Comics Down Under

Norman Clifford's Aerial Adventures

Norman Clifford was one of many talented and enterprising Australian artists who created opportunities for themselves in a competitive comic book market in the 1950s by creating stories which resonated with local audiences, and stood out among the American and British comics which crowded newsagents' shelves at the time. His passion for aircraft and aviation history inspired him to create a string of successful air combat-themed comics that capitalised on the Royal Australian Air Force's then-current involvement in Korean War (1950-53), and the postwar fascination with breakthroughs in aviation technology.

The following is Norman's own recollections of this exciting early phase in his decades-long career as a cartoonist and commercial artist.

Oct

Antipodean Currents: Comic Art in Australia and New Zealand (Part 2)

I originally wrote 'Antipodean Currents' in 2016, after being commissioned to write a brief "layman's history" of comic art in Australian and New Zealand from the late 19th century to the present day. It was originally intended for an academic essay collection, but the project was eventually cancelled, and it never saw print. I subsequently made an illustrated PDF version of this essay available on my Academia page, but this was only available to Academia.edu subscribers.

Jun

Antipodean Currents: Comic Art in Australia and New Zealand (Part 1)

I originally wrote 'Antipodean Currents' in 2016, after being commissioned to write a brief "layman's history" of comic art in Australian and New Zealand from the late 19th century to the present day. It was originally intended for an academic essay collection, but the project was eventually cancelled, and it never saw print. I subsequently made an illustrated PDF version of this essay available on my Academia.edu page, but this was only available to Academia.edu subscribers.

May

Recent Writings About Australian Comics (2017-2021)

One of the reasons why I have only made infrequent blog posts during the last 12-18 months is that I have been preoccupied with various academic/scholarly writing projects. "Publish or perish" is the commonly heard mantra repeated to "early career researchers" like myself, as your chances of securing postdoctoral research grants and/or semi-secure full-time employment is based in part on your academic writing output.

Dec

Paperboy, Collins Street, Melbourne 1957

This is a portrait of a paperboy in Collins Street, Melbourne, taken by photographer Mark Strizic. It was reproduced in a book of Strizic's photographs, "Melbourne: A Portrait", published by Georgian House in 1960.

Mark Strizic (pictured below in 1958) was born in Berlin, Germany, in 1928, but following Hitler's rise to power in 1933, his family fled to Zagreb, Yugoslavia (now Croatia) the following year.

Nov

Vale - Yaroslav Horak (1927-2020)

The Australian Cartoonists' Association announced on 25 November 2020 that acclaimed Australian comic-strip artist, Yaroslav Horak, had passed away after a decade-long struggle with Alzheimer's Disease. The following blog post is a revised and expanded version of my article, 'Yaroslav Horak: The Man Behind the Masks', which was originally published in Giant Size Phantom, no.9 (May 2019).

Sep

Gully Foyle: The Best Science-Fiction Comic You Never Read - Part 2

The following is the second (and final) part of my revised and updated account the "Gully Foyle" comic-strip saga, which I originally wrote for the long-expired PulpFaction.net website back in 2007. You can read the preceding installment by clicking here. You may also want to read Daniel Best's comparable account of Reg and Stan Pitt's "lost" comic strip masterpiece at his 20th Century Danny Boy blog.

Sep

Gully Foyle: The Best Science-Fiction Comic You Never Read - Part 1

The following is a revised and updated version of the article I originally wrote for the long-expired PulpFaction.net website back in 2007. Since then, the full story behind the “lost” comic-strip adaptation of Alfred Bester’s SF novel, The Stars My Destination, has been told in even greater depth by Daniel Best on his 20th Century Danny Boy blog.

Jul

(Re)defining the History of Australian Comics

NOTE: This blog entry is a modified version of a post I submitted to the "Australian Comics History 1960-2010" Facebook group on 20 June, 2020. The questions I raised here generated a lot of enthusiastic debate and discussion, so I thought I'd share it with the readers of this blog, as it may be of interest to the broader community of Australian comic-book fans, collectors and historians.

Jul

Ledger of Honour 2019 - Stanley and Reginald Pitt

The Ledger Awards were launched in 2005 to formally recognize both outstanding new works by Australian comic book/graphic novel creators, as well as acknowledge the work of earlier writers and artists who made historically significant contributions to Australian comics.

Comics Down Under

An Ongoing History of Comic Books in Australia