2014 in Review: Andrew Fulton

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

I think every year I'm going to say a highlight is putting together the next run of the Minicomic of the Month Club. It's always fun organizing the lineup, sending out awkward emails to people whose work I like, hoping they won't think it's too dumb. And then I yell about it on social media for a week or two, which is also a bunch of fun and hopefully not too grating for everyone else. 

My own output has been a little slow this year, started a new job and have had less time and energy to draw than I would like. I won a "gap-year" Ledger Award, that was fun and nice and I'm pretty sure that was in 2014?

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

I've been enjoying Ryan Cecil Smiths work - he does this fun goofy sci-fi series with some great cartooning and the minis and zines he makes are really well put together, mostly (all?) riso books.

I really liked the Frontier series from Youth in Decline - especially I think Sascha Hommer's one. I had seen his Insekt story online a million years ago and had a panel from it printed out and stuck on the wall long after I forgot all about what it was and who did it, so it was great to 'rediscover' him. 

Gregory Benton's B+F was another favourite. A great example of the Wordless Adventures In A Strange Landscape With Weird Monsters genre, and a nice big-format book too - it looked great.

And I got this Cowboy Henk book, too. That'll be on my shelf forever.

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

We got chickens!

What are you looking forward to in 2015?

Is there a way I can say 'nothing in particular' without sounding super sad? I'm sure there will be a lot of great stuff but I don't have a really good sense of what any of it will be yet.

Andrew Fulton's Mumblier

2014 in Review: Sam Orchard

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

This year I printed the first three issues of Family Portraits! A comics series that celebrates gender and sexuality in New Zealand. I ran a Kickstarter and got enough money to print them and travel to America to do a comic tour.

It was really amazing to meet lots of incredible LGBTQI comic creators, and to show off my stuff over there. I feel really lucky and grateful to the amazing people who supported me in the kickstarter, that was definitely a highlight for me.

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

I really enjoyed We Can Fix it by Jess Fink and Tomboy by Liz Prince, the new Bold Riley issues by Leia Weathington are also incredible, and I have recently discovered Blue Deliquanti’s O Human Star webcomic as well.

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

There’s been some really amazing TV coming out in the last year - I’m currently watching Nowhere Boys, an Australian Sci-fi, and I loved making my way through the first two seasons of Orphan Black.

What are you looking forward to in 2015?

Continuing to work on the next issue of Family Portraits, and maybe, just maaaaaybe a trip back to the USA :)

Rooster Tails

2014 in Review: Christopher Downes

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

One of the biggest highlights for me was getting nominated for Best Editorial Cartoonist at this year’s Stanley Awards. I’m still reeling for the thrill of hearing my name called out among my cartooning idols!

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

Pat Grant’s Toormina Video was one of the best things I’ve read this year. I also discovered Richard Thompson’s Cul de Sac and fell deeply in love with it. I couldn’t sleep at all that night! It opened something up in me and the next day I drew one of my favourite cartoons I’ve ever drawn for the Mercury. Ever since then, I’ve been trying to chase that elusive spark of inspiration.

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

My family. My wife is such an amazing support and my 3 year old daughter is great at getting me to sit down with her to fill up her sketchbooks. Watching her artistic skill develop is such a wonder to behold! She draws Jack Skellington over and over! I also really loved the LEGO movie.

What are you looking forward to in 2015?

A lot! There’s so much potential for this next year. 2014 turned out to be so much better, bigger and more satisfying that I could have imagined! I’m making a new year’s resolution this year to avoid doing parodies in my cartoons. I don’t think there’s anything wrong with parodies. Some cartoonists do them really well. I just want to take the opportunity to work on my own personal voice without trying to emulate another person’s style. Plus, most of the time I get hung up on trying to make a parody joke “work”. That usually takes up most of the day and in the end, many people don’t get the reference anyways.

The Cartoons of Christopher Downes

2014 in Review: Damon Keen

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

Getting Ant Sang's The Dharma Punks in print again has to top my list.

It's one of my favourite comics anyway, so playing a role in getting it on the shelves was really exciting - even if the Kickstarter itself was a bit nerve-wracking!

Of course, as part of this process, Kelly, Adrian and I set up Earth's End (Ant was also really involved in this) which will be publishing a NZ graphic novel every year. It's a challenge - but a really interesting one.

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

Jeez, this has just been such a great year for comics! Internationally I LOVED Through the Woods by Emily Carroll and Beautiful Darkness by Vehlmann and Kerascoet. On a scifi note, Greg Rucka's Lazarus and Peeters' Aama seriously kicked ass.

Back home, Tim and Karl's Holocaust Rex was a highlight for me and I'm loving Sarah Laing's work at the moment. She just makes me cackle like an idiot!

Other peeps that fired my engines in 2014 include Tim Gibson, Mary Tambyn and Alex McCrone, Sam Orchid, Toby Morris and Ralphi. BAM! So much talent!

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

Landing a spaceship on a freaking comet blew my tiny mind.

And I helped set up a climate change comedy night - which in this current political climate perked me up no end.

What are you looking forward to in 2015?

I've just put the finishing touches on a special hardcover edition of Faction, focusing on climate change. It's going to be a beautiful issue - the artists have really delivered. That should be out in early 2015, plus we'll start work on a new book out of Earth's End.

I've also just started drawing my longest comic yet (a humble 30 or so pages). Terrifying. But I can do this thing.

And finally, a new Chromacon!! Yay Allan!

So yeah, I think it's going to be a busy ol' year...

3 Bad Monkeys

Faction Comics

2014 in Review: Tony Renouf

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

....Hitting my straps (again)...two fresh cartoons a week (up to 4 A4 "pages" long some of 'em)...writing so much I can't stay on top of what I want to draw...(fuck this day job!)...revelling in the freedom that publishing on line offers...it's changing the way I write/design pages/think about my finished art....very liberating...and all coloured in with colouring in pencils!!!

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

...Mainly stuff I run across in my blog platform provider...Sarah Laing...Hat&Fat...Over the hedge...so many lovely little random illustrations and sequential odds & ends...and a couple of collections hat Spencer loaned me...esp' the complete Don Martin...he is a god....apologies to the larger cartooning/comics community....I spend all my money on records/food & lamp oil for my drawing board....

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

...Finally fronting up the bucks for a leather bound complete HP Lovecraft....and discovering the warpo toys Lovecraft figures on Kickstarter....mmm...tentacly...

...(and owning a record shop as my "real" job for a fifth glorious year of near poverty!)....

What are you looking forward to in 2015?

...celebrating 30 years as an underground cartoonist/publisher (off & on...er...more on than off)....shit, has it been that long?....(yes, Tony....yes it has)....finally penetrating the awful mess that is my sketch book far enough to unlock the "return to the planet of the chicken-things" sequence...(45 fucking pages away at last calculation...who's dumb ass rule was it that they had to draw everything the wrote?!??)...

Bored in a Record Shop