Book Palace Books Wulf - First Reactions

We're starting to receive feedback on all three of the Book Palace Books new releases. Steve Holland has been keeping readers of Bear Alley posted on some of the responses as well as plans for his own Bear Alley Books for which he is now taking pre-orders. As Steve says on his blog, none of these books are exactly going to be gathering the kind of readership that the late Stieg Larsson's books attract, but then the whole beauty of niche market publishing is that you know your readership and you share their enthusiasms. In doing so you make a contract of good faith with them to deliver the kind of book worthy of their time and money.

Never is this requirement more pressing than when publisher and editor go out on a limb to produce a book whose production specs are such that the cost of the book itself will make significant demands on the purse strings of it's target audience.

And never did a book more embody this principle than does Ron Embleton's Wulf the Briton - The Complete Adventures. This book was a joy to work on and was a huge learning curve in terms of all aspects of the production but there comes a moment when you have looked at the last set of proofs, made the final small adjustments and then comes the time to give the red light to the guys in Shenzhen Province to set the presses rolling. Which when one thinks about it for more than a moment is a truly alarming prospect because at this stage there is no going back.

My relief when I finally got to hold one of those very few copies that were air freighted over in early March was palpable, but as I said to Geoff West, who is in many ways the creative force behind BPB, "It doesn't matter really what we think. It's the reaction of the people who have stumped up the readies to buy this book that is really going to count. It's a small world and the opinion of our readership is crucial in this regard."

Well I am pleased, well delighted would be more apt, to say that the reaction we have had has been overwhelming. Despite the high price, people love this book and have been emailing and phoning us up as well as sharing their enthusiasm on discussion groups where it was described on the UK Comics Forum as "The Book of the Century". A slight exaggeration perhaps but very flattering nonetheless.

Here's some of the emails we have received so far:

Dave Gibbons:

Just received the Wulf volume. I'm stunned: I was expecting something wonderful and it exceeded all my expectations!

The repro, the production and the features are all beyond excellent. You should all be very proud of a job very, very well done.

Thanks so much for letting me be a small part of it!

Best

-- Dave


Andrew Skilleter (illustrator and long time friend of Ron Embleton)

Hello Peter,

I meant to mail you yesterday but what with things and going out today it hadn't been done. Just wanted to say my special edition of Wulf has arrived and I am speechless - I am going to reply properly and blog on it  - I never expected anything so original and sumptuous and BIG!  To own this book is a privilege and I know you've worked so hard ...will reply and comment further in a day or two...

Best,

Andrew


David Slinn:

The book itself, Peter, is not only a triumph that does live up to Alan’s (Vince) assessment, and sits very comfortably with your own thoughts on what Alastair achieved with Tomorrow Revisited, but puts the efforts of a particular bête noire well and truly in the shade.  Like Phil Rushton, I’m a bit lost for the right words – but trust you’ll get the picture... ... ...
Will follow this up, when I have absorbed the overall effect of reading it as intended – like a really good book?  For the moment, again many thanks.

David Simpson:

Hi Peter
I'm one of the people who bought your Wulf The Briton book, and I thought that you'd like to know that I'm one very happy customer.  I've read a lot of comic books in my time, plus a lot of collections of old comics, and Wulf is right up there with the best I've read both in content and in the superlative packaging.
I'm not (quite) old enough to have read Wulf first time around (I was born in 1957) but I do have a handful of back issues of Express Weekly, plus a long time liking for Ron Embleton's work.  That's one reason why I bought the book but, truth be told, what prompted me to actually shell out for it were the enthusiasm of a friend of mine, who is just old enough to have read at least the later episodes of Wulf when they came out, and the coverage you gave to it on the Cloud 109 blogsite.  that coverage made it clear that you were going the extra mile (mile?  More like a whole Marathon) to make this a great book.
It is a great book, and I'm so glad I bought it.
Thank you
David Simpson

Alan Stephen:

Received your e-mail from a friend just wanted to thank you for the hard work and dedication put into a book that I'll  enjoy and treasure for a long time - the wonderful Wulf the Briton


Steve Taylor:

Hello Peter,

Just to let you know that today I have received: The Thriller Libraries, Don Lawrence's Westerns AND Wulf the Briton. I will send Geoff a separate Thank You, but I am totally impressed with Wulf - you did great work (which gives me a warm feeling about the McLoughlin venture). The reproduction is super - did you use original artwork?

Andoni from Spain:

Yesterday I have receive my copy of RON EMBLETON'S WULF THE BRITON. It's amazing! Extraordinary beautiful! Big size. Wonderful job with the restoration of the Technicolor. The best comic book of the year.
Now I can rest in peace.
Andoni



In addition to these generous and heart warming emails, we had many phone callers including  David Ashford, Alan Vince and the artist Oliver Frey who all described the book as sumptuous and made particular mention of the sheer size and amazing production values of the book.

But perhaps the most amazing call of all came from Ron Embleton's widow Elizabeth, who was just over the moon with the book and so pleased that Ron's artistry hadn't been forgotten. I think all of us are very firmly of the opinion that artist's of the stature of Ron Embleton will never be forgotten.

 Wulf the Briton © Express Newspapers 2011.

Wulf the Briton - Print Ready!!!

I recall blithely telling Geoff West - head honcho and creative Svengali at Book Palace Books that I reckoned I could get all the material necessary for the Wulf the Briton book ready by the end of July.

This was at the start of June and I was being overly optimistic, but knowing how easy it is for publishing projects to bog down in the sands of inertia, I thought if I gave myself this deadline then with my reputation and credibility on the line, I might just be able to pull it off.

Wrongggggggggggg!!!!

But then again without that impetus I wouldn't be in the happy position of having just posted off all the InDesign (loveliest desktop publishing software ever as the Quark team have learned to their cost) generated PDFs to the good people at Book Palace Books. I can now refocus my creativity on Cloud 109, which is nearly two thirds complete and about to be translated into French as France for us is an absolute must and in many ways more vital than the UK.

Anyway to get back to Wulf, the book is looking incredible and as I said in a previous posting, I have learned so much along the way, including the story of a "nearly was" reprint of the whole Wulf saga by a Dutch publisher (I'm assuming Oberon) in the early 1980's. But barring a reprint in Marvel UK's Forces in Combat comic in 1980, this book will be the first time that Wulf has been reprinted in it's entirety in it's original format. I'm qualifying my use of terminology as there was an ongoing reprint of Wulf under the title of "Rock L'Invincible" in a French weekly comic with the memorable title of "L'Interpide Hurrah". I kid thee not. What was even weirder was that Ron Embleton's magnificent painted artwork was converted into a monotone grayscale and then a crude variation on the four color process familiar to U.S. comics readers was used to add cyan, magenta and yellow to the pages.

W-eeeeiiiirrrrrrrr-ddddddddddd!!!

Anyway here's some sample spreads from the book, some of which I know are familiar, but if I show you ones you've seen, you can see that I've streamlined the layouts and more importantly I'm not giving away too much.

Here are some more statistics:

The book is going to be printed same size as the original comic, so we're talking approx 36cm tall by 26 cm wide page size.

Two editions:

The regular clocking in at 352 pages, which is a lovely looking thing in red cover with all of Ron Embleton's Wulf strips carefully scanned from optimum copies of the original comics covering his entire output on the strip from May 1957 to September 1960.

All the Wulf 8 page strips from each of the four Express Weekly/TV Express Annuals.

Commentaries on each story.

A foreword by Watchmen artist Dave Gibbons who it transpires was a big fan of Ron Embleton and continues to be fascinated by his work.

A reminiscence by Alan Vince who was fortunate enough to know Ron Embleton as a friend as well as being a fan and among other memories recalls a visit to Express Weekly's art department the week that the famous attack on Cartamandua's fortress artwork was delivered.

An introduction and afterword by yours truly although much of the work involved was due to extensive help and research from Andrew Skilleter, who as an artist as well as friend of Ron's was able to provide an extra degree of insight into his remarkable working methods, Alan Vince who again came through with a lot of information and David Slinn another artist with working knowledge of Express Weekly in the late 1950's to early 1960's - when it comes to writing intros it doesn't get much better than this.

Add in copious amounts of help from comic historians and enthusiasts such as David Ashford, Norman Wright and David Roach who provided me with scans and contacts and you have a much firmer foundation to write about this amazing strip with a degree of crediblity.

In addition to the essays we have samples of original artwork all of which are real stonkers with some vitally important pieces which were not on the collector's circuit coming to us via the assistance of Robert Avery at Express Newspapers, who kindly granted permission for this project to go ahead.

There is also going to be a limited edition of 126 copies of the book signed and numbered which will come in red leather binding with embossed titles and a slipcase.

This book will feature an additional 24 pages devoted to 13 samples of original Wulf artwork - the majority of which have remained unseen by collectors and enthusiasts, which have all been carefully scanned rather than photographed to ensure that the tiniest detail of Ron Embleton's artistry on these pages shines through. The majority of the thirteen artworks occupies a double page spread with a detail on the left side of the spread reproduced at the same size as the original artwork and on the right hand side the complete page. The effect is really stunning and even though this book is going to be expensive it's still going to be less of a stress to the plastic than attempting to buy one, let alone a baker's dozen of these artworks.

I'll keep you informed of the progress of this baby as we get to publication date but here in the interim are those scans.

P.G., Wulf and The Exacting Science of Restoration

Paul Gravett is probably (sparing his blushes) one of  the most media savvy promoters of comics as an art form in the UK. I first came across his work when in 1985 I sent off for a trial copy of his "Escape" zine which with sundry talents such as Hunt Emerson and a very young Rian Hughes was like a breath of fresh air with a definite "bande desinee" vibe about it, which in my book couldn't be a bad thing.

Anyway I've long been aware of Paul's works and his rise to something of celebrity status amongst comic critics and historians. He is a networker par excellence and if there's any kind of comics event either here in the U.K. or further afield, you can be sure that Paul will pop up amongst the assembled luminaries. But in addition to his networking talents Paul has got an uncanny ability to divine other comic enthusiasts interests and probably has more of an idea of what's in their collections then they have.

A few years ago I received an email from Paul apropos of a new book he was working on which was a history of British comics. He needed some material on Ron Embleton's "Wulf the Briton" and he had divined by either esp or superb journalistic detective work that I had a couple of Wulf originals in my care. Could I possibly, if it wasn't going to be too much trouble scan them and send him hi-res copies? Complimentary copy of the book, credit on publication etc, etc.

Well, of course I was delighted to be in any way involved with such a project, but there was one little snag and that was that of the two pages, one was a second page with no significant appearance of Wulf and the other was from later in the strips run, when it was occupying a full page on the back of the comic. It had the advantage of being a magnificent example of Embleton's ability to draw horses and warriors at full tilt with Wulf prominent in the action but and it was a BIG but ... it was faded.

Historical note here but much of the "Wulf the Briton" artwork was mysteriously removed from the vaults of Express Newspapers some thirty plus years ago and has turned up in collections all over the UK and beyond. People have shelled out lots of money for it and eager to enjoy their investment have framed it and hung the work on their walls. If you are one of these people and are reading this, then be warned, Ron Embleton used Pelikan inks for most of his work and whilst they are superb in terms of color they are not, repeat NOT "lightfast". This means that the sun will leech all the colors out of the artwork. starting with the yellows first, followed by reds, until everything goes. You have two options, either take the artwork down and get it re-framed with ultra violet resistant glass (not THAT expensive) or just take it down and store it in a folio or plan chest. Or if you really want to be be an accomplice to the destruction of a piece of beautiful artwork leave it as it is.

Anyway the piece concerned had suffered quite badly whereas the page 2 (with no Wulf) showed no excessive evidence of such deterioration. I got back to Paul with the warning that the most appropriate page was chromatically compromised, but he was as ever very enthusiastic and keen to use the page in question, give or take a bit of fade.

So I scanned the artwork in and painstakingly assembled the multiple scans (A4 scanner as opposed to A2) and emailed the results to Paul. He was a little disappointed with the results; "the colors look really dull", "well yes they are Paul, I did say it was badly faded, but I'll give it a tweak in Photoshop."

Now ethics began to creep into my thinking, I considered the fact that I did have a copy of the original comic in my possession, but I was keen to see the original artwork in Paul's book as it was, so back I go into Photoshop and start playing with sliders and color balance. Feeling that we'd got some appreciable improvement I re-emailed Paul the results. Close but no cigar, was pretty much the response.

Hmmmmmm ... OK ethics out the window, in desperation I scanned in my copy of the comic and after restoring that page to it's original chromatic values (or as near as possible) I then re-sized it to the same dimensions as the original art scan and carefully laid it as a transparent layer on top. I then painstakingly worked over both layers and hey presto - we finally had an original looking almost as good as the day it left the artist's studio without too much interference or supposition by the restorer.

Looked pretty good to me when I eventually happened on a copy in that enchanted glade of bibliophile heaven otherwise known as erm ...  Waterstones. Honors even as they say. And if all of this is getting your "Wulf" juices flowing I've got some very exciting news on that front which I'll let you know about shortly.

Wulf Is On His Way!!!

I was up in town yesterday for lunch with Geoff West, chief Svengali and head honcho of Book Palace Books (hence the absence of a posting yesterday). It was a moment that we'd anticipated almost a year ago.

It was the moment when the project that we were working on would finally see fruition.

It was the moment when ...

we'd actually be holding the final printed books featuring Ron Embleton's magnificent run of Wulf the Briton.

In the intervening time the project that I naively thought would not be THAT time consuming had swallowed up months and months of work, from tracking down people who knew both the artist and his work on Wulf, from ferreting out the few surviving original art boards and from the scanning and digital reconstruction required to make the original Express Weekly pages sing with a life and vivacity that has eluded so many similar projects.

And that's even before we get to writing and designing the book!

Needless to say, I was in a state of some trepidation as Geoff handed me the first two books from his bag of imminent Book Palace Books arrivals. These being the second part of The Complete Fleetway Index and Don Lawrence's Wells Fargo. Both these books are, I am pleased to say, really first rate and in the case of The Fleetway Index, is even better than it's predecessor, with full color throughout and many magnificent examples of original art for Thriller Comics Library and Cowboy Picture Library.

But try as I did to forestall the inevitable, the moment was finally on hand when I would have to look at the book that has occupied so much of my time for so much of last year. As I gingerly took the hefty looking leather clad tome complete with slipcase onto my lap, all the nightmares that had assailed me in the intervening months when the last lot of corrected pdfs had gone winging their way to Prolong, our superb Chinese printer, ran through my mind:

Will that double page spread marry up correctly?

Will some areas of digital surgery be in any way evident?

Will the endpapers be there? (irrational I know but...)

Will there be any glaring typos that we missed, pages out of sequence or other disasters unimaginable until you are faced with them?

Will the pages look as good as the original comics? This last one a real cause for concern as the scanning and restoration process can throw up as many problems as it solves and there is a lot of so-so material out in print already that bears mute testimony to this conundrum.

I opened the book tentatively...

Wowee Kazowee!!!

Fan-Bleeding-Tastic!!!

Yup this book is every bit as good as I could have hoped for. The leather slipcased edition is a magnificent beast, with gold edged pages and the most amazing looking cover and slipcase complete with sword, Wulf icons and title in gold block. The regular edition is also a truly handsome book with laminate relief on the Wulf icons on front, back and spine. The paper is just exquisite, archival matte (similar to Fantagraphics new Prince Valiant series), it has a slight off-white bias (whiter than it appears in these photos where there is the warm glow from an angle-poise lamp) and is just perfect for creating the right feel to these amazing stories, giving the reader a very similar experience to the one they would have experienced reading Wulf when it was first published.

Where the two editions differ in terms of content is that the slipcased edition also includes an additional 24 pages showcasing some truly amazing examples of Ron Embleton's original artwork for this series. Some of these pages took some real serious tracking down and were still being sourced while the first set of proofs were being sent back to us from the printers.

The quality of the scans and the repro on this paper is the best I have seen to date. Not only have the pages been able to retain the subtlety and nuances of the original printing, but in many cases a lot of Embleton's phenomenal brush work is more appreciable in the book than it is in the comics from which it was sourced.

The whole book just oozes quality and I am not only very relieved but also very happy that we are putting the best work we could create into the hands of readers who have been prepared to make a significant financial commitment to accessing.

Which brings me to a question that I am occasionally asked regarding possible future and less expensive editions of this book. The fact is that it all goes back to the kind of number crunching decisions that have to be made when publishing books for a specialist market. The bottom line with a project such as this is that there are only so many people who will want to buy a book devoted to a comic strip that nobody outside of a select coterie of comic aficionados has ever heard of. Publishing costs per unit go down when you do large print runs. So in the case of Wulf you could commit to a sufficiently large print run so that everyone that wants a copy can have one for less than thirty quid. But even with a larger print run you will need to make some economies in terms of production, so the book has to shrink both in terms of page dimension and page run. So perhaps smaller format in three volumes?

And guess what??? Because even less people are aware of Wulf than they are Dan Dare you will never sell the bulk of your print run - sure you'll sell a few more copies but you will be tripping over those piles of unsold books for years to come. And in the meantime you'll have taken a big hit in terms of your publishing costs. Costs that you will never clear.

So the logic of going in the opposite direction and putting as much love, care and thought into producing a book that readers will treasure becomes pretty unbeatable. OK so the price tag is high but even the leather edition is still a lot less expensive then trying to hoover up back copies of Express Weekly at anything up to £10.00 a throw multiplied by the  200+ you will need to complete the run and the time it will take.

So there are no plans to do any additional less expensive editions of Wulf, it just isn't financially feasible. It's far more exciting just to concentrate on future projects and for those lucky owners of this book which will be arriving in bulk on these shores shortly (see Steve Holland's update) they will have the nice warm feeling that they have a book of beauty and something that they can rightly regard as a real investment.

It really is that good!

I've included photos of the new arrivals and a couple of pix where you can see the original comics side by side with the newly printed versions. Thus you can at least gain a rough idea of the overall fidelity of the color balance. What you can't see is the fabulous detail of Embleton's exquisite brush work.

Nor can you smell the fantastic aroma of that archival matte paper.

Further details of how to obtain a copy of this book is at the Book Palace Website. It seems that there are now just a few remaining copies of the Leather Lettered edition which is the edition that comes with the giant sized print and all three editions are selling very well, which is indeed promising. The pre-publication discounts hold good until March 31st and every order received by then will receive an additional print of Wulf and the Vikings again sourced from original artwork provided by Paul Stephenson of PS Publishing, whose recent book by Alastair Crompton "Tomorrow Revisited" is the most authoritative and engrossing book ever on the subject of Frank Hampson and Dan Dare.