Reflections. Where to go from here?

Since Fathers' Day, I've been hit with the dreaded "Man-Flu" - thanks to son Will! - and today, as is the case in such things, it's the day before I am due back at work that the illness appears to be lifting.... which will be a good thing. (I don't like being sick. I don't mind my work.)

I've spent a bit of time recently reflecting on the past and contemplating where to go from here. For each quarter, over the past five years, I have edited a magazine of some sort. Let me show you.....

Cover Art and Oi Oi Oi! logo: Anton Emdin. Editorial written: March 2014

Cover Art: Lesley Vamos. Editorial written: June 2014

Cover Art: David Follett. Editorial written: Late September 2014

Cover Art: Tony Thorne. Editorial Written: Australia Day 2015

Cover Art: Chiara Arena. Editorial written by Jeremy Staples, Magazine edited by Nat Karmichael.

Cover Art: Eevien Tan. Editorial written: August 2015.

Cover Art: Alisha Jade. Editorial written: Melbourne Cup Day 2015..

Cover Art: Glenn Lumsden. Editorial written: December 20th 2015.

Cover Art: Frantz Kantor. No Editorial written: Edited sometime in early 2016.

INKSPOT Issue #72 (despite the cover saying #73); Edited about Winter or Spring 2015. Note: While still working on OI OI OI! Designed by Chris Barr, Dave Emerson and Steve Panozzo.

INKSPOT Issue #73 (despite the contents page saying #74); Edited Summer 2016, just before deciding to let Oi Oi Oi! go. Designed by Chris Barr.

INKSPOT Issue #74 (despite the internal pages saying #75); Edited Autumn 2016, soon after deciding to let Oi Oi Oi! go (although hoping sales would dictate otherwise). Designed by Chris Barr.

INKSPOT Issue #75 (despite the cover AND internal pages saying #76). Edited in Winter-Spring 2016. Designed by Chris Barr. It was here we discovered our numbering sequence was wrong!

INKSPOT Issue #76. (Having realised our mistake, we craftily called it "Summer 2016/7") Edited in Summer 2016/7. Designed by Chris Barr.

INKSPOT Issue #77. (Again, we decided not to number this issue, calling it "Autumn2017".) Edited in Autumn 2017 the week after Bill Leak died; first Library Edition. Designed for the last time by Chris Barr.

INKSPOT Issue #78. (The numbering sequence returned on the cover, and no-one - except the Legal Deposit people of the NSW Library, who sought an explanation - was any wiser!) Edited in Winter 2017. Designed by Cam Winks.

INKSPOT Issue #79. Edited in Spring 2017. Cam was now working full-time, so design assistance was required. Judy Nadin (and Peter Broelman and Tane Richardson) pitched in to help.

INKSPOT Issue #80. Edited in Summer 2018. Designed by Cam Winks. A little difficulty in getting motivated for this one after the loss of my Mother.

INKSPOT Issue #81. My tenth issue, edited in Autumn 2018. Steve Panozzo, who assisted in the design of many earlier editions of the magazine came on board to help out. I should point out that this was also the tenth issue that Phil Judd (who compiles the "Your View" section of the magazine) worked with me on the magazine.

INKSPOT Issue #82. The last issue distributed to libraries, and the first issue with a new printer. Edited in Winter 2018 with assistance from Layout Artist Steve Panozzo.

INKPSOT Issue #83. The ACA Committee had now put in place a page limit, and a cheaper paper stock was sourced. Edited in Spring 2018, with assistance from Layout Artist Steve Panozzo.

INKSPOT Issue #84. Edited in Summer 2018/9, with assistance from Layout Artist Steve Panozzo and Phil Judd.

INKSPOT Issue #85. Edited in Autumn 2019, with assistance from Layout Artist Steve Panozzo and Phil Judd's 'Your View' segment.

On June 23rd, having edited all the files for Issue #86, I penned the following Editorial to announce my 'retirement' (then sent a copy to the ACA Board/Committee). There was not one thing that precipitated the decision. Sure, my sister Flo's passing made me want to spend less time in front of a computer. But Steve Panozzo lost his brother around the same time too. In some ways that drew us closer together as mates, but that wasn't the reason I decided to give it away. I was working on Graeme's book too, and that was taking a lot of my time. It wasn't the realisation that I'm now in my 60s. It was just time, I suppose. I needed the freedom to be able to not have to think about a magazine in three month's time.

"Back in Issue #73 – which, as Lindsay Foyle correctly pointed out, was really issue #72 – [ACA President] Jules [Faber] wrote in his Parlay that a couple of Queenslanders planned to “build Inkspot back to its former glory”. Here we are now, a further fourteen issues since that date. The best and most satisfying part of working on Inkspot during that time has been the fact that we have brought it back from a once-a-year sort-of, maybe-magazine to a quarterly publication that I know many members are proud of.

"Sadly, this will be my last as Editor for the time being. It's just that since I first put out my nationally released comic magazine Oi Oi Oi! #1 in about March 2014, I have edited a magazine each quarter for the past five years. I'm in need of a break and (maybe) a sleep.

"That’s not to say I won’t contribute articles for whomever wants to take it on. And that not to say I won't want to do it again. I might even be ready again after the Stanley Awards!*
*In 2021!

"I’d like to thank those Layout Artists/Designers who have worked with me and shared my vision over that period: Phil Judd, Chris Barr, Dave Emerson, Judy Nadin, Cam Winks and Steve Panozzo. And my thanks mostly to Carlene, who has allowed me this indulgence for this long."
I thought I would post this for a couple of reasons.

Firstly, because some cartooning people have been asking me "What's happened to INKSPOT?" And while I had some editorial input into the next issue (which was to be and will be my last ...for quite a while), I don't want to be held responsible for the delay. I'm hopeful the magazine can return to the quarterly schedule that I put in place during my tenure, although I understand those who work on it (for no fee) do have busy lives, and (unlike me) need to have some sleep....

I'm also posting this, because - looking at both magazines from some distance now (even if it's a matter of only a few months!) - the time and effort expended into the magazines have produced an end result that I can honestly say I am extremely proud of. 

Since finishing my Editorial duties, I've worked on a couple of non-comic-related projects (see above) for the good women of Zonta Ipswich, and Zonta International who have wanted to share their history with their members. Their Centennial Conference is on this weekend, the same weekend of the Rotary Cartoon Awards in Coffs Harbour. Have a guess: Which one will I be attending?

Answer: Neither! Due to a mix-up at work, I put in a request for the wrong days off. I am bitterly disappointed, but willing to cop it on the chin.

Working on Graeme's book about the History of Australian Comics has left me in a state of wondering … Where do I go from here? How can I top this? Surely, this is the pinnacle of my Australian comic publishing? Certainly, I have to help market the book; something that I plan to do in the not-too-distant future. But creatively, and in a publishing sense, where can I go to top this? It's a question that has had me perplexed for some time … and I have come up with an answer that I will share with you in the times ahead … after I get over this 'Man-Flu'!