buy a comic.  Its okay for educationalists and government ministers to say “improve your childs literacy by buying him/her a comic” –WHAT COMIC???  The US reprints or they toys with some pretense at a comic attached? Or, gods help us –The Dandy???

I even had a blazing argument with some idiot (Ihatebooks@hotmail.com) about the Bristol comic expo.  Apparently, its “crap” –I’m not involved in the Expo but it is the best in the UK and Mike has led it from a small event to what it is today.  A super and must-go-to event.

As far as I am concerned the UK has the industry the professionals in it want. A dying hulk…in fact “hulk” is building it up too much. “a dying carcass might be more appropriate.”

You fellas know who you are.  Well done.

And for me, well, there is nothing more to discuss or say.
I urge you all to, like myself, try to support and promote the Small Press and good Indie comics as well as events associated with them because they are all we have.

Black Tower Comics 1984 – 2012: 28 Years!

COMING VERY SOON…..

LET THE DECEPTION BEGIN!

The British Comics Industry…Cancelled.

Well, the International Comic Expo panel in May, “The State Of The British Comics Industry” is cancelled.

I’ve tried all those people who were all up to being on the panel and had strong views on the subject but only one has responded with a “well…maybe…not sure.”  Not good enough.

 

Seriously, if this is publisher/creator attitude there is no point bothering.  As I’ve written before, this speaks volumes about the industry and those working/trying to work in it.  ‘Good luck’ to you all as you try to crawl your way into…well, what-ever might still be going.

 

Personally, I’m too busy with business to try helping to save an industry full of people who just want to live off past glory (if any) and who do not care.

 

I can see why certain factions in the UK hate European comics: in Europe they tend to be passionate and care about their industry and comics as an art form.  Do not tell me “Comics are a dying art here -fewer people are buying” because I’ll seriously do you some damage.  Cinebook goes from strength-to-strength and there are still Independent publishers out there doing well.

 

phrrt.

Spliffy The Stoner Chick

Spliffy The Stoner Chick!

Gabbys comics

John A. Short (W)  & Gabrielle Noble (A)

24pp

A4

full colour

ADULT (18) Only

www.gabbyscomics.blogspot.com


One of the strips I liked most in Ganjaman and later the much lamented Wasted (the Taxman never gets cheated!) was Spliffy -written by John A. Short (who has been around almost as long as me…well, I don’t think anyone is that old) and Gabrielle Noble.

John has been around a good time now and his writing is great –Spliffy invariably ends up losing her clothes –making her the 21^st Century version of the old Daily Mirror character Jane.

Gabrielle’s art and colouring works really well and there are added treats in this comic –strips such as Malice In Wonderland: great art and a cracking punchline at the end. And then we have Dope Squad…very, very naughty…but nice.

For a full colour first issue this is a great start and I hope this will become a regular title –at £2.99 that is cheap.

Ten out of ten from me.

To order (but check out the blog first for posters, t-shirts and more news!

Classical Comics -BRAM STOKER’S DRACULA!

Normally, when a new book comes out from Clive Bryant’s Classical Comics I’m quite enthusiastic.  Not this time.

This time I’m overjoyed!

It’s been about forty years since I read Dracula as a novel.  A very thick book with more pages than I care to remember.  But I did read it in a week. And at my age I have seen many comic book adaptions of the novel -some quite fun some pretty poor.  Don’t get me started on the 1970s BBC TV adaption (19…77? with Louis Jordan).

Now, there is a certain Classical omics writer who repeatedly took me to task over not bigging up his writing.   But I think I always mention the writers fairly -or I hope I do.  Now a onfession.  When I heard Jason Cobley was to write the adaption I thought “Oh!”  I know of his work in the Small Press but I questioned whether he could adapt such a huge work into 150 pages.

In fact, he’s done an excellent job.

Staz Johnson’s art is probably the best I have seen from him in his long career.  The colour work by Offredi is spot on.  The combination of both men’s work and Cobley’s script make this probably the most commercial book so far.  The story pacing as well as the art should appeal to the general comic fan and certainly to American fans who might like to see more action and well paced stories but who are not into the classic works of English literature.

I do seriously doubt that either Marvel or DC comics could have produced a better adaption.
There is also the Bram Stoker biography at the rear of the book and for schools I think this is excellent because the art alone will catch the eye of pupils and, craftily, lure them into reading a classic.  As usual the number of projects a school could make as a spin-off from this book are only limited by the teachers imagination!

If the term “graphic novel” has to be applied to a comic strip adaption then Dracula is that book.
And all in time for Christmas!  If you are a horror film/comic/book fan then this is the graphic novel you need to grab.  In fact I’d just say “buy the book!!” and if you see it pop up in any comic award lists -VOTE!
Proof that UK creators CAN produce great comics.


check out the links to see sample art.

Original Text Preview

Quick Text Preview

British Editions (Cover price £9.99) Click here for an explanation of the text versions
Original Text Version ISBN: 978-1-906332-25-9Click here to buy from:amazon.co.uk	Quick Text Version ISBN: 978-1-906332-26-6Click here to buy from:amazon.co.uk
US Editions (Cover price $16.95) Click here for an explanation of the text versions
Original Text Version ISBN: 978-1-906332-67-9 (pub date: February 2012)	Quick Text Version ISBN: 978-1-906332-68-6 (pub date: February 2012)

Dracula
Bram Stoker
“I went down into the vaults. There lay the Count!
He was either dead or asleep, I could not say which –
for the eyes were open and stony but without the glassiness of death.”
Bram Stoker’s gothic masterpiece was first published in 1897, and has spawned so many classic films, all based on the character he invented when Queen Victoria was on the throne. Like Frankenstein, the films have pushed the characters into the very fabric of our society, so it is with great pride that we bring you a visual treatment that is true to the original – made even more exciting by the wonderous talent that is Staz Johnson!

Script Adaptation:	Jason Cobley
Linework:	Staz Johnson
Colouring:	James Offredi
Lettering:	Jim Campbell
UK Publication Date:	21st November 2011
Format:	152 pages full colour paperback 246x168mm
Versions: (click here for info)	Original Text (abridged) Quick Text

Interview From The Past…JOHN ERASMUS!

The Sensational JOHN ERASMUS!

When I started up Black Tower Comics as a zine (Small Press) venture in the mid-1980s, there were two creators who seemed to pop up in almost every zine I came across. One was Ben R. Dilworth and the other was John Erasmus.

Apart from the odd one off gag cartoon and strip, John also supplied me with episodes of Denizen Ark:Unemployed Crime-fighter and then my first digest sized graphic novel –Dervish Ropey And The Maximin Sword.
Foolishly, I had only printed off 100 copies and word travelled fast and within a month all copies had sold out (I don’t have a copy!).

Always bashful, John took a lot of persuading to be interviewed . So, from the now classic Zine Zone International 13 (1990), here is that interview with one of the most under rated artists ever!
Above:circa 1987 at a Westminster comic Mart -JE and Me!

TH: John, can you give us a little background info on yourself —I believe that you just managed to leap aboard an aircraft leaving South Africa with military police in hot pursuit:a rumour?

JOHN: Well, I left school in ‘82, feeling safe behind my British passport, thought I could soak up the South African sun for a few months to recover from the education ordeal, and received an April call-up to the Navy.  I dodge the security police getting to the airport but the military were waiting! I jumped into an army jeep and tore along the airstrip, shells exploding all around me as I tried to reach the open cargo door of an aircraft.  With bullets whizzing all around I leapt for the aircraft and made it just in time! I left in March ‘82.


TH: Okay, hands up. I added the text from “the Navy” to “I left”….I’m trying to sell copies here!  Alright, when did you first get interested in comic art, and were you encouraged to draw when you started?  Most parents think it’s a waste of time.

JOHN: My dad used to buy me comics. I underwent the change from Harvey to Marvel comics aged about eleven.  My folks are both artists so they stood back and watched me wind my way along this path from about that age onward.  I was reading before that age, too, but I’d stop more often and play with my yo-yo then.



TH: You told me once that your more “cartoony” style was inked straight off –no pencils.  How do you do it?

JOHN: Lots of Process White!

TH: The more serious style you do pencil before inking, is it a style you’d like to use more?

JOHN: I use it for the colour stuff mainly because there isn’t as much room for manoeuvre with the outline then.  Black and white I prefer to do straight off in the pursuit of dynamism but when a more considered and detailed style is called for (not something I myself care very much for) then I knuckle down and work out what I’m doing first.  I always use detailed thumb-nail sketches so I’m not being all that daring in fact.  The finished artwork is effectively an enlargement of these sketches.

TH: In case anyone thinks John is exaggerating about a “lot” of Process White usage I can state here and now that Ben Dilworth, who was doing the printing for Dervish Ropey and the Maximin Sword, had picked up the artwork and phoned me to say “I can believe he really does do this work freestyle!  You ought to see the amount of whitener used and paste-ups!”  That said, Ben did admit the work still looked “gorgeous”.

Now, John, you’re interested in Amerindians aren’t you?  How did this interest develop –is it something you’d like to incorporate into future work?

JOHN: American Indians are a much-abused population with a miraculously resilient culture.  I suppose I follow their story because it’s got more than a little in common with South African black history which I’d seen too much of to really want to think about.

TH: You are my favourite colourist –you use Magic Markers, right? How easy are they to use…is there hope for me?

JOHN: Magic Markers I met in ‘87/’88 when I thought I wanted to join an ad agency and earn £50,000 a year doing storyboards.  I used to use coloured inks prior to this in much the same way as I now use the markers.  The thing that took me the longest to master was the covering large areas with flat colours.  I decided against the ad agency (which meant, unfortunately, the £50,000 as well) but I kept using the markers.

They’re not that difficult to use at all once you get used to being constantly high on the fumes (now I take a Magic Marker where-ever I go!).

TH: You’ve done book covers and postcard illustrations –can you tell me (roughly) who you have done work for?

JOHN: I’ve done 75 or more book covers for the Overcoming Common Problems series for Sheldon Press over the past six years (1985-1990).  These books are available in health food shops and self-help sections of bookshops and have titles like The Irritable Bowel Syndrome Diet Book.  My favourite book cover was for David Taylor’s Zoo Vet book called Dragon Doctor.  They did a TV series about that (pioneering veterinary work in UK zoos –TH) as well.

My greetings cards aren’t selling very well apparently.  They feature Dervish Ropey and since I said I’d like royalties for them they’re not making me any money!

TH: Am I right in assuming that your first colour comic work was for Brain Damage (now retitled The Damage) -how did you land this job?

JOHN: Yes. I don’t know.  The editor, Bill Hampton, found me (possibly through the Association of Illustrators) and visited me in person.  He picked out something he liked from my backlog of work and I developed it from there.

TH: Stonewall question: list ten words that you feel describe John Erasmus without cheating!

JOHN: I was answering these questions quite frankly up until now.  When I’m in difficulty I always try to think what I’d do if I wasn’t.  It’s the panic that really gets you.  If I could have one wishcome true it would be to always be able to stay calm and do the right thing in every situation.  Could you pick your ten words from amongst this lot?

TH: No.  But, lessee:talented, polite, friendly, a smoothy, helpful, non-egotistical, willing (!), unrecognised, intelligent, woman watcher!  Hah! I think that about covers you!

Dervish Ropey is a sort of Indiana Jones type character and the special, Dervish Ropey and the Maximin Sword, sold out within a month but through my naiivete it emptied my pockets instead of filling them!  You’ve more of this great character to come I believe?

JOHN: Sorry I dried up your resources.  The new one is 86 pages all about American Indians based on the three actual happenings in modern American Indian/White American history combined into one day in the life of a fictional traditional Indian tribe.  Paul Gravett of Escape magazine liked it and is seeing what he can do with it.  I’m very glad the card company liked Dervish Ropey, too, but wish they could shift a few of the damn things to the punters.

TH: and Denizen Ark: Unemployed Crime-Fighter –what’s happening to him?

JOHN: He’s my present spare-time-consumer. I like to be doing something I can call my own while still maintaining some sort of contact with money-earning sources.  Either he’ll eventually be a series of six comics or he won’t be.  Either way I’ll complete the work by X-Mas.  If the enterprise basks in the glow of unpublished anonymity after that it’ll be altogether in keeping with the nature of the character!


TH: Let’s hope the project succeeds –he is an excellent character.  But I understand that you’re making videos with Marek Wedler, who describes them as “hot and steamy”.  Is he lying as usual?  What are they about and is video film making something you’d like to do professionally?

JOHN: These are videos filmed almost exclusively in the nude.  However, all those appearing on the screen are at all times fully clothed.  Actually, the production team members generally cover their nudity before commencing filming, too —but of course it’s obvious to all concerned what they are really like underneath.

The films are short stories using whatever props or people are available at the time.  Movies are big time comics so, yes, the more of this I can do, the merrier I’ll be.

TH: What are your hopes for the future regarding your comics work —anything you’d really love to do?

JOHN: I’d really like to do just one Spider-Man comic.

TH: Any final comments –words for the fans, you know –the usual?

JOHN: Have you honestly read this entire interview?  See you at the next mart, Terry. Cheers!


TH: I’ll be looking forward to it.  An interview worth waiting three years for?   ANYTHING John does is worth waiting three years for!


***********************************************

End Note: Since this interview was published, John worked on Accident Man for Toxic, a comic based on Gerry Anderson’s Space Precinct and much, much more.  Sadly, blinkered Marvel Comics has never offered John a chance to work on Sipder-Man!

You can more of John’s work at:

http://johnerasmus.com/


The project with Paul Gravett may not have happened but, after a good few years, Dervish Ropey is set to return in Dervish Ropey: The Totem from Black Tower. A book I am very excited about.

Hopefully, it might convince some European publishers to put work the way of Mr. Erasmus!

And…Dervish Ropey -Totem Pole is soon to appear from Black Tower Comics so here’s a couple of sneak pages!



DERVISH ROPEY:TOTEM is out mid-November