It’s only a week or so until 2013’s series of Oz Comic-Cons commence. I attended last year’s Melbourne show and personally had a good time, but there were some fairly significant organisational issues (here’s a piece I wrote last year for Bleeding Cool on it). More on that later, including a response from the organisers, but first the dates for this year’s Oz Comic-Cons:
Perth: 9-10th March at Perth Exhibition Centre
Adelaide: 16-17th March at Adelaide Showgrounds
Melbourne: 6-7th July at Royal Exhibition Building
The guest list for each city from a comics viewpoint has some good variety. And at least with Stan Lee not attending this year there shouldn’t be quite the frenzy we saw last year on the comics side of things – more time not in lines to check out the work of local creators.
Because of the issues from 2012’s event, I contacted the team behind Oz Comic-Con and asked them what arrangements were in place to ensure there isn’t a repeat. Their response:
We’re not trying to make excuses regarding this matter, as we did underestimate just how many people would want to come to the event. However, the venue controlled how attendees were admitted to the event on the day and chose not to put a priority on pre-purchased ticket holders.
However, attendees that claimed they were not able to gain entry, were not happy to wait until doors re-opened. When doors to the event did re-open, everyone was granted access. This year we’re ensuring that there will be more room for attendees at all of our events. And with regards to pre-purchased tickets specifically, we will be ensuring that attendees with pre-purchased ticket will be prioritised for entry at the event.
So there you have it – it certainly seems that this year’s event is going to be bigger and better than last year’s. Will you be going?
Another comics treat for Melbournites or anyone keen enough to travel. The Big Arse 3 Comic Book Launch is on this Saturday at 2.00pm. The full details via Facebook:
It’s that time of the year when the giant arse from space hovers over Melbourne and delivers us a great golden shower of comics. Raise your fresh faces to the delicate rain of intelligent writings and brilliant drawings of dozens of writers and artists from around the world.
Contains adult themes, rock’n’roll, drugs, dirty talk, scuds of nudity, weird sex, tons of violence and other fun things that shouldn’t be taken seriously.
Hosted once again by the notorious kingpin of the Melbourne comic scene, Mr Bernard Caleo.
Venue website – http://sentidofunf.com.au/
THE BOOKS AND COMICS!
A BRUSH WITH DARKNESS
By Dillon NaylorADVERSARIES
By M. EmeryLADY McBLACK #1
By Jason FranksBALLANTYNE: THE FLAW IN THE JEWEL
By Peter FosterBUDD & LUU – PART 1
By Frank CandiloroVELOCITY Vol. 3
By VariousAWAKENINGS #2
By Jesca MarisaYUCK! #7
By various and nefariousMR UNPRONOUNCEABLE ADVENTURES
By Tim MolloySTRANGE BEHAVIOUR
By Marijka GoodingDIGESTED #6
By Bobby NGRAPHIC/NARRATIVE #1
By Brendan HalydayKRANBURN #6
By Ben Michael ByrneSEVEN #2
By Alisha JadeUNGENRED
By Jason Franks and various artists
Damn I wish I lived in Melbourne…
Hello and welcome to Webcomic Wednesday! Each week I take a look at a webcomic and let you know what I think about it. This week I’ve been on a bit of a horror-story kick, so I’m looking at Emily Carroll’s short comic from 2010 His Face All Red.
I’m a huge fan of horror in any form, and while much of the genre finds itself occupied with gore and violence, the horrors that stick out the most to me play with fear as opposed to shock. Emily Carroll’s His Face All Red not only manages to create feelings of fear and mystery but also rewards the reader’s intelligence in a way that creates a satisfying tale in the short time it occupies.
It’s hard to talk about His Face All Red without spoiling any key plot points and any of the twists, but it follows an unnamed protagonist who is tasked, with the help of his brother, to kill a beast living in the forest beside his town. The story takes twists and turns that are fantastic, and Carroll’s handling of the tale is masterful thanks to her ability to show rather than tell.
Through her art and implied dialogue we learn important character beats without it being outright stated to us, and in the incredibly short form it works to the story’s benefit. The eschewing of any actual violence also lets the imagination do the work, which creates an uncomfortably gothic tale. The art, which at first feels like it won’t service the tale, allows the more horrifying parts to stand out due to its “nice” style, and in the end complements the story well.
His Face All Red is a short one, but it’s a fantastic story. So few stories are able to portray character beats and horror in such little space. You can find it here, and more of Carroll’s work on her site.
Have any webcomics you want me to check out? Let me know on my twitter @Pipes815, or send me a message via our contact form.
My monthly stash of comics has arrived from my ‘neighbourhood’ comics store, so I thought I’d post a 10-20 word mini-review for each of them. So here goes:
Todd, The Ugliest Kid On Earth #2: As per my original review, I love this book and the second issue continues the quality story. Will be very sorry to see this finish with issue #4.
Judge Dredd #4: I’m starting to get my doubts about this one – can’t put my finger on it exactly yet but the shortened second story in the book doesn’t link that well to the main story for me.
Daredevil #23: Still quality, the story arc is getting ever closer to showing who’s causing Daredevil all his problems.
Hoax Hunters #7: I think I’m about to give up on this one – the story is just too jarring – some bits meander, other parts just plain don’t flow for me. Love the concept but the story is killing it for me.
Daredevil End Of Days #5: As I’ve said already, you should be buying this book – it’s going to be considered a classic.
Given the Academy Awards are on as I write this, I thought I’d engage in a little fantasising of comics-related movies I’d like to see popping up at future Oscars ceremonies. Would love to have your suggestions in comments below as well!
Here we go – my Top Ten Fantasy Oscar Awards:
Best Director: Ridley Scott for Rogue Trooper
Best Actor: Ricky Gervais as Deadpool in Deadpool: The Older Years
Best Actress: Sophie Lowe as Raina in Blankets
Best Supporting Actor: Andre Braugher as Tyrone Johnson in Cloak and Dagger
Best Animated Feature: Maus
Best Writing – Original Screenplay: Alan Moore for Sgt Rock
Best Documentary – Feature: John Byrne and Frank Miller: Angry Men in a Hot Tub
Best Cinematography: Munn Powell for Dan Pussey
Best Original Score: Bruno Mars for Dazzler Returns
Best Visual Effects: Spawn
Ok, your turn. Comment on how sane or stupid my suggestions are and/or suggest your own awards!
Who’d a thunk? The notorious work from Dr Frederic Wertham, Seduction of the Innocent, which made the case for comics being moral-destroying works, has been found to be crap:
A University of Illinois academic, Carol Tilley, has accessed Wertham’s papers, which were made public in 2010 (Wertham died in the early 1980’s). The summary:
Behavioral problems among teenagers and preteens can be blamed on the violence, sex and gore portrayed in the media marketed to them – that was the topic of televised public hearings held by the U.S. Senate Subcommittee on Juvenile Delinquency in 1954 to address the scourge of comic books. The hearings, which resulted in the decimation of what was an enormous comic book industry, had been inspired in large part by the book “Seduction of the Innocent,” by psychiatrist Fredric Wertham, based on his own case studies.
Wertham’s personal archives, however, show that the doctor revised children’s ages, distorted their quotes, omitted other causal factors and in general “played fast and loose with the data he gathered on comics,” according to an article by Carol Tilley, published in a recent issue of Information and Culture: A Journal of History.
For those who like/love comics, it always reeked of being a witch hunt and Tilley’s work has pretty much confirmed that lock, stock and barrel. Read all the details here.
A regular roundup of interesting bits and pieces from the comic industry worldwide. If you’ve got an event or other piece of news to share, please drop us a line!
John Romita Sr’s artwork for The Death of Gwen Stacy issue of Amazing Spiderman has hit close to 300K in bids – there’s an interesting paragraph on Stan Lee’s blindspot with blondes and comic plotting.
Sad news of Scott Clark suddenly passing away at the age of 43
Issue #3 of the UK street press comics magazine Off Life is available for free right here. Some very nice work in it that’s worth checking out.
The London Super Comic Convention is on this weekend – it’ll be interesting to see what announcements come out of it.
If you like old Marvel comic art, it’s hard to go past this little blog.
It’s easy to get jaded in comics, as like any medium there’s only so many variants on a theme, particularly in action-based comics. So when I received a review copy of Yi Soon Shin, Warrior and Defender, I was expecting more of the same. I’m pleased to say I was very much proven wrong, with this trade of the first four issues of the series a solid and engaging read.
The scope of the story is nothing short of an outright war between Korea and Japan in the late 16th Century, and it starts out with one of the great naval battles that occurred. It sets the scene nicely for the political and military intrigues that follow. You’ll want to spend some time reading through the beautifully illustrated and notated background information, to fully appreciate the scope of the events being illustrated.
Onrie Kompan’s writing shows the research he’s put into the topic and really does showcase what a rich part of history he’s drawing from. The dialogue is far from dry and although there are some infrequent parts where the dialogue is a little jarring given the setting, (“Because you fucks are gonna help me murder that son of a bitch” is one example), it doesn’t happen enough to undermine what is a well-written story.
Art-wise, Giovanni Timpano’s work is exemplary – from the more detailed discussions that occur through to the splash pages, it’s quality form start to finish – Adriana De Los Santos’ colours definitely help out in a big way here, with some great work across the board. I struggle to comment much on letterers a great deal of the time, but even Joel Saavedra’s work here helps the book along.
Overall, this is a very high quality, independently produced piece of work that deserves some attention. Stan Lee provides a foreword (I’d love to know the story of how Onrie Kompan pulled that off) and although Stan can tend toward hyperbole (there’s an understatement), the praise he provides for this book is well deserved.
Whether you’re a student of history, a jaded comics reader looking for something meaty or just someone who likes a good story, Yi Soon Shin: Warrior and Defender is definitely worth a look. You can find out more at the book’s website. If you want a more in-depth review, it’s hard to go past Jeff Ritter’s one here as well.
Score: 9/10
Hello and welcome to Webcomic Wednesday! Each week I take a look at a webcomic and let you know what I think about it. This week I’m taking a more local route and checking out Moth City, a digital comic from Wellington based creator Tim Gibson.
I’m guessing that probably ninety percent of my comics are purchased digitally through the Comixology app. In much the same way that my gaming library is mainly composed of Steam-bought titles, my comics library is very much relegated to my iPad. Despite the popularity of the app – Comixology regularly boasts as being the top grossing for in-app purchases- very few companies make interesting use of the format itself outside of a few examples (last year’s AvX: Infinite series is one example).
Tim Gibson’s webcomic Moth City not only embraces the digital realm as a means of distribution, but capitalises on the possibilities that print comics cannot. In short, Moth City is an evolution of the comic form.
Moth City very rarely remains static. Panels often shift and change; eyes will move, lights will flicker. It even allows the reader to focus on the image at times before the speech bubbles appear. It’s not only an economy of space – each panel allows for more than one action to take place – but it looks stylish as well. It feels more akin to a motion comic, except it lets the reader move at their own pace.
Alongside the motion, the building of the page panel-by-panel as you click lets the story feel like you are watching a film. Gibson appears to direct the action – at certain points only a small part of the panel will be shown before it expands out to show the bigger picture. It gives more freedom for storytelling, rather than filling the page with clutter with panels showing a step-by-step, it allows for more information in one panel to be taken in. It lets the reader focus on what’s important before pulling back to show the big picture.
Use of digital format aside, Moth City is a great read. A noir crime drama set on a Chinese island in the 1930’s, it moves at a brisk pace, full of suspense and action. Almost at the end of it’s first “season”, Moth City is building towards an exciting finale, injecting equal parts mystery and horror into the latter half.
The art is strong, with a dark colour palette that compliments the tone of the story. Despite the changing nature of panels, Gibson takes into careful consideration how the action should show, like the lights dimming over a character, and this attention to detail is a treat to see. Moth City knows its unique format, and moves to work with it.
Like I mentioned before, Moth City is nearing the end of its first season next Monday, and you should definitely check it out before then. It’s the evolution of an art form, showing the potential of digital comics has, and it’s an exciting future.
It’s updated every Tuesday and Thursday NZ time, and you can check it out here.
Have any webcomics you want me to check out? Let me know on my twitter @Pipes815, or send me a message via our contact form.
