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Wednesday, 17 December 2025

Cinebook Ltd XIII 27 - Spaso House

 


Authors: Yves Sente & Youri Jigounov
Age: 15 years and up
Size: 18.4 x 25.7 cm
Number of pages: 48 colour pages

Captured in Cuba as he was trying to exfiltrate a Russian hacker on behalf of Janet Fitzsimmons (the woman who controls him through a chip in his head and secretly runs the entire US government), XIII is taken to Moscow, where he once operated for a faction of the KGB. Caught in a deadly power struggle between Russian intelligence services, he must discover what happened during a decades-old mission … of which he has no memory! 

Artwork is perfectly fine. No problem with it at all. Same goes for the story which is well enough paced and the right amount of "passive" and action scenes.  When the original series ended it did so cleanly and it was a series I read through more than once and I still do not think that it can be beaten.

However, I do wonder whether this type of thing has run its course? It's a problem with comics, movies and TV that there is a success and no new ideas around so "Hey -that XIII series was very popular and got good reviews so let's keep flogging it!"  And that is the impression I get here. I read it and think back almost immediately to the first series and that this does not compare. If it had been The XIII Legacy looking at what happens to another agent who has memory loss then it might have worked with a clever twist to the agent finding out about the first (XIII) one.

Of course, my opinion means nothing and so all I can do is ask how long the series can drag on when fans thought it was all over a long time ago?

I also know that there will be fans of the series out there and THEY are the ones who count because THEY pay for the books and their likes and continued support keeps things rolling on.  Maybe this year I am the Scrooge of Comics Christmas?

Hexagon Comics Kabur #10: The Hounds of Kyros

 


KABUR #10: THE HOUNDS OF KYROS  by Jean-Marc Lofficier, Roy Thomas; art by José Luis Ruiz Pérez, Luciano Bernasconi, Miguel Angel Yzaguirre; cover by José Luis Ruiz Perez.


7x10 squarebound comic, 

76 pages b&w
ISBN-13: 978-1-64932-394-1. 

US$12.95

https://www.hexagoncomics.com/shop-kabur-10-the-hounds-of-kyros.html


32. THE HOUNDS OF KYROS story by Roy Thomas & Jean-Marc Lofficier, dialogue by Jean-Marc Lofficier; art by José Luis Ruiz Pérez.
EPILOG: AND YET IT MOVES story by Jean-Marc Lofficier; art by Miguel Angel Yzaguirre.
BAO IN VENLANA story by Jean-Marc Lofficier; art by Luciano Bernasconi.SKETCHBOOK by José Luis Ruiz Pérez.



As Kabur approaches the Mountains of the Moon, he witnesses a strange metal fortress fall from the sky, destroying a nearby village... With the help of several travelers he must then face the terrifying creature that emerges from the ship, accompanied by two fearsome hounds... Fortunately, in this desperate fight, Kabur will be able to rely on another extraordinary visitor, also from the stars...

This 48-page saga by Roy Thomas, Jean-Marc Lofficier and José Luis Ruiz Pérez is supplemented by an Epilog by Miguel Angel Yzaguirre and a tbonus ale recounting an heretofore untold adventure of Bao by Luciano Bernasconi.

I love looking through a well drawn black and white comic and the artists on this book are well worth studying.  The stories are all well written (Roy Thomas writes one!) and the action well paced.  I like the blend of barbarian and sci fi and Homicron looks really good in this incarnation and I don't think I've seen the character drawn like this before (but my mind is a porridge filled with over 5 decades of comic characters so who knows!).

Nice to see an old hand like Bernasconi drawing a comic strip and that can only be topped by José Luis Ruiz Pérez sketchbook pages.  Quite honestly you cannot go wrong with this book and I got far more enjoyment out of it than I do the current Avengers run at Marvel -a series I have followed since the 1960s.

I'm hoping Hexagon books get good sales but it deserves to get them. If you have not tried a Hexagon book before 😲 then try this one and if you don't find it a fun read well...why are you here?!

You can order via the Hexagon link provided and at least that way you know the money from sale goes straight to the company.

Saturday, 1 November 2025

https://hoopercomicart.blogspot.com/2025/11/black-tower-comics-tower-tales-of.html

 

Pages 80
Perfect Bound
Black & White
Dimensions A4 (8.27 x 11.69 in / 210 x 297 mm)
£8.00
https://www.lulu.com/shop/terry-hooper/tower-tales-of-terror-special/paperback/product-dyngve9.html?page=1&pageSize=4

From robotic alien invaders dealing with ancient barbarians (or barbarians dealing with them),

Dene Vernon Ghost Investigator,

The Iron Boy (seriously),

Cast Iron Chris,

Ingy Roob,

Bring 'em Back Hank,

Devil Fish Treasure,

The Iron Warrior and much more. It's special -there you go!

Cover by Richard Anthony Pester

Wednesday, 29 October 2025

Black Tower -Krakos: The Sands Of Terror

 


64pp
black and white
comic album (A4)
£6.00
https://www.lulu.com/en/en/shop/terry-hooper-scharf/krakos-sands-of-terror/paperback/product-1rg8ngqv.html

Created by William A. Ward for Swan Comics in the 1940s,Krakos was one of Ward’s supernatural anti-hero types.

Used,with Swan’s permission,in Black Tower Adventure strips in the 1980s/1990s,this is the character’s first solo outing.

But will Krakos fulfill the Goddess Isis’ dream and become the new pharoah of a New Egyptian Kingdom that will encompass all of the Middle East? Did anyone actually ask Krakos?

The book contains information on Ward and his work plus sample pages rescued after 60 years of neglect!

Black Tower - The Bat Triumphant!

 


A4
B&W
60pp
£6.00
https://www.lulu.com/shop/terry-hooper-scharf/the-bat-triumphant/paperback/product-12046091.html

In 1941,The Bat sets about modernising the backward Duchy of Stahl,over which his dynasty has ruled since 1410 A.D.. 

The Bat is soon involved in experiments with the infamous Count Cogliostro. One of these experiments involves suspended animation;The Bat deciding he will be the test subject. When he wakes,The Bat finds that not days have gone by but 51 years! 

Worse,his kingdom is in ruins and an enclave of Kamora. 

The Bat tries politics to win back his homeland and when that fails he decides to fight for it! 

However,he is unaware that some old,and new,enemies are lying in wait to stop him and all of them want one thing:The Bat dead! 

Originally a back up strip in Black Tower Adventure in 1994,The Bat proved very popular as an anti-hero. The story was never completed. It is now. New edition -added art pages

Chronos The Watchman

 


A4
B&W
40pp
Price: £7.50 (excl. VAT)
Prints in 3-5 business days

John Tempus, a world travelling adventurer travels by ship to Gull Island, a desolate place
on which stands an ancient, war-scarred tower, left to him by an uncle he never knew.

An uncle that he soon finds is far from dead.

An uncle who reveals to him a family curse that he cannot avoid. A duty he
will carry out until his death.

John Tempus has now become the next Chronos Watchman and he is all that
stands between our world and that of...

KAOS!

The Return of the Gods and Green Skies Invasion Earth Series

  "I read the original quote from that German blogger and thought it was a lot of hot air. When Return of the Gods: Twilight of the Super Heroes arrived I thought "thick book" and knew you'd taken it from 96 pages to 360+...it looked impressive. I read through it in two days and -robots, aliens, "gods", super heroes, sorcerers, alien invasions and more and world-wide. And you tell me this was done without a script?! It's the only one I can think of so, yeah, the greatest British super hero graphic novel fits as a description." Pete Clark

"You say this is your final big story? The Green Skies was fantastic and everything laid out into chapters was a great touch!"

David Stephens, Comic Reviews

" 'Holy ******* ****!' was all I could say. I even tried counting the number of characters and how the **** you produced all of this without a script beats me. Return of the Gods: Twilight of the Super Heroes and The Green Skies could only have been better if George Perez had drawn it!"

Dan's Comics

"I have no idea why you are not pushing this even harder. The books Return of the Gods: Twilight of the Super Heroes and The Green Skies I would love to see in German or at least get German fans to read since it has a good number of German heroes in it. Next big comic event over here send me copies and I'll sell them on my table!"

Gerd Hammer, German comics historian and trader

Selected comic readers were also chosen to review copies and, obviously, two of these were people from Hong Kong who I corresponded with on Manhua over the years.

"I just wish someone like Tong Li would publish this in Chinese -I mean there are Chinese heroes in this so why not?"

Wang Xiuying

"There HAS to have been a script and more than one person working on this! Brilliant!"

Mike Wayne, Australian comic dealer

Generally, these comments were all similar and I only quote these as any more would be very egotistical. The books should speak for themselves.

https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgEv-kM7AC7yJMLPwHp89n42-UyCRG6T9gA6vkZWrnUjUp7ey9ysCHUf-iOXrn4XLe3jouLGUWQnpx9nxnQalTlPWEVc8WbiUTUg9kTpIHYLYwL96St3K00SmvbM2UEE76C-QZnY2wDPLY/s1600/NEW+RETURN+Front.jpg


Paperback
A4
Black & White
331 Pages
Price: Reduced to £21.89 

It begins slowly.  It always does. It's a deception that everything in the world is as it should be and that never changes.

Earth’s heroes and crime-fighters are going about their daily tasks –fighting a giant robot controlled by a mad scientist’s brain, attackers both human and mystical -even alien high priests of some mysterious cult and their zombie followers and, of course, a ghost and a young genius lost in time. 

Pretty mundane. 

But psychics around the world have been sensing something.  A "something" that sends feelings of sheer terror through their psyches.

There is a huge alien Mother-ship near the Moon. Undetected by deep-space radar and other instruments, only a few on Earth have sensed it and they cannot penetrate the hull but only feel psychic screams and....worse.

And then it begins: strange orange spheres isolate and chase some of Earth’s heroes who then vanish into thin air –are they dead?  An attack by an old foe or foes -?

Black, impenetrable domes cover cities world-wide. 

Then it becomes clear to those within the domes what is going on: Alien invasion of Earth! 

A war between the Dark Old Gods and the pantheons that followed! 

Warriors from Earth’s past having to battle each day and whether they die or not they are back the next day! 

No one suspects the driving force behind the events.  One single evil guiding events.  Events that could cause destruction and chaos throughout the multiverse.

Assaulted on all fronts can Earth’s defenders succeed or will they fail...is this truly the end? 

https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhnvq4Vv-CqvFy1E0PUFTEUAsznmIVhuLUP88Ch_jIkAdeifpHbigj6ZUExvEoNIhTHVcGLXbywf4pv4ESRLy3VFUpMrUGQ4rSHUq80CNF8wsPzrufO3EtkJvyIhCwgjxL0FVA-pAmQR6U/s1600/CROSS+EARTHS+CAPER+COVER.jpg
The Cross-Earths Caper: Part II of the Invasion Earth Trilogy

Paperback, 
A4
Black & White
107 Pages
Price: £12.00

Following the events on Neo Olympus and the Boarman invasion of Earth, many heroes and crime-fighters have withdrawn from activity. Some are trying to recover from injuries while others are fighting the mental scars left by the events.

But things have to go on.  As heroes from other parallels who helped during the recent events return home, members of the Special Globe Guard are shocked at the sudden appearance of Zom of the Zodiac. Never a sign of good things a-coming!

Very soon, a group of heroes mount a rescue mission and find that a quick rescue mission can turn sour equally quickly. As they overcome one challenge the the heroes become lost between parallel Earths and face new threats.

 Sometimes one Earth just is not enough. The complete story published in issues 7-10 of Black Tower Adventure now in...one handy dandy book!


A4

B&W

124pp

£15.00

https://www.lulu.com/en/en/shop/terry-hooper/the-green-skies-vol-3-part-1/paperback/product-5j4y7e.html?page=1&pageSize=4

It all began in 1987 and the Black Tower Universe has seen alien attacks, heroes kidnapped to be put into the middle of a war of the gods. 

Despite the deaths and losses the heroes -crime fighters, super powered and members of the magical union have come back but now unaware that alien races are escaping through the Sol system and that a mysterious space fleet is heading towards the inner planets, they find themselves trapped or distracted. 

The Many Eyed One is finally coming. 

The Multiversal Council has quarantined Earth and forbidden any to help. 

The evil has spread and there is treachery striking at the very core of Earth's defenders

A4

B&W

126pp

£15.00

https://www.lulu.com/en/en/shop/terry-hooper/the-green-skies-vol-3-part-ii/paperback/product-nj7wqr.html?page=1&pageSize=4

Following on from events in Green Skies V. 3 Part I the Clone Zone Boyz are increasing in number while those who created them, the Vampirons, continue to plot and await the arrival of their 'God' -The Many Eyed One. 

The Druid finds that his physical and mental state are deteriorating and even the Rev. Merriwether cannot help him. 

Shockingly, the Clone Zone Boyz claims someone close to Merriwether and this leads him to team up with two 'unsavoury' characters. 

In space Krii and Tyn hrrn face a seemingly unstoppable enemy. 

On The Moon the Selenites and representatives of other worlds meet and decide that Johnny Apollo, the Z-Man, is the only one who can lead the counter invasion fleet. 

With the enemy striking Mars and then the Moon things look grim

 A4

B&W

208pp

£16.00

https://www.lulu.com/en/en/shop/terry-hooper/the-green-skies-vol-3-part-iii/paperback/product-kj6r7r.html?page=1&pageSize=4

The gathered Sol Defence fleet is prepared to make its final stand led by Johnny Apollo the Z Man. If it fails to halt the invaders then the doomsday weapon will be detonated and destroy the entire Sol System. 

Meanwhile, unaware of the threat in space, Jack Flash, the Avenger and others prepare for a final show down with the Many Eyed One; a final confrontation they know they do not have the power to win. 

Is this Humanity...the Earths...final day?

woven into The Green Skies is the story of the harbinger of destruction: the story of Varik Dann -The Man 

Who Walked Through a Door and Into Another World