This is happening right now. You are probably already there or not going at all. Delightful poster by Gary Venn.
Silent Army Comic Launch Tonight: Radio As Paper
Tonight at SILENT ARMY STOREROOM: "8x3 Anthology by 8 authors. James Turek (usa) Timothy Kidd (nz) Fanny Grosshans (fr) Michael Fikaris (aus) Chris Gooch (aus) Lea Heinrich (ger) Stc019 (fr) Jerome Bihan (fr) The book is the sum of eight three hour stories existing as fragments of a fictional day. Also on the night will be 3 titles from the Radio as Paper catalogue of mini comics - 'cat buddy in crisis' by Anna Haifisch, 'candies' by Gwendoline Blosse and 'ricky & lyle' by Ralphi. Special books with special prices on launch night and signings!"
Kim Casali (9 September 1941 – 15 June 1997)
The introduction and article below were featured in the Cartoonist Profiles magazine #51, published September 1981. The introduction is uncredited although I assume is the work of Cartoonist Profile Editor Jud Hurd, The article is written by Kim Casali herself. KIm is one of the most successful cartoonists ( Or doodler as she refers to herself) to come out of New Zealand with her Love Is... cartoons still in syndication through Tribune Media Services. After her passing in 1997 the modern iteration of Love Is...' is drawn by Kim's longtime collaborator Bill Asprey with input from Kim's son Stephano.
Introduction
During the past ten years the 'love is . . .' panel, by Kim Casali, has become one of syndication's biggest success stories. Many newspapers which carry the feature conduct annual contests which invite readers to submit their own `love is . . .' captions. The best ones are then sent to Kim Casali who uses them in her panel, giving credit to the contributors. As an example of the reader reaction, the Managing Editor of the Honolulu Star-Bulletin reports that the most recent contest pulled 8,745 responses. To quote him: "Nothing we've ever done before to draw readers has resulted in this many letters."
As far as marketing goes, the 'love is . . .' messages are on watches and clocks, jewelry, T-shirts, ladies' under-wear and sleepwear, lamps, cards, note-paper, posters, party supplies and other notions these days. And seven book collections have been published.
First a few facts about Kim Casali, and then a number of her own reactions which she wrote CARTOONIST PROFILES after we contacted her at her home in London, England.
Back in 1967, New Zealander Kim Grove met Italian computer manufacturer Roberto Casali at a California ski club. She was a beginning skier and did a series of humorous drawings showing her progress on the slopes. She showed them to Casali who encouraged her to keep drawing, so she began sketching little incidents in their dating life, and adding her thoughts such as, "You're the handsomest Italian I've ever met." The cartoons and love notes helped fuel a romance that culminated in marriage in 1971 and a son was born the following year.
One day she discovered that her husband had been showing her 'love is . . .' cartoons to some of his friends. Shy by nature, she wasn't sure she wanted her private feelings made public, and she "didn't want to appear too mushy." However, friends were unanimous in their liking of her cartoons, and told Kim that her feelings were universal, and that she was saying things virtually everybody wanted to say. Syndication came next. The couple had another child and then tragedy struck. Roberto was stricken with an incurable cancer. He died, but not before the couple agreed to preserve some of his sperm cells in a sperm bank. So 17 months after his death, at 31, Kim gave birth to Roberto's child, conceived through artificial insemination. Today Kim lives in London with her three children.
The 'love is . . .' feature is distributed by the Los Angeles Times Syndicate. And now some comments, in Kim Casali's own words, about herself and about her work.
Love Is... By Kim Casali
I'll have to tell you a bit about me to explain the way I work. I'm a romantic and a dreamer, live for my daydreams and then go about trying to achieve what I dream about. I'm a woman first, a mother second and a cartoonist (terribly amateurish one at that) third. When I was a child I asked of my mother "Why are all the songs about love?" "Because love makes the world go round," was the reply. That confused me a little because I thought Charles Atlas was keeping the globe spinning but whether it was because I was brainwashed by all the lovely music or because it was just my nature, I became very romantic. I was either in love with a boy (or man) or in love with the idea of being in love, but I found always it was necessary to be in love. If I'd had a choice I would have become a writer of romantic songs. Songs about love affected me deeply, I'd get a chill down my spine or feel ecstatic or cry (if it was a sad one) but I'd feel deeply. I didn't become a songwriter so I had to express myself in another way once the real thing happened to me. I drew, not very well, but I drew a round blob of a girl who was supposed to be me, the one who was feeling all these fantastic things. Then I added a blob of a boy who was the reason I was feeling these things.
At first many of my captions came direct from me or my boyfriend who became my husband. To expand I'd sit and daydream about how others might feel. When I really got started I would sit at the dining room table listening to romantic music. There are some beautiful all-time romantic songs which gave me food for thought but I'd get carried away listening to songs by Tom Jones or Shirley Bassey -- two people who sing from the soul. The music would put me in a romantic frame of mind and I'd jot down all the ideas which would pour on me. Of late I have been getting myself into a thoroughly romantic frame of mind by playing my Neil Diamond cassettes over and over. I've got nearly every song Neil recorded and I sit back and drift off into a lovely romantic dream. At this particular time the fact that I am in love (but I'm not telling any details!) is doing wonders for my feature. Since I am now a mature woman in love with life as well as love, the kind of captions I'm coming up with now are often different from the early ones. I have a keen sense of humour and since my ideas are not always angelic I have done some recent cartoons which are a little more sophisticated and have a double entendre. However, I mostly keep to the kind of captions which are enjoyed by the majority of readers and their contributions give me wider scope for material. That the captions must be concise is somewhat frustrating because there is a whole world of ideas I would love to use. As well as all this I keep my eyes and ears always open and a pen and notepad handy.
The thing that is unique about me is that I'm a fraud. I'm not a cartoonist —I'm a doodler! I'm no artist and have had no education in art but I am a person who feels very deeply, who is capable of great love and can express myself fairly well in writing. At the time I started my cartoons I had also just fallen in love and my emotions were very keen and I was totally carried away with my own exciting thoughts. Mix all those ingredients together and you get LOVE IS . . . and me — but a fraud as far as cartoonists go. I've received some fantastic letters. Some are so beautiful I am moved to tears. People write and tell me about the love they have for each other and I am so delighted to hear of such devotion. Then of course there are the amusing letters. One couple who were devoted and quite serious when they wrote in suggesting that LOVE IS . . . having matching tooth mugs. There are marriage counselors who use my cartoons in their work. I've had letters from one or two prison inmates and one of them was such an admirer he wanted me to be his pen-friend. There was one woman who wrote that her six year old niece stripped her clothes off when she saw my cartoon and so I wrote back suggesting she keep the news sections of the newspaper away from the girl in case she should pick up a gun and kill someone. I get many letters from lovers who want me to print things like LOVE IS . . JOHN and MARY which I have to refuse for obvious reasons. One amusing but sad letter from a woman told me LOVE IS . . . a lot of give and take — give a lot of love and take a lot of hell. Many people who have suffered a love disappointment want me to help them patch things up. My mail is always interesting and I love reading it.
As a fraud cartoonist I cannot offer any advice to budding artists but as a very determined person who had worked hard for everything I have I can only suggest that young people should find the work that makes them happy and pursue it wholeheartedly until they achieve satisfaction. The key in this business of course is to find something new and different. Look at me — it was so simple I'm amazed no one thought of it before me.
I sometimes slip in a cartoon that I feel is particularly profound and that makes a suggestion which would enhance any relationship were it followed. I also slip in the occasional cartoons that involve a donation to charity hoping it might make readers think and act.
Here are two of my favourite cartoons: LOVE IS . . . doing unto others as you would have them do unto you (whoops — I stole that), LOVE IS . . . never asking for more than you are prepared to give. And here is a quote by me that describes my philosophy: if you've got love you've got life, if you can love you can live. I'm in love, I'm alive and I'm happy.
Introduction © 2015 estate of Jud Hurd. Love Is... By Kim Casali © 2015 estate of Kim Casali.
Jean Angus
When early New Zealand cartoonist Rita Angus grew frustrated with her career in commercial illustration her sister Jean Angus assumed her role at the Press Junior magazine in 1937 providing illustrations and cartoons, of which she remarked, "I didn't take long to do the Press Junior drawings. I did them at home. I remember once at least going to a 'bob hop' dance at the students union and doing a drawing when I got home." Jean Angus later worked on the New Zealand School Journal from 1951 into the 1960's. Illustrations below from Primary School Bulletin: Behind The Microphone, published circa 1950's.
Source: The Arts & Crafts Movement in New Zealand, 1870-1940: Women Make Their Mark By Ann Calhoun
Tony Renouf Interview Part Two
Tony Renouf: "The launch drunkenness for issue 4. Back row l-r...dunno, The Steamer, Anthony Behrens, Ross Campbell, Donald Ferns, Ken Gorrie, sprog of Gorrie, Morris Brown. Middle l-r...dunno (but he was mates with Paul Potiki and did lotsa Dr. Who fan club stuff) Tracy Osbourne, Glen Ross, Jane Gorrie, Front l-r...the guy who used real blood to illustrate his cartoon about using real blood to finish an exam when you run out ink...he committed suicide 3-4 months later, Paul Potiki."
Way back in last month I posted the first part of a three parter interview with Dunedin Cartoonist Tony Renouf, here's part two with the concluding part making an appearance this week.
Tony has recently started a tumblr: boredtootone2.tumblr.com
Read Tony Renouf Interview Part One
Matt Emery: One of my formative comics experiences was picking up Treacle #1 in the early 90's, I think from a comic shop in Auckland, I found other New Zealand anthologies, Razor, Scratch, and the last issue of Jesus on a Stick around the same time. Can you talk a bit about the genesis of Treacle? I'm guessing you were taking your cues from those earlier anthologies?
Tony Renouf: Formative?...I think you can get an ointment for that....hmmm...Treacle was definitely inspired by my experiences of being part of the Jesus on a Stick/Razor things and Dunedin's own Larrikin. I was starting to meet more and more folk who were interested in cartooning and we all needed a venue for our work. I think by that stage I was already organising a whole page in the Critic (OUSA newspaper) with three (or was it four?...Four I think 'cos we got $5 each per strip...it was the $25 per week photo development money from the Critic budget!) other 'toonists so was looking to the anthology thing so we could include more folk. Once I'd got the ball rolling I started annoying everyone I knew who could hold a pencil to "Fill the space". I'd already published my own minis and worked in the printing industry for some time (both pre & post press) because I wanted the basic skills to produce a publication by hook or by crook .
When I started putting together Treacle I could not only format my pages with trim marks etc all mounted ready for plate making but I knew how much beer for how many copies...er...and could bind & trim them on commercial machinery without losing a limb...voila... Treacle...boxes & boxes of printed matter that no-one was really that interested in buying.
I guess I fell over on the distribution side of things writing letters, receiving answers then sending stuff out....all pre-intraweb ...and the local market was hard. Everyone thought it was a fabulous idea but nobody wanted to part with cash for them. Eventually I could no longer afford to keep throwing money in the hole. (No nice cushy grants from the arts council in them days). We downsized to A5 for Ummph! Then I buggered off overseas for awhile. Publishing took a back seat when I got back as my next job was at Echo records, I started to focus more on music and cartooning took a back seat but I'm a bit proud that i managed to get close to 50 people (rough guesstimate only!) from the ages of ten thru to 64 (again, figures conjured from failing memory!) into print across 5 issues of Treacle.
Treacle #3
Emery: How did you meet Chris Stapp? He's always struck me as one of NZ's most under appreciated cartoonists. Perhaps he's more well known for his other "contributions to the arts" I loved his early ‘Jamie Hewlett style’, and the later cut throat humour strips he did for gig guides.
Renouf: Can't say I have any firm memories of Chris...big fella...walks with a limp...speaks with a faux eastern European accent ...smells like skateboard axle grease....right? I think we probably got introduced thru mutual acquaintances in bands or Radio One or a combination of the two...and it was one of those "oh cool, you can draw, here's the deadlines ring me when you're done" relationships...not sure...I can remember fuming when he "won" the only lucrative cartoon illustration game in town, the OUSA Orientation poster. It was the year after I so badly dropped the ball - I'd had great idea but it just looked worse & worse & worse the more I worked on it and had no other option than to submit it. It sucked, big time & I never got asked back because Chris put his hand up & he is fuckin' brilliant isn't he? Is he still drawing?? (he should be)...or did his career in music & television drag him away from his pens???
Emery: Who was the 64 year old cartoonist in Treacle?
Renouf: Ooooo....The 64 yr old was the staff artist at the Otago Daily Times. His name escapes me ( you might have to refer to the relevant copy of Treacle for that!) but he had been published or had a concept accepted by some UK publishing outfit only to have the idea and the glory snatched away from him by his collaborator. He'd take great pride in showing you the stuff he'd completed (he kept it on a shelf next to his drawing table) and then launch into a rant about his missed (stolen) opportunity. Have a funny feeling the booze took him out shortly after he retired.
Tony Renouf: "Road trip to attend a comics workshop in Christchurch organised by the Funtime crew...L-R Me, The Steamer, Colin Andrews (dick), Morris Brown."
Emery: Where else were your cartoons featuring during the period Treacle was published?
Renouf: When Treacle was coming out I was also doing the strip thing in the Critic with some of the usual suspects from the pages of Treacle, Glenn Ross, Anthony Behrens, Paul Potiki, Morris Brown and (possibly) everybody's least favourite (but very talented) sponging, fuckwit - Colin Andrews can't say if I was contributing to anything else at the time. The weekly strip thing ate up a whole mess of time.
Tony Renouf: "Outside said Christchurch workshop...very early...very hung over...l-r wassaname from Christchurch, Ross Campbell, Glen Ross, The Steamer."
Glen Ross drawing in Christchurch
Ross Campbell drawing in Christchurch
Emery: Were you in touch with other cartoonists around the country during this period?
Renouf: Lotsa folk, I established, built & stocked the NZ comics shelf at Bag End Books. So I was was soliciting copies of everything I could get a hold of to keep it nice and full. So all the Razor crew, Ant Sang, Peter Johnston from Nightcaps...Um...the guy that did the anarchy/rat comics...wrapped in cellophane...er...um...(It's moments like these that I wish I hadn't chucked all my NZ comics into a box and donated them to the Hocken Library).
Emery: Do you recall what the print runs of Treacle were?
Renouf: Treacle print runs would have run to 200 - 250. But the lads on the presses always ran extras...and I mean a lot of extras!!! Silly really because we never sold more than 60 or 70 of the bloody things!!....(wish I'd kept them now...might make a few sales on the back of this article!! Call 'em collectable...double the cover price)... (retire in the Bahamas).
Emery: Did you get much feedback from readers during Treacle's lifespan?
Renouf: No feedback that I can recall. Usual, "Wow! This is great everyone will buy this!".... and plaudits within the local "industry" for the print quality/lay out etc... And I guess that's one reason I gave it away. Everyone liked it but not enough people could support it financially to make it viable Even stuff like the strips in Critic became a real chore because they started to complain about some of the content in a completely read out of context of the whole kinda way. $5 a week for 4 hrs work (and that didn't include the cut & paste of the art work to a page format or the running around to collect/deliver!!)....Fuck that shit for a game of soldiers!!
Emery: Where there any cartoonists that you weren't previously acquainted with that particularly impressed you from the Treacle contributors?
Renouf: No contributor stood out for me - I love them all. The good, the bad, the truly awful...They were expressing themselves in a format that I love and in some (most?!?) circumstances a format that I'd cajoled them into trying out! Fill the space or I'll hound you until you've filled the space.
Treacle #5
