Peeper Trail

Victory University Press have announced Incomplete Works, a forthcoming collection of Dylan Horrocks shorter comics.

"Daydreams, fantasy, true love and procrastination feature strongly in this marvellous selection of Dylan Horrocks’s shorter comics. Running from 1986 to 2012, Incomplete Works is both the chronicle of an age and a portrait of one man’s heroic struggle to get some work done."

Maralinga by Jen Breach and Doug Holgate.

"Maralinga spins an alternative history from the 1956 British nuclear tests in the Woomera. Three hundred years later a ruined, irradiated, post-apocalyptic Australia is a place where monsters are real and one girl, the last of an isolated and dying community in Melbourne's south, launches a desperate journey to find sanctuary and a mythical inland sea."
 

Pat Grant talks to Dan Berry on Make It and Tell Somebody.

Happy Together Forever by Katie Parrish

Sarah Laing's Helmet Lady.

Canberra Times Obituary for Australian science fiction, librarian and bibliographer Graham Stone.

Comics workshops in January 2014 at the State Library of Queensland with Paul Mason. Details here.

Hannah Lee Writes about the New Zealand Cartoon Archive.

I like the cut of Jason Chatfield's jib on television.

Beardy and the Geek talk to Gary Chaloner.

Meet the Makers: Katie Parrish

 Three Thousand profile Simon Hanselmann.

Paper Trail masthead courtesy of Toby Morris.

2013 in Review: Jason Chatfield

What have been your personal cartooning/comics highlights of 2013?

I was really pleased to see more amazing work from the Aussie comics industry in the 2013 ACA Year Book. Ginger Meggs finally got picked up by the Herald Sun, Courier Mail and Adelaide Advertiser in print and online which is a big boon for his daily Aussie readership. Universal finally assigned me an editor, Josh Peres, and a bunch of marketing for getting Meggsie out there to newer young audiences. I’ve been making Meggs a bit more accessible to audiences beyond his traditional 40-80 y-old demographic. The style is slowly evolving as well which I’m enjoying. 

What are some of the comics/cartoonists you've enjoyed in 2013?

Big congrats to Anton Emdin for his Comic Book Artist of the year win for his work doing movie parodies in MAD. As a MAD fanatic, it’s huge to see an Aussie kicking goals overseas in such a huge publication.

What is something non-comics that you have enjoyed in 2013?  

Technically it’s still comics, but I finished the new Ginger Meggs website at www.gingermeggs.com and my own website at jasonchatfield.com  It took a lot of fiddling, and they’re still works in progress (aren’t they all) but I’m pretty happy with them.

I’ve been doing stand-up gigs every week this year and have moved from just doing support spots to headlining and MCing comedy clubs. It’s been a great way of dragging me away from the drawing board! 

What are you looking forward to in 2014?

I’m looking forward to finishing the graphic novel I’ve been working on with writer Paul Goddard for the last 4 years.

 jasonchatfield.com

Paper Trail

My last two months have been ultra mega busy and thus my paper trail links have piled up to oblivion. To get back on the horse I'll post a few mini Paper Trails this week. Maybe I'll even post that SPX report that I should have done last month...

Latest additions to the Pikitia Press Store,  Mat Tait's Love Stories and David C Mahler's Deep Park are still searingly hot from their SPX debut's and make great Christmas presents!

Extra Ordinary recently their posted 300th strip.

Panels from Simon Hanselmann's forthcoming Life Zone from Spaceface Books. Preorder now.

Early place holder cover preview for Simon's Fantagraphics book  MEGAHEX.

Bernard Caleo documents Art Spiegelman and Francoise Mouly's visit to Melbourne's Squishface Studios.

Teaser trailer for Karl Wills' Connie Radar short film adaption Over The Moon.

Over The Moon - Teaser Trailer from Media Design School.

David Mahler writes about Evie Cahir.

Andrew Nette's Pinterest of Australian pulp novels. Love all the beautiful painted Horwitz covers.

 
Gerald Carr offers an in depth look at the case for Australian cartoonist/animator Pat Sullivan as the creator of Felix the Cat.

Jason Chatfield writes about South Australian State Labor Minister Chloe Fox's  legal threat against The Adelaide Advertiser for publishing a cartoon and a story that she claims caused “distress, stress and damage to her personal reputation”.

Support your local comic shop so they can keep running their underground bare knuckle fight clubs.

Bobby N shares a page from the second volume of The Sixsmiths, a forthcoming collaboration with Jason Franks.

Campbell Whyte wrote an impassioned plea to whoever stole his families luggage in San Francisco.

I love Blakes 7.

After nine years PulpFaction administrator Maggie McFee will be retiring the Australian comics Pulpfaction message boards in the next few days. PulpFaction was notable for many things including hosting yearly 24 hour comic competitions and I believe introducing Tom Taylor to his frequent collaborator Colin Wilson.

"It's with a heavy heart, but a heart full of good memories, that I announce the closing of Pulp Faction and the forums. The forums will be put into read-only mode in the next couple of days, so please log in and say any goodbyes while you can. The forums will remain online in a read-only state for at least the next 12 months. †"

Roger Langridge suggests 10 rules for drawing comics.

Dylan Horrocks has been posting pages every few days lately from his serial Sam Zabel and the Magic Pen.

The Norman Lindsay Gallery and Museum is one of the archival institutions currently threatened by bush fires in Australian. Australian has sadly been stricken by many natural disasters in the last several years with lives and property and likely many works of art being lost. I recall an ebay auction for an original R. Wilson McCoy Phantom daily strip being sold to raise funds for flood relief.

 Norman Lindsay

A new television series of popular New Zealand comic character Terry Teo has been funded by NZ on Air.

Mini Paper Trail

CGNZ profile Samantha Asri.

I don't direct folk to facebook too often but have a look and like Alex Hallatt's Artic Circle page over here.

Karl Wills' Princess Seppuku animation test.

Sarah Laing talks about her new novel The Fall of Light on Radio New Zealand.

Sarah shares some preliminary sketchbook work for The Fall of Light here.

I really like this comic by Gavin Aung Than.

Fiona Katauskas talks pictures with syndicated cartoonist Jason Chatfield.
 

Facebook page for Sam Wallman's Australian hisory anthology Fluid Prejudice.


"Fluid Prejudice is a collection of comics and drawings focusing on underrepresented and alternative visions of Australian history. An exhibition and a 200 page book will be launched late 2013, at Trades Hall, Melbourne."

Blood and Thunder 2 enters the Truth Zone. Part one and part two.

Clint Cure is seeking funds for a series of comic book biographies featuring movie directors.

System Earth Comic trailer, a quarterly comic series from the Dunedin Comic Collective from the mind and fingers of Tom Garden.

I haven't been keeping up with things but Paul Rigby's Gallery and studio closed after eight years of operation a couple weeks ago. Further details here.

Michael Hawkins and Sean T Collins are still busy chronicling a behind the scenes look at Justin Beiber's life.

I like these goofy anthology covers from the fifties where Frew's lead character The Phantom would interact in bizarre ways with Australian characters created to capitalise on the Phantom's success.

I figure if I tease a bunch of articles/interviews here I'll give myself the impetus to finish them.

At the top of my to-finish-pile, writing up the few hours I spent with recently passed Frew publisher Jim Shepherd last year. Jim was very generous with his time and shared many wonderful stories and anecdotes with me that i really should get down on the record.

Profile on Australian illustrator Walter Jardine.

 Profile and interview with June Mendoza.

 A write up on collecting comics after thirty years.

Interview with Clubhouse comics editor Brendan Halyday.

Paper Trail masthead courtesy of Toby Morris.