Comic Cuts - 16 August 2013

Well, I tried. It would have been so nice to have been able to announce that the latest Bear Alley book was finished when we're celebrating Bear Alley's seventh (seventh!!!) birthday, but sometimes you have to admit defeat. I'm three days off finishing and checking the layouts and I have some images that are placeholders while I wait for cleaner scans, but I should have the book sent off to the printers to get a proof next week. At which point I will put up the pre-order form. Hopefully the book will be on sale from 30 August.

So... seven years writing Bear Alley. We've seen some blogs come and go in that time yet Bear Alley seems to turn up with surprising regularity; I haven't missed many days since we moved house three years ago. Admittedly I'm aided greatly by the good folk at Look and Learn who have let me run riot through their comics for strips to publish online but even they take time to prepare and post. A week-long strip can often take up most of a Sunday to sort out; the Comic Cuts columns take a morning but the biographical features and cover galleries can be the work of days.

For those of you who haven't been here for the full seven years you may like to know why this blog is called Bear Alley. Well, the very first post was entitled "Why Bear Alley?" and it should tell you everything you need to know. However, I don't think I've ever discussed the actual circumstances that led me to set up Bear Alley online.

Peter Haining was one of the people directly responsible. It wasn't his intention, but he was working on a book and had borrowed a shed load of old paperbacks that he wanted to have scanned. You can see quite a few of my books in Peter's The Classic Era of American Pulp Magazines (2000) and The Classic Era of Crime Fiction (2002), and he used to pop round in his car to pick up a box of books every now and then. His later trips were to borrow war books for a series of titles he was writing about World War II.

One day he phoned, trying to chase down information on the author Ernest McKeag; it so happened that I had written an article on McKeag, intending it to be published in my paperback fanzine PBO, which ran for nine issues in 1995-1998 before I ran out of time/energy. I dug out the McKeag piece for Peter but was already wondering whether I could figure out a way of publishing it online.

This wasn't my first attempt. Way back in January or February 2003, I had come up with the idea for a Vintage Paperbacks Website for which would be like an online edition of PBO, with articles published in quarterly "issues". I threw myself into it with a fair amount of gusto and wrote five or six articles, compiled a variety of bibliographies and even gathered together bits of news... but my enthusiasm for the whole thing began to sour towards the end of March as I realised how long it was taking and that, while I was writing these pieces, I wasn't actually earning a living.

A couple of the articles eventually made their way into print: a piece on Len Deighton appeared in Crime Time in 2004 and one on T. Lobsang Rampa eventually surfaced in Dodgem Logic in 2010 but I suspect a bit of digging around on my hard drive could turn up a few other lost pieces from the Vintage Paperbacks Website.

I digress. Fast forward from March 2003 to August 2006. One-time Tharg David Bishop had started a blog in October 2005—the still highly enjoyable, eclectic Vicious Imagery—so I asked him how easy it was to publish through Blogger. His response was along the lines of "It must be easy if I can do it," which was just the right answer for someone who struggles with anything new.

And that, dear readers, is how Bear Alley came to be...

Today's random scans celebrate the work of Douglas R. Mason, who was a writer of SF under his own name and the pen-name John Rankine. Born in Howardon, Wales, on 26 September 1918, Mason was very active in the 1960s and 1970s, his novels including five novelisations based on the Space: 1999 TV show. He died in Bristol, Gloucestershire, on 8 August 2013, aged 94.

 

 

We have a couple of biographies over the weekend, including a lengthy piece on long-time Eagle sub-editor Dan Lloyd. Next week... the race is on for me to finish this book, so we shall just have to see how I do over the weekend.

Bear Alley Books Bestsellers: to August 2013

Of everything I've done with Bear Alley, Bear Alley Books is my proudest achievement. Here's a list of our top-selling titles so far for 2013. In a not so surprising change since the last top-sellers list, the latest books prove to be outselling the old books. But I'm pleased to say that some of the older books, even those dating back a couple of years, continue to sell, even if in small numbers.

No.1 Lion: King of Picture Story Papers

No.2 Ranger: The National Boys' Magazine

No.3 King Solomon's Mines

No.4 Treasure Island

No. 5 Pages from History Illustrated by C. L. Doughty

No. 6 Hurricane & Champion

No. 7 Eagles Over the Western Front Vol.1

No. 8 Gwyn Evans: The Lunatic, The Lover & The Poet

No. 9 London Is Stranger Than Fiction

No. 10 Sexton Blake Annual 1938

  

No. 11/12 = Eagles Over the Western Front Vol. 2 / Vol. 3

No. 13 Sexton Blake Annual 1940

No. 14 Sexton Blake Annual 1941

No. 15 Sexton Blake Annual 1942

No. 16 Not Forgotten 2009-10

No. 17 Mean Streetmaps

Commando 4627-4630

Commando issues on sale 15 August 2013.

Commando 4627 – Race Of Death

Pre-war, Ben Radley and Hugo Carlyle had been professional racing cyclists. And after they joined up they were soon using bicycles once more — as an integral part of the daring missions their Commando raiding team pulled off. Using two wheels they could go where bigger, noisier vehicles could not.
   Eventually, on one operation their luck ran out and they were captured. Then, out of the blue, came a slim chance for freedom…if only they could out-pedal an old adversary…

Story: Alan Hebden
Art: Morahin
Cover: Ian Kennedy

Commando 4628 – Strike From The Sun

Out of the glaring sun they swooped, these messengers of death, to smash great gaps in the formations of German bombers that swarmed over England. And leading them was one of the greatest Spitfire pilots of all time — a man of iron will and brute courage. Boldness, daring, strength flowed from him into those who flew at his wing-tips. When he led…the squadron was invincible.

Introduction
It’s one thing to be able to draw complete aircraft, quite another to draw them disintegrating but Peter Ford handles both situations very well indeed. So much so that he has time for a little fun on page 19 and pushes the envelope on page 51.
   In doing so he sparks this Clegg story into the life its author always intended, the tale of a set of washed-up pilots given another chance to shine. You certainly get a hint of that tension in the pilot’s face on the cover. Good work by Ferraz, one of only two covers he supplied for Commando.
   Better see if they can take the chance, then…

Calum Laird, Commando Editor

Story: Clegg
Art: Peter Ford
Cover: Ferraz
Originally Commando No 64 (April 1963)

Commando 4629 – Mission: Berlin

Berlin had been a battleground throughout the Second World War — first as Allied bombers pummelled the heart of Hitler’s Reich then later as Soviet forces overran the city.
   After Germany’s surrender, the city was divided up amongst the Allies and slowly but surely tensions rose until the city became a battleground once more. Perhaps there were not the pitched battles of previous years, but the skirmishes could be just as deadly…as Captain Tony Hibbert of the Parachute Regiment discovered when he was sent to join the curiously named BRIXMIS.

Story: Mike Knowles
Art: Janek Matysiak
Cover: Janek Matysiak

Commando 4630 – Massacre At Mendhi Pass

A green flare arched into the sky above the Mendhi pass on the North-West Frontier of India and, within minutes the British convoy was winding its way through the mountain gorge. An ominous atmosphere had filled the air and all instincts told Lieutenant Martin Kenwood to turn back, but duty conquered his fears and made him go on. Then suddenly a dark, fearsome figure rose to its feet and screeched the command —
“Death to the infidels!” 

Introduction
Here’s some classic Commando action — courtesy of a couple of Kennedys. I am, of course, referring to our long-time cover artist Ian Kennedy, who does us proud as usual, while the other is none other than Cam Kennedy. Like his namesake, a fan favourite in the world of comics.
   These drawing legends are not related but they are firm friends — and at a Dundee comic convention, Ian jokingly called Cam his brother! They may not be bonded by blood but as well as a surname they share an amazing talent for illustration, in parallel careers spanning many years.

Scott Montgomery, Deputy Editor

Story: Lomas
Art: Cam Kennedy
Cover: Ian Kennedy
Originally Commando No 860 (August 1974); previously reprinted as Commando No 2155 (February 1988)

Comic Cuts - 9 August 2013

Coming Soon!

My second full week on doing layouts. I'm writing this Thursday morning, having spent the first hour proofing text for the next section I'm putting together. As of last night I'd completed 85 pages, including the first 45 pages of the Introduction, the Annuals section, the Title Index and two sections of story précis. Will I have the book finished by next Friday, which is when we'll be celebrating our 7th anniversary? Er... I really don't know. But I should be able to put together a pre-order form over on the Bear Alley Books site so you can order your copy. I don't want to blow my own trumpet—well, not too loudly—but I think this will one of the best-looking books we've done to date.

I'm sad to say that the series Del Tebeo al Manga: Una Historia de los Cómics from Panini Comics in Spain has come to an end after ten volumes. This is a series of books edited by Antoni Guiral covering the history of comics around the world across an astonishing 2,096 pages. This isn't the first attempt at a global study of comics: The World Encyclopedia of Comics edited by Maurice Horn was probably the first and I was one of the writers involved in The Essential Guide to World Comics a few years ago, but these are both single volume books. Del Tebeo al Manga [From Comic Book to Manga] has taken an all-encompassing look at comics of all types—from adventures strips to humour to strips for the very young.

The latest volume looks at graphic novels and albums across Europe and South America, including my take on the subject, 'Los Novelas Gráficas en Gran Bretaña'. Thankfully someone else did the translation into Spanish because my knowledge of Spanish begins and ends with "siesta" (a tradition I have followed for years!). I'm very proud to have contributed to three of the volumes.

Random scans this week are a selection of the books I've picked up over the past few weeks. Actually, the first cover is an old one. One Man's War bought John Scalzi to the attention of many fans when it was published in 2005. It was published in the UK in 2007 and three follow-ups (The Ghost Brigades, The Last Colony and Zoe's Dream) followed in 2008-09. Redshirts is not part of that series but, rather, is a humour novel about a worrying situation on board the space ship Intrepid where low-ranked crewmen keep dying on Away Missions.

Neal Asher is a fellow Essex-born writer. I don't know him, but I thought I'd give his books a try, so I've picked up a couple. It is going to be ages before I get around to reading them, but I'll get around to them. The cover shown is by Jon Sullivan.

And finally, Philip K. Dick's Time Out of Joint. It's one of the books that I got rid of a decade ago when I downsized my paperback collection... and I've probably spent nine of the past ten years picking up books I used to have.

Next week will see the conclusion of 'Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea'. I should have news of the release of the Boys' World book next week. See you then.

John Boland

Bertram John Boland was born in Sparkbrook, Birmingham, Warwickshire, on 12 February 1913, the son of Albert Edward Boland, a manufacturer, and his wife Elizabeth (nee Mills). In the 1930s he worked in a large variety of jobs—farm hand, labourer, deck hand, lumberjack, railroad worker, factory worker, commercial traveller, etc.—and travelled widely. At the age of 17 he went to Canada and also visited the U.S., Alaska and Europe.

After the war Boland became a manufacturer's agent, selling advertising signs and automobile components. He married Philippa J. H. Carver in Birmingham in 1952 (the Philippa to whom many of his books were dedicated) and they continued to live in Northfield, Birmingham, until he went freelance in 1956. Soon after, he and Philippa moved to Wandsworth, London. They later moved to East Sussex, where they lived on the edge of Ashdown Forest.

As well as writing novels, Boland was a regular in John Carnell's SF magazines in the late 1950s and contributed several hundred short stories to newspapers. He worked for TV, writing an episode of No Hiding Place (1963) and founded John Boland Productions Ltd., a film company, in 1964. He penned two movie scripts, The Stone Desert and The Golden Fleece, neither of which were filmed.

Boland was the Chairman of the Birmingham Writers' Group, and Vice-Chairman (1956-57) and Chairman (1958-60) of the Writer's Summer School as well as being connected with other similar groups.

He died on 9 November 1976. The IMDb entry for Boland gives his date of death as 19 June 1976 in San Mateo, California. Not true: this was taken from the American SSDI and is the death date for John J. Boland, born 24 May 1889 in Ireland, who emigrated to the USA in 1908 and worked as a conductor for the US Railroad Co.; he later worked as a riveter in a ship yard and as a labourer after serving as a Sergeant in the US Army during WWI.

PUBLICATIONS

White August (London, Michael Joseph, 1955)
Digit Books, (May) 1957, 188pp, 2/6. Cover by Ralph Bruce
Mayflower Books 9514, 1963, 192pp, 3/6. Design by Sam Suliman

No Refuge (London, Michael Joseph, 1956)
Mayflower Books 6458, 1963, 191pp, 3/6. Cover by Richard Powers?; design by Sam Suliman

The League of Gentlemen (London, T.V. Boardman & Co., 1958)
Pan Books G298, 1960, 159pp, 2/6. Cover by Sam Peffer
Tandem Books T59, 1966, 189pp, 3/6.

Queer Fish (London, T.V. Boardman & Co., 1958)
(no UK paperback)

Bitter Fortune (London, T.V. Boardman & Co., 1959)
(no UK paperback)

Mysterious Way (London, T.V. Boardman & Co., 1959)
(no UK paperback)

Operation Red Carpet (London, T.V. Boardman & Co., 1959)
(no UK paperback)

The Midas Touch (London, T.V. Boardman & Co., 1960)
(no UK paperback)

Negative Value (London, T.V. Boardman & Co., 1960)
(no UK paperback)

The Gentlemen Reform (London, T.V. Boardman & Co., 1961)
Tandem Books T91, 1967, 183pp, 3/6.

The Golden Fleece (London, T.V. Boardman & Co., 1961)
(no UK paperback)

Inside Job (London, T.V. Boardman & Co., 1961)
(no UK paperback)

Vendetta (London, T.V. Boardman & Co., 1961)
(no UK paperback)

Fatal Error (London, T.V. Boardman & Co., 1962)
(no UK paperback)

The Gentlemen at Large (London, T.V. Boardman & Co., 1962)
Tandem Book T98, 1967, 180pp, 3/6.

Counterpol (London, George G. Harrap & Co., 1963)
Tandem Books T10, 1964, 191pp, 3/6.

Counterpol in Paris (London, George G. Harrap & Co., 1964)
(no UK paperback)

The Catch (London, George G. Harrap & Co., 1964)
Tandem Books T48, 1965, 220pp, 3/6. Cover by J. Pollack

The Good Citizens (London, George G. Harrap & Co., 1965)
(no UK paperback)

The Disposal Unit (London, George G. Harrap & Co., 1966)
(no UK paperback)

The Gusher (London, George G. Harrap & Co., 1967)
(no UK paperback)

Painted Lady (London, Cassell, 1967)
(no UK paperback)

Breakdown (London, Cassell, 1968)
(no UK paperback)

The Fourth Grave (London, Cassell, 1969)
(no UK paperback)

The Shakespeare Curse (London, Cassell, 1969)
(no UK paperback)

The Big Job (London, Cassell, 1970)
(no UK paperback)

Kidnap (London, Cassell, 1970)
(no UK paperback)

Holocaust (London, Futura, 1974)
Futura 0860-07111-1, 1974, 192pp.

PLAYS

Murder in Company: A play, with Philip King
French 0573-01289-X, 1973, 68pp.

Elementary, My Dear, with Philip King
French 0573-01577-5, 1975, 80pp.

Who Says Murder?, with Philip King
French 0573-01582-1, 1975, 79pp.


NON-FICTION

Free-lance Journalistm (London, T.V. Boardman & Co., 1960)
(no UK paperback)

Short Story Writing (London, T.V. Boardman & Co., 1960; revised as Short Story Technique, Crowborough, Sussex, Forest House Books, 1973)

The Trade of Kings (Crowborough, Sussex, Forest House Books, 1972)

Jeffery Lloyd Castle

A query was sparked by the appearance of a story in the pages of Cornhill Magazine v.167 no.998 (Winter 1953/54) with a short story, 'The Piper'. Castle wrote a couple of SF novels but was otherwise almost completely unknown. The issue carried the briefest of biographies, which revealed: "Jeffery Lloyd Castle is a writer and student by inclination, engineer by profession, soldier by hazard. His first book Satellite E One is being published next year by Eyre & Spottiswoode."

The book did indeed appear, in 1954, and is described thus on the paperback edition from World Distributors, published in 1962:

"Preparing for a trip to E One meant more than being fitted out with a fancy space suit. It meant learning to walk again – without the help of gravity!
     "My first attempt was an utter failure. Every step turned into a bounce, and before I knew it I was off on a buoyant trip into nothing. In a week I would be the first space pioneer, but right now I was as helpless as a one-year-old."
     Here is a vivid novel about a successful expedition through the airless, waterless, gravity-less regions of outer space – a story charged with the unknown, unimaginable dangers of the ultimate frontier.

The book was successful enough to have an American edition and went into paperback in both the US and UK. Castle's second novel wasn't so successful, appearing in the USA but not in the UK. This second novel, Vanguard to Venus, concerned a race of descendents from ancient Egypt who have created a city on Venus.

Castle published only one more known book, How Not to Lose at Poker, which guided readers through the probabilities associated with various forms of poker.

Castle was born Geoffrey Lloyd Castle on 6 April 1898, in Surbiton, Surrey, the son of Phillip Castle, the director and chairman of Castles Shipbreaking Co. Ltd., and his wife Jessie Maud May (nee Cock). Castle served with the Royal Field Artillery (RFC) during WWI before joining the RFC in 1916; relinquished his temporary commission in the RFC in 1920 and resigned his commission with the RFA in 1923. Was called up in 1939 to serve again with the Royal Artillery. At other times he worked as an aeronautical engineer.

Castle was married in 1938 to Clara Margery Melita Sharp (the Margery to whom Satellite E One was dedicated). He died 8 February 1990 in Aldeburgh, Suffolk, aged 91.

PUBLICATIONS

Novels
Satellite E One. London, Eyre & Spottiswoode, 1954; New York, Dodd, Mead & Co., 1954.
Vanguard to Venus. New York, Dodd, Mead & Co., 1957.

Non-fiction
How Not to Lose at Poker. London, Peter Davies, 1970; Boston, Little Brown, 1970.

Comic Cuts - 2 August 2013

The last week has been very productive and I'm something like 50 pages into the design of the Boys' World book. I might also add that I'm very pleased with the look of the pages... I do, after all, have a pool of some of the finest comic strip artists and illustrators to draw from.

The only down side is that the printing of the original comics left a lot to be desired. Perhaps not the printing but the paper on which they were printing. Modern scanners are unforgiving and every page I've scanned has been marred by being able to see the lettering and images that seep through from the reverse of the page. Every single image needs touching up and a spread can take anything up to an hour to clean up. If only they had drawn everything in lovely, uncomplicated line art rather than line and wash... I can knock out a line art page in a couple of minutes if it's not especially grubby.

I'm hoping to start taking orders in a couple of week's time. I can't promise but it would be nice to have everything finished by the 15th as that will be the seventh anniversary of Bear Alley. Yes, it's our birthday again and we're rapidly approaching 3,000 posts since BA launched on 15 August 2006. If I can get my act together for long enough, I'll hopefully have something surprising and silly for that Friday's Comic Cuts. All I need to do is find some spare time between now and then.

The latest issue of Jeff Hawke's Cosmos has touched down. Volume 8 no.1 (Apr 2013, but released July) steps out into the unknown as editor William Rudling begins a chronological reprinting stories that originally appeared under the name Lance McLane in the Scottish Daily Record, but which were syndicated under the original name of the character, Jeff Hawke. 

The stories in this volume follow immediately on from the story 'The Woman Who Would Be King', included in the previous issue, in which Hawke found himself in an alternate reality. The Earth is in the grip of a new Ice Age, and Jeff and the crew of the Hope attempt to use an alien artefact to burn through to some of Earth's ancient scientific centres in 'The Ice Burner', This issue also contains the stories 'Chalk Circle', 'Sorcerer's Apprentice', 'The Song of the Charioteer' and 'The Little People', all from 1978.

In addition to ten month's worth of the daily strip, you'll also find Andrew Darlington's feature on an obscure Syd Bounds space hero, an obituary of Colin Andrew and Duncan Lunan's always fascinating story and space notes in this 88-page issue. Subscription rates are £26 for three issues here in the UK and £31/38/41 for overseas subscribers, payable in a variety of ways. You can find more details (and back issues) at the Jeff Hawke Club webpage or by contacting william AT williamrudling.co.uk.

Also out in July was Illustrators issue 4 from Book Palace. There's a fantastic lead feature by Bryn Havord on Michael Johnson, whose work epitomized a style of illustration that came to the fore in the swinging sixties. Johnson sculpted his artwork so that some pieces look like they were chipped out of wood with a chisel. For someone who likes his comic strips and illustrations to look realistic and highly finished, I should have problems with Johnson's rough-hewn daubings. But, thanks to an education in romantic art by my pals David Roach and Roger Berry these past couple of years, I'm more able to appreciate the subtlety and beauty of his work.

Other features this issue include a long, rambling interview with Chris McEwan, a look at the cover artwork and artists behind the Pan Book of Horror Stories (a chronological gallery of which can be found here) and a nice piece on Bear Alley favourite L. Ashwell Wood's cutaway drawings.

Together they make another superb issue of this quarterly magazine, which you can order from Book Palace. Full subscription and ordering details can be found here.

Above is a painting by Michael Johnson for a Corgi Books cover. I love this because the model is Sue Longhurst who was one of the Sues that I fancied in my early teenage days. Sue Longhurst, Susan Penhaligan, Susannah York, Susan George... there was just a lot of fanciable Sues whose films were turning up on TV at a time when I was starting to take notice of such things.

No time for any random scans today. I have posts lined up for the weekend but I'm not sure what will be running next week. I want to find a strip but I also really need to be working on the Boys' World book. We shall just have to see what happens.

Commando 4623-4626

Commando issues on sale 1st August 2013

Commando No 4623 – War In Peace

VE-Day, 8th May 1945, marked the end of hostilities on the continent of Europe after six years of fighting. So Commando Lieutenant Andy Rook and his team should have expected a quiet time when they were sent to a remote, mountainous area of Italy.
   Unfortunately it seemed that some of the locals hadn’t got the message as bullets continued to fly as thick and fast and deadly as before.

Story: Mac MacDonald
Art: Keith Page
Cover: Keith Page

Commando No 4624 – Double-Cross!

Young Lieutenant Jim Whitney was a fire-eating paratrooper who asked nothing better than to be dropped where the Nazis were thickest. The more there were around, the more he could shoot, Jim reckoned.
   When it came to fighting you couldn’t blame Jim for thinking his middle-aged scientist father was a bit past it. “Boffins” belonged in their laboratories.
   Yet in their most dangerous raid to date, to find out about the new German radar detectors in Sicily, Jim only discovered after he’d hit the ground that the VIP who dropped with them to steal the German secrets was none other than his own peace-loving Dad — and that was when the fighting really started…  

Introduction

Commando has long had the reputation for clean-cut, lantern-jawed heroes winning out over blood-thirsty fanatical enemies. Whether that’s your take on Commando, I don’t know, but there’s no denying there’s a fanatical, kill-them-at-all-costs character in this tale. And, spoiler alert, he’s British.
   Now you didn’t expect that. Or maybe you did. Maybe you saw past the hint in Chaco’s cover.
   Alonso’s art is very distinctive, strong blacks, bags of action and movement and his very individual treatment of the character’s eyes. That’s what I recall from my early reading days. It was good to get re-acquainted.

Calum Laird, Commando Editor

Story: Kellie
Art: Alonso
Cover: Chaco
Originally Commando No 95 (December 1963)

Commando No 4625 – The Black Devils

The Germans called them The Black Devils — the men who moved through the night to strike swiftly and silently, seemingly at will.
   And although the name could have been because of the black camouflage paint they wore on their faces, it could equally well have described the black fear they struck into their enemies’ hearts.

Story: Mac MacDonald
Art: Olivera
Cover: Janek Matysiak

Commando No 4626 – Pirates With Wings

Doug Robb and the crew of his flying boat were good blokes, well-trained, steady in action. They did their dangerous job and they did it well.
   Then they met Kevin Smythe-Black and his crazy gang of Marine Commandos. That was the day that changed Doug’s airmen into…
   PIRATES WITH WINGS

Introduction

Like many comic readers who grew up in the early 1980s, I was a huge fan of Cam Kennedy’s extraordinary art on stories like The VCs, Rogue Trooper and Judge Dredd for sci-fi title 2000AD. Back then I was too young to have read any of his Commando books from the previous decade so it has been a complete joy to finally see some of the brilliant Mr Kennedy’s earlier work, packed with the same distinctive and dynamic line art. We’re sure that you will enjoy this bona fide Commando classic from 1974 — simply unmissable stuff.

Scott Montgomery, Deputy Editor

Story: R.A. Montague
Art: Cam Kennedy
Cover: Ian Kennedy
Originally Commando No 878 (October 1974), re-issued as No 2172 (April 1988)