AND I’M NOT TALKING ABOUT ANY MASKED CRIME-FIGHTERS I PERSONALLY KNOW. JUST SAYING.
“Hmm. Don’t you understand? Think about it –we have no skyscrapers! How can you have American style super heroes in England?”
“Hmm. Don’t you understand? Think about it –we have no skyscrapers! How can you have American style super heroes in England?”
Those were the words of a Marvel UK editor (Dave White) back in the 1980s as I sat across from him having travelled from Bristol to London at his suggestion to discuss new projects. About a month later a very senior Marvel UK editor responded in the same words but adding “That is why UK comics have never had super heroes.”
Firstly, as I pointed out to Dave White, we are the UK. Britain. You think of characters for a comic as being English you are excluding Wales, Scotland and Ireland. Why?
My response to the senior editor is probably why things went a little “odd” work-wise. My first response was “So, what exactly is Marvel UK publishing? And Power Comics (Odhams) before it? And…” I went on to rattle off a very, very long list of British super characters going back to the 1940s. I think I ticked him off. Really, he should have known better though, in one respect, he was right.
British comics never had super heroes.
Before you start thinking that I’m on new medications and answering “Yes” and “No” at the same time allow me to explain.
Tim (Kelly’s Eye) Kelly travelled the world and even in time and space at one point and was totally indestructible. He was not a super hero.
Clem Macy, television news reporter had a costumed archer alter ego…The Black Archer. He was not a super hero.
Cathy had amazing cat-like abilities and wore a costume. She was not a super heroine.
William and Kathleen Grange were incredible acrobats and wore costumes as Billy the Cat and Katie The Cat. They were not super heroes.
In fact, for my graphic novel featuring many old IPC and Fleetway costumed characters, The Looking Glass, I noted several times that the characters were not super heroes. In the UK we tended to call them “costumed adventurers” or even “masked crime fighters” but not super heroes.
Some, of course, were…uh..”revived” for the Wildstorm Studios Albion mini series which had great art but, sadly, showed a lack of any real knowledge of the characters by the writers –which they admitted to. In comics you get paying work you take it!
Characters such as Adam Eterno, the focal point in the Looking Glass story had no choice and were at times almost anti-heroes. Whereas The Spider had a choice of being a master crook and then changing sides (basically all ego driven), Eterno did not. He was cursed to be taken by the mists of time from one period to another where he encountered Spanish Conquistadores, pirates, sorcerers and even modern day (well, 1970s) crooks.
Olaf (“Loopy”) Larsen a rather meek school teacher found the Viking helmet of one of his ancestors and, donning it (that’s putting it on his head) became a super strong, flying Viking hero…The Phantom Viking. There are stories of The Phantom Viking rescuing ships and much more and not a skyscraper in sight.
The great exponents of British roof-top crime-busting were, first, Billy The Cat and later Katie The Cat. Running across the rooftops and leaping the often not so great gaps between one row of terraced houses and another, the duo were the fictional ancestors of today’s urban free-style runners/jumpers –examples found here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CZ0YDF9bpZ8&feature=player_embedded#!
To most people who never get to see the rooves of terraced houses they assume they are all steep and sloping. However, having on two occasions chased someone across terraced root-tops I can tell you there is plenty of room to move about (though at my age I now look back and get nauseous over that memory!).
Later, in the 1970s, William Farmer became the costumed crime-fighter known as The Leopard From Lime Street. As one Fleetway boss told me (later confirmed by artist Mike Western) “Thomson had a schoolboy who fights crooks in a costume and if Billy the Cat was popular I was sure we could do better!”
Interestingly, in the Billy The Cat series he was later to be hunted as a vigilante by authorities who did not like what he was doing. Likewise, The Leopard was also hunted down at one point. In fact, a number of British comic crime-fighters found themselves not just ducking the crooks out for revenge but also the very side they were fighting for!
Towns, cities, villages, countryside, coastal locations –all featured in some very fun stories that endure in the memory to this day. And not a bloody skyscraper in sight!
When UK creators were recruited to save the ailing US comic companies such as DC in the 1980s (I was at those UK comic art conventions watching how desperate they were to recruit British talent –and in some cases introduced both parties to each other) the idea of outlawing super heroes and tracking them down so they could be arrested was a new concept. In the UK we’d been doing that since the 1940s ( thanks to the creators who churned out material for publishers such as Gerald Swan)!
The mistake in the minds of publishers is that they equate costumed crime-fighters with skyscrapers and the United States. Despite the long history of such characters in the UK going back to the Boys Papers of the 1900-1930s.
What it says, really, is “This is just a job. I don’t care about comics history.”
D. C. Thomson (may they be forever cursed in the hallowed halls of British Comics Hell) have enough characters to produce good costumed-crime-fighter comics. The same applied to IPC who appear to have now taken the stance (a letter to me from senior management dated 19th July, 2011) “We were once publishing comics but that was over 30 years ago and have no further interest in comics.” Of course, had a rich stable of characters.
I have no doubt at all that a good “super hero” comics could work in the UK but so few Independent Comics writers/publishers seem to be able to produce an obscenities free scriptthat does not also include over the top violence and rape –the “Millar-Ennis-Morrison Legacy (MEML).”
But let’s mention, I really must, two shining examples of British “Super Heroes” by British creators that have excellent plotting, story and action without having to resort to the MEML.
The first is, naturally, Paul Grist’s Jack Staff. Okay, he’s never accepted my offer to interview him in the last decade but I’ll not hold that against him! When I first saw Jack Staff I thought “**** that anatomy is really off!” I bought a copy. I’m a comics bitch, I just can’t help it.
I read through issue 1 and do you know what? I..I..deep breath…I enjoyed it! There it’s out now! The anatomy did not put me off and, as the manager of Forbidden Planet (Bristol) said “It doesn’t make a blind bit of difference –it’s so enjoyable!” With references to old British TV comedy series and so much more each issue of Jack Staff was a must read. There was, I must point out here, a major flaw in each issue. There were not enough pages!
And while Grist takes a break from Jack Staff he came up with a new series –Mud-Man (which should not be confused with my German character Schlamm Mann –mud-man!). Lovely stuff but, again, the major fault of not enough pages but maybe that is why this works: it is almost episodic like old British weekly strips…but with more pages…okay. Grist wins.
Then we have, and I have to say this on bended knees and in very humble tone…Nigel Dobbyn. When someone told me that he was drawing Billy The Cat I remember thinking to myself “I wonder whether his art style is any different than when he was drawing for Super Adventure Stories?” (a 1980s comic zine). I opened up the comic and a big thought balloon appeared above my head in which was written in bold Comic Sans “WOW!”
The style and colouring I had not seen outside of European comics (say Cyrus Tota’s work on Photonik). After that I never missed an issue and I made a point of grabbing The Beano Annual as soon as it appeared in shops. But with this incredible talent working for them did Thomson take advantage? No, they did something ensuring he would not work on new strips for them. The story can be found here:
http://www.comicbitsonline.com/2010/12/12/nigel-dobbynbilly-the-cat-and-d-c-thomson/
You want to see how good Dobbyn is? Visit his website which has great art on show including Billy The Cat colour pages:
http://www.nigeldobbyn.com/
Dobbyn even re-introduced (with help from scripter Kev F. Sutherland, of course) General Jumbo but as The General. In fact, you go over those issues and I can see why so many people were telling me that they only bought copies for Billy The Cat. I could drool on and wax lyrical for hours about Dobbyn’s style and colouring.
Now here is the real kicker. Two talents such as Grist and Dobbyn whom any UK publisher (I know –“Who??”) should be fighting, spitting and kicking to get their hands on but are they? Nope. And while Grist publishes his books via Image Comics you have to wonder why Marvel or DC have not tried to get him on a title? Could it be his style is just not understandable by people in US Comics such as Joe “I’ll sell that for a Dollar” Quesada or Dan “I’ve had another brilliant idea on how to destroy DC” Didio? What of Dobbyn, then?
I know that if as a publisher I had the money I’d be employing both full time!!
I need to stop mentioning Dobbyn now as my knees hurt (a lot) and it’s hard typing from this position.
What both creators have shown is that there really do not have to be skyscrapers for a “super hero.” There is enough car crime, drug crime…violent crime of most types going on in the UK and believe it or not none involve a single skyscraper. Incredible, isn’t it?
Also, the UK is rich in legends, myths, fairy tales and much more that are just crying out to be included in storylines. The reason the Americans and other comic readers world-wide like UK strips is because they are uniquely British. In India, particularly in Southern India, The Steel Claw, Robot Archie, The Spider and many others are still very popular in reprint form over 35 years since they last appeared in print here.
Of course, now that the Evil Empire (Disney) has extended its stranglehold on Marvel (Panini) UK nothing new from the UK is allowed –though why doesn’t Panini with all its international branches pull in some new characters/books of their own? Oh. Its cheaper tp publish reprint material, isn’t it? I can be so silly!
Black Tower Comics has published a wide range of comics and the costumed crime-fighters (or even non-costumed in the case of Krakos) are the most popular.
So the market is there but where are the moneymen, the backers needed to help revive the corpse that is British comics so that it can proudly boast an industry once more that takes advantage of talents such as Grist, Dobbyn and Jon Haward?
However improbable British super heroes might seem to sum I can tell you they are not. There is a history going back 80 years and even longer if you include the Penny Dreadfuls of the Victorian era.
Here endeth the sermon.
An Inspector Calls by J. B. Priestley
Set in 1912, An Inspector Calls takes place during a dinner party held by the upper-class Birling family which is interrupted by Police Inspector Poole, investigating the suicide of a lower class girl Eva Smith whose death is linked to each family member. It was made (1954) into a classic film directed by Guy Hamilton and written for the screen by Desmond Davis. The film starred the incredible Alastair Sim, who played the role of police Inspector Poole with all his charm and sinister angles.
Even now, after many years, the ending still hits me.
Although re-named “Poole” (?) for the film, in the original play, the Inspector’s name was “Goole” –perhaps British censorship thought that was too much like “Ghoul”! I am glad to say that in this adaption the name “Goole” stands.
And what an adaption by Jason Cobley this is! It goes to prove that, even with this being an adaption, the UK has the writing talent to rival some of our Franco-Belgian friends. It’s all here –the secrets hinted at, all the nuances and all it lacks is Alastair Sim, though the inspector here is still tainted with that touch of the sinister –look at the cover!
There is the incredible twist at the end of the story that I am not going to reveal because it would destroy the whole point of reading the book! But in print, as in the film, Arthur Birling’s final words sent a shiver up my back!!! In fact, I’m going to read the book again after I’ve finished this review.
But let’s not give Cobley a swollen head.
The art. It is just spot on. Will Volley has conjured up panels that give us, not the effect of being from a stage play, but a movie. Some pages are just so good I couldn’t even think of how to describe them. Seriously. Add to this Alejandro Sanchez’s at times mouth-watering colour work/toning and you have a true classic.
I certainly hope that this one gets noticed by European publishers because it is pure style and Europeans love style!
Jo Wheeler, Jenny Placentino and Carl Andrews have done a great job on design and layout with the usual Classical Comics back-up features.
Clive Bryant seems to be able to pick good creators to work on his books and certainly the bar seems to be set a little higher on each book. And the printing and binding quality has not been cut back on. Believe me –you’d be proud to have this book (if not the entire series) on your bookshelf.
Quality all the way!
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| Original Text Version ISBN: 978-1-906332-32-7Click here to buy from: amazon.co.uk  |
Quick Text Version ISBN: 978-1-906332-33-4Click here to buy from: amazon.co.uk  |
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| Original Text Version ISBN: 978-1-907127-23-6 |
Quick Text Version ISBN: 978-1-907127-24-3 |
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An Inspector Calls
J.B. Priestley
“So – for God’s sake – don’t say anything to the inspector.”
A respectable household is shocked when a strange police inspector visits them shortly after dinner… and proceeds to unravel their prejudices and lies. Through this almost surreal murder-mystery, Priestley interweaves social comment with a gripping story that twists and turns every few pages.
| Script Adaptation: | Jason Cobley |
| Artwork: | Will Volley |
| Colouring: | Alejandro Sanchez |
| Lettering: | Jim Campbell |
| Format: | 144 pages full colour paperback 246x168mm |
| Versions: (click here for info) |
Original Text (complete & unabridged) Quick Text |
| Cover Price: | £9.99 |
Check the Classical Comics link on the blog roll where you can see free previews of their books and how to buy copies!
Have people in comics taken total fucking leave of their senses? No names, no embarassment, but I got a press release today from a publisher which was headed:
“A self-published comic released last week is now amongst the most popular downloads on pirate sites such as Demonoid, ranking high in the “top torrents” list alongside the likes of The Walking Dead and Batman.”
Seriously. It’s a torrent and people download them in batches so it means absolutely nothing. But there is another line:
“I would’ve loved those 1600 sales, don’t get me wrong, but I’ve decided to take it as a really positive thing..”
This creator/publisher has lost 1600 sales there is absolutely NOTHING positive about that!
But to send out a press release that tells people where they can look to illegally download and steal sales money from you is downright commercial and creative suicide. If you have a stall at a comic convention and I come along and pick up ten of your books and walk off with them then that is stealing. If I reach into your cash tin and take £20 out that is stealing.
Let’s look at this in cold numbers shall we? The comic in question will cost you £3.00. So the math is simple: 1600 x £3.00 = £4,800
There is no positive side to having £4800 stolen from you.
You do not publicise the web sites who are stealing from you. Its illegal -unless you put it on there for publicity which would be pretty fekkin dumb.
My advice to this publisher (ANY publisher) is contact the site owners -the details ARE there- and demand that, due to a violation of your copyright and creators rights you wish re-imbursement for lost sales or the user to delete any and all links to your book -or you will prosecute.
Last year I did this with over 30 illegal, stealing the living from me bunch of criminal websites and the links were down within a couple hours and I got an apology.
But do not ever ask me to issue a press release which publicises criminal activity such as that Megaupload took part in. Not EVER.
Review by Paul AshleyBrown.
READER MEET AUTHOR THE COMIX READER ISSUE 3
Edited by Rich Cowdry
A3 Newsprint B&W & Colour 24 pages £1
Edited by Rich Cowdry
A3 Newsprint B&W & Colour 24 pages £1
Through the doors of swanky new Gosh comics in Soho, for the launch of the new issue of Rich Cowdry’s Comix Reader, I’m preceded by 80′s Zine Doyen, the eternally youthful Paul Gravett, who remembers who I am, but can’t remember my first name. Ooh, the irony ! There must be something good going on if Mr Gravett has shown up, having been someone who has always had his finger on the pulse of comic book hipness for longer than I, or he, can remember. Well, the Eighties anyway. It’s fitting he’s here, as there are distinct parallels with the zine scene of the Eighties, and the current crop of movers and shakers that make up the crowd squeezed into Gosh tonight. Even if, as Sir Terrence of Hooper never fails to remind us, the old established order is dead and buried, the DIY ethic is alive and well in British comics, and Rich Cowdry’s Comix Reader is a nifty barometer of what you can find within it’s thriving scene.
So, what about that content ? Well, for the uninitiated, the Comix Reader comprises 24 pages, each artist usually has one page to produce something, although some artists do half-page pieces, and in this issue we have our first 2 page strip. There’s a diverse collection of stuff, though primarily the emphasis was initially on humourous pieces. The nice thing about this is there are new people in each issue, so it’s an ever changing collection of work, which will hopefully keep things fresh and interesting, and I believe Editor Rich is trying to showcase the work of as many artists as he can. Anyway, that content. Is it actually any good ?
Well, like nearly all anthologies, there’s a very diverse collection of work. First thing to stress is that CR wraps itself up well. Issue 1 and 2 had great, distinctive covers by Rich Cowdry and Lord Hurk, and issue 3 keeps up the good work with a clever and nicely rendered and coloured piece of work by Elliott Baggott, who also contributes a perfectly realised, beautifully drawn strip inside, starring Johannes Gutenburg. Editor Rich Cowdry is first up, with a neat little page entitled Fat Charlie Chaplin, which, in keeping with it’s titular hero, is a sequential piece of silent comedy, cleverly employing in it’s panels a few of the visual devices of the cinematic medium of the Chaplin era.
Between Cowdry and Baggot’s solid, nicely drawn pieces is Bird’s lovely What Do You Worship, for me one of the highlights of issue 3. It’s a gentle, reflective little strip, which raises a couple of smiles when reading, and touches, albeit fleetingly and indirectly, upon one of lifes big questions, but does so in a small, personal way that gives it a great deal of charm. The last panel seems a seperate afterthought, a tacked on joke, but oddly, I thought it added a little counterpoint to what had gone before.
So far, so good, but then Maartje Schalxx’ Looking for Love at the LGBT Disco is the first piece to slightly disappoint sadly, despite the great title. There’s nothing wrong with the direct, simple economy of the words herein, in fact, that’s this page’s strength, they convey the sadness and loneliness of the character. Unfortunately, the overall murky wash, and blank, faceless heads adrift within don’t convey any of the potential emotional emphasis visually;personally, for me, it’s just too anonymous, too blank, too abstracted visually. The crowds described need to be drawn, in order to see the isolation of the situation, or the character’s faces need to be depicted, to descibe their feelings. A pity, because I liked the writing.
Maybe Maartje’s strip may have benefitted from Kat Kon drawing the page. The aforementioned Miss Kon’s page comprises 3 seperate, unconnected drawings, full of faces, paticularly in the last image of an elderly, lined old woman, whose twisted lip suggests some subversive glee from the mockery, confusion and fear she seems to be causing the surrounding mass of young teenagers. The other two drawings are equally mysterious and puzzling, a tension, whether intentional or not, is evoked. It’d be interesting to see what Kat Kon would do in a sequential narrative. Perhaps Mr Cowdry can team them up for a future issue of CR.
The “Wonderfully Wonky” Peter Lally, as I’ve become accustomed to calling him, provides us with 4 Moral Tales, each 3 panels in length, each drawn in his “wonderfully wonky” way. I admit to a somewhat perverse pleasure in Mr Lally’s drawings, and strips. His work at first glance could easily be dismissed as crude rubbish, but look closer and there’s actually someone who understands something about sequential narrative and trying to convey meaning, even if at times he may technically fall short. I love the underlying eccentricity of his drawings, and the fact his panels are full of little amusing details.There’s lots going on in each panel here, and he uses next to no dialogue, though sound is conveyed, and movement and action.There’s something within here that could develop into real, eccentric surrealism.
For me, Alex Potts has been the Star Turn of Issues 1 to 3 so far, and his page this issue is again, another highlight. In an incredible 34 panels, he creates a perfectly executed story about an episode in the life of his brother, Pulling Out Weeds From The Streets of Leeds,which has a great payoff in the last panel. The drawing and colouring are simply excellent, the narrative tone of the writing is understated and deadpan,and there’s not a duff note in the entire thing. Mr Pott’s strip alone is worth the cover price, and more besides. Certainly one to watch !
The following two pages, A Moment by Mike Medaglia, and Bernadette Bentley’s Bloody Wasps both use the sequential structure of their pages to depict the passing of time. Both are wordless, which emphasise the sense of stillness. Medaglia’s small natural details, and shifts of season parallel the character’s spiritual shift over time, and in doing so creates a neat, simple and effective page. Bernadette Bentley’s strip juxtaposes her character’s humdrum day to day activity with the wasps fate, and is strangely effective, for me an intriguing, enigmatic little mood piece.
Which takes us to The Tree, the two page centrespread of the issue, which is in itself a good idea, as perhaps the Comix Reader might well benefit from having one or two longer pieces, to allow the artists a little more space and pace for slightly longer stories, or better structured work, not so confined by the single pages limitations. And The Tree is all the more effective for having the space to breathe across the doublepage spread. It’s a funny, quirky little story of a rather vain and awfully behaved tree, nicely written by Tanya Meditzky, and rather beautifully drawn and coloured by Tobias Tak, who creates a wonderfully whimsical little world infused with the spirit of 30′s and 40′s European cartoons, full of charming detail and eccentric characters.
The following page by Tim & Alex Levin raised a chuckle or two, particularly with the fate of Indiana Jones, although the Sherlock Holmes spoof seems somewhat messy and disconnected, though a couple of phrases in the last panel made me laugh-Knapsack Animal adventures may well be more promising a venture ! Ralph Kidson and Sir Tedley Blair’s Big Balls Crow I personally found a bit pointless, though there’s nothing wrong with the drawing or writing, it’s just a bit slight in content, in comparison with some of the other pages, though I know a couple of people who will find it hilarious.
Steve Tillotson manages to outdo Alex Potts on the panel quotient, deconstructing his whole page image into 48 panels of surreal goings-on in a forest, populated by some rather bizarre creatures.This deconstruction means we have to “read” each panel seperately, and in doing so visual detail is emphasised, a sense of time and space is created, the sudden appearance of the odd forest creatures becomes more apparent.Again, it’s interesting to see how many artists here are playing with the form and construction of the page, and ideas of sequential narrative. Ellen Lindner continues the trend with her page, Blowing Up, It’s Expatriate Armageddon, using the visual metaphor of an Atomic Bomb explosion to suggest the seismic emotional state she’s feeling in returning home. While it’s a brave attempt in not going down an obvious visual route, I’m not sure if it entirely succeeds in it’s intention. Sometimes, it’s better to be obvious, and perhaps depicting the small, personal and intimate creates a more visual seismic impact. But I definitely applaud the visual risk-taking. And the writing here, in it’s directness and honesty, is wonderful.
Jimi Gherkin considers the problem of this approach-what does work best visually in relating your narrative ? – by borrowing a stylistic device from a couple of indie masters, namely Pekar and Crumb, in telling us The Jimi Gherkin Name Story. Each panel of the strip is simply Jimi relating the origin of his comic moniker, before being sidetracked with something more interesting, and a neat, funny punchline. It’s visually deadpan, and everyday, a la Pekar, and works because of this, but ironically, I think it may have been visually more intriguing by using the sketchbook doodled self-portraits that appear in one part of the page throughout it as a stylistic visual device, so each “Jimi” is a different version through each panel. Perhaps you didn’t need Mr Crumb and Mr Pekar after all Jimi.
Following on from Mr Gherkin, a shared half-page each sees Sean Duffield have peurile fun at the expense of Alan Sugar, which made me laugh far too much than I’d care to admit- Sugar’s depiction, and expressions here are delivered for maximum juvenile giggles, while Dickon Harris plays Chinese Whispers, with a neat ending, but perhaps could’ve been funnier over a full page of perhaps ever-increasingly surreal interpretations before the payoff.
K.Ward’s The Invisual Arts is an oblique, oddly amusing page, again rather nicely drawn, which I liked the ending of – the merest hint of tension, and a strangely atmospheric quality, enhanced by the lovely understated colouring. A strange, perverse little gem that grew on me. Craig Burston’s StunGunFunPun, is delightful and funny in it’s refreshing simplicity of execution, and pleasure in silly slang, and proves that sometimes, the simplest ideas and drawing works best.
Paul O’Connell and Addy Evenson’s Carousel pips Alex Potts for best page of the issue, and is visually one of the most interesting things I’ve seen in a long time, hampered only by the fact so many small panels are packed into such a small space.. This is a simply stunning piece of work, a jarring collection of photo-images of a Scary-Go-Round in Hell, guarded over by two sinister (aren’t they always ?) dayglo clowns that could well be the greasepaint ghosts of Beckett’s Vladimir and Estragon. It’s wonderfully dark, and brilliant, and adds needed weight and punch and unease to this issue. More from these guys, and quickly !!
J.Parsons takes us down the pub with a few England football supporters for a neat joke via a clever use of spot colour, and the back page is drawn by the already dependable Lord Hurk with a sad and silly tale of a Lonely Bomb, that’s as neat a job of classy cartooning as you’d want, and whose Graphic layout, and final, tragically obvious fate, brings this issue to a comic full-stop.
In conclusion, it’s great to see something like the Comix Reader pitching up, and attempting to establish itself within the Comic marketplace, creating for itself, as Gravett’s Escape did in the eighties, a particular space for a new, raw, and generally unseen group of artists from outside the established comic arena. Still, there are lessons to be learned in the craft of making artwork, and the comics medium itself, and this is one of the intriguing challenges for these artists ; to what extent can you explore and push the boundaries of your craft. It’s pleasing to see them trying. and what’s interesting and exciting to me is watching this being played out in the panels and pages of the Comix Reader. I do hope the momentum and enthusiasm of everyone involved can be maintained, and so far congratulations are in order to Rich and the individual creators involved. Here’s to Issue 4 !!!
Paul Ashley Brown, “The Man by the Exit”.
Firstly, let me say that I’ve just finished reading the new incarnation of JLA #6. It’s an image comic from the 1980s. Okay, Jim Lee is pencilling while four (4??!!) others ink. After issue 6 I can tell you that, even with the rather interesting preview at the end of the Phantom Stranger chasing down a…yes, another…reality warping character…no. No. I seriously think I’m coming to the end of my love for the JLA after 45 years!
Seriously, all the crap that started seeping in after the greedy bastards discovered that a universal crisis every year made a bucketful of money has led to…bilge.
Forget the died-in-the-wool-no-brains fan boys who’ll take any sort of crap DC (or Marvel) churns out because it is from DC or Marvel. Jim Shooter wrote that if you take the dialogue out of the panels nothing makes any sense. There seems to be no grasp of sequential story-telling. And totally crapping up the characterisation of the characters so that they are just…well, who cares if they all died in issue 6?
They’d be back for volume 56 #1 -a sure seller.
Oh, and after everyone spent their money on 52 and all the spin-offs we are now told Pandora, who the Phantom Detective is pursuing, may be the key to the whole 52 crap?
WHY are DC sales along with their reputation as a good comic company going down the toilet? Read one of their comics (though I am told there is a good Batman title out there).
That brings us to Marvel. sigh.
New Avengers, which started very well (with Romita Jnr on art…it was NA?) seems to have lost its promise.
Remember how Norman Osborne took control and the Avengers were discredited and became fugitives and Osborne created his own evil Avengers team?
“Dark Reign” I think they threw all the trash into.
Well, they re-launched with the new Heroic Age.
Guess what?
Norman Osborne is taking control of everything again. He has his own Dark Avengers. The Avengers (take your pick) have all been discredited and are now under threat of arrest…and the public are against them. No, this is different. I swear on my now torn up and flushed down the toilet MMMB card.
Norman Osborne has super powers.
Holy shit in a box of girl scout cookies!!!!!!!!
This is totally IT!!!!!
What “it”?
A pile of shit.
And where is continuity? Federal officers in black outfits storm Avengers Mansion in one book and in the next they are wearing green body armour and guess what? Best joke ever from Ms Marvel -Warbird – or whatever-the-**** she’s called these days:”It’s so nice that you got to dig up your anti-super hero Civil War gear. How exciting for all of you.”
Laugh? I shat my pants.
Marvel is basically saying to its fans:”We are going to sell you more derivative crap of the same-old-same-old and you will love it!” (I’m sure the editorial staff at Wizard are wetting themselves)
I was six years old when I read my first Avengers comic and then I saw the Gene Colan Sub-Mariner and Captain America (when he had credibility and before he died..not the first time nor the second time but….well, you get my point?). I was hooked. Only Justice League of America and its annual JLA-JSA team-ups pulled me from Marvel Comics.
Oh, now we have another major event. Avengers versus X-Men. Not the late 1960s Avengers versus X-Men nor the 1980s one but a bang-smack NEW Avengers versus X-Men. I really am going to have to sell one of my sisters or myself into sex slavery to buy this.
You know I’m joking….right?
Anyway, luckily it isn’t just me that thinks DC and Marvel have lost the plot completely (sounds like a DC or Marvel comic). Search the internet blogs. You’ll find others.
I feel a couple news crises coming on….
A bit of info about Donna “She is SUPERB” Barr:
Donna Barr is the author of the long-running drawn book series, “The Desert Peach” and “Stinz.” She’s been drawing and writing for publication since 1986. She’s also a fine prose writer. Often, she includes detailed drawings, turning her prose novels into illustrated books. “An Insupportable Light” is full of her ornate, soulful art.
If you have never checked out a Barr book then I really do feel sorry for you. The art is just luscious and the writing brilliant (WHY is Donna Barr on not one single comics award list??). You need to check her work out and join the growing thong of fans.
Her online store:
http://www.lulu.com/spotlight/desertpeach
and check out her web site with a magnificent photo of her and her pussy:*
http://www.donnabarr.blogspot.com/
*I believe his name is Jim
Yes! At long last! A New Black Tower video ad thing!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rnrBDuVxtSA&feature=plcp&context=C337fa79UDOEgsToPDskLQjVTSft7AS0p1bm2wepUZ
| Price: | £5.00 |
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Ships in 3–5 business days
Metapsychophysics meets comics. Its the next natural evolutionary step in comic books! For the first time all three parts of the highly acclaimed Dr. Morg Trilogy.
To educate the public about speculative (spec) work
There is a new campaign starting and, of course, I have an opinion. No, sit down and take a deeeeep breath. It’s true, I do have an opinion on this.
Firstly, here is what the No!Spec website — http://www.no-spec.com/ — has to say:
Spec work and spec-based design contests are a growing concern. So in an effort to educate those working in the Visual Communication industry and the clients who use their services, a group of designers banded together to bring the NO!SPEC Campaign to the public.
With legitimate design opportunities turning into calls for spec work increasing, our purpose is to arm designers with the tools they need to take a stand against this trend. We also aim to provide businesses with information on why spec work harms our industry.
The NO!SPEC Campaign includes: interfacing with designers, educators, businesses and organizations; creating NO!SPEC promotional materials; sending protest letters; writing petitions and posts, and more.
With the international support of NO!SPEC we ask that you join us in promoting professional, ethical business practices by saying NO! to spec.
If you are unfamiliar with the term spec work, read What is spec? and FAQ About Spec Work before dipping into the rest of the site.
But before embarking on the NO!SPEC initiative, please read our participation protocols and disclaimers.
Questions or suggestions? Then go ahead and contact us.
And in case you wonder what “Spec” work is:
What is ‘Working on Spec?’
By Elisabetta Bruno of ThinkCreation
What is “spec?”
“Spec” has become the short form for any work done on a speculative basis. In other words, any requested work for which a fair and reasonable fee has not been agreed upon, preferably in writing.
What’s so wrong with that?
In a nutshell, spec requires the designer to invest time and resources with no guarantee of payment.
Isn’t it wise for a client to “try before they buy?”
On the surface it may seem so. But, digging a bit deeper, one realizes that professional graphic design is about creating custom solutions, not cookie-cutter concepts.
But, with today’s computers and software, how long could it take?
This is a common point-of-view for many who confuse the professional with his or her tools. The “process” is more than simply tapping at a keyboard or clicking a mouse. It’s about understanding the nature of a communication challenge and then using one’s brain to find the appropriate solution.
At the end of the day, there is a certain irony in spec work. A prospect requesting it is ultimately saying, “My project isn’t important enough to hire a professional who will take the time to understand my situation and goals and invest the time needed to create a suitable solution.”
If you have questions or suggestions, contact us.
Spec work has always been a part of the comics industry and in some cases if you broach a publisher with a few ideas or what you consider to be “the new Spawn, man!” and they seem interested they do expect a few pages of art to show you can do the work.
From 1983-1999 I acted not just as a freelance editor, writer and artist but also as an artist/writers agent. I managed to get quite a few people work in comics and, no, I never took a percentage (I was that stupid). At one point I was getting between 50 to, at a peak, 120 packages of art per week. The postman hated me and I replied to everyone. In these packages I would find comic strip samples in which the artist had accidentally drawn five fingers and a thumb on each hand, others drew characters with two left OR two right feet (?!) and one in particular even drew a great strip but forgot to draw ears on every single one of the characters!
There were also some fantastic one page illustrations. I’d get lots and lots of packages from people wanting to be in comics but who only send illustrations. I pointed out to each that they needed comic strip samples to prove they could design and draw a comic strip. You cannot see that ability in single illoes. In some cases it was quite obvious that some of the illoes were tracings or light box created copies of well known illoes. The great and original illoes…well, without exception, the artists (if they bothered getting back to me) could not draw a comic strip. The figures were a mess. I suggested either more practice at drawing comic strips or contact an agency that specialised in just illustrations.
In the 1980s I got in to see editor Dave Hunt at Fleetway who was editing a new football comic John Barnes’ Hot Shot (later he was replaced and it became Gary Linecker’s Hot Shot ). With me were Marek Wedler, Paul Brown and, I think either John Erasmus or Ben Dilworth. Dave looked at all our samples and explained that he really needed to see some football strip art (we’d gone to meet another editor who was “taken unwell” (we found out later he had a huge hangover) and so were not prepared for a sport comic!). We agreed to do a few pages each and two weeks later I went back to see Dave accompanied by all concerned. He liked the samples and said he’d be in touch.
Well, the title changed and we heard nothing so I phoned up to see why everything had gone silent? I was told by Managing Editor Gil Page that, “unfortunately”, the company had decided that it could save money by not employing UK creators at full page rates but foreign artists at a lower rate. I was told two Argentinean artists were working on Hot Shot but there had been problems with work turning up late or not arriving (this was before computers, kiddies).
The title folded. I have nothing against a company employing foreign artists but I do if it means those artists are being paid less. The other problem was that the UK was still technically at war with Argentina over the Falkland/Malvinas Islands. It would be like Amalgamated Press employing an artist from Berlin to draw comics in 1943!!
But we, UK, artists, never got paid for those pages. They just went into our portfolios (I think some have appeared on CBO over the years).
With Marvel UK I got scripts and drew strips (Biker Mice –yeugh!- and Action Force) but suddenly nothing was used and I certainly did not get paid apart from one strip through an over-sight on someones part!
With Fleetways Revolver and Crisis titles things got worse. One script I wrote was drawn and hack to pieces by the artist (who thankfully has vanished now). But then I got a call from the editor of Revolver who told me that a series concept/title was so good that his, uh, “co-editor” wanted to use it so could I change all my stuff appropriately? “Tell —- to **** off. He steals my concept and titles I’ll sue him and Fleetway!” Oddly, the title folded (for which I simply cannot take the credit) and the editor left comics.
Now, I had done work as requested and it had been approved so even if they decided they were not going to use it one would expect a kill fee. At the time I was still chasing Fleetway/Egmont for money owed for work used or “killed” due to title cancellation.
In total I was owed £5765 and I’m still waiting. The company tried everything from telling me that I needed to chase the editor for the money because he no longer worked for them and that Robert Maxwell had screwed everyone up.
Firstly, chasing the editor for the money (I have the letter still) seems to suggest that he took the money. He was impossible to trace but it was still Fleetway/Egmont’s problem because they had not paid me.
And Robert Maxwell? He’d been dead a few years and had nothing to do with the new company or its finances.
In the end it came down to “we can’t find anything in the accounts ledger” –so crooks were still at work.
Now that is work non-spec.
I’ve had artist after artist approach me asking for a script and chance to get in print -even if only in the Small Press to show people something of theirs in print. By 1997 I had a pile of short and full scripts some 3 feet high that had NEVER been drawn by the requesting artists. I said no more and then, in 2000, other artists approached me…same thing.
Back in the 1980s-2000 I would traipse around publishing houses or send off packages of project art to publishers. On no fewer than 12 occasions, when a publisher said “yes” to a project the artists said “Yeah, not really interested any more.” Do you know what publishers say when you have to tell them THAT?!!
Also, if you work in Indie comics or on Small Press projects and you work with an artist you can call that spec work -you hope and pray it sells. I’ve done 30-40 pages spec comics in the past and the publishers never even paid a kill fee.
Worse was Fantagraphic Books (“Eros Comix”) who signed me up for a trilogy in 1990 and it was a fight to get volume 2 published…in 1997! Kim Thomson to me (in writing): “We’re looking for full books now. If you find an artist who’ll draw the 120-140 pp we’ll take a look and see if its worth it.” **** that. Along with David Gordon we decided to republish it all ourselves and finally finish the trilogy 20 years later. If books don’t sell now its US who’ve made ourselves poor.
A good example of spec work were cartoon gags I wrote and John Schiltz drew back in 1990 –these were sent to European cartoon agencies and were used and we got paid.
But with CBO I have, on about seven occasions in the last year, refused to publish press releases or news from certain companies who have been identified to me as running a “Spec work con” in which the artist provides the ‘winning’ cover or copy design and gets….really, nothing. But the contest runner gets to use the work to make money.
I have also stopped mentioning a couple of UK Independent comic companies after accidentally discovering they were operating a vanity business. Basically, I was talking to someone about a project and they suggested I submit it to —- “and if they like it they’ll publish it but you need to stump up 60% of the print costs”
WHOA!
What did the creator get for paying 60% of the print cost using a print on demand printer? Well “if it sells well you get a percentage of the profit” I was told. So, you write and draw the comic and pay 60% for a hoped-for-profit?? WHAAAT? That is so ****** insane I can’t believe it. At the very least you should get a “Co-publisher” credit. In fact, since all the ‘companies’ involved do is send out a press release and use an online store in conjunction with convention tables you might as well do the whole thing yourself. If the publisher thinks the work is great and will sell all the expense should be on their part.
I have never ever heard a publisher say “No. No, this simply will not sell but I’ll publish it any way.” And the number of creators I’ve warned and who now tell me that after several years they’ve still not had a penny “but fingers crossed things pick penny when the comic has been selling for 4-5 years? You ask for that sales report!
Now, hands up time. My own Black Tower Comics does not pay artists. Seriously. I enter every project the same way: if an artist/creator says they want to work on a project or ask me to publish their book then I lay down the strict rules.
1. No one gets paid up front. Simply, as a writer or publisher I’m not getting paid until something sells and I pay for copies out of my own money and that includes sending copies off for review as well as to overseas publishers.
2. We are equal partners. Actually, not quite true. In the past I’ve given people working with me 60-65% of profits and where profits have not been good they’ve had the lot (no, I don’t tell them that). So I actually lose money which is why I’m not living in a penthouse somewhere!
3. I rigorously uphold Creators Rights. I campaigned for Creators Rights in the 1980s and got quite a few artists their work back or their rights. As far as I am concerned if I wrote a script or created characters they are mine. The artwork and original pages belong solely to the artist and I have no rights to them what-so-ever so they can, if they want to earn real money out of their artwork, sell pages online or at conventions.
In every Black Tower publication it states quite clearly that art is © the various creators no matter whether I created and wrote what they drew or not. I have also undertaken to stop illegal scan of books with their work in from appearing online. I’ve been so ripped off by this personally that I never want another hard working creator to experience that (its my duty as a publisher even if, regarding my own published work, the publisher Fantagraphic Books just says “we can’t do a thing about that”).
4. I make it very clear that there are very few comic titles that make huge money. Hey, we might all want to see a comic sensation (sales-wise) like Spawn come our way but it very rarely happens. I make it very very clear that the chances of great sales making anyone a living comic-wise are extremely rare. I tell artists to mull things over a few days and only say “yes” if they want to work on a book. Even then I put everything in writing again and say “are you sure?!” In fact, I’ve been told that I emphasise this negative side so much that it might be off-putting. Good. Better that than deceive someone simply to get a project in print.
In over thirty years I’ve lost a lot of money and some artists have made quite a bit –some even using the work done for me to get jobs at Marvel and DC. But if I feel a book by another creator is good, and if they agree to the terms, then I take the two days to get their book print ready, to design the cover and pay for copies and for sending copies to bigger companies who might be interested. And I up-date them –even if only to send a copy of the sales report to show a title isn’t doing that well..yet!
So someone selling you an idea might sound good but comics are a visual art form and you need to see what a character looks like. Someone shows me a strip they want published and it looks good I tell them the deal and if they agree (after getting the deal sent to them in writing) I say “Okay, go ahead!” I would never, ever say “draw me the 48 page comic and I’ll see what I think” because I know what 48 pages involves.
A project YOU propose to a big commercial publisher then expect to do the spec work. THEY ask you to come up with pages then they should pay either way . But get it all in writing and if they don’t pay you after that take it to small claims court. That usually works because, believe it or not, there are many, many artists in the UK who just shrug and say “oh well”!
Remind me to tell you some time about a publisher at a UK Comic Art Convention (UKCAC) event who had refused to pay two writers for work he’d published. I had a quiet chat and he paid up…within two hours!
But, after 30 years I can tell you this: comics is fulla crooks and full of young and old men living in poverty or with crushed dreams.
Do what Donna Barr and others have done –you believe in your creation you work your ass off and self publish using print on demand and you pimp your book and that way only you can be blamed or acclaimed for any failure or success.
