Classic Aussie Heroes on CD-ROM

Note: The following review was originally published in Collectormania magazine in January 2006. I'm reprinting it here, as the CD-ROM discussed is still available, and would be of interest to anyone keen to read original Australian comics from the 1950s. Furthermore, the CD-ROM's producer, Roger Stitson, is still working on launching an illustrated short story magazine, and is still seeking contributions from interested writers and artists. Read this earlier blog entry for further details.

As many collectors know, the increasing scarcity of vintage Australian comics from the postwar era has seen prices for popular titles climb dramatically in the last few years – often putting them beyond the financial reach of many readers.

Now, thanks to the tireless efforts of Melbourne writer and comic collector, Roger Stitson, fans can relive the adventures of three classic Aussie comic book heroes on CD-ROM.

“I’ve had the feeling for years that eventually most pre-decimal Australian comics are going to disappear forever, except for those held by dedicated collectors, or by large public libraries,” says Roger.

“Digitising these comics ensures that at least the images can’t deteriorate any further,” he explains, “ and putting them on CD-ROM is the next best thing [to reading the originals] for a mass audience. The discs can be bought for a fraction of the price of the original comics.”

Vintage Australian Comic Books on CD-ROM features complete reprints of four issues apiece from three classic titles – The Shadow (1st series/Nos. 1 & 20; 2nd series/Nos.5 & 17 - pictured at bottom); Sir Falcon (Nos. 2, 20, 44 & 53 - pictured at top) and The Phantom Ranger (Nos. 10, 36, 47 & 68 - pictured at left).

“I decided on featuring these three titles, because I have pretty good collections of these series, and the original publisher, Frew Publications [publisher of The Phantom], is still going strong in Sydney, and was therefore easy to locate,” says Roger. “Other Australian publishers have long since been defunct, so finding out where the copyright was held was something I didn’t feel like wasting time on.”

“I contacted Frew’s publisher, Jim Shepherd, via Bryan Shedden’s Phantom website, The Deep Woods , outlined what I was doing and got a message back from Bryan saying that Jim was very happy for me to go ahead.”

Scanning and restoring these old comic books for digital presentation required a lot of time, effort and patience, according to Roger. “The original comics had turned yellow-brown with age, so I used a scanner and a graphics software program called Micrografx Picture Publisher to fade, or remove, the discolouring.”

Each comic book contains 24 pages and it took Roger approximately 7-8 hours to scan and retouch a single page – which is why it took him nearly four years (working part-time) to complete the project!

The results, however, have been worth the wait. The internal pages images, along with the front and back covers, are clean and crisp and can be viewed in three different size formats (S,M,L).

The CD-ROM also features background material, explaining how the comics were digitally restored, as well as a brief history of Australia’s postwar era comic book industry.

Users will need a computer with a Windows 95 (and upwards) operating system, along with sufficient RAM (memory) and a CD/DVD drive to install and open the CD-ROM’s contents.

Once installed, the CD-ROM takes just seconds to open up in a Web browser window. However, you don’t need to be connected to the Internet in order to view the CD-ROM’s contents. The navigation menu is clearly laid out and easy to use. (Note: I've since used this CD-ROM after switching to the Mozilla Firefox browser and it opens up just as easily.)

Apart from comic collectors and popular culture enthusiasts, Roger believes the CD-ROM will be of interest to schools as well.

“As a former English teacher myself, the CD-ROM will appeal to teachers, especially those who teach ‘reluctant readers’, or who are interested in visual literacy,” he says. “I’ve written a study guide with suggestions for classroom activities, plus a set of simple crosswords and colouring-in activities for juniors, which can downloaded for free from my website.”

Vintage Australian Comic Books on CD-ROM is available for A$35.00 (incl. postage) to individual customers, and for A$50.00 (incl. postage) for unlimited, multi-user customers (such as schools, libraries, etc.) For further information, visit the website, or write to: Stitson Education, PO Box 50, Preston Victoria, Australia 3073.

People living outside Australia wishing to purchase the CD-ROM may do so using PayPal via the website. Click here for further details. (Note: All images reproduced on this blog entry were taken from the CD-ROM)