GO READ: Angouleme by Jerome Bihan

Above: Page 1 of Angouleme by Jerome Bihan. Copyright Jerome Bihan 2012.

Jerome Bihan, cartoonist and editor of the great anthology series Radio As Paper, has started a new comics diary of his recent trip to the Angouleme Comics Festival. He'll be updating it weekly at his blog A Strict Diet Of Self, found HERE.

Above: So Art Spiegelman walks into a bar...Page 6 of Angouleme by Jerome Bihan. Copyright Jerome Bihan 2012.

It's well paced and richly inked, with some surprise celebrity comics cameos to boot! I'll be monitoring the progress of this lush comics travelogue and you should too.

-AK!

EVENT: Auckland Zinefest 2010

Zinefest makes a mighty returns to Auckland this year, moving venues to St Kevins Arcade on K Road, taking place this Saturday, August 14th from11am-4pm in both the Alleluya Cafe space and Wine Cellar. There will be zines and comics galore for you to purchase and enjoy, plus guest speakers and interactive workshops throughout the day (see the Zinefest website HERE for a timetable).

Above: The cover of 'Pig #1: Bucklame' by Jerome Bihan. Copyright Jerome Bihan 2010.

The NZ comics community will be well represented, with stalls featuring local comics creators: The Sheehan Bros ('The Inhabitants'), Marc Streeter (webcomic 'ActionMan Adam'), Jerome Bihan (with 'Radio As Paper #5 and 'Pig' #1), and the NZ Comics Creators Stall (with sells NZ comics on behalf of creators across the country). The Cross Street Zine Library will also be on display in it's own reading area.

There will also be a 'Zine of the Fest' competition running on the day, so bring along your own zine and submit it for judging. Winner will be announced at the after-party, and a glass trophy made by ex-Cross Street artist Tes Clark will be presented by sound-artist Nich Rogan.

Speaking of the after-party, it's free of charge and takes place at the Wine Cellar and Whammy Bar from 7pm, featuring local poetry troupe The Literatti, an OHPJ performance by Aaron Cole, and local musicians Ghost Wave, Mothers Of Darkness, Wilberforces, Canadia, and Hold Dear!

So brave the wind and rain this weekend for some locally produced DIY goodness!

For more information check out the Zinefest website HERE.

-AK!

LAUNCH: Radio As Paper #4

Above: The cover of 'Radio As Paper #4, by Chris Fitz.

Tonight will see the launch of Radio as Paper #4, the latest issue in the comics anthology edited by Jerome Bihan.
The Auckland launch will take place from 6pm at the Dry Dairy, 43c Dryden street, Grey lynn. There will be musical entertainment and drinks, with the new issue and other zines for sale.

This issue will showcase comics by: Draw, Ned Wenlock, Chris Cudby, Vincent Shields, Sophie Oiseau, Stefan Neville, Clayton Noone, Matt Scheurich, Jerome Bihan, Terreur Graphique and Sam Thomas. Articles by Robyn E Kenealy, Matt Emery, Susan Strongman and Joseph Jowitt. With a cover by Chris Fitz and layout and design by Rachael Clark.

If you're not in the Auckland area don't fear, there will be copies for sale in Wellington at the NZ Comics Weekend this Easter, and in Christchurch on the 9th and 10th of April from Franz Tormers.

Unfortunately this will be the last print issue of 'Radio As Paper' for the time being, as it's publisher Fleet FM is shutting down due to financial problems. However, 'Radio As Paper' will live on in digital format. As it's latest issue is released under a Creative Commons License, once it's initial launch run is over it will be made available for free as a digital download from it's blog and the Fleet FM website.

So pick up this last issue while it's still in print, and keep an eye on the Radio As Paper blog for an future digital developments!

-AK!

Comics on K: The Comics Weekend Report

'Comics on K', Auckland's first comics weekend in recent memory took place earlier this month on the 17-18 of October at The High Seas, and I was there to enjoy the company and comics of some of Auckland's finest cartoonist. We had some great visitors from Wellington to add to talent pool, but this was the first organised gathering of Auckland's comics community in years, and that alone marks this as a special occasion.

What follows are some of my recollections from the weekend, accompanied by drawings of the event from the sketchbook of Darren Sheehan.

Above: Cartoonists manning the tables on Day One, as sketched by Darren Sheehan (enlarge to pick out the names!).

Day One: Saturday 17th of October

I arrived at The High Seas just after 1pm. Auckland's temperamental wind and rain was subsiding in time for the weekend's organiser, Jerome Bihan, to fire up the barbecue. While the grilling got underway, I went inside and joined the Sheehan Bros: Kelly and Darren (creators of 'The Inhabitants') and Richard Fairgray (of 'Blastosaurus' and 'Falling Leaves' fame) at the second of two display tables set-up inside.

The other table featured: Frank and Becky (creators of 'Tiny Kitten Teeth'), Marc Streeter (creator of 'ActionMan Adam'), Mat Tait (creator of 'Love Stories') and Brent Willis (editor of Wellington anthology 'Bristle').

Above: The cover from the complete set of 'The Inhabitants'. Art by Darren Sheehan, colours by Ben Stenbeck. Copyright the Sheehan Bros 2009.

A small but steady stream of customers and friends made their way through the gallery in the first two hours as cartoonists enthusiastically organised their wares and welcomed any chance to introduce their work to the uninitiated. The Sheehan Bros were greeted with many a cry of "at last!" in response to publishing the final issue of 'The Inhabitants'. So how long exactly was the wait? "Seven years, I believe", was Kelly's response, although Darren's recollection was closer to six years (personally, I think Kelly should let Darren have that extra year off!).

Above: Punters from Day One, and Becky Dreistadt inking at the bottom left.

One thing you can be sure of, there's never a shortage of lively conversation between fellow comic creators. You never know when a discussion on Jack Kirby or a 2000AD appreciation is going to break out, as it did later that afternoon between the Sheehan Bros, Mat Tait and some customers.

It also keeps things interesting if you have opposing views on subjects. As I was telling Jose Barbosa, Richard Fairgray and I can't seem to agree on any two subjects:

ME:..I'm telling you, we disagree on EVERYTHING. We should really get our own point/counter-point show on public access.

JOSE: Uh-huh. So what else have you been up to?

ME: My flatmate just imported a copy of the Director's Cut of 'Watchmen' on Blu-ray...

RICHARD: I really didn't care for 'Watchmen'. It was far too faithful to the source material, like 'Sin City'. I HATED that movie.

KELLY (catching interest): THANK YOU! You're not the only one, Richard!

ME: See, see! Opposite!

And you haven't even seen 'Watchmen', Kelly!

KELLY (smiling): I don't NEED to see it.

Of coarse agreement would just spoil our fun. You can learn a great deal from listening to someone else's point of view, especially when it comes to comics. Speaking of which, there was a variety of comics and styles on offer that weekend. From the slick, retro-styled humour of Frank & Becky's 'Tiny Kitten Teeth' to Mat Tait's brooding 'Love Stories'. Humour was also a strong suit in the collective mini-comics of Brent Willis and Marc Streeter's comic, featuring the always upbeat 'ActionMan Adam'.

Above: The cover of 'ActionMan Adam'. Copyright Marc Streeter 2009.

Later that afternoon (after a well cooked BBQ break to keep energy levels up) Dylan Horrocks arrived, with two issues of a new mini-comic series 'Pikelet', which he had whipped up on his home computer printer!

Above: The cover of 'Pikelet' issue #1 by Dylan Horrocks.

'Pikelet' collects some of Dylan's short stories, which have appeared in various places over the last decade as a set of two handsomely presented DIY mini-comics.

Issue #1 of 'Pikelet' subtitled: 'The War and Peace Issue', features: '10-7': Dylan's contribution to Dark Horse's '9-11: Artist's Responce' , 'My World': from 'Ctrl.Alt.Shift Unmasks Corruption' and 'Siso' previously seen in 'Douze Ecrivains Neo-Zelandais' and 'Pictozine 3'.

Above: The cover of 'Pikelet' issue #2 by Dylan Horrocks.

Issue #2 of 'Pikelet' subtitled: 'The Imaginary Geography of Love', features: 'Cornucopia' from 'The Lifted Brow' (with a minor re-write) and 'The Physics Engine', Dylan's contribution to 'Are Angel's Ok?: The Parallel Universes of New Zealand Writer's and Scientists'.

Most of these stories are already available on Dylan's website for free, but these home-made mini-comics make a strong argument for print-to-order, as these items are as much beautiful craft objects as they are comics. If you would like to get hold of some Pikelet's for yourself, you can try The High Seas in Auckland or contact Dylan directly at his website.

Above: An example from Chris Slane's educational comics. This example is from 'No Hea te Hau' : A history of Te Rauparaha's raids into the South Island. Artwork by Chris Slane copyright Hana Limited/Ministry of Education 2009.

At 5.30pm the evening's lecture series got under way, beginning with a talk from cartoonist Chris Slane. For several years Chris has been producing a series of educational comics based on Maori history as part of a learning resource package for the Ministry of Education. Produced in water-colour, Chris' artwork brings the past to life in dramatic fashion, with the sensitivity and respect this project demands.

He showed a series of slides illustrating the extensive research he under took to keep the stories historically accurate (no matter how small the details in the final artwork!). From combing library archives, to checking out locations on Google earth and snippets of Youtube footage, Chris left no stone unturned to produce these historically accurate wide-screen comics.

It's a true testament to Chris' artwork that these stories are visually exciting and engaging (something that's usually lacking from most NZ educational publications!), presenting Maori history in his own unique style, while maintaining a respect for the source material that elevates the quality of these books far beyond the educational market.

It's a real pity the Ministry of Education has no plans to release these books to the wider public, as they deserve to be seen (according to Chris they fear someone will make money from it...god forbid that happens!).

Chris' talk was a real eye-opener, a look at some of New Zealand's finest 'secret' comics and a great example of an artist's research methodology in action. For more of Chris' stunning educational comics, you can view samples over on Chris' website and there's also links to interactive versions of the stories too!

Dylan Horrocks was the next speaker, with a talk entitled: 'The 6 Things I Learned from Comics'.

It would be a disservice to briefly summarise this talk here, so I'll be covering it as a separate article. In his talk Dylan discusses some of the difficulties he's had in the past wrestling with his own artistic 'voice' and the pitfalls of working in the world of corporate comics. But the most thought provoking discussion of the night came from Dylan's thoughts on intellectual property and the copyright law reforms, one of the most fiercely debated issues in the arts world right now. Dylan now protects all his comics under a Creative Commons Licence, which allows the work to be freely shared and distributed as long as it is attributed to it's author and is not used for commercial purposes. For more from Dylan's fascinating talk, check back next week!

Day Two: Sunday 18th of October

Above: More sketches from Day Two from the sketchbook of Darren Sheehan. Again you can spot some of the guests..(I'm the big head at the bottom left with Bruce Willis' hairline). The High Seas co-founder Nigel Wright is to my right, looking out from over his laptop.

Above: In this second picture is a portrait of Jerome Bihan at the bottom right, 'Master of Ceremonies'.

The Sheehan Bros made a morning appearance on BFM's Sunday Breakfast Show (that you can listen to here) to help plug the event and talk about 'The Inhabitants', before things got under way again at The High Seas at 1pm.

After the previous day's introductions, Sunday was a more informal affair with more in-depth discussions and sharing of technical skills. Kelly and I learnt a great deal about web-comics and Wordpress from a conversation with Frank Gibson, an experienced authority on the subject (thanks Frank!). With Dylan's absence on the second day, I got in on the act exhibiting some of my 'graphic novel in progress' to interested viewers.

Above: Table Two, Day Two: From left: Darren and Kelly Sheehan talking to Mat Tait (not pictured) and myself and Richard witnessing a profound vision...(perhaps someone spiked our water?).

The hours seemed to pass more quickly on the second day, and before we knew (or expected) it, the Sunday art auction was upon us! Now if there was one miss-fire this weekend, this would have to be it. Perhaps it was poorly timed, but to be fair you never know when you're going to draw a crowd. As it turned out, our busiest time for visitors was right before the lectures on Saturday night. Sunday afternoon's turn out? Not so much...

Wine had wisely been distributed half an hour before hand to help loosen people's purse strings, but when you have a room full of (marginally) starving artists, it'll takes a bit more than that to get people effectively bidding on their own artwork.

This scene could very quickly have become an episode of 'Curb Your Enthusiasm' if Jose Barbosa had not strolled in at that crucial moment to start a bidding war with Kelly Sheehan over a page of Mat Tait's artwork. Jose's bid prevailed, winning the artwork, while the rest of us managed to slowly but quietly bid the auction to rest. In a word...awkward.

With the auction out of the way, the second day came to a close with some friendly chatter as comics were packed away and emails and farewells exchanged.

Overall, 'Comics on K' was a great start to what I hope will be a continuing tradition.

It would be fair to say there's definitely room for improvement, as the punter turnout was much lower than I think anyone was expecting. But much like Zine Fest, these weekend events need time to grow and gain awareness in the community, and my hat is off to Jerome Bihan for assembling such a professional and well organised show in such a short time frame. If anything, the short window in which this show came together (to meet the decided weekend-before-Armageddon deadline) may have contributed to it's limited attendance. I have no doubt that if this event continues in the future, it will gain the following it deserves.

Personally, I considered the event to be a great success for one very important reason: it unified the Auckland comics community for the first time in recent memory, and that in itself is a significant achievement. Auckland can now join to ranks of Wellington and Christchurch as a unified, thriving comics community, with a new date on the calendar for cartoonists to look forward to and work towards.

I'm already looking forward to next year's event and the progress that will accompany it, as a new day for NZ comics dawns over Beresford Square.

-AK!

EVENT: Comics On K: A New Zealand Comics Weekend

Above: 'Comics On K: A New Zealand Comics Weekend', poster art by Darren Sheehan.

It's been a long time coming, but next weekend Auckland will be hosting it's first comics weekend in...well, ages: 'Comics on K'.

Comics weekends have been a regular fixture of the Wellington scene for some time, so it's great to see the Auckland scene finally coming together to showcase it's local comics creators! (plus some special out-of-towner!). Organiser Jerome Bihan (does this guy ever rest?) sent me this press-release with all the event details:

The Cross Street Carnival, Fleet FM, The High Seas and the K Rd Business Association are proud to present: 'COMICS ON K: A New Zealand Comics Weekend'.

This event will take place on Saturday 17th and Sunday 18th of October, from 1pm to 7pm, a week before the Auckland Armageddon Expo.

COMICS ON K will showcase a group of invited artists, and include an exhibition of their art. All artists will attend both days of the convention to sell work and answer questions. The exhibition will be for the weekend only, and the art auctioned on the last day, Sunday 18th-around 5:30. Talks will be held on Saturday from 5pm by influential cartoonists Chris Slane (cartoonist for the New Zealand Listener), and Dylan Horrocks (respected author and artist of Hicksville).

For those unfamiliar with New Zealand comics and their creators, this is an opportunity to meet a variety of artists and sample their work. So far confirmed to attend are:

Dylan Horrocks the international pinup boy for New Zealand comix, Dylan has had a long, and varied career that has garnered much praise and recognition. He is best known for his graphic novel Hicksville, which has been published in the United States, France, Spain and Italy.

Stefan Neville a prolific, long time cartoonist with numerous titles to his credit including Dad and Tracey, New Dixon and City of Tales (with Clayton Noone). When not cartooning, Stefan performs music as Pumice, and has toured extensively-including trips to the US, Europe, Japan and Australia.

The Sheehan Bros authors of Go Gorillas, the Long Man and the just completed Inhabitants-a work 7 years in the making. They recently took part in a group exhibition at the Bath Gallery in Parnell with Dylan Horrocks, Barry Linton, Tim Bollinger and comics-influenced artists Mark Braunias, Dick Frizell, Robert McLeod and Denys Watkins.

Mat Tait author of Love Stories, a beautiful collection of short stories with a strong, spooky sense of New Zealand. Mat has been published internationally, having work featured in Kramer's Ergot, Comix 2000, and Studygroup 12, as well as local anthologies Loose, Pictozine and Radio as Paper.

Brent Willis an extremely prolific Wellingtonian, Brett has numerous comix projects under his belt and is currently the editor of Bristle, the Wellington Comix anthology.

Frank Gibson and Becky Dreistadt authors of Tiny Kitten Teeth, a web-comic updated daily. Frank and Becky have recently returned from San Diego Comic-con and Mocca (a New York based alternative comics convention) where they were promoting their work.

For more information, check out the Comics On K blog and The High Seas for updates.

-AK!

Fleet FM Radio As Paper #3 Launch & Exhibition at The High Seas

Above: Tintin VS Akira by Jerome Bihan. Copyright Jerome Bihan 2009.

The ongoing comics anthology edited by Jerome Bihan launched it's third issue in style on Friday night with an exhibition at Auckland's newest comics mecca The High Seas.

The quality of this series is growing by leaps and bounds, with some top-notch pieces from it's staple of regular contributors including: Mat Tait, Tim Danko, Frank & Becky, Sophie McMillian and others. The presentation of this issue is also an improvement, with nice clean reproduction that really showcases the artwork to optimal effect without showing any production seams the occasionally distracted in the previous issues.

The pieces in this issues are nicely diverse, a view into the ongoing interests and projects of each artist.

Frank & Becky's owl infatuation continues with a historical twist, while Melbourne artist Mandy Ord contributes a nice auto-bio strip chronicling a night out after a long week working.

Above: A page from 'Operations and Passages' by Chris Cudby. Copyright Chis Cudby 2009.

A except from Chis Cudby's 'Operations and Passages' shows a lot of promise, and Jerome's Tintin VS Akira is a fun discussion of the differences between these two great works and the joys of comics discovery in general (let's hope Jerome puts more solo work out there!).

Above: Robert Walser's Choice Walk by Tim Danko. Copyright Tim Danko 2009.

Tim Danko and Mat Tait both contribute very polished pieces that are clearly part of a larger body of work.

Tim Danko has been producing some very intriguing comics mash-ups of late, combining comics with found literature to interesting effect. This piece combines extracts from Robert Walser's prose with a comic featuring a pair of ghostly ciphers with a Dada-like effect. It's off-set by a narration strip that runs along the bottom of the pages before merging with the main comic in the final panel. It's layout is well realised and invites repeat reading and multiple interpretations. For more of Danko's unique work check out his website which also features animated comics utilising a similar approach.

Above: 25/07/09 by Mat Tait. Copyright Mat Tait 2009.

Mat Tait's piece is a moody rumination on the nature of memory and regret. As always his work is clinically clean, a crisp world of inky shadows and bright whites with style to burn (and a scary, full-stop of a dog!). It's an evocative, well developed style which leaves you hoping a longer work will be forth-coming from Mat sometime soon.

Matt Hunkin's comic as interview piece 'Evil Genius', about a Wellington cartoonist Ahzan (who produces comics that can be seen at his family's Curry Takeaway) is a great watercolour comic that really isn't done justice in black and white. It has a similar feeling to some of the watercolour comics Eddie Campbell has been doing recently, and you should really check out the colour reproduction at the exhibition to really appreciate it.

Above: Karl Wills with the original artwork from 'Anal Atrocities'.

This issue also features an interview with Karl Wills by Matt Emery, focusing on Wills' mid-nineties comic-strip 'Anal Atrocities'. Wills has been keeping a fairly low profile of late, so for many of fans it's a welcome update on what Karl is working on now, and when you can expect to see more of his work in print (apparently you can expect a complete box-set of 'Jessica of the Schoolyard' from Meltdown Comics next year, along with some new comics featuring 'Connie Radar').

Above: Prints of the artwork from Radio as Paper #3 on display at The Hight Seas.

Prints of the artwork from this issue will be on display at The High Seas till the 8th of October. This is easily the best comics culture gallery space to be based in Auckland for some time and deserves your support. There are more great exhibitions on the way, so if you're interested in New Zealand comics this is a vital hub of Auckland's comics activity. Stop by to see the artwork and be sure to pick up an issue of Radio as Paper #3 for only $3!

For more information on Radio as Paper check out it's blogspot, and for updates on The High Seas take a peak at their website.

-AK!

Below: Some photos from the Radio as Paper #3 launch.