ACTIVE CITIZENS: Silent Army Storeroom

The Silent Army Storeroom at 110 Franklin st. Melbourne CBD (Down alleyway entrance at rear) is hosting a flurry of events this month including the creation of Active Citizens, a giant wooden comic book jam drawn during friday evenings over the course of the month. Contributing artists so far include Michael Hawkins, Merv Heers, Marc Pearson, David Mahler, Simon Hanselmann, Michael Fikaris, Matt Emery, James James, Clare Wilson, Sam Wallman with more to come.

The Silent Army Storeroom, open Fridays 12pm -8pm offers a fine range of weirdo comics, papers and ephemera.

Purchase fine paper goods online at the Silent Army online store.

More pics on Silent Army on instagram. 

Silent Army Storeroom site.

  

Places To Put Your Money

Chromacon, the upcoming New Zealand Illustration and Comic Art Festival are five days out from the end of their crowdfunding campaign on Pledgeme. As of this writing they are about $200 short of their target.
 

Ben Hutchings is primarily known as a musician but he does have a sideline making comics. Ben's publisher Milk Shadow Books have a Hutchings sale on at the MSB store.


A fine cover by Hutchings' band Tootleg Boy of Limahl's sublime classic The Never Ending Story. One time I listened to this for two hours straight and came out a better man for it.

Ive Sorocuk's latest mini comic Everybody Comics Face is available to order online.

Bathwater Books have two recent comics by Scarlette Baccini.

The Silent Army Online Store offer comics by a fine selection of cartoons including Tim Danko, David C. Mahler, Jase Harper, Simon Hanselmann, M P Fikaris and more.

St Owl's Bay Broadsheet Launch - Simon Hanselmann

A few pics from early in the night of the Melbourne launch of Simon Hanselmann's St Owl's Bay Broadsheet. Published by Floating World in Portland, the Melbourne release included a limited edition supplemental page. More pics from the launch at Silent Army. The Silent Army store will have a limited supply of St Owl's Bay available next week.

 First Page St Owl's Bay Broadsheet

 Hanselmann in the Truth Zone (pic yoinked from Fikaris.)

Click for larger view of the TRUTH ZONE

Paper Trail

I'm under the gun for a bunch of things so I'll be posting brief Paper Trail columns over the next two weeks.

Illustrations and comics by Peader Thomas.

The City Burns Crimson by Robert McMaster.

 
Becky and Frank of Tiny Kitten Teeth feature on the Mutant Season at Nerdist.

I Speak Comics interviews Moth City artist Tim Gibson. Sean Robinson writes about Moth City here.

Trailer for the Australian launch of Dailies #3 from Silent Army.

Non-Canonical interview Milk Shadow Books publisher James Andre.

Despicable  Man! 

Melbourne cartoonist Bruce Mutard details his forthcoming busy year of comics related events.

 Five Questions with Rod Emmerson at The New Zealand Listener.

  
Ness at Aggressive Comics interviews Ben Hutchings.

From the Pikitia Press work in progress folder,

More Phil Belbin Film adaptions.

Sticky Institute Paper City 2013 Zine Fair

This Sunday 10 Feb at the Melbourne town hall, The Sticky Institute host their annual zine fair. The town hall will be packed with zines and comics from the small presses of Melbourne.

Silent Army will be launching the third issue of their comics broadsheet Dailies including a New Zealand cartoonist section edited by Tim Danko.

Order Dailies and other Silent Army comics from the Silent Army online store.

2012 in Review: M. P. Fikaris

M. P. Fikaris

What have been your personal cartooning/comics highlights of 2012?
 
Starting up a little store room in my studio and printing up a new periodical DAILIES while pushing through my inhibitions of medium and painting some comics.

Who are some of the comics creators that you've discovered and enjoyed for the first time in 2012?
 
There's a bunch, best to get look for DAILIES 3 in early 2013 to see some of them! Pre-order one with me in January.

What is something non-comics that you have enjoyed in 2012?

Local theatre, dance, poetry, live music, graffitti, film, performance, art, happenings and all other things seen in Melbourne- we are spoilt!

Have you implemented any significant changes to your working methods this year?

My work is mostly about implementing changes I think...though I have almost finished my second longer formative comic story (oh I mean graphic novel) but the guys who asked to print it are no longer wanting to, so I think it will stay in the files with the other one from 11 years ago... or I may do something I have never really done much before and -  ask for help..
 
What are you looking forward to in 2013?

More web comics, killer bees, and an event every month at Silent Army store room at 110 franklin street Melbourne city. Hope to see u there!

 http://fikarisart.tumblr.com/

http://www.silentarmy.org/

Dailies

The first edition of a new comics anthology, Dailies, was recently produced by the Silent Army publishing concern. Contained within the pages of the striking 32 page tabloid newspaper format are sixty artists from Australia, New Zealand and Indonesia producing their takes on 'newspaper strips'. Established cartoonist's such as Tim Molloy, Tim Danko, Mandy Ord, Glenn Smith, Ben Hutchings and more feature alongside emerging young talent. Cartoons are presented in a variety of forms from abstract art comics to riffs on popular newspaper strips as well as dense multi-panel narratives.

Excerpt of Mandy Ord's Desperate Times

Each release will feature different versions of contemporary views of the comic art strips presented in black and white, two colour, and full colour spreads.

I asked Dailies Editor M P Fikaris a few questions via email about his latest project.

What was the impetus to publish Dailies?

There were a few really. But mostly, as with all anthologies I have published, to show the fine talents of my friends. Also, with dailies it is a little bit of an idea on doing things quickly and without too much pre design and study as most comics tend to be). I asked the artists to submit something in a short time frame, hoping not only to get us doing something without too much thought but also to get something that could be repeated and continued like the daily comics of old newspaper cartoonists.

 Excerpt from The Pox Girls Plan 9 From Outer Space

Some of the material in Dailies seems far removed from the concept of  'the comic art strip', some perhaps more in the realm of art comics, were there editorial guidelines for Dailies? Were you involved in editorial guidance with any of the contributors?

I asked a lot of friends, some with a more traditional comic strip making background and others who I thought were doing things that are very similar in nature to the comic strip. My mind is very open to comics in many mediums and I certainly don’t restrict a comic to squares on a page with characters talking.

 Excerpt from Leigh Rigozzi

 What was the print run of Dailies? Are you satisfied with the finished product?

The print run was 3000 copies. I am satisfied that it is complete, but there are certainly a lot of pips in it. It is the first time I have laid something out for newsprint and I have learnt a bunch of things. My budget was pretty low (but very gratefully it was covered by a fellow artist who wants to remain unknown) so I did it with a printer that was possibly less helpful than I could have hoped. The first issue is not about perfect layout for me but more about getting it complete and making it a progressive thing. The next issue is due in May this year and the following to come out in August, then again in November.

Were there any difficulties in assembling an anthology with this many creators spread out over the globe?

Yeah, a little frustrating – but that was the challenge.

 

Excerpt from 'Megg's Coven' by Simon Hanselman

Where is Dailies available from?

With this collection I plan to take it to the streets and sell it  like a paper – but with a twist. Combining my background as an artist on the streets and doing work with local theatre companies I am very excited to try something a little different … to have unadvertised ‘happenings’ each month in a Melbourne laneway… each will be plastered with the papers contents on the walls(done the night before) and myself and another dressed to impress with paper in tow ‘performing’ a selling technique I hope will make the paper a more interesting and mysterious collection of stories and artworks for all sorts interested in ‘culture’.

I have plans to do this next week and will be recording it for future reference.

Currently I am also selling it on the silent army website - www.silentarmy.org. and successfully at various art fairs/stalls and markets. The plan with this has always been to glue into laneways of the city and distribute through other less traditional comic outlets. Flexing creative flare instead of bending to the needs of the stores.

 

 All cartoons copyright 2012 their respective creators.