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UA-139927741-1
G'day Nat,
Just read the first issue of Oi Oi Oi and was left a little confused as to what the comic was supposed to be about apart from it being an outlet for Australian talent. The cover by Anton was excellent. It grabs the eye and makes a person want to read what's inside. Judging a book by its cover, I was expecting some fun Australian themed comics and some light humorous reading. Unfortunately, I was left slightly confused. Perhaps it's due to my age. I know comic books have changed immensely since I was a teenager in the late 70s. So I hope you don't mind if I offer a little constructive criticism in the hope that it may help you to improve the format and make people actually want to purchase the next issue. How can this be improved on in order to make people actually want to purchase the next issue? For me, it needed more Australian themed content, not just Australian artists, but Australian artists drawing about Australian things. The cover bore no resemblance to the content apart from it depicting an Australian drawing a comic. Some of the stories had no purpose and didn't have an ending because their was nothing to have an ending about. Let your writers and artists know that each comic must have a beginning, a middle and an ending before you will consider publishing them. Your job is to compile the best from what is available in order to make the reader want to continue purchasing the comic book. The artists need to give you content worthy of the publication. Make them change things if it's necessary. And sort out what age your audience will be. Swearing and nudity and graphic content of half eaten people is not suitable for some age groups. When I was at the peak of my comic reading years in the late 70s I was a preteen and Anton's cover art would have been enough to make me purchase the first issue. The content however would have seen me avoid all future issues completely. I will be purchasing issue 2. Whether I purchase issue 3 or not will depend on the content. If its anything like issue 1 then I probably won't be looking at issue 3. As much as I want to support the Australian comic industry, I can't purchase a comic book that is not interesting enough to actually read. Please raise the bar and insist your contributors supply good art that also has a good story attached. And get some fuzzy Australian animals in there in a humorous comic as a regular spot. As long as you have at least one Aussie animal themed comic every issue it might work. Maybe the Aussie animals, anthropomorphised, could be reading each issue and introducing each comic and or featured artist for the reader. Just a thought. Cheers Mate, Vince. |
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. For numerous years he was the Lead Judge in the Ledger of Honour Awards for the Comic Arts Awards of Australia (formerly the Ledgers). These days Nat dreams of retiring from his 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. And perhaps publish some more comic-related books. 
Nat by Charlotte
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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Australian Publications since 1976:
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!
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