While Dillon Naylor's Rock n Roll Fairies book is being prepared at the printer, I'm busy preparing other books and comics. I can't stop myself! There's a wish to have a book released successfully internationally, and to this end I have other books and comic plans at the early stages of development. Air Hawk (Volume 2, Issue 1) is presently being designed and will be prepared for the US and international market. I have a book filled with international (female) cartoonists bubbling under the surface that - with my fellow publisher - we need to find a name for. In another case, I have been given the license to reprint a 1960s work that I will start work on in 2024 that an internationally renown writer will pen an Introduction to. And I am exploring the rights to an American comic strip that only appeared in Sweden! It all sounds so mysterious that I can't spell a lot of these out, doesn't it? There's also some other books that were/are planned that I have my finger in. I'm (still) waiting on Lindsay Foyle to write this book on Ginger Meggs (or his cartoonist creators at least). And a book on Ron Vivian by his son-in-law that needs some guidance. Peter Player has promised me his kids graphic novel (that won the Comicoz-Wedd Mentored Graphic Storytelling Award last year) is "still on track", and Rob Feldman has shown me a great comic that has given me great ideas... In the meantime, I also should be preparing for the Papercuts Comics Festival in Adelaide ... and the Comic Arts Awards of Australia. There's a couple of reasons for going. I was really impressed with the professional nature of the event when I last attended (pre-COVID in ...2019 I think it was), and I caught up with so many creatives that I had communicated with but had never met before. This time, Dillon's other book that I published, Batrisha and the Creepy Caretaker, has been shortlisted for an award. Click here for more details. And, just yesterday, I was honoured to be asked if I would be able accept an award - a Ledger of Honour, no less - for a creative not able to attend. (Of course I said "Yes"!) So, I better start working on a short speech... ! I'm also hoping to catch up with artist Michal Dutkiewicz while in Adelaide. Michal was going to illustrate the cover to a (still-planned) Air Hawk hardback volume, as well as the earlier-mentioned cover to a "still being worked on" book on Ginger Meggs' creatives by Lindsay Foyle. (I enclose a couple of roughs Michal did for the cover for the book.) I was also keen to discuss the on-going Verity Aloha series Michal had promised some years ago that had perpetually seemed to be on hold. But that's not the reason I want to catch up on the guy: I want to be able to say "G'Day, how are you?" to the fella, after learning that he is now not able to see well enough to draw. Sadly, all those projects will just be dreams or taken over by other artists. Michal has had a rare talent, and his loss to the comics community will be greatly felt. (At least he hasn't passed away! It almost sounds like I am painting his obituary!) Sometimes there are more important things than comics...
I'm pleased to say that Dillon Naylor's book Rock n Roll Fairies is at the printer. Well, mostly. There's one tweak that designer Ryan McDonald-Smith are planning (that we're going to keep as a surprise for Dillon). But it should be ready by Monday ...at the latest. Last Saturday, I attended the Comicstreet Brisbane Indie Comics Market, held in the Queen Street Mall. It's been a while since I've attended a comic event (not counting the Zine Fair at the Museum recently). As I have once said before, it's one of the finest comic markets in the country. The event is not swamped with the commercial trappings of the commercial cons, the market is in a high traffic area and people who are not into comics come along initially to satisfy their curiosity. It was so much fun: I only wish I had taken more photos! One thing it has stirred in me is the passion to produce more comics! Thant's not to say I'm saying goodbye to the books I have focused on over the past ten years (or to the ones still in the planning stages), but just that there's a joy to publishing a comic that I have missed. And one that lead me down this path that I seem to have neglected: Air Hawk. Let's just say that I'm interested in following a few leads to see where this passion takes me. I'm doing a little market research on the socials (Facebook, mostly), as well as talking to people whose opinions I value: Matt Emery, Jeremy Macpherson, and Jeff Battista...
To be continued ... |
Comicoz is Nat Karmichael's publishing imprint. Nat is committed to preserving a permanent collection of Australian comic and comic strips. He feels that there is a need to recognise comics' contribution to and depiction of Australian culture.
Nat Karmichael.
Since 2011, Nat has self-published over twelve comic-related books and was Publisher-Editor of Oi Oi Oi! -- the last series of nationally-distributed comic books of original stories to appear on Australian newsstands. He is a member of the Australian Cartoonists Association and edited the Association's journal Inkspot for 14 issues from late 2015. He remains the Lead Judge in the Ledger of Honour Awards for the Comic Arts Awards of Australia (formerly the Ledgers). Nat has now retired from his former occupation as a Clinical Nurse in the Psychiatric Emergency Centre in Queensland's largest public hospital, so that he can spend more time with his long-suffering wife and their six children and fourteen grandchildren. He still plans to publish more comics and comic-related books, the details of which you should see here in the coming months... Comicoz acknowledges the Traditional Custodians of Country throughout Australia and their connections to land, sea and community. We pay respects to elders, past, present, and emerging, and extend that respect to all First Nations peoples.
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October 2024
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1 x Poster 19 x comics (one a co-production with Cyclone Comics in 1988/9, one a co-production with Cowtown Comics in 2022) 2 x Paperback books 10 x Hardcover books All Australian! |