Nice NZ Fan Art: Featuring Toby Morris and Jason Winter

Above: Captain Sunshine as depicted by Jason Winter. 

Here are two great examples of NZ Comics fan art; the first is by Jason Winter, revisiting the world's first 'environmental superhero' Captain Sunshine, created by writers Peter Farrell, Roy Middleton, Reuben Sandler and drawn by Colin Wilson in 1979.

Above: Captain Sunshine #1 (1979). Copyright Sundial Watches Limited 1979.

It was the first original full-colour superhero comic of its kind to be produced in New Zealand, with a massive estimated print run of 100,000 copies. The comic was created to promote an ill-fated sundial wrist-watch, which failed to catch the public imagination and quickly killed any chance of future comic adventures (Wilson pencilled a second issue which was never published, and the art has been lost to the ages...).

Above: Terry Teo, by Toby Morris.

Terry Teo was the hero from three original NZ graphic novels produced by writer Bob Kerr and artist Stephen Ballantyne, starting with Terry and the Gunrunners in 1982. The first graphic novel in the series sold 20,000 copies, and was popular enough to inspire a local TV series in 1985, starring Adrian Bell as Terry Teo. The graphic novel also produced two sequels: Terry and the Yodelling Bull in 1986, and Terry and the Last Moa in 1990.

Above: Terry and the Gunrunners by Bob Kerr and Stephen Ballantyne. copyright Bob Kerr and Stephen Ballantyne 1982.

-AK!