supanova podcast

Doug Holbeck is an arsehole - I know this because Holgate told me.

Join Doug, Nicole Scott, Stewart McKenny and Jason Rand as they talk Australian Comics in this podcast from last years Supanova. Its 50 minutes long and interesting.

Discover Doug being sick of working at a comic shop, Nicole being clapped alot, Jason buying the Gen13 dvd cheap, Stewart rooms full of Star Wars figures. Actually they talk about reasons of the lack of an Australian Comic Industry, how they got into comics and being geeks.

You can skip the first 3.5 minutes of nattering from the presenters.

Sureshot Presents DHAAA @ Kings Comics

Sureshot Presents Doug Holgate's All Adventure Annual featuring TWO stories by one of Australia's leading comic creators is now available at Kings Comics, Sydney.

This issue has sold phenomenally fast - so grab it because I probably won't have any left for any reorders.

Sureshot Presents also available at Phase Two Comics, Impact Comics (ACT), Minotaurs (Melbourne) and Pulp Fiction Comics (Adelaide). Brisbanites, ask for it by name where ever you shop or wait to Supanova.

Making Zines with Anthony Woodward

Anthony Woodward (of 7 Pages fame) has put together a little guide on making zines - its good.

Ledger Awards 2006 - Ledger of Honor

My consideration for nomination for this acclaimation, requires an examination of publications, creations as well as occupations of those who have, you know, done stuff for comics in Australia.

This year is probably a good year to provide some congraulation to Aaron Burgess, for his work with Comics Australia. It was an invulable resource providing hints and tips, news as well as a distribution point to sell comics. If it wasn't for Comics Australia I wouldn't have discovered Anthony Woodward, Mandy Ord, Leigh Rigozzi or a stack of other talented creators. Comics Australia was retired this year and i think it had a great impact on the scene that needs to be acknowledged.

From last year, I'll nominate Tonia Walden again, because she does a bunch of stuff behind the scenes which needs to be validated. What really is cool about Tonia is that even after being around for at least 10 years in the national comic scene she isn't at all cynical, that's amazing - i was cynical after about 6 months of hanging out at Ozcomics. But she mails out mini-comics to people, does a shop for friends who can't make it to supanova and generally is awesome. Her anthologies have given a lot of creators their starts (she even drew up one of my stories) so I think she deserves a nomination.

I think retailers who support local books need to be recognised - George Vlastaras has been supporting books for years, buy purchasing copies, buying ads and doing stuff like instore signings.

Ledger Awards 2006 - Foreign Creator of the Year

I don't follow foreign creators with out much zeal anymore - i used to love Romita Jr's stuff, Peter David's stuff, a lot of mainstream creators - but then they started working on titles that just got ruined by decompressed storytelling and company marketing (crossovers). And on the indie side, where you used to get some sort of regularity, going to trades has meant long delays in releases and with the wait i just forget to pick titles up.

So I'm just going to list names of creators that have been behind comics i've liked - its not well considered or well researched but pretty off the cuff

• Brian K. Vaughn (Ex Machina, Y the Last Man)
• Naoki Urasawa (Monster)
• Bryan Lee O'Malley (Scott Pilgrim)
• Grant Morrison (All Star Superman)
• Jeffery Brown (I can be small)

Ledger Awards 2006 - Best Foreign Comic Series or Graphic Novel of the Year

Now, in terms of nominating i was considering detailing those books from international Publishers that featured Australian creators.
Those books would be (in no particular order, well possibly alphabetical)

Amazing Joy Buzzards #5 - Doug Holgate on art (admittedly i haven't read it but the preview looked great and it is Doug)
Birds of Prey #100 and 101 - Nicola Scott on art
Dectective comics #815 and #816 - written by Shane McCarthy
Fate of an Artist - Eddie Campbell on everything
Fell - with Ben Templesmith on art
Storm - David Yardin on art


and if it wasn't ruined by the art White and Campbell on Legends of the Dark Knight #200 would get a nod too. Was there any other books by Aussie creators from the 'big boys'?

but what foreign books did i like, which lacked australian creators?

Monster - tight gripping mystery adventure
Spirit and Batman - Funny and retro with great art
Scott Pilgrim #3 - just awesome
All Star Superman - Makes me actually like Superman
We can be small - funny Jeffery Brown angst and cuteness

Ledger Awards 2006 - Talent Deserving Wider Recognition

Ok, after a couple of days off wandering and wondering what this even means - because its pretty much everyone. Everyone in Australian comics needs more recognition, writers, artists, retailers and the readers all need to be recognised.
i used to just use the 24 hour challenge as a quick guide, who did a comic in thatt - that was really cool but who hadn't had anything printed or didn't have a web comic. but this year it got hard - i wasn't really paying much attention, trawling deviart and LJs, looking for someone out of the regular circle of creators.

So, the only thing i've got is a couple of zines and mini comics that i picked up at supanovi and douijicons, and zine fairs.

Again, I'm being lazy and not putting up links and images, but just so i can milk a bit more from the whole Ledger thing, I'll try and find stuff later on whenever the nomination form actually goes up.

Sean Tay - has done some stuff in Oztaku (the last issue had some great comics in it, i just wish the design of the whole thing didn't look so amatuer). I grabbed his 'New Ragey' book and its quite cool and flash - lots of zipatone which works well in the even lined inking. He has a great sense of storytelling and a very funky sense of panel layout. Very impressive.

Sebastian Grigull - his work has appeared in NeoBragi, but it was his mini Angel Feathers that caught my eye. It has a very eyecatching colour (even though its just b/w) and
very neat story - completely wordless, it still creates an interesting world, that even after 10 pages i want to know more. As an artist he actually quite well, using detail when necessary to enhance storytelling and mood like a good artist should.

I did nominate Mel Stringer's 'girlie pains' for small press but I'm nominating her for 'new talent' as well because she's saying something different, sure its still autobiographical like a lot of aussie stuff but this isn't as depressing or dark; its cute and sweet without being sentimental and saccharine, there's still enough of an edge to make it cool (mainly by way the art which forgoes anatomy and consistency to emphasis character and mood).

Whilst there may be murmurs of parochialism I have to mention some of the Adelaide crew. One of the cool things with catching up for drinks with adelaide creators is seeing sketch books and works in progress. Sarah Milne's Mary comic was around for a couple of years back in 2002 but its progressed since then - she does one panel comics which makes me laugh without resorting to explosions and poo jokes (though there's always room for improvement). She's also a very good writer and underrated artist. Clare Oakes is an awesome artist, with comics full of feelings and emotion that are a joy to read. And lastly Lucas House is a great writer who just fell on the wrongside of the cut to be nominated for Best Writer (though when nominations do come through that may change). He did a miniseries called Anthologyof Alvin which once you got past the art was very good. It started off a bit melodramatic (though i've loved melodrama since Degrassi High) the very exciting thing is the variety of techniques he employs; regular comics, narrated pin ups and he writes smart, makes the reader fill in gaps without expositioning everything, his dialogue is very close to spot on (a bit angsty at times but that's the genre I suppose). Fuck it, - he's made the cut.

but the one person who needs to be recognised wider is this dude

zap! pow! blog!

Taking a break from my ledger nominations (i think i've sed up my quoata for using the words, 'nice', 'good','cool' and 'really') , there's a really cool discussion happening in Kev Patrick's blog related to the comic exhibition I should have said something yesterday).

Some smart people, talking history and motivation. More info at pulp faction, while the actual blog is here.

Ledger Awards 2006 - Artist of the Year

Some really nice art this year, with a lot of people to nominate. Finding art to post is a bugger so if you are interested start googling.

Paul Abstruse work on Witch King was pretty cool, it has a touch of Mcfarlane that tickles my geekbone. Michael Li did a stunning job in his story in Generation 2006, he so effortless creates a mood and environment, its breathtaking. Probably the creator with the most pages to his name is Ryan Wilton this year and its all pretty funky stuff, well paced and expressive (appearing in Azerath). Doug Holgate’s Sureshot Presents All Adventure Annual was some of his best (though that gridiron stuff he posted on his LJ looked awesome) – and yeah I might be biased.
Steve Martinez (Practice Cactus) is an outstanding artist, with a huge natural talent - his Mojo and Fuzz lacks a polish but the anatomy, design and storytelling is phenomenal. I hope he pulls his finger out and does some more sequential work.
I would love to see Canaan Grall do some more comic stuff that breaks out of the comic strip format, his Gypsy and Astronaut stuff was really good.
Probably the new name on the block is David Babore, he did a really cool 24 hour comic in 2005 and has done some really expessive work in Yum Yum comics (probably my favoutrite out of the more cartoony artists mentioned). And lastly Tom Bonin work on Dicks is quite nice to look at, his line isn't as clean as most of the other artists mentioned but that's part of the charm.

Ledger Awards 2006 - Writer of the Year

I haven’t been exactly bowled over this year -nothing really stood out but there was some strong writers that deserve nomination.

I think the pace and plot in Azerath kind of slowed down (maybe even slumped a tad), a lot of ‘lets move from this wacky situation to the next’ which can get a bit tiring. But Daniel Lawson’s characters and dialogue are still a lot of fun to read and my complaints are really very minor criticisms. Though I’m not that into cyberstuff Matt Godden's Surfing the Deadline had some really nice moments specifically some of the internal monologue stuff.
In terms of breadth, Graeme Macdonald produced a bunch of differing titles through the new Local Act Comics publishing group. Kids comics, to scifi to crime; each title had its strengths; Millie the Pup was generally fine for a kids comic with a couple of funny moments but generally I’m not the audience and there wasn’t enough sex and/or violence or subversiveness to really enjoy it. The Ma B previews was incredibly clumsy and tedious to read (the same 3 plot points repeated on all 6 or so pages) but it looked pretty. These too comics aside Afterlife was a good read, a very slight read but still good. Vigil was the best of the lot with some strong plotting/story structure and characters, that’s got me wanting more.
Even though I did publish it, I think Doug Holgate’s writing for both his stories in Sureshot Presents All Adventure Annual as being much better than the regular competency most writer/artist creators display; in both stories the ending are a bit naff but not so much to ruin the whole thing. Checkmate Wordsworth was an imaginative and fun rollick.
It would be remiss to not nominate Christian Read for Witch King, it was a solid read – and I actually liked the various beats and plot points until the magic demons popped up to which I just rolled my eyes and remembered there’s a reason I don’t like fantasy. What I did like though was the proactive nature of the main character – not some farmboy you finds a magic wingnut that will defeat the blah blah blah but some rich kid that gets bullied and wants revenge. Now I don’t know how original that is but it doesn’t matter -i liked it.
Lastly, Daniel Reed for Crumpleton Experiments, continuing a longer story line it hits my freaky nerve.

Legder Awards 2006 - Independent Press Title of the Year

In terms of nominating great independent books (those of commercial formatting) its impossible to go past Witch King - Read, Abstruse, Magahelles, Close, Rahner, Kwok have but together a beautiful book. Whilst it is not my type of thing, the art and colour are just amazing.
I'd be a bad publisher if I didn't put Sureshot Presents in the mix, there have been 3 really strong efforts released this year that I'm insanely proud of.
Back to the Phosphorecent Comics, I'm a very big fan of Azerath and think Daniel and Ryan have done great work, whilst this year the stories have been a bit light without much direction (especially after the marketplace issue) I think its a symptom of the 4 issues a year publishing schedule, if this came out monthly/bimonthly then i could handle having such slight issues but with so few issues published a year its slightly frustrating that nothing really happened. The Azerath graphic novel might be worth a nomination as well.
As I said couple days back Generations 2006 was probably the strongest issue yet, part of me wishes that the book had the ferocity of Oztaku's marketing.
I think Phatsville is one of the most exciting anthologies released today. There is never a dud strip that looks like its been cobbled together at the last minute, the art always looks finished and professional - and whilst i may not be a fan of some of the art I can appreciate the edginess and rebillious of it and wished there was more of it in Australian comics.
In terms of anthologies I think NeoBragi should get a look. Boosa Nova Baby is also a strong book.
What happens When I Die by Jules Faber is a wonderful deep book that thankfully isn't soggy with angst and emo posturing. It is extremely well written, using metaphor and a nicely paced structure that is very satisfying. Jules also did a very nice painted book in Golgatha#1.
Welcome to Woodville by Shannon Browning was a fun clever book parodying monster films of the 50s, something quite hard to do in a fresh way.
A couple close calls was Matt Godden's Surfing the Deadline and Local Act Comics' Vigil and Afterlife, these books were written well, but the art held it back (Afterlife was well illustrated except it looked like it was a regular 6 page comic which they made into a 24 page comic by making each panel a splash page which is a bit frustrating)

Ledger Awards - Small Press Title of the Year

Very tough category - my definition of small press is slightly different to the one stated at the Ledger Site; to me Small press is more like a classic zine; lo-fi production, b/w cover, less than 28 pages. It's not designed to be commercial.

Probably my favourite were the Mojo and Fuzz books by Steve Martinez (especially #1). Fun reads with a very good level of craftmanship (they are made up of 24 hour comics so there's that consideration).

Mr Smilie Face by David Thor Gunnarson is really deceptive, at first i thought it would be a one joke story, that meandered until the creator got bored and then disappeared. Whilst it certainly is tongue and cheek its nicely structured and feels like Deathwish staring Pacman but a mean drunk pacman out for revenge.

Pretty Zombie #1 was just fucking hilarious. Sex and Violence and I'm there. One page joke strips that are either incredibly cute (i like cute) or awfully gross. Well done EvilDan and Jing. (Pretty Zombie #2 is not as good , more cute with a longer storyline that wasn't as filled with the HAHA).

Whilst it has a colour cover (and not really lofi/small press) Girlie Pains Comics by Mel Stringer is so sweet and revealing that its a joy to read. Some of the strips don't make much sense but whilst they don't provide a meaningful narrative there is a nice mood which engages and satisfies.

I'm probably biased but the last 2 issues of Fist Full of Comics has been really good (the last one did feature me but it was stil good).

Ledger Awards 2006 - Story or Single Issue of the Year

For this category i only usually nominate stories that have appeared in Anthologies, since Small Press and Independent Press can deal with the whole issue stories.

Even though there was a large number of books released in 2006, there weren't as many anthologies so it was kind of hard finding stories which had a sense of gravity and craftmanship.

This year's Generation book was probably the strongest so far with a (as always) wonderful story by Michael Li. Queenie Chan and Polshua (who's actual name i can't remember) also have really nice peices in that book. (Low Flying Spacecraft, The Two Dollar deal and Angelic Deal, respectively)

I might be biased but Mandy Ord's Comic Teacher and Poor Little Thing in Sureshot Presents Ordinary Eyeball were very good, the latter is a bit lighter but still has a bit of pathos to capture the reader.
Probably a polar opposite to Mandy's work Doug Holgates Checkmate Wordsworth in Sureshot Presents All Adventure Annual was a fun ride while being well told.

Even though Neighbours by Dean Rankine was another retelling of the Good Samaritan story it was still good.

Ledger Awards 2006 - Webcomic or Comic Strip of the Year

Usually i gloss over comic strips because they rarely satisfy my narrative needs but i've discovered a couple that have made me laugh.

Simply put - sex and violence will make me laugh pretty much everytime. In that vein, Angry Comic Shop Guy #1,#2,#3 by EvilDan were a fun read. My alltime favourite is Benson and Hedges by Giles from the Phatsville is just awesome - it appeared in Phatsville #8 and #9 and its own book this year (though a lot were repeats). Also i might be biased but i think my own VS is pretty decent.

Out of Canaan Grall's body of comic strips i liked A Girl Named Bruce the best (because of the sex and violence).

I think Owen Heitmann's Basic Wage Kids is really getting into a good groove (note i wrote 2 strips sometime back), its main advantage is consistency and the longer storylines has allowed Owen to build on jokes and characters. It does lack an edge but i can see that Owen is going for a more general audience.

I usually try and nominate 3-5 but there were so many great strips I'm including Jase Harper's great work on his daily comic (it was dailyish in september/october and had another burst in december). It was tidy simple stuff but it was actual fun, full of personality.

Lastly Sirive's Face stuff is very funny and a daily read for me ("Less rapes more japes").

Ledger Awards 2006 - Production Design of the Year

In terms of design, I wasn't that impressed, looking at the covers of the various books scattered around my office floor nothing is really jumping at me - there are some shockers and some decent looking books but very few 'wow' books.

Probably the standount is Witchking, it has a strong cover, sensible layout and fantastic colouring. As a matter of fact most of the Phosporescent Comics stuff in recent years has looked good (Azaerath #10 had a very simple eyecatching cover). Their new website looks really nice (i always forget websites are included) so I think Karen Howard should get some props.

Matt Huynh's Lost Baggage is very nice in its handmade well-considered look, as does perennial design wiz Tonia Walden's Meus Officium Est Abyssus, but part of me thinks that these hand made books are all well and good but are so limited in distribution because of the cost and time required to make them very few people get to see them. Making things for mass market requires an ability to cut corners but still make things stand out. But having said that, these two creators still have produced lovely books.

I very much liked the way Canaan Grall's books were packages at Supanova, simple personalised brown paper bag, (yes i can be easily impressed with brownpaper) the comics themselves were very nice with colourful covers which gave you a sense of what the comic is about. Similarly The cover to Rocksalt #1 is eyecatching but the book suffers from some glaring admissions like price, date and credits.

And I'd like to put up my own name for Sureshot Presents, i'm biased but i think that they are smart looking books that are value for money.

Otherwise for non-comic books Gary Lau's Shiranui looked very hot and as a more traditional zine Bad Teeth by Glenn Manders was hell sexy.

Ledger Awards 2006 - Retailer of the Year

I visited a couple more shops this year, and though on a visit or two its hard to appreciate the level of service people with pullboxes, these are some of the shops i've liked.

Pulp Fiction Comics - Adelaide
This is my home store but i only shop there because of the passion and enthusiasm of its owner Peter. The shop is small and looks cluttered and the lack of natural light makes it look dirty, but in terms of service its awesome. Every month the shop sponsors drinks at a local pub where fans and creators chat and drink. The website might look a bit 2000, it has all the information you need. A fine supporter of local comics - he has a designated area near the entrance and cashier. He goes all out for FCBD and actively seeks media attention for his shop (biased alert - the shop sponsored the 24 hour challenge). He is building a relationship with libraries which can only be good for the visibility of comics as a medium.

Impact - Canberra
I've never been to this shop, but Mal is a big supporter of Sureshot Presents and other Australian titles. A sponsor of the 24 Hour challenge, i really like his annual signings as a way of people connecting with local creators - i wish other shops did this.

Otherwise I think, besides the shrinkwrapping, Minotaur is doing a good job. And Kings is always a good clean respectable store.

Ledger Awards 2006 - Achievement of the Year

The output of Australian books was pretty good, i have a stack of about 100 books scattered on my floor all released in the last year. Not that I've been keeping track but that seems really high, so it seems people were head down ass up and drawing comics, instead of doing other stuff.

I scratched my head thinking of nominees.
I don't usually nominate people for the simple act of releasing a book or getting work, that's what is supposed to happen so with a red raw scalp;

Kevin Patrick's Victorian Gallery exhibition on the Histrory and scope of Australian
comics is very good, whilst i haven't seen it, it does have a high profile and seems successful.
Benzin Bullock and Brett Weekes also both held exhibitions in Adelaide and Brisbane which went well.

Avi Bernshaw (Egofreaky)'s Doujicon was fun, not particular successful from my point of view as a seller but still quiet the feat in organisation. I'm looking forward to the next one, where some of the kinks get knocked out.

In terms of being slightly biased, the Ozcomic 24 Hour Challenge was very good in 2006, because of the hard work of Troy Keally, Jacen Carpeter and Maggie McFee (I was also slightly involved- the fuck ups were mine).

and that was the year that was

I've been relaxing and trying to keep away for the internet but i like 'year in review' posts.

Favourites

Moment - the wedding
Trip - Doujicon with Team Radeliade
International Comic - Scott Pilgrim #3
Australian Comic - I'm still going through the piles of stuff i bought through the year for my Ledger review but if i had to pick one, Steve Martinez's Mojo and Fuzz got read multiple times.
TV - 24
Place - Cradle Mountain
Wine variety - Rose (i dunno, i'm getting soft)
Wine - Wirra Wirra Church Block
Album - Album that probably got the most play this year was Ben Kweller's 'On my way', but in terms of new albums Be Your Own Pet's Be Your Own Pet was probably the strongest (Sonic Youth's Rather Ripped was a return to form, same with Prince's 3121) but on a whole nothing really stood out.
Hip Hop Song - Golddigger by Kanye West
Non Hip Hop Song - Elbows by Darren Hanlon
Present - Wii
Movie - The Prestige
Concert - Go Team at BDO
Dish - Em's Spaghetti Marinara
Beer - Mythos
Purchase -8gb MP3 player/Hammer Drill
Book - Possibility of an Island by Michel Houellebecq (though i didn't get to read much)
New Skill - Welding

I worked way too hard and this year I'm pulling back with the home renovation work but that was my year.

Happy new year everyone

Merry Xmas

My favourite xmas carol is "Little Drummer Boy" because it shows us even the little presents are important and it also means i get to sing 'bum' alot.

Merry xmas to everyone, we didn't do cards this year because we've been busy with stuff so 'pa rum bum bum bum, pa rum bum bum bum, pa rum bum bum bum' to everyone out there.

Buy Sureshot Presents this Xmas

You can get purchase Sureshot Presents Doug Holgates' All Adventure Annual at

Minotuars in Melbourne
Impact Comics in Canberra
Pulp Fiction Comics in Adelaide
Phasetwo Comics on the Internet

Make it a merry xmas for you and yours with one easy purchase.

Groan, James Groan - sorry Henry

Actually it wasn't that bad - Casino Royale, that is. Usually i leave the cinema after a Bond film muttering under my breath - pissed off at the shabby plot, poor charaters and tacky one-liners. But funnily enough, when ever a bond movie is on tv i'll switch over and watch, just for the action scenes; whenever the actors start talking i can do something else.

Casino Royale is probably one of the most mature Bond films, harking back to the early days (the first 3 connery films) its less about explosions and more of a mystery. There's actual plot, outside of "Get him bond""lets get out of here""It was YOU all along!". The quipping, roguish cad has been replaced with something more out of the Jason Bourne/Jack Bauer cold intelligent killer, which i like, since that's how i imagine an assassin to be.

The action scenes, the few that there were, were really good, especially that first parkour type chase scene. What did rankle me was the Bond shooting gas cylinders, and air bags and everything else except people. Assassins shoot people, dammit.

Some of the editing was a bit clumsy, both in terms of within in scene edits and story; particularly one jump from Bond sitting down to play poker to him taking off his tie in his room. And the Bond-Vesper love thing towards then end ran too long.

For a Bond film its pretty good; smart and reasonably well written but i don't think i'd watch it often as it doesn't have the explosions and kicking to distract my tiny brain.

..and back

We had a fantastic time in Tasmania, I've got a couple of weeks off now which i need.

Thanks for everyone's emails, messages, comments and smses - it was much appreciated.

The Big Day

41 degrees celsius

Not Cool!

breaking news - kirk never said 'beam me up scotty'

No, not hamfisted over reactions too slightly negative reviews of comic exhibitions!

Melbourne MAY have a supanova in 2008

Shit I came home with

I started with a lot more, I'm trying to figure out what i did with it all.

The gig was good and I chatted with Anthony, Louie (from midstate orange)(while I was urinating and he was waiting to take a bory) and Marty from the Luckies (i was more excited talking to him than strippers). I also now realise there's a banana in that picture - I didn't bring that home.



Dan + texta

Josh discovered this chain by the Grace, which i wore like a belt - i was ready to rumble.

This bike has been outside the railway station for 2 weeks. I didn't have enough money to get all the way home by taxi so... i improvised. This is Josh's xmas present.

Oh and a hangover.

Thanks to all those who came and enjoyed the night with me - you're all awesome.

(Does anyone remember me yelling 'anus cherries'?)

like a stag but goofier

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

I wanna be sedated

Just got home and just wanna say from what i remember i had the most funnest awesome time eva.

You guys rock (you know who you are)

some sort of con report will eventuate - once i fill in the gaps

Rack'em up Artist Alley

Run down on who's there, based on what i know and what the internet tells me. I haven't actually asked people directly so take this with a grain of salt.

Rowan Cassidy - does design work on movies (like Flying Daggers and Hero) and has released 2 issues of his Minute of Angle (he might have a 3rd issue out for Supanova) which looks extrememly pretty (in a templesmith/wood kinda way) but is pretty light (with messy storytelling).

Pulp Crucifiction - I'm guessing this is Dean Rankine/Christian Comics, but I'm totally guessing

Jason Rand/Nicola Scott/Stewart McKenny - 3 of the up and coming stars working overseas. Jason did Small Gods (I recommend the 1st and 3rd storylines), Helios (i dunno) and the first couple of issues of Emmisary. Nicola has done a tonne of stuff most notably Star Wars, she's doing an issue of Birds of Prey and i heard Queen and Country but I'm easily confused. Stewart McKenny has also worked on Star Wars as well as Captain America. The art he did for Watch: Casius Belli was pretty good. You'll be able to find these guys because they'll be surrounded by the massive crowd.

Smiley Things - no idea

Sydney Stage Combat - people who like to play fight in front of people

Caanan Grall - at Supanova courtsey of his Ozcomic 24 Hour Challenge prize, he's got a stack of books to sell. It will all be good stuff, so pick'em it up. A must see.

Geeen Comix - Supanova regular Ben Hutchings will be there. My recommendations is You stink and I don't (especially the trade of the 1st five issues). He's latest book Pumpkin Kids is ok, good for kids.

Plump Oyster/Girlie Pains/Phatsville Comix - these guys produce good stuff, if you like your alt-humour comics you can't go wrong here. (Golden Plops is a highlight)

Novus Ordo - I'm really glad the catholic church is reaching out to the kids to inform them about Second Vatican Council. Sure 30 years late but rock'on Pope Benedict. Actually I have no idea who they are.

R2 Builders Club - A bunch of model builders stealing - STEALING - from George Lucas, may God have mercy on the souls.

Australian Costumers Guild - I belive this is a group of people, from Australia, who provide ornate clothing for people.

Nimbin Studio DevK - Wild guess this is Gerkinman's table. I've never read any of his stuff, so I dunno.

Siberian Productions - Laocorn has really grown in the past number of years and he's an enthusiastic fellow, Dark Moon Rising is ok and the new series of Billy looks alright.

Rubber Chocobo Productions - I thought this might have to do with rubber/chocolate chodas but unfortunately i doubt it

Local Act Comics - possibly the break out books for Supanova, 4 titles that are getting a bit of buzz.

Webcartoonists Australia - the magic eightball say webcartoonists from Australia

Storm Publishing - Another mainstay of local comics, they usually offer what seems like 30 titles, I haven't read any because i have no idea where to start.

Oztaku - Oztaku is improving, the last one i read was 70% good, though the whole POD thing seems like a step backwards. If they are selling Michael Li's stuff pick it up quickly, it always sells out because its fabulous stuff.

Cardigan Comics - These guys consistently produce good smart comics; Tango is always a satisfying read. I haven't read much else so i'll be buying stuff from here. Also i think Phillip Bently will be selling Word Balloons there too.

Queenie Chan and Katie Huang - Queenie's The Dreaming is a good read and i'm hoping to pick up Volume 2. And from her LJ she seems to know what she's talking about which is always appreciated, it'll be good for a chat. Katie Huang released Generations, a very nice manga graphic novel/anthology, which is quite hard to get but worth the effort.

Littlehammer Studios and Umiyama Creative - LittleHammer is Marcelo Baez's company, who does the awesome Diabla, 2 years back he had a preview of issue #5 maybe he might have the complete issue. But Diabla is highly recommended. I have no idea who Uniyama Creative, Mr Tang perhaps?

12121 Entertainment - I belive this is a collective of roadies who test micrphones but in an entertaining fashion. UPDATE - Actually NO, its Gary Lau who has Knight Edge 1,2,3 but not 4! But he'll have another book which is text driven but has pictures of swords and samurais so I'm sold.

Golgotha Graphics - This could be Jules FABER (Sorry Jase) and his very nice Golgotha series (its painted and very lush) or it could be this. Or even both, I dunno.

Goji Juice - 'staining books and sketch pads since 2005'. Or it could be some sort of dragonball jizz

Amber Campbell - no idea who she is or why she needs 3 tables in Artist Alley, i'm hoping its because she's a runway model. UPDATE: This is the hayese group which to my knowledge comprises of Komala Sing (Pirotess), Matt Huynh (Stikman), Nate Soehardi (Nate Sohardi) and they'll be selling heaps of good stuff like Moshi Moshi #12 - we just need Knightedge #4, Finch #4, Diabla #5 and the end will be nigh. Nigh I say!

SuAnime' - http://www.suanime.org/

Juaws - Just Using Acronyms Without Sense? I'm guessing an anime club

Video Games live - is this the symphony orchestra thing where they play Video games tunes?

Not in Artist Alley but worth a look

Phosphorescent Comics - Get Witch King and Azerath. I'm going to guess that the Azerath guys will be there and possibly Christian Read. Hopefully Paul Abstruse will sign boobs but last i heard he was working that weekend.

20 Bucks Short - A short film by Alex Major of Noami and Poggie fames and Quayline (and a very funny bloke)

Operation Funnybone - because it had the distribution of Blue Whale Athele's foot it might be a good opportunity in getting a book that features almost everyone and supports a good cause.

Finally

Fistfull of Comics - Following up their rampage at Doujicon Team radelaide will be presenting a whle bunch of comics; like Pretty Zombie, Angry Comic shop guy, Fistfull of Comics, Timsby the Demon and other stuff. Its all really good, at Brisbane supanova these all sold out on the first day or so. Also available will be Anthology Alvin which, while not the best drawn comic ever is quite a good dramatic read.

Sureshot Presents - Me and Doug Holgate will be holding court, telling you what you need to know. Like "Waterworld is not that crap of a film", "Minicomics is not a dirty word", "Your fullbleed wolverine tshirt is too small". Also to break up the monotony we will be selling comics like Surehot Presents Gothic Boogaoloo, Sureshot Presents Ordinary Eyeball and the new Sureshot Presents Flippin' Good, Pardner! (Working title) featuring Doug Holgates' Spaghetti Western and Checkmate Wordsworth. The first 2 sureshots are almost sold out so be quick.
Also available Basic Wage Kids #1 and #2 by Owen Heitmann, Tales from under the bed by Holgate and VS by me.

(if you have any more info, post a comment)

SureShot and I (and doug) rock

Two thinks, I went for my third fitting on my new suits (one for marriage, the other for work) and i look totally hot.

Secondly, I picked up SureShot Presents Doug Holgate and VS#1 and they, believe it or not, are even hotter!
(moreso the former)

Shane McCarthy plays 52 pick up

According to All the Rage and this hint Perth comic writer Shane McCarthy will be writing a post 52 series. Getting a tie-in gig like this is pretty cool, because its usually the final step before getting a mainstream regular series (batman, superman, flash, etc); see Mark Waid doing Underworld Unleashed and Gail Simone doing Villians United.

And he can dance ladies!

New Phosphorescent Website

Phosphorescent Comics has done a redesign of their website and its a vast improvement and more interestingly there's an interesting thread about the future of the company

Personally, I never could get into the Watch, PC's attempt to build a universe has pretty much led to the same results as all the other companies in building a universe (Dark Horse, Valiant, Defiant, CrossGen, etc) ie pretty unsuccesful. Whilst its comendable that they went work for hire, the product and audience never hooked up.

I'm way more excited by creator owned stuff like Azerath (seriously buy the trade or issues its a really enjoyable read); series that are regularly released, have a wide market/audience appeal (but not superheroes because there's enough competition there already) but are finite enough to build a trade program (i think people are more prepared to buy when they know their will be five trades in a series, as opposed to open eneded).
And talking about trades, one shots like Witch King; though with high upfront production costs are easier to market and have wider retailer scope (comic shops and bookstores). I would totally forget about 4 part mini-series; they exist for too short a period to build an audience and even if you do then you have to backtrack and find the older issues which most likely have been sold out. Its a headache for buyers and publishers alike.

But a bimontly 200 page book would be awesome, but hard to make it work with getting newstand distribution and the content to put in it (see oztaku).

I'd probably suggest do a magazine; with articles and reviews not just on comics but with comics. Even a new mania/krash type book for kids.

Heroes and Villians Exhibition in the Age

Kevin Patrick's Hereos and Villians exhibition from all reports I've heard is really cool - so read about it in this very cool article in the Age

Local Comics goes Unlocal

I did have a massive rant on what its like going suit shopping with my dad (imagine a six foot 1 two year old at a check out screaming because he can't have the lollies he wants) but this is better; new publishers, Local Act get some ink in Warrnmaball.

Vs (It's been awhile)

Based on the strip i did for the last 24 hour challenge; 2 guys, 1 goatee, 1 fubu hat, 1 bar, 2 beers, 2 choices, at least 1 laugh.



Are you ready for?
Ginger vs Mary Anne
Eddie Campbell vs Alan Moore
Midget vs Giant
Penis vs Anus


It'll just be a con special and i'm tempted to have a blank page to do scripts on the fly (instead of sketching).

And off course, if anyone has requests post'em because I'm already running out of ideas.

Sureshot Presents Checkmate Wordswoth

At Supanova and then after all the regular haunts

Sureshot Presents Spaghetti Western

At the end of Dougtober at Supanova

Communicating thru Comics

On Luke W's Function Form:Interaction Design he talks about using comics as a communication device in website design; kind of like paper prototyping but more for management to help wrap their heads around a concept - which is a problem i come up against quite often; if i could draw it might be useful. Might have to resort to sock puppets.

there's cheesecake on my desktop

The latest issue of Desktop has an article about the new Cheesecake and has bunch of images by Melbourne artist Martin Abel and a brief interview concentrating on tools and materials.

GQ or GeekQ?

Perusing through the latest Australian GQ, theres a 2 page article on the Conflux convention that happened 4 months back. Essentially its a 'hey check out the geeky nerds/nerdy geeks' article, concentrating on the cosplayers. Two funny quotes is a female con-goer noting that it would be really good for girls attending cons if the guys could actually tell they were being chatted up and how chicks dig the hard plastic of storm trooper costumes. on a comic front Owen and Tanya Nichools got a couple of paragraphs and quotes in talking about Storm Publishing and Nicola Scott gets a photo.

And the whole thing ends with a Simpson's Comic Shop Guy Quote.

sigh

Nevermeind released 15 years ago

Being slightly bored while Em's away in Sydney for the fortnight, i've gotten nostalgic

I think a bunch of us was at mikey's (MyMan's) place watching Rage when I first heard 'Smells like teen spirit' and was instantly captivated. It was a revelation - at the time I was pretty much about the East Coast Hip Hop; Public Enemy, BDP, Beastie Boys, De LA Soul, Tribe Called Quest etc and the growing dance scene (but lets not mention acid house). Ouside of that i think the only non-rap stuff i liked was Violent Femmes, the Smiths (though i would never had admitted it at the time), Sonic Youth (i discovered 'Goo' because of Chuck D on 'Kool Thing') and looking through my cd collection i have Lenny Kravitz's first album which i remember liking. At the time, iwas in year 11 and it was all about Guns and Roses and Metallica which i just did not get. But when those chords vibrated out of the tv it just swung my head. It was raw and made a connection that most of the other stuff out there just failed to do.
Most other music was about ' the you', about someone else; 'i love/hate you', 'you are so great' or songs about other stuff like being taken down to paradise city. Here was a song about 'the me'; 'here we are now, entertain us' - sure hip hop was mainly talking about how good 'the me' is; i'm a great rapper, i can kick your ass. But i wasn't a great rapper, and whilst i probably could kick your ass i didn't really want to - so there was never that connection (except with hip hop except for being vilified and untrusted for being young - though i'm embarrassed to think now that i somehow equated the black experience as my own.)

And being a self-involved angsty gen-xer (though there wasn't a name for it back then) i made it all about me; i hate school, i hate my job, i hate etc and i have no idea what i'm going to do. It was easy to grab Kurt's lyrics and make them about me.

So back in 1991 we watched the clip again on Rage after 6, then on Video Hits and then again on Smash Hits. Yes, this was mine.

I remember i year 12 social that i went to which was not going well; the girl i was with didn't find me charming especially when an ex-girlfriend bound up and started yelling at me because i failed to tell her that i had broken up with her and that i was talking about her to the other guys. I tried to talk my way out of it but i was getting my balls nailed to the wall - but i really deserved it because i was a bit of a arsehole - but still after 30 minutes i had hoped she would have run out of breathe. Then "smells like teen spirit" started up - all the boys surged for the dance floor and with a "I'm sorry, I gotta go" i ran off and moshed - hiding out on the dancefloor till the end of the night. Because i'm classy.

After Year 13 me and B. went to San Francisco for a month to just hang out. It was coming up to New Years Eve and Nirvana and Butthole Surfers were playing in Oaklands. Tickets were $150 which was out of budget plus Oaklands was way out of town and my Uncle, who we were staying with would be no help in transport "I'll be too drunk to pick you up". So we agreed we would miss the opportunity and see them when they toured Australia.
Well two months later that blew up in my face (and caused much jealousy with my cousins who saw his 2nd to last concert ever in Slovenia).

So today i'm digging out an oversized flannelette shirt, torn jeans and remember when my fringe came down to my chin while i mumble something about an albino AND a mosquito.

Zinefair in Sydney

Matt 'Stikman' Huynh is kindly selling Sureshout Presents Gothic Boogaloo and Sureshots Presents Ordinary Eyeball with other top shelf local comics at The Verge Arts Festival

Where - Manning Forecourt, University of Sydney
When - 10.30am - 4pm, Wednesday 20 September

Colin Wilson's Blog

While he's drawing judge dreed, blueberry, star wars, losers and his recent Battler britian comic Colin Wilson's blogging at wilco4400.blogspot.com.

And my tribute to Colin from the 2005 24 hour challenge



and the punch line is a long story

Thanks to Andy again for stalking the oz comics scene and giving me something to blog about.

And for an awesome interview with Colin hunt down Word Balloons #2

Cruz on Muse

The omniscient Andy reveals that Melbourne's Jeff Cruz will be working on 10th Muse #17.

Congrats Jeff

Mark's Cultural Landscape

Stuff i'm digging at the moment

Movies
Thank you for smoking -I haven't been to the Movies since seeing Da Vinci Code and i can't remember what was the last movie i actually paid to go see. Well I paid to see this and it was good. Nice to watch a satire that isn't hollywood based and not a mockumentary.
Ferris Bueller's Day Off - I remember renting this when it came out on video and watching it 3 times. Watching it again recently saw it go up at least 10 spots in my top 100 movies list. Almost the perfect comedy.

Television
TV is crap at the moment. The only things that i almost make an effort to watch is Criminal Minds and My Name is Earl. I keep forgeting Extras and Battlestar Galactica is on which says more about them than me. Its sad when the only thing i'm looking forward is to watch is the new Jamie Oliver show. TV is Lame now.

Blog
The Satorialist and Face Hunter are great. I'd love to do something like this but hate taking people's picture. Also i'm in Adelaide, and who wants a blog full of people in black and tracksuits?
Signal vs Noise; nice mix of marketing, usability and fun

Music
Be Your Own Pet - 34 minutes long/15 songs. Hard and fast and sexy.
JT - new Timberlake album is mesmerising in how good it sounds. Usually with mass produced pop i'll like it for 4 listens and thenn I'll detest it (usually anything involving Pharrel/NERD/Neptunes - see the Gwen Stephani album). I'm not usually keen on stuff produced by Timbaland stuff (overproduced) and couldn't imagine how Rick Rubin would work outside of oldschool hip hop and metal but this is sure mature sounding but still funky (with an edge of lounge). It is very futuresexy indeed, kind of like Scott 4 meets Prince, just shows you put the right people in the mix and you get gold.

Comics
Golgo 13 - the text peices at the end are dumb especially the 2 pages on Golgo's penis but otherwise very cool smart stuff.
Monster - I always think this is going to devolve into 'the fugitive' but its very gripping and moves fast enough with enough sub plots to keep it exciting.

Books
Possibility of an Island - i don't understand it - i can't stand Hoelleques' (i think all the letters are there you might have to rearrange them as necessary) politics but he does awesome fiction. This is probably the most depressing but best thing i've read for awhile.
Otherwise the last 2 books i've read have kind of sucked; Into Tibet: the first Atmic Spy was written like a Who Weekly article and History of the OSS is so clinically written it makes the idea of spies fighting behind enemy lines during WW2 boring.

Passionate Nomads - Launch

This is how you have a launch

Wesley Anne,
250 High Street, Northcote,
from 2pm on Saturday 9 September 2006.


The book will be launched by the distinguished explorer
Sir Richard Burton,
formerly Her Majesty’s consul at Fernando Po, Santos, Damascus and Trieste.

I remember being told that there was one comic creator who in the 90s would have launches for each of his new comics and would make his printing money back over the night from beer sales. I have no idea who told me, or who was the creator but sounds like a cool idea.

But how awesome is having a knighted explorer at the launch. I expect Pith helmets.

Supanova accomadation

Since I'm the only one who is able to use the internet for non-porn uses, I've been given the task of organising accomadation for the Adelaide gang while we attend Supanova.

The convention is at Olympic park which is near Homebush.

One problem is that the hotels near homebush are booked out because the arias or some such award is being held that same weekend and whilst it would be a great opportunity to stalk Kate Derango the hotels in the area are all expensive anyway.

So we have two options; staying in the city or Parramatta.

Aarons Hotel
37 Ultimo
Haymarket

Aarons to Airport=12kms (about $30 taxi)
Aarons to city=1.5km
aarons to central station = .5kms
aarons to convention= 17kms (about $40)
Trains to the convention take about 30-40 minutes; cost $7.50 for a return trip and should be pretty regular (there's 3 lines we can choose from)

We can get a quad room (single beds for everyone) for $495 for 3 nights; thats $122 per person.
A single/double room is $411

The other option is Pacific International Suites - Parramatta
Corner Parkes Street and Valentine Avenue

Pacific to Airport=12kms (about $30 taxi - using trains to and from the airport is incredibly expensive so I'd rather catch a taxi or hopefully the hotel can organise a shuttle.)
Pacific to city=24km
Pacific to train station = .2kms
Pacific to convention= 10kms (about $20)
The train trip is faster at 25minutes but the trains run less regularly
The room rates for 3 nights are $498 for a triple, which means $166 and $384 for the single.

I'm guessing the city hotel would be best because we can hang out in town on the monday but I'm hoping some sydney siders can give me better suggestions.

The idea is that all the interstaters stay in the one place so we can share cabs and hang out with each other.
It would be nice if some one suggested a place to drink for saturday/sunday night so we don't spend the weekend asking "what's happening tonight?"

Sureshot Presents Collectormania interview

This is the full text of an interview that was conducted with Kevin Patrick which appeared in the August edition of CollectorsMania. It was edited down to 600 words, this is the original text which i've slightly edited to improve spelling and grammar in an attempt to make myself look smarter.

1) What inspired you to launch the Sure Shot format? Did you see a gap in the local comics market that needed to be filled, or were there other reasons?

I considered the format of SureShot Presents for almost a year before it took its final shape. It was borne from gaps in the market and the books I first got into when I started reading Australian comics in the early 2000s. A lot of creators started self publishing with grand plans of doing 4 issue miniseries or ongoing series and as a reader it was really exciting but as time went on issue 2 took three months to come out, issue 3 took six months and issue 4 never came out. It was frustrating to see these great creators get burnt out and never finish their stories. It was bad for me as a fan and i can understand why retailers and normal comic readers don't get into local product when they never get a satisfying narrative. So I knew whatever I did would have to be self contained. Anthologies involve working with too many people and readers are wary of them; especially the multiple creator anthologies. DeeVee and Phatsville are the only anthologies that have had any legs to sustain a reasonable run. Most of the others have died after 2 issues. So i wanted to only work with one or two creators per book to keep things simple and flexible.The physical format is based on cost per unit and the marketing considerations; its designed to sit next to the cash register in whatever shop its being sold at while not looking to "comicky". Because i can't write or draw but wanted something to sell i thought of providing creators an outlet to tell their stories. That's what i really love about Australian comics, they provide stories relevant to us as a society and created by people who live with us. To overcome the lack of funds to pay for work i devised the 50/50 split as a means of recompense for their creation.

2) Why did you decide to use external judges to select material for inclusion in Sure Shot?

The idea of external judges came from wanting 2nd and 3rd opinions on a project because its about providing an audience a story which they like and want to buy. Having those extra opinions means that I'm not just publishing work that I want to read but a wider variety of genre, art styles and story. Also i wanted "names" to give the book some credibility so people would submit stories and buy books.

3) How did you come to select Doug Holgate and Daren White as the selection judges?

When I was trying to formulate what Sureshot Presents was going to be i'd periodically discuss it with Holgate. I respect Doug a lot, sure he's an exceptional artist but more importantly, and what I believe leads to his success, is he works hard. He takes the maximum advantage of any opportunity and he works for those opportunities. He's not a shrinking violet waiting for someone with a big bag of money to draw comics - he creates opportunities. So he's a great role model for the artists i'm hoping to connect with and he has his views on the local scene which sometimes agree with my views but sometimes contrast. He was a good sounding board and gives well considered feedback where necessary. An asset, for sure, in the selection process. Daren White, just offered after my initial blog post about SureShot Presents, which was like getting struck by lightning, really good Chocolate-covered lightning. Daren is a writer who has worked with the larger American company but he's also published one of the more interesting and artistic anthologies, DeeVee. He understands the commercial realities of writing for the larger audience but also understands publishing and art.

4) How many submissions did you receive for the first issue of Sure Shot Presents?

None. Which is understandable, I think a lot of creators have been stung by anthologies that failed to materialise so they're a bit wary. Secondly, the marketing of the concept hasn't really been that widespread but I don't mind that, it’s meant to be organic. I don't want to be pushy and harangue people into submitting because if people aren't motivated or excited enough to approach me then they most likely will split when they discover they actually have to do some work.

5) What criteria, if any, do you & your judges’ use when evaluating material for inclusion in Sure Shot Presents?

Marketing and quality. Who would want to read this and where would they want to buy it from? Can we get the book into those shops? Is the creator ready to sell their portion? What markets will they be approaching? Is the comic itself any good? Will it be beneficial to the Sureshot Presents brand?

6) What strength(s) do you think the Sure Shot format has, especially when compared with other self-published Australian comics currently on the market?

Strengths are that the model I’ve formulated means that it is not a drain financially. Whilst it’s not designed to make me money, its not going to send me broke. I'm in for the long haul. Each issue is stand alone; it doesn't require people to hunt down multiple issues (that may never eventuate). There is a beginning, middle and end. This is reflected in the numbering, there is no issue #1,2,3 etc - there's Autumn 2006, Winter 2006, etc. Each issue will be good - the submission process means the wheat gets separated from the chaff. Retailers are getting 50% of the cover price which is a better rate than what they receive selling American comics and SureShot takes up less space on the shelf.

7) What is the current publishing schedule for the magazine?

At this stage no more frequently than Quarterly but it depends on submissions.

8) Can you tell us whose work will appear in the next issue? (Judging by the preview, I'm betting it's Doug Holgate, right?)

The next issue, Winter 2006, will actually feature the work of Mandy Ord (already out). Doug's workload means he'll be appearing in the Spring 2006 issue.

9) Have you had any feedback from readers/comic shops about the magazine? If so, what's their overall reaction been like?

In terms of retailing, I sold a healthy chunk of the print run at Supanova but only recently got the comic in shops around the nation. I'll be contacting retailers next month to see how sales are going. I've received some positive feedback from creators who i really respect which is nice. I have a schedule to send out copies to reviewers, now that it’s available to be bought in major centres. Overall, it’s positive.

10) As publisher/editor of the magazine, what ultimate goals (if any) do you have for the project (e.g. newsstand distribution, enlarged format, colour printing - that sort of thing?)

Whilst I would love newsstand distribution with colour covers, I’m content to be a boutique publisher with print runs designed to sell out while being profitable. My main goal is to produce good comics and get people to submit comics. Secondary goals though are to show comic retailers that there is an audience for locally produced comics, to expand the distribution (retailers) and market (readers) and make it easier for creators to get their work out there. A tertiary goal is to access new markets (retailers other than comic shops) but I need a backlog of books before that is feasible. Lastly, to lure advertisers to the book, mentally i have that in year 4. Once I've got advertisers/investors involved then sky's the limit.

Slovenia - 2005

This time last year i was in Europe having the time of my life. I'd go back in a minute.
Between me and Em we took 800 photos; I've tried to distill down the holiday down to about 20 photos.


It seems that every family has a vineyard consisting of about 100m of vine producing enough wine for the extended family. This is the view from my cousins' place. How about that serenity?


Emma at the top of ljubljana castle. The city itself is fantastic; because of numerous earthquakes every couple of centuries there is a wide selection of architecture styles from baroque, classicist, renaissance to socialist modernism. Since previous trips they've made an effort to clean it up making it a very pretty city.


Em and lamb on the spit, done for a big family get together - em wasn't done for the family get together, she just showed up.

Me eating crumbed frogs legs. You can see that the trip was catching up with me, especially with the ability to buy pints for $2.50. After three frogs legs you proclaim you will never eat another set of frogs leg ever again because they are disgusting.

Mum's side of the family.

dad's side of the family

At an inn i started chatting with the owner about wine and he dragged me and some other family members down to the cellar where we tasted wine for almost an hour; it went from dignified (left) to undignified (right) pretty quickly.



I always get a bit emotional about Slovenia. In Australia, i don't have much in the way of family so its always so good to get back there and feel part of a family unit. The kindness and hospitality em and i got was overwhelming at times; people would drop everything to drive for hours to take you somewhere. We didn't pay for a thing, homes and beds were all on offer. A whole bunch will be coming here at the end of the year and i fear i won't be able recipricate the generousity shown to us.
But even without the family, its an awesome place, very young and hip. The bars and pubs are fun, everyone speaks at least 2 languages (tho my slovenian got better with alcohol), the women are hawt (until they hit 30 then they crash and burn) and its just spectacularly beautiful. Its wierd living next to an australian national park but still not being able to comprehend what green is compared to the green over there. Sigh.

Highlights

• Family get togethers, which always ended with the singing of country songs
  
• Wandering around the old part of Ljbljana
• the ladies
  

Purchase I had to carry around for the rest of the trip - a cow hide, at first we wanted horse hide but that was to expensive so we got cow instead because that's really hard to get here.

Italy - 2005

This time last year i was in Europe having the time of my life. I'd go back in a minute.
Between me and Em we took 800 photos; I've tried to distill down the holiday down to about 20 photos.


From Paris we caught a plane to Naples and trained it to Sorrento. After some hunting we found our accomadation - a little monastery by the coast (its behind this building)


This is Positano. I got engaged here (specifically somewhere between the town and the little island you can see on the left)


For those who know me will be shocked I'm wearing shorts and thongs. They will not be shocked that I'm eating ice cream.


Probably one of the best, most perfect times, ever.


We weren't planning to see Pompei but some locals insisted so we caught the train up and were actually impressed. Our tour guide was an older gentlemen who was fixated with the brothel ruins, especially the 'menu'
"Everything you could get now, you could get then, naturally"
It was damn hot though.


My 30th birthday - we are making gnocchi. It was awesome, best present ever.


From the Amalfi coast we travelled up to Cinque Terre and it was the most laid back place ever.

We didn't spend much time in the big cities; mainly in Sorrento (too touristy), Positano (pretty cool), Amalfi (boring and expensive), then an unplanned night in Florence (really nice, except for the foot fetish guy who molested Em) , to Cinque terre (a collecton of 5 towns perched in cliffs in the north of italy - we stayed in the smallest village right on the town square so we spent nights drinking and yakking with locals and the 3-5 other tourists) and then to Venice.

I also assumed that Em's half italianess and language skills would be useful. No, she again reverted to "English? English!" but sometmes would preface it with 'Scusi'. Everyone was so tanned that I felt like an albino. Mcleods Daughters (sorelli di mcleod) was kind of well known there so we used it as a refernce point explaining where we were from - it was cool that people thought i was a cowboy. Italy is a great place to visit, except for the Italians. Shops have an average of 3-5 assistants who's function is to fold clothes and ignore customers. Trains run on time, but the time, track number or destination isn't posted anywhere on the platform or ticket; which lead to one madcap adventure trying to catch up to train we should have been on by sneaking on to Express trains and running through stations. Waiters are never wrong and expect you to pay for your mistakes. Signs that say a particular smoke shop sells bus tickets can not be taken at face value. You have to go with the flow.

But even with those misgivings - i had a blast.

Highlights

• Engagement/Birthday
• just the general relaxing
  
• Venice film festival

Purchase I had to carry around for the rest of the trip - bottle of grappa for the father-in-law (i'm surprised it made it home without being drunk or broken)

Paris - 2005

This time last year i was in Europe having the time of my life. I'd go back in a minute.
Between me and Em we took 800 photos; I've tried to distill down the holiday down to about 20 photos.


Our hotel was just around the corner from the effiel tower, so we spent breakfasts walking around eating crepes and evenings just strolling. It is a very pretty structure. We did walk the two levels up and then waited in line for about 3 hours to get to the top. It was alright - i'd advise people just go to the Sacre Coutre. Its higher, cheaper and involves not being squashed by other tourists for 4 hours, especially loud shouty ones who seem to have no concept of personal body space.


Em and the stupid video camera she lugged around and shot hours and hours of film which we have not watched yet. Which i knew was going to happen so - ahem - 'I told you so'


Taking hints for the satorially saavy french, i made sure my shoes matched the attractions. Pigalle was kind of cool, one for all the prostitutes and more so for the discount adidas shops (though i lacked funds or space for purchasing)


This was the only artist at Montremartre who was not selling cheesy Paris landscapes or doing carcitures. Em, barginned him to 30% of the initially asking price (we got the nude on the angle)


I really loved Paris. Em said she did french at school but after 2 attempts of using her classroom french she reverted to starting all conversations with locals with "English? English!?". I fumbled with my the phrasebook. We only had one run in with a rude Parisian, all the rest were very cool. London was cleaner and easier to get around but Paris had more personality.

Highlights

• Louvre; by the end we were a bit burned out with galleires and museums but it was still awesome. I'm disappointed at not going to the D'orsay gallery but there's always next time.
• The food; we ate like kings (but walked like paupers) Two course lunches, 3 course dinners. I ate snails and liked'em. Only 2 bad meals in 5 days is not to bad. I learnt that good ingredients make a difference. I also had the best raspberry ice cream ever which I'm this close to duplicating.
• Just the city itself; it has a cool vibe

Purchase I had to carry around for the rest of the trip - Painting and apparently the wrong hardcover Spirou annual for Weber.