Blog Archives

Index of Air Hawk Dailies...

27/5/2016

Recently an Air Hawk Fan suggested I do this. And, to be fair, I do think I promised to do it a while ago. I'll later re-post it on the John Dixon tab. So, without further ado....
      TITLE                                                                          DATE                     WEEKS
01. Hyjack                                                                         11th May 1963                12
02. Lizard Man                                                                   August 1963                   10
03. Bullion Hunters                                                            October 1963                 13
04. Beauty and the Beast                                                  January 1964                 14
05. Arsenals Inc.                                                                April 1964                       16
06. Barnstormers                                                                July 1964                       17
07. Man from the Exosphere                                             November 1964              15
08. The Assassins                                                             March 1965                    14
09. Witch of Alawoona                                                      June 1965                       15
10. The Diviner                                                                  October 1965                  18
11. Assignment Unipurge                                                  February 1966                17
12. The Inheritors                                                              June 1966                       21
13. The Foxtrot Delta Juliette Affair                                  October 1966                   14
14. Ride a Wild Wind                                                        March 1967                      13
15. Requiem for an Iron Shark                                         June 1967                        16
16. Counterfeit                                                                  September 1967              13
17. Flashpoint                                                                   December 1967               13
18. The Gravy Plane                                                        March 1968                      14
19. The Time Pod                                                             July 1968                         16
20. By the Seat of his Pants                                             October 1968                   14
21. The Fugitives                                                              February 1969                 11
22. The Ansoe Charter                                                     May 1969                         15
23. The Ghost of Herbert J. Fogg                                    August 1969                     17
24. A Bird in the Hand                                                     December 1969                12
25. Vetol                                                                          March 1970                       14
26. The Brolga Story                                                       June 1970                         15
27. Anarchists                                                                 October 1970                    12
28. Kadaitcha                                                                  December 1970                11
29. The Con Merchants                                                   March 1971                      20
30. Ingot                                                                          August 1971                      14
31. Wildcat                                                                      November 1971                 15
32. Jetnappers                                                                February 1972                   12
33. A Bag Full of Wallabies                                             May 1972                          16
34. The Revenge of Johnny Rainbow                             September 1972                20
35. Kamikaze                                                                  January 1973                     14
36. The Prodical                                                              May 1973                          15
37. Jackaroo                                                                    August 1973                      15
38. Early Birds                                                                 December 1973                15
39. The Dream Maker                                                     March 1974                       15
40. The Sleeper                                                              July 1974                           18
41. The Stunt                                                                  November 1974                 14
42. Taboo                                                                       February 1975                    13
43. The Legion                                                               May 1975                            16
44. Thunderhead                                                            September 1975                21
45. The Contract                                                             February 1976                  22
46. Boatman of the Dead                                               July 1976                           14
47. The Danzig Incident                                                 October 1976                     14
48. Rip-Off                                                                      January 1977                     16
49. Yowie                                                                       May 1977                            20
50. The Lame Duck                                                       September 1977                 18
51. The Black Triangle                                                  February 1978                     14
52. The Sandman                                                          May 1978                            15
53. The Lady in Waiting                                                 August 1978                       18
54. The Vultures                                                            December 1978                  14
55. Min-Min                                                                   April 1979                            16
56. Finders Keepers                                                     July 1979                              12
57. The Drafus Affair                                                    October 1979                       11
58. Finnegan's Fortress                                               January 1980                        15
59. Foxy Lady                                                              April 1980                              17
60. The Beast of Bantry Wells                                     August 1980                          19
61. Death Song                                                            December 1980                    12
62. King Sound Caper                                                 March 1981                           15
63. The Queen Bee                                                     July 1981                               14
64. The Icarus Project                                                 October 1981                        13
65. Point of No Return                                                 January 1982                        14
66. Agent Alpha                                                          April 1982                               13
67. Hot Spot                                                                July 1982                               17
68. King of the Castle                                                  November 1982                    15
69. Purelko                                                                  March 1983                           17
70. Nest Egg                                                               July 1983                               13
71. Station Echo                                                         October 1983                         14
72. The Couriers                                                         January 1984                         13
73. Code Delta                                                            April 1984                              12
74. The V.I.P.                                                              July 1984                               12
75. Dakota Run                                                           September 1984                    17
76. Decoy                                                                    January 1985                        10
77. Time Bomb                                                            April 1985                              14
78. Return of the Giants                                              July 1985                               14
79. Shuttle Bug                                                           October 1985                         13
80. The Great Comet Caper                                       January 1986                         13

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Help the Future of Australian Publishing

25/5/2016

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The Australian government is about to consider making significant changes to copyright that would threaten the future of Australian publishing. We're writing to let you know how you can help.

During the ABIAs ceremony last week, the Australian book publishing industry united to launch Books Create Australia - an awareness campaign to fight against the recommendations in the Productivity Commission's Draft Report on Intellectual Property. As well as the APA, the campaign is jointly supported by the Australian Society of Authors, the Australian Literary Agents Association and the Print Industry Association of Australia.
A-list Australian and international writers including Jonathan Franzen, Jeannette Winterson, Tim Winton, Richard Flanagan and Book of the Year ABIA winner, Magda Szubanski spoke up about the proposals.
Their speeches and the campaign ignited major national attention on the issues. In the two days after the launch, more than 2,500 people have subscribed to the online petition in support of the book publishing industry and the volume of subscribers is rising rapidly each hour. Richard Flanagan's speech has been shared more than 20,000 times.
How can you help?
Sign the petition;
Visit our campaign website bookscreataustralia.com.au. Share it and make sure your authors and colleagues are aware of the issues;
Use the marketing kit to create your own material and join the conversation with #BooksCreate.

Best Regards,
Sarah,
Australian Publishers Association.

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One to Mark on the Calendar (if you can)...

25/5/2016

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Air Hawk latest...

16/5/2016

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It's been just a little over a year ago now that Air Hawk creator John Dixon passed away. And, even now, there are still some lovely messages coming in about him. Here's one:
My dad Trevor Hensman talked about Mr Dixon frequently. He talked about the day that Dixon got his pilot license and they flew over Sydney. My dad is a Kiwi and met John in Sydney staying at Presbyterian Hostel or maybe it was Baptist, in the late 40's or early 50's. I am very sorry that he has passed on. I will tell my dad in the morning.
God be with you all.
Sincerely James Hensman

I am presently in the (very) early stages of preparing another Air Hawk volume. The adventures have already been announced (on the Air Hawk Facebook page). Here are all the details you may have missed:
Story 33: "A Bag Full of Wallabies" (May 1972 - a 16 week story)
Story 49: "Yowie" (May 1977 - 20 weeks)
Story 56: "Finders Keepers" (July 1979 - 12 weeks)
Story 69: "Purelko" (March 1983 - 17 weeks)
Story 70: "The Nest Egg" (July 1983)
The process of deciding what to include and what to leave out was a difficult one. I am aware that I have selected nothing from the 1960s (although some came close to being selected). I wanted to include stories that were 100% by John, so I had to omit stories that Keith Chatto (in particular) and Phil Belbin had a hand in. I also feel that John's work (especially as an artist) reached his zenith in the 70s. Some of the 60s stories (like "Man from the Exosphere' are well written, but the line work on the printer's bromides are too fine for good reproduction. And that is another matter. Some of the artwork and printers bromides are simply NOT available (which goes for ALL of the Sunday strips). Sadly. And inexplicably.

I am also aware that I have already published "Yowie" before (in the "Air Hawk Special" that was distributed in the US by Diamond - and others - in the early late 1980s/early 1990s), but the story is filled with such good Aussie humour that it was hard to leave out.
Humour was another reason for selecting "The Nest Egg", as well as the wonderful illustrations of planes (of course). And planes are front and centre in "Finders Keepers" too. The inclusion of Aussie animals made "A Bag Full of Wallabies" a natural selection; and I also wanted one that carried a depiction of Indigenous culture, so I settled on "Purelko". The latter story's original artwork is held by the Australian National Library in Canberra, which perhaps might allow some future potential marketing opportunities by the Library....

I have someone in mind to write an introduction to the book and will soon approach them, And fundraising for the book (and more details of some of the internal pages apart from the "Air Hawk" strips) will be announced in due course.

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Over the past decade (2011 - 2020) Nat has self-published ten comic-related books and was Publisher-Editor of Oi Oi Oi! - the last nationally-distributed comic book of original comics stories to appear on Australian newsstands. He edited Inkspot, the journal of the Australian Cartoonists Association for 14 issues from late 2015 to 2019 and is a current member of the ACA's Committee. In his spare time, he is a husband, a father (to six) and grandfather (to fourteen), and works in the Psychiatric Emergency Centre in Queensland's largest public hospital.

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