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On June 22nd, the Sales Figures for Issue #7 of Oi Oi Oi! came in. They were distressing. It was the first time the sales of the magazine did not pay for the costs of the distribution. I have a $2,000 distribution bill associated with Issue #7. Let me publically share some costs related to the publishing of this magazine: Cover artwork costs are between myself and the artist, so let me just say that I pay more for cover art than I do for an individual story. For each 8 page story I pay $300. There were five stories in Issue #7. Most issues have had a 4 to 5,000 newsagent print run, and Distribution costs are just under $1 a copy (sold or not). The newsagents take a 25% cut of the retail price. I leave you to do the Maths. Since that time, I have pondered long and hard on the future of the magazine, and I seriously was contemplating ending the magazine after Issue #9. It will still come out and it will be the biggest Edition of Oi Oi Oi! yet (in a way you won't believe) -- just you wait and see! Issue #9 is actually the tenth in the series (remember, the Special Nostalgia Edition was un-numbered), so it would have been a good number to end on. Ending the series would allow me to work on other projects, like Bold Ben Hall (and there is a movie coming out soon, so a good time to work on it), another Air Hawk volume, one on Ginger Meggs, or works by Phil Belbin and/or Emile Mercier. Or other innumerable projects that I have begun or have talked about working on.... Instead, I was convinced (thank you Jason Towers!) of not cancelling it, but simply putting Oi Oi Oi! on hiatus. I plan on continuing Oi Oi Oi! -- perhaps putting out an annual newsstand issue around Christmas time (in 2017), and sporadic issues throughout the years available at the Fan-venues that have taken place in our communities. (And, hopefully, in some of the Australian comic shops.) So, rather than Oi Oi Oi! ending, it is simply changing into a different creature. I have extended the deadline for the artists keen on seeing their work in print for Issue #9 (to mid-August), and I am working on other plans that I shall share with you on these pages in the months ahead... Here's a clue about one of them....  |
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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