Pages from History Illustrated by C. L. Doughty

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The latest publication from Bear Alley Books is our most ambitious yet, a bumper 172 page collection of art and comics by one of Britain's finest historical illustrators. Pages from History contains four classic comic strips, over 100 illustrations and, as a bonus, two episodes of an unpublished strip, all from the masterful pen (and brush) of C. L. Doughty.

Over half the comic strip art and all the illustrations have been scanned from original art boards and, thanks to modern digital printing, these pages have never looked so good. Lettering has been restored and, in the case of one strip, edited pages have also been restored.

The four strips, taken from the pages of Look and Learn, include the often grim tale of "Potts' Progress", the story of Prestor John retold in "The Crusader", the action-packed "A Sword for the Stadtholder" and a story of revenge as Richard Fairfax becomes "The Black Pirate". The book also includes a detailed introduction charting Doughty's career as a comic strip artist and illustrator in the pages of Thriller Picture Library, Sun, Express Weekly, Top Spot, Swift, Lion, Girl, Eagle, Knockout, School Friend, June and other papers. A gallery of over 100 illustrations reveals Doughty's skill as a chronicler of history from portraits of Britain's monarchy to the adventures of explorers, highwaymen and pirates.

Thumbnails of the book's opening pages

 

 

 

Pages from four of the strips  

 

About the Artist
Cecil Langley Doughty (1913-1985) began his career as an illustrator before the Second World War but returned from service to find many of the pre-War markets gone. Working firstly for The Children's Newspaper and then for Thriller Picture Library, Doughty became best known for his work on literary adaptations and the swashbuckling adventures of Dick Turpin and Robin Hood. His detailed, vigorous artwork was perfect for this kind of storytelling and his talents were made good use of in the pages of Eagle and Express Weekly where he could work in colour.

Doughty became one of the mainstays of childrens' educational magazines, working for Look and Learn, Treasure, Tell Me Why and World of Wonder in the 1960s and 1970s, usually on historical subjects but ranging widely from literature to the wild west.

Format
Pages from History is published in perfect bound format, 172 pages b/w with a stunning colour cover by C. L. Doughty.

Publication Date
Due for publication 6 February 2012.

Order now via PayPal - We are offering a 10% discount on copies ordered before 3 February 2012.
(Please note, postage & packing is extra as noted)

UK: £17.99  £16.20 + £4.00

EU: £17.99  £16.20 + £6.50

US: £17.99  £16.20 + £10.50

RoW: £17.99  £16.20 + £10.50

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Please contact me via the e-mail address below the top-left photo.

(* artwork © Look and Learn Ltd.)

Eagles Over the Western Front - Buy all three volumes

You can now buy all three volumes of Eagles Over the Western Front together. If you order now, all three volumes will be shipped as soon as volume three becomes available in a couple of weeks time. For information about the individual volumes, click on the links to the right.

Author Mike Butterworth is better known for writing 'The Rise and Fall of the Trigan Empire', but his career began many years before as a scriptwriter and editor for the Amalgamated Press's Sun, where penned dozens of stories featuring historical characters (Billy the Kid, Dick Turpin, Robin Hood) as well as creating 'Max Bravo, the Happy Hussar' and 'Battler Britton'.  For Comet he wrote authentic historical dramas as well as creating the science fiction adventurer 'Jet-Ace Logan'. Editorially he created the innovative Playhour Pictures, Valentine and the teenage magazine Honey. A prolific novelist, he wrote crime thrillers, bodice-rippers and historicals under a variety of pen-names. More information on Butterworth's career can be found in the introduction to volume two.

Bill Lacey's first strips appeared in 1951, although the best of his early work appeared in the pages of Super Detective Library, where he was the original artist for Rick Random and Blackshirt. Lacey's work appeared in dozens of comics in the 1950s and 1960s, including Mickey Mouse Weekly, Cowboy Picture Library, Knockout, Express Weekly, Thriller Picture Library, Princess, Film Fun, Valiant, Buster, Tiger and Lion; during this time his strips ranged from adaptations of western novels such as 'The Covered Wagon' to weird fantasy classics like 'Mytek the Mighty'. In the 1970s he drew extensively for Look and Learn and for a number of D. C. Thomson's boys' papers, Bullet, Crunch and Buddy. Volume three's introduction takes a look at Lacey's lengthy career.

Publication Date
Available from 25 July 2011.

Order now via PayPal
(Please note, postage & packing is extra as noted)

UK: £29.97 + £5.70

EU: £29.97 + £9.50
Approx: €44.68

US: £29.97 + £15.00
Approx. $71.57

RoW: £29.97 + £15.00

Pay by Cheque
Please contact me via the e-mail address below the top-left photo.

(* Eagles Over the Western Front © Look and Learn Ltd.)

Eagles Over the Western Front volume 3

Eagles Over the Western Front

Volume 3

The third volume of Eagles Over the Western Front brings the epic story of Harry Hawkes to a dramatic climax. As our new book opens, Harry and his comrades, Entwistle and Pootle, are piloting Sopwith Camels for a squadron on the Western Front in France in 1917.

Facing them across the 'line' is Manfred von Richthofen—the Red Baron—and his infamous 'Flying Circus' of German fighter aircraft, the Jagdgeschwader 1 squadron. Richthofen would become the highest scoring ace of the Great War, officially credited with some 80 kills.

Harry faces danger from both sides of the line. At the squadron's base there are newcomers like the despicable and arrogant Dave Buller, or Entwistle's younger brother, Algy, a slacker and a thief. And then there's Polly, the parrot, who may hold the key to a German offensive...

What happens when Harry chooses to aid the escape of a German pilot, finds himself chased through the streets of Berlin and lands up in a shell hole in no-man's land with Crown Prince Wilhelm and the Red Baron, will keep you on the edge of your seat.

Bear Alley Books is proud to present the concluding volume of Eagles Over the Western Front, the classic story of aerial action set during the days of the R.F.C. Created by Mike Butterworth and Bill Lacey and serialised in the pages of Look and Learn in 1971-73, Eagles ran a magnificent 116 episodes. Now, for the first time in thirty years, the complete story will be available, with two-thirds of the story scanned from surviving original art boards.

Author Mike Butterworth is better known for writing 'The Rise and Fall of the Trigan Empire', but his career began many years before as a scriptwriter and editor for the Amalgamated Press's Sun, where penned dozens of stories featuring historical characters (Billy the Kid, Dick Turpin, Robin Hood) as well as creating 'Max Bravo, the Happy Hussar' and 'Battler Britton'.  For Comet he wrote authentic historical dramas as well as creating the science fiction adventurer 'Jet-Ace Logan'. Editorially he created the innovative Playhour Pictures, Valentine and the teenage magazine Honey. A prolific novelist, he wrote crime thrillers, bodice-rippers and historicals under a variety of pen-names.

Bill Lacey's first strips appeared in 1951, although the best of his early work appeared in the pages of Super Detective Library, where he was the original artist for Rick Random and Blackshirt. Lacey's work appeared in dozens of comics in the 1950s and 1960s, including Mickey Mouse Weekly, Cowboy Picture Library, Knockout, Express Weekly, Thriller Picture Library, Princess, Film Fun, Valiant, Buster, Tiger and Lion; during this time his strips ranged from adaptations of western novels such as 'The Covered Wagon' to weird fantasy classics like 'Mytek the Mighty'. In the 1970s he drew extensively for Look and Learn and for a number of D. C. Thomson's boys' papers, Bullet, Crunch and Buddy. Volume three's introduction takes a longer look at Lacey's lengthy career.

Reviews

"As with the previous two volumes, Butterworth mixes shorter and longer stories which means that the rhythm of the book never gets predictable while Lacey's artwork remains as clear and as remarkably detailed as before. His depictions of the biplanes are accurate and dynamic while his humour can be seen with his depiction of the invariably hungry Pootle."— Jeremy Briggs, Down the Tubes.

Format
Eagles Over the Western Front volume 3 is published in A4 saddle-stitch format, 84 pages b/w with a stunning wraparound cover by Wilf Hardy.

Publication Date
Published on 25 July 2011.

Order now via PayPal
(Please note, postage & packing is extra as noted)

UK: £9.99 + £2.50

EU: £9.99 + £4.50
Approx: €16.38

US: £9.99 + £6.50
Approx. $26.90

RoW: £9.99 + £6.50

Pay by Cheque
Please contact me via the e-mail address below the top-left photo.

(* Eagles Over the Western Front © Look and Learn Ltd.)

Eagles Over the Western Front Volume 2

Eagles Over the Western Front

Volume 2

OUT NOW!

The second volume of Eagles Over the Western Front picks up the action where volume one left off: 2nd Lieutenant Harry Hawkes is the pilot of an Airco DH2 with a squadron based on the Western Front in France during the early dogfighting days of the First World War. It is 1916 and the early hopes that "it'll all be over by Christmas" have died in the stalemate of barbed wire and churned mud of trench warfare.

Above the trenches, the aerial action continues as Harry and his chums of the Royal Flying Corps risk their lives against the Spandau's of German Fokkers. Max Immelmann may be dead, but the German Imperial Air Force has other 'Aces' like Oswald Boelcke and Baron von Richthofen cutting a swathe through the British and French airmen in the newly developed Albatross D-1. The Allies respond with the Nieuport, the Sopwith Pup and Sopwith Camel to combat this new menace.

But the action isn't all in the air. On the ground, too, Harry risks his life as he gets caught up in the private wars, deserters, impostors, spies and newcomers who seem to have their own agendas in coming to the Front. With tensions running high back at base and Richthofen's 'Flying Circus' turning the skies into a death trap, every flight could be Harry's last...

Bear Alley Books is proud to continue its release of Eagles Over the Western Front, the classic story of aerial action set during the days of the R.F.C. Created by Mike Butterworth and Bill Lacey and serialised in the pages of Look and Learn in 1971-73, Eagles ran a magnificent 116 episodes. Now, for the first time in thirty years, the complete story will be available in three volumes, with two-thirds of the story scanned from surviving original art boards.

Author Mike Butterworth is better known for writing 'The Rise and Fall of the Trigan Empire', but his career began many years before as a scriptwriter and editor for the Amalgamated Press's Sun, where penned dozens of stories featuring historical characters (Billy the Kid, Dick Turpin, Robin Hood) as well as creating 'Max Bravo, the Happy Hussar' and 'Battler Britton'.  For Comet he wrote authentic historical dramas as well as creating the science fiction adventurer 'Jet-Ace Logan'. Editorially he created the innovative Playhour Pictures, Valentine and the teenage magazine Honey. A prolific novelist, he wrote crime thrillers, bodice-rippers and historicals under a variety of pen-names. Volume two's introduction takes a longer look at Butterworth's career.

Bill Lacey's first strips appeared in 1951, although the best of his early work appeared in the pages of Super Detective Library, where he was the original artist for Rick Random and Blackshirt. Lacey's work appeared in dozens of comics in the 1950s and 1960s, including Mickey Mouse Weekly, Cowboy Picture Library, Knockout, Express Weekly, Thriller Picture Library, Princess, Film Fun, Valiant, Buster, Tiger and Lion; during this time his strips ranged from adaptations of western novels such as 'The Covered Wagon' to weird fantasy classics like 'Mytek the Mighty'. In the 1970s he drew extensively for Look and Learn and for a number of D. C. Thomson's boys' papers, Bullet, Crunch and Buddy.

Reviews

"Whatever they are about, Butterworth's stories are fast paced and action packed and never repetitive as our hero's friends and colleagues come and go as he moves between squadrons and the series timeline progresses as he flies the newer and better planes that are being supplied to the RFC against differing German opposition. The story rarely feels confined by the original two pages per week publication rate from Look and Learn and Bill Lacey's artwork remains consistently good with a remarkable amount of detail in each panel ... With a wraparound cover featuring World War One biplane combat by Wilf Hardy, Eagles Over The Western Front Volume 2 continues pilot Harry Hawkes' story and while, forty years on from its creation, its format and pacing are very different to modern comics, it shows just how good weekly British comic strips were be when a skilled writer was teamed with an enthusiastic artist."— Jeremy Briggs, Down the Tubes.

Format
Eagles Over the Western Front volume 2 is published in A4 saddle-stitch format, 84 pages b/w with a stunning wraparound cover by Wilf Hardy.

Publication Date
Published on 7 June 2011. Available now.

Order now via PayPal
(Please note, postage & packing is extra as noted)

UK: £9.99 + £2.50

EU: £9.99 + £4.50
Approx: €16.38

US: £9.99 + £6.50
Approx. $26.90

RoW: £9.99 + £6.50

Pay by Cheque
Please contact me via the e-mail address below the top-left photo.

(* Eagles Over the Western Front © Look and Learn Ltd.)

Eagles Over the Western Front volume 1

Eagles Over the Western Front

Volume 1

OUT NOW!

Bear Alley Books is proud to announce the release of Eagles Over the Western Front, the classic story of aerial warfare set during the days of the R.F.C. Created by Mike Butterworth and Bill Lacey and serialised in the pages of Look and Learn in 1971-73, Eagles ran a magnificent 116 episodes. Now, for the first time in thirty years, the complete story will be available in three volumes to be published over the next three months—with two-thirds of the story scanned from surviving original art boards.

Bill Lacey's stunning artwork captures every terrifying moment as Harry Hawkes, the hero of Eagles Over the Western Front, joins the only recently founded Royal Flying Corps and, with only a few weeks training, is sent to France to fly scouting and observation missions over the enemy lines at Ypres.

By the time Harry arrives on the front, the British B.E.2c scouting planes have become "Fokker fodder" thanks to the German development of an interrupter gear that synchronized machine guns with the aircraft's propeller, which allows German pilots to fly their planes straight towards their target, firing through the propeller arc.

Harry eventually joins a squadron flying the Airco DH.2 in the era of aerial dogfights and faces some of his most challenging months as German ace Max Immelmann scores victory after victory against British pilots on his way to earning Germany's highest honour, the Pour le Mérite—the 'Blue Max'.

Author Mike Butterworth is better known for writing 'The Rise and Fall of the Trigan Empire', but his career began many years before as a scriptwriter and editor for the Amalgamated Press's Sun, where penned dozens of stories featuring historical characters (Billy the Kid, Dick Turpin, Robin Hood) as well as creating 'Max Bravo, the Happy Hussar' and 'Battler Britton'.  For Comet he wrote authentic historical dramas as well as creating the science fiction adventurer 'Jet-Ace Logan'. Editorially he created the innovative Playhour Pictures, Valentine and the teenage magazine Honey. A prolific novelist, he wrote crime thrillers, bodice-rippers and historicals under a variety of pen-names.

Bill Lacey's first strips appeared in 1951, although the best of his early work appeared in the pages of Super Detective Library, where he was the original artist for Rick Random and Blackshirt. Lacey's work appeared in dozens of comics in the 1950s and 1960s, including Mickey Mouse Weekly, Cowboy Picture Library, Knockout, Express Weekly, Thriller Picture Library, Princess, Film Fun, Valiant, Buster, Tiger and Lion; during this time his strips ranged from adaptations of western novels such as 'The Covered Wagon' to weird fantasy classics like 'Mytek the Mighty'. In the 1970s he drew extensively for Look and Learn and for a number of D. C. Thomson's boys' papers, Bullet, Crunch and Buddy.

Reviews

"While you would expect a comic strip about a fighter pilot to involve our hero jumping in his plane and flying off to shoot down many of the enemy before returning safely home, in Eagles, especially in the early stories, the reason for our hero not to make it back to base is more often because of mechanical failure of the aircraft he is flying rather than any enemy action against him. As for shooting down the enemy, it is a plot point in at least two of the stories in Volume 1 that Harry has not actually shot down a single German plane despite be considered a good pilot. It all makes for an ongoing story that is interesting in its non-conformity to the expected rules of an aviation comic strip and it certainly makes the reader think about the frailty of the planes that RFC pilots were flying back then without the safety of parachutes...

__"Eagles Over The Western Front Volume 1 makes for an interesting and sometimes thoughtful read without missing out on the excitement or entertainment that one would expect of a good comic strip of its era. With more than half of all the pages in this book and its two sequels being scanned from the original art boards, the artwork quality is as good as it can possibly get and shows that Bear Alley Books can give well established companies, that are also reprinting similar B&W British comic strips from the era, a run for their money."—Jeremy Briggs, Down the Tubes

Format
Eagles Over the Western Front volume 1 is published in A4 saddle-stitch format, 80 pages b/w with a stunning wraparound cover by Graham Coton.

Publication Date
Published on 12 May 2011. Available now.

Order now via PayPal
(Please note, postage & packing is extra as noted)

UK: £9.99 + £2.50

EU: £9.99 + £4.50
Approx: €16.38

US: £9.99 + £6.50
Approx. $26.90

RoW: £9.99 + £6.50

Pay by Cheque
Please contact me via the e-mail address below the top-left photo.

(* Eagles Over the Western Front © Look and Learn Ltd.)

Hurricane and Champion Index

Hurricane and Champion: The Companion Papers to Valiant

OUT NOW!

Bear Alley Books is proud to announce an all-new index to these highly collectable British comics. Hurricane and Champion: The Companion Papers to Valiant details the histories of both papers and reveals—some for the first time—the names of many of the creators behind the classic comic strips that filled their pages.

Heavily illustrated throughout, Hurricane and Champion also includes title and creator indexes covering both papers, a gallery of annual covers and has a full-colour cover scanned from original artwork.

In his introduction, Steve Holland describes how Hurricane (1964-65) went through four phases during its lifetime and reveals the many problems faced by Champion (1966) during its brief 15-issue run.


Reviews

• "It's no easy feat to produce these accounts and Steve deserves praise for his hard work. The many changes of ownership that befell the Amalgamated Press titles, many finally coming to rest at Egmont (who now own almost every character first published by Fleetway Editions after 1st January 1970), means any documentation listing contributors and sales figures is scant ... Steve has nevertheless assembled a fascinating account of both titles."—John Freeman, Down the Tubes.
• "Steve's feature article in this Hurricane and Champion book takes up 25 of its 48 pages and it, like the rest of the book, is heavily illustrated. The book is well worth the money."—Jeremy Briggs, Down the Tubes. 
• "I can appreciate Hurricane and Champion far more now from a mature perspective, and even though I only have a couple of issues in my collection I found Steve's history of those comics a fascinating read. If I enjoyed it I'm sure that actual fans of those titles will be over the moon with this book."—Lew Stringer, Blimey!.

Format
Hurricane and Champion is published in A4 saddle-stitch format, 48 pages b/w with a full colour cover by Allesandro Biffignandi.

Publication Date
Published 21 March 2011. Available now.

Order now via PayPal
(Please note, postage & packing is extra as noted)

UK: £8.99 + £2.00

EU: £8.99 + £4.00
Approx: €15.45

US: £8.99 + £6.00
Approx. $24.21

RoW: £8.99 + £6.00

Pay by Cheque
Please contact me via the e-mail address below the top-left photo.

(* Hurricane and Champion are © IPC Media.)

Mean Streetmaps

Mean Streetmaps

OUT NOW!

Bear Alley Books is proud to announce the publication of Mean Streetmaps, a collection of essays on crime noir ranging from the origins of hard-boiled writing in the pages of Black Mask, the novels of James M. Cain, W. R. Burnett and Mickey Spillane—and of their British copyists Ben Sarto, 'Griff' and Dail Ambler—to the movies of Joe Eszterhas and David Fincher. This eclectic collection also includes essays on the crime novels and movies of Hollywood's worst director, Edward D. Wood, Len Deighton's Harry Palmer novels, Sexton Blake's infamous nemesis, Zenith the Albino, and a new take on George Orwell's classic essay 'Raffles and Miss Blandish'.

Contents
Some Rats Have Two Legs [Griff]
"Let Me Die in Drag" [Edward D. Wood's crime films and novels]
You the Jury: Joe Eszterhas
Raffles and Richard Allen [George Orwell vs. Skinhead]
The Lady Holds a Gun [Dail Ambler]
Deadline for Crime [Duncan Webb fights the prostitute rackets]
In Self Defence [Pete Costello obscenity case]
Restless Predators [British gangsters]
Mean Streetmaps [Carroll John Daly and the origins of hard-boiled crime]
Waiting for Darkness [W. R. Burnett] (read a brief extract here)
You the Jury: Mickey Spillane
Twisted Hopes and Crooked Dreams [James M. Cain's Double Indemnity] (read a brief extract here)
White Hunter, Black Heart [Anthony Skene's Zenith the Albino]
"Ferociously Cool" [Len Deighton's Harry Palmer]
You the Jury: David Fincher
"I Kill 'Em Inch by Inch!" [Ben Sarto]

Reviews

"Given his personal sphere of interest, he is, as to be expected, always interesting and highly informative on the pulp underbrush of crime fiction as cultivated by such names as ‘Griff’, Ben Sarto and Dail Ambler – and if those names mean nothing to you, don’t worry about it; you are not alone. Expanding into more classical noir crime fiction, Holland also pens very decent essays on James M. Cain, Caroll John Daly and Black Mask magazine and first rate ones on W. R. Burnett and Mickey Spillane – of whom you certainly should have heard."—Mike Ripley, Getting Away With Murder, June 2011.

Format
Mean Streetmaps is published in hardback, 240 pages with a full colour dust jacket by Reginald (Heade) Webb.

Publication Date
Published 30 March 2011. Available now.

Order now via PayPal
(Please note, postage & packing is extra as noted)

UK: £22.99 + £3.50

EU: £22.99 + £5.99
Approx: €33.69

US: £22.99 + £9.99
Approx. $52.99

RoW: £22.99 + £9.99

Pay by Cheque
Please contact me via the e-mail address below the top-left photo.

(* Mean Streetmaps © Steve Holland.)