British Creator Ben R. Dilworth -An Appreciation

 

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

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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

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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.

He Shall Return....The Angel of the Burning Death.

  Oh yes, he may be on holiday but a tour of Europe seemed to be a good idea. A rest from the constant attempts to kill him.  So Krakos's loyal servant Ahmed bought tickets to a nice quiet old style country called the Grand Duchy of Stahl.  

What could possibly go wrong?  

Keep an eye open for any Bat-like monarchs.  

It'll be fun. 😏

Script? What's A Script?

 

 

 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 Mayfly and The Cougar

   I opened a box and found another piece of 1980s artwork. I am sure another page may be in a box somewhere!   

At the end of Black Tower Adventure no. 1 (1984) we saw a mysterious figure watching Mayfly and in the next issue she was to encounter a man who identified himself as The Cougar (no laughing!). I ended up drawing that story after the artist (Phil Horton?) pulled out. Just went totally silent on me and  that left me in a lurch.

Pretty battered up page but not unexpected.  The Cougar was, of course, featured in The Return of the Gods in which he was badly injured and after a bout of alcoholism/PTSD he is returning in the third volume of Adventure but it is nice to see how the characters started decades ago.

artwork (c)2024 Black Tower Comics and Books

"What the hell are you doing?!"

  Back in the late 1980s I watched Ben Dilworth draw out the musculature and detail on the figure for this promo ad. I recall then asking him; "What the hell are you doing?!" as he covered it all in solid black inks. 

I know this was in late 1987 on one of his visits to Bristol because the ad refers to Comic Zone coming in early 1988.

Schwarze Laterne -a question

  To answer a question from Mr Dilworth:  "In the D-Gruppe 'Zeitgeist' story you featured Black Lantern. I'm curious as to where he comes from and his comics legacy... also, what happened to him next ? The last scene for him is collapsing exhausted from battling a super powerful menace. It's a tough life for a Black Lantern !"

Above from The Trial part 2 in Black Tower Super Heroes No. 4, June 2020

"A blacklight, also called a UV-A light, Wood's lamp, or ultraviolet light, is a lamp that emits long-wave (UV-A) ultra violet and very little visible light. One type of lamp has a violet filte material, either on the bulb or in a separate glass filter in the lamp housing, which blocks most visible light and allows through UV, so the lamp has a dim violet glow when operating.Blacklight lamps which have this filter have a lighting industry designation that includes the letters "BLB". This stands for "blacklight blue". A second type of lamp produces ultraviolet but does not have the filter material, so it produces more visible light and has a blue colour when operating. These tubes are made for use in "bug zapper" insect traps, and are identified by the industry designation "BL". This stands for "blacklight"."

What has this to do with Schwarze Laterne? Nothing.

The character is based on a number of things -in Germany as a kid I saw a lot of the fairy tale and myth TV shows for kids (in the UK they were billed as Tales From Europe -The Singing Ringing Tree for one) and I took the idea of a man with a magic lantern from one of these but as that was over 50 years ago don’t expect the story title!

 Remember I also introduced the Pied Piper from an alternative Earth in D-Gruppe No. 2 (see below)

I then started reading various UFO magazines and books where they mentioned “solid light phenomena”-we’ll avoid the fakery and lies behind this but just say that it was an interesting idea. A man with a magic lantern that created solid light phenomena of a sort. But I then thought that every magic or otherwise lantern uses light so why not a “black light” -the lantern was magic after all.

The Schwarze Laterne was created in the mid 1970s so long before DC Comics did its storyline where their lanterns split between yellow and green and red -not sure if they had a black lantern but black is a negative not a colour, Anyway I lost interest in DC at around that time as the reboots were so regular that it made their titles unreadable.

I think I gave the Schwarze Laterne a Deutsche Michel cap originally. Seemed a bit lame. So the origin.

Ulrich Meier was 10 years old when he went off to explore the nearby forest as usual. He practically knew the forest like the back of his hand so it came as a surprise to find and old and very spooky looking cottage in amongst the tree. From behind him a croaky old voice spoke his name and he turned to find a red haired old woman who introduced herself as Katharina Henot. I ought to point out that there was a Katharina Henot or Henoth (1570 – 19 May 1627) who was probably the first German post master and an alleged and an alleged witch who was burned at the stake for sorcery in Koln (Cologne). She is one of the best-known German victims of the witch hunt, and the best known case in Cologne but whether there is any connection…? You can read more about her here https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Katharina_Henot

On with the story. Ulrich had no fear of Katharina for some reason so when she invited him into the cottage for some cake and soda pop he followed. Once inside he was almost excited by glass jars ful of various trinkets as well as the fact that the interior looked like a drawing of some old witch house. He became drawn to a black lantern on the table where he sat eating cake and Katharina spoke:

“You are drawn to the lantern, aren’t you? It seems to have guided you here” and Ulrich excitedly asked whether he could touch the lamp and was told “Yes, you may. But be warned young Ulrich it is no oil lamp. This is a lamp of magical black light and it belonged to Schwarze Erich long ago.”

As Ulrich inspected the lamp he was told that Erich had lived long ago in the days of Charlemagne and was a renowned sorceror but that he had died when trying to use the lantern to attack a local priest for what he considered an insult. As Katharina explains all of this a solid black smiling face appears from the lamp and though taken aback Ulrich shows no fear. The face says (its mouth not moving) “This is the one. He has no fear of the Black Light. Teach him” and then the face vanished. Ulrich is asked by Katharina if he wishes to learn how to use the black lantern but warns him that if he agrees to learn then he much selfishly dedicate his life to helping not just the people of Earth but all of its life forms. Ulrich agrees.

After leaving the cottage, having agreed to return next day, Ulrich arrives home and explains what has happened to his elderly adoptive parents. His father (Federlin) lit his pipe and told Ulrich “If your mother says yes then you may go back. If she says no then I will go and speak to her sister” Ulrich is puzzled and his mother (Walpurga) explains that she is a witch and Katharina her sister whom she has not seen “for many a year” but that she is “one of the Old folk” (like druids almost) who are tasked with finding people worthy of magical knowledge and gifts. At which point Ulrich is almost explosive in his excitement as on his Earth (EP 56765) events in the 17^th century caused witches to no longer be hunted and executed but respected as they had worked together to find a cure for The Blue Death that swept though Europe. Ulrich is sent to bed and his mother tells Federlin that she will go and speak to her sister.

On waking next morning Ulrich finds his parents smiling widely and his mother tells him “You may go to see my sister. You are to become the first Schwarze Laterne in 400 years!”

 From that day and then every other for the next ten years Ulrich is taught how to use the lantern and on his 21^st birthday he is not greeted by Katharina at the cottage door but a beautiful young woman with long red hair. Ulrich is immediately attracted to her and they end up sleeping together but as he wakes he hears the words “Thank you. I have your seed” and he sits up to find himself… in the forest. The cottage has vanished. Telling his parents about this his mother says that if the cottage and her sister are no longer there then he is now truly qualified to be the Schwarze Laterne. She adds “My sister always did have an eye for young men with raven hair” (the intimation is that the young woman was Katharina which left things very open for later stories). His mother goes to an old chest that he had never noticed before and takes out the clothing he will now wear as Schwarze Laterne but to protect the secret of who he is she also gives him a domino mask.

One day while trying the lantern’s power a tree speaks to him. A conversation then ensues about how trees can communicate with each other even if they are on other worlds -some having been taken from Earth by alien explorers centuries before. Ulrich is told that the lantern can not just let him fly but if he wants to, and knows the location, he can travel to another world far better “than the blundering Munchhausen”. On that day Ulrich was told of a distant world and an image appears in his head of a binary star system and one particular planet and Ulrich is pulled up into the air before finding himself in space and from there is on the alien world in minutes.

Over the next 15 years Schwarze Laterne becomes a familiar visitor on other worlds and on one trip he is encased in the black light for three days. Once he is freed from the black light he finds the beings on the planet in a state of shock. Telepaths are in comas due to a great psychic wave that came from Earth. Ulrich returns to Earth as quickly as he can but finds utter devastation with only a few surviving humans -the Zeit Geist had devastated his Earth killing billions including his wife Erica and their two children, Hans and Liselotte.

His parents now appear (having not aged in the decades and usher the survivors through a magical portal to a safe world. His mother tells him that he must now pursue Zeit Geist to save other worlds and that he can never return home -this is the curse of the black lantern. His mother opens another portal leading to the next world Zeit Geist is attacking and as he enters this his mother says “Goodbye”.

From here on Schwarze Laterne meets heroes on other devastated worlds until they finally arrive on Earth 664 just before the start of events depicted in The Trial.

Schwarze Laterne was in at the end of Zeit Geist and since that time has become linked with the German super team D-Gruppe (The Zeit Geist Saga or D-Gruppe 1-4)

After being told by Rotkäppchen of her encounter with an alien in the Black Forest Ulrich has his curiosity piqued and so checks D-Gruppe’s extensive archives and learns that a UFO supposedly crashed in the Black Forest in the 1930s. “But that was long ago” he thinks. That night, as he sleeps on a church steeple (well you do, don’t you?) he has a vivid dream of the young red-headed woman from years before on his Earth, She tell him that he must go to the Black Forest and find the alien ship which is still there but hidden as it could destroy the world. Ulrich wakes and determines that he will go to the Forest and find the craft.

This leads to the story Schwarze Laterne - Schwarzwald - Schwarzer Tod (Black Lantern Black Forest-Black Death) or as it was going to be sub-titled “An Honourable Way To Die”.

That’s it.

Black Tower Comics & Books

 

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