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Wednesday, 21 February 2024

A Few Words At 2330hrs On A Wet Wednesday

 


I never seem to sell any British Golden Age reprint books and certainly no one seems to respond to posts so is there interest in the old British GA comics and characters?

Well, looking at the stats there does seem to be.

All time views 51095 

last month 1891  

yesterday 100  

And the audience is truly international so why is no one buying, chatting or helping chase things up?

No idea but here is a breakdown of the countries viewing this blog most.

United States
15.9K
Singapore
7.22K
Russia
5.35K
United Kingdom
4.88K
France
1.87K
Germany
1.66K
Ukraine
1.53K
China
1.18K
Netherlands
651
Canada
600
Israel
473
Italy
387
Sweden
311
Ireland
282
South Korea
262
Australia
235
Brazil
226
United Arab Emirates
215
Japan
210
Other
7.7K

THE CHAOTIC COMIC CREATIONS OF ROY WILSON HD 1080p

Tuesday, 20 February 2024

Vintage Comic Buyer -Beware

  A warning. Back in the 1970s two sets of facsimile 1900s comics were published by Denis Gifford.

The paper quality is modern and I have now bought three that were sold as genuine editions -got my money back each time with a "I didn't know" -the sellers had the other issues so big lie.

That's just a poor scan the seller posted up but it has the browning that makes it LOOK 1930s-ish

This is NOT a 1931 copy of Jester. It is a facsimile and one of five facsimile comics published by Denis Gifford in the 1970s.

"vintage Jester comic No 1552 Aug 8th 1931" No 1552 Aug 8th 1931, HAS BEEN FOLDED & WILL BE POSTED THUS. Very good condition, signs of aging, some page browning"

said seller sv7who (13714)

Convenient as that way you could not see the tell tale signs. So I got the copy and saw it straight away as not genuine first edition.  So I wrote:

"Bloody annoyed as you are the third seller to sell me one of those facsimiles as genuine vintage."

BE WARNED!

Sunday, 18 February 2024

Do I Call Them "Moaners", "Time Wasters" or "Trolls"



In all seriousness I have encountered them all since I started publishing Golden Age reprints and having the old characters featured in new strips.  

For the GA reprints I had someone who wrote: "You have humour strips in this collection and I am not going to buy those unless its super heroes"  My response was to ask how he knew what was in the books if he had never bought a copy of any of the volumes and I pointed to one that fulfilled his wish...nothing more. 

Then I had someone make a public comment that I had reprinted a GA comic and it was from his scan as he could find no other scans of it online. He really got annoyed. My response was to post a photo of me holding the actual GA comic that I had scanned. Silence. 

The next was a rather dubious statement to one of my own groups from someone who obviously thought I was stealing his online GA comics website viewers. Someone asked what sort of quality the reprints were and he stated "Not very good photocopies -looks like it was done on a photocopier in a shop" I can take weeks to clean up comic strips that were misprinted, have foxing on pages, sellotaped pagers and general print dirt from the cheap 1940s printing process. I pointed out that this person had an online comic site so was not happy and then asked which book of reprints he had because at that time no copies had sold.  Silence.

Then the newer strips with GA British characters. Drawn in great style by Ben Dilworth and not changing the characters. "It's not like the original strip!" was one comment. Well, since most of the original creators had been dead a few decades and the strips were drawn by someone else...you get my point. Also the original artist on one character drew him slightly differently over the years so....

Above all else I go for top quality printing and paper and the cover prices are so low they are practically give-aways because I started publishing them as "a work of love" as they call it. So one of the books of reprints will cost you about 2-3 times (some times 5 times) cheaper than the original comic  IF you can find it.

To make it clear: 

1.  if you order a book from the online store it does not involve international shipping. Books are printed in your region -that's how print on demand works.  

2.  The price of the book should be shown in your own currency.

3.  Obviously your local postal rates apply and there are options for tracked, special delivery and untracked (the least expensive) postage from within your region.

Ordered in your region, printed in your region and delivered by the postal system in your region.  It could not be more simple.

One important thing to note is that third party sellers will state "post free" and that is a lie. You often pay 30-75% more on a book ordered through a third party seller than from the online store. The reason is because the third party seller HAS to buy from the online store and the selling price usually covers two postal payments -0from store to them and then to you.  

People have purchased from third party sellers and not gotten their books or have had to wait over a month for them to arrive. At that point they contact me and it is all very simple: they tried to rob me of a sale and bought a book at a far more expensive price because they read "post free". That is important because if you buy from a third party seller you are removing the small profit I make on a book. Also, ordering from the online store is not just cheaper but, even though it has never happened since I started selling in 2009,  I can actually look into why you have not had your book delivered. Third party seller -your tough luck.

Support the creator and publisher not third party scammers.

Comic Bits: THE British Golden Age of Comics magazine!

 

 


A4
B&W
80pp
Text, comic strips and some rare photographs!
£8.00
https://www.lulu.com/shop/terry-hooper/comic-bits-no-1/paperback/product-kjgvzy.html?q=&page=1&pageSize=4

The return of THE British Golden Age of Comics magazine! 

Interviews with Mike Western, John Cooper and Jon Haward plus a look at Ally Sloper on film, Defining the Ages of British Comics, William McCail plus a lot of art and stripwork. 

At this price -cheap!

Comic Bits No. 2

 


Ed T Hooper-Scharf
A4
B&W
80 pp
£8.00
https://www.lulu.com/shop/terry-hooper/comic-bits-no-2/paperback/product-2ed6pe.html?q=&page=1&pageSize=4

The second issue of the magazine celebrating creators, titles and characters of the British Platinum, Golden and Silver Ages of comics. 

In this issue William A. Ward finally gets some long deserved recognition for his contribution to comics John McCail gets "bigged up" something rotten!

 We look at comedian and actor Bob Monkhouse's comic creation career 

Steve Dowling -Father of the Garth newspaper strip speaks to Denis Gifford (the ONLY interview he ever gave) 

There is a look at Dennis M. Reader and his comics work that spawned some of the UKs first super heroes. 

also a look at William Fletcher Thomas, Ernest Wilkinson, Jos Walker, Mary Byfield and William H A Chasemore... oh, and LOTS of lovely art and stripwork!

UK "Grail" Time Again

  Basically, I have found two collectors who have these comics as well as the Krakos the Egyptian collection. However, they have stated that although they have scanned the books that is for private use and they do not intend to share.  I ought to point out that scans being published DO NOT undermine the value of the actual printed original because those will always be wanted.  The truth is UK Golden Age comics do not command a high price and where they are offered at high prices they do not sell.

So.....


I was asked by someone what my "grails" were. I gathered he meant what books I'd like to get hold of.

Obviously William A. Ward's The Bat the strip or the alleged collected edition.

The list used to be on the Yahoo groups but I have filled in a lot of "want to see/haves" since then -full Iron Warrior and Krakos strips (I would love to see Krakos' first appearance). Mars Man, Moon Man in Zip Bang.

Sad though I might be I would dearly love to put faces to the creators -the McCails, Len Fullerton, Alf Farningham, William A Ward and so on. That I have found images of some original Penny Dreadful authors is perplexing since we have portraits or even sketch portraits but no photos of people who are more modern era -John Spencer (Samuel Assael), Gerald Swan and so on.
For me just finding a new character or even the odd photo tends to be a boost.
Of course if anyone out there has any of these things -get in touch!