Saturday, 7 October 2023
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Saturday, 15 July 2023
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Sunday, 11 June 2023
1980s German Zines
However, what cannot be deleted are items on my work in Amazing Heroes and Comics F/X, I exclude the mention of The Comics Journal as I have never seen the issue so cannot comment. I even wrote a regular page for Comics F/X -"Tel's From The Crypt". But I was not just part of the spear head of the "British Small Press Explosion" into the United States.
I was also very active in writing and communicating with Small Pressers in what was then West Germany and even East Germany where there was an illegal underground exchange of Small Press comics -German and English. See how old I am? My badge of honour is that I was on a list of "persons to be detained and questioned" by the East German VoPos (Volks Polizei)!
Not sure how they might have greeted the lovely cover by American creator Donna Barr who was interviewed in this issue along with Roberta Gregory, Canadian Colin Upton and some Bristol rogue Paul Brown (aka: Paul Ashley Brown)...and some German creators.
In my collection of Small Press publications I have, obviously, a large number from Germany. Heiki Anacher's Plop! Although Heiki later left the zine it was taken over by Andreas Alt. From 3 DM to 3 Euro...hmm.
Now I may be wrong but I'm quite sure that Jo 84 was publishing Spruhende Phantasie while doing his national service in the German Army. He was still around a few years back but not in good health. Hopefully he is better now. Spruhende Phantasie was one of those German zines that it was always a pleasure to receive and look through.
Below is the back page advert from Zine Zone International 13
Another publication that was a joy to receive was Georg K. Berres' Zebra. Below is the Ad sheet that was included with ZZI 13. Interestingly, rather like the bulky Previews Comic (a new talent showcase) I got Forbidden Planet in London to put copies on sale. They sold. And as with Previews Comic the store refused to pay out the sales money. Crooks from top to bottom.
I had thought that Zebra was the first publication I had seen the work of Rudolph Perez and Martin Frei in (both were interviewed in ZZI 13). However, I have a copy of Lippe published by Andreas Anger (1985/86) in which both contribute strips Frei with "Diamanten" and Perez with (still my favourite) "Die Ruckkehr von Jack The Ripper"
Perez is still working in comics but online -I think!- and every link I follow seems to get me nowhere. Now there is modern tech and communication for you!
Below is a Perez cover for Gringo Comics Kurzer Prozess and I think this one is from the early 2000s. I lost contact with a lot of the old Zinesters such as EmdE, Helge "Herod" Korda and so on after one of my numerous address changes-I was keeping one step ahead of the Vopos! :-)
Martin Frei did some work on a comic adaption of the very popular cop/detective show Schimanski that starred the late Götz George who died in 2016 -http://hoopercomicart.blogspot.co.uk/2016/06/gotz-george-dead-at-77.html
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Another artist, with a much different style, was Hannes Neubauer. Loved this cover to Zebra nr. 9!
Somewhere....I use the term "somewhere" because this is Room Oblivion and things are in boxes or tucked away in other places for safety...are one or two colour postcards that Hannes sent me with a letter back in the day -we old folk say "back in the day" because we really do not want to think how many years ago it really was!
I will need to try to find them.
Below -I have no idea where I got this from or where it is but that's Hannes signing or drawing and I doubt that it was that long ago.
Trawling the internet to see what I can find I came across this piece. Again I have no idea what from or when but it is lovely to look at!
As for this....I love it!
Of course, Hannes has a book out...I assume that it is still available and I have seen some pages online and it is stylish.
Zebra was always printed on a lovely thick paper and this added to the overall feel of the issues and the printing worked well whether it was Frei's precise line-work or Perez's free style...or even Neubauer's particular style.
Let's look at some of the covers. I know I have others but this post has already taken a few hours with scanning and so forth!
From 1988 I also happen to have the red covered A5 Dummy.That was the brain-child of Joachim Ullmer and while corresponding with him I urged him to copyright the whole crash test dummy idea but he wasn't interested. I hope he never kicked himself a few years later when the crash test dummy toy craze hit!
Creators in Germany were doing the same as creators in the UK -experimenting with formats and genres as well as art styles. A great day for German comics came in 1989 when a certain suave and angry bearded English-German comicker saw his super hero team published in Watcher....oh. That was me! :-P
Tobias Schwarz published a German language music theme comic titled Crash and things were a little complicated as Roland Altermatt was also involved in publishing -he was based in the town of Muttenz (Switzerland) and Tobias was in Krozingen (Germany). I think there was only one issue but based on the international pricing on the cover they hoped for a much larger readership.
Nice back cover advert, too.
This post started out as a look at some issues of Zebra but not all my posts go as planned! I have many German zines and the idea of looking at all of them and the amount of scanning that would be involved (I can find no internet presence for any of these publications) makes me faint.
Now, apart from the zines there are the Independent publishers such as Editions Quasimodo, Zwerchfell Verlag and so on. All catalogues but absolutely not scanned yet and when I last spoke to some German comic folk I was told some of the books I have are very rare and "worth a good few Euro"...I do not have comics to sell, however.
Maybe one day. And if you are one of the artists or zine publishers mentioned then please get in touch as it would be interesting to see what happened since the 1980s!
And if you publish a German comic, fanzine or whatever -send a copy and I'll review it.
hoopercomicsuk@yahoo.com
Tschuss!
Maakika Art and its Origins
Whenever I try to explain to someone the origins of The Maakika I get odd looks. I have no idea why, unless the people I'm explaining this to have no artistic minds and have never known a fevered mind!
However, the story I told on the original Maakika Art site in 2008 is factual. These pieces have been called some of the best work I've done -my comic work getting swiftly dismissed! I'm also told, though I never saw it that way myself until I went through all the pieces again, that the pieces seem to form a type of mythology or at least hint at one. I'll let YOU decide.
The Origins
"What is Maakika Art?" I get asked that a great deal and to be honest it is a very brief story!
In 2006 I had a serious respiratory infection. It came and went but,in 2007,it came back with a vengeance over several months and with complications I thought it would see me shift this mortal coil -and I am NOT joking!
Around May, 2007, it got really bad. Then, suddenly,pouring with sweat, while seated on a bus, my mind started getting a rush of images -maybe 50-60. I got home exhausted but I sat down and began to draw. Honestly, at 50 years of age I had drawn many things but these new images were so out of my usual frame of image reference that I was stumped.
I drew a few, sat back and thought "What the bloody hell have I drawn?!" Almost instantly the word "Maakika" [pronounced "Mah-kee-kah"] came into my head. At the same time I got the definition "solid black and white art under guidance from the Maakika". Ahh, a fevered mind -and no drugs involved!
I've searched the word on the internet, in books and anywhere else I can but it seems not to exist. I cannot find anything similar.
And with each came a title or description.
So,a divine gift from the Maakika pantheon seems credible!
And lucky.
The original images are all 21x29cms and though I've not parted with the first "inspired" drawings which look crude to my eye, several were sold for between £150-£300 each.
I still have the original images in my mind [they won't shift!] but I've been inspired to work on larger images [60x42cms].
So,if you have any questions or comments get in touch!
And remember:only one person does Maakika art -me (and I have absolutely no idea what's coming next!)
The Maakika Art ~ you can buy the book!
Paperback,
A4
32 Pages
Price: £10.00 (excl. VAT)
Prints in 3-5 business days
According to comments:
J Stransky
"Unique and eye catching. It is equal parts disturbing and wonderful. I've cut a few out and put them in frames on the wall in my work room. They are, I tell you, really quite though provoking. Recommended to someone with an interest in primitive art or hypnosis-state painting. Look at these images deeply for a while, they will seep into your soul."
SMITH
"i said in another post that these make me think of some hinted at mythology. you should do a book of these with just title s to hint at things so we can read them and let our mind run wild!2
GUEST
"I love the way these are all part of some implied story or mythology. Just enough info suggested to make you think about what the story is and let your mind make up all sorts of fabulous things"
Guest
| "Seriously, these are the best things you do and you should concentrate making more or using them as a design project (T-shirts, posters whatever). Clean 'em up just a little and they'd be incredible." Molly Williams "These Maakika pieces are wonderful Terry!! I find them really fascinating." |
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