News From Earth's End: Late May Edition

Above: Sam Zabel and the Magic Pen by Dylan Horrocks. Copyright Dylan Horrocks 2014.

It's been a busy time here at Earth's End Central, so today I'm going to cover the recent developments in the NZ comics community over the last few weeks.

VUP has just released a preview of the cover from their forthcoming New Zealand edition of Sam Zabel and the Magic Pen by Dylan Horrocks due for release in November. This will collect the complete story that Horrocks started serialising in Atlas and then later on his website HERE. Sam Zabel and the Magic Pen will also be simultaneously published in the US and Canada from Fantagraphics, and in Europe from Casterman.

Above: Tim Gibson artwork for Wellington brewery Garage Project's latest beers: Umami Monster & MECHA-HOP! Copyright Garage Project 2014.

Two items that seem to go naturally together (well, according to most of the cartoonists I know) are comics...and beer! Moth City creator Tim Gibson has produced the artwork for Garage Project's two latest beers: Umami Monster & MECHA-HOP! Created for competition in the Great Australian Beer SpecTAPular 2014, they will certainly be eye-catching with Gibson's Godzilla inspired labels and advertising artwork! There may even be some mini-comics printed to support this release, so keep an eye out...

Above: Garage Project's award-winning beer, Cockswain’s Courage Double Barreled Porter.

Garage Project also recently won a Silver Medal at the World Beer Cup for Cockswain’s Courage Double Barreled Porter, inspired by Greg Broadmore's Lord Cockswain character ("tastes like war!"), so comics inspired labels may be their lucky charm!

Above: An rough for a advert for the PYE Isotronic Record Player, in comics form by Dick Frizzell. Copyright Dick Frizzell 2014.

Staying in advertising, readers of my book From Earth's End: The Best of New Zealand Comics will know about Dick Frizzell's love of comics and the inspiration he drew from them for his art and advertising work. In the 1970s and 80's, Frizzell produced a number of advertisements in comics form for such products as Everready batteries and Levi's Jeans. He recently uncovered this pencil rough created to advertise the PYE Isotronic FL 1000 Record Player, and generously allowed me to re-post it here. As Dick commented, "I turned my ad work into comics at every available opportunity".

Earlier this month, Wellington City Libraries and comic book store Graphic joined forces to celebrate Free Comic Book Day with the event, Comicfest 2014 - featuring a series of comics related workshops and events. 

Above: Cartoonists talking 'shop', from left: Grant Buist, Robyn E. Kenealy and Ant Sang.

This included two panel discussions at the Wellington City Library. One featuring Ant Sang (The Dharma Punks, Shaolin Burning), Robyn E. Kenealy (Roddy's Film Companion, American Captain) and Grant Buist (Jitterati, Brunswick), that you can listen to HERE.

Above from left: Paul Tobin and Greg Broadmore.

The second was a Q&A with Paul Tobin, editor of the NZ fantasy art book, White Cloud Worlds, and Greg Broadmore, creator of the Dr. Grordbort series, that you can listen to HERE.

Above: One of the Auckland Art Gallery's framed pieces by NZ comics pioneer, Noel Cook, on display for my talk at the Auckland Writers Festival on From Earth's End: The Best of New Zealand Comics.

In the lead up to my appearance at the Auckland Writers Festival to discuss my book and the history of New Zealand comics, I did two insightful interviews that might be of interest: one with Renee Liang from The Big Idea that you can read HERE, and one with Courtney Peters from Gather and Hunt, which you can read HERE. Leading book blogger Graham Beattie also reviewed my talk at the festival on National Radio HERE.

The Dharma Punks Kickstarter is still going strong, having reached it's minimum goal target, we are now pushing to make this collection as high quality and available as possible! We could still use your support, so click over and check out some of our exclusive Kickstarter rewards that will not be available anywhere else!

Now to ease you into the weekend, here's some support videos for The Dharma Punks to watch from fellow cartoonists, Dylan Horrocks and Sarah Laing!

- AK!

From Earth's End Spotlight: Dick Frizzell

Above: Dick Frizzell at his Auckland studio, 2013. Photographed by Adrian Kinnaird, copyright 2013.

"I’m amazed at how consistent I’ve been actually, over the years, with my interest and love of the comic book image — the line work, the whole thing. Everyone asks me, what drew you to commercial art or pop art, and if you look back it’s not a decision, it’s just what you are. For some reason you take that level of enterprise seriously — as a big deal, even though it’s just a comic."

As one of New Zealand’s most popular fine artists, Dick Frizzell’s artwork is both iconic and engaging in its ability to communicate ideas through imagery. This particular facility to compress information into a series of highly memorable images has served Frizzell well in a career that has spanned the popular culture spectrum - from fine arts to advertising and illustration.

The follow is an exclusive excerpt from From Earth's End: The Best of New Zealand Comics, in which I go in-depth with Frizzell on his art, advertising and his life-long love of comic book imagery.

Above: Mickey To Tiki (1997). Copyright Dick Frizzell 2013.

It should come as no surprise that Frizzell has drawn on imagery from comics for some of his most well-known artworks, including pieces inspired by The Phantom comic books, or the controversial Mickey To Tiki (1997). Unlike other pop artists who were simply intent of borrowing imagery from comics in passing – most notably Andy Warhol and Roy Lichtenstein, Dick Frizzell has had a life-long appreciation for comics, which has inspired and informed his approach to art in a profound way – reflecting a deep understanding of the visual language and medium of comics.

Above: A childhood cartoon by Dick Frizzell. Copyright Dick Frizzell 2013.

“I was into comics as far back as I can remember,” recalls Frizzell. “My father was quite keen on a couple of comics that he must have read in America when he was a sailor. He somehow managed to track them down, and he’d come home and give me these copies of newspaper cartoon reprints, in the style of Bringing Up Father – very clever, literate drawings and writing. The quality of the work was very high, these guys were classically trained illustrators.”

Frizzell taught himself to draw by coping his favourite examples. “Growing up I used to copy from comics all the time. In my little bedroom in Hastings I had a desk set up by the window, and I would copy comics artists like Carmine Infantino from The Flash. I could sit there all afternoon re-drawing an entire comic on loose sheets, and then pin them around the wall in my bedroom. When I went to Varsity, my mother took them all down and burnt them! I’ve still got a few random cartoons that I managed to save.”

Above: An Frizzell drawn advertisement for Levi's Jeans (1970s). If you look closely, you can see the stylistic influence of Batman artist Bob Kane, one of Frizzell's favourites.

His interest in comics would later influence his advertising career, with many clients gravitating towards 'comic book style’ solutions, convinced that "nobody could resist that graphic clarity, the framed narrative”. This belief proved right, and he created comic style artwork for clients like Tip Top ice cream and Levi’s Jeans.

Above: Tiwa Chief (1976), enamel on canvas. Copyright Dick Frizzell 2013.

When Frizzell returned to painting in the late 1970's, it was an image from a comic book that would provide the inspiration for a new direction in his artwork. “One night out in the garage, when no one was watching, I painted this Tiwa Chief, just transposed it straight from a Phantom comic onto a little canvas I had lying around. Just drawing loosely with enamel paint out of these tins, and it was just incredibly exciting doing it – and it worked. I thought it was amazing, all I had to do was transmute it from this little drawing to an actual canva in paint, and that just did it. And then I experimented with something else, and another image…and as they say, the rest was history.”

So what is it at about certain comic images that Frizzell responds to? “I figured out over time that it’s always about looking for an archetype. Images like the running man, or the jumping horse, a vase of flowers…images that are completely inert, but communicating volumes at the same time. That’s what I look for when I’m going through those Phantom comics, a narrative archetype. I like the ones that are like a finger going up to turn on the light switch, or a cutaway…the panels between the action. Those little frames, the compositions were just so immaculate”.

Above: Dick Frizzell at the opening of his current exhibition, The Dance of the Hooligans.

Dick Frizzell's current art exhibition, The Dance of the Hooligans, currently on at the Gow Langsford Gallery in Auckland, features several pieces infused by Frizzell's interest in comics imagery, and should not be missed! Gow Langsford Gallery is located at 26 Lorne st, with the exhibition running from October 2 - 26th. 

If you'd also like to find out more about Dick Frizzell, you can interact with him on his newly launched Facebook page, Dick's World, right HERE. From Earth's End: The Best of New Zealand Comics is available for pre-order from a bookstore near you right now, and will be hitting the streets November 1st!

-AK!