Bear Alley books...

[Peter Gray]

http://bearalleybooks.blogspot.com/

Looks good this new venture...waiting to hear the price..

Anyone fans of Cursitor Doom or Swift, The Phantom Patrol..

It sound really good...But I don't know a lot about them..
Quite an exciting time for British comics...
Well done Steve...thanks for this start..

now how about the complete Cliff Hanger Buster book..
Ken Reid..Leo Baxendale...Reg Parlett..
Leopard of lime street complete
The War children Buster

what wonderful news for comics!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Lew Stringer]

I think we have to be patient to see how these first books sell to start with. Steve has a limited print run of 300 copies per book, which is realistic given how tiny the UK collector's market is.

The material in Cursitor Doom and Phantom Patrol features artwork from some of the top talents of the Sixties: Eric Bradbury, Geoff Campion, and Ron Embleton. Well worth buying if the books come in at an affordable price.

Lew

[colcool007]

I'm happy to admit that I'm a fan of Phantom Patrol after first seeing it in early 2000AD annuals. So there's at least one sale for Bear Alley Books!

[steelclaw]

I would definitely consider buying the Cursitor Doom book but as Lew says "if it's at an affordable price"

[philcom55]

The material in Cursitor Doom and Phantom Patrol features artwork from some of the top talents of the Sixties: Eric Bradbury, Geoff Campion, and Ron Embleton.

...Of course Phantom Patrol was drawn by Gerry Embleton not his brother Ron (though I'm sure Lew knew that anyway! )

- Phil Rushton

[Lew Stringer]

The material in Cursitor Doom and Phantom Patrol features artwork from some of the top talents of the Sixties: Eric Bradbury, Geoff Campion, and Ron Embleton.

...Of course Phantom Patrol was drawn by Gerry Embleton not his brother Ron (though I'm sure Lew knew that anyway! )

- Phil Rushton

No, I always get those two mixed up!

Lew

[Digifiend]

Nobody's perfect. Everyone makes mistakes sometimes Lew, don't worry about it.

As for this Bear Alley book series, good luck to it. Shame they won't be in bookshops though. How do you expect to increase interest if you can't window shop?

[tony ingram]

Nobody's perfect. Everyone makes mistakes sometimes Lew, don't worry about it.

As for this Bear Alley book series, good luck to it. Shame they won't be in bookshops though. How do you expect to increase interest if you can't window shop?

Unfortunately, you'd need a considerably larger print run than 300 to get into the bookshops. But, from tiny acorns...

[Peter Gray]

Bear Alley books has had a 1000 hits already...so maybe a 300 print run won't be enough!! I'm worried it will be sold out before I get my order in...

My computer won't let me leave a comment at bear alley books..it works on bear alley..must be because its on a different system?

Anyway Steve I hope you are reading this...

Other than the complete Cliff Hanger by Jack Edward Oliver..or Mastermind
I like the idea of Tom Thug complete by our own Lew Stringer..

Any Ken Reid..Leo Baxendale..Reg Parlett...Tom Paterson is a must..

DC Thomson should do the same with small print runs of collected books...
e.g The Jellymen 300 print ruin..I'm sure they could reach the 300 target..

[colcool007]

Just spoken to Steve and the price will be £16. So that's one in 299 to go!

[Peter Gray]

£16 is a lot cheaper than my guess of £20..£25...£30.. well not much of a guess my options were very open..

Phil has suggested this on Bear Alley blog..


Great news Steve! No doubt you'll be flooded with suggestions but I can't help but feel that 'Return of the Stormtroopers' from Champion would make a good candidate.

- Phil Rushton

12:23 PM

What was that strip like and about?

[Peter Gray]

Steve from Bear Alley needs some help does anyone have a scanner and Smash comics from the beginning...
Otherwise ideas only ideas like Queen of the sea won't happen..for example..
Steve doesn't have any Smash! comics from 1966-69! which shows he needs a lot of help if Queen of the sea will ever see the light of day..


this is for something else which I can't talk about...another idea
at the moment he needs pages from the first issue Smash!
maybe the second and third Smash comic.don't know...so at the most 6 pages..or as little as 2 pages..
I only have issue 10..of Smash so can't help him..

please email Steve directly if you can do this...it won't take much time to scan...so if you're feeling helpful and not looking for money..But will benefit a lot of collectors and new comic fans...

Just email him and say you can scan a couple of pages from Smash number 1 and that I sent you..he will then let you in the secret book he is working on which I can't mention here..

all this secret talk is hard work..
Some of you may have guessed by now the secret book...please don't say anything...just keep it under your hat..

[Lew Stringer]

Steve from Bear Alley needs some help does anyone have a scanner and Smash comics from the beginning...
Otherwise ideas only ideas like Queen of the sea won't happen..for example..
Steve doesn't have any Smash! comics from 1966-69! which shows he needs a lot of help if Queen of the sea will ever see the light of day..

I have all the Odhams' Smash comics in excellent condition so I for one will contact Steve about it.

The problem with Queen of the Seas is that later chapters were in full colour on the back page, and Odhams' colour process was often crap. (Off register colours etc.) That said, it'd be a fantastic collection to put into a book, even if those later pages were in greyscale.

Personally I'd have thought Ken's Frankie Stein would be a better choice though, and more commercially viable.

Bizarre that Steve doesn't have any Smash! comics considering he wrote The Power Comics Index! Perhaps he borrowed those copies.

Lew

[Peter Gray]

Yes I would prefer Frankie Stein by Ken Reid maybe you could persade Steve...


or even The Nervs by Ken...

He said he has lost his Smash comics in the move..or misplaced...Doh!!

[klakadak-ploobadoof]

The problem with Queen of the Seas is that later chapters were in full colour on the back page, and Odhams' colour process was often crap. (Off register colours etc.) That said, it'd be a fantastic collection to put into a book, even if those later pages were in greyscale.

1972 reprints in Buster&Jet were all bw and looked really nice and sharp, so perhaps it would be better to use scans of the reprints rather than the originals in Smash.

Some of you may have guessed by now the secret book...please don't say anything...just keep it under your hat..

If the secret book is what I think it is, and if Steve plans it to be of a similar page count as the first two (Cursitor Doom is announced to have 168 p. and The Phantom Patrol - 120 p.), then the run of the strip we are thinking about was too short for that format. If he ads every episode of Frankie Stein, the book might become quite thick (well over 200 pages, but oh what a book it would be!), whereas Dare-a-Day Davy or the Nervs would make it just about the right size, IMHO, and the book would still be great.