Think About How You Buy

 

I was asked why my books are so expensive on Ebay/ Amazon? Well, I DO NOT sell via Ebay or Amazon. What you have there are people who buy the book from my online store and then re-price (hiking up the price) and sell on those sites.

The Ultimate British Comics Gold Collection is being sold for £37-75.00 or $49.97-101.17 or Euro 42.58 -86.32.   The same thing is happening with other books including The Hooper Interviews which I have seen described as "rare" -it is not as it has never been out of print.

The Gold Collection is 400+pp £25.00 + 4.94 for priority mail so £29.94  so you work out whether it's simpler to buy from my online store or buy from someone who has to order and then send to your address at a much inflated price.

There is another side to this. You order from a third party seller then it is buyer beware. About 4 years ago I had an email out of the blue asking where a book ordered was. I asked what they were talking about and they told me the title, what they paid for it (£15 above cover price) and that after 3 weeks it had not turned up. I checked and no such order but a copy of the book had been purchased by Amazon to resell under their deal with the print on demand company (the Amazon sale got me 5o/50 cents on a £20 book sale).

I to9ld the buyer I needed his order number to sort out what was going on. He then told me that he had purchased 'post free' (no such thing) from a dealer. It seems the dealer bought the book cheap on Amazon to sell it on.  I pointed out to the buyer that he had paid £15 over the cover price and that as he had not purchased from my online store but a third party it was out of my hands and "tough luck" for helping to cheat me out of a semi decent sale.

The book eventually turned up 4 weeks after he had ordered it and he showed me the invoice that was inside as the seller had bought the book on Amazon at a discount of £10 but sold it for £35. Why was he showing me the invoice?  He wanted me to take action to get money back -seriously. I told him that he had been on the online store so saw the cost but had ordered at a higher cost thinking he had free postage without checking and so it had absolutely nothing to do with me.

If you are interested in a book on the online store then you can go through the ordering process and up to the Choose delivery method point which would show you total cost. If you decide against buying leave the page as you are NEVER charged unless you click "Pay Now". As shown below  

This will all show in your local currency as books are printed and delivered by services within your region. NO international mailing. There are guarantees with ordering from an online store such as set prices and help if there is an order problem. What profit there is gets back to me to keep producing books and buy in more cans of baked beans for dinner!

Buy smart!

The British Bat-Men!

 

As most of you will know, this year marks the 75th anniversary of Batman. However, the notion of costumed 'bat-men' didn't originate with Bob Kane's creation. One such earlier character was Batsowl, who starred in a series of prose stories in the British comic Illustrated Chips in 1918. 

I'm not suggesting for a moment that there was any connection of course. Bob Kane was born in 1915, so it's highly unlikely he'd have seen a British comic when he was three years old. However, there are some interesting similarities between the two characters, not least being the costume, as you can see from the header illustration above.

Like Batman, Batsowl's other identity was a wealthy figure. In this case, an Earl, Desmond Devance...

He also had a secret underground laboratory, not dissimilar to the Batcave...

...and his appearance struck terror into people...

    Sadly, like most British comics of the time, Batsowl is uncredited. I don't know how long the serial ran as I only have one episode, which is the one I'm showing here. It's from Illustrated Chips No.1477, dated December 21st 1918. This was one of the comics presented as a facsimile in 1972 in the Six Comics of World War One collection.

It's highly likely that Batman and Batsowl were both partially influenced by The Phantom of the Opera, by French author Gaston Leroux (first published as a serial in Le Gaulois from 23rd September 1909 to 8th January 1910, and was released in volume form in late March 1910), and The Scarlet Pimpernel (the first novel in a series of historical fiction by Baroness Orczy, published in 1905 and which was adapted as a very popular London play in 1905).

Flying Justice was the title of a serial in The Boy's Friend in 1927.  The hero is Roger Falcon and in the episodes I have, I don't think he is referred to as "Flying Justice".  Falcon does have the wings, costume - and in some illos. -  the domino mask, which qualify him as a genuine masked mystery man.  Yet another one well before Batman. 

 The Human Bat and The Human Bat  V The Robot Gangster  was also the title character in two novels by Edward R Home-Gall in 1950.  

Home-Gall was a noted writer of boys' stories' The Human Bat, described by at least one person as "a costumed psychotic" , used mechanical batwings to give him the power of flight, and from his fingers he is able to project energy beams.  In fact, I think it fair to dispute the "psychotic" claim. The Human Bat's mission in life was to save young boys from a life of crime. He smashes a criminal mastermind (masquerading as a robot spider) who recruits boy thieves by poisoning their minds with 'kleptotoxin.' ...

In the sequel there is even more spectacular action and more violence as Dr Syntax (no, not THAT Dr Syntax) sends a giant armed robot to commit jewel robberies and the police casualties pile up! There is a bit of an even weirder twist as the robot is accompanied by a somewhat schizophrenic schoolboy who is controlled by the disembodied brain of his twin, who has been dismembered by his mad scientist father. Well, I guess that must have happened back in the day!

Edward Reginald Home-Gall was the son of author William Benjamin Home-Gall. He was a prolific author under many pseudonyms. He was also a man who was awarded the Military Cross for his actions on 4th June, 1917 at the Battle of Messines for "conspicuous gallantry and devotion to duty under heavy shell fire" as the Battalion Signalling Officer. He died in France in 1974.

Initially advertised as Spring Heeled Jack in the end the character was simply named The Human Bat!

John Holloway was based in Fingall, Ireland and his father was the 17th Earl of Fingall. In  Funny Wonder, March, 1899 it is told how a cousin and a Parliamentary rival of his father plot, and succeed in taking the family estate and fortune. To seek revenge and reclaim his inheritance, John dons a caped suit that his father's manservant had handed to him for formal occasions and John added the mask to conceal his identity.

And in 1943 we got The Winged Avenger in The Film Fun Annual....

Let's not forget Harry Banger had his detective Slicksure -then working with the Secret Service confront an evil Bat! in the 1940s

But, oh, there is more. Gerald Swan's Thrill Comics number 1, 1940 presented William A. Ward's The Bat!

Also at Swan in the late 1940s, William McCail brought us...The Bat....are you seeing why this gets confusing? Don't even get me started on the number of Owl Men!

Then in 1952 Cartoon Art published The Bat Magazine in which strips seemed to be redrawn from Western Ghost Rider comics. Ghost Rider having appeared in the comic before The Bat took over.. This Bat did not have bat-wings but he was called "the Bat" so there...oh, and Ward's Bat never had bat-wings either!

However, going bac k to the beginning almost, and proving why the 1890s-1939 was the Golden Age of British comics, on the 9th September, 1899, in Illustrated Chips no. 471, the first Master of Comic Art, Tom Browne introduced us to Spring-Heeled Jack (aka "Mr Bat). 

 And this little run down is not finished yet as there is Zark from 1951 -he's got bat-wings but he is a Martian!  He was also brought to us by Gerald Swan.

Below: slightly from outside the Dark Age we have, from a May, 1955 edition of Radio Fun. The Falcon...with costume and wings!  Artist: George Heath  

 

Guess what? There are probably others and I am looking into those but here I wanted to cover the 1890s to early 1950s. The bat wing types continued into the 1950s -Mr Apollo fought a villain known as The Acro-Bat...

In the 1960s to 1970s the trend continued and I would argue that this fella from 1966 could also be called a bat-winged man!





I post this in the full knowledge that others will steal the work!

Big Mouth Strikes Again and admits "I Got It Wrong!"

 

I defined the various ages of British comics and to be honest I thought 1939-1951 was the British Golden Age period. It appeared in the header for a long time. 

I was wrong.  

As I have delved into older comics or boys papers I have found that the "Golden Age" as defined by Denis Gifford was correct. I have no idea why I doubted that.  

I will be updating things and given dates and reasons as soon as soon as I get over the current eye strain. 

The 'Ultimate' Book of British Comics

  Just a little warning.

I ordered this book from Amazon as I did not recognise the cover.  

What I got was THIS book the cover of which I DID recognise. 

 

I would not recommend it since there is nothing in it that you would not find in an old Denis Gifford or Alan Clark book. Forget the  bullshit claim that the catalogue every comic produced would require a book three times the size of this 296 pager. Denis Gifford accomplished it and even updated later volumes.  

The fact that the Boy's Papers were skipped is acceptable as although they had comic strips in them if you want to on weekly comics  -although the fact that they contained strips needed to be mentioned. Then we come to the biggest exclusion of all. Comics of the 1930s-1950s because this book concentrates on the 1960s-1980s. No mention of Gerald Swan, no mention of Marvelman or any of the significant comics of the three decades he ignores.

Basically, as a comic historian and fan I found the book not that good -but luckily I only paid £3.00 for it. The author does enjoy hyperbole though as in the claim "which is, literally, read by millions" re his work 

If you just want a list of some 60s but mainly 1970s-1980s titles then this is for you...if you can buy it cheap.

Igor...The Beginning

 Igor by Edward Lowe who worked in A. Soloway comics titles no real information on him but this Igor strip is from All Star Comic Vol. 4 no. 4

I have been searching for a long time but part 2 of this series I have never found!

Merry and Bright -Help Needed To ID Year

 

It is an oddity in my collection of old stuff: Merry and Bright Published by John F. Shaw & Co., Ltd., London.According to a search result:

"John F. Shaw & Co., Ltd., a London-based publisher, produced an annual titled "Merry and Bright". This annual was published in the early 20th century, according to bookselling sites. The annual is a hardcover book, and first editions can be found for sale through secondhand booksellers. "

In fact, after months of searching I have only ever found one copy. First edition and £46 but 

nothing to indicate the year published. I would guess at late 1920s to early 1930s. Anyone know

better?

Cooperation On Gathering British Golden Age Material

 Thrill Comics no. 1, April, 1940. Does it exist? Well, yes but you might not think so if you looked for information.  William A. Ward's character The Bat appeared in that first issue and a later later edition of Extra Fun in 1940 -paper regulations and rationing was causing more than a few problems.

 I do wonder how many copies of annuals/albums saw print since most are basically published issues bound together so...unsold copies?

Anyway, let me tell you a story about cooperation amongst comic 'fans'.  In the late 1990s and early 200s I found my own books and scans supplemented by scans sent by an American who belonged to one of my Yahoo groups. I had two British comic collectors add a couple issues but they insisted that they did not want to be named although I did thank them using their online names later.

That was it. From 2002-2025 not a single person has helped to get old characters and strips back into print so that they are not forgotten. No money involved of course since the books hardly sell and I treat them as labours of love.

I managed to have a late friend scan the special issue of Back From The Dead (appearing in parts in War Comics (1940) and Topical Funnies (1941) before being compiled in whole in Picture Epics (1952).  My friend's scans were not up to much, or so I thought.  

I managed to find two other people who scanned their copies and....they matched up perfectly, ink fades and defects exactly the same as the copies my friend had sent. If each had scanned their own copies of  Back From The Dead then how could that be? As I got to know even more about the period I realised that it was down to rationing and cheap ink and paper and cut price printing.  Some of the defects in Swan comics also appear in the same strip in the annuals and clearly show that Swan was not wasting a penny and bound non selling issues made a good album -new money for old rope so it goes.

Recently I was sent a scan of a Dene Vernon strip -in fact the first Dene Vernon strip from Thrill Comics no.1, April, 1940 (the series ran from 1940-1946) but this one came from Weird Story Magazine no. 1, August, 1940 Dave Brzeski for that!  I thought this would be great as my copy of the strip was not great, however, after looking at the copy from WSM I found that apart from the small differences the quality was the same. This appears to have been another example of Swan needing "filler pages" and adding the Vernon story.

I have searched for...let's say a "very long time"..a copy of the first appearance of Krakos the Egyptian from New Funnies Autumn Special (1940) and then the series from Thrill Comics 1941-1946 but no luck. Denis Gifford would never slap a book on a scanner but he had a copy of the first issue with Krakos in and was selling it for £5 (he sold a lot via his Association of Comic Enthusiasts -ACE). Sadly, he passed away before I could buy. I do know that several ACE members had copies and Denis had sent me their details. Not one was willing to scan or sell when I later asked. 

The same thing happened when I tried to find the first appearance of William A. Ward's The Bat from Thrill Comics no. 1, April, 1940 -he took a quick jump over to Extra Fun!  No one was willing to scan or sell a copy and there were various excuses such as a scan making their comic less valuable (I hate to say it but a scan of a comic is not going to devalue an actual hard copy!).

Having just seen prices being asked by some sellers fro Swan comics -£250, £500 for an eight page comic????- I don't think I could afford  even a later issue currently going for £98 and that for 8 pages. 

I have spent a lot of money to date and I just wish there were people out there that interested in British Golden Age comics but there just are not. Speculators have latched on to Swan simply because they have heard the name and think that there is a burgeoning market for the books.

Cooperation over just the last 25 years has been near absent which is a pity as more and more old comic fans pass on and their collections and memories are lost.