Happy 59th Birthday Tim Danko

Paper Trail

That time New Zealand Prime Minister Robert Muldoon met Spider-man.

White Fungus to be distributed nationwide in New Zealand through Gordon and Gotch. White Fungus have featured some fine comics over the years including work by Barry Linton and Tim Bollinger. The latest issue features a 20 page comic by Tim Bollinger.

Gorgeous short run Toby Morris screenprint available from Papertrail Prints.

Bob Temuka writes about comic collecting and maintaining a comic collection in New Zealand.

Eagle comics reprint of Judge Dredd, The Judge Child Quest, one of the last comics I recall being advertised on New Zealand television.

Darian Zam writes about New Zealand illustrator Alison Fyfe.

Advanced Bruxism.

Lane Ashfield interviews Rachel Fenton.

Excerpt from Daniel Best's The 1955 Romance Comics Trial ebook.

Roger Langridge draws a couple takes of Jason Paulo's Hairbutt the Hippo.

Roger shares some Fin Fang Four roughs and character designs.

Sarah Laing hangs with Katherine Mansfield.

Silent Army photos from Tim Danko's Once launch.

MVH still killing it at DIE POPULAR.

Photography not comics by Andy Conlan.

In between producing several comics series' Richard Fairgray with regular collaborators Tara Black and Terry Jones have created a children's picture book, Morgan, the Moreporks and the Moon.

 

2013 Winter edition of Roomers #53 free from readings Bookshops in Melbourne features a harrowing tale of bathing in rooming houses, Postcards from the Gatwick, by Wendy Butler.

Benjamin Constantine gallery at Juxtapoz.

Russ Radcliffe, editor of Dirt Files:A Decade of Best Political Cartoons, and Professor John Uhr from the School of Politics and International Relations at ANU, review 10 years in Australian politics through cartoons.

Simon Hanselmann is selling a pile of Truth Zone original pages and previews his forthcoming comic from Space Face books.

Paper Trail masthead courtesy of Toby Morris.

TIM DANKO - Once Launch

 

Some poorly taken photos from Tim Danko's Once launch party at Silent Army in Melbourne.

Fulton

Anthony Woodward

Mini Paper Trail

Tonight: Silent Army Storeroom 6pm -8pm Once - A New Comic Book by Tim Danko.

Silent Army:


Storeroom open today 12 - late with hardcover book launch of 'once' by Tim Danko tonight and the last pages of the giant wooden comic book being completed live and for your enjoyment.

 
Katie Parrish's We can go anywhere but we'll always be we where we are.
 

Jonathan Goodman writes about Gavin Aung Than's Zen Pencils.

 
Erica Goldson: Graduation Speech on Zen Pencils.

Race Relations Commissioner receives complaint for cartoon depiction of the goddess Kali in the New Zealand Herald. (Hat Tip - Alan Liefting)

Jason Paulos Heavy Metal Submission.

Milk Shadow Books publisher James Andre is Scenestr of the day!

Lucy Frew profiles Toby Morris.

Simon Hanselmann excerpt from The Lifted Brow.

Keith Chatto must win the award for drawing the most Australian comics covers ever.

James James and Tim Molloy share WIP Deerstalker.

Clip from a couple years back of Michel Mulipola on Pacific Beat St.

Pepi Ronald's interviews Sam Wallman.

Q and A with Ben Hutchings on Noncanonical.

Penny Lewis writes about pioneer New Zealand cartoonist Trevor Lloyd's home, Whare Tane.

Eddie Monotone's Sloths and Trolleys.

Paper Trail masthead courtesy of Toby Morris. 

Chromacon 2013 and Assorted Auckland Ramblings

A couple months back I had the pleasure of tabling with Pikitia Press at the inaugural Chromacon Illustration and Comic Art Festival in Auckland. This was the first comics event I've made the trek from Australia back to New Zealand for and It was well worthwhile. For a first time comic art festival, organiser Allan Xia and helpers seemed to pull it off without a hitch. This is the sort of event I'd love to fill my calendar with. Amongst the highlights of the couple days I spent in Auckland for Chromacon:

• Chromacon was a one day event which for my coming-into-middle-age is the perfect duration for a convention.
• It was nice to attend an event down this part of the world with a focus on comics and illustrators, no commercial retailers, just local creative folk.
• The audience which I think numbered around 1000 for the day keep a steady flow of people through the venue. Not too busy, but rarely a quiet moment.
• Chromacon was a veritable who's who of New Zealand Comics, there were some notable absences and I don't believe there were any South Island cartoonists there but on the whole it was a great opportunity to meet and catch up with a large variety of comic folk at one event.
•  I got to finally meet Tim Danko in person for a few minutes!
• Getting to meet the cartoonists I publish. It's probably not so much of an odd thing in this day and age but I had never met in person, Sarah Laing or James Davidson, despite having published several of their comics by this point. Lovely hard working easy to deal with folk. They make my work easy.
• The venue, one floor of The Aotea Centre, in the heart of Auckland, was an ideal place to have Chromacon, easily accessible and a comfortable fit for the amount of exhibitors and audience.
• Grabbing pizza and gabbing comics with Kelly Sheehan, Ben Stenbeck and Chris Slane after the show. Heck, even the barman at the pizza joint was a cartoonist (look for a Pikitia Press comic from him sometime soon.)
• Heading into the carpark after pizza this was waiting for us:

 

• Grabbing coffee and gabbing comics with Timothy Kidd, Kelly Sheehan, Karl Wills and my little bro Sam at the Auckland Public Library.
• On a quest of New Zealand comics archeology at the Auckland Public Library I found some real gems. Evidence that I suspected existed of a connection between two golden age NZ cartoonists surfaced and a NZ "Kramers Ergot" from the seventies? More to come on these developments...

 Interview with Chromacon Organiser Allan Xia.
 Fuzzy photography of some but not all of the comic folk at Chromacon.

 Theo Macdonald and Richard Fairgray

 Tim Gibson

 Tim Bollinger and Barry Linton

 Toby Morris

  Sophie Oiseau

 Czepta Gold

 Dylan Horrocks

 Chris Slane

 Chris Slane

 Ant Sang, Ben Stenbeck and Adrian Kinnaird

 Jesca Marisa

 Damon Keen

  Karl Wills

Marc Streeter

James Davidson

Michel Mulipola

Kelly and Darren Sheehan

Art in park

No visit to Auckland is complete without a visit to the St Kevin's Arcade Secondhand Bookshop. Piles of FP Phantom comics, Eric Resetar facsimile comics, the first 2000AD annual,  I've bought many a fine comic from here over the years. This time I snapped up some reading for my flight home, an Australian edition of Buck Rogers Annual No. 2. Hundreds of pages of early Buck Rogers adventures compiled in one aromatic pulpy volume.

Before heading to the airport I took a shortcut through the Auckland University Campus to pick up my luggage. My "eagle book eyes" spied a table of old books next to a reception office. A lifelong fascination with old books, (I lived in secondhand bookshop for several months) I was compelled to go in and have a look. The receptionist told me they were donated to the university, who didn't want them, and had put them out for folk to take away. All German texts from the early twentieth century, I couldn't resist the offer of free old books so gathered up as many as I could carry and made my way back through the winding alleys and paths of the University. I'd love to keep all the wonderful paper goods I gather, but I can't, so I sold a selection of these to antiquarian book dealers in Melbourne and Switzerland, which paid for my trip and my coffee bill for the next three months.

A tragic inscription from the inside page of Conrad der Leutnant.