I've spent the past week or two making headway in my "music-come-comic room" (essentially, our home's double garage). For years, yes years, I have worked around my disarray within this space, and I have finally done something about it! It's now positively organised!

​I'm not sure where I am going to fit all the stock of the new books in, though...! Iron Outlaw is still getting proof-read/corrected. I was going to work on the new John Dixon/Air Hawk volume, but I'm still searching for a specific article I need to include in the first volume. (I'm sure it's in my filing cabinet!) In the meantime, Dillon Naylor has asked me to publish another of his books. How can I say "No"?! And, because I like to keep you, dear Reader, up to speed before everyone else, here's the scoop....

Yep! There it is! The next book to be published by Comicoz! Pop Culture & 2 Minute Noodles. It's going to be a 270+ page hardcover volume, featuring all the comics from the early 1990s as well as about 30 pages of all-new material. Dillon Naylor and designer Jeremy Macpherson have been working hard on this for months and are now finishing off the layouts. The Kickstarter will be announced later this month, 

I'm also slated to appear at my one-and-only show for 2025. Coming up in early August is my favourite event: Comicstreet in the Queen Steet Mall on August 2nd! Following my radio conversation with Steve Austin of ABC Radio Brisbane a few weeks ago, there was talk of a live broadcast happening at the event. I'm not sure if that's still the case, although it would be a wonderful exposure for the local comic creators if it does take place. Still, something I am looking forward to...!   

Send me an email (to [email protected]) with your postal address or a snail mail (to PO Box 187 Margate Beach, 4019, Queensland, Australia) and again give me your postal address. I shall only then share the news. Didn't you wonder why Glenn Lumsden wasn't drawing those Giant-Size Phantom covers?!

As I am typing this, The Complete Iron Outlaw has mere hours to complete its campaign on Kickstarter. I'm both pleased and humbled by the incredible support of people to allow it to reach -- and surpass -- it's financial goal. The proof copies have arrived, and in the hands of co-editor Philip Bentley and designer Ryan McDonald-Smith. All three of us are presently checking everything related to the book to ensure there will be no mistakes when we prepare the final files for the printer. One has already been found! See if you can spot it!

Artist Gregor McAlpine was first to spot it! (Don't feel bad if you didn't notice it. Neither did co-editor Philip Bentley, designer Ryan McDonald-Smith or myself!) I've generally made mistakes in my publishing before, most -- but not all -- have been because I didn't get a proof copy made. (The most glaring of which I shared more recently!) Some errors have also been made inside the Iron Outlaw book, so we'll all take a long hard look at the internal contents and work on this before we head off to the printer. Otherwise, the book looks great: I like the paper stock, the dustjacket, the boards to the cover. The interior design (endpapers especially) are wonderful. (Thanks, Ryan!) I am really proud of the way the book presents. 

Having said that, I did want to share Greg's cartoon reaction to the incorrect spelling of his name! This cartoon (left) won't be in the book, although I have shared it with all the people who have pledged on the crowd-funding site as a little "extra". There's also an extra "Reward" or three for all who have pledged to support the physical copy of the book on Kickstarter (which I won't share here, to ensure those people get an 'exclusive' for that support).

I'm presently preparing for other projects to round out 2025. Ryan will (if he's not too busy) begin working on The Cloak volume soon. This may be the last book we work on together, although not the last time we work together. (That sounds really quite cryptic, doesn't it? It's just that I can't let the cat out of the bag completely about everything I am working on; not even here on my own Comicoz blog-website!!) I can say, however, that I'm preparing the first of sixteen Air Hawk volumes that I talked about recently, and that Dillon Naylor will soon allow me to announce another collaboration between us in the next few weeks....

I'll do my best to ensure that you, dear Reader, learn first about these thing here -- on this blog -- before I publish it anywhere else first. To be sure, though, check out my Nat Karmichael (Comicoz) Facebook page. Although sometimes that carries boring non-comic things like sunrises or my musing about rubbish bins, and the like...!

One thing that always embarrasses me, is finding a mistake in a book or comic I have published. Worse: someone else finding it, and being honest enough to let me know (which is nice, in a way). Despite four attempts at proofreading John Dixon's Air Hawk (Issue Four), I failed to see that the middle two strips on page 5 were repeated from earlier in the comic. Here, below for the record, are the right strips that should have been printed. As the book has already been printed (and, alas! I have not found the time to place it on the Comicoz Store page yet), I am going to have to let everyone who gets a copy know about the error. Embarrassing!

Better news: The proof copies of Iron Outlaw arrived in the mail yesterday afternoon. Here's a picture of me looking chuffed and holding up one of the three copies. There are a few things that we have to correct, but I'm allowing fellow editor Philip Bentley and designer Ryan McDonald-Smith an opportunity to look at their proof copies first to see if they have further suggestions. There is just over a week to go before the Kickstarter campaign comes to a close. (Click here to check it out ... and pledge if you have not done so already!) I'm also planning on showing the proof copy off publicly for the first time this Sunday at the Brisbane Comic Market, being held at 480 Annerley Road, Annerley from 10 am (to 1 pm).

Sad news: Caricaturist, Cartoonist, and a kind friend I have known since 1983, Ken Dove, suddenly passed away last week. I had planned on speaking at his Memorial Service (held yesterday in Caloundra), but I have been struck down for almost a week with the dreaded 'Man Flu (Queensland variant)' after a recent period of house-cat sitting in Nambour. Ken was the caricaturist of the late John Ryan (on the inside back flap of Panel by Panel). He and I also I worked on a ten-page comic book story back in the day. (A comic planned to be called "The Australian Comics Group #2" [sic] but never - yet? - published.) See below for the first of ten pages we completed. And, to the right, one of the last photographs of Ken, taken with me in his unit less than a month before he passed away. (Photo taken by his wife Barbara Dove.)

Good news: Some publishing news in the wings as I type this. Ryan and I will soon be working on The Collected Cloak once we put Iron Outlaw to bed. And Dillon Naylor and Jeremy Macpherson are working behind the scenes with a new book (Pop Culture and 2 Minute Noodles) that will be soon be published by Comicoz. And there are other projects in the works that I can't talk of just yet, that are just as exciting! In the meantime, what of Air Hawk?

Scoop news: Okay, here's the drum! You read it here first! The next issue of Air Hawk will be a hard-cover book, featuring five complete adventures and limited to only 300 copies. The book is planned to be the first in a total series of sixteen volumes, covering the complete Air Hawk dailies. This is the biggest and most ambitious publishing project I have ever decided to undertake, and most likely to be my final publishing swan-song. The idea will be to publish at least one volume every six months for the next eight years, with the result that the complete dailies of this famous Australian comic strip will have been reprinted in full....and, for the main, reprinted - like the current comic series - from the original artwork. Already, some steps have been undertaken: an Introduction has been written by a well-know Australian writer, the cover has been drawn, the adventures selected. The format will be with much larger strip size, and the volumes very much like the landscape format of the "Library of American Comics" books (Terry and the Pirates, Pogo, Little Orphan Annie, etc). Three strips to a page, one weeks' worth over two open pages of the book; with the only difference being that the original art -- with all the mistakes and white outs, and the like -- being visible for the dedicated comic connoisseur. And, yes, available to the overseas fans too! 

Because you have been patient, here's the proposed logo, just for you, dear reader. What??! You want to see the cover??! Who's drawing it??! Why Volume Six??! Ahh! I want to keep some things a little secret for a while yet! Just to be frank, the remaining framework for the series is presently being carefully planned and will be announced more publicly later in 2025.

In the meantime, Ken Dove has been on my mind for most of the week. I thought I would end up this post sharing (once again, for some people) his caricature he did of me, way back in 1993. It is, without doubt, my favourite caricature (with no offence intended to others I know who work in the field). Sure, I look a little different these day, but I felt he captured the essence of me on the day. He's going to be missed by many people, not least of whom will be his wife, Barbara, and his extended family, and friends, to whom I send my most heart-felt condolences, thoughts and prayers...    ​

Here's the new video sprouting the Iron Outlaw campaign now on Kickstarter. Want to own your own copy? Not yet available on the Comicoz Store, you'll have to head over to Kickstarter by clicking here. At the present time, we are awaiting proof copies to arrive. When they do, you'll find out here first!

Clearly, there's been much "Radio Silence" from Comicoz HQ (this website) for the past month. Most of it can be attributed to a recent four-week house sit in a nice scenic location a few hours drive from our home, and the fact (*curses*) the home did not have adequate internet capacity to download the Iron Outlaw files to the printer. And, on returning home recently, there was -- until this morning -- some difficulty in accessing the internet on our (my?) computer. Still, as some of you may already be aware, I was able to launch the Kickstarter campaign to the aforesaid book last night. And for those not aware, here's the link: click here.

While on 'holiday', I sent out a snail-mail letter (one of those things you write then place in an envelope and attach a stamp to help it get to its destination) to as many people who have asked me to let them know what's going on in the Comicoz World as possible. (IF you missed out, send me an email - [email protected] - and I shall attempt to add you to my mailing list.) In the letter, I shared the above illustration. It's a little introduction to a character called "The Cloak", and one of the next books to be released by Comicoz. Mike Higgs is the writer-artist, and he has been very patient with me while I have prioritised Iron Outlaw. I'm going to tell you a lot more about both the creative and the book in the months ahead. 

Someone I don't need to introduce to long term readers of this website, is our old mate Jim Hawk. Jim's the main character in John Dixon's Air Hawk comic strip, which I have begun reprinting in comic form (again!), this time from the original artwork and highlighting John's dailies, consecutively from 1963. I'm presently working on issue four with John's son Andrew and designer Don Ticchio, with plans to have that issue (and all past issues) available to everyone. Yes, even overseas readers! I was going to feature the wonderful cover artwork by Frantz Kantor (left), drawn way back in 2010. However, Frantz recently asked if he could re-draw the cover. Who was I to say "No"?! The brand-new spanking cover planned is on the right! You're one of the first to view it...!

The new comic -- as well as some exciting news moving forward after the fourth issue -- will be announced when that issue is made available via Kickstarter ...sometime after the Iron Outlaw campaign reaches its conclusion.

Of course, there are other comic and book projects in the wings, but I'm going to be spoil-sport and not share them with you today! Perhaps on another occasion! In the meantime, I have a public speech that I am due to give to a Rotary Club function in a little over a month's time. Now, what do you think I ought to talk about....??! 

So here we are! You are going to be among the first to view the video on Kickstarter to accompany the campaign for The Complete Iron Outlaw. There's going to be a Special Early Bird Offer that will give readers a substantial discount on the finished book....but will only be available on Kickstarter. 

I often get asked: Why are my books so expensive? Short answer: there are creatives to pay! From the designer of the book, the video creator, the price I paid for the original artwork, and of course the printing! But, the result for this book is  really going to be worth it! You must remember this has been an ongoing project for the past, er, can it really be... eight years?! The Complete Iron Outlaw is also slated to be a limited edition...so (plug, plug!) the best thing you can do is ensure you pledge for your own copy.

Kickstarter launch will be the 25th April 2025 and the campaign will run for only 45 days...! 

It's just one of those things. Tropical Cyclone Alfred threw as much chaos into my comic world as Diamond's financial troubles have! Mrs K and I were without power for almost five days, making life difficult to post anything here on Comicoz HQ, on Facebook, and even preparing the next Air Hawk! But today we're back online after the power was reconnected yesterday....

The Iron Outlaw Kickstarter project is just waiting on a video (due tomorrow) and then will be ready for an ANZAC Day launch. Air Hawk is coming along well. (I was actually dreaming about it last night, which gave me an idea for Issue #4 and announcing the plans beyond, even without Diamond.) Just before TC Alfred hit, I had an opportunity to meet up with friends Neville Bain, Graeme Cliffe, and Jeremy Macpherson. Our monthly meetings are always a joy, as they allow for the exchanging of ideas, and sharing of comic knowledge. Here's a picture of my friends from an earlier meeting...

Carlene and I are planning on a three-week house-sit shortly, so some of my computer work post-Alfred is trying to tie up all loose ends and preparing for more comic work on my return. Without power and while the sun shone, I've managed to get more reading in (both comics and books), including works by Will Eisner, Joe Sacco, as well as Archie Roach's autobiography. It's been an interesting time, but one I'm not keen to replicate any time soon!

I don't think I have had so many ladies being so attentive to what I had to say earlier this month! I gave a speech on "Australian Women Cartoonists: A Forgotten Contribution?" to the VIEW (Voice, Interests, and Education of Women) Club on February 4th. They do wonderful work and are non-religious and non-political. VIEW Clubs are "the only national women's organisation solely focused on supporting and advocating for the education of young disadvantaged Australians". You can find out more by clicking here.

I was pleasantly surprised at the reception to my speech. Everyone interested in what I had to say about such cartooning/comic luminaries as Hilda Rix, Ida Rentoul, Pixie O'Harris, May Gibbs, Molly Horseman, Kathleen O'Brien, Moira and Kathleen Bertram, Cathy Wilcox, Judy Horacek, Trudy Cooper, Jackie Ryan, Queenie Chan, and Teloka and Pi. And it was wonderful to have everyone in the audience participate in the interactive component of the speech! Based on the reception, I've been given an opportunity for a future speaking engagement on June 4th. (Now, what am I going to speak about this time...?!)

My last payment from Queensland Health took place in early February (almost twelve months since I last worked in the Psychiatric Emergency Centre). While I miss my colleagues and (most of) the patients, I can't say I miss the daily grind of trying to find beds for the most vulnerable in our society, those with a mental illness who need a bed to be admitted into. It's become a whole new world: trying to navigate the requirements of Services Australia, being home all day with Carlene ("Mrs K" or "Mrs Comical"), and working out some future plans for us together.

From a creative perspective, it's been somewhat frustrating with the situation at Diamond Distributors. I decided just at the point of solicitation to pull the plug on Diamond, fearing that money expended might not be recovered. It's meant that the planned John Dixon's Air Hawk #3 won't be heading into overseas comic shops as planned. (The book is being printed, however.) I'm a little perplexed as what to do with some of the cover/interior artworks ... and other properties ... that I have paid royalties for. But it's early days yet, and some things still need to be ironed out. A representative of Diamond has told me that they believe they will have the situation "under control" in a month or two, but -- as I told them -- I'm not holding my breath. There are other (still secret) projects that I was working on in the background (and, in some cases, still going ahead with) that have yet to be announced. For example, there will be a planned crowd-funder for Iron Outlaw (at last!) and a new-look Air Hawk: both of which should be made public in the next couple of months.

Here, below, are some images I shall share with you. Some of these pictures are appearing for the very first time. Another scoop for loyal readers of this infrequent, monthly, blog!! Until next time...     

Before printing takes place for our third issue, I'm making a special pitch to allow more people to become more familiar with Australia's greatest comic strip: John Dixon's Air Hawk. I'm offering the first 200 people (within Australia) to obtain a copy of Air Hawk absolutely FREE... Does that interest you? All you have to do is pay the $15* postage and packing costs. Seem too good to be true? Check it out here... now!

*I was trying to make this $10, but the bots behind Weebly won't seem to let me do this. So, I may try and include another comic I have published in the past to make up for this. What a bargain, hey?!

Okay! You want to try before you buy? Here! Check out a FREE Air Hawk adventure AND some history on creative John Dixon... Simply scan the QR code below...