2013 in Review: Caitlin Major

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

This year myself and Matthew Hoddy ran a successful Pozible campaign to get Space Pyrates collected edition printed! We got 200 books printed and have already sold out and got it reprinted as two smaller volumes. We took Space Pyrates to almost every state (all except WA, but we'll get there one day!) and we also travelled to America for the Small Press Expo and it was very well received all over! I also contributed a comic to the Brisbane comic collective 'Ashcan.' The comic I submitted was a short prelude to my next big project which should see the light of day next year. I also participated in the 24 hour comic challenge, which was... challenging. I didn't finish my 24 pages but it gave me some good perspective on my workflow and how much I can achieve in a day.

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

I have been enjoying 'The Deep' by Tom Taylor and James Brouwer, and can't wait for the next instalment. I picked up a copy of 'Relish' by Lucy Knisely at the Melbourne Writers Festival which opened me up to the world of beautiful journal comics. Tim Molloy's 'It Shines and Shakes and Laughs' was brilliant! Becky and Franks 'Capture Creatures' made me want to pick up my paint brushes and give it another go. I'm excited to see where Sam Calcraft and Lex Rosek take 'Escape Velocity.' There are so many more that I can't possibly list, I've spent more money on comics this year than anything else I swear! 

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

There's something other than comics!? Not in my life! Oh there was that one time I went to the beach... that was nice. I guess.

What are you looking forward to in 2014?

Moving to Canada and going to Toronto Comic Arts Festival and other conventions in North America. Also releasing my solo comic project!

 

caitlindmajor.tumblr.com/

2013 in Review: Matt Kyme

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

This is a cinch. Working with author extraordinaire, Andrez Bergen, to produce Tales To Admonish. The three stories that Andrez concocted were all so varied and original. All three of them stem from his novels; The Condimental Op and Who Is Killing The Great Capes Of Heropa?.  Andrez is a breeze to work with and he is a brilliant wordsmith.

I’d be remiss to mention the fine work that Arthur Strickland has been doing on our ‘That Bulletproof Kid’ webcomic. Arthurs pages just get stronger and stronger

Being invited to participate in Darker Forces: Degeneration by the good folks at Gaining Velocity was a huge honour. My single page in this project will sit alongside work by an amazing group of artists from Australia and South Africa. I can’t wait to see that comic.

I’ve recently worked on a project with the awe inspiring Katie Houghton-Ward, which I’m hoping to be able to announce more details on soon. Her art is off the scale.

I drew a really fun project called Mercenary Dreams written by Fred Atkins. We hope to get it on shelves at some stage. Fred has a very unique, zany style. It was a lot of fun to collaborate with him.

Lastly, I recently finished a quirky little three pager for an upcoming issue of Darren Koziol’s DECAY. The story that Darren sent me is honestly my favourite story from any issue of DECAY I’ve seen.

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

Discovering (thanks to Andrez) Lone Wolf and Cub. It’s so addictive. The story is so beautiful in its simplicity, but each new test the protagonists face is so well crafted by Koike, he never repeats himself, each new challenge is so different from the last. It’s a very endearing tale of fatherly love in the most perilous circumstances. And don’t get me started on Kojima’s art.

Locally, I really dug new stuff from Matt Nicholls. His third issue of Collateral was as consistently excellent as its predecessors. His pace is perfect and the tension is really foreboding and palpable. Craig Bruyn exploded onto the scene with the debut issue of From Above which showcases his strengths in writing and art. I thought it was very impressive.

Marvel/DC/Image/etc offered up some treats: FF, Daredevil, Savage Wolverine, Superior Spiderman, Thanos Rising, Infinity, Batman, Batman Black and White, Batman/Superman, Batman Incorporated, Batman and Robin (THAT’S A LOT OF BATMAN), Injustice: Gods Among Men, Superman/Wonderwoman, The Walking Dead, Invincible, Saga, Jupiter’s Legacy, Mind MGMT, Hinterkind, X-O Manowar. A lot of these were hit and miss but all deserved a mention.

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

Huh? 

What are you looking forward to in 2014?

Darker Forces: Degeneration and my story in DECAY will be published early in 2014. Andrez and I will have Tales To Admonish 2 landing on shelves sometime. The way we work, you may expect a few issues. That Bulletproof Kid will also be making his first appearance in print early next year. Depending on Arthur’s wrists, we could very well have That Bulletproof Kid 2 out by the end of the year

Mid-year should see the launch of a big fat project I’ve half-jokingly/half seriously dubbed ‘That All Star Bulletproof Kid’. This will feature no fewer than 13 short stories featuring That Bulletproof Kid and his supporting cast buy some of the most amazing creators you could imagine. More details on this soon.

thatbulletproofkid.com

2013 in Review: Anthony Woodward

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

I undertook a project to complete a 12 page mini comic. I wrote, scripted and inked the whole thing and will be ready to print up some copies hopefully soon. I have also been getting back into my sketchbook practice a lot this year, playing around with new techniques, tools and materials. I hate most of the results until I look back in a few weeks and look at the drawings a bit objectively and my thoughts aren't so harsh.  

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

I've been getting into Tumblr a bit more this year and discovering a whole bunch of new artists, it drives me crazy sometimes, it's hard not to be overwhelmed with the variety and quality of comics being produced. Ben juers is putting together a psychiatry comics anthology and I've been enjoying seeing some of the sketches and panel previews. 

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

I've always been a fan of audiobooks and this year I've been getting into some great fiction adaptions like, 'do androids dream of electric sheep', 'world war z', the 'Harry Potter' series read by Stephen Fry and more recently 'I am Legend'

What are you looking forward to in 2014?

Hoping to keep up my level of drawing I've been able to do this year and then some more. I would like to start some new comic projects but I had probably better finish off the ones I started  this year, especially my 12 page mini comic. 

 awcomix.tumblr.com/

2013 in Review: Simon Hanselmann

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

"My Floating World broadsheet "ST OWL'S BAY" got nominated for an Ignatz, That was pretty nice. Had an art show in Madrid with HTML Flowers that went pretty well. Fantagraphics officially announced the book of mine they're releasing next year ("MEGAHEX") and i was able to brag about it on tumblr. Comic Arts Brooklyn was amazing, I launched my new book from Space Face Books ("LIFE ZONE") there. I had a very good time...

And a bunch of other stuff... It's been a very good year for Megg, Mogg & Owl.

Closing out the year with some work for Pitchfork, the Believer and Mould Map.

#youngprofessionals #2013"

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

"Oh, God... This would be the longest list of names.... 

Some of my current favourite things are Lala Albert's new stuff for Mould Map 3.

John Pham's Epoxy 4. anything by JMKE.

Spiders Pee Paw. Michiel Budel. Weird 4. White Cube.

Breakdown Press. Corbera. ZHV. Leon Sadler. HB. Negron. Estrada.

Pompeii was really good. 

Susceptible was really good.

I really liked Strawberries by Mia Schwartz.

PK. MDF.

Michael Hawkins.... a million other people and things."

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

"Blaise Larmee's Nudes. Top of the Lake was a good TV series. Traveling again was cool. The new Drake album. Karaoke." 

What are you looking forward to in 2014?

"Releasing MEGAHEX with Fanta' in July or so and doing a book tour. Fulgencio Pimentel's also releasing a gigantic Spanish Megg & Mogg collection. There's a few new little books I want to make with some cool small press publishers. Doing another art show with HTML Flowers. Working on some secret stuff...

There's a ton of stuff I want to see completed next year.

Hopefully TRUTH ZONE will return early in the year...

I can't wait to see what all of my friends do next year too.

2014 should be a good year for comics."

girlmountain.tumblr.com/

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: Li Chen

What have been your personal cartooning/comics highlights of 2013? Reaching 300 comics on Extra Ordinary, and making my first long format comic to celebrate! You can see it here. It was so much fun, I really want to make more long comics.

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

I've been reading some Japanese comics, I've especially enjoyed Kiyohiko Azuma's comics: Azumanga Daioh, and Yotsuba&! They are both slice-of-life comics, my favourite genre.

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

Drinking lots of tea, going on long walks.

What are you looking forward to in 2014?

Hopefully publishing volume three of Extra Ordinary!

exocomics.com

2013 in Review: Michel Mulipola

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

I have a couple of personal comics highlights:

The first is definitely helping my good pal, Jeremy, open up the comic book store, Arkham City Comics in Auckland, NZ. It's a place we've created as an 'asylum' for freaks and geeks to be who they are and celebrate what they love.And the second would be the very successful Headlocked Kickstarter campaign. Due to the amazing support from our backers, we were able to get this motion comic made as a Stretch Goal:

Also, being a finalist in the inaugral Secret Walls X Aotearoa Live Art Battles was choice! I went out to represent comic book art taking out graffiti artists in the process.I lost out to my friend, Paul Walsh, but am proud to have drawn the first ever full comic book page in a Secret Walls battle!

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

There are so many comics and creators whose work I've enjoyed in 2013. Working at Arkham City Comics, I get spoilt for choice. I enjoy Greg Capullo's stuff on Batman. Also enjoying Thor: God of Thunder. SAGA is fantastic as well as anything by Sean Murphy. Oh, and Tom Taylor's stuff on Injustice and Earth 2. Pretty much anything he touches is gold!

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

There's not much non-comics related stuff that happens in my life. Even my pro wrestling career is rooted in comic books. But one non-comics related highlight would be my nephew successfully battling a brain tumour with minimal side effects from radiation therapy. He's a little battler and inspires me every damned day.

What are you looking forward to in 2014?

2014 is shaping up to be a big year for me if 2013 is anything to go by.

I'm currently working on the Headlocked Kickstarter stuff, got a few side projects in other media going, a possible collab with a writer I admire and I'm hoping to make it to SDCC next year to do signings and maybe a panel. But yeah - who knows what 2014 holds for me, I'll just keep chugging along and before I know it, it's 2015 and Avengers 2: Age of Ultron time!

kid-liger.deviantart.com/

2013 in Review: Christopher Downes

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

Going to the Stanley Awards weekend in Coffs was great. For me it's kind of like going to a Comic Con where many of your idols are there and they regard you as one of their peers. (Still wrapping my head around that concept.)

I've also been incredibly lucky to have picked up a LOT more work through the Mercury. I'm now drawing 4 cartoons a week and loving it!

 

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

I've discovered the work of two very amazing artists this year. 

I know I'm coming late to the party on this one, but I saw the work of Jim Mahfood this year when my 2 year old daughter pulled a collection of his Tank Girl comics off the shelf at the library. I love his loose-yet-confident inking style and I've adopted his splatters into my own work.

I also discovered the work of John Darkow, a cartoonist for the Colombia Daily Tribune in Missouri. His work is outstanding! He's one of the few cartoonists working today who doesn't use colour. Honestly, his cartoons don't need it. The linework is frenzied and impeccable! Plus, the guy incorporates this bloody FANTASTIC hand drawn typography with his cartoons. Seriously, it has as much life as his characters. You really have to look him up to know what I'm talking about. I don't follow American politics, but I still look at Darkow's work daily.

 

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

I recently saw some of George Lambert's paintings in the Queensland Art Gallery and fell deeply in love. My wife got me a nice big book on him which I plan to read very soon.

 

What are you looking forward to in 2014?

At the moment, I don't know what I'm looking forward to, but I'm sure there are some wonderful surprises in store!

sirwdchosen.blogspot.com.au/