Month: September 2016

Bristol Comic and Zine Fair -IT’S TOMORROW!!

Bristol Comic and Zine Fair
 
With an awesome line up of artists, self publishers and zinesters, including Paul Ashley Brown, it looks like this is going to be great! 
 
It’s on Saturday 1st October, at The Station in Bristol.
More details go to bczf.co.uk

"You seem quite high profile"

Just had a chat to someone who got my name from BBC Radio Bristol and he has done some research on me (oooh). He asked why, if I’ve been publishing from Bristol since the early 1980s I won’t do local comic events?

Sigh.

I pointed out that I have NEVER boycotted nor refused to do any comic events in Bristol. It’s just that no one tells me about events and when they do I never get a table. “You seem quite high profile” he says. So I pointed out that this gave me zero per cent guarantee of getting a table at an event because it’s all very much a clique and who you know.

I try to be polite to these people but it’s hard.  So hard.  So is trying to be polite!

Black Tower Open Revenue Report

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To date, 2016 has seen some 24 books sold. Sales totalling £62.83 but note that every sale tagged as “US” has later had US taxes paid (something Lulu -the POD) does not show but which would be helpful.  So “Revenue” is sales before tax (which is why you see “Revenue*”).

Where you see £0.00 those are some of the books I purchased for friends hence, I make no money!

In total some eight (8) books were purchased by people in the United States but taxes took care of a lot of that BUT I am very grateful for any custom!

Only six (6) were sold in the UK which shows the amount of interest here though, again, I do not turn my nose up at any custom am I am grateful someone in the UK bought my books.

Someone in Italy purchased the Ultimate British Gold Collection and I hope he/she enjoyed it! Well, no one in the UK seems interested in our comics history so…

And I am VERY grateful to whomever it was in France that purchased Some Things Strange & Sinister and Some More Things Strange & Sinister -Thank you”

taking away the US taxes the total sales revenue up to September is around £48.00 which, for a business I work on 7 days a week, holidays included, is…a loss.

Check it out yourselves…

And you want to know about September sales?

So there you go.  Open publishing which is 99.9% unheard of in UK comics (I’m the 1%!) and with the wide spectrum of genres and books Black Tower has -the biggest selection in Europe- you have to ask how this is alleged to be a “thriving and growing industry”?

Superheroes vs. DC’s Dominators

HTTP://TVLINE.COM/2016/09/29/DOMINATORS-CW-CROSSOVER-FOUR-WAY-ARROW-FLASH/

CW More Superhero Shows

Courtesy of The CW

CW’s 4-Way ‘Arrowverse’ Crossover to Pit Superheroes vs. DC’s Dominators

By  

The Big Bad battle lines have been drawn.
This fall’s four-way crossover between Arrow, The Flash, Supergirl and DC’s Legends of Tomorrow will pit the super crew against DC Comics’ Dominators, TVLine has learned. Arrow and Legends EP Marc Guggenheim says he’s “taking inspiration from a DC crossover from the late 1980s known as Invasion!, which featured an alien picrace called the Dominators, who’d previously vexed the Legion of Superheroes.
“We’re using cutting-edge prosthetics and computer effects to achieve a feature film-quality look,” Guggenheim adds, “which is faithful toInvasion! artist Todd McFarlane’s interpretation of the characters.”
Last week, Guggenheim tweeted an image from the table read for Arrow‘s 100th episode — a linchpin of the ambitious four-pronged event — that confirmed the return of Jamey Sheridan as Oliver’s father Robert. And earlier this week, Amell released his own teaser pic that strongly hinted at a Deathstroke cameo (although it’s unclear if original portrayer Manu Bennett was under the mask).

Supergirl/Arrow/Flash/Legends of TomorrowCrossover Photos

arrow-supergirlLaunch Gallery

There are also strong indications that Katie Cassidy — who was killed offArrow last spring but now has a series regular deal across all the CW hero shows — will turn up in some capacity.
The CW superhero slate kicks off its new seasons starting Tuesday, Oct. 4 (with The Flash), followed by Arrow(Wednesday, Oct. 5), Supergirl(Monday, Oct. 10) and Legends of Tomorrow (Thursday, Oct. 13)

PLEASE NOTE: Black Tower Publisher Statement

For the last five –5– years, Black Tower Comics & Books have had cover prices reduced and kept artificially low so as to try to encourage sales. Even at prices that made no money for the publisher the campaign failed.

Because of this and the fact that taxes are paid on any book sold to a US buyer (and that is no small amount) as well as the fluctuating £ (again -a bargain time to buy books from outside the UK getting -no responses) you will notice that book prices are increasing.

This will be done on a week-by-week basis over the next month.

I won’t apologise for the price increases since Black Tower has bucked the price increase trend for more than six years now and it has made no difference to sales.  So now we go “business” and if there is a book you wanted to get (I’m biting my tongue here because of the number of people who write “I am going to have to buy that one!” and never do) then now is the time.

Return Of The Gods: Twilight Of The Super Heroes as well as The Cross Earths Caper will be the last books to see the prices increased (after all, Return is over 300 pages) and that increase will seem steep but…tough.

After years of trying to be comic fan friendly and offering deals that no other company would offer because, being a comic fan I always wanted to give good deals that were affordable and I’d go for,   The response in sales has been “Zero”.

Now you’ll be dealing with a proper publisher and proper prices.