Thursday, March 15, 2012

Dailies


The first edition of a new comics anthology, Dailies, was recently produced by the Silent Army publishing concern. Contained within the pages of the striking 32 page tabloid newspaper format are sixty artists from Australia, New Zealand and Indonesia producing their takes on 'newspaper strips'. Established cartoonist's such as Tim Molloy, Tim Danko, Mandy Ord, Glenn Smith, Ben Hutchings and more feature alongside emerging young talent. Cartoons are presented in a variety of forms from abstract art comics to riffs on popular newspaper strips as well as dense multi-panel narratives.


Excerpt of Mandy Ord's Desperate Times

Each release will feature different versions of contemporary views of the comic art strips presented in black and white, two colour, and full colour spreads.

I asked Dailies Editor M P Fikaris a few questions via email about his latest project.

What was the impetus to publish Dailies?

There were a few really. But mostly, as with all anthologies I have published, to show the fine talents of my friends. Also, with dailies it is a little bit of an idea on doing things quickly and without too much pre design and study as most comics tend to be). I asked the artists to submit something in a short time frame, hoping not only to get us doing something without too much thought but also to get something that could be repeated and continued like the daily comics of old newspaper cartoonists.

 Excerpt from The Pox Girls Plan 9 From Outer Space

Some of the material in Dailies seems far removed from the concept of  'the comic art strip', some perhaps more in the realm of art comics, were there editorial guidelines for Dailies? Were you involved in editorial guidance with any of the contributors?

I asked a lot of friends, some with a more traditional comic strip making background and others who I thought were doing things that are very similar in nature to the comic strip. My mind is very open to comics in many mediums and I certainly don’t restrict a comic to squares on a page with characters talking.

 Excerpt from Leigh Rigozzi

 What was the print run of Dailies? Are you satisfied with the finished product?

The print run was 3000 copies. I am satisfied that it is complete, but there are certainly a lot of pips in it. It is the first time I have laid something out for newsprint and I have learnt a bunch of things. My budget was pretty low (but very gratefully it was covered by a fellow artist who wants to remain unknown) so I did it with a printer that was possibly less helpful than I could have hoped. The first issue is not about perfect layout for me but more about getting it complete and making it a progressive thing. The next issue is due in May this year and the following to come out in August, then again in November.

Were there any difficulties in assembling an anthology with this many creators spread out over the globe?

Yeah, a little frustrating – but that was the challenge.

 

Excerpt from 'Megg's Coven' by Simon Hanselman

Where is Dailies available from?

With this collection I plan to take it to the streets and sell it  like a paper – but with a twist. Combining my background as an artist on the streets and doing work with local theatre companies I am very excited to try something a little different … to have unadvertised ‘happenings’ each month in a Melbourne laneway… each will be plastered with the papers contents on the walls(done the night before) and myself and another dressed to impress with paper in tow ‘performing’ a selling technique I hope will make the paper a more interesting and mysterious collection of stories and artworks for all sorts interested in ‘culture’.


I have plans to do this next week and will be recording it for future reference.



Currently I am also selling it on the silent army website - www.silentarmy.org. and successfully at various art fairs/stalls and markets. The plan with this has always been to glue into laneways of the city and distribute through other less traditional comic outlets. Flexing creative flare instead of bending to the needs of the stores.
 
 All cartoons copyright 2012 their respective creators.

Monday, March 12, 2012

Loose Crayons - Hawkes Bay Comics Anthology




Covers of Loose Crayons #4,#5 (Apologies to Ant Sang for swiping his parental advisory logo!)

WARNING: Some of the comics in this post may be deemed offensive

My first foray into publishing comics was as an editor and contributor for an anthology, Loose Crayons, which ran for five issues in 1996. Living in Hawkes Bay, New Zealand, at the time I was inspired by my neighbour who a few months prior had launched a music fanzine. With contributions from musicians and art students at the Eastern Institute of Technology I published the first 16 page (incl covers) black and white A5 issue in early 1996. It was well received at the local comic shop who managed to sell through a few small runs.

Elixir Joy by Cherie Rosvall ran in the first four issues of Loose Crayons

After the first issue I added colour card covers and the page count expanded to 28 pages. A lot of submissions were from art students that were not particularly interested in comics or versed in comic form which lead to some interesting results. Over the five issues there was only one submission that could have been regarded as a typical superhero story.

 

 
Menno Huiber's The Adventures of Rob + Ronny was serialised in the first three issues.

I would sneak into my workplace around midnight, ring the security firm to offer an explanation for deactivating the alarms, and then make as many copies on the photocopier as I felt I could safely get away with. One night I used a whole toner roll which I feared would lead to my discovery but it was never mentioned.
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 Michael Hawksworth contributed the three part Scared of the Juice in Loose Crayons #3-#5

In issue four I published three comic strips by a high school friend that proved a bit controversial. I was of the mind that I would publish anything and I considered Loose Crayons to be informed by what I understood as a punk aesthetic. I was also drawing inspiration from what little I knew of the sixties American underground scene. Unfortunately many contributors took offence to these strips and informed me they no longer wanted to be a part of the anthology. I limped along for one more issue that was primarily filled with my own comics with issue #5 in August 1996 being the last.



Two of the three controversial strips from Loose Crayons #4
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Loose Crayons was never distributed beyond Hawkes Bay. It's quite possible no-one outside of this part of New Zealand ever saw it. Many small press efforts like this I'm sure have been created in corners of the world never to see any wider audience. Perhaps less so in today's Internet age.

All Comics featured are copyright their respective creators. Loose Crayons was edited by M.Emery.

Monday, March 5, 2012

Little Hongi - George F H Taylor


George F H Taylor is another obscure New Zealand comic artist that I have found several examples of but no trace of anything biographical. Taylor produced Little Hongi - Adventures in Maoriland for Auckland publisher John G. Helleur, a Jaygee production, in the fifties.  Another mystery figure in New Zealand comics Helleur was also involved in the New Plymouth printed Bingo Comics although I am unsure if this was on the production side or solely as a distributor.

Though undated the byline of 'This is an approved comic' along the top left spine side of the cover would indicate it was published after 1954. The byline provided assurance for parents that were aware of Frederic Wetham's Seduction of The Innocent, a treatise on the dangers of comics and children. New Zealand had it's own 'Seduction of The Innocent' with a thirty page essay by Margaret Dalziel published in the literary journal Landfall in March 1955.

George F H Taylor also produced Science fiction titles Space (of which I'm aware of two issues) and Dick Astro of Space Patrol as well as tackling funny animals in Wonder Comics (1958).

In the 1950's Jaygee produced children's albums similar to English annuals with thick card covers with pages sometimes of a similar stock. Taylor contributed illustrations to these which were typical of the boy's own prose genre with titles like 'Thrilling Adventures'.

















Sources: Landfall Vol. 9 No. 1 March 1955 - Comics in New Zealand - Margaret Dalziel, Space #1 and Dick Astro of Space Patrol from collection of Geoff Harrison, The Australian Comic Collector - The Comics of New Zealand - Geoff Harrison.

Friday, March 2, 2012

Big Arse 2 Comic Launch


Big Arse Comic Book Launch #2 To Be Held in March


Melbourne, Australia - Following the success of 2011’s Big Arse Comic Book Launch 
the Melbourne comics community in hosting a second, even bigger event to launch of fifteen (15) new works created by authors from the fast-growing local scene.


These books are published by a diverse array of publishers, from the small press to national publishers, with reach into the newsstands and the global comics market.


Presented by the inimitable, indomitable, inglorious and invincible Bernard Caleo.



Saturday, March 3rd from 2:00pm

Sentido Funf

243 - 245 Gertrude Street

Fitzroy

Victoria, Australia

Thursday, February 16, 2012

High Seas - Terry Currie


High Seas is twenty pages, black and white, and undated although I would guess it was published in the 1950's. No credits are featured although the artwork is signed Terry Currie in a few places. Back cover has an advert for another comic, Clancy The Clown and a printer/publisher credit - Marketing Services (N.Z.) Ltd, New Plymouth. - J.G.H. The lead feature is a High Seas Adventure followed by some shorter back up's, Kid Kiwi and Arrow Boy.






Monday, February 13, 2012

Phantom Commando - Flame Over Korea

Flame Over Korea is a nine page Phantom Commando story by Maurice Bramley from Page Publications Phantom Commando #16. This issue also features two other Maurice Bramley stories, The Big Gun and The Raiders.


 






Early New Zealand History In Pictures

Another selection of stories from Charles Mckenzie's Early New Zealand History In Pictures.







 
 Early New Zealand History In Pictures courtesy Geoff Harrison

Rebecca Clements Interview part four of four


Rebecca Clements interviewed by Chris Beach

Read part one over here.

Read part two over here.

Read part three over here.

Is a community of artists important to you? Are a lot of your relationships with other artists exclusively online?

Most are! I tend to think of Twitter as my studio/office. We kind of passively talk to and with each other all day and even if I don't say anything myself, it's sometimes nice to just be able to hear what's going on with other people.

For the first time though, I'm connected somewhat to the local cartoonists and I try to catch up with my friends here when I can. Sometimes we hang out and draw together, which is fun (though admittedly, I think I get very little work done and just seem to watch a lot of Tim and Eric).

As for importance—crucial. Not only are they important connections for me, but I learn so much from the artists I associate with and follow, as well as often having MUCH needed support. Plus, they're fun.



Has doing guest strips for other webcomics been an important part of building your audience? How do you select artists who do guest strips on your site?

Very important. It's one of the most effective ways to reach new audiences. Luckily, I happen to ADORE doing guest strips for comics I love. I often feel like the best comics I produce are my guest comics, which is sometimes a shame! It's not like I can publish them in a book at some point, or even really have them understood by people who don't also know the comic they're for. That said, because most of the comics I've done them for have had much, much larger audiences than mine, it kind of cancels that complaint out.

I've only had two rounds of guest strips on KinokoFry so far, one featuring mostly my favourite international webcartoonists and the other featuring Australian cartoonists. Both were incredible. I will continue to try to get the cream of my personal crop, because not only do I want to show them to more people, but it is completely thrilling to see a cartoonist you admire's take on your own comics.

It's not something I'll do often though because I have so many comics I want to do myself.

What kind of commissioned work do you typically do?

There's been a lot of variation. I've worked on games and books and animation storyboards and cards and website images, but typically I do personal paintings for people. Sometimes it's an image they want to see realised. More often than not it's as a gift or for a special occasion, often painting a couple or a family in a particular kind of scene.

What kind of response do you get from your readers? Is it more than you would expect to get from making print comics?

I get typically REALLY good responses from my readers. I suppose that's natural because your readers surely are the people who like your comics. That said, it's often not the case and I'm lucky to have a very enthusiasic, positive, supportive and generally lovely readership. I have no idea what I might get from print comics, but I know that having a webcomic gives people a huge number of ways to communicate with me, and often instantaneously.



The prints and posters available in your shop are printed with vegetable-based inks on 100% recycled paper and mailed in 100% recycled packaging. Ethical concerns also make up much of the subject matter of your comics. Why is this such an important dimension of your work?

I suppose because more and more in my life, I've come to realise that solitary happiness isn't really any kind of thing. The more I learned about the world, about the current state of things, about life in general, about society and about people, the more I didn't want any happiness or success I have to have come at the expense of worsening others' lives, or the earth. Not only that, but the more I read and discover, the more I know that really amazing and positive changes are very, very possible and happen all the time when people make changes to their lives. I want to keep doing what I can to find my own success and continue to live more sustainably, in ways that don't cause misery for others, or chip away at the planet's limited resources.

We have all the ideas, technology and human power we need to move towards a genuinely sustainable life, in terms of both maintaining the natural environment and making massive leaps towards a more equitable world. I'm nowhere near leading a totally sustainable lifestyle right now. It's impossible without the society we live in also changing. However, I'm constantly finding new ways to improve and I want my art and my business to reflect this! It's been nothing at all really to do my best to use things like recycled paper. It's not only been fun and surprisingly easy, but it means the quality of all my paper has really improved. I've started using this really lovely recycled card for all my prints and it looks STUNNING. I can hardly believe that I might otherwise have been putting my artwork on boring old white-bread paper with no character and no life.

Still a long way to go but as each new change becomes a very easy habit, I'm able to make new ones and recommend things to others. And that's pretty much how real, tangible change happens! I'm always changing my focus, but never stop moving forward.


What is The Donation Project and how does it work?

I think is very important to talk about and promote the kind of life we wish to lead. So I started a comic called The Donation Project, inspired nominally by The Uniform Project (look it up!), where I do a comic about some project, artist, charity—whatever—that I think is doing important work and means something to me personally. Then I donate a small amount to that cause. The idea is not just to talk about these great things, but also to show that lots of small amounts of support really are important.



Can you describe how readers' ideas shape your BEC comics and what you're aiming to achieve? Why do you think sharing ideas is so important?

The way that BEC works is that the ideas come from my readers, and I turn them into comics. This was largely inspired by TED, which is one of the most amazing and inspiring projects I've ever come across. TED brings together great people from all fields and walks of life to share their ideas and experiences and work toward making a better world for us all. I loved that, and since lots of people who will never be asked to speak at TED have great ideas as well, I wanted to give some of them a forum. By putting their ideas into comic form, it's kind of like editing them and making them pretty, so that more people will not only read them but hopefully become interested in their potential.

There's a great variety and that's the way it will always be. For the most part, I want to base the comics on ideas and experiences people have had and on changes they've made in their lives, because that can be a powerful statement—saying, "I used to do or think this way, now I do or think THIS way instead, and it's awesome and here's why". People will always respond to that because 'doing' an idea is better than just talking about it. But the important and often neglected step is remembering to share that. No one can think of everything! Very few people can make changing their lives their full-time job. Why not package those ideas in a fun, cute and entertaining way that lots of people will read? Your idea isn't going to be right for everyone, but it might be right for someone, and it might make others consider things they hadn't thought of before.

That's how it ALWAYS happens with me. An idea is introduced in some way. Often I react defensively at first, but it sits in me like a seed. Over time I turn it in my mind, and when I'm ready, I might do something about it. It can happen in no time at all, or happen over years. But that those seeds are there is the important thing.

All I hope to achieve is to inspire people and play my own small part in helping to change the world, and in helping others to do the same! That's already happening, even though BEC is young. I hope to put more time into it soon and see how much we can make it grow.

Would you say that the underlying message behind BEC (and much of your other comics work) is that everyone has the power to influence the world in a positive way through small, incremental changes?

Absolutely. That's the only way change ever happens. There's never been a huge, noticable change that didn't first come about because of hundreds of tiny factors. History has taught us this lesson well, and you can see this happening on every kind of level all over the world. Sometimes people just don't realise that this is the way it works. There are a lot of companies and governments and people telling us we can't change things and it's an absolute lie, and it's always in their interest for you to believe them.

I'll tell you, even just reading on a daily basis websites like Inhabitat or magazines like Peppermint will reveal that determined people are working everywhere and succeeding at making positive changes all over the world. It's so heartening!




Would you like to share any changes you've made to your life in recent months that you feel have brought about positive change, helped to make you a happier or better person, or set a good example for others to follow?

I finally bit the bullet, made the call and started volunteering once a week at the CERES organic farm (though I'm often so busy I can only make it once fortnightly). It has been THE BEST. Every day I come away from that farm feeling absolutely amazing for having spent a beautiful day in a giant garden with fascinating people, and feeling thoroughly satisfied with how I've spent my day, physically and mentally. I learn a lot about how to grow plants, which I could NEVER do—I'd never even kept a potted plant alive before, and now I suddenly have the confidence to grow some ferocious thyme plants in the ground at my own house!—and have a really refreshing time talking with interesting people who share a lot of my goals. I also come home with armfuls of fresh, organic veges and eat like a freaking king.

A lot of articles and studies sing the praises of what a little volunteering will do for a person's happiness, and that doesn't even take into account what a great thing you're doing in an area that needs support. Not everyone can do it, but it's something to aim for—if not the volunteering, the learning to grow some of your own food. It just seems crazy to me to be a human being who can't grow my own food. It's really liberating, and exciting!

 All images copyright 2012 Rebecca Clements. Interview copyright 2012 Chris Beach