Noel Cook's Deeds that Thrilled Australia!

 

Deeds That Thrilled Australia! was an illustrated feature in the Australian Woman's Weekly that ran for fifteen weeks from it's first appearance on August 16 1941. Readers were encouraged to mail in their own wartime experiences and tales of unsung heroes to the magazine with a selection of them then vividly Illustrated by Noel Cook, a regular contributor of gag cartoons and painted illustrations to the Weekly.

November 22 1941

November 1 1941

November 15 1941

November 8 1941

October 25 1941

Deeds That Thrilled Australia © Estate of Noel Cook Source: trove.nla.gov.au

Paper Trail

Roger Langridge shares a comic for his daughter's tenth birthday. The Popeye series Langridge is currently writing for IDW will be concluding with the twelfth issue. Langridge has also set a goal to post a comic or illustration on his blog daily for 2013 so keep an eye on frequent updates at Hotel Fred.

Sarah Laing dissects the making of a book cover.

 

Brandon Graham teases a forthcoming Fil Barlow wraparound cover for Prophet #33

 

Bob Temuka at the Tearoom of Despair writes about Murray Ball's Footrot Flats.

Josh Santospirito is interviewed by Framed magazine here.

Tim McEwen reviews Chris Downes The Littel Dragun.

Steve Holland serialised a John McNamara illustrated Paul Temple strip over at Bear Alley over December, first episode here.

 © Evening News courtesy Bear Alley

Holland's Bear Alley Books has announced their latest publication, a 262 page Index and history of the Almalgamated Press/IPC comic Lion. Pre-orders available here.

 
From late 2012, Daniel Best at 20th Century Boy, ran a fascinating series of articles on Australian comics and comics in Australia.

 Was K.G. Murray a Spy?

Desert Dragon Comic by  George T.C. Hubble

The Banning of Detective Comics

 Comics or Classics?

Samples of the work of Tom Glover, at one time heralded as New Zealand's leading cartoonist. I'll have a feature on Glover's work on the Pikitia blog next week.

Tom Glover's Skeeter and his Magic Ring from Sydney Sunday Sun circa 1930's.

E noho rā 2012

 Bluff Hill Lookout, Napier (Photo - Anna-Mai Hoek)

A big thank you to all the New Zealand & Australian cartoonists and comic makers who contributed to the 2012 in Reviews. My focus was on folk that have had comics and cartoons published in print or online this year and I really only scratched the surface of folk producing work down this end of the world. There are also many folk who are busy producing work in their homes and studios that may not be seen publicly until next year or even further into the future. Apologies to any folk I did not approach for the review I hope to achieve a wider review next year. I'm off for a week but will be resuming at least a month of solid bloggage from 7 Jan 2013.

2012 In Review Index

Jonathan King http://bit.ly/Vmm1nL
Matt Emery http://bit.ly/YsrSt6
Matt Nicholls http://bit.ly/X1h1L5
Arthur Strickland http://bit.ly/UySQkH
Matt Kyme http://bit.ly/U5Y6J5
Ben Michael Byrne http://bit.ly/UnOM6P
Alisha Jade http://bit.ly/Y1sW75  
Paul Bedford http://bit.ly/TMpeOt 
Jesca Marisa http://bit.ly/WyaQdr 
Darren Koziol http://bit.ly/Ulsxym 
Sorab Del Rio http://bit.ly/YzglwE
Marc Pearson http://bit.ly/VV5AOY
Justin Randall http://bit.ly/Wq0I6s
Andy Conlan http://bit.ly/ZjnxOM  
Theo Macdonald http://bit.ly/VOYbjN
Michael Hawkins http://bit.ly/UPVS1v 
Steve Sparke http://bit.ly/UbfzTP 
Li Chen http://bit.ly/WmAW32 
M. P. Fikaris http://bit.ly/T47aj3 
J. Marc Schmidt http://bit.ly/XD6YH6
Christopher Downes http://bit.ly/RAT8bC 
Matthew Hoddy and Caitlin Major http://bit.ly/VLdwCi
Cory Mathis http://bit.ly/UL4q9I 
Dean Rankine http://bit.ly/UV9AOd 
Mat Tait http://bit.ly/WgXpyx
Bruce Mutard Part One http://bit.ly/TmRdEc
Bruce Mutard Part Two http://bit.ly/UylWNr 
Doug Holgate http://bit.ly/WfE7tv
Gregory Mackay http://bit.ly/Z9ohWC 
Kelly Sheehan http://bit.ly/TlOKdt
Sarah Howell http://bit.ly/SwgQ92 
James Andre - Milk Shadow Books http://bit.ly/Z9aYWo 
Jason Chatfield http://bit.ly/12cHgOK 
Gary Chaloner http://bit.ly/RsNwjv 
James Davidson http://bit.ly/UJ1ZlR 
Ive Sorocuk http://bit.ly/UHtqwl
Simon Hanselmann http://bit.ly/VBMMnS
Richard Fairgray http://bit.ly/Ul6xA2 
Jase Harper http://bit.ly/UCC0MX 
Jerome Bihan http://bit.ly/W543aV
Karl Wills http://bit.ly/SUnJ1Y 
Brent Willis http://bit.ly/TTW2WZ
Anton Emdin http://bit.ly/TSlnBu 
Philip Bentley http://bit.ly/12iwF48
Bobby N http://bit.ly/YVRVi2 
DRAW http://bit.ly/U1aSc1
Tim Danko http://bit.ly/UQJUGX 
Ben Stenbeck http://bit.ly/UwJGT0 
Pat Grant http://bit.ly/YSveeG 
Daniel Reed http://bit.ly/TLrhRj
Colin Wilson http://bit.ly/UoKrva 
Paul Mason http://bit.ly/TU197a 
Scarlette Baccini http://bit.ly/SOUaii  
Rebecca Clements http://bit.ly/12eAbwk 
T-Rex Jones http://bit.ly/VvM6ju
Darren Close http://bit.ly/VD8Io0
Andrew Fulton http://bit.ly/U1Mq9K 
Ben Hutchings http://bit.ly/UjJGnf
Roger Langridge http://bit.ly/123IpXU 
Mandy Ord http://bit.ly/VGTXgj 
Toby Morris http://bit.ly/11XhbCc 
Hayden Fryer http://bit.ly/11TgtWF
David Blumenstein http://bit.ly/WIMYCH
Joshua Santospirito http://bit.ly/SFbINJ
Ant Sang http://bit.ly/VzFy5J 
Frank Candiloro http://bit.ly/TEVUui 
Tim Gibson http://bit.ly/11KnFo4 
Marijka Gooding http://bit.ly/11uiM3c 
Damon Keen http://bit.ly/ynuLC3 
Dylan Horrocks http://bit.ly/Rvj343 
Jason Franks http://bit.ly/11nqgF7
 

2012 in Review: Jonathan King

Jonathan King

Who are some of the comics creators that you've discovered and enjoyed for the first time in 2012?

I've been working my way through Edgar P Jacobs' Blake & Mortimer series -- taken up in later years by others. While I admire Jacobs for not standing still in his style, i like some of his work more than others. His later ones are horribly coloured and the drawing has got harsher and uglier. Following Jacobs' death in the 1980s, the series was resurrected in the 90s by various artists. I like Ted Benoit's warm ligne claire style very much.

http://www.cinebook.co.uk/index.php?cPath=156

While I'm pleased that Tintin didn't continue after Hergé's death -- the Blake & Mortimer books show how it could be sensitively handled.
A new work influenced by Hergé and Jacobs is Garen Ewing's The Rainbow Orchid. A ripping yarn told in a beautifully executed ligne claire style, The Rainbow Orchid was split over three volumes -- not ideal for what is really one story. The third volume was out this year, however, and it's now available as one complete story. Ewing's artwork has really hit its stride in the last volume and the story is great old fashioned fun (if a little more wordy and complicated than it needs to be!). I can't wait to see what he does next!

http://www.garenewing.co.uk/rainboworchid/

Recently I finally got a hard copy of a book I adore, and have only previously had as Spanish-language scans -- the second volume of Yves Chaland's Adventures of Freddy Lombard. Chaland would undoubtedly have ended up the equal of Herge and Jacobs if he hadn't been tragically killed in a car crash in his 30s in 1990. His Freddy Lombard stories are my favourites of his work, and in these last two -- Holiday in Budapest  and F-52 his ligne claire / 'atom style' artwork is breathtaking -- especially in the hilarious character details on the edges of F-52, a story told almost entirely on a long plane journey (and revolving around a horrifyingly heartless premise).

For years I've (literally) dreamed about finding an unpublished Tintin story … this is almost the next best thing, with a two-page Freddy Lombard story I'd never seen before appearing in the back of this book.

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

A few new films like Looper I've enjoyed … but mostly older ones like 60s new wave films, Breathless, Alphaville, Last Year in Marienbad, 70s paranoid thrillers like The Parallax View. I devoured Breaking Bad when I belatedly discovered it and have been loving Boardwalk Empre. Most new movies suck ass though.

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

It's only been about a year since I got my Cintiq -- a screen I can draw on with a stylus. It felt like an outrageous indulgence when I first got it, but i've really, really enjoyed drawing with it. I pencil and 'ink' in Manga Studio, colour in Photoshop. I'm glad I spent a while trying to draw in real pencil and ink with dip pen (Hunt 102) and ink … but I must admit I love the freedom the undo key gives you, as well as the flexibility of being able to tweak and rearrange elements digitally.

It's also been a year or so since I've collaborated with a writer on some work -- the City Lights series I've been doing with Chad Taylor. I've loved having it be my 'job' to illustrate what he writes; to work out how to 'block' on the page the story we're telling.

I've also been experimenting with animation -- 2D cartoons, 3D CGI and stop motion -- something I'm really loving. I'm currently working on a stop motion music video for my band, The Dickens.

What are you looking forward to in 2013?

I'm making a low-budget film with Chad Taylor -- I'm directing from his script -- called Realiti. I wish I could get more time to draw comics -- it's more satisfying and productive than filmmaking which takes so bloody long for anything to happen … but I find to get with done, I have immerse myself in it at the expense of other things. But once this film is done, I really feel like I'd like to try a more substantial comics project -- like a book-length all-ages adventure story … not unlike the stuff I was talk about above.

http://www.jking.co.nz/main/comics/

2012 in Review: Matt Emery

Matt Emery

What have been your personal cartooning/comics highlights of 2012?

Corresponding with folk around the world for research has been a lot of fun. Getting recollections from artists and writers that worked during the heyday of comics has been really interesting. Finding some new directions for my own comics outside of gag writing has been tough but revelatory.

Who are some of the comics creators that you've discovered and enjoyed for the first time in 2012?

This year or maybe last year I discovered James Davidson's work, great stuff. Also love what I've seen of Lauren Marriott's work. Ethan Rilly's Pope Hat's was a great read, I miss the days of indie pamphlet comics. Love what Chuck Forsman has been doing and the folks at Oily Comics.

I've been wading through Titan's reprint collections of English newspaper strip Modesty Blaise. The sole writer of 40 years of her adventures, Peter O'Donnell, sure knew how to put together tight serialised adventures with little regard for the PC conventions of today. I love these books, particularly New Zealand artist Neville Colvin's run on the strip, beautiful work. IDW's Library of American Comics keep producing gems with the Otto Soglow volume Cartoon Monarch a beautiful production of cartoons from yesteryear.  I've long desired to join the secret cult Bushmiller society and fantagraphics reprints of Ernie Bushmiller's Nancy have been a great entry point. Still devouring the second Nancy volume, I see why this work is praised by a certain group of cartoonists.

Not particularly new to me as a creator but heck, new English translations of Tezuka's work from vertical and Digital manga. great stuff. Truly a golden age of reprints.

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

 

Been thumbing through several beat up paperbacks of short stories, Pierre Boulle, Philip k Dick, Vonnegut, J G Ballard, and a Playboy collection. New Dredd film was a long awaited thrill. Spending a week at the beach on the Gold Coast was very relaxing.

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

Spending more time on drafts and attempting some longer pieces.
 

What are you looking forward to in 2013?

Launching Paper Trail a magazine I'm editing about New Zealand and Australian comics. Traveling to some conventions in the States. Also very keen to see a few books about New Zealand comics in print that are in production for 2013. 

http://guzumocomics.com/

2012 in Review: Matt Nicholls

Matt Nicholls

What have been your personal cartooning/comics highlights of 2012?

First I started this year with Debuting my webcomic Collateral, illustrated by my new UK friend Lee Taylor, which was pretty exciting. Then I self published Collateral Dear John Issue one and two later this year, while also debuting another webcomic with a local friend of mine Ross Stewart called Vesper and since I didn't have much else on this year I self published a one shot 12 page comic with local illustrator Simon Wright called Our Love Will Never Die, But We Will.

Not to mention I tabled at my first and second con this year with Armageddon being the first and the little Oz Horror Con the second.

Who are some of the comics creators that you've discovered and enjoyed for the first time in 2012?

Wow, where to start. I suppose I'll only comment on the ones from this year, even though I'd like to shout out to others. So I wont be mentioning Steve Sparke, Frank Candiloro and Brendan Halyday as we met last year. So I wont be mentioning how awesome they are and how good their work is.

SO to start with this year, I'll have to go with Matt Kyme. His work is awesome and thatbulletproofkid.com is a great new Superhero webcomic and he's not doing much so he's got The Ace happening as well on the same site. So lazy. He's the webcomic version of Frank Candiloro.

FEC has produced so much work this year it would be hard to mention it all, but you can check it out at FEC Comics but special mention would have to go out to Kranburn and Great Works.
Zombolette is an ace comic and I love how it isn't a zombie story.
 
MSG by Andrew Li. I met him once at the Melbourne Comic meet up. He was so quiet and reserve and his comic really deserves a read.

I really want to mention all the local comic scene, not just Melbourne but Australia, but there really is a lot out there.

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

I loved seeing one of my favourite local bands The Dirty Three again this year. I highly recommend this band. They would have to be in my top two bands I've ever seen live, and seeing them for the second time they did not disappoint.

I also went to Scienceworks this year. I hadn't been since I was at school many moons ago. That place is AWESOME!Go check it out, even if you don't have kids with you it's still ace.
Since I wasn't releasing much this year in the way of comics I renovated my kitchen. It's crazy how much you love your oven when you've gone without one for 12 months.

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

It's amazing how much you learn when working with different artists. I have had to change how I write my scripts to suite different artist. But my working methods tend not to change when I write in my half hour on the train.

What are you looking forward to in 2013?

 Releasing more Collateral Issues and having more Vesper pages out as well as debuting at Supanova and Oz Comic Con. They are the main things. I also wrote a short comic for Brendan Halyday this year as part of the 24 hour challenge, so I'm hoping for that to get finished next year (No pressure Brendan :P)

 collateraldearjohn.thewebcomic.com

 vesper.thewebcomic.com

2012 in Review: Arthur Strickland

  Arthur Strickland

What have been your personal cartooning/comics highlights of 2012?

It would have to be discovering the Ozcomics page on Facebook for sure (Courtesy of Ms Fiona Freestone). It just opened so many doors and helped me meet the most amazing local writers and artists. I had pretty much fallen out of the whole art and comic book scene but this totally re-inspired my passion for drawing. Working with Matt Kyme, Clint Hammill and Darren Close has been  amazing and its so humbling getting such positive feedback from such a talented group of guys.

Who are some of the comics creators that you've discovered and enjoyed for the first time in 2012?

I live in a small town outside of Melbourne so I was really amazed at the comic scene there. So much talent and so many to mention but standouts off the top of my head are Zed Mercury by Steve Boyd, The Dirt Nap by Brendan Halyday, Killeroo by Darren Close, Collateral and 'Our love will never die, but we will' by Matthew Nichols. Frank Candilloro's work Blood across Broadway and Viddy well, Brother is amazing and his style is totally unique. Matt Kyme also released his solo project The Ace which he wrote and illustrated and I was just blown away. We only recently had a comic book store open up in my home town, so I also went back and caught up on old stuff that I'd been meaning to read including- 100 Bullets, Preacher, Kick Ass, The Walking Dead, Lobo, Swamp Thing to name a few. All amazing.

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

 

Stephen Kings The Wind Through the Keyhole was delightful. I really loved Prometheus and Cabin in the Woods. Both stand outs. Battlefield 3 expansion packs have also kept that disc almost permanently in my PS3. Music wise I've really enjoyed Noctourniquet by The Mars Volta, Book Burner by Pig Destroyer, the new Testament and Deftones albums were good too. Breaking Bad and Face Off are both television highlights.

 

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

Too many too mention haha. Since taking on the role of penciler, inker and colourist on That Bulletproof Kid, plus working on a short Killeroo story for Darren Close as well as the odd commission and weekly Ozcomics entries, I'm almost constantly changing and fine tuning work methods and techniques to increase output speed and save time. Inking for example went from digital to pen to dip pen and ink to brush and ink then back to digital (laughs).

What are you looking forward to in 2013?

 

Really just looking forward to creating more art and stories. I may possibly even have a crack at writing. Matt Kyme and I are also looking into one of his other stories for a possible 2013 release. Being a big gaming fan I'm really looking forward to the next generation of games consoles. I'm expecting them to be mind blowing haha.

 

 http://thatbulletproofkid.com/wordpress/

2012 in Review: Matt Kyme

Matt Kyme

What have been your personal cartooning/comics highlights of 2012?

In Sept I launched That Bulletproof Kid where I upload my ongoing superhero web comic; That Bulletproof Kid. It’s a full colour comic illustrated by an awesomely talented friend, Arthur Strickland. In October I began uploading a second web comic which I wrote and illustrated called The Ace. In Nov I also uploaded an 8 page story called Secret History which was illustrated by Gareth Colliton and coloured by Joe Roberts.
 

Who are some of the comics creators that you've discovered and enjoyed for the first time in 2012?

There are sooo many talented people out there! I was totally blown away by Hidden by Mirranda Burton. It was so tender and heartfelt, when you read it you feel as if you are listening to an old friend. I enjoyed the creepy and psychological atmosphere of The List by Paul Bedford. Fred Russell-Atkins had me laughing with his action packed, typo filled Spitfires, McBlack comics by Jason Franks are clever, surprising, genre challenging, 4th wall breaking meta which are a hoot to read. Thomas Tung’s Rent My Seal and Jake Harrison, Relationship Detective are a heap of fun as is High School Romance by Jin Chan Yum Wai. Guzumo by Matt Emery kept me and my high school students entertained and slightly confused.

Endlessly prolific writer, Matt Nicholls delivered 3 amazing comics this year; 2 issues of Collateral and my personal favourite, Our Love Will Never Die But We Will, which has to be the most romantic zombie story ever. Matt also has a wicked web comic called Vesper that is illustrated by Ross Stewart. One of my biggest highlights was discovering work by the amazing Frank Candiloro. His work is something else. His stories are all so different from the last and his artistic style is so original and unmistakable. My favourite of his is Behind The Crooked Cross. It is a harrowing comic which is testing and moving. I should mention the amazing artists and writers that I have been lucky enough to work/collaborate/brainstorm with this year, Franco Pollizzi, Eros Harries, Annerleigh Pappos, Gareth Colliton, Joe Roberts, Simon Wright, Steve Partridge, Andrew Fitzgerald and Arthur Strickland.

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

My wife and two kids are a heap of fun. We have had a heap of laughs together this year and I’m very lucky to have them. Outside of family stuff, I’m really digging the new albums by The Cribs and Cat Power. I finally gave into peer pressure and started watching Breaking Bad. The new series of The Walking Dead has been great. Avengers and Batman movies were really cool. I liked The Artist and Argo too. My kids have discovered The Aquabats Supershow which is super rad. That Kony video was good. The world not ending was pretty good too.

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

Pretty much everything is new this year.  I did all the art for The Ace (my first ever comic) after I finished writing it and it drained my life. I enjoyed writing it far more than illustrating it so I decided that from now on I would avoid doing comic art like it was the plague. The only thing I enjoy as much as writing comics is getting fresh pages of art in my inbox. Working with Arthur of That Bulletproof Kid is a dream. I give him some rough sketches when I send him the scripts. It’s up to him if he wants to use them or not. I have never had any complaints with his pages, the dude knows how to draw and I love his colours! As far as my working methods go, I have sketchbooks with ideas and design/sketches all over the place, I have files with all my random ideas for stories/plots and characters,  a file with the rough story lines and a separate file where I type out the finished scripts. I do a heap of cutting and pasting, tweaking, refining, reading, re-reading etc before I send the scripts off top the artists. Did that put you to sleep?

What are you looking forward to in 2013?
 

I look forward to working with Arthur on That Bulletproof Kid and perhaps some other projects. I look forward to meeting more creators and discovering their work. I hope the new Superman movie is good. I don’t know what else will be on the cards next year, just have to hold on tight and see what happens.

http://thatbulletproofkid.com/wordpress/