Coming Attractions

Above: The cover of Nice Day for a War: Adventures of a Kiwi Soldier in World War 1 by Chris Slane & Matt Elliott. Copyright Chris Slane & Matt Elliott 2011.

It's a great time to be a fan of New Zealand comics and graphic novels, with two more high profile projects in the pipeline! Hot on the heels of Ant Sang's Shaolin Burning, HarperCollins has another local graphic novel set for release in April: Nice Day for a War: Adventures of a Kiwi Soldier in World War 1 by Chris Slane & Matt Elliott.

This story is part graphic novel mixed with historical resources recounting Corporal Cyril Elliott experiences in the trenches during WW1 as retold by his grandson Matt Elliott and cartoonist Chris Slane. Here's the official synopsis:

Cyril Elliott was a boy when he enlisted to fight in World War 1, lured by the idea of exciting travel and adventure. What he found was quite different. But misery and terror were made easier by Kiwi humour, mates, and writing a diary. Corporal Elliott’s grandson Matt teams with award-winning cartoonist Chris Slane to tell the story of Cyril and his mates. Nice Day for a War tells what it was like to be in the Flanders trenches of 1917.

You can expect to see it on bookshelves everywhere on April 1st (..and no, this is no joke!).

It's a paperback and retails for $29.99 NZ, ISBN13: 9781869509019

Above: Snarked! by Roger Langridge. Copyright Boom Studios 2011.

Now to turn your attention off-shore: highly acclaimed ex-pat cartoonist Roger Langridge has more new comics coming up than you can shake a stick at!

After a very successful run writing and illustrating The Muppet Show Comic-Book series for US publisher Boom Studios, Roger is teaming up with them again to produce another all-ages comic Snarked!, for Boom's new kids comics imprint, Kaboom! The above cover image is an early teaser, with a major announcement from the publisher to follow soon, so I'll keep you posted.

Above: The newly coloured chapter of Mugwhump the Great by Roger Langridge. Copyright Roger Langridge 2011.

But if you can't wait for that title, you'll be pleased to know that Roger has launched the final chapter of his ongoing webcomic Mugwhump the Great at ACT-I-VATE, now available in full colour! There are 13 previous chapters in this story of vaudevillian hilarity, so make sure you catch-up on this great strip from the beginning.

With all this new material on the way, you'd be forgiven for thinking we're entering the golden age of New Zealand comics...

-AK!