Art Copyright Josh Santospirito Although I am still spending most of my time working on Comicoz' NED KELLY Pozible Project (see here), I am also reading some Aussie comics that I come across (still mostly through the web).
One that I want to Recommend you read, is "The Long Weekend in Alice Springs" (cover pictured left). The pages are unnumbered, but (from a quick count just now) runs for a total of 150 pages all in black on a soft yellow paper stock. It is a paperback, size of a small journal (about 15 cm x 21 cm) and illustrated throughout by Joshua Santospirito.
The book is based on an essay of rambling (?)thoughts over a long weekend in Alice Springs by psychologist Craig San Roque. Roque analysed his own culture and mused on its impact on other cultures, especially the local indigenous population he came in touch with when working there at The Alice (and while writing the essay in 2000).
Joshua and I share the same profession - we are both Mental Health Nurses. Whilst I have not worked in Central Australia, one summer I spent three months working in the Torres Strait, and I found myself spending time seeking to make some sense of my own personal cultural dislocation. Santospirito said he came across Roque's essay, and found "it very useful for reframing all the seeming chaos around him" while working in Alice Springs with Central Australian indigenous communities. (He now lives in Hobart, Tasmania.)
As a form of "cathartic meditation on the world" Joshua began adapting the essay in comic book format in 2007. The result has now been published, with the first print run already selling out! Fortunately for you, Dear Reader, a Second Print-Run has ensured the book is available to order by clicking here.
This will not be a book for those readers whose taste runs exclusively along the lines of superhero types. But for those of us who seek to have the local graphic 'comic' medium aspire to greater heights, with Australian messages and stories to share to the world, this is a brave and ground-breaking tale that deserves your support. At $35 (plus postage and packaging), I found it a worthy read and a wonderful distraction from my present-day Ned Kelly pursuits. Longer term, I believe "The Long Weekend in Alice Springs" will be considered an Australian Graphic Novel Classic, tackling topics few have seriously attempted to date. Order it now, so you can read it next weekend - wherever you live!
One that I want to Recommend you read, is "The Long Weekend in Alice Springs" (cover pictured left). The pages are unnumbered, but (from a quick count just now) runs for a total of 150 pages all in black on a soft yellow paper stock. It is a paperback, size of a small journal (about 15 cm x 21 cm) and illustrated throughout by Joshua Santospirito.
The book is based on an essay of rambling (?)thoughts over a long weekend in Alice Springs by psychologist Craig San Roque. Roque analysed his own culture and mused on its impact on other cultures, especially the local indigenous population he came in touch with when working there at The Alice (and while writing the essay in 2000).
Joshua and I share the same profession - we are both Mental Health Nurses. Whilst I have not worked in Central Australia, one summer I spent three months working in the Torres Strait, and I found myself spending time seeking to make some sense of my own personal cultural dislocation. Santospirito said he came across Roque's essay, and found "it very useful for reframing all the seeming chaos around him" while working in Alice Springs with Central Australian indigenous communities. (He now lives in Hobart, Tasmania.)
As a form of "cathartic meditation on the world" Joshua began adapting the essay in comic book format in 2007. The result has now been published, with the first print run already selling out! Fortunately for you, Dear Reader, a Second Print-Run has ensured the book is available to order by clicking here.
This will not be a book for those readers whose taste runs exclusively along the lines of superhero types. But for those of us who seek to have the local graphic 'comic' medium aspire to greater heights, with Australian messages and stories to share to the world, this is a brave and ground-breaking tale that deserves your support. At $35 (plus postage and packaging), I found it a worthy read and a wonderful distraction from my present-day Ned Kelly pursuits. Longer term, I believe "The Long Weekend in Alice Springs" will be considered an Australian Graphic Novel Classic, tackling topics few have seriously attempted to date. Order it now, so you can read it next weekend - wherever you live!
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