UA-139927741-1
The Late Monty Wedd's family had good cause to celebrate in Coffs Harbour recently. The collected volume of Monty's Ned Kelly newspaper series from the early 1970s was launched at the Bunker Cartoon Gallery, just before the announcement of the 2014 Rotary Cartoon Awards. The ceremony, held on September 20th, was attended by Monty's widow Dorothy and all of their children. ![]() The Launch began with Comicoz Publisher Nat Karmichael giving a speech about his recollections of meeting Monty Wedd for the first time, and the conversations between the two men that lead to the book being published. Monty's son Justin followed with a speech on behalf of all of Monty's family, talking of his Dad's passionate interest in Australian history. He spoke of how his Dad believed that comics were the best way to teach the younger generation about Australian history. Justin told of Monty's military career and how he came to write and illustrate the definitive reference book Australian Military Uniforms 1800 - 1982. Justin then shared some of the details of his Dad's collection of artefacts housed at the Monarch Museum in Williamtown. A fascinating life!
Besides the Ned Kelly book launch, though, there were other serious matters on hand: the 2014 Rotary Cartoon Awards! But, just to ensure the night did not become too serious, guests were first wonderfully entertained by the madcap antics of Balloon Dog Eddie (known to others as Rob Feldman)... If you have never seen Balloon, er, Rob Feldman in action, as someone used to say: "Do yourself a favour..."
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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 has been 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. 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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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! |