NZ Graphic Novel Picks for Best International Comics of 2019!

Above: The Adventures of Tupaia by Courtney Sina Meredith and Mat Tait. Copyright  Courtney Sina Meredith and Mat Tait 2020.

Every year I contribute some New Zealand graphic novel picks for Paul Gravett's 'Best Comics of the Year: An international Perspective', highlighting some of the standout graphic novel from around the world. There's some great international reads on this list from such countries as: Argentina, Poland, Finland, South Korea, Serbia, Sweden, Singapore, Switzerland, Portugal, Denmark and Brazil.

The New Zealand titles I included this year were: The Adventures of Tupaia by Courtney Sina Meredith & Mat Tait, published by Allen & Unwin NZ; Te Tiriti o Waitangi / The Treaty of Waitangi by Toby Morris with Ross Calman, Mark Derby & Piripi Walker, published by Lift Education; Mophead by Selina Tusitala Marsh, published by Aotearoa Books, The Tea Dragon Festival by Katie O’Neill, published by Oni Press, Palimpsest: Documents From a Korean Adoption by Lisa Wool-rim Sjöblom, published by Drawn & Quarterly; Let Me Be Frank by Sarah Laing, published by Victoria University Press; and Rufus Marigold by Ross Murray, published by Earth’s End Publishing.

You can read Best Comics of 2019: An International Perspective Part 1 HERE, and Part 2 HERE.

- AK!

NEW RELEASE: Let Me Be Frank by Sarah Laing

Above: The cover of Let Me Be Frank by Sarah Laing. Copyright Sarah Laing 2019.

Hi folks, sorry I've been snowed under with day-job work, so it's time to catch-up on the recent comics related new releases, starting with Let Me Be Frank by Sarah Laing!
This is a full-colour collection of almost ten years of her blog comics, from 2010 to today, published by Victoria University Press. Here's the press release:

Let Me Be Frank brings Sarah Laing’s popular autobiographical comic series together for the first time. Sarah Laing began blogging her comics in 2009 as a way to shed light on her fiction writing and to record life before it evaporated. The comics soon had a large audience, eager for the next installment about Sarah’s parenting fails and successes, writing, her obsession with Katherine Mansfield, her family’s history, pet mice, sex, clothes and more. Let Me Be Frank is a witty, whip-smart comic collection that is ever disarmingly frank.

I'll look to have a review for it up soon, in the meantime, here's some press Sarah has done to promote the book:

Over at The Sapling she did an illustrated interview with cartoonist Giselle Clarkson, which you can read HERE
She featured on RNZ's Standing Room Only interview show, which you can listen to HERE
She has also written an essay featured on The Spinoff about her 'secret origin' as a cartoonist and creativity, which you can read HERE

Let Me Be FrankSarah Laing
352 pages, full colour
ISBN: 9781776562909
$35.00
Available now

- AK!

Weekend Listening: Contemporary New Zealand Comics

Above: An illustration by Jem Yoshioka.

Recently Radio NZ show, Standing Room Only, featured a discussion with three cartoonists, Jem Yoshioka, Toby Morris and Sarah Laing about the state of contemporary New Zealand comics - particularly comic strips, which have largely migrated from newspapers to online platforms. All three cartoonists have created an online presence for their work: Toby Morris currently creates the non-fiction comic series The Side Eye for The Spinoff's website; Jem Yoshioka has an ongoing webcomic Circuits and Veins available on international comic platform Webtoon, and Sarah Laing produces her webcomic blog Let Me Be Frank.

You can listen in on their wide-ranging conversation on New Zealand comics and their own work HERE.

- AK!

Weekend Reading: Oneiric, Let Me Be Frank and The Pencilsword

Above: A page from Oneiric by Sarah Lund. Copyright 2016 Sarah Lund.

Here's some local comics to catch-up on this weekend while kicking back with your digital reader or laptop: 

Oneiric is a new webcomic by Sarah Lund, it is about a girl named Daisy who is about to celebrate her 15th birthday by having a shared dream party with her friends. Lund's drawing style is uniquely her own, with a vivid, changing colour palette that adds a sense of warmth and intimacy - that perfectly suits it's subject of a close-knit group of friends. There's 16 pages of story so far, which you can read HERE.

Above: A page from Believing by Sarah Laing.

Sarah Laing's blog, Let Me Be Frank has been a hive of activity lately, with a several great and insightful new comic strips. There's Believing, a strip in which Laing contemplates the value of creating art in a world that seems to place little worth in it - a sentiment that any published writer or working artist can surely relate to. You can read the full strip HERE.

In Complicated, Laing considers the recent conversations surrounding begging bylaws in the inner city areas of Auckland and Wellington, and her own responses to being confronted with begging: is giving someone money the right thing to do? Like the title says, it's complicated. You can read the full strip HERE.

And most recently, One Morning in Karori, in which Sarah's daughter Violet awaits a visit from the Tooth Fairy. You can read the full strip HERE.

Above: A scene from The Pencilsword #25: Shifty Business. Copyright Toby Morris 2016.

In Pencilsword #25, Toby Morris looks at the shifty business of tax evasion by multi-nationals. You can read the full strip HERE.

- AK!

The Mighty NZ Comics Digital Update: Part 1

Above: The cover of Rena's Journey by Karl-Heinz Schradt. Copyright Karl-Heinz Schradt 2013.

The global audience for digital comics continues to grow exponentially, thanks to the ever increasing affordability of e-Readers, tablets and other digital viewing platforms. Over the last 15 years, webcomics and digital downloads have grown from a curious side development to an essential component of the comics industry. This development has offered huge opportunities for upcoming cartoonists to get their comics seen without the high costs of printing; a particularly great development for cartoonists from countries like New Zealand - which are too small to support a local print industry, offering the potential to court an international audience by sharing their work online.

There's such a growing wave of NZ digital comics available that I'm going to have to make this a multi-parter!

Above: A trailer for Rena's Journey by Karl-Heinz Schradt. Copyright Karl-Heinz Schradt 2013.

First up, Karl-Heinz Schradt spent several years completing his first graphic novel, Rena's Journey. The 148 page graphic novel is an adventure story set in modern day New Zealand, drawing on the rich history of Maori mythology. You can read the  complete story on Schradt's website HERE, and if you'd like to enjoy the story in print form, you can order it HERE for $29.99NZ or at participating Auckland booksellers.

Above: The return of Kiwiman, by Matthew Kelly. Copyright Matthew Kelly 2013.

Kiwiman, the Wingless Wonder returns! Matthew Kelly's satirical take on a local superhero goes weekly, starting today with the first page of 'Crossover on Finite Islands'. Check back in every Friday for the latest update from the Kiwiman website HERE.

Above: A promo piece from The Aegean Era: Origins, by Mark Holland with Brad Goff. Copyright Mark Holland 2013.

If you're a reader of Faction Comics, you may recall the short intro piece for Mark Holland's The Aegean Era: Origins that appeared in issue #1. The first chapter of this mythology based 'Mythpunk' adventure is now completed and available to read HERE.

Above: Sarah Laing looks back at her time as a radio DJ. Copyright Sarah Laing 2013.

Over at he blog Let Me Be Frank, Sarah Laing has produced a four part series on her experiences working as a radio DJ. You can read them here: Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4!

Above: More unsettling adventures for Mr. Unpronounceable! Copyright Tim Molloy 2013.

Tim Molloy's Mr Unpronounceable Adventures collection was a sleeper hit when it was released last year, and he's an opportunity to read a brand new story via Molloy's Tumblr page HERE.

There's plenty more local comics material out there in cyberspace, so read up and I'll have another update for you to check out next week!

- AK!

Coming Attractions: NZ Comics to watch out for in 2014

Above: The cover of Incomplete Works by Dylan Horrocks. Copyright Dylan Horrocks 2013.

It's been another banner year for local comics publishing, and the future continues to look brighter with a very promising line-up of titles already announced for next year!

Recently Victoria University Press announced that in March they will be releasing Incomplete Works, a collection of short stories by Dylan Horrocks. Assembled together for the first time, these stories span the length of Horrocks' career, from early contributions to Fox Comics like 'Little Death (1986)', to rare Pickle gems - 'Letter from Catwoman (1991)', and other memorable stories like 'There Are No Words In My Mouth' (2000), 'The Physics Engine' (2006) and many more. It will come in at 192 pages, for an RRP of $35.00.

Horrocks' other major project, The Magic Pen (which you can read online for free HERE), is also nearing completion, with an eye to publish later next year.

Above: Morgan Goes to Nowhere, by Richard Fairgray, Terry Jones & Tara Black. Copyright Richard Fairgray, Terry Jones & Tara Black 2013.

Blastosaurus creator Richard Fairgray and his team of collaborators have recently turned their attention to publishing picture books, with their well received first effort, Morgan, the Moreporks and the Moon currently out now. Co-written by Fairgray, Tara Black and Terry Jones, Morgan's night-time adventure will surely be a hit with any child who enjoyed the picture books of the late Maurice Sandak (In the Night Kitchen would be a good comparison here). Morgan's next adventure, Morgan Goes to Nowhere, is due out in April.

Above: Moa #4, by James Davidson. Copyright James Davidson 2013.

Over at Pikitia Press publisher/blogger Matt Emery has just announced an exciting line-up of forthcoming NZ comics for 2014. This includes a new issue of James Davidson's Moa and Sarah Laing's Let Me Be Frank; a collection of Tim Bollinger's Wellington Stories, Barry Linton's Lucky Aki, MVH's webcomic Die Popular, and Bob McMahon's Claire Melody.

Above: The New Supreme #2, by Harry Bennett (1940s). Copyright the Harry Bennett Estate 2013.

For NZ comics history buffs there will also be The Art of Harry Bennett, by Tim Bollinger, Geoff Harrison and Matt Emery, which will finally piece together the story behind one of NZ's most enigmatic cartoonists; and New Zealand Reprint Comics, a survey and catalogue of New Zealand's rich history of reprinting foreign material from the 1940's - 1970's, compiled by comics historian and collector Geoff Harrison.

There's still plenty more titles to look forward to in the New Year, but we are clearly already off to a great start.

- AK!

News From Earth's End: September Edition

Above: The cover of Faction #2, by Christian Pearce.

The second issue of the latest NZ comics anthology, Faction #2 is out now! It's 90 pages of kiwi comics goodness, featuring: Allan Xia, Cory Mathis, Damon Keen, the Sheehan Bros, Rachel Royale, Michel Mulipola, Ned Wenlock, James Squires, Mukpuddy and myself!

It's available from selected retailers and the Faction website HERE for $24.95 (+ postage).

Above: The cover of Moth City: Volume 3 Part 1, by Tim Gibson. Copyright Tim Gibson 2013.

Tim Gibson's webcomic Moth City continues to draw great reviews and industry attention, with it's fifth issue dropping on ComiXology next Wednesday HERE.

Above: Let Me Be Frank #4: Celebrity by Sarah Laing. Copyright Sarah Laing 2013.

As a part of the Auckland Libraries' Comic Book Month, author and cartoonist Sarah Laing will be giving a talk about he latest novel, The Fall of Light, and comic books in general at the Point Chevalier Library, this Saturday Sept 28th from 2.30pm -3.30pm. She has currently released four issues of her excellent comic series Let Me Be Frank through Pikita Press, that can be purchased online HERE.

Above: Issues of Let Me Be Frank on the Earth's End Spinner Rack!

Overload, the annual NZ Comic & Manga convention returns in 2013 with a much larger venue, the ASB Stadium, Kohimarama road, Auckland. The event features a range of comic creators and illustrators selling their work as well as a cosplay contest, and special guest manga artist Range Murata. It takes place this Saturday 28th of September, from 10am - 6pm. Entry is $5, with FREE parking available!

For more details on what to expect from Overload this weekend, visit the website HERE.

The From Earth's End: The Best of New Zealand Comics collection is on the way; I'll have news in the coming weeks for the exclusive book launch in Auckland and signings taking place in November! For more updates and exclusive content make sure you LIKE the Facebook page HERE, and follow me on Twitter: @adriankinnaird. More to come soon...

-AK!