Paper Trail

 Tom Taylor with a Colin Wilson 'warm up' sketch at Melbourne Armageddon 2011

Prolific Melbourne comics writer Tom Taylor has commenced a months residency at insideadog.com.au. Insideadog focuses on young adult literature and is managed by the State Library of Victoria. Over the course of the month Taylor is answering questions concerning writing and his career as well as providing insight into his work processes. Read Tom Taylor's contributions here.

Copyright 2012 Peter Bromhead

Michelle Hewitson interviews septuagenarian cartoonist Peter Bromhead for The New Zealand Herald here. The New Zealand Listener has a brief piece from earlier this year on Bromhead here.

Copyright 2012 Dylan Horrocks

Dylan Horrocks is conducting a visual storytelling workshop at the Whitireira Library in Porirua, Wellington, from 25th -29th June. Writers, artists, curious beginners and experienced cartoonists are welcome. The workshop costs $150, email Chris.White@whitireia.ac.nz for bookings.

Zombie Cities illustration by Martin Szabo. Copyright 2012 Silver Fox Comics

Sydney Publisher Silver Fox Comics are releasing their first graphic novel, Zombie Cities, at this years Sydney Supanova on June 15th. Silver Fox Comics debuted in 2011 with a modernised take on Zorro. Zorro was distributed via Gordon and Gotch to Australian newsagents which is exceedingly rare for a locally produced comic in this day and age.

Zombie Cities is 104 colour pages and written by Silver Fox publisher Sorab Del Rio with illustrations handled by multiple artists from around the globe.

Film Maker Daniel Hayward and Cartoonist Bernard Caleo have been making a feature documentary Graphic Novels! Melbourne! that examines the extraordinary graphic novel culture of Melbourne. Focusing primarily on four cartoonists, Nicki Greenberg, Mandy Ord, Bruce Mutard and Pat Grant, the movie will also cast its eye over the comics-making culture of Melbourne. To aide production of their documentary Hayward and Caleo are hosting a fundraiser in conjunction with Readings cinema in Carlton. For more details they have a dedicated page here.

 Illustration by Glenn Smith 2001

Michael Hill writes about 2001 Savage pencils exhibition of contemporary comic art that featured work by Australian and New Zealand cartoonists here.

New Zealand comics blogger Adrian Kinnaird appears on this weeks episode of Media 7 discussing comics creator rights. View here.

 

Kidzone Copyright 1983 Bob McMahon  

This week on Pikitia Press I'll have a feature interview with Dunedin cartoonist Bob McMahon.

 Ballantyne Copyright 2012 Peter Foster and James H. Kemsley

I'm still in the midst of setting up Pikitia Press as a publishing entity but the above image is a proof of the second volume of Ballantyne adventures by Peter Foster and James H. Kemsley scheduled for July 2012. Reformatted from their several year run at the Sydney Sun Herald, Foster has meticulously coloured his black and white Ballantyne daily strips to produce a dynamic full colour adventure comic. More details about publishing plans this week with several comics and books by some of Australia and New Zealand's finest cartoonists currently on the publishing slate.

Sources: Bromhead image http://mp.natlib.govt.nz/detail/?id=11169

Paper Trail

The Caravan of Comics yoinked from caravan of comics.

The Caravan of Comics cartoonists have completed their jaunt around American and Canadian comic events. David Blumenstein recaps their adventures here and Matt Taylor writes about the caravan here.

Melbourne Publisher of fine comic books, Milk Shadow Books, have announced a book of Fil Barlow's Zooniverse on their publishing slate. Barlow has been regularly producing animations for the monthly loopdeloop animation challenge, Have a look at his work here.

 Mr Unpronounceable Copyright 2012 Tim Molloy

Tim Molloy has teased an image from his follow up to his first book with Milk Shadow Books, It shines, It Shakes And Laughs. Molloy's new book will collect previously published Mr Unpronounceable Adventures and feature new material.

Dylan Horrocks is the featured cartoonist on Comic Strip Tees with a character, Alice Brown, from his current web serial The Magic Pen. In a recent blog Horrocks noted Alice Brown would be a featured character in books two and three of The Magic Pen trilogy. I'm not sure but I think this is the first he has mentioned of The Magic Pen being a trilogy. Eagle-eyed comic fans will recall this Alice Brown image featuring in Dunedin anthology Dud a couple years ago. Comic Strip Tees are only available for a month so order yours now.

Colin Wilson is featured on episode ten from series two of The Living Room.

Khulan copyright 2012 Katie Houghton-Ward

Katie Houghton-Ward has teased an image from an upcoming installment of her series Khulan. Khulan debuted in the July 2011 issue of Heavy Metal with inks by Simon Morse. Morse commented this was likely his last comic work before fully going full-time in the tattoo world.

 

A new publisher in New Zealand, Faction Comics, are producing an anthology and are looking for contributors here.

Not Australasian Comics: Isometrics - Romero

Isometrics the newspaper strip was based on a book about isometric exercise called How to Exercise Without Moving A Muscle by gridiron football player, coach, and executive Vic Obeck. Obeck features throughout the strip describing and occasionally demonstrating his exercise techniques. The scripting is by Ridwan Aitken with artwork by Enrique Badia Romero. Romero is more well known to English audiences for his collaboration with Donne Avenell on Axa which featured in The New Zealand Truth throughout the eighties. Romero also illustrated Modesty Blaise prior to New Zealand artist Neville Colvin and succeeded him when Colvin retired from the strip.

Isometrics featured in The New Zealand Herald during the seventies and a collection was printed and published by Wilson and Horton in 1975.

A S Paterson Cartoons from The Dominion

Daily cartoons by Alan Stuart Paterson from his time as the first staff cartoonist at The Dominion from 1925 to 1950.

John Joseph McNamara

John McNamara self portrait showing travel between Woking (England) and Wellington (New Zealand) 1969

John McNamara was born 18th April 1918 and began his illustration career in his teens drawing caricatures of film, sporting and local personalities for numerous magazines including Paramount Theatre of Stars (1935), Standard (1936), Radio Record, New Zealand Sporting Life and Referee, Junior for NZ, Boys and Girls (1937-38), Clarion (1938), Cappicade (1937-39) and Katipo (1940). McNamara was a member of the New Zealand Cartoonist's Association which appears to have only existed for several years prior to World War Two.

 Life among the Japanese at Featherston. The New Zealand Listener, 11 January 1944.

After the War McNamara was Prinicipal cartoonist for Wellington morning daily The Southern Cross (1956 - 1951). McNamara's cheeky little Maori character was a recurring feature of the paper.

McNamara moved to England in 1950 and found work in British newspapers. The full extent of McNamara's work in England is unknown. McNamara worked for Amalgamated Press drawing issues of Thriller Comics, ranging from adaptations of Westward Ho!, The Red Badge of Courage and Hopalong Cassidy to the adventures of Dick Turpin and Robin Hood.  Two other early strips possibly published in the Daily Mail featured "Bats" Belfry, which had a horse racing background and involved bet setting and detective work, and an adaption of C. S. Forester's character Horatio Hornblower.

From the mid fifties to the early seventies Mcnamara illustrated the newspaper strip Paul Temple based on the popular BBC radio serial. McNamara died in Surrey in February 2001, aged 82.

 Original art featured in Southern Cross newspaper (1946-1951)

Caricature of radio broadcaster Colin Scrimgeour 1937

One of the most popular crime series of the 1950s and 1960s was Francis Durbridge's Paul Temple. Featured in the London Evening News since 1951, originally drawn by Alfred Sindall and subsequently by Bill Bailey with McNamara assuming illustration duties from 1954 until 1971. In the final years of the strip McNamara adjusted the look of his lead character to resemble Francis Matthews, who portrayed Temple in the Paul Temple BBC TV series (1969-71).

Steve Holland has serialised two Paul Temple adventures by John McNamara and Francis Durbridge on his Bear Alley Blog.

McNamara's work on Paul Temple is not generally available in print although many of his stories can be purchased from the All Devon Comic Collectors Club. A Society dedicated to preserving the sadly neglected English newspaper strips, The ADCCC are authorised to sell booklet reprints of Paul Temple and other strips exclusively to their membership. Details are available from The Newspaper Comic Strip Library website.

The following original art boards are for sale from the comicartfans page of Peter Hartung. Click to embiggen to see the exquisite detail McNamara put into his work.

Sources: http://illustrationartgallery.blogspot.com.au/2010/11/john-mcnamara.html , http://tapuhi.natlib.govt.nz/ , Peter Hartung , Bear Alley Blog. The Unauthorised Version A Cartoon History of New Zealand 1840 - 1987 2nd edition - Ian F. Grant.

Jubilee Publications Romance Comics

Honeymoon Library covers from ausreprints.com

I've found very little information about Jayar Studios who are credited in the indicia of these romance comics with, "Drawn and printed in Australia by Jayar Studios and Sungravure Limited for the publishers, Jubilee Publications Pty, Ltd., 81-83 Walker St., North Sydney."


Kevin Patrick of comicsdownunder suggested,  "Jayar may have been in an in-house editorial/paste-up service which produced a staggering array of comics back in the 1950s and 1950s, which may have been affiliated with - or in some way connected to - Consolidated Press (once proud jewel of the Frank/Kerry Packer media empire). Or, it might have had links with Truth & Sportsman/Invincible Press back in the early 1950s."

Kevin also commented on the difficulties in researching this material, "There are probably many short-lived Aussie romance comics imprints I haven't seen, despite being interested in them for a decade or so, now. Simply because I suspect that publishers frequently changed their series titles (and numbering sequence) in mid-run (for various reasons), which causes considerable confusion for we researchers & collectors, decades down the track."

Kevin suggested the actual original 'drawn' component of these comics likely being the painted covers and the interior stories consisting of American reprints, perhaps material from St John Publications romance line.

 

 ausreprints.com have significant background information and cover scans of Australian published reprints of foreign material.