COMICOZ! Sharing Australian Comics with the World. - Comic Related News

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Time to Contemplate ..

1/12/2021

Here we are at the beginning of the last month of the year. Time to contemplate which comic or publication I ought to award the Comicoz Best Australian Original Comic for the year 2021. Suggestions welcomed.

There's also going to be a special announcement made here on the day. Keep 5th January in your diary and keep your eyes peeled. And what do these blokes have to do with it?

Batrisha and the Creepy Caretaker ... by Dillon Naylor

11/11/2021

The cover of Dillon Naylor's new book ... being published by Comicoz.

So... I‘m familiar with Batrisha but what the hell’s a Creepy Caretaker... and why do I even need to know about stuff like this, anyway? Well... firstly, calm down... and secondly, I’m glad you asked, because it’s an interesting story.

As any well-read millennial will tell you, Batrisha was a comic feature that ran in K-Zone magazine about a international exchange student who is also undead. It’s mainly set in the home of the host family or at her school but early in the run, I had the idea that Batrisha would want to escape every now and then and just hang out in the graveyard. Reclining on the moon-chilled marble stones, writing poetry and listening to the sounds of worms burrowing and the lonely cry of the whippoorwill. I imagined a caretaker who works there (at night, for no apparent reason) endlessly raking leaves, who loves to tell a good story.

Pictured here (below) is the original design and model sheet of Mr Cryptmoss... then after exhaustive brainstorming: Old Joe Gumboot. The other images (above) are the thumbnail, line art and finished coloured page of his first appearance. This short story was the basis of the new hardcover book, expanding on that idea and reuniting the characters in a completely self-contained... well, not a graphic novel or a storybook.. a lushly illustrated ghost story interspersed by poetry in the form of silent movie-style title cards.

Trust me, you’ll dig it. It’s so close to being fully funded, so ... please consider: kck.st/3jm1FiT

Art Copyright Dillon Naylor

Art Copyright Dillon Naylor

Art Copyright Dillon Naylor

Dillon Naylor's "Batrisha and the Creepy Caretaker"

25/10/2021

Dillon Naylor and I were going to launch the Kickstarter campaign for his new book Batrisha and the Creepy Caretaker on Halloween. Without going into the details of it, the launch took place a few days early and has already racked up half the proposed funds. Here's a place where you can learn more about it: Click here. I'd write a bit more about it, except I have a Doctor's appointment tomorrow ... before my afternoon shift. Let me just be brief. I am excited about this project, and Dillon has been one of the easiest creatives to work with.

Emile book funded ... and another on the way ...

14/10/2021

I have to admit, I had my doubts the Emile Mercier book would reach it's Kickstarter goal.
But it did! And that was a relief!
I'm presently pressing on getting the final pages ready (including the one where we thank all those who pledged in the campaign), and getting the Rewards ready.

And, added to that, I've agreed to assist Dillon Naylor in getting a fabulous new book under way!

And slowly getting Iron Outlaw ready...

And being asked to go back to full-time at work.

Am I a glutton for punishment or what ...??!

Here's a sketch from Dillon's new book. Surely there could be a place to put it in the book ...?

My email (today) to the National Cartoon Gallery

8/10/2021

Although these has been much support from within the Australian cartooning and comic-loving community, I'm honestly concerned that the Kickstarter campaign to raise funds for the printing of the Emile Mercier book is in danger of not reaching its funding goal.

The wonderful promotional TV segment by journalist Alison Paul on Monday night has certainly provided a bit of a boost to Pledges made.

In case you missed it, here's the link here: www.nbnnews.com.au/2021/10/05/emile-mercier-cartoon-book-to-be-published/?fbclid=IwAR1f3B0oSnpEDolF1BZk4RJmhf02bsdMnqXHHHlYF9oRr9gaicJVP9sD46U

However, with less than three days to go -- and remember, Kickstarter is an all-or-nothing funding platform that has to finish on the specified timeline -- the project seems to be stuck on 59% of required funding. I've certainly attempted to promote it within social media circles, and with email campaigns. I can't do it alone!

If there was a way of getting just ten of the National Cartoon Gallery's many sponsors willing to back $250 each in the "True Believer" level of support, we'd be almost funded!

Perhaps if each could be offered ten copies of the published book, an opportunity to attend the book launch and exhibition, a limited edition copy of one of Emile's cartoons: would that be tempting enough?

I'm even willing to put all people's names who have pledged into a draw at the launch, and offer my printer's proof copy of the book (a one of a kind) to the person whose name is drawn.

Any other ideas to reach the required total welcomed!!

I'll give you a call later today to discuss...

All-new, all-ages work from Dillon Naylor coming from Comicoz!

29/9/2021

Many, many years ago, artist Dillon Naylor approached me about working on the new Felix the Cat comic book I was keen on publishing. The venture never took off, although I have had the opportunity to publish some of Dillon's work over the past decade: from stories in Oi Oi Oi! to... this latest venture! I'm really happy to announce the agreement we have reached in publishing the all-ages book, Batrisha and the Creepy Caretaker written and illustrated by Dillon. This is Dillon's finest work to date. I'll tease you a little by sharing the cover, and the back cover's text: "Gloomwood Hollow Cemetery. A dark, forgotten place, visited once a year by its creepy caretaker, Old Joe. Now for the very first time, someone else is there, sitting in the shadows, waiting. A pale, dark-haired little girl and her two-tailed cat, hungering for the perfect scary story." Doesn't that get you a little excited?!

But that's all I am sharing with you for now! Look forward to more details on the Comicoz Facebook page ... soon. This here's the link!

Ginger Meggs' stamp of approval...

11/9/2021

Great to see Ginger Meggs being offered an opportunity to be honoured by Australia Post this week. On behalf of the Australian Cartoonists Association I've written to the Philatelic group who decide who gets a gong and who doesn't, to at least consider another release on Australian cartoonists*...preferably in 2024, when the Association celebrates its centenary. No definitive reply just yet!

* The last major issue of stamps featuring cartoonists was way back in 1988....

Emile Mercier - Media Release

6/9/2021

Remembering Sydney

It’s difficult in these modern times to recall a simpler, less-complicated time for people that live in Australia’s most populated city, Sydney. The running rampant COVID-19 virus seems to have stripped the humourous heart out of Sydneysiders, and indeed the country. People, everywhere, are increasingly anxious and fearful for the unknown of our future.

Perhaps it’s time to look back at a gentler time, when there was a different sense of community, and there was humour in the everyday. Cartoonist Emile Mercier was able to find such joy and shared it daily with his cartoons in the Sydney newspaper The Sun from 1949 to 1968. There were no politics in his drawings, rather he highlighted the everyday places and people that are the soul of a city – the drunks, the privileged, the housewives, and the alleys, the buildings, the sporting events, and more. He also captured an inner-city Sydney now long gone, with the terraced-houses, backyards, with the cafes and pubs.

Mercier was well-qualified to comment on the humour he saw in the city. He came as an outsider, from New Caledonia where he was born in 1901. His father threatened to cut him out of the family fortune if his abandoned his heritage. Emile remained determined; he wanted to carve out his own future when he arrived in 1919.

As he did. Mercier worked in a variety of occupations including a spruiker at the Royal Easter Show, a deck hand, an office boy, and many others, before he was encouraged to become a full-time freelance cartoonist. His cartoons and comic books reflected his love of people, and what he saw as the strangeness of the Australian way of life.

ir streets, their homes, and always with a humour that steered far from politics. After twenty years as the newspaper’s daily cartoonist, Mercier retired in 1968. He passed away in 1981, leaving behind a collection of his works and a cartooning legacy that continues to be recalled by many devotees to the craft.

For many years after Emile’s death, his son Michael had pondered on what to do with thousands of his father’s original artworks. A couple of years ago, he decided on donating them to the National Cartoon Gallery, in Coffs Harbour, New South Wales. The Gallery holds the largest collection of original cartoons in the southern hemisphere and seems a fit and proper place for housing them.

However, given Emile Mercier was the chronicler of the everyday Sydneysider, it seemed a travesty to just to store them and have them forgotten. In these grim times, the world – and, especially, Sydney – is again in need of his humour to lift the spirits of people.

Member of the Australian Cartoonists Association and comic book publisher Nat Karmichael was entrusted to work on bringing a collection of Emile’s cartoons to greater prominence. Enlisting the support of a small group of cartoonists, academics, and some everyday Australians, Nat and his team selected many cartoons for publication.

The result is a book, soon to be released, called Emile Mercier: A Selection of Cartoons is in the end stages of production. Queensland-based Karmichael has launched a short crowd-funding campaign to raise funds for the project. “With all the anxiety and distress in the world today, there’s an even greater need to be able to laugh at ourselves to lift our spirits and hope for a brighter future” Karmichael said.

That’s exactly what Emile Mercier hoped for when he left his home in New Caledonia, arriving as an immigrant to Sydney just over one hundred years ago, and it’s his humourous slant on life that is again going to be shared with Sydney, and the world.

Emile Mercier: A Selection of Cartoons
ISBN (softcover): 9780994362339
Includes a short biography by Lindsay Foyle, former editor of The Bulletin, and an Introduction by Emile’s son, Michael Mercier. The book contains some never-before-seen personal family photos of Emile.

Get your copies early! The link to the Kickstarter campaign can be found here: http://kck.st/3kS78hx
After the campaign, limited copies can be obtained from the National Cartoon Gallery or at all good bookstores. Books will be distributed nationally by Novella Distribution.

For media enquiries contact Nat Karmichael at comicoz@live.com.au

Emile Mercier book campaign is launched today!!

4/9/2021

I always like to inform my Blog readers first. So, here is where you can click to go and check out the Emile Mercier Kickstarter campaign: kck.st/3kS78hx

Emile Mercier Kickstarter video...

25/8/2021

For readers of my Blog only: I have this morning submitted my Kickstarter for the Emile Mercier book to benefit the National Cartoon Gallery. We're due to get approval on the last day of this month ... Happy to take your feedback!

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