Thirteen years ago the 14th International Exhibition of Drawings opened at the Museum of Modern Art in Rijeka, Croatia. It ran from 17th December 1998-20th March 1999. It was devoted to comics. I had been invited to contribute to the curation of the show…based on the research into comics art that I was undertaking at the time… following a referral from Professor Joan Kerr of Australian National University…I selected and sent 13 works by 14 creators…I also wrote an essay The Australian Underground. It was published in the exhibition catalogue in both Croatian and English…here is a short extract:..”In its own small way the underground comics community not only contributes to the visual cultural life of Australia but also to an understanding of it. It adds to the ongoing critique of Australian culture and provides a healthy and relatively unregulated creative outlet. From its position on the margins its critical viewpoint is expressed with great humour. ‘Taking the piss out of things’ would seem an appropriate and very Australian way of describing it.” (extract) Dr. Michael Hill

Other artists in this exhibition included: Max Andersson, Enki Bilal, Guido Crepax, Will Eisner, Jason(John Arne Sæterøy), Henry “Hank” Ketcham, Brant Parker, Hugo Pratt, Quino, Bryan Talbot, Mort Walker and Song Qing Zhu (Gao Diao). It was wonderful to see the work of emerging Australian creators displayed alongside these established international comics art creators. I’d love to hear your comments and comparisons of their graphic styles.

It was most significant for my research into Australian comics art to be included in this international exhibition of drawings. In the meantime, I’m endeavouring to establish a minimum three week gap between posts. Perhaps I was a little too enthusiastic in my first year of blogging but I am working on improved scheduling. As always, I would love to hear your response to my posts. This post is the fifth in the series Archives of Australian Comics History…that document moments in the recent history of Australian comics… particularly alternative comics and the Australian Small Press. I started researching this subject in the late 1990s and it eventually led to my PhD thesis: Ph.D. Macquarie University, Division of Society, Culture, Media and Philosophy… A Study Of Contemporary Australian Alternative Comics 1992-2000 With Particular Reference To The Work Of Naylor, Smith, Danko And Ord, 2003. On completion of the research I donated the research materials and comics I had collected to the National Library of Australia, titled the Michael Hill Collection of Australian Comics

(All text-©2012 Dr. Michael Hill a.k.a. Doctor Comics).