Footscray Library gets graphic and novel

WEST Footscray Library has opened its Graphic novel section with 550 books. That's pretty massive, hugely massive even. i'd be interested what the Australian Graphic novels included are (if its compilations of Snake I'll be pretty unimpressed) and what the manga/superhero/alternative split is.

Looking forward to the first "there's sex in them books!' cry from a stupid parent.

Aussie Columnist

Jason Berek-Lewis is an Australian writer working on a bunch of projects for Dabel Studios (who now have some sort of contract with Marvel). He also has a column at Broken Frontier.

Kwok Rocks Witchblade

Issue 102 of Top Cow's Witchblade features the glorious colours of Annette Kwok, best known for working on part of Witch King and the covers of the last Watch series as well as being Jason Badower's go-to colourist.

Congrats Annette

Adelaide for cosacks; part one

I have family from Slovenia visiting and spent the weekend showing them around, which involved alot of broken Slovenian, driving, eating and drinking.

Friday was a simple roast at my mums - highlight was introducing them to Coopers Pale Ale, which was given the tick.
Saturday we spent by the ocean, in the pub and walking in around with a spot of shopping. European beaches for the most part are very rocky, so sandy beaches are quite the treat. What shocked them most is the dryness of the flora. Slovenia is the third most forest covered country in Europe, their green is deep and rich. Our green, barely is, its more of a brown, our native trees are more khaki camoflaged than evergreen.
Saturday night i cooked a feast for 12; oysters kilpatrick, sweet chilli prawn skewers, satay chicken strips, kangaroo with a berry sauce served with basil/garlic mushrooms, bqq capsicum and zucchini. A fancy multicuisined bbq, which i thought would blow their minds.

It did freak them out - they were not at all used to sweet meat, which kind of makes sense, they come from a balkan/slavic tradition where meat is not really that bountiful or cheap. So they tend to either store their meats (in the form of salamis) or try and give cheap meat flavour by adding spices (ie salt). The kangaroo was served rare, something a)you are supposed to do because it becomes too tough to eat b) are able to do because we have clean meat. Having cooked for some of my parents' friends i've noticed that they have to eat wellcooked meat, otheriwse they think its too dangerous. Its a cultural throwback to when things were tougher.
So there were leftovers, which usually would freak me out but i can dig it, i should have done some tamer.

Sunday - we went up to the Hills, to Handorf, usually noted for its old architecture (some buildings are 150 years old) well that's not so amazing when their holiday house was built in 1827. But it was an excuse to find a country pub and feed them steak. But before lunch the men bought kangaroo leather akurbra style hats which they decided they would wear for rest of the day. It was a good ice breaker with various people "They're tourist and they've bought hats".
The steaks were a hit, used to smaller portions (i think 200g) giving them 500gram tbones lit up faces and filled out bellies. I stupidly stuck to my pub burger fest (where i try burgers from every pub i go to) and had a shit burger but even a good burger would have failed against the steak.
then we went wine tasting.

Mark's Moose Party

Mark's satorial tips

I've been wearing my new suit and i feel so swanky and awesome.
Why?
because i like wearing suits, i look the best (ie least goofy) decked out in jacket and pants.
Some general tips

• Don't buy off the rack. Suits off the rack are only designed for male models, you most likely are not a male model. Buy from a place that alters the suits (or makes them from scratch), they'll alter the suit to make you look good, no matter if you have monkeys arms, or a belly, ot fat neck (ie me, all of the above). Spend a couple of hundred dollars on making it fit so it doesn;t look like you are wearing a sack.
• Get two pairs of pants. Pants wear out much faster than suitcoats, so you extend the life of the suit with extra pants.
• You have to have a navy blue suit. You can rock the navy blue anytime, from weddings, to interviews to funerals. Buying a black suit will not make you a reservior dog, it will make you look like you work as a waiter or at woolies. If you only buy one suit make it dark navy blue, made out of wool because you can't go wrong.
• Don't worry about fashion. Get classic stylish suits, a good tailor will know how long the sleeves are supposed to be, how wide the shoulders, etc. Sure jackets are cut shorter now, but in 3 years time you'll look dated.
• Get 3 button suits before you branch out into 2 button suits. 1,4 and 5 button suits look boy-band ridiculous. And doesn't matter how many buttons you have, never button the bottom one, its like wearing a hat in a restuarant.
• Don't use the jacket side pockets. Ther are usually sown shut, keep them that way, it keeps better shape.
• Dryclean only once a year. Drycleaning more makes the material look shiny and decreases the life of the suit. Just let the thing hang and air, maybe get it steamed and pressed.
• biggest tip, get to know your suit guy. he won't love you the first or second time, but after awhile he'll warm up and see you as an investement. my guy is awesome, he's turkish but spent a number of years in london. For the wedding he's doing half a dozen suits for less than half price because according to him 1) He'll earn the money back from me in the future 2) he likes it when young guys buy and wear his suits because its good publicity. I don't have to chose anymore, he makes all the decisions and he's always right. "When i find a double-breatsed suit with a good cut, that's your next suit".
  

the livingz hellz

1) Emma is in Sydney learning about the new contraceptive. Its a nunga band females shove up the clackerz and it sitz there for 3 months killingz the spermz.
2) I have Fergie's Fergalicious running in my mind constantly
3)I keep wanting to start conversations with "Konichiwa bitches"

Australian WebComics online

Tonia W. has done a fantastic job of making my life easier compiling a website full of Australian Webcomics . Now i don't have to trawl various sites remembering urls and whatnot.

Well done

I wish U2 played Camp Xray (LFW you can read this but don't ask for an autograph)

Last thursday U2 played Adelaide. 60,000 people went, 6% of the population. The paper still has articles about where they stayed, what they did and its getting quite embarrassing. More so by the fact that a manager whose last album purchase was probably Van Morrisons Astral Weeks or possible Carol Kings Tapestry was very excited to get tickets.
At roughly $120 a ticket, that was a gross of $7.2 million dollars. That should keep the Edge in beanie caps for awhile.
I was watching Darren Hanlon play at the Jade Monkey, after a mad dash when i realised at 11pm he was playing that night (and i had already bought tickets). There was probably 80 people there; with a grosse of about $1600. He did get a medely of U2 songs in the refrain of (Not enough songs about) Squash (i think that was the song).

So the overexposure of dad-rock is a bit boring but whats really crazy is when Bono gets a meeting with Peter Costello to talk about rubber wristbands and tinted glasses or whatever at the drop of a hat (a cowboy hat given to him by his stylist) but Terry Hicks (a tax paying citizen) had to wait 3 years to meet Phillip Ruddock.

God, Elton John is coming next year, the pain!

Candle records

It was sad to see that Candle Records is closing down. Home of the Lucksmiths and Darren Hanlon, as well as Rob Clarkson (and Simpletons, etc), I’ve gotten noting but joy from this indy record label. I never missed a concert, an album or dvd. I admired the way Chris Crouch built the label, how the professionalism was coupled by a sense of whimsy (and even love of what he was doing). I spoke to him a couple of times at gigs and by email, there was a realism that I understood (usually displayed as exhaustion after a show or when I talked about how Adelaide got bypassed a couple of times) but he still seemed to enjoy what he was doing. It was kind of inspirational, especially when I started thinking about Sureshot.

So they are having a sale; I’ll probably be replenishing the cds lent and lost but would like to hightlight

Hello Stranger – Darren Hanlon. Songs that are extremely hummable but with some sweet (as in nice not as in ‘sweet mate!’) lyrics.

Shirts and Skins – Rob Clarkson. I great double cd with some fun songs tinged with the melodrama of growing up and relationships and other melodramatic songs tinged with a sense of fun.

Private transport - The Guild League. A love note to travel, I'll call this up while I’m on the train and going to work doesn’t seem so bad.

Where were we - Lucksmiths. I’d recommend all their albums but if I had to pick one, this would be it.

Loyalty Songs – Anthony Aitkinson. Anthony is probably the most mature (or maybe better put the least quirky) singer/songwriter in the Candle Records stable. His latest album is a treat.

The only time i haven't been completely satisfied with a Candle record was probably Mid-State Orange, its an ok album but you need to play it at the right time, I still haven't figured out what time that is. Otherwise the Richard Easton stuff was not really to my taste.

Good to know

Scanning through press releases at the various comic news sites, this caught my eye

http://pwbeat.publishersweekly.com/blog/2006/11/15/diamond-annoucnes-new-kids-group/

“ For markets Down Under, DBD has chosen to work with Dennis Jones Associates. With offices in Sydney and Melbourne, Dennis Jones Associates has been selling DBD’s titles to bookstores, libraries and mass merchants across Australia and New Zealand including Dymocks, A&R and Borders.“

Diamond Book Distributors will start a Kids Books group, that will distribute Kids titles to various bookstores. Usually these sort of deals don’t affect Australia except in this case they’ve made a deal with Dean Jones Associates, a Melbourne-based Book Distributor.

So if you have a graphic novel that you want distributed, then I’d send it their way, especially in a years time when they’ve done all the hard work of setting up distro channels and managed all the initial marketing.

So long

Its hard when you stop blogging for awhile to then try and start again. Nothing seems to be important enough. Writing daily makes me feel like I've got some rope to play with; a bit of room to move when i get inane. But if i start of rather pointless (like this) i can only go upwards.

take that blogosphere!

Sureshot in shops

Sureshot Presents Doug Holgate's Tales of Wonder (got to think of a better title) is now available in Adelaide's Pulp Fiction Comics (King William st, 3 doors down from BeeHive Corner).

Also restocked with Sureshot Presents Gothic Boogaloo and Ordinary Eyeball.

Tonia Walden also has a bunch of copies which she is dsitributing up Brisbane way. Minotaurs should have some next week or so, with Kings and Phase Two to follow.

If you want your shop to carry Sureshot let me know and I'll bother them.

Supanova - Part 3

VS written on the fly for people (that I can remember)
Jesus vs Satan
Doug vs Mark
Werewolves vs Vampires
Gary Lau vs Pants (for David Tang - draw your own conclusions)
Strawberry vs Milk (for Gary Lau - draw your own conclusions)
Muslim vs Christians
UPDATE - Corey Haim vs Corey Feldman

(if you got one can you scan it in and send it to me)

Number of clothing articles ruined or lost
2 (one pair of jeans ripped in drunken bicyling)(one jumper lost)

Number of times Mark lost his shit and giggled like a girl
3

Number of Hugs recieved
8

Number of slaps recieved
5

Number of people who asked me "what are we doing tonight?"
Way too fucking many

Books i bought (australian)
All draw the same
Moshi Moshi 12
MA B (preview)
Pulp Crucifiction
Plump Oyster 4
Azerath 11
Word ballons 3
Knight Edge: Shintaro and the Magic Sword of Magic
Girly Pains 10
Welcome to Woodsville
Surfing the deadline 1,2
Generations 2006
Edina
OCD 1,2,3
Gypsy and the Astronaut
Young Mountain Agony
Alien Stew
Romantic Halluciations
Cyst (with holgraphic cover!)
New Ragey
After Life
Vigil
Millie Piddley Pup
Shameless
The Big Time

People Jing argued with
Danny Z - regarding the mocking of Jesus on the covers of Fist Full of Comics. Essentially it ended with Danny noting that because Jesus is able to be mocked that makes him real, Jing was impassive and glassy eyed. (People can start mocking my giant penis at their leisure).
Liz A. - i think it was over role playing but I just heard 'mwha mwha mwha' like when the adults talk in the Peanuts cartoon.

Minutes Doug spent at the table selling his books over the entire weekend
52

Minutes I expected Doug to be at the table selling his books over the entire weekend
5.2

Books I bought (american)
15 Iron Man's from the Layton/Romita Jr era ($2 bucks each!)

Dvds I bought
Boiling Point
Red Beard (i mistook Red Beard for Throne of Blood but still a good movie all the same)

Minutes of Silence in the taxi to the airport
0

Number of drinks Lucas drank
2 (one pint one schooner)

Number of drinks Lucas has drunk ever
(see previous answer)

Minutes Mark felt guilty and hoped Lucas' kidneys didn't fail
at least 15, 30 max

Minutes Mark hoped Dan's kidneys failed
Essentially the rest of the time after the cocksmoker incident

Madman have gone....crazy dude!

http://www.madman.com.au/actions/news.do?method=view&newsId=801

If i log on at midnight discover there are no more copies of Master of the Flying Guillotine I'm shutting this blog down. Down i say!

Supanova - Part 2

Embarassing moments

• Discovering after going to a panel and asking a question, walking up and down Artist Alley and buying stuff, that Dan had put a "Cocksmoker" label on my back.
• Being discovered on the floor of an elevator giggling hysterically by Clare (Dan farted and i found it hilarious - that's the embarrassing part)
• Walking up to who i thought was Chewie's girlfriend and Liz A., who were standing at the bar putting my arms around them and saying "Sprechen ze deustch baby?" only to discover it was Avi and Liz.

Best dressed
The old guy at the Spanish club with canary yellow pants and shirt with matching pocket square. Platform shoes, shaved head, clear glasses and a beautiful blazer.

People who had a congoer who kind of looked like them
Eddie Campbell
Ian Gould
Komala
Doug Holgate
Liz A.
Matt Hyunh
David Tang
Christian Read (There were like 4 guys that looked like Christian)

Number of people who had seizures in our vicinity
2

Reasons for seizures

• The radness of Team Adelaide was too much for them
• They had their kidneys replaced with Tickle-Me-Elmo dolls
• Some sort of medical condition

Number of Team Adelaide members who had kidney issues
2

Number of Gary Lau's milk lollies eaten by Mark
5

Number of Gary Lau's milk lollies eaten by Doug
24

Conversation with Tad P and Jason Paulos at their panel
"You talk that POD and webcomics makes it easier for you to publish your work, but isn't it making it harder for people to actually buy your stuff?"
"Yes that might be the case, i don't think i have all the answers" Jase then tried to get me to talk about Sureshot which i didn't think was appropriate in that forum and i was sick of myself by then.
Tad came in with "If you build it they will come"
My response was "Sorry, that's crap, build and they will come hasn't worked since WW2, you say newstand distribution didn't work for you but do you think it was a matter of format?"
"Probably"
It all ended with some sort of homosexual banter.
I have a big rant about POD in me.

Number of times we had chinese
3

Number of times I've had chinese in the last 6 months
3

Supanova Sydney - Part 1

I'm actually still trying to get over Supanova, having brought back a cold which has made me a snivelling, flemming, spluttering fool.
I never intended to do a full on report and with the amount of stuff that happened I'd probably be writing till Supanova Brisbane. So I'm just doing lists, facts and highlights

People who I travelled with and their Xmen identity
Clare - Marvel Girl because she can do things with her mind like get beers brought to her
Dan - Cyclops mainly because it doesn't take much for him to pull out the one-eye. Madman.
Lucas - Beast because he's a doctor (as in Dr House) and hairy (and quite the beast ladies)
Sarah - Angel because she's very flighty
I'm Iceman because i work better with moisture.

Phrases that were often repeated
'Lucas with the Lid off'
'Remember when I...' - Dan would continually repeat this and then tell a story. At times i expected him to start refering to himself in the 3rd person. Every story would end with me saying "Yes Dan, I was there"
'shoot your face off' - a hangover from Doujicon
'Fucking Bitch' - Usually muttered by Holgate when a con goer worked away empty handed after being pitched at. The worse case was one would-be attenedee who chatted with Doug for at least 15 minutess getting a tonne of tips and advices who then walked off.

People who did sketches for me
clare
ryan wilton
lucas
chris wahl
doug holgate
komala singh
matt g
sarah
(I'm not sure why i got so many adelaide people to do sketches when i could be getting people who i don't see regularly to draw for me, oh that's right I'm stupid)

People who was too afraid to talk to
Queenie Chan
Craig Phillips

People I didn't recognise
Drew from Adelaide - Even though i've drunk with him a couple of times I had no idea who he was when he said "Hi Mark". It took a "He's from Adelaide Mark" from Sarah to recognise him.
Jeremy MacPherson - Even though I met him once ages ago, he's dropped weight and looks good.
Sally Woeller

Sales
Sureshot Presents Galvanting Tales by D Holgate - 71
Sureshot PResents Ordinary Eyeball - 29
Sureshot Presents Gothic Boogaloo - 25
Vs - 25 (but i gave a shitload away)
Basic Wage Kids #1 - 7
Basic Wage Kids #2 - 10
How to Save the World - 3
Tales from under the Bed - 15
Dreams of Tomorrow - 5

People I told who came looking for Doug he was doing a poo
Everyone