Why WP CBO Went Down…and is STILL Down.

Okay, CBOers. Here is the lowdown on why Word Press CBO was “suspended” (again).  We were getting so many hits that WP could not handle the numbers (WHAAAAT??!!!):

“Unfortunately, we were forced to suspend comicbitsonline as it was causing high loading issues on the server. Due to this affecting all of the other accounts on the system, we had to take immediate action for the health of the server.”


With the hits so high on this site I think everything needs to move from the old site.  Why offer blogs if you cannot support a lot of activity/hits?


Go figure.

CBO WordPress Down……..AGAIN!

I’m hoping that some of you who visit the first CBO blog are popping by here.  Why? Well, CBO at Word Press is down again.  Possibly due to external interference.

Sadly, Blogger does not have the translation buttons the WP CBO has nor the category block. However, as I am unable to change or alter anything on WP (DO NOT ask why -I get very very angry) I may just start posting everything here BEFORE the WP site.

CBO takes a lot of hard work and to come up against this problem repeatedly is a joke gone sour.

So keep this page bookmarked!

Zine funding, documentary making and a London show transfer


IdeasTap  
29 May 2012
 
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Hello Terry !
We hope you’re enjoying the sunshine – we are! And to get your week off to an even better start, we’ve got some smashing new opportunities on IdeasTap for the young creative folk you know.
Creative Writing
 
The Anthology
We’re looking for a collective to make an online magazine – they’ll win £2,000 and support too. It could be a poetry anthology, an illustration zine – anything! Check out the film collective Brain Wash’s winning work from the last round.
 
Creative Writing
 
BFI Doc Next Lab
Our partners at the BFI are offering free workshops, tutoring and £1,500 funding to help documentary makers aged 16-25 get their skills up. Apply by 4 June.
 
Performing Arts
 
The IdeasTap Photographic Award
Through our partnership with Magnum Photos, we’re offering emerging photographers cash, industry mentoring and showcasing. Apply by 15 June.
 
Performing Arts
 
NSDF Edinburgh Competition
Know some students who are taking a new show to the Edinburgh Fringe? Win £1,000 and a transfer to Pleasance London through the National Student Drama Festival. Apply by 16 July.
 
       

Is There Anyone Insane With A Lot Of Money To Waste?

Barry on the Alan Class yahoo group posted this:

“Hi,

Having read about the high prices that dealers are trying to sell the Alan Class books for, this has got to be the ultimate in rip-off price for an Alan Class B/W comic at nearly £32,000 !!!!”

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/FANTASTIC-FOUR-1-1960S-MARVEL-COMICS-UK-KIRBY-RARE-CREEPY-WORLDS-32-/230775470491?pt=US_Comic_Books&hash=item35bb4a399b

Regards
Barry

I asked the fellow who introduced me to that dealer I mentioned if he could ask him the value.  Reply within 40 minutes “£2 to £3 at the very most if you are desperate.”  I will not print his response to the price being asked though he had, it seems, checked it: “Tell him (me) to note what the seller has written:’No returns accepted’!”

 Look at the image posted there -tatty edges to cover, browning pages and looks like the spine of the book is going. My top spend for it? £1.50

Black Tower Comics: Return Of The Gods: Twilight Of The Super Heroes


Writer/artist: Terry Hooper-Scharf
Black Tower Comics
Comic Album format (A4)
Paperback
black & white
197 pages
£9.00

Originally published, after 12 years, in Black Tower Adventure #s1-6, Return of the Gods: Twilight of the Super Heroes sees several storylines combined into one big event

Heroes around the world disappear after being chased by glowing orange spheres -the world believes them dead though the hero community is pursuing every avenue of investigation, including the possibility that a super villain may be behind the disappearances.  But the heroes have actually been transported to a huge walled city on a dimensional plane -Neo Genesis -he home of the gods.

Unknown to the heroes, they are pawns in a game by the gods to use them to fight of the return of the Ancient Old Dark Gods.

Meanwhile, on Earth, an alien invasion beach-head action by the Boarmen has taken place. Huge impenetrable domes have concealed cities around the world and all within are trapped -which includes some long forgotten heroes.

The hero community as well as world governments find their resources stretched on several fronts: trying to penetrate the city domes, search for the lost heroes and in a last desperate attempt to stop the Boarmen, a team heads off into space.  Meanwhile, Earth’s mystical heroes gather…

On Neo Genesis heroes and gods die while a mysterious figure looks on.

Join BTCGs Indian, Pakistani, Chinese, Singaporean, British and other international heroes in the ultimate Black Tower adventure where heroes DO die and death is final.

No one comes back from the dead.

This edition contains five new pages of art.

“The Bristol Show Does Not Impress Everyone”

So says the Forbidden Planet International blog.  There were a lot of moaners, many tweeting under pseudonyms or just being two-faced (one complainee was all smiles with the organisers when I saw him).
I posted the following response

This was the first year that the Expo did not have Mike Allwood as organiser. The new organisers have some lessons to learn but I do think certain people are moaning for the sake of it. Steve Tanner of Time Bomb Comics launched his new title Kronos City at the expo and made it clear he did better this year than 2010/2011 combined! Several other publishers were doing really well and some were selling out of books (Cinebooks the 9th Art are always selling out of books so I’m not includinmg them!).

Several of the usual dealers in old comics were not there but Nostalgia Comics seemed to be doing okay and had reasonably priced comics. Others were so highly priced it was unbelievable.

I think combining the talks venue with a dealer room might draw more people to it.

I was posting schedule of events for a month before the event and even announced that Denny O’Neill could not attend due to ill health. Even so, there was a printed schedule at the event but people just were not looking and some moaning about no goody bag.

Bristol Expo has always been one of the most popular UK events and even with the proliferation of new events I am sure it will remain so. Give the new organisers a chance.

Casterman: Matt Peterson 1: London Running


Matt Peterson
London running
Author: Frederic Laurent-Bollee
Hard back
Colour
56 pages
Volume: 1
Dimensions: 22.8×30.5×1 cm
ISBN: 2203057947
EAN: 9782203057944

Price: € 10.95

London, July 2012. Matt Peterson, the newspaper photojournalist for Team, arrives in the British capital with fellow journalist Gregory Blanchard, to cover the Olympics. Interested in athletics, the two men move alongside the marathon runners.  However, a Czech athlete, Miroslav Palick, is clearly disturbed and begins to show erratic behaviour. The young photographer trying to learn more about just what is going on-  and will cross the path of Scorpio Holding, one of the most powerful conglomerates and the most opaque of sports-business …

First episode of the adventures of Mattias Peterson in the world of contemporary sport, London Running marks the birth of a new Casterman series. Each volume, linked to a particular sporting event, offers a plot that can be read independently, while providing new information on heroes and protagonists of the series.

Ahh, now I know France is just across the Channel but it is still nice to see an artist accurately drawing police uniforms –I commented previously how in one book (by UK creators) the female police officers were shown wearing male helmets (oo-er).  I have to say that things star, uh, ‘quietly’ with a killing and you think “This is a sport comic –that’s the action out of the way!” You’d be wrong.

The art is, as expected, very good and there are some photographs incorporated into the art but it is not noticeable as in Mariko Parade.  Looks like this coulod prove to be an interesting series.