2014 in Review: Sharon Murdoch

What have been your personal cartooning/comics highlights of 2014?

Drawing more, using a sketchbook every day and not getting too caught up in how it looks - in the past I think I got too precious about my sketchbooks which is why I have several that stop a few pages in. 

Now I have found the perfect sketchbook - from Japan City in Cuba St, $4 each, soft card cover, stitched spine and beautiful slightly off white paper. They even have rounded corners. Because they are cheap and soft covered and light I can shove them down the side of my bag, roll them up, whatever, write my grocery list inside, rip out what really appals me, stick stuff in, scratch things out. I'm onto my fourth one. There's nothing fabulous in them, but every few pages will have something that's OK. 

I am more often working pretty close to early sketches for some of my political cartoons. They are more energetic. I've also been photographing drawings from my sketchbooks and then drawing over them on my phone, which has a stylus. The drawings look like they have been done on brown paper and had bits twinked in. 

Workwise, I started the year doing one political cartoon a week, and I now have three spots a week - the latest is with the Sunday Star Times which is a national Sunday paper. I view the political cartoons a bit like the political poster. I used to work with a activist design group called the Wellington Media Collective, and doing political cartoons has given me a road back to that work. I can choose what I want to cartoon about, and comment on what is important to me.  

I am also taking part in the Three Words anthology. Got my three words. That is a challenge for me because I am used to working on a single frame in political cartoons, even though I quite often draw up several frames contained within that. But setting out to tell a story is very different.

What are some of the comics/cartoons you've enjoyed in 2014?

This year I really enjoyed Lisa Hanawalt's My Dirty Dumb Eyes. But I have also been looking at a lot of older work - some of it really old - J. J. Grandville's work from around 1842. Posada, Edward Lear (who I love more and more), George Grosz, Ben Shahn, George Booth, and B Kliban.

What is something non-comics/cartoons that you have enjoyed in 2014?  

Walking. Not in the bush, just around town, getting to places in the city. The things you see, the things you hear. Tea and toast at the Preservatorium on Wednesday mornings. Walking to school with my daughter who is 13, and realising how short this time with her is. The movie of the graphic novel Adele Blanc Sec, and the NZ movie The Deadly Ponies Gang. Listening to some old Robert Wyatt, and Radiohead. Also the doco The Kingdom of Dreams and Madness about animator Hayao Miyazaki, and seeing his new movie The Wind Rises.

What are you looking forward to in 2015?

Seeing if I can actually make a decent job of that Three Words cartoon. Going to work each day. Work finishing on the buidling site opposite our place so I can wake up to hear birds and people walking past rather than a concrete truck and nail guns, and the site manager who yells, "another day in paradise!" at 6.30 evey morning. I won't even start on world peace and halting climate change ...

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2014 in Review: Jerome Bihan

What have been your personal cartooning/comics highlights of 2014?

Surely the best thing about 2014 is to have finished a collection of a monthly mini comic, that is a achievement for us for sure, we've manage to pull this off, and to be honest it was a challenge. we also got a residency until summer 2015, so we have a free studio until then!  we have more surprises in stock for 2015:  more books in English, another collection we will be launching for the Angouleme comic festival and more....tbc.

What are some of the comics you've enjoyed in 2014?

It is hard to follow the production, there is so much of it in France alone, but I tend to follow little publishers or fanzine and mini comic makers more than the big publishing houses. So this year I have been getting mini comics from Australia (minicomic of the month club) and Leipzig, Germany (Tiny masters), or Spaceface Books (U.S)

Books I enjoyed this year are:

'Pompeii' by Frank Santoro

'The End of the Fucking World' by Charles Forsman

'Ils ont de nouveaux pouvoir' by Ronald Grandpey

'Frances' by Joanna Hellgren

'Tournevis' by Olive Boogers

What is something non-comics that you have enjoyed in 2014? 

Well, it kinda is but anyway, I've given my job up. I am now only getting up for comics (and a couple of other things)

What are you looking forward to in 2015?

I have a few objectives to meet, finishing a book I started almost two years ago, keeping on doing my mini comic super8 ( I  am working on the second issue) and on the publishing side we have more projects in stock and we will like to keep on publishing other people's work too. So go 2015!!!!

Radio As Paper

2014 in Review: Matt Kyme

What have been your personal cartooning/comics highlights of 2014?

My highlights are mostly connected to IF? COMMIX, the humble indie publishing company Andrez Bergan and I founded in the end of 2013.

Seeing the first two issues of That Bulletproof Kid finally hit the stands was my biggest personal highlight closely followed by the staggering amount of people that came to the launch for That All Star Bulletproof Kid. I never in my wildest dreams imagined that people would line up for over 30 minutes outside Classic Comics to buy something I had produced. I’m still in disbelief that so many writers and artists I cannot thank Jason Franks, Fred Russell-Atkins, Andrez Bergen, Cameron Laird, Matt Nicholls, Franco Polizzi, Lego Legion, Arthur Strickland, Thomas Tung, Matt Emery, Joe Roberts, Daniel Watts, Sebastian Ciaffaglione, Harrison Chua, Chris McQuinlan, Michael Bradshaw, Adam Rose, Matt McGrillen, Brad Castles, Asela DeSilva and Erik McAlister contributed their amazing talents to that project. The first print sold out in four days, so yeah… that was pretty good.

That launch was particularly memorable because it was the first ‘IF COMMIX launch’ in which Andrez and I released Bullet Gal, Carmen (by Mike Speakman), Tobacco Stained Mountain Goat, Tales to Admonish #3 and of course, That All Star Bulletproof Kid. It was great to have Andrez in Australia at that time so we could launch our wares together (and actually meet for the first time).

What are some of the comics you've enjoyed in 2014?

This was the year I fell way way behind with reading comics. Writing, illustrating, producing and publishing comics and graphic novels through IF? Commix (while working full time and having two young children) is seriously time consuming. I’ve only managed to keep up to date with The Walking Dead and Invincible but that’s about it. I’ve managed to read a few local indie comics here and there but have lots to catch up on.

One that really stood out to me was Frank Candiloro’s ‘Onna-bugeisha’. I think that and his earlier work ‘Behind The Crooked Cross’ are just exceptional. I have to catch up on his newer works. He’s so prolific it’s hard to keep up with him.

It’s been encouraging to see such quality comics coming from indie publishers. Considering  that the local comics are largely made by amateurs (and that is in no way an insult) with limited time and resources, it’s encouraging to see the quality of writing, art and production is ever improving. The local comic veterans who helped pave the way for the new breed are getting better and better, constantly evolving and maturing in storytelling and presentation. New faces and comics are popping up all the time and in many cases, the quality is surprisingly high, demonstrating a real understanding and love of the medium. I think there is a lot of accumulated skill and knowledge out there in the comic community. I hope these sparks can ignite some interesting projects in the future. There are some people out there who work tirelessly promoting and helping other creators.

What is something non-comics that you have enjoyed in 2014?  

Easy. Family rules supreme. My wife and kids rock.

What are you looking forward to in 2015?

I know there are a bunch of interesting projects on the horizon from some crazy talented people such as Victor Dean Hampstead, Luke Salmon and my partner in crime Andrez Bergen. I’m always interested in what my bud Matt Nicholls in working on. I hope some of the local companies and creators who’ve been successful the last few years are able to continue crowing their brands and I hope some of the lesser known projects can get the recognition they deserve.

Personally I’m looking forward to seeing how long IF? Commix will putt along before the wheels fall off. 2015 will see more issues of That Bulletproof Kid and Bullet Gal hit the stand. I can’t wait to get the collected Bullet Gal which Andrez is putting together with Under Belly Comics in Canada. There are some new Tales To Admonish on their way. So yeah, that stuff.

If? Commix

2014 in Review: Frank Candiloro

What have been your personal cartooning/comics highlights of 2014?

Without a doubt, it was exhibiting at the Small Press Expo in Bethesda, Maryland along with a bunch of great Aussie creators.  It was something that I always wanted to do, and I was kind of nervous about it; I was used to making comics for a Melbourne audience, and so I wasn't really sure if anyone in the States would really care about my measly little books. It turned out great though, my books were received really well, made a shit-ton of sales, got to meet some of my favourite comic creators and trade books with them and of course spent quality time with my Aussie friends (including that Emery guy, whatever his deal is). It made me realise that my comics aren't defined by how the Melbourne comic scene receives them and instead are able to be defined by their own merits. It was the best convention I've ever done, and I wouldn't trade that in for anything.

The other highlight was finally making a 100 page book, Onna-bugeisha, which, despite taking all of my time and energy to make, turned out really great, and was my best selling comic! And I managed to make 3 other books too, I guess that counts for something. 

What are some of the comics you've enjoyed in 2014?

I've been enjoying a lot of the books that I've bought from SPX as well as from other independent creators, a few that come to mind are Fight Frogs by Jimmy Giegerich, Wuvable Oaf by Ed Luce, Multiple Warheads by Brandon Graham, Through The Woods by Emily Carroll, Seconds by Bryan Lee O Malley and Very Casual by Michael DeForge. Also been enjoying the recent comics Marvel has been putting out such as Ms Marvel, She-Hulk, Ghost Rider and Young Avengers, as well as Teen Dog and Lumberjanes by Boom. 

What is something non-comics that you have enjoyed in 2014? 

Deep Dish Pizza. Or at least I would have liked to enjoy it, but I never got a chance to have it because I didn't add Chicago to the list of cities on my USA trip! Ah well, maybe next year. 

What are you looking forward to in 2015?

Things are going to be changing for 2015, I'm hitting the big 3-0 in that year and making a few changes to my career and lifestyle. I'll still be doing comics but I'm going to experiment a bit. I'm probably going to do much smaller comics (around 8 to 10 pages) after being inspired with the mini comics Alisha Jade has been doing as well as myself making one this year (Mary) as they're probably going to be a bit easier to manage than doing 40-50 page comics. I'm also probably going to do less "homages" (as I've kind of exhausted every film/comic genre in the 4 years I've been doing this!). What I'm going to do instead of homages is kind of up in the air at the moment, but I'll figure it out as I keep making comics. 

The Works of Frank Candiloro

2014 in Review: Dylan Horrocks

 

What have been your personal cartooning/comics highlights of 2014?

Finishing Sam Zabel and the Magic Pen! It's hard to express how satisfying that is. And having two new books come out (The Magic Pen and Incomplete Works). It feels like the end of a drought, even though I've been working hard and drawing comics the whole time - it's just so nice to have them out there in print.

What are some of the comics you've enjoyed in 2014?

Ant Sang's Dharma Punks, Sam Orchard's Family Portraits, Mary Tamblyn & Alex McCrone's Nothing Fits, Squires' Moonbeard, volume 1, Barry Linton's Lucky Aki, Brent Willis' Thrust Justice!

Also, a few things I caught up with belatedly this year: Gareth Brookes' The Black Project (one of my favourite reads this year), Junjo Ito's Uzumaki, Suehiro Maruo's The Strange Tale of Panorama Island. I feel very behind with my comics reading, so there's a huge pile of books I want to read this summer (Beautiful Darkness, Megahex, Here, etc).

I've enjoyed reading a bunch of stuff online, too, including Steve Rogers, American Captain and everything the Three Words project has been posting. Good times!

What is something non-comics that you have enjoyed in 2014

The release of Dungeons & Dragons, 5th edition. My favourite edition in a loooong time. Makes me feel like a total gamer geek.

 

What are you looking forward to in 2015?

Playing D&D. Drawing some new comics. Traveling: seeing old friends and making new ones.