An Appreciation -British Creator Ben R. Dilworth

 

There are UK comic creators who deserve to get far more recognition than they do. I have highlighted some of these in the past but  it is worth mentioning one other.  Ben R. Dilworth.

Now the man inked over my pencils "in the day" (which is what we call the period 1986-1990) on strips such as Liz & Jen: Coming Out and D-Gruppe: Revenge of the Ice Queen.

He was also self-publishing Small Press comics under his Penguinflight banner and seemed to be  contributing to every small press comic going -Bum Comic, Creepy Crawlies, Zine Ager, Hardware -it is a bloody long list and the legendary Picasso Cafe must never be forgotten!

Neither do I forget Dilworth stapling Black Tower Adventure issues across his knee at the old Bath marts.  Nor the experimental acetate, spray-painted covers for Previews Comic or a dozen other mad things.

We ought to, really, forget the most famous and now nearly lost legendary visit of Dilworth and Andrew Hope (who recently worked for Marvel Comics) to Bristol.

The drunken outrages committed -including throwing up over the window of comic shop, Forever People, or the very long discussion between the two on the movie A Company of Wolves which kind of resulted in the 0300 hours incident of me wielding a bread-knife......yeah, let's forget that.

Anyhow, The Tall Man wrote and drew for comics such as Spider Baby Grafix's Taboo, Eternity Comics Killing Stroke and Trident Comics (PLEASE no one mention Trident to Paul Ashley Brown!!) The Shadowmen written by some Scots bloke...uh, Mark Millar.

He can also claim to be, as the artist, co-creator of Pete Wisdom, initially created by Warren Ellis and drawn by Ben , in a pitch for "Electric Angel" for publisher Trident Comics.

Didn't know all that did you?




Here are some of his credits from a data base I just stumbled across at http://comicbookdb.com/creator.php?ID=8028

Writer:

 Killing Stroke (1991)

 Penciller:

 Killing Stroke (1991)  The Shadowmen (1990)  Taboo (1988)

 Inker:

 Gore Shriek (1986)  Gore Shriek (1990)  Killing Stroke (1991)  The Shadowmen (1990)  Shriek (1989)  Taboo (1988)  Trident (1989)

 Letterer:

 Gore Shriek (1990)
 Killing Stroke (1991)

And over recent years The Tall One has had work published by Black Tower -including his Award winning Haiku (in English), Aesop's Fables, Purple Hood, Runestone, Chronos:The Watchman -and much, much more that has ensured Black Tower titles such as Adventure were able to carry on after a rough patch.

The man is a fecking comic book genius.  WFT is he not working full time in comics and getting paid??!

Calming down a bit....deep breath.  Seriously, check out the Black Tower lulu.com store front and you'll find Dilworth work.  Maybe one day he'll get a creator byline for Pete Wisdom, hmm?

You wait, I'll make him famous yet.  Poor but famous!

And I went and forgot Loaded number 1 from 1991 in which I wrote and pencilled Graveyard  and Dilworth  inked and lettered!

Then we have Dilworth's solo work which looks a lot better than when he inks my turgid pencils (and that is NOT false modesty).

The Collected Ben R. Dilworth:

Ben R. Dilworth

A4

Illustrated prose/Haiku

84 pages

paperback

Price: £6.00 

 

Ships in 3–5 business days

 http://www.lulu.com/shop/terry-hooper-scharf/the-collected-ben-r-dilworth/paperback/product-21848146.html

Collecting together the best selling illustrated prose of Ben R. Dilworth. 

In Osaka Brutal, the Haiku Gold Belt holder presents his own personal Haiku beating the ear drums like a Taiko ensemble!

In Aesop's Fables the childhood favourites become rather darker and threatening. Originally intended for his own daughter, Dilworth had second thoughts because of the darker stories. You never heard these fables at Sunday School!

In Western Yokai and Japanese Yokai, Dilworth looks at a mixture of strange, sinister and deadly demons and spirits both friendly, hostile and indifferent -each story is illustrated by Dilworth and, boy, are there some eye-poppers!

The Yokai books are amongst my favourites and I still think are full of material for ghost/horror comics -it's a pity the Japanese are such isolationists with comics ("It ain't Manga it ain't worth a kuso!") but what can you do about it?

With Osaka Brutal -one read and I was making up what I like to call "Bristol Haiku" (about 99% of it unprintable)..

And can you go wrong with a dark version of Aesop's Fables? Scare the crap out of the little 'uns!

He may well be a recognised comic book genius but Ben, R. Dilworth has a softer (yeah, right) prose side.

Money from every sale goes towards the Ben R. Dilworth anti-hay fever treatment fund. A worthy cause.

-Silvermaigne:Knight Ghoul Hunter

Paperback, 

A4

Black & White

42 Pages

Price: £7.00

Ships in 3–5 business days

 http://www.lulu.com/shop/terry-hooper-scharf/silvermaigneknight-ghoul-hunter/paperback/product-21843686.html

The Silvermaigne line is said to go back to the time of the Ancient Britons. 

Silvermaignes ancestors were part of a druidic clan based in the great forest that is today known as Leigh Woods, overlooking the River Severn entering (today) Bristol. All the members of the tribe had white hair from birth and they were known as the mwng arian (Silver Manes). 

Even the druids bowed to their knowledge of demons, spirits and things of the darkness. 

But at a point several centuries ago the family split and took two paths -one embraced magik for its own fight against evil.  The other renounced the use of personal magik so as not to become tainted and seduced by it.

For the first time Ben Dilworth looks at the latter branch of the Silvermaigne family and what one of them endures to keep the fight Holy!

__________________________________________________________
So, one day Ben R. Dilworth will be recognised for his work,  From myself I'd like to offer him a big THANK YOU.

A Script...A What Now??

 

 

 I was asked by someone why I said I never use a script and yet produced Return of the Gods -Twilight of the Super Heroes (300+pp) and The Green Skies (about 300+pp)?  

Well, I wrote that because...I don't use a script!

When I was doing work for Fleetway/Egmont I obviously wrote scripts because that is what those companies wanted. I would talk to an editor and they would say (roughly) what they were looking for. This vagueness meant that you thought you knew what they wanted but then they would say "Hmm. Maybe if--" and they would talk about a new angle to the idea. Therefore, if I spoke to an editor on Friday and arranged to meet them on the Monday I would have the script that they outlined -and at l;east four other variations of the story. Even then you might get "I wonder whether a twist can be added?" and I would add that twist there and then in person.  

The secret is to not hold back on your imagination. I used to like playing "get a story out of that!" with other comic folk. Basically they would come up with something like "blades of grass blowing in a wind" and I would then have to come up with a brief story surrounding the moving blades of grass. In that case it started with an aircraft and ended up with petrol stations blowing up, and a huge disaster scenario that I ended with "and the grass barely moved".

Above the last minute cover to the "trade and below the A5 cover to the small press comic (1 of 3 in the Dr Morg Trilogy) incorporated into the Green Skies 

Even photos or drawings are a good way to get your story telling mind working. For instance; what story can you create based on the photograph of a green cricket?  How about a an image of a single shoe on a pavement (been there and done that with 6 story ideas from it) or even an oddly shaped water puddle? Exercise your imagination playing "get a story out of that!" or "See and create a story".   

The other problem, as already mentioned, is second guessing a publisher/editor. "Okay, he wants a story involving a nun being followed by a mysterious figure at night". From that, having just typed it, I can get a gothic romance, horror or even a funny ending story. How many ideas can you come up with -and think the stories through!  This thinking in multiple layers works for all sorts of things. 

PTSD means that even a short trip somewhere has all sorts of scenarios popping up in your head and for each you then create something that counters each. Back in 1987 when we were putting together Previews Comic : New Talent Showcase Ben Dilworth got into a grumpy mood (oh yes you did!) and I was discussing a project and he asked "What happens if that falls through?" So I took him through my back-up plan at which point he asked "And what happens if that one falls through?" so I explained another back-up plan and by the time we got to his asking what would happen if the 5th idea fell through I simply responded: "Now you are being deliberately silly. If the 5th plan falls through then I will come up with a 6th plan -and don't even ask because I will have a 7th plan!"  

You will find that things like that help you think on your feet and on more than one occasion it helped me as when an editor said "Yeah...I was looking for a more---" and I had at least four differently packaged comics in my bag that covered most possible configurations and I was even known to split up those mock-ups to make a wholly new one.

Oh, man -and bluffing your way in to see senior editors may not be possible today but back in the 1980s-early 1990s it was possible. Most companies are so tight arsed and corporate today that I doubt getting a face-to-face with an editor would be possible but if you can go for it.

Now, when it came to Return it had started out as a proposal for a book titled Invasion Earth back in 1986. I had a rough idea what was going to happen and in the 1990s I changed things slightly so it became The Cosmic Fulcrum and then things went wrong withe the artist simply not wanting to do the work (after I had sold the idea to a publisher based on his art pages) and so, eventually, I decided to get the story out of my system and in the mid 2000s published a newer version in Black Tower Adventure vol. 2 number 1-6 and that came to 96pp.  The original scripts were for a six issue mini series and fully written but I threw those out because for various reasons I wasn't sure I'd get to finish it and so sat down and drew those 96pp and after releasing it as a "trade" I felt so much was left out and I took a deep breath and turned it into a full 300+pp and re-lettered every page.`  

Someone liked the idea that when heroes thought back on Neo Olympus not all of them had super powers and were simple crime-fighters and one panel seemed to be a favourite. In it Hornet crept up behind a "god" and whacked him out with a piece of lead piping. And, yes, I did have a back story in case anyone asked where the lead pipe came from!  Lead piping to bludgeon someone is very old school villain practice and as Hornet dealt with crooks rather than super menaces I just automatically drew him using the lead piping.

I did hand write loads of notes about what would happen in The Green Skies and the conclusion but then I changed that as well as the ending. I literally put a sheet of blank paper on a board and draw and have no real idea where the story goes. At one point I drew the death of a hero and stopped. I didn't want the character to die -he had been with me since the 1970s! So I tried again and nothing would work or flow unless he died. Even now I wish I had not killed off two more of my oldest characters from the early 1970s but it happened and for me if a character dies he dies. No re-boot or returning from the dead otherwise the whole concept of heroes fighting evil and putting their lives on the line is a flop. 

We have seen it with Marvel and DC where every comic universe and character has been destroyed/killed off so many times that the characters are no longer relatable to readers so there is no shock when they 'die'.

The sub-plot and even the ending to Green Skies was made up as I went along and the final ending for me was a tad depressing. There was some humour and so many twists and turns that by the end I had to put everything down and re-read it all then re-read it again and again (I hate reading and looking at my own work -ask Mr Dilworth!) until I realised it worked but was completely different to the original story idea.

Everything came together including stories from 40 years ago that linked into this final big one and luckily it all worked or I'd  be in a psychiatric hospital  mumbling "Look at all the little people in colourful costumes!"   One thing I seriously was not expecting was how a minor character, Jack Flash, became pivotal to the whole thing.

For my own work I never use scripts -I did try to draw using one of my scripts but having to be told what the page set up and panels had to be never worked! And, no, I do not pre sketch pages or follow a thumbnail storyboard -everything is drawn straight from brain to paper.

all artwork is (c)2024 Terry Hooper-Scharf and Black Tower Comics and Books

The Tarzan Toys Mega Post -update

 

I have posted on UK Tarzan comics, Tarzan UK hardback annuals and a lot of other Tarzan stuff but not the toys. So here is some eye candy and I KNOW there are probably more toys out there I do not know about but...why don't you let me know?

The above I believe came from a blog called Stad's Stuff so (c)2024 Stad's Stuff

c 1960s/early 1970s?

Blue Box Tarzan, kneeling, firing bow and White Hunter, standing, firing rifle (Marx “Daktari” Jungle Playset copy) – bases marked “Blue-Box” Made in Hong Kong

A 1960s Lone Star Tarzan figure and also something often sold as a Tarzan figure but it comes from a water-skiing set so be warned.

The other figure (below) is a later Hong Kong one and it is the one found in the Fleetwood playset.

Located in Barcelona, Spain, Comansi is a toy manufacturer and distributor since 1962. Our core business is the plastic figurine category. We are focused on the licensed Figurines. Our figures are not-articulated, and are about 6 to 11 cm, depending on the character and license. The Comansi age target group are children from 3 to 10 years old..

The complete set can set you back 220 Euros and I believe it was made in the 1970s?

Looking at it any capable crafter or hobbyist could make a similar set easily.

Tarzan plastic figures DDR (that's East Germany) 80mm 1960 Germany

Elastolin, Germany, circa 1960. Do I own this one? No. Would I like to? YES.

Spotty pants is a 2inch Tarzan made by Gulliver in Brasil who also produced Marvel super heroes in that scale.

The other fella that looks like he is flying is another Gulliver Tarzan from 1973.

The playset was produced by Fleetwood of New York City in 1976. Oddly I have that Tarzan and the black leopard.

Pair of soft plastic premium figures of TARZAN & JANE by Ferrero from the Kinder Egg Surprise series, circa 1977, with green color variation matched bases. Measures approximately 2 and 1/4 inches tall (54mm scale), 

Tarzan from Boss Fight Studio

Tarzan and Jane Boss Fight Studios

Airfix 1/72nd scale Tarzan figures which came unpainted

Tarzan 'The Epic Aventures' Ideal 90s 

Press that square on his chest and he makes the famous call! I got this one unboxed and for about £3 ($3) "sound does not work" and when I got it I pressed the square...and out came the call!

And the Figures Toy Company This is an exact reproduction of the original figure that was produced by Mego. Comes with an authentic cloth outfit and black dagger. Oh, Jane, too.

Never seen the Disney animated film but it spawned Happy Meals Toys and more -some I do possess

The ERBZine site has other sets in its TARZAN ACTION FIGURES GALLERY OF DISNEY TOYS MATTEL (DISNEY) https://www.erbzine.com/mag13/1399.html

CLAIRET FRANCE FIGURES du ZOO vintage Tarzan et Cheeta

And some of my figures including the larger scale ones I bought from France before postage and import taxes made it something for the rich!

The elephant did not come with the Tarzan figure from France. I think that figure is just meant to be standing doing the ole Tarzan howl but I saw this elephant going for about £2 and -voila!

The 54mm (1/32nd scale) Tarzan is useful as a little Milliput to make a waistcoat and lengthen the hair and I got a Halcon Lord of the Crater Land. Seriously,I can't find anything really in 54mm for Tarzan and why some bright spark with a 3D printer has not started "Jungle Adventurer figures to sell beats me.

Update 19 03 24

These I bought from an Ebay seller who showed the set with a photo of the (I think) 1920s silent Tarzan film. He claimed this was a figure based on the movie. In fact it is a Jane figure from a playset with hair and dress painted brown (original hair was yellow and fur dress lighter)

I just found on my FB page some images from 2017 that are better.

Below is the Tarzan and black panther that came with him and I am assuming this was just a knock-off of the Herald Tarzan also used in the Fleetwood playset. The reason I write that is in the 2017 post I identified the figures below as being from Ludo a French company. Believe me knock-offs are nothing new -the old Airfix cowboys have been pirated over and over again.

Now that's it. It's 0100hrs so get to bed!