He's Old (very old). He's smelly (I would not say that to his face) Who is He?

  Well, if I live long enough I have this British Golden Age character's story all set up. I really need artists willing to draw for the experience or not sleep for 5 years and just draw!

(c)2025 BTCG

The Frankenstein Monster in Stahlia?!

 One bit of fun I had in between bouts of "I'm dying!" when it came to drawing The Bat Triumphant was the way that "old foes"  popped up.  Being a rather central European and ancient duch with mountains and forests and many old ruined castles it was almost inevitable that the Frankenstein Monster would turn up in the 1930s.

It was a bit of a shock for The Bat to find he had not destroyed it decades earlier!

How The Clock Cover Came About

  I had Ben Dilworth's superb comic work and unfortunately, thanks to the process used by my printer, the cover that was sent could not be used. I was left with the option of not publishing, just adding the occasional strip to an existing anthology (The Clock did appear on the front cover of the final issue (vol. 2 no. 10) of Adventure which featured a Dilworth illo colourised by my brother, Mike.

(c)2025 BTCF

I hate doing covers! But I suck it up and get to work. Apparently, I am told, the various book covers stand out and are "unique" in not just having fight scenes on them.  So I tried one idea. Threw it out. Brilliant idea next and....threw it out. Another idea seemed to be perfect. Can you guess what happened? Yup, threw it out!

There I sat looking at a rough outline sketch (by "outline" I actually mean pencilled outline) and I thought keeping that clean white background would be nice. At that point my black and white artist brain kicked in and I left The Clock as a silhouette against a white background..with some bullet holes (we all knew it was heading that way).

(c)2025 BTCG

Completed I went away and made some coffee (NOT instant. NEVER instant!!!) came back to the image and threw it to one side. It wouldn't work. I tried another design. Nope. How about that silhouette in a darkened alleyway with trash cans over turned and bullets whizzing (giggle)  by.

No.

I looked at that illo and again and said something rude and it became the final cover!  

Still don't think it did justice to the interior art but if you have a book you need a cover -right?

all art (c)2025 Ben R. Dilworth (except the cover I did!)

How Some Old Characters Started

 

 Back in the 1960s kids TV was a lot better than what we get today -in fact TV was better all round. Saturday morning TV with cartoons and serials until the blight of Multi Coloured Swap Shop hit Saturdays.

I had thought my inspiration for the magicians -later sorcerers- Kotar and Sabuta was the Hanna Barbara Arabian Nights cartoon. But then I recalled that I had created and made them out of Plastacine (modelling clay as used to make Wallace and Gromit) as there were no action figures in those days. "The Lady" I believe was Lady Silana as she fitted in with the duo.

Above: Kotar and Sabuta with "The Gipsy Magician" Tarot -art by Ben R. Dilworth(c)2025 BTCG

  Back in those days we had the bedside cabinet which was where you put "The Porcelian", "the Jerry" or if you stored it under the bed the "Gazunder" ("goes under). Sorry, again, kids, not every house had an indoor toilet for night time use. In this case my gran would never put a chamber pot in a cabinet so other things were stored in itr and, when it went into defunct status it was mine: I got under carpet felt to make a carpet and added bits and pieces so that my magic folk had a sanctum sanctorum.

Above: everyone gets older! Left Willy Soames and Oasis t-shirt wearing John Clane and Right -Pete Forrest

K & S were created in the late 1970s as were the trio that went on to become Crime Busters UK Salar The Combustable Man (John Clane), "Bell" (Maddy Bell) and The Human Ball (Willy Soames). Oh, they had a companion whilst "circus acts -the Misssing Link.  Solar was based on a circus act on TV where a "fire breather" created balls of fire in his hands and  tossed them into the air. Now that seemed cool enough to me. At the time I had not seen the DC Legion of Super Heroes or Bouncing Lad but when I did I changed The Human Ball's costume -he was inspired by a strip I vaguely recall seeing in an old British weekly comic. Bell, again before I saw the character Black Canary and her sonic voice, was based on a banshee screaming that I had seen on a kids TV show.  The "Missing Link" was based on reading too many history books and theories on early man and the "missing link" between humans and apes.

Above: Maddy Bell at the barbecue whole the Avenger and Jon Future wait(c)2025 BTCG

Pantomine on TV and story books gave me Peter Forrest and his often odd Geni. Making all of these out of Plastacine filled the hours and I also made characters from Marvel and DC who joined my characters in adventures along with some British favourites such as Billy the Cat, Billy Whizz and so on.

Above: Mayfly in a never finished strip by Phil Horton? (c)2025 BTCG

Mayfly (Elizabeth Flare) was another of the originals. Reading mythology and fairy tales as well as watching TV programmes and plays inspired the character. Her mother turned up during a winter storm at a convent. The mother died but her newborn baby was adopted and raised at the convent the mother's name was unknown but after her burial in the grounds of the nearby church a flare of light burst out of nowhere over her grave and so Elizabeth became Elizabeth Flare. 

Above: The Avenger tells everyone he has a plan. Jon Future believes the Avenger has a plan. Pete Forrest stays safely back (c)2025BTCG

Pete Forrest was an idealist and when civilians were threatened in a South American war he went to help but even a Geni couldn't stop him being hit by shrapnel (hence the walking stick). (c)2025 BTCG

The Avenger was a slightly later arrival in about 1969/1970 and was just someone, at the time a school pupil, who was fed up of petty crime and bullying. Like D-Gruppe a lot of my characters go back to the 1960s and 1970s.  A time before mobile phones, home computers and all the insanity of the internet -we just had parks, streets and our imagination to entertain us.