Festivals, Events, ...and other recollections.

In a couple of weeks time, I shall be attending Melbourne's Home-Cooked Comic Festival. It will be my first time. Between now and then, I'd like to share with you what I have been doing, and Festival I do plan to visit, those events and Festival I have not attended and things of that nature....before I end up forgetting! It's been the busiest start to any year that I can recall.... 

Mal Briggs of Impact! Comics outside the back of his Canberra Comic Store...before the Australian Comic Arts Festival.

Photo of my Friend Rob Feldman (taken by me)

Photo of Nat Karmichael (taken by Rob Feldman)

The year may be young, and I may be somewhat presumptuous to state, but the Australian Comic Arts Festival held in Canberra earlier in the year, was just one of the nicest festivals (music, comic, otherwise) that I have ever been too. There was such a sense of comradery, of sharing, a genuine warmth that I will so look forward to going again next year!* It had been many years (since 1981, in fact) that I last was in town... Back in those days, I was formulating plans on producing my first comic anthology, and had met some of the local creatives: Peter Markmann, Mike Priess and Peter Bollinger are names that I can still recall today (although I have no idea of where they presently are)... 
So, in some ways, it was an exercise in nostalgia. I was treated like royalty, being picked up at the Airport and trying to recall the places and faces from all those years ago. Yet it was so much more: Canberra has changed. They even have a comic book shop right in the middle of town! Mal Briggs is the owner and runs Impact Comics, and is also the wonderful host who put me up for the Festival. Have a look at his web-site (click here), and just tell me that that does not entice new comic readers....
Cath Brinkley and Bruce Mutard organised the Festival, and deserve our thanks. It was professionally put together, and there were so many workshop alternatives to choose from that it was difficult to work out which one to attend. For me, personally, I enjoyed the session put together by the Librarians, because I got so much out of it. I have not had time to implement the teachings yet, but I will get there -- I hope! I'm not going to detail who was there in Canberra and who I chatted to (this is supposed to be a short Blog entry, after all); but I can say, if you were NOT there: WHY NOT?? Make sure you can make it next year*!! 

Click here if you want to read of the ABC's coverage of the Event. There was also an ABC camera crew recording the Event for posterity. I wasn't able to load it here, although you can read it on my Nat Karmichael Facebook page dated February 26th....

Photos show some of the fabulous graffiti artwork at the back of Mal's shop in Canberra's City Centre....

* Now that I have encouraged everyone to attend, I have to tell you that Mrs K has informed me that we have a 80th Birthday party (Auntie Margaret) in Tasmania that we are supposed to be attending ....around the same time next year. This is awful news. But there may yet be ways around it. I don't know what they are yet, but we shall see...