Lest We Forget...

Dave Dye's Book is worth supporting! This is the cover! Copyright Dave Dye.

With ANZAC Day fast approaching, it would be remiss of me not to give a Two Thumbs Up vote for The ANZAC Legend: A Graphic History. Hot off the press on the evening of The Ledger Awards, Writer/Author Dave Dye drove down from Mildura to attend the ceremony. I was happy enough to purchase his book there and then. (RRP is $35 plus $5 postage and packing from within Australia, and $10 if you are from afar.)

The book tells the ANZAC story in chronological pictorial format. From the second page the reader is transported to June 1914 and over the course of a total of 200 pages, Dave takes the reader to May 5th, 1915.  That is just ONE YEAR!  In his Introduction, Dave Dye warns the reader not to approach the book "as if it is a comic and a light read" and to be frank there is no way that anyone could approach this book in any such manner given the detail that is put before the reader. "The story is presented in a manner which makes it easier for the layman to understand why, who, where and what took place", says Dave.  And this is exactly what one gets.

Dave worked full-time on this project from January 2011 before recently completing the book ready for his printer ("over 5000 hours"). I must confess to having some reservations about some of the artwork when I read the in-progress postings on Dave's Blog. (I think they reminded me of an older style that were prevalent with earlier British boy's comics I recalled from my youth.)  However, seeing the finished product in its entirety and completed form, I new feel it is eminently suited to Dave's story.  The story has been painstakingly put together: two visits to Gallipoli and 28 years in the Australian Regular Army, where Dave obtained his Diploma of Visual Art, have been put to great use.

You can read even more details from Dave's Web-page by clicking here. This will not only give you further links to Dave's Blog and the description of how he went about the production of the artwork in order to prepare the book, but also give you the opportunity to purchase a copy of the book. I suggest you do both.

---

Art Copyright 2014 Dave Dye