Comics Down Under

Review: Lee Falk, Storyteller

2012-01-29T16:23:00.000-08:00

Lee Falk, Storyteller is a handsomely produced tribute to this significant American comic-strip author, best known for his dual heroes, Mandrake the Magician (1934) and The Phantom (1936). While Falk's contributions to both the adventure-continuity strip , and to the development of comic-strip/comic-book superhero genre, have frequently been overlooked by most US comics historians, it is testament to the durability of Falk's creations that both his strips outlasted many of his more celebrated contemporaries from the 1930s and 1940s. Indeed, new adventures of The Phantom comic strip continue to appear in newspapers around the world, long after Falk's death in 1999.

Lee Falk, Storyteller seeks to reinstate Falk's place as one of the most significant American comic-strip auteurs of the 20th century. Produced by the Scandinavian Chapter of the Lee Falk Memorial Bengali Explorers Club, this book is an amazing compendium of magazine articles, interviews, family tributes and historical retrospectives, that covers virtually all facets of Falk's creative and professional life, spanning his comic-strip work, and his lifelong involvement in American theatre and stage productions. (In a nice touch, the cover for the English-language edition depicts The Phantom in his 'original' purple costume, while the Swedish edition portrays The Phantom - or, Fantomen, as he's known in Sweden - in his 'Scandinavian' blue outfit.)

Aside from the many insightful interviews with Falk, taken from American, European and Australian sources published over many decades, the book is also bursting with rare photographs, colour illustrations and promotional artwork documenting the visual history of Mandrake the Magician and The Phantom. This book is an invaluable contribution to biographical histories of American comic strip creators, and should be recommended reading for any serious student of American comic art. Fans of Mandrake the Magician and The Phantom, however, should need little persuasion to acquire a copy, as Lee Falk, Storyteller is a 'must-have' item for their comics collection. For details on how to purchase your copy, click here. (Image courtesy of New Pulp)

Revisiting ... Buck Rogers' Australian Orbit

2011-11-26T23:49:00.000-08:00

The following article was originally published online at OzComics.com on15 October 2007, but that website's recent makeover has seen my previously published articles (including this one) removed without notification. As I've had several people email me wanting to track down the pieces I wrote for OzComics.com, I've decided to make them available once again on this blog. - Kevin Patrick

"I should state therefore, that I, Anthony Rogers, am, so far as I know, the only man alive whose normal span of eighty-one years of life has been spread over a period of 573 years. To be precise, I lived the first twenty-nine years of my life between 1898 and 1927; the other fifty-two since 2149. The gap between these two, a period of nearly five hundred years, I spent in a state of suspended animation, free from the ravages of katabolic processes, and without any apparent effect on my physical or mental faculties."

However far-fetched Anthony Rogers’ story may have seemed to anyone reading these words for the first time, this space-faring hero would soon become known the world over as Buck Rogers.

Not only would Buck Rogers help popularize the embryonic literary genre of science-fiction, but he would, in his own small way, have an important role to play in the history of Australian comic book publishing. It is a role worth briefly commemorating here, in 2007, forty years since the character receded from the popular imagination.

The impossible promise of science-fiction was beautifully captured on the cover of the August 1928 edition of Amazing Stories, a pioneering magazine devoted to a new style of story, originally dubbed ‘scientifiction’ by its editor and founder, Hugo Gernsback.

Painted by the Austrian-born Frank R. Paul, the covers shows a man strapped inside a futuristic, yet cumbersome ‘flying harness’, hovering unaided above the ground, as a stylishly-dressed woman waves to him from the manicured lawns below.

At first, the painting seems like the first-ever portrait of Anthony Rogers, demonstrating his new-fangled flying belt. It was, however, depicting a scene taken from another, equally influential serial also appearing in that same issue of Amazing Stories – ‘The Skylark of Space’, written by the father of the ‘space opera’, Edward Elmer Smith, PhD., better known as E.E. ‘Doc’ Smith.

Frank R. Paul did, however, furnish the black & white illustrations accompanying the story ‘Armageddon – 2149’, written by Philip Francis Nowlan, which also appeared in that landmark magazine.

It was here that readers first met Anthony Rogers, an employee of the American Radioactive Gas Corporation who, together with his two assistants, set out on 15 December 1927 to investigate "reports of unusual phenomena" at an abandoned coalmine near the Wyoming Valley in Pennsylvania.

Rogers was knocked unconscious when the rotted timbers supporting the mineshaft collapsed, killing his colleagues. When he regained consciousness nearly 500 years later, Rogers found himself in an America that had been conquered by the all-powerful Mongolians (Chinese) in 2109, who established their ‘Han Dynasty’ throughout America, subjugating the American people with their "terrific disintegrator rays".

Rogers’ ally was Wilma Deering, a member of the ‘Wyoming Gang’, whom he had saved during a fierce gun-battle when he first awoke. Wilma would not only help guide Rogers through this alien American landscape, but take her place alongside him as a fellow resistance fighter and, eventually, as his lover.

The editor of Amazing Stories clearly had high hopes for this new character, imploring (in print) its author to come up with a sequel. Nowlan did pen a follow-up story, ‘The Airlords of Han’, which saw print in the March 1929 edition of Amazing Stories. But pulp magazines were not to remain Anthony Rogers’ home for long.

Just a few months beforehand, John F. Dille, proprietor of the National Newspaper Service (Chicago) had read Nowlan’s original story and contracted the writer, asking him to adapt the novelette as ongoing comic strip serial.

Dille, who was keen to capitalise on growing public interest in science-fiction is not only credited with changing the hero’s name to Buck Rogers, but was also responsible for assigning his staff artist, Dick Calkins, to illustrate the new feature.

Despite his background as a sports cartoonist, Calkins was no stranger to space – or, airspace, at least. He served with the US Army Air Corps during the First World War and initially signed his work ‘Lt. Dick Calkins, US Air Corps’.

The first episode of the daily strip, titled 'Buck Rogers in the 25th Century', appeared in participating American newspapers on 7 January 1929. Nowlan stayed fairly close to his original storyline, but as the strip progressed, it took on a weird blend of ‘space opera’ and western – such as when Buck Rogers joins forces with the Navajo resistance fighters, and is befriended by a cowboy-outlaw, Two-Gun Pete.

Buck meets Wilma, member of the Allegheny Orgzone (resistance unit), who helps Buck master personal flight, by using a jumping belt powered by Imerton, which "reverses weight". Buck crosses swords with ‘Killer’ Kane, Wilma’s ex-boyfriend and fellow resistance fighter, who eventually frames Buck as a Mongol spy, and joins the Mongol invaders in order to seek revenge against Buck and reclaim Wilma for himself.

As science-fiction author Ray Bradbury wrote decades later, "it was not so much how the episodes [of Buck Rogers] were drawn, but what was happening in them that made them such a success."

Despite its futuristic trappings, the 'Buck Rogers' comic strip was clearly a product of the ‘jazz age’. Wilma, for instance, looks like a laser gun-toting flapper, complete with cloche hat and daringly short skirt. Her resistance movement comrades dart about in propeller-driven biplanes, engaged in dogfights with the Mongols’ fleet of airships.

Calkin’s artwork betrayed his unease with the demands of the adventure comic strip format, but had an undeniable energy and rough-hewn charm.

Calkin’s also helped cement much of the popular visual motifs of early science-fiction as he lent his Art Deco-inspired designs to the huge range of Buck Rogers toys and novelties that became massive sellers throughout the 1930s, such as the streamlined rocket ships and bulbous ray guns.

In its own way, 'Buck Rogers' was a remarkably prescient comic strip, anticipating technological advances, such as television, remote-control robots and unmanned aircraft, by several decades.
Just as importantly, Buck Rogers proved the popularity of the adventure comic strip amongst newspaper readers, who were rewarded with a Sunday version of the 'Buck Rogers' strip, which debuted on 30 March 1930.

Such was the series' popularity that a rival news organisation, King Features Syndicate, commissioned artist Alex Raymond to develop its own science-fiction comic, 'Flash Gordon', in January 1934.

The popularity of new adventure comic strips was not lost on Fitchett Bros. Pty. Ltd. of West Melbourne, the proprietors of The New Idea, Australia’s oldest women’s magazine. The company’s founder, Thomas Shaw Fitchett, couldn’t have failed to notice the growing success that its main rival, The Australian Women’s Weekly, was enjoying with its new comic strip, Mandrake the Magician, which made its Australian debut on 1 December 1934.

Launched in August 1902, The New Idea established the template for Australian women’s magazines for decades to come. But its market supremacy was challenged by Frank Packer, whose launch of The Australian Women’s Weekly in June 1933 gradually set new standards in colour magazine publishing and won thousands of new readers with each issue.

Part of The New Idea’s editorial response to this new competitor was to introduce new features. While it may have seemed a strange addition to a women’s magazine, The New Idea unveiled 'Buck Rogers' as its new comic strip serial on 17 April 1936.

Unlike 'Mandrake the Magician', which would remain an integral part of the Australian Women’s Weekly for decades, 'Buck Rogers' enjoyed a comparatively brief tenure with The New Idea, making its last appearance in September 1941.

Yet within months of the strip’s premiere in The New Idea, Fitchett Bros. sought to expand the character’s appeal to a more receptive, adolescent audience. The company printed the first issue of a new comic book, The Adventures of Buck Rogers, in November 1936.

By the time the fourth issue was eventually published in April 1938, The Adventures of Buck Rogers became a monthly magazine. (Incidentally, Fitchett Bros. also published Australian editions of American science-fiction pulp magazines during this period, including Amazing Stories, the original ‘home’ of Buck Rogers.)

Buck Rogers was the first genuine, American-styled comic book published in Australia, comprised entirely of comic strips, as distinct from competing Australian and British ‘children’s papers’ of the period, which combined comic strips with editorial text features.

It was also the first comic book published in Australia featuring a single character – a relatively new trend in comics publishing. The first such American comic book of this type, for example, was Skippy’s Own Book of Comics (containing reprinted newspaper strips), published in 1934.

Fitchett Brothers’ new magazine may have also been the world’s first solo Buck Rogers comic book. In his American homeland, Buck was largely confined to being a supporting feature in Famous Funnies from 1934 to 1954, while a short-lived, self-titled Buck Rogers comic book titled briefly appeared in 1941-43.

The Australian edition of Buck Rogers initially sported two-toned, ink-wash covers which were signed ‘ES", and were the work of Ed Smith (He would later sign his full name to the countless comic book covers he would draw over the next two decades.)

The title proved sufficiently popular for Fitchett Bros. to issue a series of Buck Rogers Specials throughout 1938-42, along with a range of Buck Rogers Annuals during 1938-41.

The commercial success of their Buck Rogers series encouraged Fitchett Bros. to release additional comics featuring reprints of American newspaper comic strips, such as Hurricane Hawk and Red Ryder, throughout the 1930s and 40s.

Oddly enough, while The New Idea ceased running the 'Buck Rogers' comic strip in 1941, presumably as a result of wartime government bans on imported comic magazines and syndicated comic strips, Fitchett Bros. was still able to publish its Buck Rogers periodicals throughout the war.

Nonetheless, Fitchett Bros. Pty. Ltd. became the first significant Australian publisher of comic books from 1936 onwards, four years before other publishers (such as the NSW Bookstall Company and the Offset Printing Company) made their first forays into the local comics market during the Second World War.

It’s worth noting that Consolidated Press (publisher of The Australian Women’s Weekly) issued a single, unnumbered edition of Buck Rogers in the 25th Century, priced at of 4 ½d, during the early 1940s. How they were able to do so while the Fitchett Bros. series was still being published remains a mystery.

One possible explanation could be that its cancellation in The New Idea caused the strip’s Australian syndication rights to briefly lapse, thereby giving Consolidated Press a brief opportunity to ‘test the market’ with their own Buck Rogers comic book. Yet wartime paper rationing and the prohibition of any new, ongoing periodicals arguably played some part in Consolidated Press’ decision not to launch a competing series of Buck Rogers comics.

However, at war’s end, the Fitchett Bros. printing business, along with its stable of magazines (including The New Idea), was acquired by Southdown Press. The new proprietors retained the Buck Rogers title and reintroduced the Buck Rogers Specials in 1948. The other noticeable change during this period was the appearance of the Tip-Top Comics logo, which was first seen on the cover of Buck Rogers No. 122.

Ed Smith continued to draw the lion’s share of covers for both the Buck Rogers’ titles, as well as Southdown’s other American comic reprint titles. Other Australian artists, such as Norman Clifford, who were producing adventure titles for Southdown Press during the early 1950s (such as Billy Battle), drew covers for the Buck Rogers series.

While some comic historians, such as the late John Ryan (author of Panel By Panel: An Illustrated History of Australian Comics), claimed that the Fitchett Brothers/Southdown Press series comprised the most extensive range of Buck Rogers reprints anywhere in the world, they didn’t always adhere to the strip’s publishing chronology. Ian Simpson, a lifelong Australian fan and collector of Buck Rogers comics, wrote in Collectormania magazine (April 2007) that the Fitchett Brothers editions reprinted the original 1929 strips in 1938, casually intermingled with the then-current storylines.

Nonetheless, by the time the original Australian series ceased publication in January 1953, it had chronicled most of Buck Rogers’ adventures, as drawn by Calkins and his successors, including Russell Keaton, Rich Yager, Murphy Anderson and Leonard Dworkins, during the course of its 181 issues.

The demise of Southdown Press’ Tip-Top Comics range didn’t signal the end for 'Buck Rogers' down under. Atlas Publications of Melbourne (home to the best-selling Australian superhero, Captain Atom), launched a new series titled Buck Rogers of the 25th Century, which ran for at least nine issues, before the company closed its doors around during 1957-58.

This was followed by the character’s sporadic appearances in King Size Comic, a giant 2/- (two shilling) magazine, produced by the Cleveland Publishing Company of Sydney under its Apache Comics imprint. Apart from Buck Rogers, King Size Comic featured reprints of various American and Australian comic book features, ranging from crime ('T-Man') to westerns ('El Lobo', 'Tim Holt') and science-fiction ('Silver Starr'), before it, too, ceased publication in 1959.

A belated Australian tribute to Buck Rogers appeared in 1969, when the Sydney firm Ibis Imprints published Vintage Buck Rogers 1929 to 1967 (subtitled 'An anthology of the greatest space-age comic strip of all time'.) This one-off effort, which also included a free colour poster, was no doubt intended to cash-in on the ‘nostalgia craze’ for pre-war and wartime pop culture heroes, which reached its peak throughout the 1960s. (Ibis Imprints appears to have specialised in books reprinting the works of both Australian and overseas cartoonists during the late 1960s and early 1970s.)

Ironically, 'Buck Rogers' would not survive long enough to witness the Apollo moon landing of 1969, with production of the syndicated comic strip ceasing two years beforehand. Yet, in the forty years that have passed since the character’s demise, it is worth recalling the pivotal role that Buck Rogers played in both the evolution of the newspaper comic strip and in the birth of Australia’s comic book industry.

The author would like to thank Graeme Cliffe for his assistance in researching this article. However, any errors and omissions are the author’s own. All images and artwork reproduced here are copyright © 2007-2011 their respective copyright holders.

Thank you, 'W' ... whoever you are!

2011-11-22T22:36:00.001-08:00

An unexpected present awaited me in my post-office box recently - a 'pre-loved' copy of Help!, a Gredown/Boraig Pty. Ltd. horror comic, most likely dating from the early 1980s. The sender - who simply signed their letter 'W' - explained that they uncovered this comic whilst doing some cleaning and, upon reading my blog, decided to send it to me. The letter apolgised for the comic's tattered condition, but my mytery correspondent thought I might enjoy it nonetheless. In answer to your letter, 'W', I most certainly did enjoy this comic, dog-eared cover and all - these Aussie horror comics are always a delight to read, largely because of their chaotic, random selection of ghoulish stories, past & present, from the USA and Europe (For details of this comic's contents, click here). So, thank you, 'W' - whoever you are, and wherever you are! (Image courtesy AusReprints.com)

Transworld Features & Marvel UK

2011-11-18T18:04:00.000-08:00

The one thing that keeps me engaged in producing this blog, however infrequently that's been lately, is that its very existence can lead to serendipitous discoveries and contacts, which can help us fill the gaps in our collective knowledge about the history of Australian comic-book publishing. And my recent email exchanges with UK comics fan/researcher, Rob Kirby, is an excellent case in point.

Quite unbeknownst to me, Rob has, for the last two decades, been engaged in researching the history of Marvel Comics publishing operations in the UK, from the 1950s to the present-day. As he revealed in his recent email to me (received, quite literally, out of the blue), Rob had previously stumbled across Comics Down Under during his ongoing 'internet sweeps' for any titbits of information referring to Transworld Features, a US-based company which, as noted elsewhere on this blog, appeared to have connections with the post-war Australian comics publishing industry, dating as far back as the late 1950s. But as he reveals below, Rob didn't share his own insights about Transworld's UK operations (and its links with Marvel Comics), as he was still trying to 'fill in the blanks' of his own research. And, it appears, he's since largely been able to do so, after having established contact with a principal figure associated with the company, Ray Wergan (Again, read on for further details).

Rob hopes to publish his massive history, supported by copious indices to most of the Marvel Comics UK editions, in a forthcoming book, titled From Cents to Pence. In the meantime, Rob has very generously offered to share some of his insights into the Marvel Comics-Transworld 'connection' with readers of this blog. I think you'll agree this is fascinating reading, and helps flesh out our understanding of Transworld's links with Marvel Comics (US), as well as Transworld's connections with the Australian (and, by extension, British Commonwealth) comics publishing markets.

For the moment, Rob is currently without a dedicated online presence/website, but he has asked me to encourage any interested readers to contact him via the Make Mine Marvel UK group on Facebook. Alternately, readers can email any questions they might have for Rob directly to me (see my email address listed at right-hand side of this blog), and I will pass them on to him.

For readers' benefit, I have (where possible) added external website links to any key individuals, companies or comic-book publications mentioned in Rob's text, especially for those unfamiliar with the history of Marvel Comics' UK publishing ventures. - Kevin Patrick (Image courtesy MyComicShop.com)

Transworld - A Short History

By Rob Kirby

If any of you ever caught some of the latter issues of Dez Skinn’s long run on the late, lamented Comics International, then you may have seen my name crop up in relation to my now longer running research work on the history of Marvel UK . Or then again, maybe you might have spotted me on the Marvel UK group on Facebook, or mentions of my work else where on the web on It Came From Darkmoor and on Lew Stringer’s Blimey! blog. But if you haven’t…

Well, to be brief – which could be something of a first for me – I spent several years from around 1990 onwards gradually indexing almost everything the UK wing of Marvel published, new material and reprints alike. Initially just for me, so I could build up a want’s list of all the US stories that hadn’t appeared over here, and for any issues that were rather heavily edited for whatever reason. As I garnered more and more material it increasingly made sense that I should collect it as a reference work. I had form, having co-edited and designed the 1980s fanzine Amalgam.

Once I’d decided on making it into a proper to book, it had to have a brief history ahead of the indices to set the material in context, but while I could sketch out a basic structure easily enough, there seemed to be almost no research material out there to help me fill in the blanks. After abandoning a first attempt to write something I eventually came back to it around 1995 or so at the prompting of both Steve Holland and the aforementioned Mr. Skinn. But how to tackle it pre-internet, and before the resurgence of useful fan magazines like Comic Book Artist, Alter Ego and Back Issue et al?

Perhaps spurred by more recent interviews in the newsstand Comics World magazine (then being edited by the self-same Mr. Holland), I decided to take a trawl through my own small collection of 1980s fanzines. What I found completely amazed me. All the time I’d had a mini-treasure trove of useful historical material tucked quietly away in a corner, some 200 pages of it to be precise, and from that, and then later gaining access to more and more willing helpers from all corners of the comics industry (helped by the rise of the ‘net and letters in CBG etc.) I gradually began piecing together and then constantly feeding a rapaciously hungry, ever-growing history.

But, and this is the reason I’m writing this today (well, tonight UK time for me, actually!), the biggest mystery was how and why the UK wing started. ‘If only I could locate Ray Wergan’, I thought, the man who had responsibility for the 1970s British Marvel comics through his Transworld company, ‘then maybe I’d have some of my questions answered’. But the search proved fruitless, and I had no joy from the company he’d sold his press picture agency business too, and I must admit I’d feared that he might no longer be with us. Thankfully, that fear was groundless, after I found him quite by chance commenting on journalist photos as the lead quote in a Feedback column in The Times. Not only was he very happy to talk about his connection with Marvel’s UK business, but his memory of that period was still sharp, spurred on by the ten chapter extract I had to send him to fully cover the scope of his involvement with what became known as Marvel UK in later years.

Having caught the first part of your discussion here about the Australian Marvel reprints a while back when doing a search for anything Transworld-related, I thought that it might be useful to add some pertinent information to your own research. But I’m glad I didn’t have time to do so before now, because several months of conversation and questioning later, I have far more definitive answers to many gaping blanks.

But, of course I’ve now gleaned far, far too much material for this blog (and hey, I will have a book to sell in the very near future after all, snappily entitled "From Cents to Pence"), but you’ve done me a favour too; until last night I hadn’t realised that Al Landau later became Marvel President ahead of Jim Galton. I’m at a loss as to how I missed that mention in the interview you extracted, seeing as I buy Alter Ego regularly, but I thank you for making a very useful connection for me, as you’ll see from what follows… which I hope will be of some small interest to you.

Okay, so on to Transworld, already!

Part 2 of your fascinating feature is spot-on; Thomas and Lee are indeed discussing Marvel’s overseas syndication. But, just as I did with so little hard evidence to go on (in my mitigation), you’re very wrong in thinking that Transworld was just one company based in New York, just as I was equally wrong when I thought that it was solely London based! It was in fact two interlinked companies… eventually.

Transworld Feature Syndicate Inc. was originally formed in the late 1940s. Initially it syndicated U.S. material in Central and South America , but it seems that when Albert Landau joined his mother Ira’s business, he was keen to get in on the comics market scene too, even before its unforeseen major resurgence in the early 1960s. In transpires that Martin Goodman had been a client ever since the early 1950s, and so Transworld began handling the worldwide syndication of all Marvel’s present and back catalogue comic strips and artwork alongside materials from his separate magazine division, Magazine Management. But they didn’t stop at Marvel and also handled material from the American Comics Group, Tower Comics and Charlton, and probably several others too.

DC Comics had their own set-up, though. Through their IND distribution arm, they’d bought up Thorpe and Porter in 1964; a UK distributor handling U.S. comic imports (and a former reprint publisher). And when Warner Bros bought DC, T+P was then subsumed, along with Top Sellers and General Book Distribution (GBD), into Williams, which became DC’s publishing arm in Europe . Although I have no information to back it up, from what you’ve said here, it would seem that DC probably did handle their own syndication of material overseas, or at least hired a different agency to do that for them.

So, how does Ray Wergan slot into this story? Well, he trained as a sports reporter in 1957 and built a well-regarded reputation with his sports journalism in Manchester ’s Evening News and Chronicle (the newspaper later evolving into The Guardian) and also did a few guest spots in the national press too. After seeking fresh challenges at Thomson Newspapers in 1960, he was offered a U.S. post with The Daily Express newspaper’s New York office in 1961and it was here that he met up with Al Landau.

Wergan and Landau soon became firm friends and would regularly catch-up every time a home-sick Al returned from London, where he was now living in order to oversee Transworld’s new subsidiary European office. This coordinated other offices in various European territories. Of particular interest to readers of this blog, though, I’ve been told that both South Africa and Australia were handled by the London office (which makes sense given our historical links with those countries), although obviously the film was being sourced directly from New York . And from what you’ve said it seems they chose to operate under the generic Transworld Feature Syndicate name back then.

In 1964 Life magazine offered Wergan the chance to become their independent agent in London, provided he could find them an established agency that was already working in the news field, and this was how he came to manage the London offices of Transworld for Landau, bringing Life into a now rapidly expanding portfolio of top titles.

Landau happily left Wergan to run the London office in High Holborn in 1968 and returned home to New York for good, selling their London office to Ray in 1971 as part of company policy to make managers directly responsible for the profitability of their office. Now run in partnership with the central New York office, the London business was immediately renamed Transworld (UK) Ltd.

And as I write this I can see now that this all dovetails perfectly with the sale of Marvel to Perfect Film (later Cadence Industries) in 1968, leading to him becoming President there following Chip and Martin Goodman’s departure. And when Marvel reprints stopped following the end of Odhams’ reprint Power Comics line, and the company’s sale to I.P.C. magazines, this further explains why it was that Landau accompanied Lee to his London office in spring 1972 to rescue a failed attempt by a packaging company called Martspress the previous year to launch a new British Marvel comic of their own; a scheme that Marvel had provided considerable financial support for.

Lee was apparently unhappy with the feel of that still-born comic anyway – which would have repeated the same uncomfortable mix of traditional UK action/adventure strips alongside the far more kinetic U.S. material that Odhams had used – and he eventually re-worked the dummy first issue into something that could be completely controlled and assembled by Marvel. And it proves that Lee was far more involved in the day-to-day running and expansion of Marvel once he stepped down as writer/editor than he’s ever been given credit for before now.

Out of this came The Mighty World of Marvel, of course, and the birth of Marvel’s first overseas publishing division, originally registered under the name of Magazine Management. All they needed was a London office to add editorial material and to coordinate with advertisers, printers and promoters. Ray Wergan was asked to set everything in motion until a permanent manager was appointed, but this never happened and Wergan continued to oversee the work of five separate editors until Dez Skinn was given the task of running the whole operation from London in late 1978, which is where the Marvel UK name came into being thanks to a nifty new masthead (which remained in use long after Skinn’s departure).

Transworld (UK), meanwhile, continued as a picture syndication business until Wergan’s retirement in 1988, whereupon his image library was sold on to Scope Features, who continue to this day. Incidentally, I must stress that this would not have included any film from the Marvel period, as that was retained by Dez when they set-up office in Kentish Town , London . Images from prints of some of the UK covers from the 1970s continued to appear in letter columns until around 1982/3, and a later move saw almost everything skipped apart from a few things that were rescued by enterprising staff members. This was a short-sighted practice repeated during subsequent moves, and was common to almost all UK publishers anyway. It goes without saying that a lot of valuable film and artwork appears to have vanished for good.

I hope this clarifies things somewhat, although it sounds like you still have a bigger story yet to be told, so good luck in fitting it all together. My book, which will probably top out about 500/600 pages of text and copious illustrations and photos if all goes to plan, has taken me well over two decades to compile years of fruitless searching, but don’t let that put you off!

Good hunting!

Rob Kirby

Comics, Cowboys and Beyond: An Interview with Paul Wheelahan

2011-10-30T20:31:00.000-07:00

The following interview was originally published as 'On the Prowl with Paul Wheelahan: Creator of The Panther', and appeared in Australian Book Collector No.129 (September 2001, pp:12-16). It was subsequently reprinted online at OzComics, but that website's recent makeover has seen my previously published articles (including this one) removed without notification. As I've had several people email me wanting to track down the pieces I wrote for OzComics, I've decided to make them available once again on this blog, commencing with this interview. Where necessary, I have corrected, or additional, information, as indicated by text in [brackets] - Kevin Patrick

Paul Wheelahan can't remember a time when he didn't have a pen or pencil in his hand. Born in 1930, Paul grew up in the New South Wales country town of Dalton, where his father was stationed as a mounted policeman. When he wasn't playing with friends in the common behind the police horse yards, he spent the rest of his time "drawing dinosaurs on cereal boxes and cutting them out and standing them up all over the house."

Paul says his was a normal "bush childhood" during the Great Depression of the 1930s, which saw close to a million people out of work. "I remember lines of unemployed men at the home-cum-police station queuing up for clothing rations every second Thursday," he recalls.

Like most kids his age, Paul escaped the harsh realities of Depression-era Australia by going to the movies, which were screened at his local church hall. Here he first saw the Australian-born, Hollywood actor Errol Flynn, who starred in such classic adventure films as The Adventures of Robin Hood (1938) and The Sea Hawk (1940). "He was the ultimate cinematic hero," says Paul, "an opinion I've had no reason to change in the intervening years." Radio adventure serials were also a big part of his childhood entertainment, with The Phantom Drummer being Paul's favourite.

"These all paled in comparison with comics," says Paul, "especially the truly wonderful Wags weekly tabloid-sized comic paper."

Wags was published by the Melbourne Herald & Weekly Times newspaper group between 1936-1940, and featured full-colour reprints of the best American comic strips of the 1930s, including 'Dick Tracy', 'Tarzan' and 'Terry and the Pirates'. Wags also published original strips by Bob Kane, who later created Batman, and Jack Kirby, who co-created Captain America.

"Standing shivering in the cold on the newsagent's doorstep every Tuesday morning with my pennies was the best I ever felt," Paul remembers. "I have two copies [of Wags] and they are amongst my most prized possessions."

Paul thinks that he must have always wanted to become an artist or storyteller of some kind. "I used to fill notebooks with stories, " he says, but it wasn't until 24 November 1946 when he realised that he wanted to become a comic book artist.

"That was when the Sunday Sun and Guardian's Sunbeams comic supplement published episode one of Stanley Pitt's Silver Starr," says Paul. "I freaked."

Silver Starr in the Flameworld was a science fiction saga, whose hero was an Australian soldier returned from the war, leading an expedition to the centre of the Earth, accompanied by his companions, Onro and Dyson.

Greatly influenced by the American cartoonist Alex Raymond and his pioneering science fiction strip Flash Gordon, Stanley Pitt created one of the most visually spectacular comic strips in Australian history. The effect Pitt's work had on Paul was immediate and long-lasting. "The power, grandeur and total assurance of his dazzling artwork convinced me that this Australian was the greatest of them all."

"In the hour I first held that comic in my hands, I knew I would be a comic artist and assured everyone of this fact on that same day - including my parents, who were massively unimpressed," says Paul.

Paul, however, was so serious about pursuing his dream that he left home the following year and went to Sydney to become a comic artist! "I was already wearing my hair longer than was acceptable," remembers Paul," and I suspect my police officer father may have been relieved when I left home at 15 to work for a man's wages and live on my own in Sydney."

Paul's first stop in Sydney was to meet his newfound idol, Stanley Pitt. "I met Stan when I came to Sydney by turning up at the Sunday Sun and introducing myself," he says, " and we immediately became lifelong friends."

Between 1949-1950, Paul began work as a comic artist, initially inking Pitt's pencil artwork for his Yarmak - The Jungle King comic book, as well as on Pitt's Sunday Sun [NSW] newspaper comic strip, 'Captain Power'.

In the meantime, Paul went knocking on publishers' doors looking for work, but with little success. "H. John Edwards started giving me filler strips of two to four page comics in [local reprints of] American books, such as Sheena, Queen of the Jungle," he recalls.

One of these filler strips was 'Space Hawk', a science-fiction superhero, which appeared as a back-up feature in Edwards' reprints of Wings and Rangers comics. "This was my first venture into comic strips, working with my own scripts and illustrations," says Paul.

At the time, H. John Edwards was one of Australia's biggest comic book publishers. Edwards' local titles included The Lone Avenger and The Hooded Rider, both Westerns written and drawn by Len Lawson, and Tim Valour and The Crimson Comet, two adventure series by John Dixon.

Dixon was a prolific comic book writer and artist throughout the 1940s and 1950s, before achieving international acclaim with his newspaper comic strip, Air Hawk and the Flying Doctors, which ran between 1959-1986.

"John was, and is, one of the best men to ever dip a sable hair brush in a pot of Windsor and Newton's Indian Ink," says Paul.

Paul wrote and drew a 10-page comic, 'Steve Ashley of Africa', about a big game hunter in the Belgian Congo, which he sold to Edwards, "but he didn't seem too interested."

Now aged twenty, Paul found himself utterly disillusioned by his lack of artistic success in Sydney and went back to live with his family in Armidale, New South Wales. On returning home, Paul got a job working on the Oaky River Dam project, where he worked as a jackhammer operator, tree cutter and as a 'powder monkey'.

"A powder monkey stuffs the long, deep holes drilled by men operating wagon drills, with gelignite, attaching fuses and blowing out huge chunks of mountainside," explains Paul.

"I worked with a certifiable maniac who was unbeaten in countless street fights and who was probably the most vivid personality I ever knew," he says.

"Some times we would put much more explosive down a hole than was required," says Paul. "We did this one day and a chunk of rock the size of a Holden sailed high over where all of us were taking shelter and came down through the iron roof of a workshop, missing a Dutch migrant worker by a whisker. Next day I was back on the jackhammer and the Dutchman, named Steve, was en route for Sydney and Amsterdam!"

Around 1952, Paul's 'Steve Ashley of Africa' strip was published, as a back-up story in Len Lawson's The Hooded Rider comic book. Seeing his work in print reawakened Paul's artistic ambitions, so he set off for Sydney once again. Edwards commissioned two more 'Steve Ashley' stories from Paul, which were again printed in The Hooded Rider.

Paul's big break, however, came in 1955 when he read an article in an American magazine about the revival of interest in the pioneer adventurer Davy Crockett, made popular by a string of movies starring Fess Parker at the time.

"I took the idea for a Davy Crockett comic to Charles Young, whom I'd met through Stan in the Yarmak era," says Paul. Charles' company, Young's Merchandising, published a range of comic books, including a series of Silver Starr comics in the early 1950s.

Debuting in 1955, Paul's comic, Davy Crockett - Frontier Scout [pictured above], proved a big hit with readers. "It ran for twenty-two issues and enabled me to buy a house," he says.

Paul's next title for Young's Merchandising was the character he will always be best remembered for - The Panther! "The Panther idea was simply to create a man who looked like a panther and justify his strange lifestyle," he says. "I wanted him to be a slinky, stealthy man of the night," he explains, "and the jungle setting was perfect for this kind of character."

"I began drawing him lithe and lean, like a panther, but as my interest in weightlifting progressed, I noticed him getting more and more like Arnold Schwarzenegger," says Paul, "so I fined him down again!"

The Panther first appeared in 1957 and ran for over seventy issues - a record-breaking run for most Australian comics, then and now! "I recognised that it was a good strong name and a good idea," he adds, "and it was clearly one that registered with readers."

Capitalising on the popularity of The Panther, Paul created a new adventure comic for Young's Merchandising in the early 1960s called The Raven. Set on the English moors, the mysterious, hooded Raven fought all sorts of criminals, ghosts and aliens, while evading capture by the police.

"The Raven elicited far more reader reaction then The Panther for some reason," says Paul. "I had a great time drawing it."

Paul was by now writing, drawing and lettering up to thirty pages of comic book art a month. "I have to admit that sometimes I did not pencil, but simply drew straight on to the page with pen or brush."

By the early 1960s, however, Paul's comics were amongst the last original Australian titles being published. Local reprints of American comic books had swamped the market throughout the 1950s. The situation was made worse by the introduction of television in Australia in 1956, followed by the resumption of imports of original, full-colour American comic books. These combined events forced most Australian comic book publishers out of business by the late 1950s.

Then in 1963, Charles Young died and Young's Merchandising was shut down. With the collapse of the Australian comics industry, Paul turned his hand to becoming a full-time writer. He sold his first book, a Western adventure [Never Ride Back, 1964], to Cleveland Publishing Co. in the mid-1960s , and produced Westerns at a breakneck speed for nearly thirty years.

"I found myself churning [out] the Westerns, but this seemed to result in better stories rather than worse ones," says Paul. "I found the work far easier as I'm a natural writer, whereas I had to teach myself to draw."

Writing under the pen names 'Emerson Dodge' and 'Brett McKinley', Paul wrote over 500 Western novels for Cleveland, easily making him one of Australia's most prolific and popular writers.

"Whenever I'm writing a novel, my thoughts are racing much faster than I can type. Because of this furious pace, I make a million mistakes; thank God for the PC!"

"The best stories I've ever done were written in 4-5 days at 100mph," he claims. "Invariably when I receive mail about a particular story, it is one written like this."

By the time Paul wrote his last story for Cleveland Publishing in 1996, he had cut down his output from three books per month to approximately one-and-a-half!

Paul became briefly involved in television screenwriting. He created and wrote the children's TV series Runaway Island, about two orphans living in Sydney during the 1830s, which screened on the Seven Network in 1982.

Paul wrote several episodes of the popular soap opera A Country Practice, which he says, "never saw the light of day." He was also commissioned to collaborate with Michael Laurence to write a twenty-episode sequel to Laurence's 1985 hit TV mini-series, Return to Eden. "We had an artistic falling out towards the end of it," says Paul, and the planned sequel was never produced.

Looking back on his television experience, Paul admits that he "didn't like the collaborative experience - particularly on A Country Practice, with their endless story conferences."

Paul returned to the thing that he loved doing the most- writing Westerns. Even though he no longer works for Cleveland Publishing, Paul continues to write new books through his own publishing company, Dodge Publishing. To date, he has released three self-published novels - Savage Texas, Arizona Psycho and Sons of Cain. [Since this interview was first published, Paul subsequently began writing new Western novels for the British publisher, Robert Hale, under their 'Black Horse Westerns' imprint - marking one of the few occasions when Paul's novels were published under his own name.]

During the 1980s, Paul began appearing as a guest at Australian comic book conventions, talking to fans about his days at the drawing board creating The Panther, as well as seeing a new generation of Australian cartoonists try their luck at publishing their own comic books.

"I really feel for all the young, would-be comic artists I encounter at conventions," says Paul. "They're up against it in Oz, but they just stick to it - just as I would have done had I been born into their era. I wish them well - especially those who like my work!"

Update from the Academic Trenches

2011-10-21T13:59:00.000-07:00

For those of you who haven't entirely given up on this blog yet, I'm just taking advanatge of a rare, quiet Saturday morning to post a brief update and - once again, it seems - explain my prolonged absence from the local (Australian) comics community.

Just to recap, since July 2010, I have begun a PhD in Communications at the Centre for the Book, Monash University (Victoria, Australia), where I am writing my thesis, titled 'The Ghost Who Walks: A Cultural History of The Phantom Comic Book in Australia, India and Sweden'. Much has happened since my last post on this subject; I have successfully completed my 'Confirmation of Candidature' hearing earlier this year; I have presented several papers on different aspects of Australian comics culture at Australian and international academic conferences; and I have had a number of my previous conference papers accepted for publication with local and international journals, including Script & Print, the International Journal of Comic Art and the Australasian Journal of Popular Culture (For details, visit my Academia.edu profile page.)

In the midst of all this, I also began work as a sessional tutor, taking first-year students for a module on communications and society at Monash University during this current semester (2011). This has been a real 'baptism of fire' for me, not having ever done this level of teaching before (My previous 'teaching' experience was confined to delivering a Council of Adult Education course - with my wife, on book collecting - many moons ago, plus sporadic 'guest lectures' and workshops on freelance journalism at TAFE colleges and the Emerging Writers Festival). But, judging by the largely positive student feedback forms I've received thus far, I apparently didn't do too badly! But preparing and delivering tutorials, marking essays and exams, and simply processing all the 'on the job' learning that goes with tutoring, has consumed a lot of time and energy this semester. Nonetheless, I'm grateful for the experience, as it can only help me build up my professional development as an 'early career' academic - and make me better prepared for any subsequent sessional tutoring assignments that come my way for the remainder of my PhD studies.

And the pace hasn't slackened, even as the academic semester winds down. I'm navigating the ethics clearance approval process required for me to undertake field research (i.e. interviews, online reader surveys) that I hope to undertake as part of my thesis. I'm currently working on a paper to be presented at the Australian Media Traditions conference being held at Swinburne University of Technology in November 2011. I'm also preparing an entry on Australian comic strips and comic books for the forthcoming academic volume, A Companion to Australian Media (2014).

All of this is just a long-winded way of explaining why I haven't been updating this blog for months at a time, or indeed, participating in local (Australian) comics events throughout much of this year (And I have missed some great events, it seems, judging by all the fliers & posters I've periodically spotted in local comic shops, cafes, etc.). It's also a form of public apology to the various loca comics writers, illustrators and publishers who've contacted me throughout the year, in the hopes that I could publicise their various endeavours - but whom I've ultimately let down in this regard, as I continue to juggle my numerous academic commitments. So, for those of you who made the effort to contact me, and have found your requests going unanswered, I apologise.

Will things change for the better, insofar as this blog is concerned? I wish I could make a rosy prediction, but I know I'm going to be thoroughly preoccupied with studies and related activities for pretty much the rest of the year, and don't know how I can honestly make a commitment to regularly update this blog. As for 2012...well, after all these 'sidebar projects' have been put to bed, I really need to refocus my energies on my PhD thesis, with particular attention on my planned field research activities.

The prognosis for Comics Down Under, then, while not entirely fatal, certainly continues to look a bit bleak. But for those of you who are working on new comics projects, planning comics-related events, or who just want to say "G'day", feel free to post a note on this blog, or send me an email. (I usually try & respond to emails reasonably promptly - but occasionally these best intentions do fall by the wayside as well).

Hopefully, once I secure ethics clearance approval for my fieldwork research, I plan to launch an online reader survey based on my thesis topic, and possibly launch a separate blog dedicated to my ongoing PhD research. If and when that happens, I'll be sure to announce it here.

Thanks, everyone, for your patience (sorely tested as it has been), and for your kind postings on this blog. (Image courtesy of John Clements, NSW)

Mandy Ord @ Readings (Melbourne), Thursday 18 August 2011

2011-08-16T01:40:00.000-07:00

Mandy Ord's latest graphic story collection, Sensitive Creatures, will be launched at Readings bookstore, 309 Lygon Street, Carlton (VIC), at 6.30pm, Thursday 18 August 2011. Whimsy. Despair. Absurdity. Broiling seas of black ink. And a one-eyed, cycloptic narrator-girl to lead you through the injuries of the day's living. All this, and much more, can be yours for the modest investment of $24.99. So, take yourself along to Readings' Carlton store this Thursday, look Mandy Ord straight in the eye (yes, she has two of them, in case you're wondering), and acquaint yourself with the small wonder that is Sensitive Creatures.

Francophone Tribute to Biggles' Australian Adventures

2011-06-20T19:37:00.000-07:00

The famed fictional aviator, 'Biggles', may be a quintissentially British hero, but his appeal was never confined solely to the far-flung borders of the long-vanished British Empire (of which Australia once considered herself a loyal member). Nor were Biggles' exploits limited to the numerous short-stories and novels penned by his creator, Captain W.E. Johns.

Evidence to support both these claims can be found at the French fan/tribute website, Biggles en Bande dessinée ('Biggles in Comic Strips'), which features bibliographic references for, and artwork from, the various comic book adaptations of Biggles that have been published in Sweden, France, Belgium, Britain and Australia (See the previous Comics Down Under entry on The Adventures of Biggles here). The Australian segment of this website, 'Biggles en Bande dessinee: Australie', features a partial list of W.E. Johns' stories adapted for the Australian comic book series, an incomplete cover gallery (a real bonus for collectors, given these comics are so rarely seen these days), and an incomplete list of the Australian comic stories reprinted in the UK by Strato Publications.

Welcome to Anyhowtown

2011-06-08T23:16:00.000-07:00

Dave Hodson's name might not be immediately familiar to anyone with a even cursory interest in Australian comics - and that's a damn shame. Dave has been one of 'true originals' of the local comics scene since the late 1980s/early 1990s, when he made a splash in the pages of Fox Comics, most notably with his semi-autobiographical vignettes, 'True Confusions' (These strips have since been collected in the Truly Confused: Excerpts from a Preplexing Life, published by Paper Tableaux, 2001).

During this period, Dave collaborated with Greg Gates on the sinister, atmospheric Tattoo Man. It easily ranks as one of the most accomplished works from the 'New Wave' of Australian comics and, in many ways, was a forerunner of the present-day generation of Australian graphic novels. Initially serialised in Fox Comics, and later published in its entirety by Fantagraphic Books, Tattoo Man was reissued under the new title, Tide of Dreams, by Paper Tableaux.

But the precarious fortunes of the Australian 'indie comics' scene have seen so many promising talents fade from sight - no doubt in justifiable pursuit of more lucrative fields of endeavour - and, for a while, it seemed like Mr. Hodson was destined to join the ranks of "whatever happened to...?' That, thankfully, has been rectified by Dave's reappearance in the Adelaide-based anthology, Fistfull of Comics. The February 2011 edition (which can purchased online) featured the opening installment of Dave's long-awaited graphic novel, Anyhowtown, a meditation on childhood nostalgia, overlaid with a creeping sense of dread. Kind of like Last Year at Marienbad, with a dash of e.e.cummings thrown in for good measure. And set in Adelaide.

So, welcome to Anyhowtown. Your guide, Mr. Hodson, awaits you....

Air Hawk - but not as we know it, Jim!

2011-06-08T00:45:00.000-07:00

From the pages of the cheeky, raunchy 1960s-era newspaper, King's Cross Whisper, comes this delightful send-up of the 'Sunday funnies' newspaper page (dated 1967), which lampoons such American comics as Rip Kirby ("Rip 'tupya") and The Heart of Juliet Jones ("The Parts of Screwiet Skunge"), along with the Australian adventure series, Air Hawk ("Air Hog"). They just don't write 'em like these anymore, do they? (Image courtesy of Monash University Library Rare Book Collection).

In Search of the Great Australian (Graphic) Novel

2011-06-01T00:12:00.000-07:00

What do you think was Australia's first graphic novel? Was it Nicki Greenberg's 'graphic adaptation' of The Great Gatsby (2007)? Or Shaun Tan's The Arrival (2006)? Maybe even Gregory Rogers' The Boy, The Bear, The Bard (2004)?

If you thought you knew the answer to this question, then you might wish to consult my latest article, 'In Search of the Great Australian (Graphic) Novel', which has been published in the debut issue of The Australasian Journal of Popular Culture, and can be downloaded here. The answer will suprise you - but the accompanying illustration might give you a clue! (Image courtesy of Mick Stone @ Camberwell Books).

Word Balloons: Australian Comic Publishers Speak

2011-05-02T23:55:00.000-07:00

The latest issue of Philip Bentley's excellent magazine on 'graphic story arts', Word Balloons, shines its editorial spotlight on Australian comic book/graphic novel publishers. Interviewed at length are Erica Wagner (Allen & Unwin, publisher of Nicki Greenberg's Hamlet, amongst others); Wolfgang Bylsma (Gestalt Publishing, publisher of Skye Ogden's Vowels, et. al.); and Baden Kirgan (Black House Comics, publisher of The Dark Detective: Sherlock Holmes, et. al.).

This collection of interviews offers a timely snapshot of a transitional phase in Australian comics/graphic novel publishing, as both mainstream book publishers (e.g.Allen & Unwin) and 'botique' comics publishers (e.g. Gestalt) alike seek to tap the creative and commercial potential of Australia's comic art community, by bring their work to a wider (non-comics) readership.

I found the interview with Baden Kirgan especially resonant, as his company faces many of the challenges that confronted me in my own efforts to publish The Panther comic book, by dealing with both the obstacles and opportunities posed by the newsagency/mass-market and specialist comics' shop market. Essential reading for prospective comic book magnates!

This issue is rounded out with the concluding episode of Bentley's autobiographical recollections, 'My Life in Comics', which has been an entertaining and informative account of the Australian comics' 'scene' throughout the 1970s-1990s. Word Balloons No.12 is available at all discerning comic shops, or click here for purchasing details.

Ubby's Underdogs

2011-05-01T23:44:00.000-07:00

Ubby's Underdogs is being touted as 'Australia's first indigenous graphic novel'. Written and illustrated by Brenton E. McKenna, Ubby's Underdogs is set in a pearling town in remote north-western Australia during the 1940s. The story's rough-around-the-edges hero, Ubby, together with his 'rag-tag gang', The Underdogs, become embroiled in a mysterious adventure, soon after the arrival of Sai Fong, a Chinese girl from Shangahi.

Drawing on McKenna's own childhood experience of growing up in the Western Australian pearl-fishing town of Broome, and displaying a vibrant, manga-influenced style, Ubby's Underdogs is the first in a planned trilogy from Magabala Books, Australia's oldest, independent Indigenous publishing house.

Brenton E. McKenna will be signing copies of Ubby's Underdogs at Readings Bookstore, Carlton (VIC) on Monday 30 May 2011, from 8.oopm onwards. He'll be joined by Melbourne comics impresario, Bernard Caleo, and Mike Shuttleworth, Program Coordinator, Centre for Youth Literature, State Library of Victoria.

Lee Falk - Centennary Book Tribute

2011-04-27T21:53:00.000-07:00

As I write this entry, today (28 April 2011) marks the centennary of the birth of Lee Falk (born Leon Harrison Gross), known to millions of readers worldwide as the creator of Mandrake the Magician and The Phantom.

To commemorate the occasion, the Scandinavian Chapter of the Lee Falk Memorial Bengali Explorer's Club is currently assembling a tribute book about Lee Falk, which will feature anecdotes from Falk's family and friends, past interviews with Falk, and a collection of writings by the man himself.

If the Scandinavian Chapter's 2010 tribute book about The Phantom (published to coincide with the character's 60th anniversary in Sweden) is anything to go by, this promises to be a handsome and informative volume. The Swedish edition of the Lee Falk volume is scheduled for release in September 2011 (to coincide with the Gothenburg Book Fair), with an English-language version to be released later this year. To receive regular updates on this exciting project, click here.)

Meet Paul Power

2011-04-24T22:07:00.000-07:00

Paul Power is an Australian-born artist who, like many aspiring comic artists 'Down Under' who came of age during the 1970s, found greater opportunities to pursue a full-time career as a commercial illustrator in the United States. Paul's name may not be immediately recognisable to present-day Australian comics' fans, but his comic art credentials are impeccable. He succeeded Hart Amos as illustrator on the Sunday newspaper version of Air Hawk and the Flying Doctors comic strip, and was mentored by the famed American comic artist, Alex Toth, whom Paul met whilst working on the animated TV series, Superfriends (Toth was the production supervisor for Hanna-Barbera Productions' Australian studios in the 1970s).

Paul later illustrated the science-fiction comic strip, Professor Om, which was written by Australian comics' fan John Snowden, and appeared in the Sydney newspaper, Sunday (formerly the Sunday Mirror), in late 1977/early 1978, and was subsequently reprinted in the New Zealand comic magazine, Strips. Since the early 1980s, Paul Power has been kept busy as a prolific storyboard artist and production illustrator on a string of Hollywood movies and TV series, as attested by his entry on the Internet Movie Database (IMDb). However, Paul has recently returned to his comic book 'roots', with two special projects.

The Adventures of Jon Fury is a newly restored version of Alex Toth's little-seen 1950s US armed forces newspaper strip, 'Jon Fury in Japan', excerpts of which were last seen in Toth's self-published collection, The Art of Alex Toth (1977). Published (and partially inked) by Paul Power, with digital colouring by Matt Webb, The Adventures of Jon Fury presents two complete installments of this unique comic strip, supplemented by an extensively illustrated (and, as it turned out, final) interview with Alex Toth. A special treat are the black & white photos of Alex Toth meeting with the cream of Australian comic artists, including John Dixon, Phil Belbin and Stan Pitt, during his stay in Sydney in 1973.

Paul's next upcoming project can only be described as a true labour of love. East Meets West was first developed by Paul in 1972, and is described as a 'sci-fi western' in the tradition of filmmaker John Ford and adventure cartoonist Milton Caniff. Once again starring Professor Om, this graphic epic now runs in excess of 400 pages! Truly decades in the making, East Meets West will be released on 21 May 2011 and will be sold through Amazon.com and available to comic shops via Diamond Comic Distributors.

Beauty and the Geek - Australian Casting Call

2011-04-13T18:36:00.000-07:00

We interrupt this regularly scheduled blog to bring you the following important announcement, which we feel may be of interest to self-confessed comic book geeks throughout Australia.

So, you call yourself a geek? Well, now's your chance to put your...er...geekiness to the test. Beauty and the Geek Australia is now calling for all of the geeks of the world to try their hand at the country's ultimate social experiment.

If you're an "academically gifted yet socially awkward geek", Beauty and the Geek may be your one and only chance to find true love!

The producers of the show are looking for 18-30 year-old male geeks, so if you think you fit the bill, head on over to the official Beauty and the Geek casting website. Applications close 20 July 2011.

Aussie Comics Culture in The Melbourne Weekly

2011-04-10T23:17:00.000-07:00

Stephen A. Russell's recent article, 'Silver Screen Gold' (The Melbourne Weekly, 6 April 2011), was ostensibly about the box-office appeal of 'comic-book' movies, but it also provided mainstream readers with a timely round-up of Australian comics culture, by throwing the spotlight on various comics-related events, retailers and conventions.

Russell's piece profiled NonCanonical Comic Book Podcast, an online forum presented by Melbourne comics' impresarios, Larry Boxshall and Joe Morris; the Melbourne leg of the Supanova Pop Culture Expo may have ended last weekend, but the next event is scheduled for 17-19 June (Olympic park, Sydney); and Steve McCredie, longtime manager of Melbourne's Minotaur Entertainment, one of Australia's oldest specialty comic shops, was also interviewed for the story.

However, Boxshall made the valid - and somewhat depressing - point that, while millions of people may have shelled out money to see The Dark Knight movie, '[these] same people who watch that film have absolutely no intention of ever reading a Batman comic'. Perhaps it was more than just coincidental that the cover story for this same issue of The Melbourne Weekly considered the perilous future of Melbourne's independent bookstores, thrown into sharp relief by the recent widespread closure of Borders and Angus & Robertson bookstores throughout Australia.

The Gredown-KG Murray Connection

2011-03-30T23:13:00.000-07:00

Regular readers of this blog will be aware of the ongoing efforts amongst Australian fans to untangle the history of Gredown Pty Ltd, an obscure (albeit prolific) comic book publisher that flourished in Australia from the mid-1970s to the early 1980s. In a previous entry, I speculated that Gredown was established by Chris Murray, the son of Australian magazine entrepreneur, K.G. Murray, after the Murray family's publishing business had been acquired by Australian Consolidated Press (ACP) in 1974.

Recently skimming over my copy of Loathsome Ghosts, one of the company's numerous horror comics from the late 1970s, I noticed the following text on the inside front cover: 'Produced by Gredown Pty. Limited, 249 Pitt Street, Sydney for Boraig Pty. Ltd.' However, this was not the first time I'd come across reference to Boraig Pty. Ltd.

In her book, The House of Packer (1999), Bridget Griffen-Foley wrote that, 'in June 1972 ACP purchased 75 per cent of the Murray family's interest in Publishers Holdings Ltd for $2.30 a share' (p.296), and that 'the acquisition of shares in the Murray family company, Boriag Pty Ltd [note different spelling- KP], entitled ACP to a 23.7 per cent interest in Publishers Holdings' (p.297). After the rival UK publisher, Thomson Publications, withdrew a competing offer for Publishers Holdings at $3.00 per share, 'ACP acquired more than 55 per cent of the issued capital in Publishers Holdings' (p.297), thereby making ACP 'the largest magazine publisher in the southern hemisphere' (p.297).

While its unclear whether Boraig [Boriag] Pty Ltd continued to operate as a separate entity after ACP acquired its majority stake in Publishers Holdings, or if ACP's shareholdings in the company effectively made it a subsidiary of ACP, the Murray family's connection with Boraig Pty Ltd is made explicitly clear in Griffen-Foley's book. What remains unknown to us - for now, at least - is the exact business relationship between Gredown Pty Ltd and Boraig Pty Ltd, and what the commercial rationale was behind the Murray family's decision to retain its presence in the Australian comics' market, and why it embarked on the publishing programme that it did. (Image courtesy of Ausreprints.com)

Is this blog MIA, or otherwise distracted?

2011-03-30T21:36:00.000-07:00

Has it really been over three months since I last posted anything on this blog? Judging by the date of my previous entry, yes it has! To those of you who do occasionally check in to see what I've had to say, or share, about Australian comic books and their creators, I realise these last few months have been very lean pickings indeed. And for that, I apologise.

As I've mentioned elsewhere, I've returned to tertiary study, and am currently undertaking a PhD at the Centre for the Book, Monash University (To find out more about my PhD topic, the accompanying picture will give you a clue - or you can visit my 'academic' website for details.) And, looking at my earlier comments about full-time 'student life', I realise that, while the precise excuses I previously gave for not attending to this blog have changed, the demands of writing a PhD thesis (100,000 words in length, in case you're wondering) have begun to make themselves well & truly felt.

Not that I'm complaining, because it has, by and large, been a very stimulating undertaking thus far. I'm currently close to completing the 10,000-word written submission accompanying my confirmation of candidature hearing, which is scheduled to take place in the next few months (This is basically a panel review board, which decides whether the PhD candidate can graduate from their 'L'-plates to their 'P'-plates, and proceed with their research project.)

Working on this document - which has occupied most of my waking hours since July 2010 - has been exasperating at times, but it's also forced me to hammer my initial, barely-etched ideas into concrete form, and to think hard about the parameters of my research topic, and how I want to approach it. This process has made me engage with theoretical frameworks - some new, others barely remembered from my undergraduate days back in the early '90s - that will (hopefully) allow me to re-examine comics from a critically informed perspective.

If nothing else, writing this thesis has only heightened how my own personal interest in comic books has changed over time. I find myself less interested in specific characters, series or individual creators, than I am in the shifting cultural status of comic books as a popular medium. Underscoring this focus has been my desire to excavate the cultural history of Australian comics in particular, and restore its place in broader considerations of Australian print culture.

Fulfilling as it is, this work has been close to all-consuming, and I've often found myself unable to drag myself away to attend comic conventions, participate in comic book launches, post blog updates, or even visit comic shops on an infrequent basis (Mind you, my eBay account has been taking a beating, as I track down obscure source materials for my thesis, which are not readily available at local comics' retailers.) I know this sounds ironic, maybe even a little pathetic, given that my thesis is about comics...so, again, I apologise to all those whose invites to comic-related soirees have gone largely unanswered by me.

Do I foresee these circumstances changing? Not in the near future, I'm afraid. I'll be spending the next few months preparing for my confirmation hearing, as well researching and writing a conference paper that I'll be presenting at a comics/graphic novels conference being held at Manchester Metropolitan University in July 2011 (You can download the conference brochure here.)

That's not to say I'm giving up on this blog - far from it. But I have to be realistic about my expanding study workload, and whether I'll have any spare 'bandwidth' to write at length about comics for fun! (God, that does sound gloomy, doesn't it?) If and when I can, though, I will try and post the occasional entry, however brief or incoherent it might seem.

Graham Wade (1931-2009) - A Belated Tribute

2010-12-21T13:14:00.000-08:00

Earlier this year, I was contacted by Kerry Stewart, a producer for Encounter, a religious affairs programme broadcast on ABC Radio National, who was researching a forthcoming episode discussing the phenomenon of religious comic book publishing, in Australia and abroad. I was approached on the basis of an interview I'd conducted with Graham Wade, an Australian artist who'd illustrated the religious comic book series, Jungle Doctor, which was published on the OzComics website in 2007.

While admitting to Kerry that I was by no means an expert on the broader topic of religious comics, I did suggest some possible interview candidates for the show, which was eventually broadcast on 9 May 2010, and can be downloaded here. However, not long after my initial discussion with Kerry, I went online to do some further research on the topic, only to discover that Graham Wade had died in August 2009 (The Sydney Anglicans and the Christians Today Australia websites both posted obituaries for Wade on 26 August 2009). At the time, I'd planned to post a notice about Graham's death on my blog, but for whatever reason, it never eventuated.

However, given that Christmas is approaching, I thought it fitting to pay a belated tribute to Graham Wade, and note the passing of one of Australia's most widely-read, but least recognised, comic book artists (A fate shared by many of Graham's peers, I daresay). I was pleased to have had the chance to interview Graham (if only via email), as it opened my eyes to a largely undocumented aspect of Australia's comic book publishing history.

Clearly, my interview struck a chord with more than a few people - after it was published, I was approached by one of Graham's former art studio employees, who asked me for Graham's email address, in the hopes of contacting him again, decades after he'd worked for him! And my article was extensively quoted in an intriguing philatelic story appearing on the Australian Postal History website, too.

And, so, on that note, I'd like to wish all my readers a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. (Photo of Graham Wade [ca.2008], courtesy of Australia's Outback Patrol)

At Last...Maurice Bramley

2010-12-13T20:20:00.001-08:00

Earlier this year, I was briefly employed as a research consultant on AustLit: The Australian Literature Resource, an online database devoted to all aspects of Australian literature. I was working in conjunction with Dr. Toni Johnson-Woods (Senior Lecturer, University of Queensland), whose principal research interest for the last five years or so has been the history of Australian 'pulp fiction' literature (ca.1939-1959).

My chief tasks were to identify as many Australian pulp cover artists as I could (based on the cover images uploaded to the AustLit website) and to compile brief biographies for nearly two dozen of the most prolific Australian 'pulp artists' from this period. Given the frequent overlap between the publishing history of Australian comic magazines and Australian pulp fiction novels - with many key publishers (and illustrators) engaged in producing both comics and pulps - I felt the task ahead of me was 'do-able', but not without difficulty.

I was especially keen to see if I could discover any further information about the prolific, yet elusive, commercial artist/cartoonist, Maurice Bramley, who must have produced thousands of cover designs for Australian pulps and comic magazines throughout the 1940s-1960s. While this blog has highlighted particular aspects of Bramley's published work - such as his role in producing The Phantom Commando, his last published work on The Fast Gun and his long association with Horwitz Publications - precious little was known about the man himself. Until now, that is.

Maurice William Bramley was born in New Plymouth, New Zealand, on 11 September 1898. He appears to have migrated to Australia in the mid-1920s, settling in Sydney, New South Wales. Bramley married Adele ('Dell') Cox-Taylor on 19 August 1925, and apparently used her as the model for many of the women featured in his vivid pulp novel cover illustrations. Bramley came to prominence as a commercial artist/illustrator during the 1930s, working principally for The World's News, before commencing his long association with the Transport Publishing Company (later Horwitz Publications) during the mid-1940s.

Bramley relocated to Tuross Head, on the New South Wales coast, in the 1950s and frequently used the likenesses of several local residents to depict various characters appearing in his comic book stories. Bramley appears to have retired from the commercial art field by the early-to-mid 1960s, although examples of his comic book westerns remained in print (principally used as 'showbag fillers') until the early 1970s. Bramley moved to the Australian Capital Territory (apparently for medical reasons), where he later died on 15 June 1975.

The caricature of Maurice Bramley accompanying this blog entry was drawn by Kerwin Maegraith, and was taken from a full-page illustration, 'Some Sydney Artists', published in the Sydney Mail on 11 August 1937. For those interested in learning more about Maurice Bramley's life and art, both Daniel McKeown's article, 'Maurice Bramley & Horwitz Comics', along with the Tuross Head information page, 'Maurice Bramley - Illustrator', are highly recommended sources.'I would also urge readers to visit the AustLit database, which now features hundreds of vintage Australian pulp fiction cover images, along with biographies of key pulp artists. Check with your nearest university campus library, state reference library or community/public library branch, and see if they offer patrons free public access to AustLit (AustLit is currently only available to institutional subscribers).

Reg Pitt - Sydney Morning Herald - Obituary

2010-11-16T21:59:00.000-08:00

Following from my earlier posting about the death of Australian comic artist, Reg Pitt, local journalist and pop culture enthusiast, Mark Juddery, has written an obituary for Reg, which appeared in the Sydney Morning Herald (15 November 2010) and can also be read online.

And, just for the hell of it, I've posted a cover scan of Yarmak - Jungle King Comic No.6 (Young's Merchandising Co., late 1940s), which was one of the comics that Reg collaborated on with his older brother, Stanley Pitt. Enjoy!

First Tuesday Book Club: Graphic Novels

2010-11-16T12:52:00.000-08:00

Is the graphic novel becoming a socially accepted - even respectable - medium in Australia? It might be some time before we see an Australian graphic novel walk away with the Miles Franklin Literary Award, but the medium is inching towards legitimacy in this country, if last night's special edition of the First Tuesday Book Club (ABC 1, Tuesday 16 November)is anything to go by.

Host Jennifer Byrne held a roundtable discussion on the 'state of the art(form)' with local graphic novel luminaries Nicki Greenberg (The Great Gatsby, Hamlet), Bruce Mutard (The Sacrifice, The Silence), Eddie Campbell (From Hell) and Sophie Cunningham (editor of the literary magazine, Meanjin). It was a generally interesting discussion, which centred around the medium's perennial 'hybrid' status (i.e. are graphic novels art/literature/both?) and its unique creative process. For those who missed last night's broadcast, you can view it online.

The Invisible Medium: Comics Studies in Australia

2010-10-19T23:40:00.000-07:00

Comic books are an invisible medium? You could be forgiven for thinking otherwise, given the media attention bestowed upon such recent Australian graphic novels as Shaun Tan's The Arrival (2006), Nicki Greenberg's The Great Gatsby (2007) and Bruce Mutard's The Sacrifice (2008).

Yet for all its rich, and often controversial, history, the story of Australian comic books (as distinct from 'graphic novels') is woefully absent from most academic accounts of Australian publishing history, or Australian children's literature, for that matter.

With my article, 'The Invisible Medium: Comics Studies in Australia' (Refractory, Vol.17, 2010), I've outlined how the history of Australian comics has been documented, both in academic literature and in 'popular' histories of Australian media; suggested reasons why the medium remains largely overlooked; and highlighted encouraging trends in local comics' studies (Image: Back cover advertisement of 'The Commandos', NSW Bookstall Company, ca. 1940s. Courtesy Rare Book Collection, Monash University Library.)

RIP: Reg Pitt, comic book writer & illustrator (1929-2010)

2010-10-17T21:36:00.000-07:00

Reginald Pitt, one of the unsung talents of Australia's comic book industry, died in his sleep on Tuesday, 12 October, 2010. A multi-talented painter, graphic designer and commercial illustrator, Reg Pitt remains best known for collaborating with his older brother, Stan Pitt (1925-2002), on Yarmak - Jungle King Comic, and the rarely-seen SF comic strip, Gully Foyle. (The photo at left shows: Reg Pitt [L]; Stan Pitt [C]; and Richard Rae [R]).

Reg's earliest involvement in comics came when he contributed storylines and dialogue, along with illustrating background scenery, for Stan Pitt's first major newspaper comic strip (and, later, comic book) project, Silver Starr and the Flame World. Together with co-author Frank Ashley, Reg wrote scripts for the Yarmak - Jungle King Comic Book throughout the late 1940s and early 1950s. Reg designed the innovative layouts and sophisticated typography accompanying Stan Pitt's luscious cover illustrations for romance comics and pulp magazines throughout the 1950s.

Reg was the driving force behind the highly-regarded Gully Foyle project, a comic strip adaptation of Alfred Bester's novel, The Stars My Destination. Reg wrote the script and illustrated much of the background scenery and hi-tech machinery evident in the comic strip, leaving Stan to concentrate on his masterful figure drawing (For the full story behind the Gully Foyle saga, click here).

Such was the reputation of the unpublished Gully Foyle artwork (circulated in US comic fanzines), that Reg and Stan Pitt were commissioned to produce comic book stories for Gold Key Comics and National Perioidcal Publications (DC Comics) in the early 1970s. Thereafter, Reg returned to the commercial art field, where he remained until his retirment in the early 1990s. An exhibition of his paintings, Abstractions: The Art of Reg Pitt, was held at the St. George Regional Museum (NSW) in 2008.

Reg Pitt's funeral will be held at Rookwood Cemetery (NSW), at 11:00am, Tuesday 19 october 2010, at the Sacred Heart Chapel (Photo courtesy of Richard Rae).

Tom Mackie Collection of Comics - Auction, Sunday 24 October 2010 (NZ)

2010-10-11T22:50:00.000-07:00

Bethune's at Webbs, in New Market, Auckland (New Zealand) will be auctioning the Tom Mackie Collection of Comics, on Sunday, 24 october 2010 (5.oopm onwards). This auction will be of particular interest to collectors of Australian comics, as it features an incredible selection of Australian science-fiction comics from the 1930s-1950s.

Tom Mackie grew up in New Zealand during the 1940s, where he developed a lifelong fascination for science-fiction comics, particularly the American comic strips, Buck Rogers and Flash Gordon. Mackie's collection spans nearly 80 years of comic art history, and includes original artwork from US newspaper comic strips, many rare Australian comics from the 1930s-1950s, Big Little Books, US comics from the 1970s and 1980s - and a selection of exquisite Buck Rogers toys from the 1930s.

Collections like these are as rare as they are impressive, so there is bound to be considerable interest in this auction amongst science-fiction fans, comic book collectors and pulp culture aficionados. You can view the catalogue and place bids online (Be sure to consult A Guide for Buyers and familiarise yourself with the auction's terms and conditions). And, for a history of Buck Rogers comic books in Australia, click here. (Image courtesy of Bethune's at Webbs)

Five Wounds: Illuminated Novel - Wednesday 20 October (Melbourne)

2010-10-11T22:05:00.000-07:00

Jonathan Walker (International Research Fellow, University of Sydney) will be presenting a seminar on his new book, Five Wounds: An Illuminated Novel, to be held at the Macarthur Gallery, State Library of Victoria, on Wednesday, 20 October 2010 (5.45pm-7.15pm).

Ilustrated by Dan Hallett, Five Wounds takes its inspiration from the history of the book, evoking both William Blake's 'illuminated books' and medieval manuscripts. Five Wounds is published in Australia by Allen & Unwin. This free seminar is open to the public and is presented by the Centre for the Book (School of English, Communications and Performance Studies), Monash University.

Free Event: Horror Comics & Censorship in Australia - Friday 16 July 2010 (Melbourne)

2010-07-12T15:33:00.000-07:00

I will be presenting a free public lecture, 'A Design for Depravity: Horror Comics and the Challenge of Censorship in Australia, 1950-1986', on 7:00pm, Friday 16 July 2010, at The Wheeler Centre, 176 Little Lonsdale Street, Melbourne.

My talk will trace the often controversial history of horror comic book publishing in Australia, and the efforts of state and federal governments to supress horror comics since the 1950s, as part of broader political campaigns waged against 'objectionable literature'. The talk will be accompanied by a suitably lurid visual presentation!

This lecture is being delivered as part of the Bibliographic Society of Australia & New Zealand (BSANZ) Conference 2010, and is open to the general public. Admittance is free, but bookings are essential - you can book tickets for this event online at The Wheeler Centre.

Comics Down Under - Back from Oblivion?

2010-06-13T19:29:00.000-07:00

I realise that, for dedicated followers of this blog, these last few months have made for disappointing reading - largely because I've been lucky to muster a single posting every month. My excuses for such tardiness are few, but valid nonetheless - the major one being that I now finally enrolled at Monash University to embark on my PhD thesis, which I formally commence at the end of this month.

I've also been gainfully occupied these last few months preparing two academic conference papers, which I'm due to deliver in the coming weeks. The first paper, 'In Search of the Great Australian (Graphic) Novel', will be delivered at the inaugural POPCAANZ (Popular Culture Association of Australia & New Zealand) conference being held in Sydney, NSW, during 30 June - 2 July 2010. The second paper, 'A Design for Depravity: Horror Comics and the Challenge of Censorship in Australia', will be presented on Friday 16 June 2010 at the The Bibliographical Society of Australia and New Zealand (BSANZ) 2010 conference in Melbourne, VIC, during 14-16 July 2010 (Refer to the poster image above for details).

So, while my attention has been focused on these endeavours, I have to admit the Comics Down Under blog has fallen by the wayside somewhat. However, PhD studies notwithstanding, I will endeavour to try and post further nuggets of info about the past, present and future of Australian comics, time constraints and inspiration permitting!

Borrow me @ Emerging Writers Festival, Saturday 22 May 2010

2010-05-14T05:40:00.000-07:00

Saturday 22 May 2010 will find me playing an unusual role - that of a 'book', who can be 'borrowed' from the Living Library, part of the Emerging Writers Festival, being held at Experimedia, State Library of Victoria, between10.30am-5.00pm.

The 'Living Library' is comprised of various people, from across the spectrum of the professional writing/publishing industry, whom visitors to Emerging Writers Festival can borrow for $5.00 for 15 minutes, in sit-down/face-to-face session. Borrowers can ask their 'books' a question about their designated area of expertise. My topic will be about preparing book proposals and pitching your book idea to publishers.

If you're interested in gleaning ideas and knowledge about the business and craft of writing and publishing, then a visit to the Living Library will be worth your while. To reserve your 'book', email Susan Bird, Communications Coordinator, Emerging Writers Festival at: communications@emergingwritersfestival.org.au

(In case you're wondering, the image reproduced above is of the Adler Tippa S portable typewriter, the first such machine I used when I began writing - and still own, but rarely use, today! Image courtesy of Machines of Loving Grace.)

Robert Drewe and The Lone Avenger

2010-04-06T03:58:00.000-07:00

In December 2009, the Australian novelist Robert Drewe wrote a column for the Fairfax Media broadsheet newspapers, the Sydney Morning Herald and The Age, recalling his childhood memories of the Australian comic book character, The Lone Avenger, and the sordid criminal career of its creator, Len Lawson. It was an interesting story, as much for Drewe's own recollections of comic book reading in 1950s Australia, as it was for recounting Lawson's turbulent life and crimes. Drewe, however, expressed puzzlement about The Lone Avenger's true identity and speculated if the character ever enjoyed any romantic entanglements with the numerous female characters that appeared in the comic. Being the studious historian of Australian comics that I am (i.e. nerd), I sent Drewe some photocopied pages from an issue of Action Comics, which contained answers to those very questions. I received a courteous reply from Robert in due course, and expected to hear no more of the matter, but was pleasantly surprised to see he'd written a further column about The Lone Avenger last month, dealing in part with responses he'd received to his earlier piece, including a letter written by Lawson to his niece, Gail, in 1993 - but you can read all about it here. (Image courtesy of Rare Book Collection, Monash University Library.)

Profile: Terry Trowell - Comic Book Artist

2010-03-11T16:44:00.000-08:00

There is just one reference to Terry Trowell to be found in John Ryan’s 1979 book, Panel by Panel: A History of Australian Comics. On page 211, readers will see the reproduction of a page taken from a comic book, accompanied by the caption: "A page from The Ghost Rider No.8 drawn by Terry Trowell, who produced many comics for Atlas Publications. Atlas, circa 1951"

And that small glimpse was all that many readers would ever know about the life and work of the prodigiously talented writer and illustrator, Terence James Trowell – until now.

Born on 4 September 1918 in Katanning, in the south-west region of Western Australia, Terry Trowell spent the first six years of his life in Malaya, where his father worked as a mining engineer at Ipoh, a tin-mining region in the Malayan state of Perak.

Trowell returned to Australia with his father in 1926, where he was enrolled as a boarder at Perth’s Guildford Grammar School. Throughout most of his secondary school years, Trowell also attended the A.B. Webb Art School, founded by the West Australian painter, Archibald Bertram Webb. The active youngster represented his school in boxing, football and athletics, before obtaining his leaving certificate, with a ‘distinction’ in drawing, in 1936.

After studying journalism at the University of Western Australia, the twenty year-old Trowell returned to Malaya, where he worked as a journalist on the English language newspaper, the Straits Times.

As a reporter stationed in Southeast Asia, Trowell would have only been too aware of Japan’s increasingly savage occupation of the Chinese region of Manchuria, which flared into a full-scale war between the China and Japan in 1937. Trowell eventually returned home in 1940, soon after Australia joined Great Britain in declaring war on Nazi Germany.

Trowell enlisted in the Australian Army in July 1942, where his unique skills as an artist, combined with his personal experience of the Asia-Pacific region, earmarked him for military service with such specialised branches as Operational Intelligence, the Allied Intelligence Bureau and ‘Z-Force’, a special operations commando unit that undertook dangerous missions behind Japanese lines. Trowell’s own duties included topography and map-making, as well as interrogating prisoners of war in Malaya at the end of hostilities.

Discharged with the rank of Australian Army corporal in July 1946, Trowell travelled to England where he studied art, before crossing the English Channel to France, where he lived and worked as a freelance artist for several months.

Trowell decided to return to Australia in 1948, travelling en route through the United States, before eventually disembarking in Perth later that year. On his return home, Trowell secured work painting a series of murals for several hospitals, hotels and other commercial buildings.
Trowell was subsequently commissioned to illustrate a series of social studies’ books, documenting Western Australian history. The first volume, Early Days of W.A. Towns was written by John Stokes, and was published in 1949 by Carroll’s Pty Ltd for use in local high schools.

The following year, he moved to Melbourne, where he was joined by his wife, Patricia Aileen Powell, a school teacher who was studying music and training to be a concert pianist. This period marked the beginning of Trowell’s involvement with Australia’s then-booming comic book publishing industry. At some point during late 1950 – early 1951, Trowell commenced work as a freelance writer and illustrator for Atlas Publications, a Melbourne company which had scored an early commercial success with the superhero comic Captain Atom in 1948, and was rapidly expanding its comic book range.

Trowell’s first series for Atlas Publications was The Grey Domino (63 issues), a masked vigilante described as "the hooded nemesis of crime", which debuted in 1951. Hidden behind that grey hood was Hugh Standish, a former commando who first adopted his secret guise while operating behind German lines during World War II. With peacetime, however, came new threats in the shape of resurgent racketeers, foreign spies and international crime syndicates. Standish travelled the world as a racing car driver, accompanied by his chief mechanic, Homer Briggs, and his old wartime comrade, Captain Jim Falstaff. The trio, who were later accompanied in later episodes by Standish’s girlfriend, Vicki, was continually embroiled in adventures and intrigue around the globe.

The early editions of The Grey Domino, like so many of the comics released by Atlas Publications, were published in the ‘landscape’ format. This layout initially became popular amongst Australian publishers which reprinted newspaper comic strips in comic magazines, as the rectangular layout allowed them to reproduce the strips without needing to cut and paste the black & white artwork to fit the more ‘traditional’ portrait-format comic magazine.

Some Australian publishers, like Atlas Publications, however, persisted in using this format for titles featuring new, original artwork, created especially for comic magazines. Yet Trowell, like other artists of the time, appeared reluctant to adapt his storytelling style to suit this landscape format. Instead, he composed his early Grey Domino stories in rows of 2-3 panel tiers, which gave the appearance that this comic book was, in fact, comprised of reprints from an established newspaper strip.

It’s worth speculating if this approach was adopted at the behest of the publisher, which labelled many of its early magazines with the logo, ‘World Famous Comic’ – a marketing ploy designed to persuade readers that they were purchasing a comic based on a well-known, international (i.e. British or American) newspaper comic strip, rather than a new, unproven Australian series.
As a result, some of Trowell’s early issues of The Grey Domino seem ‘hemmed in’, as if the artist hadn’t yet figured out a way to break free of the restrictive page layout imposed upon him. His efforts weren’t helped by the publisher’s imposition of advertisements for MacRobertson’s chocolate bars directly over his artwork, resulting in some pretty crude trimming of individual panels.

Nonetheless, Trowell’s storylines were set in exotic locales and featured a compelling cast of glamourous women and implacable rogues, and were illustrated with considerable aplomb – a creative combination which helped make The Grey Domino a popular success for several years.

For his next series, Trowell inherited a cowboy comic titled The Ghost Rider (57 issues). Created by J. Morath, the comic starred Steve Jarrett, a wandering cowboy who dons a black mask to become ‘The Ghost Rider’, whenever trouble looms. Under Morath’s pen, however, The Ghost Rider remained a crudely drawn ‘horse opera’ that failed to live up to the excitement promised by the magazine’s dramatic title. Morath left the series (and, it seems, Australian comics altogether) after the fourth issue, to briefly replaced by the Italian-born illustrator, Andrea Bresciani, who illustrated the fifth issue.

Terry Trowell took over as writer and illustrator of the series with the sixth issue, and the improvements were immediate and dramatic. Trowell recast Steve Jarrett as a former Confederate Cavalry officer, who roams the American west during the violent aftermath of the Civil War, bringing criminals to justice disguised as The Ghost Rider.

Not only did Trowell remodel The Ghost Rider’s appearance, dressing him in a Confederate tunic and cavalry hat, but he also equipped him with the lightning-fast ‘change-over’ gun draw, which saw The Ghost Rider reach for his gun with his left hand, and flick it across into his right hand. Joining Jarrett on the open trails was The Mariposa Kid, a dashing gunfighter known as ‘the Mexican Robin Hood’, who made his debut in the sixth issue.

From the outset, Trowell’s work on The Ghost Rider marked a significant advance in his ability as a comic book storyteller. Gone were the muddy grey halftones which occasionally obscured early installments of The Grey Domino, replaced with a more confident, thick-thin variation of brush work, and a judicious use of cross-hatching and shading.

Trowell made greater effort in varying the composition of individual panels, giving each page a more expansive appearance. Perhaps the series’ subject matter, set in the sprawling plains of the American West, inspired Trowell to ‘open up’ his visual style, as well.

In 1952, Terry Trowel returned to Perth, where he established his own commercial art studio. Nonetheless, he kept working as a freelance comic artist for Atlas Publications, continuing to write and illustrate both The Grey Domino and The Ghost Rider. To these, Trowell added a new title, Rhino Beresford (10 issues), which was released by Atlas Publications in 1957. Accompanied by his loyal aide and ‘gun-boy’, M’Bolo, the phlegmatic British hunter, Major Beresford, is known and respected throughout French Equatorial Africa as ‘Bwana Kifaru’ (‘Master Rhino’), able to best any man – or beast – in the jungle.

Trowell headed eastward once more in 1956, to take up the role of Art Director for Modern Motor, which was published in Sydney by Modern Magazines Pty. Ltd., a company that also produced such special interest titles as Modern Boating and Australian Cricket.

　
Capitalising on his role at Modern Magazines, Trowell re-entered the local comic book market, producing several new titles for his employer. Chief amongst these was Jet Black – Racing Driver (11 issues), which debuted in 1958 and clearly reflected Trowell’s passion for the subject matter – fast cars! Jet Black himself was a former World War II fighter pilot, who is now the premier driver for the Cougar Racing Team, managed by his wartime colleague, George Faversham. Accompanied by Jet’s girlfriend, Rusty Redd, the trio became entangled in foreign intrigue wherever they went on the international racing circuit.

Modern Magazines Pty Ltd was keen to align Jet Black with its own motor racing publication. Trowell’s richly painted covers were adorned with the blurb, ‘Modern Motor presents Jet Black’, while the comic featured text stories and photos taken from Modern Motor, profiling contemporary racing drivers and their vehicles. Trowell also designed a series of full-colour ‘Famous Racers’ posters and ‘Race Games’ (depicting well-known racing circuits), which were printed on the comic’s back covers. Each issue of Jet Black was endorsed by the publisher as "an original story, based on authentically drawn scenes and cars, which is both entertaining and educational for readers of all ages."

Around this time, Trowell also produced three issues of the True Western comic book series for Modern Magazines Pty. Ltd. These comics, titled Truth about Jesse James, Truth about Custer’s Last Stand and Killer Marshal – Truth about Wyatt Earp, offered factual accounts about famous figures from America’s ‘Wild West’ era. While these comics strived to convey a documentary-styled tone, they also acknowledged the enormous popularity of Hollywood western movies, with Killer Marshal – Truth about Wyatt Earp mimicking scenes from the 1957 film, Gunfight at the OK Corral.

Trowell’s other major comic book for Modern Magazines Pty Ltd was the truly offbeat, one-shot title, Purple People Eater. Taking its name from the popular song recorded by Sheb Wooley in 1958, Purple People Eater was a freewheeling romp of a comic, full of space aliens, a hip-swivelling Elvis look-alike, beatniks and a spear-wielding witchdoctor that not only defied description, but mirrored some of the best satirical comic strips then appearing in America’s famous Mad Magazine.

The year 1960, however, saw Trowell return to Western Australia, where he established a new company, Trowell Purdon Advertising, which specialised in advertising layouts and illustrations. The following year saw Trowell enter Australia’s burgeoning television industry, working for the West Australian branch of the Australian Broadcasting Commission, where he appeared on a children’s television programme to use puppets for on-air drawing lessons. He subsequently joined the J. Gibney & Sons Art Studio as their chief illustrator and designer in 1962.

Sadly, Terry Trowell’s life and work was cut all too short on 23 October 1964, when he died from a war-related medical condition. While the history of Australian comics is all the poorer for his untimely death, Terry Trowell nonetheless left behind a significant body of work which entertained countless readers and enriched the comic book medium.

The author would like to thank Sally-Anne Trowell and Mark Trowell for their generosity of time and invaluable assistance in the preparation of this article, as well as Graeme Cliffe for his editorial comments and advice. However, any errors and omissions are the author’s own.

El Lobo - The Man from Nowhere

2010-02-18T17:51:00.000-08:00

What makes a comic book become one of your all-time favourites? Was it the artwork? Was it the storyline? Or was it simply because the lead character looked great? For me, in the case of El Lobo - The Man from Nowhere, it was the title. With that simple phrase, I was intrigued by its promise of mystery and suspense. The fact that it was written and illustrated by the late Keith Chatto, one of the best in the business, was icing on the cake.

During the 1940s and 1950s , Australia was no different from America in its love for cowboy yarns. Local paperback 'pulp' publishers like Transport Publishing Co. and Currawong Books pumped out hundreds of horse operas, written by Aussie authors using American-sounding pen names.

In the years before television, Western serials ruled the radio airwaves. Even The Phantom Ranger, an American Western cowboy character from Frew Publications (drawn by Jeff Wilkinson and Peter Chapman) earned itself a popular radio serial broadcast in Melbourne and Sydney during the early 1950s, starring the late Charles 'Bud' Tingwell in the title role.

Cowboys 'n' Indians were big business for Australian comics, too. Apart from reprinting American Western comics, local publishers took part in the Wild West stampede with their own homegrown gunslingers. Arguably the most popular of these were The Lone Avenger (appearing in Action Comics) and The Hooded Rider, both written and drawn by Len Lawson for publisher Henry John Edwards during the 1940s and 50s.

Keith Chatto, who had been writing and drawing comics for various publishers since the mid-1940s, was no stranger to cowboy comics, either. Chatto's first gunslinger was The Lone Wolf, created for Melbourne's Atlas Publications in June 1949. In an unusual twist on the masked crimefighter theme, The Lone Wolf was a mysterious, masked U.S. Marshall, who posed as the wanted outlaw, Luke Jordan. The Lone Wolf proved to be a popular title, notching up 61 issues, with Chatto was the principal writer and artist, to be followed in later issues by the equally talented illustrator, Yaroslav Horak.

Established in 1953, Cleveland Press produced a huge range of popular, digest-sized pulp Western novels, under such imprints as Bobcat Western, Iron Horse Western and Chisholm Western. Amazingly enough, the Cleveland Publishing Company (as it's known today) continues to release at least half-a-dozen digest Western paperbacks every month, which are sold through newsagencies across Australia.

Cleveland's founder, Jack Atkins, decided to expand into the local comic book market by acquiring the rights to a locally produced Western radio serial, The Twilight Ranger. Atkins commissioned Chatto to illustrate the comic, with scripts written by Michael Noonan, creator of the radio show. The Twilight Ranger was, in fact, the cowardly bookworm Jess Palmer who, with his young Indian offsider, Red Moccasin, rode the Carakaway Ranges in search of owlhoots, cattle rustlers and other roughnecks. First published in late 1955, the first two issues of The Twilight Ranger comic book were unnumbered, while the last issue was produced in full-colour. Despite the series' high quality, it lasted just seven issues.

Enjoyable as they were, I'd argue that El Lobo - The Man from Nowhere is not only Chatto's best Western comic strip, but represents some of Chatto's best-ever work for comics. El Lobo rode along the Rio Grande, where the South West Territories and Mexico met, dispensing tight-lipped, six-gun justice, his only companion a wild dog named Wolf. Local Indians believed the mysterious rider to be immortal, appearing only when trouble threatened the fragile peace of the Rio Grande (Like many Australian comic books of the 1950s, El Lobo frequently borrowed many storyline 'motifs' - such as the immortality myth and the use of a hidden lair, lined with ancient 'chronicles' - from the phenomenally popular Australian edition of The Phantom, published continously since 1948 by Frew Publications.)

Chatto strayed from the usual horse-opera locales and cliches, saving some of his best writing and artwork for a sequence set in El Lobo's mysterious homeland, Ninguna Parte, a hidden valley populated by descendants of the Mayan people. Their existence was threatened by the arrival of a band of Mexican outlaws, led by the notorious El Tigre, who'd discovered the valley's inhabitants had rich stores of gold. The storyline, which ran between issues #10-12, represents a highpoint in Chatto's comic book career.

Chatto dispensed with speech bubbles and thought balloons, confining the dialogue to text boxes. This archaic story-telling device (which Chatto previously used on The Twilight Ranger) lent itself perfectly to the comic's Old West setting. All of his heroes, including El Lobo, may have had weak chins, but Chatto lovingly drew a bevy of amply endowed heroines and villainesses - in fact, they were a Keith Chatto trademark! It should therefore come as no surprise to learn that some of Chatto's earliest published work included comic strips for Australian 'natural living' nudist magazines. Another highlight of the series was the beautiful, full-colour painted covers Chatto created for El Lobo, which graced the first 18 issues of the series (Issues 19-23 featured standard, four-colour line drawings)

El Lobo - The Man from Nowhere ran for 23 issues between 1957-1959. It was published by Apache Comics, which was the comic book imprint of Cleveland Press. However, all the covers of El Lobo bore the King Size Comics logo, which became the title for Cleveland's giant-size reprint title, King Size Comics. Interestingly enough, the eighth, unpublished installment of The Twilight Ranger apparently later appeared in King Size Comics.

Occasional reprints of El Lobo are to be found in both King Size Comics and Silhouette Western Library, a digest-sized comic published by Reigate Pty. Ltd. (another imprint of Cleveland Press), which featured reprints of local and overseas Western comic strips, and was exported to Britain during the late 1950s-early 1960s.

Decades later, some episodes of El Lobo were reprinted in The Australian Comic Buyers Guide, a Melbourne comic fanzine published by Joe Italiano and Peter Hughes between 1981-1982. The fourth issue featured a biography of Chatto and illustrations reprinted from John Ryan's 1979 book, Panel By Panel: A History of Australian Comics.

This column previously appeared in Collectormania magazine (December 2004) and was partly based on material previously published online at ModernTales.com. Image courtesy of the Rare Book Collection, Monash University Library.

After the World - New Aussie Horror Pulp

2009-12-17T15:24:00.000-08:00

"The first thing we do, let's kill all the lawyers"; so William Shakespeare wrote in Henry VI, Part Two (circa 1590-91), but we've had to wait until 2009 to see The Bard's wishes come close to fulfilment in the pages of Killable Hours.

Written by the psuedonymous 'Clay Blakehills', Killable Hours is set in the skyscraper offices of a Melbourne law firm, which is beseiged from within when most of its workforce is afflicted by a strange virus, which turns them into a ravenous horde of zombies. No one, from the senior partners down to the lowliest law clerk, is safe from the ensuing carnage.

Killable Hours is the the first horror pulp novella in the 'After the World' series, released by Black House Comics, publishers of The Dark Detective comic book series (For a review of The Dark Detective, click here.) Wrapped up in a gorgeous, blood-drenched cover painting by Jason Paulos, Killable Hours is an enjoyable piece of escapist mayhem, which sells for AUD$5.00 and is on sale at newsagencies everywhere.

Vernon Hayles & the Aussie Pin-Up Girl

2009-12-03T14:54:00.000-08:00

Flicking through a copy of Madeleine Hamilton's new book, Our Girls: Aussie Pin-Ups of the 40s and 50s (ISBN: 9780980436754/Arcade Publications), I was surprised to see a photo showing a smart young couple sitting in a magnificent sportscar, bearing the following caption: "Norma with her husband, illustrator Vernon Hayles, in the early 1940s".

'Norma' was, as it turns out, Norma Padula, a striking brunette who won the Pix magazine 'Beach Girl' photographic contest in 1941. Her husband, Vernon Hayles, will be known to collectors of Australian comic books as one of KG Murray's earliest Australian comic book artists, who penned such engaging science-fiction adventures as the one-shot title, Man Out of Space, and 'Fort Zero', which appeared in Climax Color Comic #11.

Hayles later collaborated with the acclaimed children's author, Ivan Southall, on a comic strip titled Mike Manly, which appeared in the Australian Woman's Day magazine during 1954-55 (Hayles succeeded Peter James, the strip's original illustrator, who remains best known for his 1940s jungle hero, Panther Man). Sadly, as with so many Australian comic artists of the post-war era, little is known about Vernon Hayles' life and work.

However, anyone interested in Australian post-war popular culture, particularly magazine publishing history, will enjoy Madeleine Hamilton's book, Our Girls. The biographical portraits of the pin-up models and photographers from that era make for engaging reading in their own right - not to mention the photographs, of course! - but the book highlights the important role that popular magazines such as Pix and Man played in shaping Australia's post-war aspirations and sense of national identity, albeit in a playful, lighthearted manner.

The Return of Captain Goodvibes

2009-11-30T02:21:00.000-08:00

To Australia's surfing fraternity, Captain Goodvibes needs little introduction. For those of us not familiar with the ways of 'skeg culture', this porcine, spliff-smokin', wave-riding superhero might need a little further explanation.

The creation of cartoonist Tony Edwards' fevered imagination, Captain Goodvibes was the Antipodean equivalent of Gilbert Shelton's underground comix hero, Wonder Warthog, and made his debut in the Australian surfing magazine, Tracks, in May 1973, remaining there until August 1981. Dedicated to the pursuit of good times (or should that be 'high times'?), Captain Goodvibes was sufficiently popular with the 1970s counterculture audience to burst out of Tracks, and appear in a few solo publications, such as the 1974 tabloid-sized comic, Captain Goodvibes: The Pig of Steel. Captain Goodvibes also apparently enjoyed a cinematic cameo in the 1975 surfing documentary, Crystal Voyager, appearing in a brief animated sequence during the film.

For those of you who can, through the thinning pall of dope smoke, still vaguely recall the good Captain in his glory days, or to anyone curious to know more about this genuine Aussie comic cult figure, then a mandatory visit should be made to the Captain Goodvibes Official Website, which has a brief history about the character, as well as a gallery of some of his finer exploits from Tracks magazine. (Thanks to Eddy Crosby for the heads up on this website)

Rediscovering the 'Frontiers of Science'

2009-11-15T18:54:00.000-08:00

Anyone doubting the comic strip's potential as an educational and instructional medium would surely cast aside such doubts upon rediscovering the 'Frontiers of Science', an Australian comic strip that was syndicated to over 600 newspapers worldwide between 1961-1982.

The brainchild of Professor Stuart Butler (School of Physics, University of Sydney) and journalist and filmmaker, Bob Raymond, Frontiers of Science was conceived as a means of explaining scientific phenomena and documenting aspects of scientific history, in a compelling, visual manner. Butler served as the scientific consultant on the series, while Raymond wrote the scripts for each daily installment.

Frontiers of Science was well-served by two accomplished illustrators; Andrea Bresciani, an expatriate Slovenian-Italian artist who spent much of his working life after World War II in Australia, and David Emerson, a prolific Australian cartoonist and painter, who took over as illustrator on the series in 1970.

The University of Sydney Library has recently launched the Frontiers of Science website, which features an online archive containing the first 200 episodes of the comic strip, along with biographical information about the series' creative personnel. This website is a handsomely formulated tribute to one of the unsung success stories of Australian comic strip art, which remains as informative and enlightening today as it did when it first appeared nearly 50 years ago.

Who wrote 'The Adventures of Biggles'?

2009-09-30T03:02:00.000-07:00

If your first answer to the above question was "Capt. W.E. Johns", then you're wrong - sort of. While Capt. W.E. Johns did, indeed, pen nearly 100 novels and short-story collections starring this quintisentially British aviatior hero, keen-eyed Biggles fans will note that no book appearing under Johns' name ever bore that title.

The Adventures of Biggles was, in fact, the name of the comic book published and created in Australia by Action Comics Pty. Ltd. (Sydney), launched in the early 1950s to capitalise on both the popularity of the Biggles books amongst Australian readers, and on the Australian-produced radio serial, The Air Adventures of Biggles, which was broadcast on numerous commercial networks during 1949-54.

The Adventures of Biggles comic book actually outlasted its radio serial counterpart, running for over 50 (non-consecutive) issues during 1953-57, and was illustrated by Australian artists, Albert De Vine and John Dixon. The comic was even reprinted under licence in Great Britain by Strato Publications - truly a case of sending coals to Newcastle!

Although Capt. W.E. Johns was credited as the author of the comic book series on the front cover of the comic book, a recent discovery I made confirms that Johns did not actually write any stories for the comic book version of Biggles. The accompanying scan of the inside front cover of The Adventures of Biggles No.17 features an interesting type-written note, which reads as follows:

"Biggles" comics are produced in Australia under an arrangement with Captain W.E. Johns, originator of "Biggles". The Australian written scripts are sent to England for approval before publication. I've written about two or three years' supply of 'Biggles' comic scripts for the Australasian market."

Frustratingly, the author of this note has neglected to include their name - was it penned by Albert De Vine, the credited illustrator whose work appeared in that same issue? Or was it the work of another writer?

The comment about obtaining overseas approval of the Australian comic book scripts was certainly boorne out in an unpublished interview I counducted with John Dixon earlier this decade, who succeeded De Vine as illustrator on The Adventures of Biggles:

John [Dixon] says he was given a free hand when it came to creating new Biggles adventures for the comic book series. "Although I do remember Capt. Johns commenting in a letter to [Australian publisher] John Edwards that 'Biggles did not fly jets'," he says. "I don't recall whose idea it was to update the character."

Dixon's recollections infer that he also wrote, as well as drew, the Biggles comic book stories. Whether the same was equally true of Albert De Vine, an artist about which maddeningly little is known today, can only be the subject of conjecture. I've reproduced the contents of this cryptic note, and the page on which it appeared, in the hopes that it might trigger someone's memory, out there, somewhere, who might be able to shed light on the identity of its author. (Image courtesy of the Rare Books Collection, Monash University, Clayton, Victoria.)

'Spanish-Australian' Comics @ AusReprints.com

2009-09-24T23:04:00.001-07:00

The AusReprints website, which is traditionally dedicated to Australian-edition reprints of DC Comics' series from the late-1940s to mid-1980s, currently features three in-depth articles documenting the intriguing Australian publishing history of several Spanish-drawn comic strips: Johnny Galaxy and the Space Patrol; Ringo, Big River Lawman; and A Man Called Sunday.

These articles, penned by James (creator of AusReprints.com), are an excellent contribution to Australian comics' 'fan scholarship', which examine a frequently overlooked aspect of Australian comics publishing history - namely, the presence of Spanish/European-drawn material, which gained significant exposure through Australian comic books (especially those produced by KG Murray and Gredown Pty Ltd) published from the late-1960s onwards.

Much of the material discussed in these articles only ever saw English-language publication in Australia, and exposed Australian readers (and aspiring comic creators) to the 'new wave' of Spanish writers and artists, some of whom whose work was also appearing in Australian editions of Warren Magazines' trio of horror comics - Creepy, Eerie and Vampirella.

While the editorial imperatives and commercial machinations that led to such an abundance of Spanish-drawn material appearing in Australian comics may be lost to present-day researchers, these articles nonetheless provide an excellent starting point, tracing as they do the complex, interlocking publishing histories of such strips as Johnny Galaxy, Gringo (retitled 'Ringo' for the Australian market) and A Man Called Sunday. (Image courtesy of AusReprints.com)

Conference Paper: The Contested Frontier - Comic Book ‘Westerns’ and Cultural Identity in Post-War Australia

2009-09-10T16:56:00.000-07:00

I recently had the pleasure of participating in the 13th annual Works in Progress conference, held at the University of Queensland during 4-6 September. The theme for this year's conference was 'Pockets of Change: Cultural Adpatations and Transitions'. The broad aim of WIP is to bring recent postgraduate students together from Australia and overseas to discuss their current research interests, and provide them with an opportunity to participate in what, for many, will be their first academic conference experience.

The WIP conference is oragnised under the auspices of the University of Queensland's School of English, Media Studies and Art History (EMSAH), and provided a forum for a diverse selection of speakers, whose research interestes ensured a broad range of responses to the conference theme of cultural adaptation and transition. I found the WIP conference an overwhelmingly positive experience and would encourage any current or prospective postgraduate students to participate in next year's event.

Presented below is the abstract from my own conference paper, which was based on a section from my recently completed honours dissertation.

The Contested Frontier: Comic Book Westerns and Cultural Identity in Post-War Australia

Throughout the first half of the 20th century, the American ‘western’ proved to be a remarkably adaptable genre, successfully migrating from one mass medium to another, and continually reaffirming its public appeal in mass-market fiction, cinema, radio and television.

Comic books, too, were highly receptive to the ‘western’, which briefly displaced the costumed superhero as the medium’s most popular fixture in the years immediately after World War II. The popularity of ‘cowboy comics’ was by no means confined to the United States; western titles were amongst the most popular published in Australia from the mid-1940s onwards, appearing as they did at the peak of the domestic comic industry’s post-war ‘boom’.

Comic book westerns, however, found themseles at the centre of hotly contested debates about Australia’s sense of national identity. For some, the archetypal cowboy embodied the Cold War-era politics of the United States, while others saw in western comics further evidence of the corrupting influence that American culture exerted over Australian society. The public debate over comic books reflected the ongoing tensions in a triangulation of influence exterted by both British and American culture on Australia’s post-war sense of national identity. More importantly, such arguments tended to highlight class-driven distinctions between ‘high’ and ‘low’ culture and the generational biases of their participants. Intriguingly, Australian publishers, writers and illustrators successfully appropriated the image of the American cowboy to their commercial advantage. They innovatively adapted the genre to meet Australian audiences’ tastes in ways that they were unable to achieve with the historically familiar, but morally problematic, figure of the Australian bushranger.

(Illustration courtesy of the Rare Book Collection, Monash University, Victoria.)

Review: The Dark Detective - Sherlock Holmes

2009-08-20T03:55:00.001-07:00

The sighting of a new, Australian-drawn comic book appearing on the shelves of the nation's newsagencies is cause enough for comment; but when a second issue of such a venture follows hot on the heels of the first, then surely something is afoot! Thankfully, The Dark Detective: Sherlock Holmes is not only remarkable for daring to venture outside the comic shop retail ghetto, but is also a thoroughly enjoyable comic book interpretation of the world's greatest consulting detective.

Written by Chris Sequeira and illustrated by Phil Cornell, The Dark Detective sees the ever-loyal Dr. John H. Watson reluctantly reunited with his irascible friend and mentor, Sherlock Homes, as they attempt to uncover a vast criminal conspiracy that threatens to engulf all of London. Their investigation is sparked off by a string of grisly murders which appear to have been committed, not by man, but by a supposedly mythical creature known as a chimera.

The fictional universe of Holmes' creator, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, is well represented here, as Sequeira introduces key figures from the Holmes canon, including the great detective's brilliant brother, Mycroft Holmes (now serving as head of the Royal Information Portfolio, or RIP), the thoroughly competent Inspector Alec MacDonald of Scotland Yard and the self-styled 'Napoleon of Crime', Professor James Moriarty who may - or may not -be at the heart of this intriguing mystery.

Sequeira nicley captures the prickly temprament of Holmes himself, and faithfully invokes the overall temper and tone of Doyle's original stories, whilst unfolding the plot at a brisk, yet measured pace. Cornell's artwork strikes the right balance between dramatic illustration and caricature, while Dave Elsey's digital colouring cloaks the strip in alternately rich and sombre tones, which neatly evoke the mood of Victorian-era London, particularly with the second issue.

Indeed, the only drawback for me were Elsey's cover illustrations which, despite capturing Holmes's otherworldy character, nonetheless remain curiously flat and static. I would have preferred to have seen Jason Paulos' back cover treatment on issue #2 used as the front cover, not only because it is more visually dramatic, but it perfectly complements the penny dreadful-inspired mayhem of the interior stories.

But this is a relatively minor critique of a comic book that is an otherwise thoroughly enjoyable entertainment, and will become a welcome addition to the swollen ranks of comic book 'pastiches' featuring Sherlock Holmes and co.

The Dark Detective: Sherlock Holmes is published by Black House Comics and is available through newsagencies and comic book shops throughout Australia. Price: AUS$5.00/US$3.50.

Event: Dave De Vries' Film Debut - Friday 28 August (Melbourne)

2009-08-17T02:59:00.000-07:00

Dave De Vries is best known amongst Australian comic book fans as the creator and original illustrator of the popular late 1980s/early 1990s superhero group, The Southern Squadron, and as well as being a former contributor to the controversial horror comic, Phantastique. Oh yeah, and he's managed to snag a fistful of high-profile comic art assignments in the USA, including Batman, Green Lantern and The Phantom.

But Dave's latest creative venture sees him stepping out from behind the drawing board, and occupying the director's chair on his feature film debut, a sexually-charged thriller called Carmilla Hyde. So, what is this "Gen-Y cult sensation" all about? Here's an excerpt from the film's media release:

Starring Anni Lindner with an ensemble cast of some of Adelaide’s finest rising stars, Carmilla Hyde takes its audience on a spellbinding journey as Millie transforms from repressed nerd to wild and sexy Carmilla Hyde.

Millie, a shy introverted virgin, is drugged and seduced by her housemates. Awaking without any memory, Millie is confronted by internet sex tapes of her night of wanton passion. Humiliated and confused, she turns to hypnotist Dr Webster, and her memories are set free. Her memories, and her alter ego, the wild and sexy Carmilla Hyde. And Carmilla is hungry for revenge.

Melbourne moviegoers can get their chance to see Carmilla Hyde, when it screens as part of the Melbourne Underground Film Festival (MUFF), which is being staged at various venus during 22-30 August 2009.

Carmilla Hyde will be screening at Glitch, 318 St Georges Rd, North Fitzroy, at 9:00pm, Friday 28 August. Check the MUFF website for ticketing details.

Comic Books, Australian Society and Cultural Anxiety: 1956-1986

2009-07-22T22:31:00.000-07:00

The heading for this blog entry is the title of the dissertation I wrote as part of my Honours Degree of Bachelor of Arts, which I completed last month at Monash University. It represents the culmination of nearly a year's work and, although it wound up being a very different thesis topic to the one I'd originally conceived back in 2006, I'm nonetheless very pleased with the final result.

For those amongst you who may be interested, you can read the abstract on the ComicsResearch.org website (Just scroll down to the bottom of the page to see my entry). As for the rather alarming image accompanying this blog entry, it is an interior illustration taken from the anti [American] -comic book pamphlet, Sin in Syndication: A Cultural Crime Wave that Menaces Australia!, which was prepared by the Australian Journalists' Association, circa 1950.

Yaroslav Horak's Czech Connection & Me

2009-07-02T22:50:00.000-07:00

One of the 'fringe benefits' of maintaining this blog is that I'll often get surprising emails, completely out of the blue, from comic book enthusiasts across the world. The comparative ease with which people can contact one another via the Internet never ceases to amaze, and delight, me. Such chance encounters, while not impossible, were nonetheless quite rare back in the pre-Internet era of the mid-1980s, when I first began writing for Australian comic fanzines and correspondeing (by snail-mail) with comic book fans.

Late last year, for instance, I had a brief email exchange with Tomas Prokupek, one of the editors of Aargh! Komiksovy Sbornik, a Czech-based magazine devoted to comic art. Tomas was writing an article on Yaroslav Horak, who was born in Manchuria to Czech-Russian parents, and initially made a name for himself as a comic book writer-illustrator in Australia during the late 1940s, before achieving international recognition as an artist on the James Bond comic strip for the Daily Express newspaper (UK) during 1966-1977.

Tomas was in desperate need of some illustrations featuring Hoorak's earlier Australian work (little seen outside Australia), and I was only too happy to oblige by supplying scans of a Horak cover for Michael Chance Comics No.15 (featuring Horak's aviator hero, Jet Fury) and the Cop Shop comic book cover from 1983, which reprinted newspaper comic strip stories drawn by Horak, based on the Australian television series of the same name.

Concentrating on my university studies since then, I'd largely forgotten about Tomas's request until last month, when a copy of the handsomely produced 8th edition of Aargh! (pictured)lobbed in my mailbox, complete with Tomas's article on Yaroslav Horak. It's a gorgeous-looking magazine, which spotlights Russian comics, and Russian comic artists - hence the feature on Yaroslav Horak in this issue.

Time permitting, Tomas has promised to send me an English translation of his Yaroslav Horak article which I hope to reprint online, here at Comics Down Under. So, stay tuned....

The Truth Western: Early Gredown BC (Before Comics)

2009-06-06T02:49:00.000-07:00

Regular readers of Comics Down Under will no doubt be aware that the history of the Australian comics publisher, Gredown Pty Ltd (Sydney, NSW), is of ongoing interest to myself - and to more than a few other collectors of that company's eclectic and intriguing range of comic books, issued during the 1970s and early 1980s.

Pictured at left is yet another intriguing piece of the Gredown 'puzzle' - it might look like one of the company's numerous 'one-shot' Western comic books, but The Truth Western is, in fact, a non-fiction magazine, packed with lurid, tabloid-style accounts of the American West, including "The Incredible Cimarron War of the Vigilante Minister" and "The Untold Saga of Sheriff Pat Garrett", illustrated with contemporary photographs and newspaper illustrations.

The contents of The Truth Western appear to be reprinted entirely from the April 1973 edition of Frontier West, which was one of several US magazines (such as Real West, Golden West and Frontier Times) that flourished throughout the 1960s and 1970s, specialising in dramatic retellings of American Western history.

Bookending this magazine are publicity stills from a long-forgotten 'blaxploitation' Western, Thomasine & Bushrod, which are captioned '(Release Early 1975'). Given the film was originally released in the United States in 1974, it's most likely that these captions are referring to the film's Australian release date.

This is largely confirmed by the fact that, unusually for any Gredown publication, The Truth Western bears a publication date of 1974 - which means this quite arguably predates any of that company's long line of horror/war/western/science-fiction comic books which, to the best of my knowledge, only began appearing around 1975. (Though I am happy to be corrected on this point!)

The date 1974 is potentially significant, because that was the year when KG Murray Publishing's magazine assets (including its comic book range) were acquired by Australian Consolidated Press - and bolsters the theory that Gredown Pty Ltd was set up by Greg Murray (son of Kenneth G. Murray), in competition with the former family-owned business.

That Gredown Pty Ltd should publish a text-based, non-fiction magazine like The Truth Western is not as surprising as it may seem - it was quite common for Australian magazine publishers (such as KG Murray, Southdown Press, etc) to cobble together one-shot magazines dedicated to specific subjects, compiled from previously published material culled from other titles in their publishing 'stable'. KG Murray (later as Murray Publishers) would publish numerous one-shot titles, on topics like war and westerns, under the imprimatur of their better-known men's mags, such as Adam or Man.

While we are no closer to uncovering the truth about Gredown's origins or business operations, little nuggets like The Truth Western can, over time, help us fill in some of the blanks about this intriguing Australian comic book publishing company.

Where Did My Comic Book Collection Go?

2009-06-01T03:23:00.000-07:00

Back in 2005-2006, in a rare fit of civic duty - or temporary insanity, depending on your viewpoint - I decided to donate my entire collection of Australian comic books (spanning the years 1970-2005) to the State Library of Victoria. This same collection formed the partial basis for a major exhibition, Heroes and Villains: Australian Comics and their Creators, which was held at the State Library of Victoria between October 2006 - February 2007.

Now, long after the crowds have departed and the dust has settled, some of you may be asking: "What happened to your collection afterwards, Kev?" Well, the collection - easily the single biggest collection of modern (i.e. post-1970) Australian comics held anywhere in the country - has been gradually catalogued and added to the State Library of Victoria's inventory.

And, now, you can search the State Library of Victoria's online catalogue to check them out for yourself - just visit the Main Library Catalogue search page, and type in the phrase, 'Kevin Patrick Collection of Australian Comics', and you'll get results listing over 170 individual titles. Apparently, there are more titles to be added to the database, but library staff are apparently nearing the end of cataloguing this collection.

If you're visiting the State Library of Victoria - which I recommend you do, because it's an unsung gem of Melbourne life - then you'll need to submit an online catalogue request to have individual comic retrieved for you (It's a reference library, so you can only read/inspect items on-site). But despite these caveats, it's a great way to read & review a significant slice of Australian comic book publishing history.

Who's the rarest Batman of them all?

2009-03-16T02:07:00.000-07:00

Many collectors seeking to answer this question might nominate Detective Comics No.27 (the debut of Batman), Batman No.1 (the debut issue of the first ongoing Batman title), or any number of issues introducing such iconic members of the "batman universe" as Robin, The Joker, or Catwoman, to name but a few.

But it's be fair to say that few Bat-fans would list Detective Comics No.243, published in May 1957, as an exceedingly rare, or sought-after Batman comic. But here in Australia, it seems, that this issue is an inadvertently "hot" item, because it forms the basis for Giant Batman Album No.14, which was published in Australia by Colour Comics Pty Ltd in 1968.

Actually, the Aussie version may have just as likely been a reprint of DC Comics' Giant Batman Annual No.5, published in the (USA) summer of 1963, which also featured the lead story, "The Giant Batman"

For reasons that remain unknown to collectors everywhere, it seems the mid-teen issues of this Australian reprint title (Giant Batman Album), are scarcer than rocking-horse poop. You actually stand a better chance, it seems, of scoring the 1st issue of this series, than you do of issue nos.13-16, or thereabouts.

Unconvinced? Well, today a copy of Giant Batman Album No.14 sold on eBay Australia for AUD$129.50.

Holy Mylar-sleeve with-backing-board, Batman!

Cleveland Publishing Online

2009-03-07T00:59:00.000-08:00

You've probably seen a Cleveland western many times before, even if you've never read one in your life - odds are you'll always find a handful, occasionally even a small mound, of them in the corner of book exchanges and opportunity shops all around Australia. They're those pocket-sized, stapled 'pulp novel' westerns, which sport lurid, eye-catching covers, emblazoned with such memorable titles as Come Die in Diablo or Good Enough for Yuma.

What you may not realise is that these 'American' westerns are true-blue, dinky-di, Aussie productions. They've been published by the Cleveland Publishing Company in New South Wales since the early 1950s, and the "old firm" is still in business to this day, punching out a fistful of new and reprint titles, which sell at newsagencies for $3.75 a throw. Great value for an entertaining read, let me tell you.

Another thing is that just about all of those westerns were written by Aussie authors, too - including Paul Wheelahan, who thumped out nearly 1,000 individual novels for Cleveland between 1964-1995 - it was Paul's second career, after forging a name for himself as a comic book writer and illustrator on such titles as Davy Crockett - Frontier Scout, The Panther and The Raven during the late 1950s and early 1960s.

Many of those great covers adorning Cleveland westerns during the 1960s-1980s were the work of the late Stanley Pitt, who also had a serious comics pedigree behind him, as the creator of the science-fiction comic strip, Silver Starr and the Flameworld, and other SF series, such as Captain Power.

Cleveland Publishing also made a sizeable contribution to Australian comic book publishing, too. Despite entering the game relatively late, the company launched such titles as The Twilight Ranger, El Lobo - The Man from Nowhere, and the eagerly sought-after Aussie/US reprint title, King Size Comics during the mid-to-late 1950s. They also published the successful 'Silhouette' digest comic libraries in the late 1950s, which included war, western and romance comic book series.

So, why am I telling you all this? Because Cleveland Publishing has recently launched its own website, where you can learn about the company's history, check out their latest release westerns and purchase a selection of their previous novels from the 'Bison', 'Cleveland Classic' and 'Larry and Stretch' series.

Okay, pilgrims, you know what you gotta' do. Saddle up, and mosey on over to the Cleveland Publishing website, pronto!

RIP - Walter Arthur Granger

2009-02-20T01:37:00.000-08:00

Walter Arthur Granger, the Australian businessman who headed the local operations of Disney Enterprises, died on 12 December 2008, at 84 years of age.

Granger served with the Royal Air Force during World War II as a sergeant observer in the 'top secret' Lancaster bomber unit, 101 Squadron. He returned from active service in March 1946 and was granted control of Disney Enterprises' Australian operations in 1947, after the death of his father, Walter Rogan Granger, who had founded the business, possibly some time in the late 1930s or early 1940s.

The Granger family name is best known amongst Australian comic collectors for its long association with the popular series of Walt Disney-based comic books, published under the W.G. Publications and Wogan Publications imprints from the mid-1940s to the late 1970s.

Obituaries for Walter Arthur Granger can be found at the Sydney Morning Herald and Double Bay Bowling Club websites. Further information on Australian Disney comic books can be found at Australian Disney Comics and Disney Comics Worldwide.

Previous entries concerning Walt Disney comic books in Australia featured on the Comics Down Under blog can be found here - and here.

(Image courtesy of Disney Comics Worldwide)

Review: The Leather Nun and Other Incredibly Strange Comics

2009-01-08T02:35:00.000-08:00

If you're looking for a way to disprove the commonly-held belief that comic books are nothing more than "long-underwear types" (i.e. superheroes), simply produce a copy of Paul Gravett and Peter Stanbury's latest book which, in less than 130 pages, beautifully illustrates just how diverse - and flat-out weird - the comic book medium can be.

The Leather Nun and Other Incredibly Strange Comics is an affectionate, informative and eye-opening "cooks' tour" of the outer fringes of the global comics village, encompassing American biblical comics (The Gospel Blimp), nude Italian superheroines (La Donna Ragna), cautionary tales from Canada (Super Shamou) and fake 'samizdat' comics from behind the Iron Curtain (Octobriana).

It's pleasing to see several Australian comics featured herein as well, including Norman Clifford's Wonder Wings Comic, the Durack sisters' charming retelling of Aboriginal dreamtime tales, simply titled A Book of Picture Stories, and Terry Trowell's delightfully offbeat Purple People Eater.

Each illustrated two-page entry provides a brief synopsis of each comic, biographical nuggets about their creators (where available) and a pithy defence as to why each comic earned its place in this book. Even the most well-informed comics aficionado will be surprised, and delighted, by some of the outlandish and eccentric comics on display in this book.

If you're looking for a belated Christmas stocking-stuffer, or want a disarming addition to your own comics reference library, then put The Leather Nun and Other Incredibly Strange Comics at the top of your shopping list.

The Leather Nun and Other Incredibly Strange Comics, by Paul Gravett & Peter Stanbury. Aurum Press Ltd/ISBN: 9781845133207/Australian price: AUD$24.95

Moira Bertram: Queen of the Comics - V2.0

2008-11-26T13:17:00.000-08:00

Back in December 2003, I wrote an article for Collectormania magazine about Moira Bertram, one of the few women to work in the Australian comic book industry during the 1940s and 50s. She was, and remains, in my opinion, one of the best comic book illustrators this country has yet seen. Anyone who's ever had a chance to see some of her full-colour comics from the late 1940s will testify that her work is as fresh and engaging now, as it was when it first appeared sixty years ago.

I posted a slightly modified version of this article on the Comics Down Under blog in July 2007, but thanks to the generosity of American comic artist and historian, Trina Robbins, I've been given access to previously unpublished information about Bertram's life and work, which I've since used to substantially revise and update the article.

Given that much of Bertram's best work was published by KG Murray in the late 1940s, I've opted to publish this article at AusReprints, the excellent tribute site to KG Murray comic books maintained by James Zanotto. The earlier version of the Bertram article has now been removed from this blog, so readers may enjoy the revised (and copiously illustrated) version here. (Cover image scan courtesy of AusReprints)

Aussie comics, university, and me....

2008-11-19T01:40:00.000-08:00

Regular readers of the Comics Down Under blog may have noticed a distinct 'drop' in the level of frequency of my posts, and might therefore be tempted to think that I, too, have dropped off the radar.

Thankfully, nothing could be further from the truth. Yes, I have been largely absent from this blog, but I have a valid reason - and it's comic book-related, too, which makes my absence even more worthwhile.

Earlier this year, I decided to return to university studies, fifteen years after I'd completed my undergraduate Bachelor of Arts degree. Why? Well, a number of reasons come to mind, including a desire to bolster my 'academic qualifications', as a precursor to a possible new career path for myself. More importantly, though, I felt I needed some extra intellectual stimulation, especially after I'd put such major projects as the Heroes and Villains exhibition and the Amazing Australia children's book series behind me.

Which is why I'm now currently undertaking an Honours in Communications course at Monash University, where I'm writing a thesis on globalisation and the Australian comic book industry during 1959-1983.

Why am I focusing on this particular period in Australian comics' publishing history? Because, I think, it's been a vastly overlooked era, one which saw a thriving domestic publishing history confronted by a raft of challenges, including renewed competition from imported American comics, systemic changes to the American comics' industry which had a major impact on Australian publishers, and increased exposure to international (or 'globalised') centres of comic art production, particularly in Europe. The rise of organised comics' fandom in Australia, with its attendant network of specialty comic book shops, also had an influence on the declining fortunes of Australian comic book publishers by the early 1980s.

I'll be examining these challenges through three major comic book genres, which dominated the output of most of the major publishers during this period - westerns, romance and horror comic books. Fans and collectors might argue that superheroes were the dominant genre amongst Australian publishers, but I'd be willing to bet that, in terms of sheer volume of published material, westerns, romance and horror titles probably held the lion's share of the Australian market during this 25-year period.

I have to admit that writing this thesis has been a challenging process, one which has forced me to re-examine material which I thought I knew inside & out with an altogether new set of 'eyes'. And I'm not even entirely comfortable with the use of the term 'globalisation' in the context of this thesis, as its such a broad term in its own right, which has generated reams of contentious debate in academic circles.

But despite the frustrations and prolonged periods of 'writer's block' (like the one I'm experiencing now, which is why I'm taking time out to write this blog entry!), I am enjoying this project, and will no doubt be as intrigued as my examiners will be to see the finished product when it gets spat out of my printer by the middle of next year!

So, please bear with me if I seem to 'disappear' from this blog for extended periods of time - I will drop in as I have any interesting news or insights to share, but for the next few months, I am a slave to my thesis topic!

(Cover image courtesy of AusReprints - Australian DC Comics Reprint Gallery)

Double-shot of The Phantom

2008-09-05T02:52:00.000-07:00

Although it's been marked on the calendars of the character's die-hard fans for some months now, others amongst the comics-collecting fraternity may not realise that the Australian edition of The Phantom comic book celebrates its 60th anniversary this month, making it the world's longest-running edition devoted to this remarkable character.

Some may argue that The Phantom isn't an Australian creation, and therefore the Australian comic book bearing his name shouldn't be regarded as an Australian comic at all. And, on purely technical grounds, they're absolutely right. The character was, in fact, created by Americans Lee Falk and Ray Moore in 1936, initially for the American newspaper market.

But almost from the outset, The Phantom enjoyed greater popularity beyond America's shores, and has always consistently more popular with readers in Europe (particularly Scandinavia), Latin America, India, New Zealand and, of course, Australia.

In the local context, though, a case can be made that The Phantom comic book occupies a unique position, not only in the history of Australian comics, but also in Australian popular culture, as well. In its own way, The Phantom is the last surviving link we have to the postwar 'boom' era of Australian comics (1940s - 1960s), and was the foundation stone of Frew Publications' own range of Australian-drawn comics, including The Phantom Ranger, Sir Falcon and The Shadow, some of which continued to appear until the late 1960s and early 1970s (albeit as reprints of earlier editions.)

Which is why I've been fortunate enough to have published, not one, but two celebratory pieces about The Phantom's 60th Australian anniversary. The longer of the two, "The Phantom's 60th Australian Birthday", can be read online at The Chronicle Chamber.

A shorter piece, discussing the popular appeal of The Phantom in Australia, has also been published in the September 2008 edition of The Monthly, which is on sale at bookstores and newsagencies throughout Australia.

A Western Curio from Murray Publishers (Or, waste not, want not)

2008-07-03T03:11:00.000-07:00

The magazine pictured at left came my way as part of a 'job lot' of western comics which I purchased online some time ago. I knew without looking inside that this would have to be a Murray Publishers title, probably dating from the 1980s. Two things about it struck me as odd, though. Firstly, there was no ‘Murray Comics’ logo on the cover. Secondly, since when did any of the creative personnel featured in a Murray Comic ever get a byline on the front cover? And as for this 'Roy Wayne', he didn't sound like any comic book writer or artist that I knew of.

The answers to these questions weren't long in coming, because when I turned to the opening page, I was surprised to see, not a comic book - but an actual novel, fully typeset, with grey-toned illustrations scattered throughout its 66 pages. It was, in short, a magazine-sized 'pulp' novel.

Now, to my knowledge, Murray Publishers only ever briefly strayed into the popular fiction field around 1962-63, when (under its then-current trading name, 'Magazine Services Pty Ltd') it issued the 'Best of Man' paperback series, which collected non-fiction features and short stories taken from Man, the men's magazine which launched the Murray publishing empire back in 1936.

We can only speculate as to why Murray Publishers were toying with western fiction, when this niche market was well and truly dominated by the Cleveland Publishing Company, established by the late Jack Atkins in Sydney during the mid-1950s, and which continues to publish several dozen new and reprint western 'novelettes' every year.

I'm not even sure if Murray Publishers issued other western 'pulp' novels during this period, but given that the company was issuing a prolific range of 'one-shot' comic book titles during this period, it's likely that Apache Scout may have been just one of several such titles. Regardless of how many were released, its clear that the experiment was not a successful one, given that Murray Publishers would quit the comic/popular reading market altogether by 1983.

Unlike the Cleveland Publishing Company, which employed a small army of Australian authors to churn out their western yarns, Murray Publishers, in this instance at least, used American material. Apache Scout was a reprint of a novel written by Roy Wayne and originally published by Avalon Books in 1981. 'Roy Wayne' (assuming this wasn't a pseudonym) appears to have written several western novels during this period, including Trail to Mesilla (DeKalb Co., 1979), Apache Rifles (Avalon Books, 1982), Raton Rustlers (Thomas Bouregy & Co, 1984) and Texas Feud (Avalon Books, 1986).

If you think that the cover to the Murray reprint of Apache Scout looks familiar, then you're right. Painted by the (Spanish?) artist 'FABA', whose work adorned several Murray western comic book covers, this same image was originally used on the Murray Comics one-shot title, Outlaws of the West, published in 1980. The difference with Apache Scout, however, is that Murray Publishers reversed the image - but, oddly enough, reprinted a grey-toned version of the same painting, facing the right way, on the title page.

At least two of the interior illustrations are cropped from colour paintings originally used for other Murray comic book covers. The image seen on page 38 of Apache Scout (left) was actually taken from another 'FABA' painting used as the cover for Trail Blazers of the West, published in 1981. Another illustration, seen on page 5 of Apache Scout, was also cropped from the unsigned painting used as the cover for Pow-Wow Smith (Indian Law-Man), issued by Murray Publishers in 1982. No doubt the other 'spot' illustrations used throughout Apache Scout have been similarly culled from cover designs used on Murray's western comic books at that time.

Such 'editorial thrift' was a hallmark of KG Murray Publishing Company (and its successor, Murray Publishers) for decades. Don Richardson, a former printer who handled many of KG Murray's comic book titles during the 1960s and 70s, said that the company “was like Walt Disney – they never wasted anything. Old cartoons from Man magazine in the 1930s were reused in the 1950s with new artwork.”

The constant reuse and recycling of old artwork was a decades-old practice at Murray’s. My copy of the April 1943 edition of Man, for instance, features several double-page illustrations by Howard Barron (1900 - 1991), depicting Allied aircraft in combat with Japanese air and sea forces. One of these same illustrations reappeared, over three decades later, as a two-page 'splash' image on the inside front cover of Australians at War, a spin-off title issued in the mid-1970s under the banner of Adam, Murray's other premier men's adventure magazine. This same magazine also featured other Howard Barron illustrations, again dating from 1942-43, and presumably culled from the wartime editions of Man.

Waste not, want not, indeed! But it was this hard-headed determination to squeeze every last cent out of its editorial content that no doubt helped KG Murray Publishing maintain its strong position in Australia's competitive magazine industry - perhaps second only to Australian Consolidated Press - for well over 50 years. (Apache Scout book jacket image courtesy of Antique Gun List.)

Gully Foyle: Postscript

2008-06-13T04:57:00.000-07:00

An interesting footnote to the ill-fated Gully Foyle comic strip recently came to me courtesy of Dennis Ray from Texas, who sent me a photocopy of an article by the late John Ryan, which clarified the events that led to Stan and Reg Pitt abandoning this ambitious project.

Gully Foyle was a planned newspaper comic strip adaptation of Alfred Bester's science-fiction novel, The Stars My Destination, which was conceived and written by Reg Pitt, and illustrated by his brother, Stan. Their work caught the interest of the Australian comics fan and historian, John Ryan, who, by the late 1960s, offered to act as the brothers' agent to assist in their efforts to sell the comic to American newspapers.

Ryan wrote extensively about the project, reporting on its progress and reproducing samples of the completed artwork, for various American comic fanzines in the USA, no doubt as a way of drumming up interest in the strip amongst readers and prospective publishers alike.

Some years later, Ryan wrote a piece titled 'Stan Pitt and Gully Foyle', which appeared in Sense of Wonder No.12 (dated 1972), a prominent fanzine published by American comics collector, Bill Schelly.

Here is an excerpt from Ryan's article, which explains how and why the Gully Foyle comic strip met its untimely end:

"I was about to follow up with [newspaper syndicate] NEA when we heard from John Higgins of the Ledger Syndicate. While pointing out that there were many problems involved, Higgins recognized the potential of the strip. Dozens of letters flowed back and forth across the Pacific Ocean...sometimes quickly, sometimes after agonizing delays.

Passing over the many obstacles and problems encountered in the months that followed, by November 1968 the Pitts were well on the way to completing the "buffer-stock" of 26 pages required by Ledger. During this period, I had been working out percentages, etc. with Robert Mills, Alfred Bester's agent. When the Ledger Syndicate cabled for copies of our contracts, late in November 1968, I wrote to Bob Mills about the urgency f the situation. His reply sounded the deathknell to GULLY FOYLE. Apparently, Bester had disposed of the movie rights to The Stars My Destination to Ashley Famous Agency -- and the motion picture contract called for the control of any comic strip use!

Our solicitor both wrote to and cabled Ashley Famous Agency -- but silence reigned supreme! And that was it -- that was the note on which the GULLY FOYLE strip died!"

This particular issue of Sense of Wonder is also significant because it contains another feature article by John Ryan, titled 'Yarmak the Fearless One', devoted to Stanley Pitt's fondly remembered adventure series, Yarmak - Jungle King Comic, which he produced for Young's Merchandising Company during the late 1940/early 1950s. Ryan's story has some interesting insights about changes requested of, or made to, Pitt's cover artwork, as well as a chronological list of the original, first-run Yarmak stories that appeared in the title's first 29 issues, as well as in the spin-off magazine, Jungle King Comics.

The fact that none other than Don Newton drew both the cover and interior artwork accompanying the Yarmak article is a further incentive to adding a copy of this rare fanzine to your collection! (Cover image courtesy of The Art of Don Newton website.)

The Incredible Hulk and me

2008-06-08T05:01:00.000-07:00

Okay, this has almost has next-to-nothing to do with Australian comics, but quite by chance, I was interviewed last week by Peter Munro of the Sunday Age for an article he was writing about The Incredible Hulk.

The story was written partly in anticipation of the new Hulk movie to be released in Australia, but it also used the character as a springboard into a wider discussion about anger and rage in modern society.

Peter interviewed both myself, and my good mate Larry Boxshall of Alternate Worlds, who would have to be a contender for the title of "Australia's #1 Hulk Fan". You can read the article here.

As I explained to Peter Munro at the time, while the Hulk wasn't quite my favourite childhood comic book hero, I did nonetheless enjoy the character's rampaging antics, courtesy of Melbourne publisher Newton Comics' The Incredible Hulk magazine, which was one of that troubled company's longer-running titles. (Cover image courtesy of Daniel Best)

Mandrake the Magician - Massive!

2008-06-03T04:43:00.000-07:00

Talk about being "better late than never"! In July 2007 (yep, that's right - nearly a year ago!), I received a charming email from Balaji Sastry, who easily holds the title of being the internet's #1 fan of Lee Falk's classic comic strip, Mandrake the Magician.

Balaji's mission is to digitally archive as many daily and Sunday newspaper strips featuring the debonair, top-hatted magician, and publish them on his Mandrake the Magician blog, so fellow fans throughout the world can relive his classic adventures.

For a lifelong Mandrake fan like myself, Balaji's archive is nothing short of staggering. You can download high-resolution scans of Mandrake strips, many of which appear to be either complete storylines, or at least several weeks' worth of continuity from longer episodes.

There are also lovely reproductions of comic book covers, taken from Indian editions of Mandrake the Magician, featuring delightfully outlandish artwork. (I think if Lee Falk had instructed his artists to emulate the Indian comic book covers' style, then Mandrake the Magician might have reached an even wider audience.) The site also features covers and interior artwork taken from American, French and Yugoslav editions of Mandrake the Magician comic books as well.

While the mustachioed magician was frequently overshadowed by Falk's other great comic strip hero, The Phantom, there was much to commend Mandrake the Magician, which was, at times, the most surreal comic strip appearing in newspapers. Although Falk arguably invested more time and energy into The Phantom (which has enjoyed consistently greater international popularity as a result), Mandrake the Magician - especially when drawn by Phil Davis - remained an elegant and visually arresting series.

And, if you're new to this blog, check out my previous installment outlining Mandrake's publishing history in Australia.

Barks’ Ducks, Redux!

2008-06-02T15:39:00.000-07:00

My claim in a previous installment of Comics Down Under that I was no expert on the Australian publication history of Walt Disney Comics & Stories’ artist, Carl Barks, was proven true after I contacted Anthony Richards, who maintains the excellent Australian Disney Comics website. Anthony very helpfully set me right on some of the errors and incorrect assumptions I’d made in my piece about the Australian reprint of Barks’ classic Donald Duck story, ‘Adventure Down Under’.

“All W.G. Publications’ and Wogan Publications’ of [Disney comics] were printed in Australia,” he says. “The Singapore, Malaysia and Brunei prices that were printed in the top left-hand corners of the covers refer to the fact that, commencing in 1967, W.G. Publications’ comics – which previously were only sold throughout Australia and New Zealand – were being distributed to these countries, but were still being printed in Australia.”

Regarding the obvious retracing of Barks’ original artwork for the Australian reprint of ‘Adventure Down Under’, Anthony says that “W.G. Publications made up the comics from masters supplied to them by Disney – these were just black & white line artwork, while the colouring was done in Australia by W.G. Publications’ staff.”

However, as fellow Barks’ enthusiast (and comic artist) Dillon Naylor recently pointed out to me, the colouring on the W.G. Publications’ editions of Carl Barks stories rarely followed the colours used in the original American editions. Whereas the original Four Color issues featuring Walt Disney Comics & Stories used fairly naturalistic colour schemes, the Australian editions favoured much more garish tones.

“[Issue number] OS7 may be an exception to the rule where W.G. Publications did not have the Disney masters and instead traced it [the story] from an original Dell Comics print,” he suggests. “Ayers & James, which reprinted Disney Comics in Australia prior to W.G. Publications, very likely owned the rights to publish material from the original Dell edition of Four Color No. 159, as they reprinted the other story from it – ‘Ghost in the Grotto’.”

According to the Australian comic dealer and historian, Roger Morrison, tracing original American artwork in order to create camera-ready, black & white line work for the Australian edition was not an uncommon practice:

“Prior to October 1946….there were only 18 Walt Disney comics published in Australia. Of these, only 9 contained the work of Carl Barks and some of these were so poorly traced that the Barks’ style is virtually unrecognizable! This is particularly in the Australian edition of ‘Mickey Mouse and the Riddle of the Red Hat’ (Barks’ only Mickey Mouse strip) published by the Land Newspaper around 1945.” [i]

This was also a common practice, suggests Anthony, when it came to producing covers for the Australian editions of Walt Disney comic book titles: “Some of the Barks artwork was traced from panel art to make up the unique Australian covers (e.g. No.213), but it was usually not altered to any great extent.”

“However, the cover for OS7 is uniquely Australian and has not been reprinted anywhere else since – and that issue contains the only Australian printing of the ‘Adventure Down Under’ story.”

Thanks to Anthony Richards and Dillon Naylor for their assistance in preparing this article. However, any errors and omissions are the author’s own. Cover image courtesy of Australian Disney Comics.

[i] Morrison, Roger, ‘The Australian Barks’, Panel Power: Comicon III (Concord NSW, Limitless Visions, 1981), p.35

Interview: Kevan Hardacre

2008-05-25T14:09:00.000-07:00

Comic books, like other popular entertainments, offer readers the promise of escape from their everyday world, a brief chance to experience bold adventures in exotic locales, far removed from their own. But what of the writers and artists who create these stories? Is this ‘just a job’ to them, or do they, too, lose themselves in the fantasies they create for others?

For Kevan Henry Hardacre (left), art was an escape from a bleak working life in northern Australia. Born on 23 October 1927, Hardacre grew up in Rockhampton, the so-called ‘Beef Capital of Australia’, in central Queensland.

“I was the most competent student in Lakes Creek Primary School and I went onto sixth grade before being co-opted into work at age 14,” he recalls.

“This time was the late period of the Great Depression and children were required to work by their parents, so that the families could survive with a modicum of decency,” he explains. “World War II was on the way, anyway, and our educators wanted to unload the poor children into work places, and then, into the armed services.”

Kevan’s father, a former health officer with the Rockhampton City Council, found a job for his son with his new employer. “It was the meat processing works at Lakes Creek, on the big, brown, lazy Fitzroy River,” explains Kevan. “It was an ‘essential industry’.”

“I did three rotating shifts from the start. I still feel a weird sense of wonderment remembering the work at night from 11:00 pm until 7:00 am. A big change for a child,” says Kevan.

“I was fearful of the place and the uncouth culture of the workforce, the overt intimidation and the below the belt pervasiveness of it all until, I got the hang of it and was able to hold my own. I knew I was different.”

Even at that young age, Kevan showed a talent for art well beyond that of his peers.

“I was always encouraged to draw by my father and teachers,” he says. “My father would sit us up at night around the big, old, worn communal table and sketch horses and other bush motifs for us, or tell us yarns about his days in the western Queensland bush, outback west.”

“He would talk about shearing sheds and greasy wool, with larrikins and larks – ghost stories, wild stories, adventure,” recalls Kevan. “Places like Barcaldine and Hughenden, Emerald and Longreach and Cloncurry – they crackled into wide-eyed vision out of the arid, wild, wild west.”

Throughout his adolescence, Kevan continued to develop as a completely self-taught artist, while filling his thirst for knowledge about the wider world through books. He read true-life adventure stories, as well as devouring books on natural history and art. Kevan also loved word derivations and always kept a dictionary handy. But, like many teenaged Australian boys growing up in the 1940s, he was ever mindful of conscription and military service.

“I was scheduled for call up when I turned 18-years-old in October 1945, but two months before that date the Americans dropped their nuclear bombs on [two] Japanese cities and that ground the war machine to a shuddering halt.”

Around this time, Kevan secured a job as a window dresser for an advertising contractor, Ted Leach. “He was a bronzed, strong young man, who had returned from army service in the Middle East and, later, New Guinea,” he recalls.

It may not have been the world of art he was seeking, but it offered a way out from what he called “the slaughterhouse blues.”

“I did display work, mainly window dressing, placing large cut outs of Black & White and De Reske Cigarettes up high on the greasy shelves of fish and chip shops and milk bars. Pharmaceutical and cosmetic advertising material was better when installed in much cleaner pharmacies.”

“I traveled a number of times to Gladstone and Mackay doing this work. The work in the chemist shop windows was still arduous, as these windows were extremely hot in the tropical summers. They were airless with tenacious dust always there. It was extremely difficult trying to avoid dropping a sweat blob onto the newly installed crepe paper decorations. One drop and the stretched paper went ‘bling!’ Start again.”

Hardacre, determined to forge some kind of career for himself in the field of art, made the move to the ‘big smoke’ and left Queensland for Sydney in 1949.

“I was prepared to do anything in the line of ‘art’ – whatever ‘art’ means to anyone,” he says. “I was lucky to get into the inner circle of artists then resident in upper and lower George Street and I was offered an opportunity to secure a studio there, in George Street, if I could find the right amount of ‘key money’.”

“The ‘key money’ was to be passed over to the outgoing artist who had initially paid the same amount to the landlord for the right to pay him rent on a small room,” explains Kevan. “I paid £500, a large amount back then, when wages were about £10 to £20 a week. Installed and bunking there illegally, strip-washing from a bucket after hours, and dining from street stalls in Chinatown nearby, I secured some work from Trevor Morgan, the printer on the next floor down.”

Back then, Kevan aspired to join the ranks of artists like Virgil Reilly and Wynne W. Davies, whose full-colour illustrations graced the covers of the tabloid-sized Australian Women’s Weekly, or those cartoonists who, as he puts it, “fearlessly frolicked through the page of The Bulletin magazine, with its pink-paper covers.”

“But no such Olympian triumphs for me; I found that my then skills would only be taken up by the then – proliferating comic book publishers,” he explains. “In the late 1940s, there was a plethora of publications, such as short story magazines, comic books and papers, put out by men trying to get back into ‘civvy’ life after the war and, no doubt, with some ‘rehabilitation’ cash assistance from the government.”

“Syd Nicholls regularly produced a black & white adventure comic with pirate stories [Middy Malone’s Magazine], all by himself – so well drawn, straight off the brush. And there was an historical series [Captain Justice] by Monty Wedd. Len Lawson created some sort of a masked cowboy [The Lone Avenger], before he got caught by his own misdoings and ended up in the caboose. Read about that one!” [i]

One of Kevan’s first comic book assignments was to illustrate a cowboy comic, ‘Trig’ Matson. The blonde gunslinger, described as a “range ‘tec” (range detective), originally appeared in Kayo Comic during 1946-47. Unusually for comics of this period, each strip in Kayo Comic was prefaced with an illustrated page of text, which introduced the plot, with the remainder of the story conveyed in comic strip format. While competently produced, neither a writer nor an artist is named on the original series of ‘Trig’ Matson, as is the case with the magazine’s other comic strips, Ace Gremlin and Nutkey and Professor Mikro.

Kayo Comic was one of several comic book titles issued by Calvert Publications, a company formed by accountant Denny White, which became a prolific publisher of Australian comics and popular fiction novels throughout the 1940s and 1950s.

‘Trig’ Matson was deemed popular enough to be rewarded with his own, self-titled comic book. Kevan Hardacre took over as illustrator of the lead feature, which was supported by Crimebusters, an eccentric trio of adventurers drawn by Michael Trueman, and a new series of Ace Gremlin, an unsigned science-fiction series, which has since been attributed to the illustrator, T. Brand. The 24-page ‘Trig’ Matson comic also managed to squeeze in short stories written by G.C. Bleeck, a prolific Australian ‘pulp fiction’ author.

Although credited solely as the illustrator on ‘Trig’ Matson, Kevan says “I am sure that I also wrote some scripts when I did not care for the libretto.”

When asked how he got the job, Kevan says that “the commission could have come from Arthur Gorfain[ii] or Royce Bradford [iii] at Press Features Service, which operated out of Castlereagh Street, Sydney. I understood that Mr. Gorfain was the owner of the business and that Royce Bradford was the Senior Artist or Art Production Manager.”

Kevan’s next assignment, and the one he would be best remembered for, came about through a chance referral from a fellow artist.

“Someone, possibly John L. Curtis [iv], told me about Peter Gormley[v] and I contacted him. He seemed to be a man with experience in publishing – an ex-journalist, I presumed, urbane and well-dressed, although often, most reticent,” he recalls.

“He [Gormley] was then running a press service securing material for publishers such as Young’s Merchandising. I believe that he had ‘stable’ of creative artists and got new work ready for a client list of publishers.”

“[My next comic], Char Chapman, was born out of a meeting with Peter Gormley, who suggested that I ‘do something like The Phantom comic’, which he said, to my surprise, was the biggest selling comic then published. He proposed that I create a new character with similar appeal, and to write the scripts and draw the artwork.”

“The war was over and, with all that male testosterone running around unbridled, adventurers were re-invading distant places, seeking ongoing adventures and writing about them. One such book, White Stranger[vi], enthralled me, city-bound in Sydney. It was about the white man's rediscovery of ‘the jungles’ in Sarawak and the Celebes, in what is now called Indonesia, and of the wildlife there, some of it human.”

“The word ‘Char’ meant ‘Tiger’ in Malay, I think, and I let it rip,” says Kevan. “The character just bound into life and I was able to draw jungles and pythons and depict much derring-do.”

Char Chapman was a famed big-game hunter and jungle guide who called the wilderness of Southeast Asia his home. However, he was better known to the myriad hill tribes and jungle clans as The Phantom of the East – “respected by peace-lovers – feared by renegades”, as one cover blurb put it. Sporting a pair of goggles and a blue headband, clad in a skin-tight red top emblazoned with an arcane symbol, and complemented by a pair of breeches and riding boots, Char Chapman, despite his eclectic wardrobe, cut an impressively heroic figure.

One is struck by Hardacre’s rapid evolution as an artist during this phase of his career, especially when comparing his early work on ‘Trig’ Matson with those first episodes of Char Chapman. His draftsmanship is much more assured, while his human figures exude energy and movement. And, once he gains an entire comic book to himself, Hardacre becomes more adventurous in his storytelling technique, experimenting with panel compositions and page layouts that better convey his stories’ frenetic action.

Char Chapman – The Phantom of the East[vii] made its debut as a supporting strip in Steel Barr and The Phantom Man Comic, published by Young’s Merchandising Company in 1950[viii]. Steel Barr was a granite-jawed District Commissioner who patrolled the African jungles, battling myriad threats while searching for his elusive opponent, The Phantom Man. Originally created for OPC’s Hurricane Comics series in 1946, writer and illustrator Lloyd Piper[ix] successfully brought his muscular hero to publisher Charles Young’s growing range of comic book titles.

Char Chapman’s adventures frequently took place against the backdrop of the ‘Malayan Emergency’, wherein British and Commonwealth military forces (including elements of Australia’s army and air force) fought against ‘Communist insurgents’ during 1948-1960.

“The Malay people were then trying to stop the British from regaining control of Malaya and Singapore after World War II,” recalls Kevan. “We re-invaded them and frustrated their drive for an independence that they wanted, but which we disallowed. This was done in the name of what we now call ‘security’, which allegedly keeps us safe from other peoples’ striving for independence and human rights.”

“The press was, of course, demonising them and, back then, I naively believed in the media services – and so Chapman was forever defeating the independence fighters. They were then called ‘terrorists’. Sounds familiar? You bet. Today, I would portray Char Chapman on the other side of the fence, as a champion of the people – a freedom fighter, certainly not an agent for neo-imperialism.”

Char Chapman was sufficiently popular for Young’s Merchandising Company to commission a spin-off comic magazine starring Kevan’s hero, which debuted in 1951. The character gained popularity and, as a result, sales increased.

“As I had found that one could not illustrate the fast-moving adventure strip stories where the action is described by script writers, I asked that I be given a free hand – and I got it. I was – and still am – a good visualiser. I roughly pencilled out the panels after jotting down a bare-as-bones scenario and I ad-libbed the dialogue and captions as I went,” he explains. “I could manage a page a day – but John L. Curtis frenetically knocked off three pages each day!”

Sadly, Kevan’s involvement with the Australian comic book industry was all too brief, culminating with Char Chapman – Phantom of the East, which concluded sometime in 1952[x]. But his reasons for leaving the industry were partly economic: “I felt that the publishers paid too little for so much work. But it taught me how to draw and how to work hard at art.”

“I was offered a job at Hudson Publications as a magazine artist, sometime around 1951, I think,” explains Kevan. “Norman O. Hudson then published Outdoors and Fishing and Seacraft magazines. As they prospered, we went on to launch Wheels, Two Wheels, Science To-day and Bride, along with other publications.”

“Initially, I painted covers, retouched photos and did some illustrations, but with the increased number of monthly magazines, we increased the number of in-studio artists – and I was eventually made art director,” he says.

“My job was to study the line-up as presented by the editors and assign the layouts to my artists, as well as commission illustrations with dinki[xi] and typography for headings,” explains Kevan. “Retouching of photographs was a big part of the work, as we printed by letterpress from acid-etched engravings on rough paper, the best then available in those days of short supply. The sizes of photographs and illustrations were strictly controlled, as the engravings were charged by the square inch and the budgets were tight. No big double-page spreads, then.”

Hudson Publications was later bought out by the K.G. Murray Publishing Company, which added Hudson’s titles to its already popular range of consumer and entertainment magazines. After working at Hudson Publications for close to two-and-a-half years, Hardacre re-established himself as a freelance artist, concentrating on the advertising and marketing fields.

He eventually started his own art and design consultancy business, which grew to employ six staff artists over the following two decades.

“We did advertising layouts and brochure designs for some advertising agencies, but I found that it suited my studio best to work directly with the marketing directors of large companies.”

“We designed logos and point-of-sale display units which we fabricated in various materials, from card stock to plastics and wood, brass and steel. I had a client list that embraced the then-largest companies operating in Australia, such as Unilever, Phillips Industries, Nikon and Canon through their agencies, as well as Peter Stuyvesant and Rothmans Cigarettes and Pan American Airways.”

After gradually retiring from the commercial design and production field during the 1970s, Kevan established his own, less commercial art practice, Hardacre Art & Design. He still finds time to select art assignments that reflect his longstanding interest in natural history and conservation. For instance, in April 2004, Kevan worked for the Australian Museum, producing bas-relief, plaque replicas of endangered fish species.

“I still do design work, but now I devote my skills to environmental - care practices,” says Kevan. “I design and fabricate SafetyNests, a range of nest boxes (pictured left) which effectively help to re-establish the habitats that are being lost through so-called ‘development’ and they will save the wildlife for our children’s’ future. I envisage a ‘green chain’ of SafetyNests across the globe.”

Hardacre’s love of the natural world shines through in his paintings of bird life, landscapes and maritime studies. This is perfectly in keeping with Kevan’s own personal philosophies, shaped by his interest in Buddhism, which, he says, embraces “everything that’s natural and nothing that’s for money only. Caring and sharing – and staying critical of humbuggery.”

The author would like to thank Kevan and Mark Hardacre for making this interview possible, as well as Graeme Cliffe, for his invaluable advice on Char Chapman’s publishing history. However, any errors and omissions are the author’s own.

[i] Leonard Keith Lawson (b. 16 August 1927), creator of The Lone Avenger and The Hooded Rider comic books, drove five female models on a photo shoot to bushland in the Terrey Hills area on 7 May 1954. After binding and gagging them at gunpoint, he raped three of them, and indecently assaulted the other two women. He was apprehended by police and was initially sentenced to death on 25 June 1954, but this was later commuted to 14 years imprisonment. A model prisoner, Lawson was paroled in May 1961 after just serving seven years. On 6 November 1961, he raped and murdered a teenage girl, Jane Bower, and was apprehended by police the following day during a siege at a private girls’ school where, while struggling with a teacher, Lawson’s gun went off, killing a student, Wendy Luscombe. Lawson was sentenced to life imprisonment in 1962 and died at the Grafton Correctional Centre on 29 November 2003.

[ii] Arthur Gorfain (b. 18 April 1912) established Press Feature Service after serving with the RAAF during World War II. His company employed 12 staff and supplied Australian newspapers and magazines with a variety of editorial content, such as puzzles, crosswords, short stories and cartoons. Gorfain is best remembered as the editor and publisher of The Silver Jacket, a popular Australian boys’ magazine published during 1953-56. He syndicated such Australian comic strips as Frontiers of Science to domestic and international newspaper markets, before selling his company to Alan Foley Pty Ltd in 1963. He subsequently established the Sunset Motel chain throughout eastern Australia.

[iii] Royce Bradford was a prolific magazine illustrator and comic book artist whose career spanned several decades. His comic book credits include The Bronze Cat (NSW Bookstall, circa 1943), Cole Steele (Wollumbin Press, circa 1950) and The Cloak tells Tales of Mystery (Horwitz Publications, circa 1959).

[iv] John Leslie Curtis (1917 – 2000) was originally a theatrical poster artist, before entering the Australian comic book field in the 1940s. He illustrated the comic book version of the popular Australian radio serial, Larry Kent (‘I Hate Crime’), and adapted several crime novels by British author Edgar Wallace, such as When the Gangs Came to London, for Australian comics. Some of his best work, including full-colour cover paintings and meticulous, black & white historical comic strips, appeared in The Silver Jacket magazine.

[v] Peter Gormley (circa 1920 – 1999) would later achieve international recognition as the manager of several high-profile musical performers, including the Australian singer Frank Ifield, British pop star Cliff Richard and the Australian-born singer/actor, Olivia Newton-John.

[vi] Wilcox, Harry, White Stranger: Six Moons in Celebes (London, Collins, 1949)

[vii] Early episodes of the strip appearing in Steel Barr and the Phantom Man Comic are titled ‘Cha Chapman – The Phantom of the East’, but the character’s name was altered to ‘Char Chapman’ for its self-titled comic.

[viii] An episode of Char Chapman – Phantom of the East appeared in the back pages of Spike’s Comic No.1, which starred a cheeky, larrikin kid, which was published by Young’s Merchandising Company, circa 1953. This story may have been a previously unpublished installment, left over after the original Char Chapman magazine was cancelled around 1952.

[ix] Lloyd Piper (1922-1984) produced comic books for several Australian publishers during the immediate postwar era, including Frew Publications, for whom he drew the Australian version of the American superhero, Catman, in Super Yank Comics. Piper later became an advertising layout artist, but returned to comics in 1972, creating the adventure strip Wolfe for Sydney’s Sunday Telegraph newspaper, before taking over as artist on the long-running Ginger Meggs comic strip in 1974, which he drew until his death.

[x] The original series of Char Chapman – The Phantom of East ran for just nine issues, released during 1951-52. Although later editions, bearing issue numbers 17-19, were published, these were reprints from the earlier series, and were actually published circa 1959. The gap in the numbering sequence has led to the misconception that issue nos.10 -16 of Char Chapman were incredibly scarce when, in fact, they were never published at all.

[xi] ‘Dinki’ is the plural form of ‘dinkus’, a printing term that refers to a graphic symbol or motif, which identifies a recurring editorial feature, such as a letters page or review column, appearing on a magazine page layout.

Interview: James Kemsley

2008-05-23T04:46:00.000-07:00

Adelaide's own Aussie comics doyen, Daniel Best, has recently published an extensive interview he conducted with the late James Kemsley, writer and illustrator of the Ginger Meggs comic strip, who died on 3 December 2007.

The interview was originally conducted in February 2004, but remained in Danny's archives for various reasons until now. Even though Danny admits in his introduction that the interview only focuses on Kemsley's comic strip work, a planned follow-up interview covering his film and television career never eventuated.

Nonetheless, the interview will be of immense interest to fans of Ginger Meggs, and to anyone with more than a passing interest in the history of Australia's newspaper comic strip heritage. James Kemsley breathed new life into a once iconic character that was threatening to slip into irrelevancy and, for that alone, his life and work should be remembered fondly. And Danny's interview with Kemsley is as good a place as any to meet the man behind 'Meggsy'.

Abstractions - Reg Pitt catalogue

2008-05-23T04:18:00.000-07:00

I recently had the good fortune to visit Sydney and attend the opening of Abstractions, an exhibition of abstract paintings and collages by Reg Pitt, which is currently on display at the St. George Regional Museum in Hurstville, New South Wales.

Reg is best known to Australian comic collectors as the frequent collaborator with his brother, Stan Pitt, on various comic book projects from the 1940s-1960s period, including Silver Starr, Yarmak - Jungle King and their glorious, but ill-fated, science-fiction newspaper strip, Gully Foyle.

But as visitors to this exhibition will discover, Reg has had a lifelong fascination with abstract painting and design, which he continued to explore alongside his career as a commercial artist. Some of the earliest works featured in the show, including pastel and acrylic works, date back to the early 1970s. However, the majority of pieces in the show, comprising vibrant paper collages, span the years 1998 - 2008, testimony to Reg's lifelong, restless urge to create.

If, however, you can't visit the Abstractions exhibition personally, you'll be pleased to know that copies of the exhibition catalogue, Abstractions: The Art of Reg Pitt, are available from Reg's son-in-law, Beric Henderson, an artist in his own right. This signed and numbered catalogue features a brief biographical portrait of Reg, and many vivid, full-colour reproductions of his work.

Copies of this limited edition catalogue are available for AUD$15.00 per copy, plus AUD$2.00 for postage and handling within Australia. (Customers outside Australia should contact Beric directly for international payment & postage details.) You can email Beric for further details, or write to him at: 13 Russell Street, Riverwood, New South Wales, 2210, Australia.

Review: The Sacrifice

2008-05-14T20:37:00.000-07:00

Compared with the political opportunism, questionable legality and moral ambiguities that underscore the present-day ‘war on terror’, it is tempting to look back, almost nostalgically, at the Second World War as ‘the good war’. With the Allied Powers rallied against the fascist ideology of Nazi Germany, the war of 1939-45 can be looked upon as a clearly delineated moral struggle, with the free world’s ‘coalition of the willing; standing united against a true ‘axis of evil’.

Yet to say that the war did not ignite heated debates, both private and public, over such issues as political conviction, national duty and personal morality, is not only a gross simplification of a complex, sprawling conflict, but also diminishes the impact it had on untold millions of lives.

These same contentious issues lay at the heart of The Sacrifice, a new graphic novel by Melbourne author and illustrator, Bruce Mutard.

The first volume in a planned trilogy, The Sacrifice follows the difficult moral journey taken by its central character, Robert Wells, an emblematic member of Melbourne’s middle class, whose espousal of socialist ideology and pacifist beliefs, is gradually eroded by the worsening war in Europe and Asia.

The city of Melbourne itself is as much a part of the story as the characters which populate it streets. The Sacrifice is a compelling visual record of a town, then regarded as the puritanical, ‘wowser’ capital of Australia, as it’s transformed from a sleepy, complacent metropolis, to a vital epicentre of wartime administration, munitions’ production and military training. This transformation was partly attributable to the influx of thousands of American service personnel, whose comparative affluence, mannerisms and attitudes had a galvanising effect on the daily life of the city and its inhabitants.

Despite being miles away from the fighting, the war does not leave Robert and his circle of friends untouched. His fiancée, Elsa, a shopkeeper’s daughter and Communist Party member experiences true solidarity with “the working classes” on the factory floor; his friend, John, a doctor, takes to drink, overwhelmed by the battlefield casualties he treats daily; and his journalist mate, David, sick of reporting censored stories and regurgitating government propaganda, eventually chooses to join the army to fight a real war, rather than report a ‘phoney’ one.

Robert’s mother, like many women of her generation, bears the true, unspoken cost of war. Left widowed after her husband was killed in the last ‘war to end all wars’, her worst fears are realised when her eldest son, Artie, is killed in action during the Crete campaign. The ‘black dog’ of depression takes hold, leaving her a bed-ridden recluse, close to death herself.

In his own way, Robert is forced to follow in his brother’s footsteps, firstly by following the path laid out for Artie by their father and, ultimately, the destiny that Artie eventually chose for himself. When the rebellious Artie turned his back on a career with the family’s engineering business, Robert became his domineering uncle’s protégé, gaining a university degree and eventually making his way up the corporate ladder to become a junior executive in the firm. But Artie’s death forces Robert to question his pacifist beliefs, and reevaluate his own contribution to the war effort. In the end, Robert emulates his brother’s decision to enlist in the army where, to his surprise, he becomes an effective soldier with leadership potential, admired by his superior officer and comrades alike.

Even a cursory glance through its pages shows The Sacrifice to be a meticulously researched work. Yet, unlike so many ‘period dramas’ seen on film and television, the story does not creak beneath the weight of its historical trappings. The architectural character of wartime Melbourne is not laid out like a map, but glimpsed in passing from a bus window, beneath a shop awning, or its skyline seen from a distance. This is the Melbourne of my own parents’ childhood, growing up in the daily shadow of war; a Melbourne which, in some places, can still be glimpsed today.

Mutard’s story touches on some of the iconic literary and artistic works that were a product of this troubling, turbulent time in Australian history. Robert’s early hours’ stroll through the blacked-out streets of St. Kilda, as he threads his way between brawling soldiers, urinating drunks and blowsy prostitutes, recalls the disdain felt by the expressionist Australian painter, Albert Tucker, whose encounters with the thrill-seeking, raucous ‘victory girls’ of wartime Melbourne, inspired his disturbing Images of Modern Evil paintings. There is even a sly visual reference to John Brack’s iconic 1955 painting, Collins Street, 5p.m.

Robert’s sometimes fraught, argumentative relationship with his older brother, Artie, evokes the similarly complex bond between the bookish, intellectual David Meredith and his coarse, womanizing brother Jack, which formed the centrepiece of George Johnston’s semi-autobiographical novel, My Brother Jack.

Mutard’s graphic novel also gives lie to the modern-day misconception that pre-war Australia was an Anglo-Celtic monoculture. The relocation of refugees from war-torn Europe to far-flung Australia not only changed the ethnic composition of the nation, but also challenged the popular prejudices held towards migrants – both then and now.

These issues are seen through the plight of the Krautshammer family, displaced Austrian Catholics who play a significant part in Robert’s own life. Otto, the father, is an insufferably proud former finance minister who fought for Germany in the Great War, but his gruff, imperious manner and unapologetic anti-Semitism rankles with those who want to help him readjust to his new life in Australia. His bitterness is shared by his wife and daughter, Mata, who resent having to seek refugee status as Jews (despite their Jewish ancestry, the Krautshammers are baptised Catholics) and haughtily dismiss the other occupants of their refugee hostel as ‘Juden’.

But it is Robert’s awkward infatuation with their young daughter, Mata, which generates an unspoken sexual undercurrent throughout the book. When we first meet Mata, we see her as Robert does – a disarmingly pretty, wide-eyed innocent, who looks for all the world like Alice in Wonderland, in her smock dress and headband.

As the war takes hold of the city, Mata grows up all too quickly. She becomes an impressionable, reckless adolescent, intoxicated by the permissive air of wartime Melbourne. She spurns her mother’s strict rules and rejects her parents’ dreams of a classical singing career for their daughter, preferring instead the cheap glamour of show tunes and the extravagant promises of the American servicemen whose company she increasingly seeks.

Despite his love for Elsa, and plans for marrying her, Robert cannot shake the hold that Mata still exerts over him, even though she rejects him for siding with her mother. It is an obsession that almost proves fatal for Robert, when he attempts to stop an American sailor from raping her.

The Sacrifice had its beginnings as a short, self-contained comic strip, ‘Death and the Maiden’, about a soldier’s last night on leave before being shipped off to New Guinea, which Mutard created for Tango, the eclectic romance comic anthology edited by Bernard Caleo. Mutard initially decided to expand this comic strip vignette into a full-length prose novel, and these literary roots are clearly evident throughout The Sacrifice, especially in the numerous sequences where the story’s central characters are engaged in earnest political debate, gathered around a café table, or in each other’s living rooms. It is only in these passages where the story’s visual flow is occasionally slowed down by the characters’ verbose arguments.

But this is a minor cavil, especially when one considers how rarely such debates occur within the pages of most contemporary Australian comics. Mutard, to his credit, punctuates these wordy sequences with telling moments of complete stillness, forcing the reader to pull away from the characters, by placing them in isolation against their deceptively peaceful suburban environment.

Tempting as it might be for some critics to review this work in the same manner as a literary novel, the visual grammar of the ‘graphic’ novel requires us to look at The Sacrifice in slightly different ways, to apply (perhaps, more helpfully) the terminology used in film criticism to evaluate what is, overwhelmingly, a visual medium. For instance, where ‘traditional’ literary criticism might analyse an author’s use of language to depict their characters or convey their themes and ideas, any critique of a graphic novel must look at, not just written story (as set down by the author in captions and dialogue ‘balloons’), but also the storytelling technique – the integration (or juxtaposition) of words and images, the visual ‘pacing’ of the story and illustrative style of the artwork itself.

It is in this context that Mutard’s accomplishment as a graphic storyteller is evident on nearly every page of The Sacrifice. The drama of this tale is told quietly, through the physical expressiveness of its characters. Whether they’re gathered together in a room or simply walking through a park, Mutard’s characters are animated through their subtle gestures, awkward expressions or slack postures. Their faces are pinched or anxious; their clothes are shapeless and ill-fitting; their physical actions are graceless and untidy. They are, in short, all too real.

Some critics have mistakenly compared Mutard’s clean, uncluttered illustrations to the work of Herge, the Belgian creator of Tintin whose ‘clear line’ technique has had a profound influence on European comic art for decades. But whereas Herge’s work was characterised by a richly coloured and expressively ‘cartoony’ style, Mutard’s artwork is starkly naturalistic, awash with gray tones that perfectly complement the story’s sombre atmosphere.

The Sacrifice is by no means the first ‘graphic novel’ (itself a contentious term amongst some comics’ practitioners) to be published in Australia, but it is arguably the first one of recent vintage that is unafraid to tackle the complex political and social themes that have been the traditional preserve of mainstream novelists. One can only hope that, just as Art Spiegelman’s prize-winning graphic novel Maus forced readers and critics alike to reevaluate comics as a legitimate art form, Bruce Mutard’s The Sacrifice will have a similarly galvanising effect on Australian audiences as well.

The Sacrifice, by Bruce Mutard, is published by Allen & Unwin (ISBN: 9781741751178/$35.00rrp).

Not all ducks are created equal

2008-05-07T17:47:00.000-07:00

Walt Disney comic books were immensely popular with Australian readers for several decades, dating back to the first titles issued by John Sands Ltd. (Sydney), such as the Mickey Mouse Book, during the mid-1930s. However, most Australians grew up reading the Walt Disney comics published by W.G. Publications Pty Ltd during 1946-1978. While some of the early issues were printed in black & white, later Australian editions were printed (offshore) in full-colour, and were distributed throughout Australia, New Zealand and Southeast Asia.

Of particular interest to Australian comic collectors are those issues featuring reprints of Donald Duck stories written and drawn by the late Carl Barks (1901 – 2000), who, in the eyes of many fans and critics, kept the Disney comics franchise alive for years, due to his adventurous storylines, dynamic yet graceful artwork, and inventive characterisations. Barks also added new members of the ‘Duck’ family, including his uncle, Scrooge McDuck, Gyro Gearloose and the Beagle Boys, to name but a few.

However, a recent discussion amongst some fellow comics’ aficionados revealed that, in at least one instance, Australian readers were not enjoying original Carl Barks artwork – but a poorly redrawn local version!

The Carl Barks story, ‘Adventure Down Under’, shows Donald Duck being hypnotised into believing he’s a kangaroo, and mistakenly boarding an aeroplane bound for his ‘home’ in Australia, only to be eventually rescued by his intrepid nephews, Huey, Dewey and Louie.

‘Adventure Down Under’ was originally published in Dell’s Four Color No.159, dated August 1947. The cover of this issue is ‘Walt Disney’s Donald Duck in Ghost of the Grotto’. The story was first published in Australia by W.G. Publications Pty Ltd as Walt Disney’s Donald Duck in Adventure Down Under (Issue number ‘OS7’) [see image above], sometime in late 1948 – early 1949.

However, not only were two pages from the original Barks story cut from the Australian reprint, but it appears that the story itself was redrawn by an unidentified Australian artist [see panel at left].

Australian comic artist, and self-confessed Carl Barks devotee, Dillon Naylor, compared his copy of the 1940s Australian reprint, with a later, full-colour American reprint of ‘original’ American version [see panel below], and found some telling differences.

“I've fished out my [American reprint] copy and included an enlargement of two panels which show the differences - but you really need to see the originals up close to see it all properly. It's been light-boxed exactly, but Bark's line work is very precise and has a beautiful thick and thin quality to it. Check the shading on the kangaroo's tail where the lines all bleed together. The sloppiness is especially noticeable with the faces.”

“The lettering has all been redone as well. My theory is that they couldn't get hold of black & white film for this particular issue. Back then it was nearly impossible to make a clear, black & white film from a printed colour comic, so an answer might have been to hire some ‘stand-in’ to light-box [trace] it off the printed pages.”

While such practices weren’t uncommon amongst Australian comics publishers during the 1940s and 50s, most ‘retouching’ was restricted to partially redrawing covers, expanding panel sizes to accommodate the larger Australian printed format, or to excise references to American slang, and replace them with Australian expressions.

But this example raises the question about whether any further Carl Barks stories were comprehensively redrawn for the Australian editions – and, perhaps, throws into question some of the prices paid by Australian collectors who (quite rightly) thought they were purchasing unaltered, Australian reprints of Carl Barks-drawn Donald Duck stories. (However, some enterprising comic dealers might be tempted to promote these as ‘unique Australian variant issues’ to Carl Barks enthusiasts!)

The other intriguing aspect about this Australian reprint is the cover. The cover to Four Color No.159 depicts the lead story, ‘Ghost in the Grotto’. Decades later, the Gladstone edition of Walt Disney’s Donald Duck Adventures (No.11, February 1989) makes ‘Adventure Down Under’ the cover story [see image at left] – but the illustration is a modern-day version by Daan Jippes, and not Carl Barks.

To my knowledge (and I make no claim to being a Disney Comics expert!), the cover for the 1948-49 Australian reprint of 'Adventure Down Under' had not previously appeared in any American edition of the same story. So, was this an original Australian cover illustration?

Again, Dillon Naylor seems to think so: “The cover to the [Australian edition] was drawn by the interior artist, but not based on any inside panel I can see. I did also notice that the kangaroo is drawn more realistically, as though the artist had used a photo for reference. The Barks’ kangaroos [in the comic strip] are drawn with a round, black, Mickey Mouse-styled nose, while the kangaroo on the cover has more realistically drawn nose. So, I’m pretty certain this is a unique creation for this Australian edition.”

“I know of one other Carl Barks ‘Duck’ story that is redrawn in the same fashion, by what appears to be the same artist,” he adds. “Christmas Parade 6, published locally in 1958, features the Barks story, 'The Golden Christmas Tree', – so there may have been more of these ‘forged’ stories, but these are the only ones have in my collection.”

Perhaps more knowledgeable Disney Comics' collectors out there might care to enlighten us?

(Thanks to Dillon Naylor and David Studham for sharing their insights and information on this topic. )

Word Balloons - In print and online, finally!

2008-04-25T07:46:00.000-07:00

In case you haven't already heard, the seventh issue of Philip Bentley's excellent little comics fanzine, Word Balloons, has just been published. This latest issue features an interview with Nicki Greenberg (discussing her graphic novel adaptation of The Great Gatsby, amongst other things), the latest installment of 'My Life in Comics' (devoted to Phil's own recollections of his involvement with Australian comics during the 1980s), a selection of recent Australian comics' reviews and a local comic fandom directory.

A measly five bucks for this crisply produced black & white zine will tell you all you need to know about the current 'state of play' for Australian comics and graphic novels. Better comic shops should no doubt stock copies, but if you can't find it at a store nearest you, then email Philip Bentley for details on buying your copy, or write to him at: Second Shore, PO Box 286, Sandringham, Victoria 3191, Australia.

And, despite constant protestations that he would never do so, Philip has now launched his own blog, Fragments from a Second Shore, which will feature excerpts from previous issues of Word Balloons.

(Note: The image seen above is for the cover of Word Balloons #6 - I couldn't find a scan of the latest issue anywhere on the internet, wouldja' believe? And I had to pinch this one of Spiros Xenos' blog, Notes from the Junkyard!)

Review: The Crumpleton Experiments

2008-04-25T07:05:00.000-07:00

Note: The following review was originally published in the December 2005 edition of Collectormania magazine. I've reprinted it here, in a slightly amended and expanded form, to introduce readers to The Crumpleton Experiments, an Australian comic book published by Daniel Reed, and to coincide with the recent release of the series' eighth issue. My comments concerning this title, written at the time of its debut, hold true today as they did then, and equally apply to the latest installment of this charming series. If your local comic shop doesn't stock The Crumpleton Experiments, then you can email Daniel Reed to purchase your copy, or write to him at: 5 Dorrington Avenue, Reservoir, Victoria 3073 Australia.

The world of Victorian-era Britain, characterised by its technological advancement, radical politics and scientific discovery, continues to exert its hold over our popular imagination even now, at the dawn of the 21st century.

This is particularly evident in science-fiction literature, which has seen the birth of the so-called 'steampunk' genre, with such diverse authors as K.W. Jeter, Steven Baxter and Bruce Sterling reinterpreting the technological dimension of the Victorian age through contemporary eyes.

Comic books and graphic novels, for their part, have also revisited this historic period, as writers and artists look back to the past, recasting the heroic archetypes of imperial England with a distinctly modern twist. Two of the most notable examples have been created by the English writer, Alan Moore – The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen (illustrated by Kevin O’Neill) and From Hell, an epic graphic novel about Jack the Ripper (illustrated by Eddie Campbell), both of which have been adapted into films.

While you may never see its name splashed across the marquee of your local cinema, a new Australian comic explores similar historical terrain and does so in a thoroughly entertaining manner.

Written and illustrated by Melbourne cartoonist Daniel Reed, The Crumpleton Experiments is set in Victorian England and focuses on the sinister-sounding Psychological Institute of Research.

Timid and prim Gwendolyne (Wendy) Elizabeth Brown applies for a job as a maid at the Institute, which is run by the eccentric and enigmatic Professor Crumpleton.

It’s bad enough she has to work alongside the Professor’s violent and foul-tempered assistant, Mangus. But when she stumbles into the Professor’s secret basement workshop, Wendy’s life is changed irrevocably.

When professor Crumpleton finds his new employee lying unconscious on his laboratory floor, he discards any last remnants of medical ethics and decides to test-drive his Dream-O-Matic device on the unsuspecting Wendy.

This curiously-named device allows one or more people to enter a subject’s dreaming mind, in order to identify and treat any psychological disorders they may be suffering from.

Professor Crumpleton’s Dream-O-Matic works better than even he anticipated. It isn’t long before the Professor identifies a horrible, slug-like creature in Wendy’s mind as the physical manifestation of the low self-esteem that has seen her endure life as a downtrodden wallflower.

With the aid of a cricket bat-wielding Mangus, Professor Crumpleton attempts to beat Wendy’s low self-esteem into submission. However, the wretched creature escapes the laboratory, only to be run over by an omnibus.

Liberated from her oppressive sense of self-doubt, Wendy Brown indulges in an ‘extreme makeover’ of her own, discarding her frumpy maid’s clothes in favour of a revealing costume that turns her into a 19^th century Lara Croft!

After leading Crumpleton and Mangus on a merry chase through London, Wendy decides to accept the professor’s suggestion that she retains some self-doubt (by eating a portion of the creature not crushed by the omnibus!), as well as joining the Institute as Crumpleton’s assistant.

So began The Crumpleton Experiments! Issues 2-3 of the series saw this band of misfit adventurers try to help Father O’Reilly save a parishioner from himself in ‘Fiddling Around with Evil’. Issue 4-5 mark the beginning of a new storyline, ‘Sapienta Flos’, which entails a dangerous journey into the seemingly placid mind of Bradley Brinkman, filing clerk for the Office of Statistics.

In the space of just five issues, The Crumpleton Experiments has proven itself to be one of the most consistently intriguing and entertaining Australian comics being published today.

Daniel Reed’s crowded and inventive plots are perfectly complemented by his scratchy, intricate artwork. The recurring dream sequences, bizarre monsters and oddball eccentrics are rendered in a suitably grotesque style.

This comic cannot be neatly slotted into any mainstream genre. Combining elements of satire, science fiction and horror, The Crumpleton Experiments is one of the best titles appearing in the otherwise currently moribund Australian comics’ scene[*]. For these reasons alone, The Crumpleton Experiment was a worthy recipient of the Ledger Award for Best Independent Press Title for 2004.

[*] That's certainly how I felt about the frequency and quality of a good many Australian comics being released at the time this review was originally published, but anyone with more than a passing interest in Australian comics realises that this situation has changed dramatically, and for the better, during the last 18 months or so.

Comics of the Airwaves: The Twilight Ranger

2008-04-19T20:33:00.000-07:00

Amidst the constant noise of talkback chatter, opinionated ‘shock jocks’ and endlessly regurgitated music play lists, it must be difficult for anyone listening to commercial radio in Australia today to imagine a time when radio was a dramatic medium. Yet dramatic serials and plays were once broadcast around the clock on Australia’s commercial radio stations, as well as on the government-controlled Australian Broadcasting Commission. Reaching the broadest possible audiences, from the big cities to outback towns, Australian radio drama was the true ‘mass medium’ of its day, before gradually losing its army of listeners to television by the early 1960s.

Both Australia’s radio drama and comic book industries were similarly, and adversely, affected by the advent of television. Yet at their peak of popularity during the late 1940s and early 1950s, these two popular art forms sometimes enjoyed a symbiotic relationship, with the ‘stars’ of one medium occasionally finding new life in the other.

The Twilight Ranger was one such radio star who made his way to the pages of an Australian comic book. Michael Noonan (1921 – 2000) was already a well-regarded and popular radio dramatist when he was invited by Artransa Productions[i] to create a new dramatic serial to be broadcast through their parent company, the Macquarie Network. What they wanted, in particular, was a western.

Noonan, who had already worked with his uncle, William (Bill) Moloney, on the radio serial Justice Rides the Range (broadcast on 2UE in 1946), wasn’t too keen to write another ‘horse opera’. Perhaps somewhat impishly, Noonan suggested he could write a western with a hero who doesn’t use a gun. The Artransa executives initially rejected the concept out of hand, but eventually called Noonan back, asking him to write two sample quarter-hour episodes – to be paid for only if they accepted the finished scripts.

Given the apparent dramatic limitations of having a cowboy forsake the use of guns, no doubt Atransa Productions and, quite possibly, Noonan himself, were surprised to see The Twilight Ranger become a popular success. Starring Leonard Teale (1922 – 1994), who often wore high-heeled boots during recording sessions to “get into the part”,[ii] The Twilight Ranger debuted in 1948 and ran for 208 episodes.

Noonan’s decision to have his hero eschew firearms wasn’t just a dramatic contrivance, but was borne out of the author’s experiences as an army bomb disposal officer, serving in New Guinea during World War II.

Broadcast four times per week, The Twilight Ranger managed, as Noonan hoped he would, to air “his belief (and mine) that whenever guns are available, there is always the danger they will be used.”[iii]

Noonan was paid the then-top rate of £4.00 per episode, managing to negotiate a modest increase to £5.00 per episode, when he was commissioned to write the second lot of 108 episodes.

As was no doubt the custom back then, Noonan signed away all world broadcasting rights to The Twilight Ranger, and therefore never received any royalties from overseas sales. The sole exception to this rule was when Noonan received a “modest fee” for each episode that was translated into Afrikaans for the South African market, where The Twilight Ranger proved equally popular. (The serial was also apparently one of the most popular programmes aired on national radio in Canada at the time.)

“What I did not sign away,” Noonan later recalled, “were the publication rights, and some years later I wrote the scripts for a series of comic books, describing each frame and setting out any narrative or dialogue. I’d had some experience in this medium, thanks to cartoonist Dan Russell (1906 – 1999)… [who] paid me to do scripts for comic books about the outback cowboy with a travelling rodeo show, Tex Morton.”[iv]

Jack Atkins, the founder and publisher of Cleveland Press, acquired the comic book rights to The Twilight Ranger, keen to add comic books to his already successful line of crime, war and western ‘pulp fiction’ novelettes. Atkins commissioned Noonan to write the scripts, while hiring Keith Chatto (1924 – 1992) to illustrate the series. Chatto was no stranger to cowboy yarns, having created a popular western title, The Lone Wolf, for Atlas Publications in Melbourne during 1949-50. By 1955, however, he had already branched out into other areas of commercial art, including magazine illustration and record cover designs.

“In that same year,” Chatto later wrote, “I began working exclusively for Cleveland Publishing Company, at first illustrating and designing pocket book covers. At one period about this time, I was producing an average of six full colour covers each and every week for various publishers.”

“[Jack Atkins] commissioned me to illustrate a radio serial written by…Michael Noonan, called The Twilight Ranger. I had to adapt for the comic book Michael’s scripts and illustrate them.”

“I had become somewhat disillusioned about illustrating comics, particularly as the pocket books had become popular and my services as an illustrator were in demand at a lucrative fee. But the fee offered to illustrate [The Twilight Ranger] was too good to let pass.”

“I kept producing the covers whilst I worked on the comic. I must admit I was not altogether happy working on another man’s story, but the money was good and the publisher was prepared to put money into the publication to help make it a success.”[v]

The first issue of The Twilight Avenger appeared in October 1955 (The first two issues were unnumbered). In the comic book version, Jess Palmer was a seemingly timid milksop, forever getting under the feet of his uncle, Pa Palmer, owner of the Square Diamond Ranch, which borders the Carakaway Indian Reservation in southwestern Texas.

Unknown to his cantankerous uncle, Jess was made a blood brother of the Carakaway tribe, before he was sent away to England for ‘proper’ schooling. During a stormy midnight ceremony, the tribal chieftain, Long Twilight, gave Jess a thunder-hoof charm that would protect its wearer from harm. Accepting this token of brotherhood, Jess renounced the use of weapons, believing they only led to violence and bloodshed.

Jess Palmer disguised himself as The Twilight Ranger who, together with his young Indian companion, Red Moccasin, rode the Texan plains in defence of justice. Palmer’s double identity even extended to that of his horse; whenever he rode out of his cabin hideaway in the Carakaway forests as The Twilight Avenger, he did so astride his magnificent horse, Mahogany. When he returned from his mission, he would discard his black costume, and swap Mahogany for an old mare named Bluebell – a steed more befitting the frail bookworm he wants everyone to believe him to be.

Jess had to contend not only with the sneering contempt of Judy Keel, the fiery and voluptuous daughter of the ranch foreman, but also with the hostility of Sheriff Mullins, the sole lawman of the nearby township of Rawhide, who believes that The Twilight Ranger is an outlaw.

Despite Noonan’s occasionally redundant and wordy scripts, his stories lent themselves to Chatto’s delicate artwork. As he did on The Lone Wolf, Chatto dispensed with word balloons, preferring instead to relay all the dialogue and narrative text in caption boxes, which gave Chatto ample space to display his fine penmanship. Much of the action in The Twilight Avenger took place at night, creating an unusually dark, moody atmosphere, not often seen in most ‘cowboy’ comic books of the time.

The Twilight Ranger, however, was not the financial success that publisher Jack Atkins had hoped for. Despite boasting numerous reader competitions (with prizes including interstate flights on a T.A.A. Viscount airliner), and even being printed in full colour for its final issue, The Twilight Ranger ceased publication with its seventh issue. An eighth Twilight Ranger story was, apparently, later printed in Cleveland Press’ King Size Comic, which was published during 1956-59.

[i] Artransa (American Radio Transcription Service of Australia) Productions was established in 1938 by A.E. Bennett, Managing Director of Sydney radio station 2GB, to adapt American radio shows and scripts for the Australian market. Bennett hired Texan-born Grace Gibson (1905 -1988), of the Radio Transcription Company of America, to help establish Atransa Productions. Initially ‘on loan’ to 2GB for six months, she relocated permanently to Australia and eventually formed her own radio production & syndication company, Grace Gibson Productions, which still operates today.

[ii] Lane, Richard, The Golden Age of Australian Radio Drama 1923-1960 (Carlton, Melbourne University Press, 1994); pg338

[iii] Noonan, Michael, In with the Tide: Memoirs of a Storyteller (St Lucia, University of Queensland Press, 1995); pg.107

[iv] Ibid, pg.107

[v] Chatto, Keith, ‘Keith Chatto: The Creator of Flame and Ash Tells His Story’, Flame Magazine, Vol.2 No.5 (1972) pg.20

Classic Aussie Heroes on CD-ROM

2008-04-12T22:46:00.000-07:00

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)

Abstractions - Reg Pitt exhibition, May 2008

2008-04-08T05:15:00.000-07:00

Reg Pitt's name will be well-known to collectors of Australian comics, largely through his collaborations with his late brother, Stanley Pitt, on such comic books as Silver Starr, Yarmak - Jungle King Comic and Gully Foyle, their ill-fated newspaper comic strip adaptation of Alfred Bester's novel, The Stars My Destination.

While Reg principally worked with Stanley as a writer and layout artist, not many comic fans would know that Reg was a talented artist and graphic designer in his own right, having spent most of his working life in the advertising industry.

If you want to appreciate just how talented an artist Reg is, then here's your chance. From 3 May 2008, the St. George Regional Museum in Hurstville, New South Wales, will be hosting 'Abstractions', an exhibition of abstract, paper collage works by Reg Pitt.

As you can see from the exhibition invitation reproduced here, the colour and composition of these "complex paper collage artworks" is quite stunning. The subjects range from stylised landscapes to swirling geometric patterns which, frankly, wouldn't have looked out of place on a 1950s-era Thelonious Monk record sleeve.

The official opening for the exhibition takes place at 12.00pm, Saturday 3 May 2008, which will be attended by Reg Pitt himself, and the exhibition runs till 28 May 2008. So, if you find yourself in Hurstville, New South Wales during the month of May, then make a point of visiting the St. George Regional Museum and check out this unique exhibition.

UPDATE: The Abstractions exhibition will be opened at 1:00pm (AEST) on Saturday 3 May 2008. Same venue, same date - but the official opening will take place 1 hour later than originally scheduled.

First Australian Issue!

2008-04-05T16:21:00.000-07:00

These last few months have seen some quite remarkable selections of vintage Australian comic books being put up for auction on eBay Australia, ranging from classic Australian-drawn titles of the 1940s, to some good condition, Australian reprint editions of American 'Silver Age' comics from the postwar era.

Sadly, many of them sold for prices well beyond the reach of many collectors (myself included), but it's reassuring to see that more than a few individuals and comic book dealers are still unearthing some extremely rare Australian comics, samples of which no doubt many collectors and researchers thought were simply no longer in existence.

But then we see the occasional eBay auction, whose results, frankly, defy all logic. A case in point being the first issue of Flying Aces (pictured), which fetched an astonishing $107.50!

And my question is - why? As far as I can tell, this issue was an Australian reprint of the American comic of the same name, which was published in the USA by Key Comics, lasting for five issues between July 1955 - March 1956.

The "first Australian issue" (as it was accurately described by the vendor on eBay Australia) does differ from the first American edition (pictured at left), insofar as the bottom half of the cover artwork has been reversed and partially redrawn, while some cover text has been added to the Australian edition. In this sense, I guess, it's a true "cover variant", and probably has curiousity appeal, perhaps amongst those collectors who like these odd Australian editions of American comic books.

Without seeing the contents myself, I can only presume that the interior strips for Flying Aces No.1 were reprints from the original American title. So, while the vendor of this title was quite accurate in saying this was the "first Australian issue" of this title, I wonder if some people thought they were bidding on an Australian-drawn comic book - as opposed to an Australian reprint of an American title?

This is by no means a reflection on the seller of this comic, whom I have purchased comics from via eBay, and who has always provided me with exemplary service. And, as I say again, they were absolutely correct in describing in stating "This is first Australian issue!", because it was. And, who knows, perhaps the successful bidder knew exactly what they were buying, and were prepared to pay any price to acquire Flying Aces No.1?

I guess this is just a note of caution, particularly to collectors new to the world of Australian comics, to do your homework, and be sure that you can make the distinction between an Australian-drawn comic book, and an Australian reprint of an American comic book.
(Cover images courtesy of eBay Australia and the Grand Comics Database Project.)

Call him Sarge!

2008-04-05T15:50:00.000-07:00

For those of you who enjoyed my reprint series of The Panther comic book back in 2001-2002, I thought you might like an update on one of my former artistic "partners-in-crime" and their recent activities.

Shane Foley, as you may recall, was the second cover artist (after Greg Gates) whom I used on The Panther reprint series. Well, Shane's longtime - and online - collaborator was Randy Sargent - but, as he points out, he prefers it if his friends call him "Sarge"!

Hailing all the way from the USA, Sarge has been Shane's colourist of choice, not only working on some splendid Panther cover designs (sadly, only one of which saw print on issue No.5), but also helping to bring Shane's fantasy comic strip, The Saga of Shakah-Rune (pictured) to life for Krash magazine.

Well, Sarge has taken the plunge and got himself a website, where he can show off his splendid ink & colouring work on a wide variety of comics projects. Like Shane Foley, Sarge is a big fan of 1960s-era Marvel Comics heroism, and his fondness for Jack Kirby's work especially, shines through on this elegant little website.

So, do yourself a favour and check out Sarge's Coloring Book - and tell him that Big Kev sent ya'!

RIP Smoky Dawson

2008-02-13T22:21:00.000-08:00

Even if you're not a fan of country & western music, you cannot deny that Smoky Dawson, who died today (Thursday, 14 February 2008) at 94 years of age, made an indelible contribution, not only to Australia's country & western music industry, but to Australian popular entertainment.

Born Herbert Henry Dawson in Bendigo, Victoria, in 1913, 'Smoky' began his musical career in the mid-1930s, but rose to national prominence after World War II, both as a recording artist, and as the star of his own radio serial, The Adventures of Smoky Dawson, which was broadcast between 1952-62.

The crooning cowboy also became the star of his own newspaper comic strip, which was written an drawn by Albert De Vine for Sydney's Sun newspaper in the late 1950s. A spin-0ff comic book, The Adventures of Smoky Dawson, soon followed, which was published by Colour Comics Pty Ltd, and featured stories drawn by De Vine and the expatriate Italian artist, Andrea Bresciani.

You can download, as well as read, an interview with Smoky Dawson, recorded for Film Australia's Australian Biography series in 1994.

Chronicle Chamber - Phantom interview links

2008-01-11T01:57:00.000-08:00

Over the last 12 months or so, I've been delighted to have a number of articles relating to the Australian edition of The Phantom comic book hosted at ChronicleChamber.com, a local fan site devoted to the adventures of 'The Ghost Who Walks'.

The site's moderator, 'Dougy', has recently migrated the content of his expansive (but costly and labour-intensive) website over to Blogger.com, the online blog service where Comics Down Under also hangs its hat. As a result, my various articles on The Phantom have also made the jump to ChronicleChamber.com's new online home - which means their links have changed, too.

My interview with Jim Shepherd, Managing Director of Frew Publications, and publisher of The Phantom, can now be read here.

My interview with Antonio Lemos, the Uruguayan-born artist who succeeded the late Keith Chatto as cover artist on The Phantom, can be read here.

And, finally, my chat with Peter Chapman, who was a prominent Australian comics artist who worked for Frew Publications throughout the 1950s and 60s, can be read here.

On a related note, Bryan Shedden, who created and maintained the excellent Phantom fan site, The Deep Woods, announced in October 2007 that he would no longer be maintaining or updating the site. While ChronicleChamber.com will certainly fill the gap insofar as providing news updates on The Phantom 'franchise', The Deep Woods was (and remains) an impressive online resource, packed with information that will interest not only dedicated Phantom 'phans', but also anyone with a passing interest in the history of Australian comics publishing. If you haven't already done so, then I urge you to check it out for yourself. (Cover image courtesy of The Deep Woods website.)

Maurice Bramley & Horwitz Comics

2008-01-10T23:44:00.000-08:00

As regular readers of Comics Down Under will know, the name of Maurice Bramley is of special interest to discerning collectors of Australian comic books. This New Zealand-born illustrator came to comics quite late in his career, but proved a prolific and talented comic artist during the twilight years of Australian comics during the late 1950s and early-to-mid 1960s. His 'traditional' background as a commercial artist and magazine illustrator lent a distinctive 'look' to his comic artwork, which is being rediscovered by a new generation of Australian comics' enthusiasts.

One of the earliest articles written about Bramley's life & work was penned by local collector & comics' sleuth, Daniel McKeown, who contributed an article titled 'Bramley Covers' to the now-defunct ComicsAustralia.com website earlier this decade.

Now, Daniel informs me that this long-lost article can be retrieved via the Internet Archive Wayback Machine. I checked out the link myself, and the first 3 pages of the article (but not all of the accompanying images) can be downloaded - however, the 4th page wasn't available when I tried to download it myself.

Nonetheless, any fans of Maurice Bramley's work should view & download this invaluable article quick smart - just in case it vanishes from the internet again!

Postscript: In case you've overlooked the comments posted for this entry, 'drjon' has kindly pointed out that the complete version of Daniel McKeown's article on Maurice Bramley has been archived at the National Library of Australia's Pandora web archive project. You can view it here.

Take Time - The 'Lost' Heroes & Villains interview!

2008-01-05T19:39:00.000-08:00

Hello everyone, and welcome back to Comics Down Under for 2008. If you've managed to survive the 'festive frenzy' of December without (a) yelling at any member of your extended family, (b) amassing a credit card debit equivalent to the GDP of a Caribbean nation, or (c) visiting the casualty ward of your local hospital, then I'd say you're out in front! In the lead-up to Christmas, I had a pleasant encounter at my retail 'day job', where I served a gentleman by the name of Tony Ryan. While my shop floor brain was, by this point, reaching total frazzlement, Tony's memory was, thankfully, a great deal sharper than mine! As soon as he introduced himself, I remembered that Tony interviewed me for his Take Time radio show, while I was working as the Guest Curator on the Heroes and Villains comic exhibition at the State Library of Victoria (SLV). Tony informed me that the interview, which we conducted on-site at the Keith Murdoch Gallery in the SLV, had since aired on PBA FM in South Australia, and was now available online. For those of you who couldn't visit the Heroes & Villains exhibition in Melbourne, I hope this 20-minute interview (yes, I can talk underwater with pebbles in my mouth!) will give you some insight into the exhibition. Tony took me on a tour of individual sections of the exhibition, wherein we discuss such characters as Ginger Meggs, Kazanda the Jungle Girl and Tim O'Hara (pictured). The interview, which was originally broadcast on 12 February 2007, can be downloaded here. (Just scroll down the page till you reach the heading 'Week beginning Monday 12 February'.)