Not Much Interest in D-Gruppe from Germany :-(

 

I had hoped that there might be a bit more interest in D-Gruppe from Germany but a couple of the bloggers I have chatted to have been very dismissive. I did try a couple of events organised for 2025 but, sadly, no interest.

I may have to incorporate D-Gruppe's future stories into Black Tower Super Heroes as I will have to do the artwork as well since the couple of German artists who contacted me decided that they didn't want to do German super heroes but "If you have any American ones that are of interest to publishers let me know".

Such is publishing comics!

Schwarzerlachtern, Zick-Zack, Schwarzerpunkt and Tarot -Not Tongue Twisters!

 There was Kopfmann's counterpart, Kleine Klaus whose D-Gruppe had been wiped out; then we have Herr Baron Münchhausen (not Hans Alber but the character from Baron Munchausen's Narrative of His Marvellous Travels and Campaigns in Russia (1785) and his crew. General Blitzen, the Pied Piper, Barbarossa and along the way others including Lady Quiir and The Elfenkind as well as Hildegard Caterina Kouise, Baroness of Silesia and Kommandant in the Great Imp[erial Prussian Army or more simply "The Kommandant"! 

There were also two Rotkappchen, Deutsch Michael and many in cameo, etc. plus the main gatherer of the heroes -Gauntlet.

There is also the groundwork leading up to The Trial as well as hints at The Days of Darkness/Terror.  Heroes from Earths destroyed, now in refuge on this parallel included Amulett, Zick-Zack, Sonnenscheinen, Schwarzerpunkt and, of course, Schwarzerlachtern.

Schwarzerlachtern was seen with some of the other heroes in The Trial and was off world when his family and his Earth were obliterated.  He came from Earth Parallel 56765 and was instrumental in taking down the Zeitgeist in the final battle.  His powers are magical in nature and he commands, amongst other things, black light and can create solid light.

Ever present is the Gipsy Sorcerer, Tarot -he first appeared back in the 1980s (1984) in the Kotar and Sabuta story Werewolf -magnificently redrawn and made into a three part story by Ben Dilworth for Black Tower Super Heroes.

Although there are science friction elements at times the idea is to keep D-Gruppe and its characters on the edges of the magical and fairy tale world.  Wavell is the  team "super man" and was a primitive man caught up in a time experiment and brought into the 1980s -his IQ actually increasing but due to a flux in the time stream he also acquired super powers. Wavell, as I have declared before, is firmly based on the character Wastl -he is mentioned in this post on Comic Bits Online:

https://hoopercomicart.blogspot.com/2015/12/dalborn-germany-and-bastei-verlag.html

Although I am a big fan of Mykros (and thanks to Subzero I now have the full Bastei series) Insekten Konig/Insect King is not based on him but was created long before I saw Mykros.

There are many other characters, let's face it the group was created in the 1960s so the team was bound to be added to over that time! Some 1990s work has been used to be part of the upcoming Parallel Motions issue of Black Tower Super Heroes so the team is living rent free in my brain... for now!

Above: Inspiration for Wastl -Willy Vandersteen popped up with a character from his Suske en Wiske series -Wastl.  The character of Wastl appeared in German-speaking countries for the first time in the Felix Comic books of Bastei and was initially a minor character in the "Ulla and Peter" stories (Suske and Wiske ), by Pankwitz (in the original: Lambik ) . There was a separate Wastl series in Felix from 1965 to 1968. And as his popularity increased even more he got his own fortnightly to later weekly comic from May, 1968 to January, 1972.  There were a total of 173 issues appeared.  Bastei began publishing the series in 1968.

Inspiration. In Strip Form and Back Cover Poster -The Pied Piper

 kkkkk

The comic strip version

The back cover poster

Some Pages of Art

Here are a few pages from issues 2-4 and Zeitgeist to show that it isn't all super heroes in costumes. At this point David Holmes (Die Eule/The Owl) had moved from England as a lawyer for von Happe but once again got involved in adventures.

What Were The Original Plans for D-Gruppe?

 What were my actual plans for D-Gruppe?  Well, when the initial team was created in a little village called Dalborn in the 1960s it was quite simple. They would be Germany's defenders and at the time the Cold War was in full swing so potential enemies were everywhere but I was not that sophisticated in my thinking (hey, I wasn't even 11 back then more like 10 years old).

Germany is rich in fairy tales and legends -I am sure that everyone has heard of The Brothers Grimm (Jacob and Wilhelm), who were German academics best known for collecting and publishing folklore, particularly their collection of fairy tales, Children's and Household Tales?  If you live in an area surrounded by forestry and at least one "haunted house" then a kid's imagination can run wild. When not doing farm chores or playing around the gardens the big draw was the forest  and we spent a lot of time there -our little group was known as "Wald kinder" (forest children).

In the Zeitgeist storyline D-Gruppe is summoned by various characters including der Rattenfänger von Hameln (or Pied Piper of Hamelin). In this case based more on Val Johnson's appearance in the 1957 film The Pied Piper of Hamelin.

I cannot recall how General Blitzen came about but I think it was as a thunderstorm set in and someone said "Da feuert General Blitzen seine Kanonen ab!" ("There goes General Lightning firing off his cannons!")  may sound odd but as small children in England my grandmother told us thunder was "just giants playing football"! Elfen kinder (elf children) and on and on.

When you read Die Rache der Eiskönigin (Revenge of the Ice Queen) it is a threat from Germanic fairy tale character and the question then arose as to who or what Waldmeister was since Klaus von Happe (Kopfmann) first met him when very young deep within forestry -and Waldmeister knew the Ice Queen by name.

The Zeitgeist story introduced heroes from parallel German worlds and even their meeting point Der Ort der Götter (The Place of the Gods) had a very ancient Germanic look. Well, as I found later on, if American super heroes could meet American super heroes from alternate Earths why not the same for German heroes?  Remember also that Captain Britain in Alan Moore and Alan Davis's run met other Earth counterparts.

Fighting various threats including from Waldmeister's brother Meer Pater (Sea Peter) would have been fun and it certainly got an editor at Bastei Publishing in Germany interested. Had Egmont not purchased Bastei and stopped any and all projects (editors were not even allowed to tell creators working for them that there were cancellations) D-Gruppe would have been published under Bastei,

As for stories there was Zeitgeist of course and then D-Gruppe in Space but there would have been hints that something was wrong with Waldmeister; after all how could a being seemingly a force of nature react as nature itself was destroyed?  That would have been The Days of Terror or Days of Darkness storyline -I just could not decide which sounded best).

That would have essentially brought the whole D-Gruppe first chapter to an end. After that newer characters would have been introduced -even a planned clash with Task Force Germany- but keeping things with a German feel as making them US style super heroes would have been a bad move.

D-Gruppe have interacted with non German Black Tower characters -as seen in The Trial story as well as Return of the Gods Twilight of the Super Heroes and The Green Skies. Bits and pieces of the previously mentioned stories have been incorporated into published stories and some members have even featured in one off stories thanks to Ben Dilworth. 

The perfect "way ahead" would be to find a German publisher and artists (and there are some excellent German comic artists out there) involved leaving me to just write the stories. I doubt that will ever happen  but it's nice to think about! 

More Art and More Information!

 Here is a post I wrote for Comic Bits Online in 2013! It was in response to a question.

I was asked by Ekki what plans I had for D-Gruppe following the mini series and 2012 Annual -all events taking place before The Return of the Gods graphic novel?

Well, the important thing for me was to get the old stories that have been lying around for a couple decades, and which establish D-Gruppe, out in print first. The whole Revenge Of The Ice Queen followed by the Zeitgeist saga established a great deal and led into two main books: The Trial and, of course, The Return of the Gods: Twilight of the Super Heroes.

The Trial was originally published in the mid-1990s in four parts though it had been intended to serialise it before in the comic project JAG 2000 (long story). In this story, which I am NOT going to go into details of because it is currently being re-lettered (originally hand lettered but that is too poor a quality to offer readers today), the D-Gruppe members are seen inter-acting with the UK heroes and, in fact, the UK heroes travel to Germany to help D-Gruppe and heroes first glimpsed in the Zeit Geist story.

But important changes to BT characters took place in this story -how did Wavell get that huge facial scar we see in Return?  How did Tech-Man get replaced by Rachel Flynn?  Even the ending links all the D-Gruppe storylines to Return.

The Trial should be out as a graphic novel in December of this year (2013).

Hopefully, the very -very- long delayed appearance of Task Force Germany will have taken place before then.  The first story should have appeared in 1994 but there were delays -initially Art Wetherell was to draw the book but had to opt out and a couple other artists stepped in but there were problems.

Back in 1982 I was sending project proposals, character sketches and so on to Marvel Comics. At that point i saw working for my all time favourite comic as the star to aim for. What a dim-wit! Anyway, I wanted to develop the silent character, The Attacker, and I thought Marvel might go for a comic in which everything was visual -no caption boxes, speech balloons, etc.. The character was shortish and wore a skin-tight black costume with large white eye-holes.

I was a little shocked when I saw the black costumed Spider-man emerge a couple years later.  But that's comics.  The other character I tried to convince Epic Comics (part of Marvel) was really "great" -the creator owned line had started up in 1982 so I got straight to it. Marvel had rejected The Attacker -"no comic fan is going to buy a comic where you never find out the characters real identity and there is no text!" but -BUT- surely a Lutheran priest (later changed to Catholic) that has some kind of strange, all-black creature linked to him would be a winner?

No.

Considering what they were publishing I thought to feedback of "too dark" was just ridiculous.  A year or so later came...Venom.

So the character who started out as German, had to be changed to an American reverted back to German. But there is a problem. If someone is the artist of a book and they have asked to work on your script -your characters- all and good. But, oh no, artists can be an odd lot.

"Yeah, I see him as a Nazi who was in charge of a concentration camp and was sent to Hell and he now hunts and kills Nazies(sic)" was how one artist saw it.  He even re-wrote everything to conform to his idea.

My response? "NO! You have the character details and you can choreograph action scenes freely BUT the story and the character ARE the story and the character"

And the response?  "I can't see it going anywhere the way you've written it. If we go with my idea I think this would be a sure hit!"

We parted company. Never heard of the man again.

Then another approached me having seen my sketch and idea on a German comic forum -for the life of me I cannot recall what forum but I did get about a lot!  "Love the script!" he wrote.

A month later I got pages through and a letter. "I think this works better than your idea. I see him as a Catholic priest, a paedophile who was also a drunk and embezzler.  To cleanse his soul he makes a deal with lucifer...."

Oh dear.

Then the pages of a character that looked exactly like Venom. This was not the look I had wanted or explained. Neither was there a scene anywhere in my script showing a terrified little girl on a bed as the priest disrobed!!  I explained what the whole idea of the character was and that the whole story of the priest-amorph came out over the planned four issues in a big climax in Koln Cathedral.

"But that's lame", I was told, "the way I see it you have got to show people this guy is a ****** ****! Then you build on that. I can't see it work your way."

We parted company. I ought to point out that not only did the artist want to re-write everything and change character appearances and names but he also wanted that "Nazi element. Everyone knows Germans were Nazis!"

This is something I have come across over and over again in the last couple decades. I allways allow artists freedom to draw action scenes so long as the result fits in with the actual story/script -unless they really do need that action written for them. But I can think off-hand of fifteen artists I've worked with who have decided to re-write (badly) and make changes.  Where are they now?

So, I decided that amorph and priest would become a part of the Task Force Germany team.  Sadly, after a couple more stops and starts nothing came of it until now.

Leere (emptyness/blankness/void) was another problem. I tried explaining that the character is not an invisible man and neither is he wearing a mask like the old Charlton Question character.  You can see a vague "something" where the head is. But you could also see slightly through him. Clothes are the only solid texture on him/it/her.

There are several characters like this in Black Tower -a link I wanted to explore by now. Characters such as Nemesis (a Belgian character) and No Face from The Paranormals (published in Tales Of Terror 3.

The other character was Donar (Thor) but a more traditional version exiled on Earth and living in ancient forestry.  The exile would have been due to his objecting to the plans on Pax olympus that led to Return Of The Gods.

 

 And, living in the forestry, Donar would have a problem with the theft of food by a real-life European wildman called...uh, Wildemann!

 

This little group would have been brought together by Simon LeCorbeau, a multi-billionaire with a long history in Black Tower -he appeared in the second Pete Forrest & Geni story back in 1986.  And his choice to lead the team was...

Zauberinnen (Sorceress). Her origins were to be vague -was she a goddess or half-god or simply a supreme sorceress?

Her origins would be revealed towards the end of the first story arc but I do love to spin a mystery! A solo story -Tod Durch Bei Blind Verabredung or Death By Blind Date, would have revealed a few bits and pieces about the character in a back-up strip to have been drawn by Andrew Hope.

The Zeitgeist story had also established that heroes from other Earths had been stranded Black Towers Earth and there should have been stories establishing some of these -The Trial did so for some but Regenbogen Zauberer (Rainbow Wizard) never got to face the Storm giant in Germanys Höllental (Hell

valley -a real place).

 

 There was also the question, considering that D-Gruppe was getting over-crowded and the members needed to be accommodated at more convenient locations around the country ot "where?"

Well, for Klaus von Happe no problem buying out of the way property to redevelop. One had its own storyline -"Spukhaus" or Ghost House. What the heck was a house like this doing out in the middle of forestry?

And -haunted?  Well there is the Red Ghost...this old rough shows him. Though he may well become the Green Ghost and it is a character that last appeared in a 2002 (?) copy of Adventure and the Ten Dancing Monkeys story.

And the mystery surrounding Waldmeister should have grown when his brother (referred to in The Revenge Of The Ice Queen) Meer Peter (Sea Peter)...and another big jewelled staff!

But the characters seen in Zeit Geist were to change slightly.  David Holmes was a solicitor/lawyer when he was introduced in the story "The Owl" back in 1987 -he adopted the Owl guise in a rather violent pursuit of a murderer.  When he turned up in Zeit Geist he is merely a lawyer for von Happe Industries who helps out on some cases.

But after The Trial, Holmes was due to return to costume (reasons not being disclosed here!) and adapted/rebuilt one of the old D-Gruppe flyers (as seen in Revenge of the Ice Queen) into a personal transport which he named "Ollie" after his favourite TV character Ollie Beak http://www.turnipnet.com/whirligig/tv/children/smalltime/smalltime.htm

Above -the new and more violent Owl and below -Ollie the Owlcraft!

But there were newer characters independent of previous stories such as Adam Ewigkeit who had a very brief cameo in issue 2 of D-Gruppe, Herrc Spinne, Der Racher, Tom Katze und Kätzchen...well, the D-Gruppe world would be well populated.

All the rough sketches I've now found so I'm hoping that the new characters will appear fairly soon and we have to remember that some of D-Gruppe, including Kopfmann its leader, vanished into space during the Return Of The Gods story. Where are they? Will they return?

Guess.

"The Days Of Darkness" story should have been told by now but I'm planning and D-Gruppe will quite literally be shaken to the core by what happens.

And there is planned a couple of brief glimpses at the D-Gruppe of a darker Earth Parallel (EP667) -from which readers have already seen a far more different Link character.

 

All with Ben Dilworth on board so that the original team is back together!  Had Bastei actually published D-Gruppe and had that title continued we'd now be over twenty years into continuity!  Curse you Bastei!!!  :-/

Below, a glimpse of D-Gruppe EP667 courtesy of Ben Dilworth.

There was also the question of getting a permanent design for a D-Gruppe flier-transport  so a quirky design was this one....

 

Though a sleeker model could be based on the below which I think are quite cool and "futuristic" without becoming too science fiction.

As a final note on characters to have been introduced I have only two rough pages left featuring a character rejected by Eros Comix  because "its more humour not porn" -Devilina.  Independent of any D-Gruppe or Task Force Germany, Devilina would be a character popping up all over the place as well as in solo adventures.

Now, this posting is getting rather long but I hope it has shown that D-Gruppe was by no means a
small idea that never developed!

In fact, in 2014 it is planned to go all-out on the German side of Black Tower in a final "Do or Die" push so keep watching these pages.



All images, characters, designs (except the stealth aircraft!) are (c) 2013 Terry Hooper-Scharf and Black Tower Comics & Books

Task Force Germany and D-Gruppe

Task Force Germany was part of the plan by multi billionaire (he's got more money than the "Ketamine Kid") LeCorbeau to set up national crime fighter teams around Europe after the failure of Task Force Europe. Some of the original pencilled pages by Enrique were in a post yesterday.

It was set in Germany of  the 1990s and so is still going in 2020s. This was shown when they appeared in The Green Skies and particularly in the chapter The German Front.

Here are some of those pages and a strong hint that something is not right with D-Gruppe's Waldmeister!