A.C.E. ?

 

Is there any online presence of Gifford's old Association of Comic Enthusiasts?

Think Comic Bits 4...and another British Bat character discovered!

 

 It is 00:30 hrs (come on you know the time) and I have just gotten up to page 53 of Comic Bits 4.  I really should be drawing but...

Anyway, I needed a sample comic strip by a specific  Golden-Silver Ages British artist. There is a mish -mash but not great quality. Then I found it. A full comic strip in good quality so I thought I'd pop over to the blog in question and see whether I could ask to use the blogger's scans. Only polite thing to do -though it is rare these days.

It was my blog. I have posted so much over three decades on British comics history that I tend to forget a lot!  I looked at the strip and thought "I still have those scans" and I do. That I found them is a miracle in itself!

Tomorrow I hope to complete CB 4 and then comes the hesitancy of designing a cover. Oh boy.

Incidentally, I have already gathered some of the material for CB 5.  Do it while you have the energy I say (the magazine you dirty minded....)

I forgot to say that other than long forgotten character discoveries...there is another British Bat-man type. Well there had to be hadn't there?

Comic Bits 4

 

 In two days working until 0220 hrs (or 2.20 am) I have just gotten up to page 34 of Comic Bits 4 -feature articles on forgotten British creators and plenty of comic strips featuring characters long forgotten.

I want to cram as much into this one as I can. CB is usually 80pp but now that we've had colour since issue 3 it is a great opportunity to present strips as they first appeared. 

I will update as and when I can so stand by!

Quick Appeal

 Does anyone have a scan of this comic. If so PLEASE get in touch hoopercomicsuk@yahoo.com

Thanks

The Reprints Future

 

Just a quick note about the GA reprints to update anyone interested.

I  am always -always- on the look out for any scans of pre-1952 UK comics.  The point is not to make money with reprints because, if I am being honest, the UK Golden Age books do not sell. 

The late Denis Gifford ran the Association of Comic Enthusiasts (ACE) and I am quite sure that a few have survived like me! I also ran Yahoo and other groups dealing with Platinum, Golden and Silver agesof UK comics -there is still a Face Book group loaded with many images. Nothing.

British Golden Age Comics blog has had 207,845 views but no sales of books from those views.

UK Golden Age Heroes and Comics 87,402 views but no books sold.

The Golden Age books are all as good a quality reprint as you can get and more than one page has taken a day to clean and make readable. This is work that has been going on for decades (that thought terrifies me!) and how much have I spent on all of this to try to preserve lost comics, characters and creators?  I think in a previous post on that subject I mentioned that I got to a  certain figure and then gave up as the total amount terrified me even more than the amount of time I spent on this.

Back in..1995 I put forward the idea of a British Comic Book Archive so that everything could be stored  at a central point and accessed for free. Thios idea came up after I had to help the family of the creator of the newspaper strip, Garth, Steve Dowling, find some samples of his work. Then the family of another long gone artist asked the same thing and it goes on and on.

Artists and writers whether the old Boys Papers (and my research proved the 'fact' that these NEVER contained comic strips because they were seen as "low art" to be wrong) , Penny Dreadfuls or comics were were always paid as little as a publisher could getr away with and some struggled to bring entertainment to  youngsters and oldsters alike. They at least deserve to be remembered and I was quite happy to find out that Louis Diamond, comics publisher and writer/artist is a relation (and, yes, he got "screwed over"by Amalgamated Press rathere like I was by its successor Fleetway years later).

Based on the percentage I get from a book sale (after printer and print on demand company) I would need to sell around 100 copies of one reprint book to get the money back I paid for one of the original albums/annuals or comics.

It is definitely a passion than for profit work!

Sadly, I chose a time when the internaet has created a new generation of illiteracy where no one wants to actual;ly read a printed book...but if it's free online well -grab it!

Discoveriung lost characters is fun and I get a kick out of it every time and from now the rediscovered items will appear only in Comic Bits -far easier than working on full lenth reprint books.

Text features, artists and writers bios -if they can be found- all blended together like a good coffee (I need a cup of coffee!) and filling 80 pages each issue. I'm so excited I may buy copies myself😂

More Discoveries

 When I wrote that I found another unlisted anywhere British hero from the British Golden Age. It was pointed out to me by someone who reads Comics Bits magazine that in the last two or more years I have found a couple dozen characters that are forgotten.

The British Golden Age reprint books do not sell -it is really a work of love (and finance draining) and so I decided that what I will do is publish the strips of these characters in Comic Bits although how many issues I publish depends. People who read it tell me they learn something new and love it but, again, sales are very poor which I did not expect since I run blogs and Face Book pages with a lot of members who are Golden Age fans (I am told).

We'll see if I can get an issue out by Christmas so keep checking back!

Thank You for the Comments and a quick update!

 Sorry for delay in replying to Comments but Blogger never told me there were any and after all these years I never expect any!

THANK YOU for commenting.

As for me....I did it again.  Yup, quite by chance I found another previously unlisted British super hero from the 1940s -as outlined in Comic Bits 3 I keep finding these characters and mainly when I am not looking so, from now on, I will NOT be looking for old British characters (I may be lying there).

More news later.

________________________________________________________________

A4

Colour/BW

80pp

£10.00 UK

https://www.lulu.com/shop/terry-hooper/comic-bits-no-3-2026/paperback/product-q6wqden.html?page=1&pageSize=4

Comic Bits is the only journal dealing with the Platinum, Golden, Dark and Silver Ages of British comics and the creators involved.

This edition looks at the number of British "Bat men" -characters lost to time. The Bat by William McCail stars in his only ever appearance

We take a look at Tom Browne and Oliver Veal recognised as creators of what became the "British style" for over 100 years.

Prolific creator Terry Bave and his wife Sheila give us a glimpse of working in Silver age weekly comics.

Then there three rarities: the first is the origin of T.N.T. Tom a true star of Swan comics. Secondly we have the other star of Swan in Dene Vernon -Ghost Investigator. His very first pouting from 1940.

Third...well, a massive shock was the discovery of a super heroine not mentioned in any sources and this one off appearance drawn by E. H. Banger (we look at his career in this issue as well) -after 60 years Wanda the Wonder Girl is revealed!

Comic strips from some of the greats of British comics add extra zing to this issue.