The Return of the Gods and Green Skies Invasion Earth Series

 

 "I read the original quote from that German blogger and thought it was a lot of hot air. When Return of the Gods: Twilight of the Super Heroes arrived I thought "thick book" and knew you'd taken it from 96 pages to 360+...it looked impressive. I read through it in two days and -robots, aliens, "gods", super heroes, sorcerers, alien invasions and more and world-wide. And you tell me this was done without a script?! It's the only one I can think of so, yeah, the greatest British super hero graphic novel fits as a description." Pete Clark

"You say this is your final big story? The Green Skies was fantastic and everything laid out into chapters was a great touch!"

David Stephens, Comic Reviews

" 'Holy ******* ****!' was all I could say. I even tried counting the number of characters and how the **** you produced all of this without a script beats me. Return of the Gods: Twilight of the Super Heroes and The Green Skies could only have been better if George Perez had drawn it!"

Dan's Comics

"I have no idea why you are not pushing this even harder. The books Return of the Gods: Twilight of the Super Heroes and The Green Skies I would love to see in German or at least get German fans to read since it has a good number of German heroes in it. Next big comic event over here send me copies and I'll sell them on my table!"

Gerd Hammer, German comics historian and trader

Selected comic readers were also chosen to review copies and, obviously, two of these were people from Hong Kong who I corresponded with on Manhua over the years.

"I just wish someone like Tong Li would publish this in Chinese -I mean there are Chinese heroes in this so why not?"

Wang Xiuying

"There HAS to have been a script and more than one person working on this! Brilliant!"

Mike Wayne, Australian comic dealer

Generally, these comments were all similar and I only quote these as any more would be very egotistical. The books should speak for themselves.

Paperback

A4

Black & White

331 Pages

Price: Reduced to £21.89 

Prints in 3-5 business days

http://www.lulu.com/shop/terry-hooper-scharf/the-return-of-the-godstwilight-of-the-super-heroes/paperback/product-22076337.html

It begins slowly.  It always does. It's a deception that everything in the world is as it should be and that never changes.

Earth’s heroes and crime-fighters are going about their daily tasks –fighting a giant robot controlled by a mad scientist’s brain, attackers both human and mystical -even alien high priests of some mysterious cult and their zombie followers and, of course, a ghost and a young genius lost in time. 

Pretty mundane. 

But psychics around the world have been sensing something.  A "something" that sends feelings of sheer terror through their psyches.

There is a huge alien Mother-ship near the Moon. Undetected by deep-space radar and other instruments, only a few on Earth have sensed it and they cannot penetrate the hull but only feel psychic screams and....worse.

And then it begins: strange orange spheres isolate and chase some of Earth’s heroes who then vanish into thin air –are they dead?  An attack by an old foe or foes -?

Black, impenetrable domes cover cities world-wide. 

Then it becomes clear to those within the domes what is going on: Alien invasion of Earth! 

A war between the Dark Old Gods and the pantheons that followed! 

Warriors from Earth’s past having to battle each day and whether they die or not they are back the next day! 

No one suspects the driving force behind the events.  One single evil guiding events.  Events that could cause destruction and chaos throughout the multiverse.

Assaulted on all fronts can Earth’s defenders succeed or will they fail...is this truly the end? 

The Cross-Earths Caper: Part II of the Invasion Earth Trilogy

Paperback, 

A4

Black & White

107 Pages

Price: £12.00

Prints in 3-5 business days

 http://www.lulu.com/shop/terry-hooper-scharf/the-cross-earths-caper/paperback/product-22076318.html

Following the events on Neo Olympus and the Boarman invasion of Earth, many heroes and crime-fighters have withdrawn from activity. Some are trying to recover from injuries while others are fighting the mental scars left by the events.

But things have to go on.  As heroes from other parallels who helped during the recent events return home, members of the Special Globe Guard are shocked at the sudden appearance of Zom of the Zodiac. Never a sign of good things a-coming!

Very soon, a group of heroes mount a rescue mission and find that a quick rescue mission can turn sour equally quickly. As they overcome one challenge the the heroes become lost between parallel Earths and face new threats.

 Sometimes one Earth just is not enough. The complete story published in issues 7-10 of Black Tower Adventure now in...one handy dandy book!

A4

B&W

124pp

£15.00

https://www.lulu.com/en/en/shop/terry-hooper/the-green-skies-vol-3-part-1/paperback/product-5j4y7e.html?page=1&pageSize=4

It all began in 1987 and the Black Tower Universe has seen alien attacks, heroes kidnapped to be put into the middle of a war of the gods. 

Despite the deaths and losses the heroes -crime fighters, super powered and members of the magical union have come back but now unaware that alien races are escaping through the Sol system and that a mysterious space fleet is heading towards the inner planets, they find themselves trapped or distracted. 

The Many Eyed One is finally coming. 

The Multiversal Council has quarantined Earth and forbidden any to help. 

The evil has spread and there is treachery striking at the very core of Earth's defenders

A4

B&W

126pp

£15.00

https://www.lulu.com/en/en/shop/terry-hooper/the-green-skies-vol-3-part-ii/paperback/product-nj7wqr.html?page=1&pageSize=4

Following on from events in Green Skies V. 3 Part I the Clone Zone Boyz are increasing in number while those who created them, the Vampirons, continue to plot and await the arrival of their 'God' -The Many Eyed One. 

The Druid finds that his physical and mental state are deteriorating and even the Rev. Merriwether cannot help him. 

Shockingly, the Clone Zone Boyz claims someone close to Merriwether and this leads him to team up with two 'unsavoury' characters. 

In space Krii and Tyn hrrn face a seemingly unstoppable enemy. 

On The Moon the Selenites and representatives of other worlds meet and decide that Johnny Apollo, the Z-Man, is the only one who can lead the counter invasion fleet. 

With the enemy striking Mars and then the Moon things look grim

 A4

B&W

208pp

£16.00

https://www.lulu.com/en/en/shop/terry-hooper/the-green-skies-vol-3-part-iii/paperback/product-kj6r7r.html?page=1&pageSize=4

The gathered Sol Defence fleet is prepared to make its final stand led by Johnny Apollo the Z Man. If it fails to halt the invaders then the doomsday weapon will be detonated and destroy the entire Sol System. 

Meanwhile, unaware of the threat in space, Jack Flash, the Avenger and others prepare for a final show down with the Many Eyed One; a final confrontation they know they do not have the power to win. 

Is this Humanity...the Earths...final day?

woven into The Green Skies is the story of the harbinger of destruction: the story of Varik Dann -The Man Who Walked Through a Door and Into Another World

Varik Dann is but one character as we follow the attempts of heroes and adventurers as well as the military as they try to confront the Clone Zone Boys with no idea of who or what is behind them. And in space the very existence of not just the Earth but the solar system rests on efforts to stop an alien invasion fleet and if it cannot be stopped them there will be no conquest: the entire solar system will be destroyed by a doomsday device.

Tick-Tock It's The Clock!

 

Ben R. Dilworth

32pp

A4

black and white

£7.22

https://www.lulu.com/shop/terry-hooper/tick-tock-its-the-clock/paperback/product-ejqjwv.html?page=1&pageSize=4

Feature Comics #21, 1936. the Clock, eventually revealed to be society man and former district attorney Brian O'Brien, wore a three-piece suit, a fedora, and a black full-face mask. The first masked hero of comics dealt with crime using guile and gun and usually left a calling card that bore an image of a clock and the words "The Clock Has Struck." Ben Dilworth steps in to fill in the gaps and what MADE the Clock -plus a revelation: What happened to O'Brien's look-alike and crime busting companion Pug? Prepare for violence, harsh language and to ask the question:can there ever really be justice from the barrel of a gun?

It Could Not Be Easier

 I really should not have to write this again but... 

Books ordered from the online store are printed and use the mail system in the region they were ordered in.

You order in France books are printed and posted in France.

You order in the USA then books are printed and posted in the USA.

You order in Australia the books are printed and posted there.

There is no international shipping costs or import tax.

That is why I use an online store -you can see the cost of books in your own currency whether Francs, Yen, Dollars or Euro. No hidden costs.

Comic Bits 3 -A Treasure Trove of Lost, Found and Forgotten!

 

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.

Why miss out!

Black Tower Super Heroes: Werewolves

 

86pp

A4

Black and white

£10.00 UK 

https://www.lulu.com/shop/terry-hooper/black-tower-super-heroes-werewolves/paperback/product-84wwge7.html?page=1&pageSize=4

The Prof, investigator of the paranormal, encounters two werewolves in Castle Park...and Devilina who has a "sort of" message for him. Kotar, Sabuta, Lady Silana, Tarot and others deal with new werewolf activity and Dr Lycaon is granted access to the labs at the HQ of the explorer/adventurer group The Questors. Lycaon believes he is close to a serum that will cure the curse of lycanthropy but someone or something is trying to stop him. Meanwhile in space Freelancer delivers justice to the Central Galactic Council after its betrayal (see The Green Skies) and on Earth the equally treacherous Council of Light meets its fate. Will Lycaon succeed with his cure or does the increased werewolf activity even in the halls of one of the UKs most secret buildings indicate that the cure is too late?

Comic Bits 3 and BT Super Heroes

  Here is the update for anyone interested out there.

Comic Bits 3 was finally finished late last night after a few technical problems which, honestly, never happened in the old cut and paste days before computers and PDF. Just fixing things I don't like (as well as some cover text) about the cover and it should be on sale later this month.

 And... Black Tower Super Heroes volume 2 number 1is now completed. 80+ pages that I lost the dialogue text to but that never worries me as the story actually got improved. I blush at my genius 😂

This is NOT the final cover but the mock up. Apart from the Ben Dilworth art everything else has to go.  Again, a later this month release.

Then onto the next book!

If I could pay I would have a team of artists!

Black Tower Silver Age Volume 1 -Electroman featuring Electro Girl

 

A4

B&W

52pp 

£8.00

https://www.lulu.com/en/en/shop/terry-hooper/black-tower-silver-age-volume-1-electroman/paperback/product-wqmp6m.html

1951 at the start of the UK Silver Age of comics appeared Electroman! 

Then he vanished to become a legend. 

After 70 years he is back -Dan Watkins a criminal wrongly accused of murder and given the electric chair by the State. 

But then...Dan did not die. He was a reformed person and what is more he had a double existence as newspaper boy Dan Watkins and righter of wrongs - Electroman! 

This collection contains: 

The Birth of Electroman 

The Treasure of El Chimborazo 

The Million Dollar Robbery 

3 Ring Circus 

Electroman and Tim meet Benjamin Franklyn 

The Great Train Robbery 

plus - Electro Girl Battles the Gremlins' Pot-War Plot

Major Victory #1

 

A4

44pp

Black and white

£6.48

https://www.lulu.com/shop/terry-hooper/major-victory-no-1/paperback/product-krqv5v.html?q=&page=1&pageSize=4

 He is Britain's latest super hero...or is he?

What part do the gods have to play in the life of Woking's hero?

Why the symbolic "V" and Welsh dragon motif?

Who IS Major Victory and why is the President of the United States visiting Woking and WHO is plotting his assassination?

Is it safe to live in Woking?

Easy solution: buy the book and find out! Big Bad Ben Dilworth is back (admittedly he was only captured by tiny super heroes and whisked away to a mysterious tower in his head but....he's cheap!)

Old Comic Creators Vanish (quietly)

 

 It is not bragging. I've had one quote after another -not even directly sent to me but in books and magazines as well as on decent comics forums- stating that I have an "encyclopedic knowledge" of comics, comic characters not just from the UK but from around the world. Fair enough but that is because I READ and talk to creators and have been around a long time doing UK and even American comics (no, not Marvel or DC so to many it does not count).

I love art. So far never met anyone wanting to discuss Salvador Dali -just a lot of eye-rolling. I recall talking to a Marvel UK editor in the late 1980s and he was showing me art samples sent in and I pointed out a couple that showed the artist had seriously studied human anatomy: "This one has definitely studied Leonardo Da Vinci's anatomy work" I said only to receive the response "Oh. Him. Vastly over rated he'd never get work past me". Yes, this was the editor I (allegedly) held out of the window and he would have deserved that (if, of course it were true 😇) because I had no idea whether he knew who Leonardo was or was just so dumb that he thought I was referring to a modern comic artist!

I love how, back in the day (pick any from the 1980s to early 1990s) people produced their own comics not imagining that they would be the next comic super star or their character the next movie super star, but for fun and enjoyment. The fun and creativity of using lino print to create zines -Myra Hancock being the star there. How we all tried different techniques to add to art or create the books -use auto spray on images printed onto acetate for covers. Photocopied onto card stock or even brown wrapping paper. How you could send out three letters to three different zine makers saying you were short of a few pages for the next issue and within a week have a pile of work to choose from. 

There are no more Merv Grist's producing Bus Pass Army or Melons.  No more Steve Lines Creepy Crawlies or Fantastic stories; No more Blast Bomb Testing Co or Third Kind producing Super Adventure Stories. No more Hardware. No more Cally Stapletons. Penguin Flight -gone. No more Rich Holden or Caged or Un-Caged.

Now it's all "slice of my life", just self importance/pitying while demanding that people buy badly drawn and badly written "O woe is me!" -I remind myself that the best published review of a zine (in Comics World) was for as very badly drawn comic. Why did I give it a glowing review? As I said in print; it wreaked of FUN. I cannot remember the title or the person's name but from page 1 on it was clear they wrote and drew it for fun. That is something I rarely see these days. Self importance and ego are the seeming norm.

till pe

e where the food is!!

I may well have what more than a couple of people have described as "an Alexandrian Library (look it up) of comics, zines and graphic novels  and, yes, I remember what is in  each and it may well be a big enough collection to keep someone reading for a decade but most people I knew in comics are gone. My grand always told me that "as you get older you'll lose more friends" but there are comics and comic albums, creators and companies I could talk and bore for the UK on but who to?

No more huddle creators in a corner at Westminster Comic Marts checking out the paper types we were using or what effect a certain pen or supposedly non art gadget gave. No more Bath, Bristol or Swindon comic marts for creator meet ups and chats. Now it is all semi anonymous and "slagging off" someone anonymously on a comic forum.

The Originals are gone or will soon be gone and all that will be left are the "We are the first generation to make our own comics".

It's 0930 and I've been up since 0450hrs so time for coffee and toast.

Comics SHOULD be FUN!

New Creators Never Get A Break?

 

Something that annoys me even though it's what I expect.

Another comment on one of my blogs was going on about how new artists do not get a chance to see their strip work in print and how most small press publishing is all ego promoting.

Since the 1980s if someone sent me sample art and asked if I had a script they could draw to contribute to one of my publications to see their work in print and if they are enthusiastic and at a reasonable level I usually do work with them. They get a couple copies of the book their work is on and I get to fill a book.

I have made that same offer since 1995 on so many sites and not one taker. However, over and over again there are the complaints "No one will give me a chance".

On a number of occasions I have responded with "Send a few sample pages over" and...."How much do I get per page?" I even had one artist who was not that good say he would never work for free as in a year he'd be working for Marvel or DC. Never heard from again.

Dave Gibbons, Ian Gibson, Brian Bolland and many other creators started drawing strips in the small press to get experience and practice.

The internet created a generation of whiners.