The Great Vawser & Wiles / Cresta Books Hunt

A few years ago, I stumbled upon a couple of paperbacks from a publisher I knew nothing about: Cresta Books. They were nothing special, but were the acorn from which this mystery grew.

You see, one of the books featured a character named 'Bull' Rogers, a name I recognised from a series of books that had appeared back in 1952 from an outfit called Cooper Books. The title, Where's That Body?, didn't match any of the known Rogers novels, nor was the byline, Tower Jackson, that of the original author, Arnold Brede. Where's That Body? (1960) by Tower Jackson was, in fact, a reprint of The Climbing Corpse (1952) by Arnold Brede.

The mystery deepened when I discovered that Where's That Body? had earlier appeared from a publisher called Vawser & Wiles. This was around 1957-ish, although Vawser & Wiles as a company had been around since 1940, part of a group of companies established by newspaper publisher Hector Vawser Wiles (1902-1984).

Vawser & Wiles were chiefly known for hobby and craft books in the 1940s, and these later crime novels were unlike anything they had previously published. They even published an Ace Double-style pairing of two novels back to back.

The Vawser reprints had one additional twist, reprinting two novels from publisher Barrington Gray, which opens up another can of worms as Gray (also known as Grayling Press) published quite a few gangster novels over the years.

So that's four publishers who need to be investigated if we are to discover how these books were printed and reprinted, the same books recycled under different titles and bylines. And just to add to the confusion, I don't know the names of the authors of some of those later Cresta Books titles.

I do have the opening lines of some titles, and cover scans of a few, so what I intend doing is listing the books below with what information I have covering both Vawser & Wiles and Cresta Books. I will return to Cooper Books and Barrington Gray in a separate post.

If you have any of these books in your collection I'm after first lines and, hopefully, a cover scan. Drop me a line if you think you can help.

VAWSER & WILES

The Search is On by Ricky Commorde
Vawser & Wiles, c.1957
Reprints “A Dame Is Snatched” by Ricky Commorde (Barrington Gray, 1952)

Dames Meet Death by Len Cooper
Vawser & Wiles, c.1957
Reprints “Death Dates A Dame” by Johnny Death (Barrington Gray, 1952)
Opening line: “When your feeling that low that  you could dangle your pins…”

Live to Remember by Lon Davies
Vawser & Wiles, c.1957
Reprints unknown title by Kent Howard
Opening line: “Things were getting more hazy every second.”

The Lady Gambles by Rex Fuller
Vawser & Wiles, c.1957
Reprints unknown title

Where’s That Body? by Tower Jackson
Vawser & Wiles, c.1957
Reprints “The Climbing Corpse” by Arnold Brede (Cooper Books, 1952)

Too Late to Die by John Kent
Vawser & Wiles, c.1957
Reprints “A Private Killing” by Kent Howard (Cooper Books, 1953)

The Wrong Line by Ray Manson
Vawser & Wiles, c.1957
Reprints "Death Row" by Whit Conway (Cooper Books, 1953)
Opening line: “Well folks, here I am in Death Row—waiting for it.”

Here Comes Trouble by Peter Maxted
Vawser & Wiles, c.1957.
Opening line: "The note came on a Tuesday. It was pencilled in block letters..."

Easy Target by Steve Williams
Vawser & Wiles, c.1957
Reprints unknown title by Kent Howard
Opening line: “Dumb Donovan lay on his bed in his apartment.”

Vawser & Wiles "Two Books in One"

Lead to Ice by Lee Dallas & Then There Was One by Tower Johnson
Vawser & Wiles, c.1957

Dallas: “Leo put the car out full stretch, but Vic cursed, his dark handsome face twitching as he gripped the leather case.”  Reprints Dames, Diamonds and Death! by Chris Wheatley (Barrington Gray, 1953)

Johnson: “The train was late pulling into Paddington Station, so Bull Rogers leapt out of his coach and dashed across the platform and up the long ramp leading to the street.” Possibly a reprint of An Outside Job by Arnold Brede (Cooper Books, 1952)

CRESTA BOOKS

Love Is a Fever by (Author unknown)
Cresta Books

The Last Shot by Chris Duggan
Cresta Books, 1960
Reprints “Heavy Sugar” by Christopher Grey (Cooper Books, 1952)

Live to Remember by (Author unknown)
Cresta Books

Where’s That Body? by Tower Jackson
Cresta Books, 1960
Reprints “The Climbing Corpse” by Arnold Brede (Cooper Books, 1952)

The Princess Pays Up by (Author unknown)
Cresta Books

Too Late To Die by John Kent
Cresta Books
Reprints “A Private Killing” by Kent Howard (Cooper Books, 1953)

Shot in the Dark by Lew Davis
Cresta Books, 1960
Reprints “Death Row” by Whit Conway (Cooper Books, 1953)
Opening line: “Well folks, here I am in Death Row—waiting for it.”

Life at Stake by Peter Lane
Cresta Books, 1960
Reprints ?
Opening line: “Marsh said ‘Hello, Lou,’ and shook hands.”

East Target by Pat Scott
Cresta Books, 1960
Reprints ?
Opening line: “It was a filthy night, and a ditch…”

Comic Cuts — 13 August 2022

We had a bit of a holiday as Mel had the week off work. We hadn't much planned except to take it easy as the temperature soared once again. I still had some bits of work to get through, starting the week with about 20 pages to do, which I plodded through whenever I had a bit of spare time. At the time of writing (Friday morning), I have four pages to finish, and next week I'll do a second pass and get cracking with the introduction.

So... Monday. I spent half the morning battling with Talk Talk over extras that have mysteriously appeared on our bill since we signed up for a deal that would save us a bit of money (we're taking advantage of every saving, what with the coming energy apocalypse). I didn't notice much change last month, but this month's bill was quite a bit higher than expected. Sneaky Talk Talk had added a few extra services that we had turned down previously, e.g. Talk Talk TV, which we don't need.

I spent over an hour talking (via a "live" chat) first to a robot (so not so "live" after all) and, eventually, to a real-life human, who managed to sort things out, although we've had to pay for around six week's worth of services that we haven't used. Not a huge amount, but multiply that by the number of customers they have and being sneaky can really pay off. We've overpaid £12.50... and they have over four million customers, so potentially £50 million in six weeks if everyone catches it as quickly/slowly as I did.

We also had an electrician around fitting smoke alarms, a heat alarm, a carbon monoxide alarm and a new light switch. They're all linked, so if one goes off they all go off. Testing them was... fun? One would go off and a few seconds later the next and then the next. The light switch is not connected and much quieter.

Tuesday I baked some banana bread so we would have some for our planned trip out the next day. I also made a huge saucepan of stew which would last us a couple of days. By the time I finished, that was most of the morning done for, as we'd gone out for a longer walk along the river than we've been able to do lately now that Mel is back in the office.

Post siesta, I think I had time to tidy up a few bits 'n' bobs and write Wednesday's blog post, plus a bit of scan cleaning before giving in to the heat. I try to keep up with 2000AD and its various tie-in collections, plus (of course) the Treasury of British Comics titles. The 'Rebellion Releases' column is one of two regulars (this being the other), plus a fortnightly 'Commando Releases' column and whatever else I can squeeze in. I was amazed and pleased to find that Bear Alley has recently been mentioned in a list of 30 Best UK Comics Blogs and Websites published by Feedspot. It is in some very good company.

On Wednesday we took a trip to the beach at Clacton-on-Sea. Back in the day this was a hugely popular seaside resort, on a direct route from London by train which made coastal towns like Walton and Southend amongst the busiest destinations for day-trippers and holidaymakers during the summer. A lot of the trade has since been lost to cheap package holidays to Spain, but on this hot Wednesday during the summer school holidays it was thriving, vibrant, colourful and packed. We caught the train, meeting up with my Mum, who was already aboard... I should say "eventually meeting up" as we were hurried by a conductor onto the train two carriages early and then found that we couldn't get through via the corridor. Had to hop out at the next stop and run around the blocked doorway.

It was a very pleasant day out: we walked along the beach front, had a drink, wandered down to the end of the pier, meandered along the promenade, ate some of the best fish and chips I've ever had, then pottered around in town visiting some charity shops and picking up a couple of books. We came back mid-afternoon hoping to miss the worst of the heat. All in all a very pleasant day.

We trekked into Colchester on Thursday and again visited half a dozen charity shops. I'm looking for some sandles to replace the cheapie ones I have (£4 in Primark!), which are serviceable, but not made for long walks. Didn't find any, but I got a couple of short-sleeved shirts that will be nice to wear during the hotter days rather than my usual t-shirts. And some books, inevitably. Had a nice lunch and headed back for siesta.

I wanted to do something about Raymond Briggs and originally planned to put in a note in the regular Comic Cuts column. But I figured I couldn't do this (1,000 words or so), sort out my photos, and write a piece about Briggs. So I took the easy option and wrote up Briggs last night and left Comic Cuts for this morning. Which is nearly over, so I need to get lunch sorted. I'll sort out the illustrations this afternoon after siesta. And then I might get around to those last four pages that need to be cleaned up. Back to work next week!

Raymond Briggs 1934-2022

Raymond Briggs, graphic novelist, illustrator and author, died on Tuesday, 9 August 2022, of pneumonia at the Royal Sussex County Hospital, Brighton, at the age of 88.

Born in Wimbledon on 18 January 1934, the son of Ethel (nee Bowyer) and Ernest Briggs, a milkman, and educated at Rutlish School in Merton, Surrey, and Wimbledon School of Art. Following his National Service in the army (1953-55) he went to Slade School of Art and the University of London, eventually gaining a National Diploma in Design and a National Diploma in Fine Art.

Since 1957 he has been a full-time freelance writer and artist, and since 1961 a part-time lecturer in illustration at the Faculty of Art at Brighton Polytechnic. Briggs' early books included The Strange House (1961), Midnight Adventure (1961), Ring-a-Ring o'Roses (verse, 1962), Sledges to the Rescue (1963), The White Land: A Picture Book of Traditional Rhymes  (1963), Fee Fi Fo Fum: A Picture Book of Nursery Rhymes (editor, 1964) and The Mother Goose Treasury (editor, 1966), for which he received the Kate Greenaway Medal.

Briggs' best works were often to be the retelling of classic stories in surprising ways. Jim and the Beanstalk (1970), for instance, was an adventure very much like Jack's, but Jim finds the giant is now mellowed and afflicted with all the problems of age. Similarly Father Christmas (1973) is not the jolly, cheerful Santa most children know and love. It was the first book for which he adopted his distinctive comic strip format that he has since used frequently, and it led to a breakthrough with audiences: the grumpy, grumbling Father Christmas was hugely popular and earned Briggs his second Kate Greenaway Medal in 1974, and earned for himself a sequel, Father Christmas Goes on Holiday (1975).

Fungus the Bogeyman (1977) was a grotesque creature who reveled in the world of slime and bogies and rotting things that hold attraction amongst young children for whom a fart is as finely crafted a joke as the Two Ronnies 'Four Candles' sketch.

The bittersweet The Snowman (1978) was filmed and first shown in December 1982 and has since become a regular Christmas event, and When the Wind Blows (1982), a horrifying tale of nuclear armageddon, has been adapted for radio (1983), theatre (1983) and film (1986). Later works included The Tin-Pot Foreign General and the Old Iron Woman (1984), The Man (1992), The Bear (1994) and Ug: Boy Genius of the Stone Age (2001).

Briggs' work became more biographical. The story of his parents was the inspiration for Ethel & Ernest: A True Story (1998), which won the illustrated book of the year at the British Book Awards. It was filmed in 2016. Notes From the Sofa (2015) collected Briggs' regular column in The Oldie.

Other awards include the Boston Globe-Horn Book Prize in 1979; the Victoria and Albert Museum Francis Williams Prize in 1977 and 1982; and Children's Rights Workshop Other Award in 1982; the Kurt Maschler award in 1992; and the Phoenix Picture Book Award in 2014. Briggs was installed in the British Comic Awards Hall of Fame in 2012 and the appointed a CBE in the Queen's Birthday Honours List in 2017 for services to literature. A study of his works, Raymond Briggs by Nicolette Jones, appeared in 2020. A BBC documentary, Raymond Briggs: Snowmen, Bogeymen and Milkmen, was broadcast in 2018.

Briggs was married in 1963 to painter Jean Taprell Clark. She died from leukaemia in 1973. Briggs lived in Westmeston, Sussex, with his partner Liz, who died in 2015. He had no children.

Rebellion Releases — 10 August 2022

In this new three-novella series, writer John Ware explores more from of this iconic Judge Dredd epic, The Apocalypse War! Mega-City One is a powder keg waiting to blow on its best day. There isn’t a moment when tensions aren’t running high and the city isn’t ready to crack. But there’s something even more deadly happening: Block Mania, and no one is immune, not even the Judges. This is the prelude to invasion! The East-Meg One Sovs have thrown the city into massive, bloody turf wars before launching a devastating nuclear attack. There are troops on the ground, bombs are dropping and the Big Meg is on fire. And the Judges are drawing the line. Out on 10 August, these novellas – available in print and ebook editions – will tell the on-the-ground stories of the Judges of Mega-City One during the events of the epic Block Mania and Apocalypse War story arcs.
    The three e-book novellas will be published in book form in November (ISBN 978-178618624-9, 10 November 2022, 416pp, £9.99).

2000AD Prog 2294
Cover: Alex Ronald

Judge Dredd: Special Relationship by Rob Williams (w) Patrick Goddard (a) Quinton Winter (c) Annie Parkhouse (l)
Brink: Mercury Retrograde by Dan Abnett (w) INJ Culbard (a) Simon Bowland (l)
Skip Tracer: Valhalla by James Peaty (w) Paul Marshall (a) Dylan Teague (c) Simon  Bowland (l)
Dexter - Bulletopia: Malice In Plunderland by Dan Abnett (w) Tazio Bettin (a) Matt Soffe (c) Annie Parkhouse (l)
Jaegir: Ferox by Gordon Rennie (w) Simon Coleby (a) Len O'Grady (c) Jim Campbell (l)

Apocalypse War: Pack Instinct by John Ware
Rebellion, 10 August 2022, £8.99 / £2.99 (ebook)
Mega-City One is a powder keg waiting to blow on its best day!
    There isn’t a moment when tensions aren’t running high and the City isn’t ready to crack. But there’s something new going on, something bad. It’s open war in the streets, block vs block. It’s a Block war.
    It’s Block Mania, and no one is immune, not even the Judges.

Apocalypse War: The World Will End Today by John Ware
Rebellion, 10 August 2022, £8.99 / £2.99 (ebook)
The Sovs are coming! The Sovs are here!
    Block Mania was just the start. The East-Meg One Sov’s have infected Mega City One with Block-Mania to throw the city into massive, bloody turf wars. And all of this is just a prologue to and all out nuclear attack.
    Now East-Meg One is invading. There are troops on the ground, bombs are dropping and the Mega City One is on fire.
    And the Judges are drawing the line

Apocalypse War: The Bloody Fist of Justice by John Ware
Rebellion, 10 August 2022, £8.99 / £2.99 (ebook)
Mega City One is under siege and the Judges are fighting a war of attrition!
    They had given up more territory to the enemy, and there was almost nothing left to give up. Neither Judges or citizens expected to see the next day. The cityblocks were burning and more than half the city had been rendered uninhabitable It looked like this would be the last night of the Apocalypse War, the last night of Mega-City One. While in East-Meg, enemy territory, on the other side of the world, one desperate band attempted the unthinkable.

Hawk the Slayer #5 (of 5) by Garth Ennis & Henry Flint
Cover: Greg Staples.

Don’t miss the all new comic-book sequel to the classic eighties fantasy movie as the epic adventure reaches its thrilling finale – Hawk demands vengeance for Gort, and so our heroes commence their assault on Voltan’s stronghold. Who will survive the climactic battle? Be here for Chapter Five: ‘Die By the Sword’!

Ron Tilling

Following on from last week's discovery of a previously unknown science fiction writer, I continued to dig further and have found another—but this time we can actually identify a couple of his stories. Both appeared under the name Ron Paul in the pages of Authentic Science Fiction Monthly: 'Blue Rose' (little more than a vignette) in issue 56 (April 1955) and 'Lonely Immortal' in issue 67 (March 1956).

In the 25 February 1956 issue of the Louth Standard, above a headline 'Science Fiction Writing. Young Louth author's profitable spare-time occupation', is a photo of Ron Tilling at his typewriter. Sadly, the image in the copy I have available is so poor that he is barely distinguishable from the typewriter. The article reveals much about Tilling's persistence.

Science fiction writing has been turned into a profitable spare-time occupation by 20-year-old Ron Tilling, of 10a Queen Street, Louth. After finishing his day's work in a Louth office, he begins work on his own typewriter—bought out of his spare-time earnings. But instead of accounts and business letters he taps out accounts of life on other planets, space ships, space travel and the like.
    Since he started writing short stories three years ago Ron has had plenty of rejection slips, but has recently sold four stories—two to a science fiction magazine and two to "Midweek Reveille."
    His writing has earned him 36gns., which has almost covered the cost of a new portable typewriter and a correspondence course on fiction writing.
    Of science fiction writing he says "I try to base it on the accepted scientific possibilities. I hate fantasy."
    To give his stories the right authentic backgrounds, he reads all he can in the way of scientific news, and uses his imagination to enlarge on it.
    He took up writing as a hobby when he was at school. Prevented by attacks of asthma and bronchitis from joining in any kind of sport, he found he had more time on his hands than most boys.
    Later, he helped form a concert party among Youth Centre members. It was named the Flying Saucers (even then things from outer space had a fascination for him), and he wrote the scripts for the one act plays which were produced by them.
    The Saucers broke up in July, 1953 and Ron turned his hand to writing short stories. He took a correspondence course, and joined the Penman Club, who criticised his manuscripts and advised him about markets.
    A typewriter was bought out of money he had saved, and by now the machine has almost paid for itself out of earnings.
    His first  effort, 'The Guests of Binham Hall' met with lots of rejection slips, as did the stories which came after.
    Then his father died, and for almost six months Ron did not write a thing.
    Last winter came his first success, a science fiction thriller, 'The Blue Rose,' was accepted by Authentic Science, a monthly magazine.
    It was printed on 15th April—a great day for Ron—and appeared under his pen name Ron Paul. Paul, by the way, is the first part of girl friend Pauline's name.

SHIFTED PLANETS

Since then another of his stories, 'Lonely Immortal,' has been accepted by the magazine, and two humorous stories have been accepted by Reveille.
    "I used to enjoy reading science fiction, and that is how I came to write it," he explained. "There is a better chance of getting it published, too, because there are fewer science fiction writers."
    Although the stories he has sold have taken only a few hours to write, he is not always able to dash them off so quickly.
    One story, 'The Machine,' ran to 1,500 words when it was first written. After it had "done the rounds" of editors, he re-wrote it, this time extending it to 8,000 words and shifting it to another planet!
    He has also tried his hand at dramatic fiction and religious drama, and altogether has completed some 50 short stories.
    Ron is fast discovering the problems facing an up-and-coming writer. For instance, one editor to whom he submitted a story replied that there must be no mention of drink or gambling in the script. One of the scenes had been set in the bar of the "local."
    Ron's mother, Mrs. A. G. Tilling, had an urge to write when she was young. She was Ron's first critic, and is very proud of his success.
    He is a great reader. His favourite authors are Ray Bradbury, John Steinbeck, Somerset Maugham and Stephen Lister.

From the evidence in the article, it would appear that Ronald Tilling was born in 1936, his birth registered in Grimsby, not far from Louth in Lincolnshire. He was the younger son of James A. Tilling, a motor mechanic, and Alice Gertrude Johnson, who were married in 1928. A brother, Tony, was born in 1930. James Tilling died in early 1954, aged 51, and Alice married her second husband, David White, in 1957. The marriage did not last, as David died in 1958, aged 66, and Alice married a third time, to Cyril Leonard, in 1959. She died in 2002.

Ronald Tilling married Pauline Smith in early 1958, after which I lose track of him. [He is not the person named Ronald Tilling who died in 1982 (b.1918), 1988 (b.1914) or 2003 (b.1929).]

The Flying Saucers' Revue variety group ran for 14 months at the Louth Youth Centre and first performed in December 1950. The company of eleven was led by Mervyn Edward Cawte (1928-1996) and Miss K. M. Stephenson (warden), and made their first  appearance at the Youth Centre's Christmas party with a half-hour show. The group included comedians, tap dancers, singers, and musicians.

They made their performance debut in March 1951 at the Liberal Club in aid of the Old Age Pensioners' Building Fund. Ron Tilling appeared in a one act comedy play, 'To-day Of All Days', produced by Miss K. M. Stevenson and Mrs. E. Teesdale. A later show in June included a theme song ('Two Little Men in a Flying Saucer'), which opened the show, with Tilling appearing in appearing in comedy sketches.

They disbanded in January 1952 with some of the Saucers deciding to form a new company, the District Amateur Variety Entertainments Company, led by M. E. Cawte, with Ron Tilling as Secretary. I have a feeling that this was a short-lived venture as Cawte was soon after separated from his wife and moved to Southsea.

Comic Cuts — 5 August 2022

I managed to complete work on the Steel Claw book mentioned last week, and I'm now knee deep in giant ape doings... yes, it's Mytek the Mighty!

It has been quite a fun week, in fact. It began with doing a second pass on the Steel Claw artwork on Monday and finishing off the introduction that I started writing last week, this one looking at the influences on a couple of stories, which range from the real historical horrors of Devil's Island to the latest gadgetry of James Bond's Thunderball. I'm thinking of writing something about artist Jesus Blasco for the next one, but we shall see. Talking of artists, I suspect that Eric Bradbury will be the subject for the second Mytek introduction... I'll see how I feel next week when I have the artwork finished.

I'm trying to pull ahead a bit so I can take a couple of weeks off  to do a new Bear Alley book, similar to the biography of John Chisnall and his motorcycling exploits that I published a couple of years ago. A friend of John's saw the book, liked it, and mentioned that he was thinking of writing about his own biking saga. So, hopefully, I can squeeze that in at some point because I'm thinking that I will definitely be needing a new computer in the not-too-distant future. My poor computer has rattled and hummed unhappily during the heatwave and I don't want to risk a meltdown.

It is now 11 years old and struggling to operate at top speed. I think there's a bit of throttling going on to keep things cool, but, also, it now has seven years' worth of Windows 10 updates crammed onto a drive designed for Windows 7. (I've wrote about my previous history with computers back in 2011 when I was trying to get the current computer to work. Incidentally, I still have the same laptop running Windows XP and still use it for watching DVDs.)

Once the new book is confirmed, I might splash out on the computer, so that I get to test run its capabilities as I get into scanning and designing. I'm hoping that the new machine will be faster, but it should also have far better graphics and sound cards. I'm also hoping that I'll see some improvements to the wireless connection to our internet hub.

The alternative is to wait until closer to Christmas and temporarily setting up in the living room rather than in my office. The office is a converted garage with no insulation, so it gets freezing cold in here and any heat quickly disappears through the single brick walls and paper-thin ceiling. I'm thinking that the living room will retain the heat better — and that could be vital when there's talk of the energy cap potentially hitting £3,600—that's up by £2,200 from last year's cap of £1,400, or an extra £183 a month. I'm also hoping that a new computer will be more energy efficient although we're likely to be talking pence rather than pounds.

Lots to think about, although still at least a couple of month's away. In the meantime, I'm planning to keep on scanning.

Incidentally, I picked the header image because I remember that scene vividly. It indirectly got me into comics when I was seven. A near neighbour whose son I went to school with took Richard and I to see a rerun of two Bond movies (Thunderball and From Russia With Love) in 1969. I had then recently had some corrective eye surgery and was reading everything I could lay my hands on, which was mostly what my Dad left laying around. So lots of James Hadley Chase and John Creasey... but also the Ian Fleming James Bond paperbacks.

I described the thrills of these films and books to another pal, who said that they were a favourite of his older brother, who had some of the books. My ears pricked up because I couldn't lay my hands on some of them (they were in the grown ups section of the library and I couldn't borrow them on my library ticket). I took a chance to visit my friend and see what he had... but what I discovered was a small pile of Valiant comics that I started looking at. The stories — and specifically The Steel Claw — blew me away and I started ordering Valiant from my local newsagent.

So I got into comics thanks to James Bond, not knowing that Bond was a heavy influence on that strip in 1966. Years later, when I was able to build up a reasonable collection of older issues, I have to admit that it was my favourite period for the strip and having the opportunity to bring it back into print, albeit in Spain, has been a joy!

But the Thunderball image above (by Frank McCarthy) is memorable to me because I had that image on a jigsaw puzzle. In fact, I had two, one from Thunderball and one from From Russia With Love, still two of my favourite Bond movies. I had a quick dig around the web and found these box images... these are the ones I had, from Arrow, c.1966. I wonder what happened to them? I bet they're worth a fortune now!

What I never knew until now was that there were two others that I never had, a second from Thunderball and one from Goldfinger.

.

Commando 5563-5566

Four stories breaking all the rules in this explosive set of air and land-based action adventures! Commando issues 5563-5566 are in shops and online from today, Thursday, August 4, 2022.

5563: Battleaxe

The retreat from Halfaya pass in June 1941 sees Sister Darcy Jackson picking up stragglers, as she limps behind the main force in her faithful Austin K2Y Ambulance. With a lost sepoy, a charming pilot and an arrogant lieutenant aboard, when their captured German Major turns the tables on our stalwart heroes, they have to break all the rules to survive!

A high-paced and explosive fifth story from R Tate, with dynamic and detailed interiors from Alberto Saichann and an impactful cover from Mark Harris.

Story | R Tate
Art| Alberto Saichann
Cover | Mark Harris

5564: Big Trouble!

Johnny and his Special Forces men love nothing more than sneaking into Norway and harrying the Nazis — but when they inadvertently capture a Dornier flying boat, an unexpected challenge comes their way. Squadron Leader Peter Trill, an expert test pilot, is sent in by the RAF to take charge of a hotch-potch crew borrowed from Coastal Command. In a clash of wills and departments, can these allies pull together to make the best use of an enemy plane?

A dynamic story from Montague is complimented by interiors from ever-popular Gordon C Livingstone with intricate cover art from Tregenza.

Story | R A Montague
Art | Gordon C Livingstone
Cover | Tregenza
Originally Commando No. 1284 (1979).

5565: For Honour!

Edric of Burley and The Green Men are typical mercenaries of the Plantagenet Wars — they’ll do anything for a mug of ale and an old-fashioned sparring match! But, when faced with the evil Godfrey of Tours, the fate of a small village in an English-held region of France hangs in the balance, and so Sir Thomas Mulbarton must remind the motley crew that honour is not just a romantic ideal and that a contract can have more in the balance than a simple bag of coin.

Andrew Knighton’s witty tale features characterful interiors from Khato and a heroic cover from Neil Roberts.

Story | Andrew Knighton
Art | Khato
Cover | Neil Roberts

5566: Top Cover

Tony Norton was a formidable pilot, and in the dense jungles of South East Asia, was providing vital cover and intel for the forces on the ground. But Tony doesn’t need a plane to carry out his duties as he suddenly finds himself amongst the ground troops! As they fight the Japanese and carry out their mission, secrets are unveiled and new light is shed on Tony’s pilot colleagues.

Expressive interiors from Nebot add to the drama of a second story from R A Montague with a classic cover from Commando legend, Ian Kennedy.

Story | R A Montague
Art | Nebot
Cover | Ian Kennedy
Originally Commando No. 1825 (1984)

Rebellion Releases — 3 August 2022

Saving the planet has never been so violent – the first adventures of the ultimate eco-warrior, Finn, are available to pre-order now from the 2000AD web shop!

Written by Pat Mills and Tony Skinner, with art by Jim Elston, Kevin Wicks, and Liam Sharp, these stories of the pagan warlock fighting the powerful secret society of the alien Newts are collected in graphic novel form for the first time.

Finn is a cab driver by day and a witch by night, Finn is part of a coven dedicated to protecting humanity from the agents of the old ‘Great Ones’, the ancient intergalactic beings who separated humanity from their beastly nature, and have maintained control ever since. Finn uses arcane magic and high-tech weaponry to take the fight to the Newts as he attempts to undermine their control of the military-industrial complex and free humanity from their shackles.

Out in December, Finn: Origins is available in standard paperback with cover by Jim Elston and webshop exclusive hardcover with cover by Charlie Gillespie (Judge Dredd).

And now, for this week's releases...

2000AD Prog 2293
Cover: Paul Marshall / Dylan Teague (cols)

Judge Dredd: Special Relationship by Rob Williams (w) Patrick Goddard (a) Quinton Winter (c) Annie Parkhouse (l)
Skip Tracer: Valhalla by James Peaty (w) Paul Marshall (a) Dylan Teague (c) Simon  Bowland (l)
Dexter - Bulletopia: Malice In Plunderland by Dan Abnett (w) Tazio Bettin (a) Matt Soffe (c) Annie Parkhouse (l)
Brink: Mercury Retrograde by Dan Abnett (w) INJ Culbard (a) Simon Bowland (l)
Jaegir: Ferox by Gordon Rennie (w) Simon Coleby (a) Len O'Grady (c) Jim Campbell (l)

Judge Dredd: The Complete Case Files Vol. 40 by John Wagner et al.
Rebellion ISBN 978-178618583-9, 4 August 2022, £21.99. Available via Amazon.

In the nightmare metropolis of the future he is judge, jury and executioner - he is Judge Dredd!
    The best-selling Complete Case Files series continues with the gripping and timely epic Total War. Judge Dredd battles a terrorist organization called Total War, who are determined to democratise Mega-City One - or destroy it. Total War have two hundred thermonuclear devices planted across the city and one will be detonated  each day the Judges remain in power. Total War will have democratization - or they will have mass-death. The choice is the Judges' - and time is running out.
    Drawn by a roster of the greatest artists working on Judge Dredd in the 21st Century - John Higgins (Watchmen), Henry Flint (Zombo), Ian Gibson (The Ballad of Halo Jones) and D'Israeli (Scarlet Traces) - the Judge Dredd: The Complete Case Files series has sold over half a million copies.

The Best of Cat Girl by Ramzee, Elkys Nova & Giorgio Giogetti
Rebellion ISBN 978-178618783-3, 4 August 2022, 128pp, £16.99 / $18.99. Available via Amazon.

The beloved UK superheroine finally pounces into her own collection! From the pages of classic 1960s girls' comic Sally comes the first ever collection of beloved British superheroine The Cat Girl! Cathy Carter is not your average teen. She can jump further, fight longer and climb higher than anyone she knows – with the aid of a magic suit, she is Cat Girl! Facing off in glamorous, globetrotting adventures against supervillains and master criminals, Cathy often finds the hardest fight comes from her bumbling detective father, who doesn’t believe Cathy can fend for herself. Can Cathy save the world when the person trying to hold her back – is her dad? This collection contains Cat Girl's latest adventure, Cat Girl Returns from the Tammy & Jinty special, as well as a purrfect selection of the best classic Cat Girl stories from Sally, and a brand new cover from Elkys Nova.

Monster Fun Summer Special
Cover: Neil Googe / Len O'Grady (cols)

Kid Kong by Alec Worley (w) Karl Dixon (a+l)
Steel Commando by Ned Hartley (w) Dan Boultwood (a) Leila Jess (l)
Frankie Stein by Cavan Scott (w) John Lucas (a) Gary Caldwell (c) Amber Sea (l)
Draculass by Lizzie Boyle (w) Edward Whatley (a) H.A. O'Millar (l)
Home Invaders by Juni Ba (w+a+l)
Martha's Monster Make Up by David Bulmer (w) Abigail Bulmer (a) SquakeZz (l)
Hire A Horror by Matt Baxter (w+a+l)
The Leopard From Lime Street by Simon Furman (w) Laurent Lefeuvre (a+l)
Hell's Angel by Chris Garbutt (w+a+l)

Comic Cuts — 29 July 2022

Even in the middle of working on the latest task at hand, namely putting together the artwork and an introduction to the fourth book collecting The Steel Claw for a Spanish publisher, I can still be distracted by a mystery. One that came to light this week still has me scratching my head, and I'm hoping that somebody out there — maybe not a regular reader but someone Google searching for someone in their family tree perhaps — will be able to shed some light.

Bert Barton is briefly mentioned in Rob Hansen's Then, the history of British science fiction fandom, where Rob says "Apart from London and Belfast one of the few cities known to have an active fan group at this point was Birmingham. The Birmingham Science Fiction Club was apparently formed in 1949 by Bert Barton and held weekly meetings in a pub somewhere in the Digbeth area of the city, at which between six and twenty members would be present. The group never produced any fanzines, so far as is known, and so there's little we can tell about them but it is known that the group was written up in the Evening Despatch, a local newspaper, and that the really keen members would occasionally organise a trip to London in order to attend the White Horse and get the chance to speak to famous authors.This appears to have been the limit of their contact with fandom nationally." (p.91)

Well, the reference to an appearance in a local Birmingham newspaper turns out to be a report in the Wednesday, October 8, 1952 issue headlined "He starts space society" under a photograph of the mysterious Bert Barton. reading a copy of the February 1950 Amazing Stories.

From the couple of clues in the brief report, it seems likely that Bert was born Herbert Charles Barton, born on November 6, 1919, the son of Charles H. and his wife Flora Alvina Barton (nee Dougherty, 1893-), who were married in Birmingham in 1915. He seems to have been an only child, as his father died young, aged only 37 in 1924.

Barton was still living with his widowed mother in Birmingham just before the war when he was working as an aircraft subcontractor's material control and buying clerk.

Barton married Marjorie Phyllis Allcock in 1942 and had two children, Patricia M. (1942) and Robert K. (1947). In the 1940s, Barton was living at 75 Regent Road, Handsworth. He died in December 1991, aged 72.

What makes Bert Barton of particular interest is the report that he "writes modern space-fiction under various pen-names."

Which begs the question... what did he write and where was it published? The majority of published SF from that period in the pages of New Worlds and Authentic SF and the like are known. Nothing appeared under Barton's own name, and the source of most pseudonyms at that time was the cheap end of the paperback market. Could Barton have been behind still unidentified pen-names in the John Spencer SF magazines, or the author behind Vector Magroon or some such other still to be identified pseudonym.

I'll have to classify this as "a mystery that has me mystified". (There's a phrase that long-time readers will recognise!)

Rebellion Releases — 27 July 2022

News arrived last Thursday (21st July) of the death of Alan Grant, one of the main architects of 2000AD. He followed the route of many, working for DC Thomson before leaving for London, eventually being invited by Kelvin Gosnell to join the staff of 2000AD. As AALN-1, he notably encouraged the introduction of new talents, including Alan Moore. He was on staff for less than two years, leaving in 1980.

Having already penned the epic 'Black Hawk' (1979-80), he began collaborating with John Wagner, their first co-written stories including 'The Judge Child', 'Block War', and the introductions of Otto Sump and The Fink. They went on to co-write 'The Apocalypse War', 'A Question of Judgement', 'The Midnight Surfer', 'Oz' and dozens of other classics, before continuing to write solo from 1988.

Wagner/Grant creations included Strontium Dog, Ace Trucking Co., Doomlord, Sam Slade – Robo-Hunter, Invasion 1984!, Anderson Psi Division, The Thirteenth Floor, and often filling half the pages of 2000AD and Eagle with their stories under a multitude of pseudonyms.

They broke into American comics with Outcasts (1987-88) and took over the writing of Batman for a notable run with artist Norm Breyfogle. This led to work on characters as wide ranging as L.E.G.I.O.N., The Demon, RoboCop (based on the movie) and Lobo.

When I moved to Colchester in 1992, it was a hub of comic creativity, with Alan and his wife, Sue, living at The Church House, in nearby Frating (a couple of miles from where I'm now sitting), John Wagner in Bury St Edmonds and Pat Mills living in the same road as I did. Knowing Alan was nearby made him an obvious choice for an interview subject in the very first issue of Comic Collector.

Alan's career encompassed comics, novels, animation, publishing (Wasted, Berserker Comics, Rok of the Reds), convention organization (Moniave Comic Festival) and charity work (including Moniave Fights Back, published to raise money for those hit hard by Covid). You'll find tributes to his work at the 2000AD Website and at Down the Tubes. Here I'll just say that there's an awful lot of his work that I loved, not just in 2000AD, but in Eagle ('The House of Daemon') and independently (my favourite being The Bogie Man).

I'll leave you with two things. Firstly, the thoughts of his long-time collaborator, John Wagner, who said on Facebook, "Alan was a dear friend, a valued collaborator and a man I respected immensely. He was a far better supporter of comics and comic creators than I and always seemed to have time to help people that needed encouragement. In our own work together when my creative juices were flagging he added a new dimension to stories like Dredd and Strontium Dog and by his contributions made them so much better. His time on Batman with Norm Breyfogle will remain forever one of the highlights of the title and character. He was my co-conspirator on many stories that I hold dearest, especially The Bogie Man and more recently Rok of the Reds. He will be sorely missed by all who love comics and indeed, all who love the good guys of this world."

And, lastly, fans gave Grant a one minute standing ovation at this weekend's San Diego Comic Con International.

Here's an interview I did with Alan for Comic World back in 1993. There was a slight glitch on the first column of the second page, but it's readable. (The reference to humping desks was because we moved office the day before I did these interviews and we were literally carrying our desks up the road from East Hill to Castle House.)

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2000AD Prog 2292
Cover: Cliff Robinson / Dylan Teague (cols).

Judge Dredd: Special Relationship by Rob Williams (w) Patrick Goddard (a) Quinton Winter (c) Annie Parkhouse (l)
Skip Tracer: Valhalla by James Peaty (w) Paul Marshall (a) Dylan Teague (c) Simon  Bowland (l)
Dexter - Bulletopia: Malice In Plunderland by Dan Abnett (w) Tazio Bettin (a) Matt Soffe (c) Annie Parkhouse (l)
Brink: Mercury Retrograde by Dan Abnett (w) INJ Culbard (a) Simon Bowland (l)
Jaegir: Ferox by Gordon Rennie (w) Simon Coleby (a) Len O'Grady (c) Jim Campbell (l)

Comic Cuts — 22 July 2022

Most of the readers of this blog are British, so, of course, we have to talk about the weather.

To understand the weather around here, you need to know a couple of things. Colchester is built on a hill. When the Romans came to Britain and built a capital city, Camulodunum, they built it on the hill, which was already the power centre of local ruler Cunobelin over 2,000 years ago. (A quick check on Wikipedia reveals that the gravel hill on which the town is built dates back to the Middle Pleistocene period, and ancient handtools and weapons have been found that have lain there since the Palaeolithic era.) The town is built around the River Colne, which flows out into the North Sea just down the road from where we live. The river in photos I've posted here over the years is the Colne.

This is a rather roundabout way of introducing our weather. The city (yes, Colchester is a city now) is one of the driest places in the UK, with around 25 inches of rainfall a year. I've always believed that some weather fronts skirt Colchester, maybe because it's on a hill, based on  the definitive scientific evidence of my Mum mentioning it is raining in Chelmsford and it not raining here in Colchester 20 minutes later. I now think this must be wrong, as Chelmsford's annual rainfall averages 1 3⁄4 inches less than Colchester; my new theory is that Colchester is getting more rainfall because its climate is affected by Continental weather patterns and its proximity to the North Sea.

What all this means is that we didn't suffer the worst of the recent heatwave, although I do believe we hit a new record temperature. Colchester's previous high was 36.1°C (97°F) back in the summer of 2003.

With weather reports warning us that things were going to get hot, hot, HOT! after the weekend, Mel chose to work from home for a couple of days, so we reverted back to our old pandemic habit of taking a walk down to the river in the early morning. I had a relatively easy job to tackle — the second pass over the scans I had been cleaning up, which doesn't cause anywhere near the tension that was causing problems during the first pass. Thank Dog it didn't,  because the last thing I would have needed was a heat pad when the temperature hit 35°C.

With the doors and windows open throughout the house, curtains closed and plenty of water to drink, the office didn't feel too uncomfortable. The dry heat of the days gave way to a more humid night temperature that had only dropped to 33°C at 7 o'clock and was still in the high twenties when I tried to get to sleep.

Tuesday began at around 22°C and was ten degrees hotter at 10 o'clock that morning. The temperature peaked here at 37°C and hit 38°C in Colchester, smashing the record set almost two decades earlier. The peak in Coningsby, in Lincolnshire, was 40.3°C (104°F), which made it news in the USA, where presenters seemed shocked to learn that most houses don't have air-conditioning. We've never really needed it before, but we're going to in the future — the ten hottest years since measurements began (1884), have all happened since 2002. We do have a large fan that we sat on the floor in front of us so that it blew cooling air onto our bare legs as it swung back and forth. That and the ice creams we treated ourselves to did the trick.

The heat of Tuesday night/Wednesday morning was still excessive... we had been promised thunderstorms, but all we got was a few low rumbles and no rain whatsoever. We still haven't had any. Come on rain! We have tomatoes that need you.

The next set of scans is now in the works. I completed the last book on Wednesday when I finished the introduction, and then spent the rest of the day copying files around on my computer and external hard drives in order to make some space for the next book, plus a Windows update that inconveniently arrived just at the wrong time. So I've switched from Spider to Steel Claw. It's cooler, nights  are far more comfortable, the weekend isn't far away... life's good!