BLACK TOWER COMICS & BOOKS

Comic Bits 4 Celebrating the British Platinum, Golden, Dark and Silver Ages of Comic Art

2026-10-10T10:19:31.172-07:00

80pp

colour and black and white

Perfect bound

£12.00 Until December 1st 2026 then £20.00

https://www.lulu.com/shop/terry-hooper/comic-bits-4/paperback/product-nv555mq.html?page=1&pageSize=4

Celebrating the British Platinum, Golden, Dark and Silver Ages of Comic Art and the long forgotten masters of comic book art and in this issue we look at George H Heath, Jack Greenall, Hugh Stanley White and John R Turner who are mostly forgotten. Their work from the 1930s to 1960s shaped the face of British comics.

And lost or forgotten characters? We hve those. Who remembers Dick Gordon The Bat-Man? Cyclone? Even though he was a long lasting character who remembers The Falcon? If that isn't good enough how about delving into the early 19th century and the first indisputable pop culture icon Dr Syntax. Educational and entertaining Comic Bits 4 is for the comic historianb as well as lovers of comics.

The Updated QRD Terry Hooper Interview

2026-10-08T16:12:12.630-07:00

There is not much likelihood of a new interview so updated this one.

Oddly, I have had two people ask if they could interview me. I have done three interviews (one disastrous one in print where the editor involved was a moron). I do not, despite what some people may say, consider myself to be important. This lengthy QRD interview will suffice for some time to come while I am busy working out new strategies for 2020.

Indie Comic Creator interview with Terry Hooper-Scharf

July 2015

Name: Terry Hooper-Scharf
City: Bristol, UK
Comics: Wow –so many. Check out his online store: http://www.lulu.com/spotlight/hoopercomicsuk

QRD – How old were you when you first got into comics and did you always stick with them or did you come back to them?

Terry – Ohhhhh boy. You realise that I am very, very old, right? I used to have comics bought for me by my grandfather, Bill. Being in the UK and the 1960s we are talking British weekly comics. I began reading comics at the age of 5 years. Comics that I enjoyed ranged from Bimbo, Beezer, Topper, Lion, and so many others. When my family moved to Germany, my reading, naturally, had to change and I began reading comics from companies such as Carlsen, Disney, and Germany’s biggest publisher of European comics, Bastei.

Below:That's me (about 10 years old) older brother Peter and Lassie the dog in Sevier St., St. Werburgh's my then comics stomping ground.

So that’s 50+ straight years of reading comics.

QRD – What was the first comic book you ever bought?

Terry – When I got my weekly pocket money (allowance) it was not much. The family were typical working class so money was short. However, with money I could decide what I wanted to buy and read. I purchased UK reprints of the Dell Tarzan series, UK black & whites such as The Purple Hood and The Adventures of Mark Tyme, but what was the very first comic? That was over 40 years ago. I really cannot remember!

QRD – How old were you when you put out your first comic?

Terry – Long story short. I put together a school magazine titled Starkers -- The Magazine That Tells The Naked Truth. The title came from the deputy head teacher and it was supposed to have cartoons, jokes, and a comic strip. Apparently one of the school secretaries who had to prepare all the pages for print objected to the title and the head teacher banned the mag. I had to wait until 1984 for Black Tower Adventure (volume 1) #1to be completed and printed!

Adventure 1 reprint

QRD – What decade do you think produced the best comics?

Terry – The Golden Age period of the 1930s-1940s laid out all the groundwork and things got stunted in the 1950s thanks to idiots like Wertham. The 1960s I would say is a time when things took off more and publishers developed more originality. In the UK we had a long history of anti-heroes in comics (check out the Yahoo group Britcomics where you will find images and info galore). The Spider was a master criminal with a crime organisation, but he also helped out the law later on so you were never sure which way he might turn next.

And the Bat by William Ward might be considered a freedom fighter or a terrorist (depending the side you were on) as he fought to liberate his country, Stahlia. We also, in the UK, had a long history of occult characters -- Dene Vernon who tackled violent ghosts, demons, cults and even aliens and subterranean foes in the 1940s-1950s. Too long winded?

I’d have to say 1960s because the UK did see all these new characters appear & some were quite risky (we never had a Comics Code Authority), but then Marvel gave comics a creative kick in the ass. 1960s.

Above: Terry along with an Alien friend at the 2011 Bristol Comic Expo

QRD – Why comics instead of just writing or drawing?

Terry – I do all. I write and draw comics and publish them -- I also wrote for Marvel UK and other companies -- but I also write as a comics journalist, but also on specialist subjects such as wildlife, but also about the strange and weird things I’ve investigated over 35 years. So I get to do all these things. Love it. Prose books on factual subjects are harder as you have to include lots of research references and notes. Now I do my comic journalism online!

QRD – Do you see mini-comics and indie comics as paths to mainstream comics or as their own unique media?

Terry – Not any more. A lot of the creators who are well known these days and who started in comics in the 1970s all began by contributing to fanzines as writers or artists and that gave them the experience they needed -- that applies in the UK and US.

Today, companies such as Marvel and DC are very restrictive about bringing in new talent and Dark Horse and Image can cherry-pick what they want. With print-on-demand most people like the creative freedom: you can write and draw what you want and publish it -- no editor or moneyman saying, “Well, okay… but maybe if you changed…” You also sell your own books -- whether for fun or to get the experience and feedback and make a few extra dollars -- YOU get all the money not a small percentage.

Below: The 2011 Big Draw event where I went to see how Paul Ashley Brown was getting on and ended up with about twenty youngsters teaching them how to draw spiders, worms and stuff in general.

In the UK the entire comic scene now is small press and indie comics and a lot of those involved in the small press have never even read a comic book. It isn’t the same feel now and I think it’s easier to produce your own comic and try to get it to a company editor and see if they publish creator owned books because Marvel and DC do not.

It’s your choice which path you take, Grasshopper!

QRD – How many copies of your comic do you print in your first run?

Terry – I never discuss print runs. It is not important. Sales are. In the old UK comic days editors would tell you “We have a 120,000 copies print run!” or, later, a 60,000 print run. But that was print run not sales and when Fleetway still owned 2000 AD the editor and publisher told me “We have a 60,000 print run…it has a “cult” following,” which meant that the minimum number of copies a printer would handle was 60,000 but actual sales were maybe a quarter or half that -- and I may be being very kind with those figures!

Print On Demand means that you do not have to store thousands of copies of books -- just the original art! With an online store or via Amazon or one of the other outlets who sell Black Tower Comics, what happens is that someone orders a book that goes through to the print company who process the book and send it out. That simple. For comic events you order as many as you think you might be able to sell -- so I have two big boxes here full of books for the next event. Print runs mean nothing now.

QRD – How much do you think comics should cost?

Terry – Are we talking Marvel and DC? They charge what they want and make up an excuse as to cover prices (read Sean Howe’s Marvel Comics The Untold Story!).

If you mean small pressers & indie publishers… there are a number of factors. First is that, unlike mega big corporations like DC or Disney/Marvel, small publishers cannot call the shots on cost of printing. We have to go by what the deal is we get offered. With print-on-demand black & white comics are cheaper. If you had a 24 page b&w comic but decided to add 4 colour pages your cost goes up. Printers charge so much per colour page but with print-on-demand all the pages, even if they are black and white, are charged as colour pages so your cover price has to reflect that.

You then, if you are buying in copies to sell at events or via mail order, you have to cost based on how much per copy and then add in postage of the books to you and then what it will cost to mail out a book someone orders from you. Publishers get a small discount, so if you add together cost of postage of items to you, table costs and then divide it by the number of books you have to sell you ought to at least make some profit on each book. I dealt with this in more detail in an online article: http://hoopercomicart.blogspot.co.uk/2015/02/uk-comic-events-hate-me-for-who-i-am.html

I do not think there can be a standard cover price -- that went out the window when producing your own comics got easier.

QRD – How many books do you produce a year and how many would you like to?

Terry – I don’t go by a schedule. For instance, Ben R. Dilworth, who drew Mark Millar’s The Shadowmen back in the 1980s (Ben also co-created Peter Wisdom with Warren Ellis), sent me a completely drawn 28 page comic. I read through it. I then scanned and edited it and published it. Small pressers and indie comics do not get picked up by Diamond and we do not appear inPreviews and store owners really do not give a flying crap about us or our books -- they will when the mainstream industry implodes, which probably is not that far off and, as with the “black and white comics explosion” of the 1980s that saved all their businesses, oh they’ll love our books then.

But at the moment scheduling a book to be ready by such-and-such an event is done by many, however, we are our own bosses and so we can make our own schedule. At the moment, the online store lists 85 books -- these are prose books, comic albums of 24-70 pages, collected editions, and so on. These have all been produced since I went to print-on-demand in 2009, so if you want a statistic that breaks down to 12.25 books per year! I have enough material to continue publishing for a long while!

QRD – Do you think stories should be serialized or delivered as complete works?

Terry – I was brought up with British weekly comics so a series would run 2 or 3 or 4 pages in a comic each week. You might have to buy 12 comics to get a full story. We never had monthly US comics in the UK, just the occasional copies that found their way here, so The Avengers, Fantastic Four, etc., were serialised. So when I found colour Marvel and DC comics it was like “Wow -- it’s all in one book!”

I think indie comics have the choice of a trade or serialised. I have always said that I would never publish or start publishing a comic until I had every part in my possession. The reason is simple: I collect all sorts of odd comics from companies and people going back to the 1960s and you find part 1… part 2… and that is it. With the internet, IF you can find reference to those titles you can find out what happened, but a lot were just cancelled -- never sold many copies or whatever. So you have two parts of a series that goes nowhere.

Below: rough page for Heroes Of India

If you have parts 1-4 of a series, then you have no real problem. I, like many other comic fans, wasted so much money getting into and buying a series that, “Don just didn’t want to draw comics any more so that was it,” which is an excuse from a moron. I think that if you are going to ask someone to buy your comic, then you owe it to them to make sure there is a complete series or else you are just making a fast buck and running off.

Black Tower Adventure had series divided into parts such as Return Of The Gods: Twilight Of The Super Heroes. But I knew there were people who would only want to buy the super hero series or the fantasy series, but did not want the rest. Whereas others wanted the whole contents as a series of books. So, the various strips were taken and put into collections – Return came to 135 pages, but I then expanded that so the book came to over 300 pages -- but was still cheaper than buying all the issues with the original story parts.

Other books I bring out as a single book. A fairly priced book packed with goodies. To me it made more sense. People might buy a book so they can read a story from start to finish (we do NOT have ads in our books). Paid for and there to read over and over if they wish. For those who like the anthology title I began publishing Black Tower Super Heroes so they can still enjoy that “part works” experience.

It is up to individual publishers and as a rule I go for all in one book.

Below: Rough page for an Indian publisher: Heroes of India

QRD – How are comic strips different than comic books and which medium do you prefer?

Terry – That’s confusing. You need to define what you mean. Comics are comic strips -- Love and Rockets is a book with a comic strip by Jaime, another by Gilbert, and maybe one by Mario. Anthologies are made up of a series of comic strips. Monthly comics such as from DC, Marvel, Dark Horse and Image are single stories or a main story with a back-up strip. In either case I like them -- I’m a comicker! If you mean as in a newspaper comic strip, then I do not buy newspapers but I used to enjoy Garth, Axa, and a few of the other old newspaper classics.

QRD – How long is it from when you start a comic until it’s printed?

Terry – Again, it depends on how you work. When I worked for Eros Comix on Two Hot Girls and Maeve I would sit down and, in the case of the former title, I would type up the script for four issues starting from 8 a.m. and working til about 2 a.m. and then that would go to the artist -- Art Wetherell -- and to Eros’s editor and once the editor approved, I had to wait for it to be drawn and the publisher to print it (I had no say in anything after the script!) and that took six months?

Now, if I want to sit down and draw a comic (I do not use scripts for myself, so it’s straight to work) of, say, 24 pages; then I would do that in two weeks -- pencilled, inked, and lettered and then publishing it would take a day so it can be that fast. These days, as no one is paying me, I can take a few days off.

QRD – What do you do better with your comics now than when you first started?

Terry – I draw better than 40+ years ago when I was trying to work in comic publishing or as a scriptwriter. I don’t use the computer for any part of the creative process other than lettering, which in my case is heaven -- my lettering was bloody awful. Making a PDF is the main use of the computer after that, so I’d guess lettering and drawing.

Below: Krakos The Egyptian

QRD – Do you do thumbnails?

Terry – No. Never have done. I just draw straight to paper and if it fails dismally I chuck that out and start again.

QRD – At what size do you draw?

Terry – A3 which is twice the size of the printed book -- our standard size is A4. A3 measures 29.7 x 42.0cm or 11.69 x 16.53 inches and A4 measures 21.0 x 29.7cm, 8.27 x 11.69 inches.

QRD – What kind of pens do you use?

Terry – I use a variety. As a jobbing artist you have to use what is best & achieves good results at the cheapest cost to you because those pens are coming out of your pay-cheque! At the moment I am using Uni Pin Fine Line pens with tip sizes from 0.05, 0.1, 0.2 up to 0.8. I’ll also use other fibre tip pens and to speed up work I’ll not use a brush and ink for large areas of solid black, but a thick tipped permanent marker. I still use brush and ink for some work and I also use hard bristle toothbrushes for ink spray effects -- a very old technique used by artists going way back.

I did a post on Comic Bits Online on this a couple years back:

http://hoopercomicart.blogspot.co.uk/2015/03/berol-uni-ball-and-rotring-tikky.html

QRD – What does your workstation look like?

Terry – HAHAHAHAHAHAHA…oh, you’re being serious? Well if you are a working artist and deal with paper, pens, brushes, ink, and glue -- yes, I still use cut and paste -- then your “work station” is going to look like a bomb hit it. I have a photo if you need to see the “tidy” area? Most artists you’ll see Facebook posts from reading: “Took hours, but the room that looked like a hurricane hit it is now tidy. Now back to work so it will all be a mess by tomorrow!”

It’s how it goes. You work and things mount up. I make hot cups of coffee put it on the desk and start work then remember the coffee… with now has ice on it! Artists tend to live in degrees of mess, filth and total chaos -- people know where I work is called Room Oblivion.

a table..

QRD – At what point in the artistic process do you work digitally?

Terry – I use my digits (I am so clever at times) all the time. No, as I wrote above, I letter my computer and then the scanner to make the PDF. I prefer the ink stains on my hands and fingers and the smell of paper and crisp ink. Digital is a rude word.

QRD – What do you think of digital comics and webcomics?

Terry – I work too much, so I’ve only seen a few web comics such as the enchanting Donna Barr’s Desert Peach After Dead (which I highly recommend http://afterdead.thecomicseries.com/)…. web comics are okay if you like them, but I really am the sort of person that will not read comics via the computer. I love books and comics in print.

QRD – Do you prefer working in color or black and white?

Terry – Black and white. For UK weekly comics the format was 79% black and white. I have done some colour, but I prefer black and white -- you see the old Marvel Essential or DC Showcase Presents titles where the art is in black & white and it looks superb. Colour is okay, but hides a lot.

QRD – How many different people should work on a comic and what should their jobs be?

Terry – One. Seriously? If someone can write & draw their own comic and do the covers, then just one. If it’s a writer who cannot draw, then there has to be an artist… who generally does pencils and does not letter… see, we old school were taught to pencil, ink & sometimes letter (mine was too bad) and these days I get looks of shock when I say I pencil, ink, letter by computer, and if I colour a cover I use inks or paints. They keep calling it “old school”, but you had to know your job. “Ken has fallen and broken a finger -- we need pencils fast!” so no problem. “Hey, Ron just got diabetes in his inking fingers!” No problem. You had to be a jack-of-all-trades.

So number of people on a comic varies -- as does any profit from sales when it needs sharing.

QRD – How do you find collaborators?

Terry – I don’t. Not any more. I used to get one artist after another contact me and, quite literally, beg for a script (I used to be a creators agent from 1985-1995) and a project to work on. I used to go through every aspect of a project with them and I got the commitment to draw the series, which would be completed and more sellable to a publisher. I wrote so many scripts that I still find them and can’t remember them. But I also have a huge box full of part or full issue art that was done before the artist either changed their minds because they had no idea how hard it is to draw a comic or they were simply “play-at-being-comic-artists”.

In 2009 I stopped doing scripts for other people -- unless it was a publisher paying. Someone who shall remain nameless, but went on to do work at Marvel, kept pestering for a script. I relented and wrote one and sent it to him. “I’ve changed my mind,” he then wrote back.

There are only two people I’ve cooperated with as writer -- Gavin Stuart Ross, who drew the Chung Ling Soo and Dene Vernon books and Ben R. Dilworth who I have worked on-and-off with since the 1980s. A superb and vastly under-rated artist.

So I no longer look for collaborators on books.

QRD – How tight do you think a script should be as far as telling the artist what to draw?

Terry – I tend to write tight scripts when it comes to dialogue and descriptions of scenes but I always allow an artist I work with a certain amount of a free hand. If action involves something taking place that is important to the plot, I’ll write that tightly; but action scenes apart from “the two fighting move from the castle keep down onto a steep winding stairway” I leave drawing the action scenes to the artist --they have to draw it!

I have, however, several times, had to write a tight script, but also provide art breakdowns and even character illos for artists. You need to be flexible and if you are a good writer or know how artists work then you should be fine!

Below:art by Dean Willetts but colour work by Terry Hooper-Scharf see:http://hoopercomicart.blogspot.co.uk/2015/04/it-was-cosmic-fulcrum.html

QRD – Do you think it’s important to have a full story arc completely written before starting to draw?

Terry – Absolutely! As I wrote above, you absolutely must have that story completely written because artists may need to do research work on things like weaponry, uniforms -- if that is needed I have a big stack of those books so I’ll include references -- or even vehicles or locations mentioned. The artist also needs to see the complete script from start to finish because if she/he sees script #1 then something may be drawn in a certain way, but script #3 gives a description that makes the previous interpretation wrong -- it can happen for various reasons.

An example: I was in a meeting with about twenty artists and writers and we were told the theme of an anthology book. We all had to write our own chapters, but we all had to have an old airship somewhere in the background. I asked, “What type of airship --there are many different types and we all need to be producing the same thing in our individual chapters?” Without hesitation the editor waved his hand and said “We’ll sort that out after all the chapters are in!” Now that made no sense. He should have decided the type of airship and supplied a copy illo to each of us, but he was saying “draw it all and you can change the airship to what I decide later” -- and this was on a tight deadline. A lot of people who have never worked in comics like to pretend they are "editors"*

So full story and all the reference the artist will need.

QRD – What comic book person would you be most flattered to be compared to?

Terry – I seriously cannot answer that. It’s been said over-&-over that I have no ego to speak of. With comics I do the work that needs doing. My artistic influences come from all over -- Europe, the United States, UK artists and even the Spanish artists that worked for the UK industry. We should -- should -- have our own individual style as writers to a degree, but as artists definitely our own styles.

I think it utter egotism and arrogance to say or write “I’m more a Sal Buscema type artist” or “Well, I like to think I draw more like Gene Colan”. I’ve had young artists say, “I’m going for a Dave Gibbons look to the art,” or a Finch style and I say, “NO! Draw in your own style & unless it is essential to the book you are working on, develop your own style!”

I would never, ever compare myself to another comics creator.

QRD – What do your friends and family think of your comics?

Terry – Well, my main supporters were my grandparents, who are long dead now but they used to encourage me to draw and -- to my utter embarrassment -- tell people how good I was. My parents are dead and what’s left of my family I never get feedback from about my comics.

I think artists or writers who have partners who support them and realise being a creative person you need to concentrate and be left alone a lot of the time and you’ll be very messy, miss meals, or leave them til they are cold -- and still want to live with them -- they are very lucky.

QRD – What do you think of superheroes?

Terry – Real life ones or in comics? I’ve met some of the “real life” UK superheroes and they are lovely, but I wouldn’t trust them to cross the road. Comic book super heroes I love. I’ve been collecting The Avengers andFantastic Four & Justice League & so on since the 1960s (no new Marvel or DC, though). So long as people remember that super heroes are not all comics are about, then no problem -- there are many great indie titles out there covering many genres. People need to realise that and support indie publishers.

QRD – Marvel or DC?

Terry – Up until about 2005 I was a Marvelite from age 6, so a lot of my life invested in Marvel comics and characters. I did read JLS -- loved the JLA/JSA team ups, read quite a lot of 1980s DC books. Over all it used to be Marvel.

QRD – What comic characters other than your own would you like to work with?

Terry – Only if the original characters not the rebooted & rebooted & rebooted ones… uh, I was going to say JSA since Avengers will never happen (like JSA would!). Hmm. I have to say a good few of the old US Golden Age characters -- not Timely or National. So much potential there. Or the more obscure Marvel characters like Wood God and so on.

QRD – Ideally would you self-publish?

Terry – I do.

QRD – What conventions do you try to attend and why?

Terry – Conventions in the UK tend to have the same old guests, exhibitors, & creators which is stale. I’d like to, one year, go over to Europe for a couple conventions -- maybe Erlangen in Germany. Not to forget the Netherlands. I would certainly love to go to a couple of small US comic conventions… but money!

QRD – How do you feel about doing work for anthologies?

Terry – Done that all my life. For other people, if I get paid I love them!

QRD – What do you do to promote your books?

Terry – Wow. YouTube videos, postings on Comic Bits Online (almost 2 million views so far and 2-3000 views a day to which you can add almost 2 million on Google+) and Twitter, Pinterest, Facebook -- I have Yahoo groups I post to and various blogs, so I do a lot!!

QRD – Do you think your comics are well suited to comic shops or would sell better elsewhere?

Terry – Comic shops are not interested. It doesn’t matter if there are super heroes, horror, or whatever. They are indie, black and white and NOT DC, Marvel, Dark Horse, or Image. Shops don’t care, so I no longer consider them.

QRD – What other medium would you like to see some of your comics made into (television, film, games, action figures, etc.)?

Terry – I wrote scripts for a couple of UK TV series but they never came to be as it was at the time how TV was run changed –de-regulization. I worked with an animator in South America on a project called The Paranormals, but I think that studio went bust. Not lucky, am I? I think an animated series where gradually a rotating cast of characters could be used. TV -- well, how many British or European live action shows are there? It’s very unlikely but a bit of fantasy now and then helps!

QRD – Do you consider yourself a comic collector or a comic reader or both?

Terry – I read comics & I try to find missing back issues and whereas I cannot afford issues 1-60 of Marvel’sThe Avengers, it doesn’t matter as the Masterworks editions fill in the gaps. It isn’t about value, bagging, boarding & boxing or even having comics graded.

I know people who have 4, 6, or even 10 (TEN!) copies of one comic; not because it is important, but because they want to get a better and better grade that gets graded, slabbed in plastic and hidden in a box somewhere. Until I was in my late 40s I had no permanent home, now I can sort things out & when I finish current projects I intend to sit back and read The Avengers from #1 up to the end of volume 1 -- 400… no, 502(?) comics.

When I slip this mortal coil, all the books will be sold off or dumped, so I enjoy reading them without the collectors mania -- I have the complete Silver Age Sub-Mariner series now & it’s lovely to read.

QRD – What do you see as the most viable mediums for comics distribution 10 years from now?

Terry – Well, hopefully, Diamond’s monopoly will be shattered. It tends to make the rules which are: “You WILL buy what makes US money!” It does not care for the small press or indie publishers. In the UK it has the monopoly as all other distributors have been forced out (monopolies are supposed to be illegal in Europe). Basically, most store owners do not either.

I think that, so long as postal services do not get any more expensive, comic buyers for indies & small press will do business online unless some distributor comes in and treats us fairly without robbing us -- and they can get stores to treat these books with respect. I would like to see that, but will it happen?

QRD – What would you like to see more people doing with comics?

Terry – Making more for youngsters, to get the next generation of comic readers in. Not Marvel or DC, but indie publishers need to be trying to do this, but most want to publish exactly what they want -- “Ain’t our business to bring in new kid readers!” But it is. In the UK there are far more small press events organised locally, but they tend to all be people who know people & friends -- almost little cliques. These could do a lot more to bring readers in; but, as I wrote, most small pressers have never read comics. At one event no one knew who Jack Kirby was. No one knew of Steve Ditko. John Byrne? No. Stan Lee…”Oh, that old guy fromThe Big Bang Theory!”

We need to get comics -- free comics -- to groups who help kids from poor families because a comic can provide hours of escapism, maybe even be a way out of poverty by encouraging these kids to create comics. Hold free comic open days (not Free Comic Book Day ) to encourage families to get into the medium. Comics could do so much for kids -- and adults -- but everything at the moment seems to be self, self, self and “let’s grab those dollars!”
That would make comics a very soul-less medium.

QRD – Anything else?

Terry – Yes. Please buy my books. Make me rich. Other than that, enjoy reading and making comics.

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

*As the chapter I did out raged the, uh, "editor" because I wrote, pencilled and inked it (!) and it involved my Zero Heroes, it and another (rejected by the same person) are adapted and going into Black Tower Super Heroes -all inter-linked into The Green Skies and another story!

Yes. No Scripts.

2026-10-07T16:41:30.322-07:00

I was asked why I just draw super heroes? I do not just draw super heroes and if you ask that question you are wasting mine and your time.

Since the early 1980s I have written science fiction, detective noir, romance, monster and horror scripts. I have drawn most of those and so super heroes are not all I draw. In my comics I have had people say they burst out laughing at some pretty silly gag. Others have quite literally called me a liar when I say that 111pp of The Looking Glass, 300+pp of Return of the Gods and more than 300pp of the Green Skies were not scripted. People have seen me (rather disturbed me) while I was drawing some of the pages and no script. "How can you have so many twists and turns in plots without planning it out?"

Easy: I manage it by having no rigid script!

Scripts I tend to use only for others. The Marvel UK, Fleetway, Egmont work for instance because I was not going to be doing the artwork.

I previously listed how to get your brain thinking about stories from mundane things. It is possible and good training -as is writing prose books and I've published 12(?) so far since 2010.

Now, I need to finish art chores on a book since I can't get any artists to work for experience!

The Looking Glass

2026-10-07T15:54:58.706-07:00

I have to admit that it is tempting to publish The Looking Glass (all 111pp) since it was granted permission by both Fleetway and IPC Media back before any sell off and permission was never rescinded.

It took two years to draw and make the necessary changes that were needed to keep the characters faithful to the originals but brought thm up to date (the 1990s at the time before the explosion in mobile phones and computers).

Rebellion Studios are not interested and when you consider three years talking to the CEO at IPC Media and people at Fleetway (with huge help from the late Gil Page) then the two years of drawing and lettering that is 5 years of my life spent on a project that is simply gathering dust. I doubt I would get around to anything in 2026 as there are other projects I need to finish. The idea of serialising the story in Comic Bits is a bit much as I would need to guarantee producing 11 issues and that is a LOT of work.

Let's face it, when I snuff it all of my online inventory will vanish as there is no one to pass it on to and as it is all print on demand only books ordered are printed. So I may as well get it all out of my system, right?

We'll see. Sit tight.

A Touch of Colour

2026-09-04T12:02:07.194-07:00

Brother Mike (Knowle Chapter) has taken a good few black and white images and blasted them into full colour. He even designed a few covers back "in the day". Going through old emails from 2011 I found these. The idea of turning the old b&w Purple Hood comics into colouyr was never evon thought abot. These pages were simply done for fun.

Enjoy

Ah, Tis a day to be miserable on

2026-08-20T08:05:44.595-07:00

It is not as though I have no ideas. I get ideas -often full stories- day and night and often I have to do more technical work to stop the rush or I'd go insane. The problem is that the UK and comics in 2026 is so lacking interest in anything. Back pre 2000 we would buy zines, Indie comics, Undergrounds as well as mainstream comics.We gorged ourselves on everything that was appearing.

Today the "Small press" is all about little cliques that are very insular. You have to also tick all the right virtue signalling boxes. I'm white, male, 54% German and 16% French (that one crept up on me) and heterosexual. I am screwed. 😌

Posts on my blogs just -JUST- relating to my comics have views totalling over 3 million. That is world wide and my online store makes it so simple to buy -view the books, buy in your local currency, use your local postal service and books are printed in your own country and the only thing missing is a free belly-rub for buying. Actaul sales? I could not afford to buy one of my own bopoks once the print on demand company has taken their cut and if I sold enough to have to I get US tax (but none of the benefits of that) taken.

I have the ideas and outlet but let's be honest I cannot draw everything and I don't have enough to pay artists. Face it even if creator-artist shared 50-50 from sales it ain't going to attracvt artists.

So it is now a case of let the ideas eat away at my brain and do what I can when I can.

Biggest mistake I made was not moving to Europe to work. I mean, you can buy my bopoks online all over Europe but for a creator Europe is far less isoplationist than the dried out UK comic scene.

Why Traditional Publishers Are Never Interested

2026-08-20T04:13:25.082-07:00

I was asked why I stopped trying to find a more traditional publisher to handle the prose books since they would have all the extra marketing skills etc to sell titles?

It isn't so much that I stopped looking it is the fact that publishers are simply not interested and have moved away from reading and publishing and gone more for publishing by committee -with members and their own prejudices and biases.

This is what I got from one publisher regarding The Red Papers last year:

"Dear Terry,

"Thank you very much for your message and for sharing the background to your extensive work in wildlife study and conservation, as well as the details of your two publications.

"We appreciate your dedication and the long-term fieldwork and research that support these titles. To help us better understand the scope and potential fit of your work with our editorial line, we would kindly ask you to complete the attached proposal form. This document will allow us to gather key information about the content, intended audience, and objectives of the books. It also outlines how to send further material should the proposal move forward.

"Once we have the completed form and any additional documentation you wish to share, our editorial board will carefully review the proposal. If we feel there may be a possible fit, we will be in touch to discuss next steps.

Thank you again for considering Lynx Nature Books. "

Now, considering that the company had as best a synopsis as I could give of the work which covers decxades of study, research and field work as well as gathering very rare images how else can you make the work of interest to a publisher?

Controversial and against dogma -fully referenced from official publications and works that back up the statements and not "Well I heard" as seems more common these days. We now KNOW what the original British Isles wild cat looked like as well as the fact that we know when Scottish zoologists declared (in 1897) that the Highland wild cat had become extinct. It can now be proven (not that it ever needed to be) that there were indeed three variations in Old British foxes.

Original: since 1900 dogma set it that meant that generrations have been misled by people who like to call themselves experts but who preach dogma. It has taken decades of archive research as well as investigation to not just prove what is stated in the books as facts but even more to get physical evidence in the form of taxidermy specimens to prove the case.

The Red Paper: Canids (2010) was called by the late Sir David Bellamy "explosive for British natural history" -and that version of the book was "sparse" com,pared to the 2022 version.

Perhaps publishers want to save themselves embarrassment from decades of inaccurate books they have published?

And, no, I never heard back from Lynx Nature Books. I did hear from another publisher that my manuscript had gone through the first committee to be looked at, then that the second committee had approved "the book being listed" to be looked at. A year on and nothing.

Three years ago I was informed by one publisher that with modern societal changes they needed to look at books and consider gendere diversity and ethnic diversity and what my book could contribuite to that. I was writing about researchy on wild canids and felids and just what the hell anything else had to do with that I have no idea.

Unfortunately, I am not included in the long list of virtue signalling tick boxes.

The Red Papers were accepted three times by a publishing editor only, a month or so later, the same editor telling me that "At the moment the book does not fit into our upcoming schedule". I later learnt that one publisher was very unhappy with one of the editors as they had been publishing the modern, false British natural history for decades.

I have a big collection of books on or referring to foxes in the UK. Each and every one of the authors has just done what we would call today "copied and pasted" from others. An incorrect fact published in 1950 is copied (almost verbatim) throughout the 1950s, 1960s, 1970s and ad infinitum. Lying about factual history is never good.

Then we come to the "World mystery" books. Heavily researched and referenced with some -truthfully- very rare or thought lost photographs and images (we know they are lost images because author after auther states this...they just never went to the source material). The photographic image of the City of Brtistol that appeared in the sky over Alaska. Gone forever.. well, no. I found it.

Many "mystery creatures" (cryptids) took years to dig down to the actual facts in the sources to sometimes surprisingly identify and only through archive research did I find a newspaper report of what might have been the first gorilla from Africa in the early 1800s.

The truth may well not be "sexy" or "hip" but for each animal identified or each mystery looked at and solved there are those that are not. You follow the facts and the reference sources to the truth -or the mystery.

Sadly, unless you scream "cover up" or push sensationalist but provable false claims publishers are not interested. Back in the 1980s -yes, the 1980s- one publisher "loved" my manuscript but, in writing, asked whether I could not just add in claims of government cover ups, threats and so on to "spice it up"? I responded that I could only write about provable facts and my own experiences and would not lie to spice things up. My book suddenly became very uninteresting!

I am an archivist, researcher and historian so what do I do -just gather all the material in files andf let it gather dust until I am no more and it all gets burnt or thrown into a skip and lost forever? No, I do what most stupid people like me do: self publish in the belief that people would sooner have fact that sensationalist lies.

There are a lot of us stupid people around.

Tales of Terror 6

2026-07-21T09:33:44.559-07:00

56pp

Black and White

£10 UK (outside UK check store for cost)

https://www.lulu.com/shop/terry-hooper/tales-of-terror-6-2026/paperback/product-gjzzjv7.html?page=1&pageSize=4

Contributors: Terry Ford, Darron Northall, Terry Hooper, Ben R Dilworth

The Annual Black Tower feast of Horror is here! The Reverend Merriowether ("God's Demon thumper") faces evil in two tales: Bastet and Varney the Vampyre! Will the Right Reverend succeed in his goal to wipe "the horrible things" from the Earth? Lady Silana, Tarot, Kotar and Sabuta combine forces in the now legendary mini epic: The Curse of the Lycanthrope" but fear not if one epic story was too little from his monastery retreat Ben R Dilworth brings us three tales of lycanthropy: Wolf. Werewolf and Wolf: Scream Life and what more could you ask for? Oh, a peek into The Black Files of Q Bureaux? An old case from 1898 maybe? Okay, babies you got it! All tales introduced by Black Tower's own stalwarts in the fight against vampires, werewolves, demons and...we'll not mention the psilocybin mushroom tea. Really.

Are You Ready for Tales of Terror 2026?

2026-07-19T16:24:31.108-07:00

oooh,,,if only this came with money!

2026-07-17T05:07:12.842-07:00

Someone writing a book about the British Small Press apparently...

Here's a quote worth laughing about since I cannot even get a table at Small Press events:

Here's one just been passed along to me:

"There was one person who was pushing British comics everywhere in the 1980s and when the Small Press started dying off he kept it alive promoting it across the US, Europe and beyond. Hal Hargett of Amazing Heroes described Terry Hooper as 'a human dynamo in comics'"

Yeah, and now I live a life of luxury and can't even get a table at events. Oh...and it is Hal Hargitt not Harget.

You Have To Laugh. You Have To Cry. You Have To Take Your Meds

2026-07-12T07:41:41.486-07:00

I may really need artists but when people contact you and have not read the post as they state they have....

This kid will get on well.

"I draw whacky cartoon strips and until I can break into Marvel or DC I am looking for paying work."

Another one who does not read posts. My advice to him?

"Hello. I think you really ought top try Fantagraphics -home of the world's greatest (ripped off) cartoonists!"

Reply: "Thanks I'll give them a try! I still can't get my eyes to roll back down out of my head

oh, and:

"I read your post on CBO and I really want to get some experience drawing comics strips and adding to my portfolio which is very thin. I'll try any genre.  How much are you paying?"
I do wonder whether he did read that post.....

Merriwether Not All Monsters Are Evil

2026-07-12T06:14:24.951-07:00

Madame Foretell -The Early Years by BR Dilworth

2026-07-12T06:01:50.217-07:00

A Question Cropped Up....

2026-07-11T05:23:09.900-07:00

...and as usual it was in a chat because -Heaven forbid- someone would post a comment here on the blog!😁

While I was chatting in Face Book Messenger with someone (and believe me I hate long chats) it was pointed out that after 40+ years and a world wide audience on this blog with 324,463 views that I must get a lot of feedback and had I ever thought of asking for suggestions of publishers outside the UK who might translate and publish Black Tower Comics?

There ain't enoughlaughing emojies to respond to that! Rather like the people who thinki all the views here or on the FB page equate to high sales (seriously, it does not) so some assume that there is a lot of fan-to-publisher chat going on. Comic Bits Online hasw well over 8 million views but any comments are people I know exchanging pleasantries -2 people in fact!

The most interaction I had with people was during the pre-internet age and that was by letter. The internet has made antisociability a thing.

I would LOVE to hear from people but it seems that the audience is basically click, look over the posts and then go. Oddly, the Black Tower page on Instagram gets far more reasctions than the blogs!

die gedanken sind frei

A Hero or A Villain? The Iron Warrior

2026-07-09T05:54:29.257-07:00

I re-read this and decided to up-date the post. You see, I have read far more Iron Warrior stories since this was first written and I have a big collection of Swan comics and annuals now to refer to so apologies if I ramble a little!
_________________________________________________________________________

It occurs to me that, today, a lot of comickers who have no real knowledge of UK Golden Age characters will make things up or make bad guesses based on what they might have seen.

This can be said to be true when it comes to the Iron Warrior.

I can onloy find one source with any information on the character up to 1990 and that is the late Denis Gifford’s Encyclopedia of Comic Characters[Longman,London,1987]. In the entry for The Iron Warrior,Gifford writes:

“..the most violent and bloodiest strip ever seen in British comics to this time,and for several decades to come. Rodney Dearth,seeking the Jewels of Junius,arrives at the site of the Temple of Sloth in Central Africa,accompanied by his robot,the Iron Warrior. Captured by a White Princess,he summons the Warrior (‘wavelength 60,impulse 400′). Crying ‘I come Master!’ and also ‘Ahrrr! Whoo-roo! Roar!’,the Warrior’s built-in chopper slices up the Sloths,cuts up a giant crocodile,and pulls the head off an outsize eagle.”

And from this we get entries in the Internationalheroes site (which appears to be vanishing bit-by-bit these days):

“A robot controlled by Rodney Dearth, who used it to hunt treasure with him in Africa.
The Warrior isn’t really a hero, as it kills anyone who threatens its master, whose own goals are far from altruistic.”

Hmm. But then we get,at the League for Extraordinary Gentlemen fan site:

“The Surrogate League of Extraordinary Gentlemen

When the government decided to form the Worral’s League they based it very closely on Mina’s first League, “When in 1946 it was apparent that Miss Murray and her colleagues had deserted our employ by going missing in America, MI5 elected to replace the group with surrogates in an attempt to recreate the impact of the 1898 ensemble…”

The Invisible Man (Peter Brady) = The Invisible Man (Hawley Griffin)
Prof James Gray = Nemo (both submarine builders, Nemo even inspired Gray in League V2)
Worrals = Mina (female leads experienced in death)
Wolf of Kabul = Quatermain (both in the great white hunter tradition, they even both wear pith helmets)
The Iron Warrior = Hyde (both really killers pressed into service).

The Iron Warrior is a robot built by Rodney Dearth, Dearth was not a hero and had a more villainous overtone. He would command the Warrior to do various illegal things, including kill people, but mainly Dearth used him to hunt for treasure in Africa.”

YAAAR! RRRAHHH! NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!

Oh. I do beg your pardon. Had a bit of an “Iron Warrior” moment there.

Seriously, I hate this whole “we know nothing about the character but it seems it was a killer controlled by a killer so let’s write that” crap.

“…Dearth was not a hero and had a more villainous overtone. He would command the Warrior to do various illegal things, including kill people.”

Dearth was not a villain or scheming killer. Anyone read any old boys adventure books or H. Ryder Haggard? By applying what the League page and Internationalheroes entry has written then we have to re-classify Alan Quartermaine as a cold blooded villain. In fact,up until more politically correct times,most heroes would need to be re-classed according to this methodology. Biggles takes on arch villain proportions. Even Indiana Jones would be classed as out-doing the Nazis considering how many deaths he’s caused directly or indirectly. Think on that.

Let’s get a little bit of perspective here. Sit down kiddies because if you’ve not watched any films made between 1920 to…well…now,and if you’ve not read any history on the British Empire or American Imperialism (“Hey,Japan:we’ve gun ships and troops harbored offshore now do business with us ‘voluntarily’ or we’ll make you!”) -in fact any empire or power!- you may be shocked.

Most sea-faring nations such as Spain,Italy,England,France etc.,sent out exploratory ships/fleets to seek out new lands and new treasures and subdue the local population by any means including genocide [keep some alive for slaves,of course]. The Ashante were great at being slavers and made a lot of money out of it. It’s a two-way thing you see -are black african slavers villains? Hey,slavery still exists today (and in the West).

But these Europeans were brave hero-explorers. Anyone hear of a little group called the Conquistadores? Dutch East India Company? The British East India Company -all had their private armies to,uh,”smooth things through”.

Ever read King Solomon’s Mines?

In comparison,Dearth was a limp-wristed liberal! Hmm. If you were a British soldier at Rourke’s Drift with Zulu warriors rushing toward you would you throw down your rifle and wave -”Hello! I’m really against all this imperialism stuff -care for tea and a chat?” Mind you, in Zulu Dawn, Denholm Elliott’s character more or less did just that -and was killed straight away!

Whichever city you lived in -London, Berlin, Paris- you would hear stories of strange lands,lost treasures and much more. The urge to follow those tales continue to this very day. If a chap was on his uppers and the old estate was falling to bits and,to be frank,the family coffers had been emptied long ago it was disgrace and destitution -but if you could find the “lost treasure” or anything worth a few quid you were saved!

I know that it is wrong to just go marching in,putting down the “locals” and stealing things that belong to them,whether they want to exploit it themselves or not –hey, I’m still for the UK returning the Elgin Marbles and all those Egyptian artefacts we,uh,borrowed!

The context is that this was a totally different world. Officers and troopers posing for photographs of themselves resting their feet on a heap of natives heads should have been totally unacceptable even in the 19th century but it happened -apparently “fun” hunts were organised with horse-riding officers carrying “pig-stickers” but I get a feeling the natives involved weren’t having too much fun!

A white man would have his weapons because, even if a peaceful person, not all native persons were friendly in return (read some history). I could write on the subject all day but it wouldn’t help.

The point is that we know,in the Iron Warrior strip,only that Dearth arrives in Africa with his creation. If attacked he defended himself. In volume 3 of the Black Tower Gold Collection,I published such a strip. Dearth is exploring an area when a local priest stirs things up -Dearth is attacked and,though he could easily do so,he does not set about killing everyone. In fact, he does fend off an attack by rushing straight at the warriors but then tries to use cunning to defeat the witch doctor.

Once the threat is sorted, Dearth goes on his way. The one thing we see is that the Iron Warrior is far from some type of remote-controlled killer doing its master’s bidding. It’s what would today be called a controlled vehicle or “power suit”.

Or we assumed that is all it was. However, I have a little collection of IW strips and, sadly, "The Iron Warrior" is the only title you'll see -no story title. But at times Dearth talks to the IW -you think a little like a person alone will converse with a dog or cat -fair enough. No. There are points when IW seems to almost -almost- be 'sentient' in some way. And that vocaliser that I have only ever seen once after all this time -an interface of sorts?

And I've mentioned Dearth using the IW in his attempt to get rid of a wily evil witch-doctor. At that point Dearth could have called the tribal lands his and plundered them: who could have stopped him -The King's African Rifles?? A strip I titled "Native Problems...Again" sees Dearth help natives when a an unscrupulous white treasure hunter moves into lands of "The People of The Mist" -he's so downright benevolent I was almost ill. In another strip a cave has a carved out god's head at the entrance that is used by an evil white miner to rob the local tribe. Dearth stops this and utters the words ....

Dearth could have had all the treasure and power any white supremacist/unscrupulous killer with a "super weapon" would want several times over. He just continues on with his travels. He's not telling natives to "remember the white man is superior" or claiming territory for Great Britain.

For all intents and purposes Dearth was an adventurer who was out to look into mysteries and travel "where no European had gone before". He get’s inside the Iron Warrior and operates controls and fires his weapons from here. He also operates the axe-wielding arm. Guessing at Dearth’s height the Iron Warrior has to be around 3-4 metres tall [10-12 feet]. It is still nothing more than a kind of hostile environment suit -almost similar to later [better designed] deep water suits. Here is something else that is very basic but it is how I vizualise the IW and it is colour.

You see, if Dearth built the Iron Warrior then he was an engineer. He'd know about metal decay- rust, etc., from sea (salt) water, heat and all types of weather. So, just leaving it as metallic grey seems logically daft (I'm writing about a man running about Africa in a giant iron power suit so let's jump to something logical!). Now, one of my first jobs was at Swiftact Tools and I helped another fellow spray-paint crane cabs and lots of other things with red oxide/lead paint. It protected and allowed a coat of another colour to be sprayed over it by a customer. But the Red Lead protected the metal and welding joints (it was a primer). That was this colour:

You could get a lightly redder colouration and even Royal Mail post boxes used to be painted with Red Lead -but this was the stuff and, boy, did you need a full face mask!!

The other common lead paint colour was green. Local authorities used it on railings, urinals and even work sheds, etc because it was all-weather and hard as nails. Colour:

In one strip I even have Dearth giving the Iron Warrior a paint over. The axe I always see as plain steel. Yeah, big industrial boy, I am. Loves a big, heavy chopper (:-/)

Here is where I can now give the definitive answer as to the true colour of the Iron Warrior..and more.
I just received a copy of the 1943 New Funnies Album with an Iron Warrior strip that was in colour -coloured by Ward himself since creators had to write, pencil and draw everything. Iron -greyish. We also learn that Dearth had a remote control that could summon the Warrior from where ever he left it.

This was as good as colour got during 1943. There was a war on and ink was strictly rationed. This means that all the made up stuff by others (who have only seen the odd panel or page). This is why it is so important to look at the sources, no matter how rare they may be these days, and Swan was a real creative hub that has never been fully credited -supernatural anti-heroes being something many overlook.

What Denis Gifford wrote I have to take to be accurate -he did have a massive collection of comics, so I’m guessing that there was a remote control device and, it seems, a vocaliser of sorts. That writ, continuity was never a great strong point in comics back then. Even the Iron Warrior seemed to vary in size at times.

Yes,the strip was violent to a degree but you have to recall that in early Tarzan films there were people being killed violently and arrows sticking out of heads. However, the idea that the Iron Warrior was constantly chopping people up seems to be based on that one panel from Denis's Encyclopedia.

Do not think that, based on what people who have a narrow view of a character write, and most of them have never (obviously) read any Iron Warrior strips, that Dearth and the Iron Warrior were just deadly killers. They weren’t. They were not "mercenaries for hire". Dearth was not hoarding huge treasures but seemed rather, uh, "socialistic" -at Amalgamated Press or Thomson, Dearth would probably have had the natives swear loyalty to the Crown!

One day, the story will be told of Dearth's last great African adventure before he took off for South America (it's all planned).

And let's not forget that Ben Dilworth has returned the character of Dearth and the Iron Warrior to a time of fun adventuring without the need of a "modern reboot"! Even I've had a go.

Now, back to Big Bong!

Ben R. Dilworth & Terry Hooper-Scharf
A4
Black and white
Paperback,

49 Pages

Price: £8.00 ~limited special offer currently £5.00!

Ships in 3–5 business days
http://www.lulu.com/shop/terry-hooper-scharf/the-iron-warrior-collection/paperback/product-21157919.html

In the 1940s, Rodney Dearth and his exploratory fighting machine known as the Iron Warrior left Africa to travel to South America in search of lost explorer Percy Fawcett. Crocodiles, giant snakes, hostile natives and..Big Bong -the terror of the Amazon!

This collection presents a 1940s William A. Ward strip, Ben R. Dilworth's Big Bong, Amazon Adventure and a couple special pages, and Terry Hooper-Scharf's Black Tower Adventure strip The Iron Warrior: Jungle Terror plus text features!

There Are Things I Miss

2026-07-08T10:01:37.445-07:00

Before I pop off (NO! I'm sticking around) and have my toast and beans I thought I would nswer a question someone asked a while back.

"What do you miss from the early days and Zine Zone International?"

Honestly? The seat of your pants editing for one. "Hey, I have 5 pages I need to fill in the next issue--" before the week was out I would get pages (this was pre internet and by post).

I also miss the contributions coming in from the USA, Germany, France, Finland and Australia to help promote new creators rather like I did with Previews Comic that got so many artists work in the industry. There was the sheer fun of seeing what people came up with (some I reposted last year on the Black Tower Blog) -sci fi, horror, humour, slice of life and so on. Just the fact that we were not all greedy feckers wanting to grab every pennyand the fact that a couple of issues the person's work appeared in was payment -they had something they could show around and, no, I never made any money!!

I recall talking to two comic artists at a UK Comic Art Convention and I described myself to someone nearby as "a comic hack". The response from the two creators? "Yeah, like ----. You just love art and comics! Now if that quote came with money I'd be happy!

When people found fun and joy in drawing comics and had no major egos. I miss that.

Yep, Black Tower Started Small...

2026-07-08T09:39:37.024-07:00

And I still cut and paste (it's just my hair went)

Two VERY rare copies of Black Tower Adventure volume 1

The Chamber of Confusion.... Have I? Did I? How Much?

2026-07-08T07:49:19.685-07:00

Oh. Now I get it. NO I have not sold Black Tower Comics and Books even if a couple US companies were interested. I have no idea why the search sent me states "Terry Hooper Era" as I am still owner and managing editor.

Here is what MSN throws up:

1. Black Tower Adventure (Terry Hooper Era)

The earliest known use of the Black Tower name in comics and publications originates with Terry Hooper, a British artist, writer, editor, and comic historian. Key points include:

Timeframe: From the mid-1980s onward, Hooper self-published under the Black Tower banner.
Publications and Works: Major creations include:
- Return of the Gods, serialized in six parts in Black Tower Adventure.
- The Bat Triumphant.
- Merriwether: Gods Demon-Thumper.
- Krakos the Egyptian.
- The Iron Warrior.
Hooper’s work extended beyond Black Tower Adventure to freelance writing, editing, and art for MU Press, Blue Comet Press, Fantagraphic Books, Eros Comics, Dorne, Fleetway, IPC, and other publishers across the UK, US, and Europe.
Scope: These early Black Tower publications combined imaginative fiction with adventure narratives influenced by European comics traditions.
3. Key Legacy and Continuity
- Terry Hooper’s Black Tower publications were primarily British self-published comic ventures rooted in adventure and serialized storytelling.

No direct narrative continuity exists between Hooper's Black Tower stories and the DC Vertigo series; however, both share themes of mystery, heroism, and fantastical or supernatural elements.

Terry Hooper’s work prefigured a niche of serial adventure comics in the UK, supporting the European comics tradition while acting as a bridge to modern interpretations of the Black Tower concept in comics.
The Black Tower brand has evolved from independent British comic serials to a modern Vertigo franchise, highlighting the adaptability of comic storytelling across decades and countries while maintaining a thematic connection to mystery and adventure.

Firtly there is no "were" or "was". Black Tower Comics and Books is still publishing with other titles in the works. Secondly, I have no idea what "Black Tower" is in the Vertigo line as I have not seen a vertigo comic since...early 1990s?

I think the confusing remnarks people have made is based on this search result. One comment forwarded to me was "He's doing well enough -DC money!" Well, blow up my wind-hole.... I am still eating baked beans on toast for tea! I have sold nothing and do not work for DC or Vertigo but then you read:

"Terry Hooper has been self-publishing under the Black Tower banner since 1984, producing a variety of comics including Return Of The Gods, The Bat Triumphant, and Krakos The Egyptian

Lambiek

. His self-publishing work extends into books on multiple subjects, and he is still actively publishing through platforms like Lulu, serving audiences in the UK and internationally

Lulu

. This demonstrates that Black Tower as an independent publishing enterprise is ongoing."

But then:

"Recent Mainstream Comics

In addition to Hooper’s independent work, the Black Tower: The Raven Conspiracy series launched in 2026 under the DC Vertigo imprint. Written by Ram V and illustrated by Mike Perkins, this is a six-issue recurring comic series featuring a modern spy-thriller theme with occult elements. The first issue was released on August 26, 2026, showing that the Black Tower brand is actively being used in mainstream published comics

DC.com

. The series is available in both print and digital formats on platforms like DC Universe Infinite."

See, I am quite willing to write for Marvel or DC...or Image or...anyone if it pays! This is just poorly written information so let me make it clear that I have not sold BTC&B and am still publishing and any other Black Tower has nothing to do with me.

My life always seems to get confusing.

Guess What? Even AI has heard of Black Tower (I'm being sarcastic)

2026-07-07T07:19:33.797-07:00

Someone asked wheher I had ever used "AI search" and seen what it comes up with re BTC&B. I had not. I tried and this came back:

Black Tower Comics and Books is an independent British small-press imprint founded in 1984 by editor, artist, and writer Terry Hooper-Scharf. It holds a notable reputation as one of the UK’s longest-running publishers of independent black-and-white comics and specialized pop-culture history books.

📜 History and Core Focus

Small Press Roots: It launched in February 1984, originally printing digest-sized (A5) anthology titles like Black Tower Adventure, Presents, and Windows.
The 1980s Boom: The imprint played a key role in boosting the UK independent comic scene in the late 1980s, largely through its trade-information publication Zine Zone International.
Preserving British History: A major part of Black Tower's identity is archiving lost comic history. Through lines like the Black Tower Gold Collection, they scan, clean, and reprint forgotten characters from the British Golden Age of Comics (such as Streamline, Electrogirl, and Ace Hart).
Eclectic Catalog: Alongside original black-and-white adventure titles like Krakos: Sands of Terror and The Iron Warrior, the imprint publishes prose books covering cryptids, UFOs, and wildlife.

Well, even AI has heard of us!

The Online Store

2026-07-07T05:34:05.932-07:00

There are well over 100 books at the online store so why not check it out when you get a spare minute?

https://www.lulu.com/search?contributor=Terry+Hooper&page=1&pageSize=10&adult_audience_rating=00&sortBy=PRODUCT_SALES_90_DAYS

All books are listed with links over at the Black Tower Comic Shop News page

https://comicsshopsnews.blogspot.com/

Black Tower Presents 2

2026-07-04T08:05:52.406-07:00

Black and white

36pp

£8.00 ( see price for your country at online store) https://www.lulu.com/shop/terry-hooper/black-tower-presents-v-2-no-2/paperback/product-454yg7v.html?q=&page=1&pageSize=4

This is it! The Big Number Two (maybe we ought to re-think that one?) The comic you have all been demanding (in our heads)!

Bunny and The Bloke: a very angry Bristolian and his 6 feet tall crime fighting rabbit. What? Never been to Bristol? Whether a huge rampaging monster or aliens landing in the most beautiful city in the world (Bristol -you got that?) these two will deal with it. Who needs the Avenger, Jon Future or Major Victory?! Resident Golden Age crime-fighting beauty with a whip (we say nothing) Cat Girl is ready to deal out justice! LeFez and zombies...he always knew it would happen but the Zero Heroes never did. Trapped in a church with a pooping 6 feet tall bunny.. The Crimson Cowl shows up to show the bad guys how he deals with crime. Klaus von Happe (D-Gruppe's Kopfmann) decides to stay at a chalet but the weird staff there can't be ignored...but Klaus does much to the annoyance of his companion. Having survived the destruction on the Moon (Green Skies) Moon Man is sent out to investigate an alien landing on the lunar surface. This time it ain't humans! The Thinker walks the dog. What? He is walking the dog -did you think he walked a dinosaur?? Garza the Lord of the Jungle and a Barbarian in action. Could it get any better?

Lots of Questions.... a Few Answers

2026-07-03T05:38:37.393-07:00

I have no idea why so many people who never buy Black Tower books and never support it in any other way are so interested in what goes on within so to speak.

Firstly, no it was not a joke when I said that once I shift off this mortal coil all Black Tower books will cease to exist. I will rephrase that: I operate a print on demand store front so a book has to be ordered to be printed. No back stock of 300 books in a box somewhere. I know my own personal collection will be binned. And no book has received 100 sales (which would still make it a rarity).

Secondly, I was told that it must be nice at least getting the financial backing of Cinebook and Hexagon Comics. Well, in the early days I did ask Olivier Cadic who owns Cinebook if he might be interested in paying adverts on CBO. No. Advertising was never budgeted for. Can I also point out that anyone who says that I am employed by Cinebook is either lying or living in a fantasy world. I review their books -that is it!

There is a third and not even annoying question that pops up now and again and I have noted who those people are and WHO they are connected to. "All your books are drawn by Ben Dilworth".....I have posted before about projects I have published by other artists 0John Erasmus, Tom Elmes, Paul Ashley Brown blah blah blah. I also do a lot of artwork. You know hundreds of pages for Return of the Gods, The Green Skies and the new volume of Black Tower Adventure -and Special Globe Guard.

When it comes down to it you use the artists you have. I do not have the financial backing to pay artists -with current sales even I do not get paid. There is no "Dilworth I want 10 pages by next week!" What Ben decides to draw and send in is done as and when he feels like it. All contributors get five copies of books their art appears in but that is as far as it goes -and those UK comic publishers who get up on their high horses with "He doesn't pay" -I have no interest in your opinions AND I know exactly how YOUR imprints work. So you read them on forums they have no connection to me and "people in glass houses...."

"You promote European comics so much is your main market there?" Answer: no. And to answer the other question that usually follows: No, I am never invited to European comic shows not even in Germany (my 54% German DNA and 16% French DNA sobs over that!).

And, again, no: none of the creators I helped get into pro comics ever offer to help with work because once they got those big comic deals I was no longer needed. That's life and comics. Move on.

Look at where the CBO All Time Top Ten views come from:

United States

2.13m

China

1.16m

Singapore

622k

Hong Kong

411k

Brazil

339k

United Kingdom

296k

Russia

295k

France

259k

Vietnam

192k

Germany

190k

Do I get big sales from these countries? Nope. I am surprised that the United States produces such very low sales. A few bloggers there have highlighted Black Tower but...

With China I am a bit more disappointed as I have pushed comics there since the 1980s and a good few people email to tell me that they have learnt more about old HK and PRC comics from my posts than they have at home. Black Tower has had Chinese super heroes since the 1980s and the three-part "Evil of the Salamander" (“火蜥蜴之恶”). In fact if you read Return and Green Skies you'll find quite a few. China is NOT on the list of countries my print of demand cannot ship to and I have no idea whether there are local import problems or not.

There are other questions I get to hear about but the main thing I always say when I respond (rarely these days) is "Have you or the person involved actually purchased a Black Tower comic and read it? If not your opinion is worthless.

Mentioning print on demand -I just got three books delivered well below the "average 9-13 days to deliver".

The Day of the YUCCA! Mad Mike and Bad Ben

2026-07-02T16:03:19.493-07:00

The First "Modern" Thinker Strip

2026-07-02T15:59:00.644-07:00

Mad Mike and Ben Dilworth's 1988 strip

The Thinker by BR Dilworth: "Literally"

2026-06-30T06:08:24.698-07:00