Showing posts with label faction comics. Show all posts
Showing posts with label faction comics. Show all posts

Tuesday, November 5, 2013

Paper Trail

 
More comics link blogging dashed off in a haphazard fashion... 

Michael Fikaris project, Arte Moris, is in it's last couple hours of crowdfunding.



Michael & Death Flatmates by Ralphie.


Josh Perks reviews James Davidson's Moa Vol One.
 

David C Mahler is currently on an international comics traipse through North America with a hobo's bindle full of a new anthology Flying Fox. Marc Pearson, Katie Parrish, Ben Sea, Leonie Brialey, Ruskidd, J.R Blue, Michael Hawkins, Merv Heers, Sam Wallman and David feature in this spunky little package. Read about Flying Fox on David's tumblr.

  
Roger Langridge writes about convention sketching.


Brian Lawry writes about Sarah Laing's The Fall of Light.



Bruce Mutard features on Double Spread.
 

Selection of Australian landscape reprint comics from the 1940's - 1950's on the Pikitia Press tumblr.


RM Rhodes dissects American Captain.

  
Aru Singh interviews Faction Comics' Amie Maxwell and Damon Keen



Daniel Best chronicles the production of the Pitt Brother's ill-fated adaption of Gully Foyle.


David Blumenstein writes up the 2013 Stanley Awards conference. Part one and part two.


Robert Smith reviews Adrian Kinnaird's From Earth's End: The Best of New Zealand Comics.


Elliot Francis Stewart: Back to the Wall.


Pat Grant performs Toormina Video at the Sydney Opera House.


Dylan Horrocks and Bryan Crump discuss children's comics including James Davidson's Moa.


Paper Trail masthead courtesy of Toby Morris.

Thursday, January 24, 2013

Faction Comics TV Spot

A brief feature from TV 3 news on the recent New Zealand comics anthology Faction Comics featuring Faction people Amie Maxwell, Damon Keen and Artists Ralphi and Ant Sang.

Order print copies and free digital version of the first Faction Comics anthology here.

Saturday, January 19, 2013

Paper Trail


Emily Dickinson at Gavin Aung Than's Zen Pencils


Luke Pickett and Gerard Dwyer close out chapter one of ACV with an epilogue. Read from part one here.


Nick Gazin reviews Karl Wills' Princess Seppuku in the Lower Depths for VICE. Wills' Jessica of the Schoolyard features in the forthcoming Michael Dowers curated, Treasury of Minicomics volume one, from Fantagraphics.



The Legend of Money Pig at Cakeburger.


Dylan Horrocks has started a new blog exploring spiritual belief, the year of belief. Horrocks' also featured in a creative commons case study for creativecommons.org.



Artic Circle cartoonist Alex Hallat talks to Soda magazine.


Tasmanian cartoonists Josh Santospirito and Chris Downes performed their live comic ghost story, The Shipwright & the Banshees to a sold out audience as part of MONA FONA 2013 in Hobart last night. Chris Downes' stunning poster is available here.


 J Caleb Mozzocco at School Library Journal interviews Roger Langridge.


Roger Langridge contribution to SATAN IS ALIVE anthology

The recently launched New Zealand comics anthology Faction Comics is now available in free digital form.


Fil Barlow is offering 5 day design tutorial sessions here. Series writer Brandon Graham shared Barlow's upcoming cover for Prophet #37. You may see it or you may not, Barlow shares via facebook an interview he did with Brandon Graham from Prophet #28.



Now sold out but keep an eye out for future opportunities to buy Simon Hanselmann's Artist Trash!


Hanselmann shared pages from his forthcoming Australian” comics/art anthology Victoria Drugs Scene at Girl Mountain.


Our handsome Paper Trail masthead is courtesy of Toby Morris, here's his rendition of Joseph Dredd having a cuppa.


In the neverending quest of cartooning archeology I picked up a pile of old Auckland newspapers, The Weekly News, which my brother has been scanning and making notes on for me. Here's a couple samples,

The Ornate masthead of The Weekly News


Sir Gordon Minhinnick cartoon from Feb 9th, 1944.

Upcoming on Pikitia Press from the work in progress folder:

 Feature on Maori cartoonist Harry Dansey.


Wartime cartooning by Australian soldiers in Stand Easy after the defeat of Japan.



The early comics work of Tom Scott.


Saturday, December 22, 2012

Faction Comics - Damon Keen


Recently formed New Zealand comics publisher Faction Comics released their first anthology this week with a 72 page volume in print via a successful crowd-funding campaign earlier this year. A mixture of veteran and younger cartoonists fill the pages with a free digital version of the comic available from Faction. Faction anthology editor Damon Keen answered a few questions via email on Nov 28 about Faction's first comic.

Was using crowdfunding always a part of faction's publishing strategy?

Only in a distant way - it was always in the mix, but I didn't really consider it seriously at first. For one thing, Kickstarter was off limits, and I wasn't sure how effective PledgeMe was, so I had to do a bit of investigation.

Originally we went for funding from Creative NZ, but after our application was declined we had to look at other options - and economically it's not a great time to be looking for any kind of corporate sponsorship, so crowd funding started to look more and more attractive. 

In the end it worked out beautifully for us, because with PledgeMe funding we're not constrained in any way by the commitments or compromises that can come with external funding. 

What format will the physical copies of Faction be?

Perfect bound, 72 page graphic novel style book - offset printed.
It was important to Amie and I that the first issue looked great! Future issues will be saddle stitched and shorter. 

How will the Faction anthology be distributed?

First and foremost the main reason for Faction's existence is building up a readership base - so we will be giving the digital version away free if you subscribe on our website. We'll make it available as a pdf and cbr - for reading on tablets - and I'm also investigating other ways of making it available online. There's quite a few options these days, which is awesome.

We always saw the hard copy as a kind of marketing tool first and foremost - as a way to get people to subscribe online (and hence build up our database of readers!), so we haven't thought as hard about how we'll distribute the physical version. We'll be sending out review copies and getting it into the comic shops around NZ (and libraries), and also making it available to buy via our website. But this is a big experiment on our part, so we're still open to suggestions to be honest.

Is their a pre-existing anthology that you would compare Faction to in terms of tone?

That's a tricky one! My inspiration comes from Strips originally, which I loved back when I was 10 or 11 - and also Heavy Metal back in the 70s and 80s. Those were both in mind when we started thinking about creating Faction, but in terms of tone - and something more 21st century! - Best American Comics comes to mind - except shorter and in full colour!

Was there much editorial work undertaken with receiving open submissions?

From the beginning I wanted this to be an edited anthology. Some of my own money going into it, so I don't see any reason why I should print anything I don't feel comfortable with!

Having said that I'm not aware of any NZ anthologies that have been as editorially focused (if that's the right way of putting it!) as we have been on Faction. Most of the NZ anthologies I've seen seem to have a pretty open door policy on submissions - which is great by the way! But as a creative myself I knew I only wanted to include work by people who had significant experience with the craft of comic writing, who were proven, I guess - and were operating at a pretty high level. 

So, yes, we have had to turn away some artists - including some really promising ones - especially towards the end, after the competition became a bit more intense. I hope they keep at it though, there's a lot of talent out there.

Did you encounter any particular difficulties in launching Faction Comics?

Financing is the biggest issue - and nothing else that major; just niggling stuff, like worrying about hurting people's feelings and booking gallery spaces and so on! I was really concerned about standing on people's toes and blundering into the NZ comic scene and being a dick about it, but everyone has been really welcoming and friendly, so overall it's been a terrific experience.

Do you have another project lined up after this anthology is released?

I've got another comic I want to start drawing - it's longer and more complex than the one I included in Faction - which was actually a kind of practice run for it. But other than that, I just need to start thinking about the next issue of Faction, as well as planning the now belated launch exhibition, and other marketing strategies for promoting the anthology. 

It's really annoying to have to do my (paying) day job on top of this fun stuff actually!

More info at the Faction website here

 Faction People Amie Maxwell and Damon Keen

Tuesday, December 4, 2012

2012 in Review: Damon Keen


What have been your personal cartooning/comics highlights of 2012?

Helping to get New Zealand's first crowd funded comic, Faction, out into the world! 

Who are some of the comics creators that you've discovered and enjoyed for the first time in 2012?

I made some great discoveries this year, so that's a tricky one. Finally got around to reading Charles Burns - and in particular Black Hole. It's always great when the storytelling and art come together so seamlessly, and Black Hole is beautiful and disturbing. I love stories that manage to include the surreal and dreamlike, but without becoming self indulgent and nonsensical, and Black Hole pulls it off brilliantly. Loving his new stuff too - the Hive is great.

Also finally read Dharma Punks by Ant Sang! Embarrassingly late I know - but well worth the wait. I think that it may just have catapulted straight to the top of my all-time favourite NZ comics. 

What is something non-comics that you have enjoyed in 2012?

Freaking LOVED the Mars landing by the Curiosity rover in August. We watched it live on NASA TV. It's what I imagine sport fans must feel like when their team wins something. What a bloody awesome achievement, One of those rare moments it felt good to be a human being. The Higgs Boson discovery was also mind-numbingly awesome. 

Have you implemented any significant changes to your working methods this year?

It's my first year of being freelance - so I've had to do lots of boring changes - like figuring out how to do my taxes and invoicing. Blergh. More interestingly, my drawing and comic creation has gone nearly entirely digital, from sketches through to the final work - a fun experiment, but I think the results have been promising so far. I still thumbnail the story outline first in a notebook though, so not quite there yet!

What are you looking forward to in 2013?

Rocket boots. Better instant meals. Otherwise, continuing to grow Faction, I think. It's an exciting challenge. Nationally, it'd be nice to see the disgusting government we've got crash and burn, and globally, it'd be good to see some action on climate change. Anything. Anything at all. But I'm not holding my breath.

Saturday, June 2, 2012

Paper Trail

The Caravan of Comics yoinked from caravan of comics.

The Caravan of Comics cartoonists have completed their jaunt around American and Canadian comic events. David Blumenstein recaps their adventures here and Matt Taylor writes about the caravan here.


Melbourne Publisher of fine comic books, Milk Shadow Books, have announced a book of Fil Barlow's Zooniverse on their publishing slate. Barlow has been regularly producing animations for the monthly loopdeloop animation challenge, Have a look at his work here.

 Mr Unpronounceable Copyright 2012 Tim Molloy

Tim Molloy has teased an image from his follow up to his first book with Milk Shadow Books, It shines, It Shakes And Laughs. Molloy's new book will collect previously published Mr Unpronounceable Adventures and feature new material.


Dylan Horrocks is the featured cartoonist on Comic Strip Tees with a character, Alice Brown, from his current web serial The Magic Pen. In a recent blog Horrocks noted Alice Brown would be a featured character in books two and three of The Magic Pen trilogy. I'm not sure but I think this is the first he has mentioned of The Magic Pen being a trilogy. Eagle-eyed comic fans will recall this Alice Brown image featuring in Dunedin anthology Dud a couple years ago. Comic Strip Tees are only available for a month so order yours now.


Colin Wilson is featured on episode ten from series two of The Living Room.

Khulan copyright 2012 Katie Houghton-Ward

Katie Houghton-Ward has teased an image from an upcoming installment of her series Khulan. Khulan debuted in the July 2011 issue of Heavy Metal with inks by Simon Morse. Morse commented this was likely his last comic work before fully going full-time in the tattoo world.

 
A new publisher in New Zealand, Faction Comics, are producing an anthology and are looking for contributors here.