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 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!

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.

_{(All text, photos and artwork except where otherwise stated-©2012 Dr. Michael Hill).}