Oz Comic Con Melbourne 2013

 
After last years debacle of too many people in too little space this years Oz Comic Con in Melbourne was transported to the Royal Exhibition Building in Carlton Gardens. I managed to snap a few pics from artist alley before my camera died. Are people getting sick of my holiday snaps? Seemed like a lot of mugging this year.

 Ben Hutchings and Dillon Naylor

 Alisha Jade, Steve Sparke and BMB

Justin Randall, Greg Maclean and Colin Wilson

Brendan Halyday and Frank Candiloro

Wolfgang Bylsma

 Henry Pop and Paul "The Beast" Bedford

 The Space Pyrates, Caitlin Major and Matthew Hoddy

Ryan K Lindsay

Larry, Curley and Moe

 Jin Chan Yum Wai

Queenie Chan

Dean Rankine

 Doug Holgate

Ginny and Darren Koziol

Fil Barlow and Helen Maier

Tom Taylor

Sorab Del Rio

Jon Sommariva

Ross Stewart and Matt Nicholls

Christian Read and Andrew Constant

Paul Mason

The best photo of T-Rex Jones out of the six I took.

 Public Emery Number One

Picked up a few gems from the locals and did a little bargain bin diving.

 I'm a sucker for cheap Mandrake comics

New Zealand editions of Flash Gordon from Feature Productions don't pop up too often. I'm hoping to complete a book on the reprint era of New Zealand comics by September.

This particular issue of the Wally Wood published Heroes INC featuring Cannon seems to turn up often at cons in recent years. A warehouse find of 70,000 uncirculated copies probably accounts for some of them. I know a similar story about an Australian equivalent to that find, I'll have to write it up one of these days.

Homecooked Comics Festival 2013

Papers are piling up around literally and digitally so I'll be trying to make sense of them over the next week with a series of catch up posts.

A couple months back I manned a Pikitia Press table at the Homecooked Comics Festival in the Northcote, Melbourne. Homecooked drew a decent size crowd to the town hall who were more comics receptive than your typical con audience around these parts. Bernard Caleo conducted interviews and live drawing sessions on the main stage and the open 'roomy' layout of tables in the town hall made for a pleasant easy going atmosphere.

I had a lot of fun on the day, got to meet cartoonist Andrew Weldon, talk to a Turkish exchange student from Istanbul about modern and golden age Turkish comics, catch up with The Mars Volta and Paul Bedford, and scored a copy of Hard Evidence You're a Loser from J. Leigh Head. A wonderfully bizarre fully formed colour comic, from a cartoonist I was completely unaware of. I believe only available in a print on demand small run so far, but hopefully available more widely sometime in the future.

 Ersin Karabulut, one of the modern Turkish cartoonists recommended to me.

Bernard Caleo and Scarlette Baccini

Patrick Alexander and Bernard Caleo

Andrew Weldon 

 The Mars Volta swung by with these sweet home made t-shirts

Some excerpts from J Leigh Head's Hard Evidence you're a Loser.

Mirranda Burton and Gregory Mackay

Scarlette Baccini and Dan Hayward

David Blumenstein and Bruce Mutard

Laura Renfrew

Paul Bedford

Olive Oyl

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/

2012 in Review: Paul Bedford

Paul Bedford

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

 
Answering these questions.

Oh, and having the films rights for my OGN, The List optioned. The bonus is, I've been commissioned to write the screenplay adaptation. I'm into the second draft and, while proving a tough write, it's giving me the opportunity to have a second chance at my story; to change/improve scenes, dialogue etc. It's also a challenge to adapt my story into a 3 act structure, which the GN certainly isn't.

The other highlight was having the 3 volumes of The List finally printed in a single volume GN. It was great after all these years of envisioning it in this form to finally hold it in my hands. Very rewarding indeed. Sales at the stores, online and at the Cons have certainly improved since it became an all-inclusive read.

Other highlights include: continuing excellent reviews of The List from around the world; amazing - at times, touching - feedback from readers who seem to find a place to put their pain while reading the work; meeting new fans of the work at Cons and watching the local scene grow with great new talent.

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

 
My two fave discoveries of the year (I tend to read only Aussie/NZ stuff) were Zombolette by Scarlette Baccini (Milk Shadow Books) and Kranburn by Ben Michael Byrne (FEC Comics). I suppose if we are talking about artists, we are actually talking about their art.

Zombolette: Many laugh out loud moments. A no-holds-barred, clever and unpredictable work. I've read it three times which has revealed the more subtle humour. I have heard rumour of a sequel, so it’d better be as good as the first, or I’ll burn Scarlette’s house down. I will, ya know.

Kranburn: I'm crap at keeping up with web comics so, as much I loved reading this on the web, I fell away from this series, always wishing it was in print. I'm certainly a print purist. Even comics on a tablet don't really do it for me - I just don't find the experience as engaging or visceral. Anyway, I was rapt when i heard it was to be published. Now, having just read issue 5 (a dark and brutal stand out in an already dark and brutal series), I am thoroughly eating it up. Ben's world building succeeds in drawing the reader into its barren, harsh dystopia. The surface adventure of the first four issues has now taken a deeper turn, and the pace has slowed. Both of these things are a welcome breather and shows Ben's grasp of his character. I believe he is on the 230 odd page mark, which is awesome news. I'd happily sit down as read the whole bloody thing in a massive GN.

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

Battlefield 3. Nuff said.

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

Battlefield 3. It means I get less work done.
 

What are you looking forward to in 2013?

There is some new Battlefield 3 DLC coming out, so that'll be grouse and even more destructive to my artistic pursuits.

Aside from that, the producers who optioned The List screenplay will be shopping it around to various movie houses. That'll be an exciting and terrifying time. Man, the thought that it might get picked up and made into a feature film is almost too exciting to bear.

With the TPB out, I will be submitting it to various companies for possible publication. Let's see if any of these so called publishers of art are gutsy enough to pick it up.

I will finally get my short story anthology finished and get a bunch of artists to draw them up. I’ve had one drawn up so far and released as a mini which has received excellent feedback, so it would be nice to get the entire bunch done released as a collection. It's very different to The List: no violence, horror, drugs etc, so it won't sell.
Thanks for reading my babble. Now go and buy my book: http://www.thelistgraphicnovel.bigcartel.com/

2012 in Review: Paul Mason

Paul Mason

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

Highlights? Oh man, 2012 has been very big, and extremely kind to me, so I hope I don’t bore you with my rundown. I “soldiered on” (yes, you’re damn right that pun was intended) with two more issues of ‘The Soldier Legacy’, plus a volume 1 trade paperback, published by Black House Comics. I also continued with my back up story with Christopher Sequeira in ‘Dark Detective: Sherlock Holmes #8’, and another collaborative story that we’re hoping we can spin off to something larger in 2013, which I’m excited about. A sketch book also produced for my second trip to SDCC, which helped kick some goals. That trip, with the people and companies that Chris and I met with while we were over there, was a massive boost to the cartooning morale. At the very least, it was a strong validation to me that I’m not wasting my time scribbling, despite not being the most photorealistic of comic artists. (I won’t name drop; I’ll sound even more like a douche bag.) But at the very least, thank you Chris and Baden.

My other highlights were thanks to the good people at Supanova Pop Culture Expo, who had me as a guest in Melbourne, Gold Coast and Brisbane. The tours were fantastic, and chatting to the top guys of current mainstream comics was a blast. My last biggest highlight was thanks to the good folks of Oz Comic-Con, who very kindly had me, and a great line up of other Australian comic book makers, as guests at their Melbourne event. Chatting to Stan Lee about ‘The Soldier Legacy’ was very surreal.
 
Who are some of the comics creators that you've discovered and enjoyed for the first time in 2012?
 
I didn’t get a lot of regular comic reading in this year. But, there are a couple of creators: Tristan Jones, a Melbourne writer and artist (TMNT, Ghostbusters for IDW, and upcoming Sebastian Hawks), was also a guest at the cons I was at, and I got to see much of his illustration output as well as more of his writing. His digital illustration line has this lovely, “inky wire frame to hyper realistic” layered effect: a building of blacks, spatter, “grit” and lines that overlay and piece together these highly detailed, dark and disturbing, shadowy images.... I’m hopeless at describing them, google it. I finally got to read the complete volume of ‘The List’ by Paul Bedford, Henry Pop and Tom Bonin - I’ve been mates of Paul  for a while, but wanted to wait until I had the intended completion. I really enjoyed it; it’s the sort of book that dwells on your thoughts hours after you’ve put it down. Though I think I was more disturbed by the fact that I didn’t find it disturbing. I need some therapy, I think... ;P Bobby N’s “No Map but not lost” was fantastic.

The rest for 2012 are mostly older published stuff: I picked up Essential Rawhide Kid and discovered some of Jack Davis’s westerns for Atlas/Marvel. At the time I thought his figures in motion reminded me of Frank Robbins, until I was put on to Harvey Kurtzman; specifically his stories from Two-Fisted Tales and Frontline combat, during at conversation/portfolio review from Howard Chaykin (which would rival Alex Toth's review of Steve Rude. It’s almost word for word, just throw in a few “bullsh**”s ;P). I can see where I think Kurtzman’s figures, poses and ink line had influenced Jack Davis’s stuff. I’m wondering if Kurtzman did the layouts for the EC artists in some of these stories (?). And yes, Kurtzman would be another one. His stuff is fantastic- deceptively simple in detail, but thick line gives his drawings a very expressive look- contrasting with the more realistic styles that feature in the title (like Severin and Wood). The storytelling is very emotive, and layouts, much like Kirby post 1940’s,  show you can still have big impact through pose, camera choice and simple panels over flashy layouts of some modern books . Corpse on the Imjin is probably my favourite, Rubble ticks all the boxes re: layouts, story, passage of time, empathy etc.
 
What is something non-comics that you have enjoyed in 2012?

Again, I was chained to the drawing table, so didn’t get to the cinema much. I did manage to see a few pics, which I enjoyed:  ‘the Avengers’, ‘SkyFall’, ‘Argo’, and ‘The Dark Knight Rises’.

I began lecturing in semester 2, so got to pick up a few classics on DVD that I always wanted to see, and show as parts of the class. Really though, I’m just a sucker for war and westerns, so any excuses was good enough. I enjoyed ‘The Magnificent Seven’ (not often a Hollywood remake is good, right? ;P), Clint Eastwood’s ‘Pale Rider’, and Steve McQueen’s ‘Hell is for Heroes’.

I also managed to drag myself away from the drawing board, and dipped my toe back into one of my old hobbies- Taekwon-do. Specifically, tournament fighting. I honestly thought I was Danny Glover when I did my first lesson back, just before the NSW state titles. But I managed to remember enough to take out the division, then rinse and repeat at the Australian titles, and earn a place on the Australian team for my 4th stint at the World ITF Championships next year in Korea. As long as I don’t bankrupt myself or break my drawing hand on some poor competitor’s face, I’ll be ok.
 
Have you implemented any significant changes to your working methods this year?

Hmmm, not really. I guess if someone’s interested in my nonsense, I did try to experiment with a different production method for every issue I do, if that counts. So what I mean is, for instance, with issue 4 I experimented with the Shitagaki method of writing a comic, from Colleen Doran’s Master class talk late last year (basically, post-it note sized thumbnail page layouts- no script). It’s a little Marvel method-y, but for a solo dude: thumbnail the thing, including balloon placements etc. With issue 5, I took onboard John Barber’s comments to me re: trying simplified layouts, so much of the pages contain horizontal “storyboard style” panels, rather than vertical, or diagonal layouts I tended to use for action pages. Trying to show what is needed in 1 panel, rather than 3, was another consideration I tried from talking with W. Chew Chan (so being more concise with camera choices); That sort of thing. Nothing drastic, just tune-ups based on talking it out and learning, try to take onboard as much advice as I can to hopefully improve.
 
What are you looking forward to in 2013?

I’m looking at 2013, and it already has me wincing :P

Comic book wise; failing an apocalypse, my current story arc will wrap up in 2013, so I’m looking forward to that.  A new TPB of the last couple of issues will probably be on the cards, a possible issue of this new project maybe? Yes. Let’s stay open-minded. I think a one-shot of the ‘Dark Detective: Sherlock Holmes’ back up story is planned once I wrap up the last chapter. I’m looking forward to finishing this damn Doctoral thesis- I struggled this year to balance the drawing commitments with the reference reading, writing and typing commitments this thing demands.

There are a couple of things collaboratively that I’m waiting on, and hoping to hear news of. But in the meantime, I’m not struggling to find something to do. And travel. Lots and lots of travel planned in the diary.
I think ultimately, I’m just looking forward to seeing what 2013 can do for me; I figure all we can ever do is “stick to the plan”, whatever that may entail in your or my case (unless your plan is “sit around, doodle, and pray.” That plan sucks. Don’t do that plan). Work hard.

http://pm-comic.blogspot.com.au/

Armageddon Melbourne 2012

Some of the cartoonists in attendance at this years Armageddon convention in Melbourne.

Frank Candiloro

Jason Franks

Richard Fairgray

Jin Chan Yum Wai

Henry Pop

Dean Rankine

 Sorab Del Rio and Paul Bedford

 Milk Shadow Books - Grizzly Adams, James Andre and Ben Hutchings

 Brendan Halyday

 Tom Taylor

Helen Maier and Fil Barlow

Space Pyrates - Caitlin Major and Matthew Hoddy

 Fred Atkins

 Bruce Mutard

 Pedobear