This is the second report documenting the production of the fourth issue of my artist book/comic…Blotting Paper: The Recollected Graphical Impressions Of Doctor Comics. The new chapter Beer, Chocolate and Comics…deals with the feline characters recovering from the demise of their patron…and their subsequent travels in Germany to visit the world of European comics.
Continuing the turnaround of events and forward momentum that the above image from Chapter 3 illustrates…my feline leading characters start to get on top of things…taking control of circumstances and their situation and expressing their true character whilst on their travels abroad. Tail wagging. indeed!
I have been exploring the notion of a beer label collage project…derived from Belgian and German bottles, and have come up with this character. I expect others will follow. With the European theme and setting I am also considering including some bilingual content, probably English and German…and there is also an option of doing a combined issue #4-5!
In addition to collage there were some abstract ink and paint images that serve as backgrounds, settings…or sometimes mere graphic expressions of a characters’ thoughts.
The art work also features several words and images made with pen and ink…including some quick-sketch location drawings from previous visits to Hamburg and Hanover and more recently to Berlin.
On location drawing trips I carry a small leather bag of art tools and sketch books. It carries some smaller leather bags and a tin of colour pencils that fit within the larger bag. (see photo below, taken on the carpet at home, before departure)
More visual developments and an update on progress will be posted on this blog in the New Year. As always, I would love to hear any responses to this post…plus any comparable comments about your own experiences of drawing on location.
Cheers for a Happy Comics and Graphic Novel Xmas and New Year…and Seasons Greetings to all comics art fans and followers!…Michael.
This is the first in a series of regular reports documenting the production of the third issue of my artist book/comic…Blotting Paper: The Recollected Graphical Impressions Of Doctor Comics. It continues on from my previous posts on the first chapter/issue The Ingurgitator…and the second chapter/issue A Blot On His Escutcheon. The new chapter, The Chthonian Turn: The Cats’ Revenge…deals with the feline characters’ reaction to the demise of Doctor Comics…and that gentleman’s adventures in another dimension to which he has travelled. I hope to self-publish it before the end of the year.
As with the two previous issues printmaking is involved in the generation of images…via woodblock, linocut, Japanese sosaku hanga technique, rubber stamps and wooden seals. In addition other visual communication techniques…such as drawing, painting, collage, cartooning and photography…with the intention of producing a limited edition artist’s book comic.
I also intend having more colour pages in this issue…following the use of sporadic spot colour in Issue #1 and the 8 full colour pages in Issue #2. The colour will assist in the graphic representation of both the real and imaginary worlds featured in the comic.
I am continuing to edit the script, refine ideas, and develop others. There has been some unscripted image-making and printmaking activity…with the intention of using this as a loose but parallel means of creating vaguely conceived and experimental visual content. Examples produced through this printmaking strategy are featured below.
In the present chapter the two feline characters deliberate over the decision of what to do following the sudden departure of Doctor Comics. Meanwhile the latter character continues his travels in the chthonian world…confronting various vaporous forms and ghostly figures…including a trio of roaming red shades (see the three red shade illustrations). The raw state of these printmaking images will most likely be subject to further graphic manipulation.
The target date for completion of the five 8-page signatures have been approximated…and with a good run the comic could possibly be ready for binding as early as June.
Ink, more so than paint, appears to be the dominant graphic ingredient in the production…with dip pens, drawing pens and brush calligraphy involved…although some of the inking will be made onto previously painted paper.
There are some pencils in there too…as well as the pens,…with drawing and handwriting components plus my regular use of printmaking for image generation.
Having gotten deeper into production modeI am now approaching completion of the artwork …having advanced from scripting to page layout…however, I am keeping things open in terms of the resolution of the story.
I find the creation of the images…and the entire image-making process…including the resultant generation of the artwork…to be the most pleasurable part of the production process. Culling, selecting and editing the artwork is a tougher task.
Printmaking has again been employed in the image-making…a little more than photography…but about the same proportion as drawing. In terms of style, abstraction is making an impression. The notion of developing this project into graphic novel form continues to firm.
Underground comics are the subject of this post…in particular Australian alternative comics. I start with a review of an exhibition that Glenn Smith curated at the Orange Regional Gallery, in N.S.W. in 2005. The exhibition was titled The Ink Runs Deep Down, Down Underground. I wrote an essay titled “Art From The Inkubator” for inclusion in the exhibition catalogue.
The Ink Runs Deep...exhibition catalogue. (Art & Design by Glenn Smith)
The successive waves of Australian alternative comics produced since the 1980s often feature a raw, spontaneous graphic style. This is accompanied by an irreverent attitude and a D.I.Y. Punk influenced approach to production. It is notably different from mainstream approaches to comics production. These alternative comics can be pluralistic, wide-ranging, antagonistic, mocking and containing taboo themes. The exhibition in Orange celebrated the creative expression behind these comics. Comics art…this much maligned art form…usually consigned to the pop culture trash bin…was hung for exhibition on the gallery wall.
Back cover of the exhibition catalogue. (Design by Glenn Smith)
Creators featured in the exhibition, all 27 of them, are listed on the back cover of the exhibition catalogue, above. They exhibited applications of comics art in a range of mediums from pen and ink to digital imaging. These were applied in animation, painting, posters, book covers and skate boards.
Exhibit of Cruel World minicomics by Anton Emdin.
Exhibit of Black Light Angels minicomics by Louise Graber.
Noting the emergence of underground comix in Australia in his book Panel By Panel…John Ryan pointed to the social context of the 1970’s. This was a period in which a sense of national pride emerged. This led to a consequent interest in locally made art. That first wave of Australian alternative comics also seems to have been influenced by the North American Underground Comix movement. As in the Abstract Expressionist art movement of the 1950s, Australia seemed to have imported rather than grown, the art. Initially appearing somewhat derivative an Australian style later developed .
Louise Graber with her painting of a panel from her comic Black Light Angels from the exhibition.
I had attended the Underground(s) conference on Comics and Graphic Novels at the University of Florida in 2003. It was organised by Donald Ault. At that conference I presented a research paper…titled “Down Under Ground: Emotional and Oppositional Outpourings from Sydney’s Subculture in the Comics of Glenn Smith”. Smith’s comics seemed to be an echo of the Underground comix of the late 1960s that began in San Francisco. They were different in style and content to the mainstream North American super-hero themed comics. They opened up the way for autobiographical and artform approaches. At that conference I heard from some of the creative figures from the original Underground(see back cover of program below). It was pleasing to describe Glenno’s work, and argue that it had some resonance with what they had done.
Front cover of Underground(s) conference program. (Design by William S. Kartalopoulos)
Back cover of Underground(s) conference program. (Design by William S. Kartalopoulos)
Underground(s) conference poster (detail).
Have you read any Underground comics? I’d love to hear your thoughts about them as well as reactions to this post.
This is the twelth in a series of posts titled Archives of Australian Comics History. They 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. It eventually led to the writing of my doctoral thesis. Details: Ph.D., Macquarie University, Division of Society, Culture, Media and Philosophy, for the thesis…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 large number of comics I had collected…to the National Library of Australia: Michael Hill Collection of Australian Comics.
In the 1990s it was not unusual to find alternative comics in record shops in Sydney. Examples were Phantom Records, Red Eye Records and Waterfront Records. Customers could find an assortment of locally made comics…in a corner on the floor or on a shelf or display rack. Odd sized comics which did not fit the display racks were laid on the floor. A similar layout could be found in Brisbane at Rocking Horse Records…in Canberra at Impact Records and in Adelaide at Big Star Records and Dominator Records. It was in these record shops that I first found some Australian alternative comics. These became the subject of my research into comics. There were also specialist bookshops that stocked comics as well as fantasy, science-fiction and movie material. In Sydney such shops were Land Beyond Beyond, Comic Kingdom, Kings Comics, and Half A Cow. The latter was a really wonderful shop to browse in with its carefully selected subcultural range of goods. It also had that strange logo of a cow cut in half…across not along like the Damien Hirst version and in cartoon rather than realistic style. There were also mail order distros such as Chewing Gravel that sold Australian comics.
The shop in Glebe. (Photo by Louise Graber)
Half A Cow business card with it’s eye catching sliced cow illustration.
The reason why independent record shops were selling alternative comics…was perhaps due to the perceived affinity of both medium’s independent approach to production and distribution. This positioning of the small press in the independent landscape…created parallels with the independent music industry that had flowed on from the Punk Rock movement. The term ‘Xerox music’ referred to the independent production of Punk records where the distribution system also employed a D.I.Y. approach with product being delivered to interested shops by hand. Alternatively it could be distributed by mail order. There were similarities in the way alternative comics were produced and distributed. These comics of the 1980s and 1990s…with their small print runs (usually less than 500), were commonly printed on photocopy machines by their creators. This was instead of the more costly offset process or digital printing used by professional print technicians for commercial clients. After printing their comics the creators, like their musical colleagues, would distribute their work themselves. Visiting comics, books and record shops…on foot, bus, train or bicycle…were creators carrying small amounts of stock in their bags. Then they would return a week later to check on sales. Eventually most of the more mainstream comics shops carried some alternative comics. There were even some musicians who made comics. Ray Ahn, Ryan Vella and Glenn Smith are examples. Half A Cow’s affinities with independent music ended up morphing them from a bookshop into an independent record label. Have you ever bought a comic from a record shop? I would love to hear!
Louise Graber’s Black Light Angels Gothic comic-first sold at Half A Cow in Glebe.
This is the ninth in a series of posts called 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 materials and comics I had collected to the National Library of Australia:…Michael Hill Collection of Australian Comics.
Wow!…that was quick! I’m already publishing the second post on my blog only ten days after the debut post…a bit soon, perhaps? As a new blogger I am wondering how often I should post? Suggestions welcome! Anyway, having just attended this event I wanted to go straight home and blog about it! And that’s what have done!
So there was this Zine Fair in Sydney in 2011…at the Museum of Contemporary Art at Circular Quay on Sydney Harbour, just across from the Sydney Opera House. Were comics and zines moving up in the art and culture world? I could hear the comics art bell ringing even if it was primarily a zine affair. Some of the comics crew that I knew were attending…some even trading amongst the 50 tables to a busy crowd of attendees on the gallery floor. An odd presence of craft makers selling jewellery and accessories seemed curious…after all it was a zine fair! This led to queries about the selection process…as some comics creators had apparently been unable to acquire a table due to the limited trading space available? Despite the presence of the jewellery artists there was hectic selling of comics and zines. It seemed to be a “happening” event that had a “certain buzz” about it! It also provided a networking opportunity for the creators.
Comics and zine creators at work on the trading floor. (Photo by Louise Graber)
L to R: Tim McEwen, Doctor Comics a.k.a. Dr. Michael Hill (wearing a Sick Puppy Comix T-shirt designed by Australian cartoonist and comics creator Neale Blanden) and Cefn Ridout. We were delighted to see comics displayed and sold in an art gallery! What a hoot! (Photo by Louise Graber)
Some very busy zines and comics trading took place in the Foundation Hall…along with the meeting and mingling and jewellery jingling. (Photo by Louise Graber)
Stuart Stratu, the creator of Sick Puppy Comix approved my wearing of a T-shirt featuring his comic. It had a Neale Blanden cartoon design(see photos above and below). Sick Puppy is a radical anthology of short pieces by Australian and overseas creators. Stratu has edited and self-published this comic having been motivated to commence small press publishing after visiting a comics convention. He said: “It was going to OZCON, one of the comics conventions…seeing the small press booth- that’s when I got the idea to make my own mini-comics. I had never done any comics or cartoons myself, just little drawings and things. So what I did was run an ad for contributors in the personals column of Drum Media. So all the people in the first issue…none of them had published their own comics at all. So that was basically how Sick Puppy No.1 came to be. That was April 96. Number two came out four months later. It was very primitive.” A total of 13 issues off his comic have now been published! It features a range of graphic styles from alternative comics contributors and the content is both provocative and entertaining!
A common feature of the alternative comics scene is the practice of creators contributing to each other’s publications. Sick Puppy Comix is a prime example of this providing that comic with a variety of graphic styles. By contrast there was some commonality of content. Much of the material dealt with aspects of sex and/or violence. Whilst emphasising humour, it adopted a somewhat avant-garde attitude… encouraging its contributors to test both their own and their readers’ personal boundaries of taste and creativity. The print and presentation quality of the publication improved with each issue. This seemed to inspire contributing creators to produce better quality work. Contributors included Gerard Ashworth…Neale Blanden…Tim Danko…Anton Emdin…Michael Fikaris…Louise Graber…Maccad…Kieran Mangan…Chris Mikul…Mandy Ord…Pox Girls(Susan Butcher and Carol Wood)…David Puckeridge…Q-Ray…SCAR(named from the initials of its collaborators Steve Carter and Antoinette Rydyr)…Glenn Smith…Ross Tesoriero and Ryan Vella as well as Stratu himself.
Stuart Stratu, creator of Sick Puppy Comix at the Zine Fair. (Photo by Louise Graber)
Dr. Michael Hill a.k.a Doctor Comics with comics creator Antoinette Rydyr at her table with a selection of alternative comics for sale. (Photo by Louise Graber)
This post is from my new, developing series Archive of Australian Alternative Comics. It was created as a result of my research into comics art conducted for my doctoral degree. Details: Macquarie University, Division of Society, Culture, Media and Philosophy, PhD awarded by virtue of the thesis…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 my doctorate I donated most of my Australian small press comics collection(approximately 500 items)…that I had used in my comics art research…along with a copy of my thesis, to the National Library of Australia.
So there is the second post on my new blog. I think I’m beginning to get the hang of it…but that makes two posts in ten days! Should I have a longer gap between posts? Should I use fewer images and more text? I welcome any suggestions from readers on these matters, Michael.
Since retiring from work, having concluded my full-time academic career, I have enjoyed a lot more free time….especially time to read and draw comics, watch films and go for walks. It has been simply wonderful! I have also found more time to work on my art projects…printmaking, creating comics…and doing the odd bit of blogging. I had previously enjoyed doing some guest blogging. Subsequently, I decided to start my own blog, posting reports on my research and comics creation. I initially thought of having two blogs: one formal and critical, as in my academic research work…and the other more playful and creative, about the making of comics. Ultimately, I decided to merge these two approaches into a single interwoven blog that would be both informative and entertaining. So here is my first post…on the new, one and only, Doctor Comics blog. It will include posts critiquing comics art as well as documenting the creation of my own comic. Many thanks to my excellent agent, Andrew Hawkins, for obtaining the Doctor Comics label, website and email…and for his arrangement of media interviews for me. It’s now time to get my website and blog up and running.
Doctor Comics aka Dr. Michael Hill…happy to read, research, critique and create comics.(Photo by Alison Van Hees).
I want to begin my blog by declaring that I absolutely love both reading and creating comics. I have read, collected and studied comics since I was a child. Every Sunday morning after church, I would wait for the opportunity to read the comics section of the Sunday newspaper. My father had first reading rights. He began with the comics section before moving on to the sports pages. He didn’t like to separate the paper into sections, preferring to keep it all together…so the family had to wait till he had finished his complete reading of it. It was good to hear him laughing at the comics. He particularly loved The Potts by Jim Russell, whom I would meet years later at a comics convention in Sydney. He also loved Australian cartoonist Jimmy Bancks’s strip Adventures of Ginger Meggs. It was printed in glorious four tone colour (see my art tribute collage Bancksie Champion Drawer of Jokes, below). He also liked action comics, especially English war tales and American Wild West adventures. He had served as an Australian soldier in the Second World War. Whilst reading the war and western comic strips he would make the sounds of bombing raids and gunfights.
Once he finished his reading he left the newspaper for the rest of the family. That was when it got separated into sections. I was usually the first to follow his reading and, like him, I started with the comics section. Unlike him, I didn’t proceed to the Sports pages but stopped reading there. For me the comics were the highlight of the Sunday paper. News of the world, sporting results and weather reports did not match the joy of reading the comics for me. My mother would buy me a comic when I was ill and absent from school…especially when I was hospitalised to have my tonsils out. It was usually a Donald Duck or Mickey Mouse…sometimes a Denis The Menace. The graphic humour would soothe my illness. I got to know comics by their titles and characters and gradually learned the names of the creators e.g. comics artists Carl Barks and Hank Ketcham. So I can claim that my parents contributed to my developing love of comics.
The FEED ON COMICS! T-shirt design by Max.Doctor Comics intends to follow this call on his Blog.
I also had two kind aunties who would regularly buy me comics weeklies in the 1960s…titles like BEANO or EAGLE. These were shipped to Australia from England and arrived approximately three months after their U.K. publication date. I suspect my interest in space travel, English football and cartoon animals arose from reading and collecting these “boys papers”. Throughout my teenage years I continued to read and collect comics. This continued in adulthood. Some of my friends thought it somewhat childish and that I should grow up and stop reading comics. No way! Never! Eventually I was no longer limited to reading comics after church, after homework or during periods of illness. I had left school, found a job, and left home. This enabled me to stop going to church, buy my own comics and read them in bed!
Animating my woodblock prints on the Oxberry animation stand at Sydney College of the Arts.
My interest in and enthusiasm for comics continued and reached another level at Sydney College of the Arts. As an academic in the Visual Communication Design program…I developed a more formal interest in studying and researching comics and animation. I also learned the technique of printmaking from a colleague…(see photo above…more details to come in future posts). I had always loved to draw and often received colour pencil and paint sets as Birthday and Xmas presents. I had had no art tuition in my primary and secondary schooling…but one year I was awarded the Religious Prize in Primary School that was probably attributed to my artistic skills. My teachers were Nuns. It was for a drawing I did of The Little Flower (Saint Teresa) floating up to Heaven on her death. I drew her literally as a flower. It was my unknowing introduction to visual metaphor. My drawing made the nuns cry! At the time I thought I had done something wrong, upsetting them, but the tears were apparently joyous! I wish I still had that drawing but the nuns ran off with it. In fact they never returned it! I never saw it again and my parents never ever saw it! Those nuns did seemingly compensate me, however, by awarding me the Religious Prize that year! The top student in my class and his parents complained to them on Speech Night (the Prize giving event)…saying “Unfair!..he only got a Credit in the subject but he won the prize!” They just didn’t know about that drawing…and the magic of art. Despite this so-called “injustice” I managed to keep my prize…although I did lose my art! My parents were very proud of my award. They had taught me to never challenge a teacher, especially a Nun. So I had to forget about asking them for the return of my drawing. This proved to be sound advice in the long term.
After Primary School with the Dominican Nuns I came up against the much tougher Christian Brothers in my Secondary education. Their chosen instrument of punishment and persuasion was “the strap!” This consisted of layers of leather strips, stitched together, with which they vigorously struck the student’s open palm. Each Brother had his own particular “strap” and technique of administration. Some preferred fast, repeated strokes from a short distance…whilst others preferred the delayed but vigorous downward stroke from a higher level. It proved more painful than the nuns’ short but hard cane tap. These were rigid disciplinarians with seemingly little interest in art. Any mathematics or science drawing or doodle on the edge of a page was met with a disapproving frown. No extra marks were awarded if you added an illustration to an essay…you might get away with a map in History but not a landscape in Geography…and definitely no art in a composition in English! These were considered an unnecessary waste of word space! Years later, however, I was to experience the joy of visual expression in art and design schools. They absolutely loved it there!
My PhD was awarded for my original research into Australian comics art and production. The accompanying brochure refers to my interest in Japanese art.
Since early adolescence I have been involved in comics art studies and research. First, through leisurely reading of the English comic strips from my aunties…followed by compulsive collecting…some review writing…all leading to the creation of my own comics. Later, working at an Art College I found that comics were considered a valid field of study and research. Oh joy! This ultimately led to my PhD for research into Australian ‘small press’ comics. That is where my alias arose. I’m known as Michael Hill, PhD (a.k.a Doctor Comics). I completed the doctorate in 2003 and acquired the alias in 2006. It was on a radio chat show that my agent, Andrew Hawkins, arranged for me to be interviewed. One caller said he wanted to talk to “that Doctor Comics guy!” To the amusement of listeners the announcer informed them that I actually had a PhD in “comics”! So instead of “Doctor in comics”…or “Doctor of comics”…it was strategically shortened and sharpened in focus to Doctor Comics. My agent formalised this with the registration of my doctorcomics@gmail.com email account and the doctorcomics.com website. This caught on in the local media and led to a chain of interviews.
My entry card to U.S.A. comics event THE EXPO 99…with the Brian Ralph illustration.
My intention with this blog is to document my reading, researching, critiquing, creation and celebration of comics art. This is expressed by the Feed On Comics! T-shirt by the artist MAX (see illustration above). I acquired it at the ICAF (International Comic Arts Festival) at Bethesda, Maryland, USA in 1999. I could not believe there was an academic conference on comics! Not only that…it was followed by a comics convention, the Small Press Expo! It turned out to be an inspiring event being both a conference and a convention. The academic conference was chaired by Gene Kannenberg, Jr., the “big guy” who enthusiastically led proceedings, to a gathering of like-minded souls, i.e. academics researching comics art. Gene made me feel very welcome. Amongst those who attended was Dr. John A. Lent who was selling the first issue of IJOCA, the International Journal of Comic Art Vol. 1, No. 1 Spring/Summer 1999, that he had produced and published as Editor-in-Chief. I became a member of the International Editorial Board of that journal, representing Australia. Other new comics colleagues I met at that event were Michael Rhode, Randy Duncan, Charles Hatfield…and Mike Kidson whose paper “William Hogarth: Printing Techniques and Comics” inspired my later graphic research into Hogarth and printmaking. That introduction to printmaking eventually led to my adoption of it as an artistic practice. Also in attendance were other comics art researchers…Pete Coogan, Pascal Lefèvre, Jeff Miller, Ana Merino, Jeff Williams, Mark Nevins, Guy Spielmann, and Joseph “Rusty” Witek. They were pleased to have another Australian attend (Spiros Tsaousis had attended the previous year). They even let me, as guest, choose the restaurant on the first day…I suggested “Mexican?” a novel choice for me, not familiar with the cuisine. They all smiled and took me to one of the many local Mexican restaurants. I have since, somewhat subliminally, associated dining on Mexican food with researching comics art!
SPX99, my copy of the Small Press Expo program in Bethesda, Maryland, U.S.A., the first comics art conference I attended.
This conference gave me the reassurance to undertake the academic study and research of comics art. It also connected me with other academics from around the world who studied and researched comics art. This ultimately led me to the gaining of my PhD in comics studies. At that Bethesda conference, I made a presentation on Australian indie comics based on the research I had been doing. As the conference concluded the comics expo kicked off downstairs. This convention, known as the Small Press Expo, honoured indie comics (see my 99 EXPO card above). I bought several comics and even sold some I had brought with me from Australian small press creators. I also met Gary Groth, “wow!” the guy who runs The Comics Journal…he seemed to be on the look out for “comics stuff”…and Neil Gaiman, “yes, him!”, in the lift, speaking in his dulcet English tone that was wonderful to hear! They, and many others that I had only read about, were in attendance, wandering around at the event. Comics art was what they studied, created, promoted, traded or researched! In the evening there was an award ceremony at which comics artist James Kochalka performed, surprisingly, absolutely naked! Amazing! Each category winner was awarded a brick, just like the one Ignatz threw at Krazy. I was most impressed and inspired by the level of comics art interest and the emerging philosophy surrounding it! The event celebrated both the study and creation of comics art. This has had ongoing resonance for me as I start this blog. I also intend continuing my reading, researching and writing about comics art.
Doctor Comictopus alias for Michael Hill a.k.a. Doctor Comics, designed by Michelle Park.
So there is my first post….a little lengthy perhaps…but I am off and running along the blogging trail and feeling very excited about it…and I welcome any comments and suggestions from readers of my blog, Michael.
Doctor Comics 