Inkspot 64

Number 64, Autumn 2011

We farewell NORMAN HETHERINGTON and DAVE ALLEN GEORGE HADDON interrogates RON TANDBERG JUDY HORACEK survives THE WALKLEY AWARDS www.cartoonists.org.au

Issue #64 Autumn 2011 www.cartoonists.org.au ( 1300 658 581

President’s Parlay

ACA Board Patron Vane Lindesay (03) 9523 8635 President Jason Chatfield president@cartoonists.org.au Deputy President Jules Faber deputy@cartoonists.org.au Secretary Peter Broelman secretary@cartoonists.org.au Treasurer Grant Brown treasurer@cartoonists.org.au Membership Secretary Dee Texidor membership@cartoonists.org.au Vice Presidents: Lindsay Foyle (NSW/ACT) nsw@cartoonists.org.au Luke Watson(Vic/Tas) vic@cartoonists.org.au Gary Clark (Qld) qld@cartoonists.org.au Simon Kneebone (SA/NT) sa@cartoonists.org.au Mick Horne (WA) wa@cartoonists.org.au ABN 19 140 290 841

Inkspot is produced four times a year by the Australian Cartoonists’ Association.

PO Box 318 Strawberry Hills NSW 2012 ACA AFFILIATED ORGANISATIONS National Cartoonists Society President: Jeff Keane Secretary: Rick Kirkman www.reuben.org Cartoonists’ Club of Great Britain President: Terry Christien Secretary: Richard Tomes www.ccgb.org.uk The Professional Cartoonists’ Organisation President: Andy Davey Secretary: Clive Goddard www.procartoonists.org

FECO President-General: Marlene Pohle Secretary-General: Peter Nieuwendijk www.fecoweb.org Australia Post Registration PP 533798/0015 INKSPOT

Editor: Steve Panozzo The “i” Team: Peter Broelman, Earl Budden, Jason Chatfield, Anton Emdin, Jules Faber, Lindsay Foyle, Christophe Granet, George Haddon, Judy Horacek, Ian C. Thomas Cover: To the Moon by Norman Hetherington

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W

ell, here we are again.

Inkspot has landed on your doorstep after months of work from the team (below left) jam-packed with enough bathroom reading to last you another few months.

In this issue, we bid a fond farewell to two very talented and muchloved members of the Australian Cartooning community.

Dave Allen, from South Australia and the legendary Norman Hetherington. (pictured above) I should foremost apologise for ruining a perfectly good photo of Norm, but the editor has insisted on running it to illustrate one very unique feature of this profession which Norm epitomised: that no matter what age you are (or creed, sex, or unfortunate pencil-like growth) we’re all colleagues. That two professional members of the ACA can be separated by more than 60 years, yet still be mates says a lot about us all as cartoonists, but moreso, it says a lot about Norm. He and Dave will both be dearly missed.

This issue also features a cracking read by George Haddon on the career of Ron Tandberg, along with Judy Horacek’s survival of the Walkeys, a healthy handful of new reviews, and the goings-on in the ACA over summer.

At the board level, we’ve had a slight shuffle-around. The wonderful Kerry-Ann Brown, having done an immeasurable amount for the ACA, has had to retire her position as Secretary for health reasons. I’d like to sincerely

thank KA for her tireless work with the ACA which spans most of the last decade. I’m sure I speak for everyone when I say your work is very much appreciated. Peter Broelman is attempting to fill her shoes, while immediate pastPresident Jules Faber has elected to take on the role of Deputy.

The ACA contacted Arts Law recently in an effort to find out if there are any legal obligations relating to how cartoons are used (and more specifically altered) in newspapers. We will be reporting our findings in the next issue of Inkspot.

We have also been busy working on re-writing the constitution of the ACA. There will be a full report in the next issue.

Our Floodlines fundraiser for Queensland flood victims is still active and successful. To date we’ve raised nearly $2,000 and counting!

Thank you to everyone who generously donated a piece or more to the auction. We have one more round of bidding to go!

Last but certainly not least, get your calendars ready to lock in the dates for this year’s Stanley Awards. I’m very happy to announce that this year they will be held on the 11th and 12th November in Sydney! ‘til next time!

Jason Chatfield

ACA President / Freelance Taxi Ornament

mail Just a short note to catch the Inkspot put together by the redoubtable and now justlly rewarded Steve Panozzo to express my thanks to all members and participants at the Stanleys.

I’m still reeling a bit that I’ve actually got a Stanley. Keep your Ashes, I’ll settle for a Stanley any day. I actually first pitched around 1986 or ‘87 when I was working for the West Australian alongside WA icon Dean Alston. The Yearbook was then a spiral-bound Xeroxed job in those days, unlike the slick glossy version of today. A young and enthusiastic Noz visited us there. We didn’t obviously put him off the cartooning life as he still retains that all-too youthful enthusiasm. The beer we bought him probably helped.

Years later in Shrewsbury, the amazing and much-missed Kems persuaded me to rejoin the ACA. I can’t recall whether there was much of that lukewarm stuff on tap needed to entice me but join up again I did. There’s a tang of regret that I never did get back to work in Oz. Although, with the standard of cartooning there, it would have been easier said than done.

George Haddon, another nomad in Shrewsbury, exercised his South Mell-

bourne charm and suggest in an armtwisting kinda way that I should enter Moll in the new comic book category.

Here he was aided and abetted by the superb comic book artist himself, Peter Foster.

So, thanks again and my apologies for having to pull out of attending what, judging by Jason’s photos, was a great fun do. Regrets too I never got to meet the legendary Stan Goldberg.

Although gravity must be against you down there, keep the ink and the laughs flowing and the great and the good seething Goodonyas.

Dave Gaskill dave@davegaskill.com (Copies of Moll Perkins in America are available by emailing Dave. We forgot to mention it earlier - ED)

Hi Jason, That was very thoughtful of you to send me a print of the Inkspot cover with Dave’s most excellent caricature. It was a bit confronting to see myself well-andtruly Rowed, when Inkspot first arrived.

I almost started to feel a bit sorry for people like Philip Ruddock. The kids thought it was HILARIOUS, and it has become something of a show-and-tell for visitors to our place. So I very much appreciate having a great print of it for the scrapbook. Thanks for going to the trouble of organising it.

I really don’t know how you find the time to do all the things you do, Jason!

I hope the response to Floodlines from members is positive. It’s a great initiative.

Cheers!

Norman Hetherington will be missed, a wonderful man that all of us had a great respect for and his work. Please pass on my condolences to his wife and family.

This is very sad news.

Allan J Salisbury (Sols) Snake Productions Pty Ltd BANGKOK

David Pope DICKSON ACT

Letters for inclusion in Inkspot are always welcome - please email inkspot@cartoonists.org.au

Mugs Get Hooked Into “Jeff ” Over Dinner March 8th was an auspicious day: International Woman’s Day, Jim Bridges’ birthday and another meeting of the Melbourne Mugs Club.

This time, the guest of honour was Geoff Hook. The title “Hooked on Jeff” did not impress him, frankly; he is more than accustomed to have his name used in puns and wisecracks.

About 50 guests assembled upstairs at Dimattina’s Restaurant in Lygon Street, among them ex-Premier John Cain, Ranald McDonald, Russ Radcliffe fellow cartoonists and long-time admirers.

Geoff is, after all, a much-loved institution in Melbourne. Bridges had prepared a voluminous display of Geoff’s work, and the ACA projector was once again put to good use showing a 10-minute

Jim Bridges sings Happy Birthday to himself as Geoff Hook wonders whose party this really was...

film about Geoff Hook made by Rolf Heimann.

A raffle traditionally finances the cost of menu-printing etc. Ardent fan Mark Knight won a framed “Jeff” original, and no, it was not rigged! Guests pay for their meals, and no membership is needed; everybody is welcome. The Mug Club works with the ACA to provide opportunities for anybody to meet their favourite cartoonists or sports stars, and to promote to role of cartoons and caricature in popular culture.

PHOTO: Barbara Chabaud

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PARZ! Judy & Becks Sitting in a Tree...

It’s not every day that someone like, say, David Beckham walks into the same Newcastle restaurant you’re in. But that’s precisely what happened to Judy Nadin.

“At around 10pm, in walks David Beckham

Lewis’ readership appeal is easy to understand. His work is good enough to make him a regular fixture on stage at the annual Rotary Cartoon Awards (why he is yet to score a Stanley defies explanation).

Since 1993, Lewis has clocked up no less than four category wins at the Rotarys, as well as six merit awards and Cartoon of the Year in 1994 and 2002. He’s a first-class award winner, yet he seemed surprised by the show’s popularity.

“The exhibition opening went really well,” he said. “The gallery was packed with people and we sold about 140 books, which was all we had available at the time.”

The book he’s talking about is But Is It Art?: 25 Years of Lewis, published by the Newcastle Herald. At 195 pages, it’s pretty good value at only $9.95.

You can purchase your copy by pointing your internet browser at http://www. theherald.com.au/store/category/8

with a couple of guys and his minders,” said a star-struck Nadin.

Here’s Cheese to the Furry Medico!

“When he was leaving we all jumped him for photos,” she said. “He was very gracious (and tired) and has very nice eyebrows.”

In a show of international endorsement, Doc Rat creator Craig Hilton was over the moon when Phil and Kaja Foglio gave his hero a cameo appearance in the latest page of their comic, Girl Genius.

Peter Lewis is Up Against the Wall

“Doc Rat fans around the world rushed to tell me the good news,” said Hilton, “and the virtual switchboard lit up like a Christmas tree. I must be doing something right!”

The Newcastle Herald mounted an exhibition in March to celebrate Peter Lewis’ (first) quarter-century as their editorial cartoonist.

The show featured more than 300 of his illustrated musings.

The Mona Leigh, Sir?

Mr. Chicken’s Parisian success last year at Bloomsbury’s clearly wasn’t enough. Now it seems Leigh Hobbs’ fowl creation has taken over the bookshop at the famed Musée du Louvre. Sacrebleu! www.cartoonists.org.au

Following a poll of readers, Gary Clark’s multi-award-winning Swamp has knocked off Charles M. Schulz’s legendary Peanuts, ending Charlie Brown’s 25-year run in Adelaide’s The Advertiser.

The successor was chosen in an AdelaideNow readers poll. Among the 15 candidates were Dilbert (which was in second place), trailed by Andy Capp, Get Fuzzy and Muddy River.

Oslo’s About Face As part of the National Gallery of Victoria’s Naked Face exhibition at the Federation Square Gallery earlier this year, Oslo Davis was part of a project called “The Artist and You”.

You can follow the comic by visiting www. girlgeniusonline.com

Swamp Seems to be Worth More Than Peanuts

Vistors were invited to go to the Naked Face exhibition on level three, where they took their own self-portrait with their camera or smartphone. The visitors then emailed their mugs to the NGV, who then selected around 50 photos from which Davis drew his portraits.

The lucky subjects then had their Oslo original sent back to them. The resulting works can be seen on the NGV’s Facebook page in their “Galleries” section.

Beware the Asterix in

It’s been a few years since Air Hawk and the Flying Doctor graced the Sunday comics pages. Beginning in 1959, John Dixon’s adventure strip was, by 1967, also appearing in Great Britain, New Zealand and South Africa. After moving to the United States in 1986, Dixon discontinued the strip.

Believe it or not - Max Foley and empty beer glass

Now, Nat Karmichael has produced a

the Fine Print!

Ruling that cartoonist Albert Uderzo can’t benefit from tax breaks extended to authors, French authorities have ordered the Asterix co-creator to pay US$273,000 in taxes on the 24 books he and late collaborator late René Goscinny produced between 1959 and 1979.

The country’s tax office asserts the extra tax exemption applies only to “people who have participated in writing the texts of the comic strip.”

The success of the series has led to the adaptation of several books into 11 films; eight animated, and three with live actors.

To date, 325 million copies of 34 Asterix books have been sold worldwide, making the co-creators France’s bestselling authors abroad.

“This is an injustice and a scandal,” the 84year-old Uderzo said.

104 “Silly” Pages of Royston Robertson Long-time friend to the ACA, Royston Robertson has released a collection of his cartoons, entitled Penguin vs Polar Bear and Other Ridiculous Cartoons.

The 104-page pocket-sized tome collects cartoons from Private Eye, Reader’s Digest, The Spectator, Prospect, The Oldie, New Statesman and others. Some are satirical, others “just a bit silly”, covering subjects from art to technology, the environment to religion, history to health & safety.

You can order your copy by visiting http://roystonrobertson. blogspot.com/p/shop.html

Air Hawk Flies Again!

deservedly “smocked” in 1993.

200-page book, John Dixon, Air Hawk and the Flying Doctor, which is both a biography of Dixon and a collection of 5 complete Air Hawk adventures from the 1970s. It sports a superb cover by Eddie Campbell (above).

The regular edition of the book will retail for $34.95, however Nat is offering ACA members a special “mate’s rate” pre-order price of $19. He is also offering a flat $50 for the signed edition, which will be limited to just 200 copies.

He joined News Limited in 1986 and inspire a new generation of up-and-coming newspaper artists with his skills in preparing press art. Although the strips had finished, Max continued to illustrate books and produce cartoons for industry magazines on a freelance basis. In recent years, the demand for newspaper cartoons decreased to the point where he has spent much of the last ten years chained to a computer.

Fittingly, Max celebrated his new “fulltime freelance” career with an ale at the Shakespeare Hotel in Surry Hills.

Details can be found at http://comicoz. weebly.com

Goodbye Max!

Sheppard Adds to his Flock

It’s hard to believe, but after an incredible 51 years in newspapers, Aussie cartooning legend Max Foley has succumbed to the offer of money and accepted a voluntary reduncy, ending a 24-year run at News Limited in Sydney.

It’s a hearty congratulations to Lee Sheppard and his wife Zona on the birth of their baby daughter, Brooklyn Ariel, who made her grand entrance on 31 January.

At last report, the new Dad was recovering well.

Foley joined John Fairfax & Sons in December 1959 (“straight out of school”), working for The Sun. During the 1970s, Max created three very popular comic strips - Max & Min: The Weather People and Tibby the Lion for the Sun-Herald and Cindy for Pix Magazine. Max also served as ACA President in 1983 and was www.cartoonists.org.au

Wines and Grins

A Flood of Goodwill Over 40 Australian and international comics creators have banded together to aid the effort to help Australia’s flood victims.

Adrian Osborne - ready for anything

Freelance caricaturist, Adrian “OZ” Osborne (above) estimates that he has drawn over 30,000 portraits at corporate and private and events around Australia.

Osborne’s quite funky and very colourful art studio became the first liquor-licensed cartoon studio in 2000 when he decided to combine two of his favourite pastimes (i.e. drawing and drinking) into a business which now sells his artwork on wine bottles Australia-wide. When Lindsay Foyle dropped in on his Beechworth studio a couple of months ago (where patrons sit in a gold-plated, velvet-cushioned throne as they await a lightning-fast caricature), OZ was busy daydreaming of the 2-day working fortnight and the 3-day lunch.

Tides of Hope is a 36-page full-colour book, with 100% of the proceeds going to the appeal. The limited-edition production is the brainchild of comic-book writer Christopher Sequeira, Tim McEwen and Supanova mastermind Daniel Zachariou and features the combined talents of 47 artists and writers, including Gary Chaloner, Jason Chatfield, Chris Claremont, Julie Ditrich, Anton Emdin, David Follett, Jason Paulos and Jozef Szekeres.

Tides of Hope can be purchased at Supanova in Brisbane and Melbourne after which it will be available online and at comic bookshops. For more information, visit http://www.supanova.com.au

www.cartoonists.org.au

“The ToonSeum is proud to recognize Dick Locher for his outstanding contribuBob Katter on the easel tions in the field of editorial cartooning, including the Locher Award, created to identify and encourage young editorial cartoonists,” said Rob Rogers, board president of the ToonSeum, “and for his tireless and brilliant dedication to keeping the spirit of Dick Tracy fresh and alive in the daily comics pages.”

Locher - an editorial cartoonist at the Chicago Tribune, where he won the Pulitzer Prize in 1983 - was a former assistant to Gould, who created the famous cartoon detective in 1931.

There’ll no longer be looming deadlines for globe-trotting reporter Brenda Starr.

The redheaded comic heroine, who made her first appearance in a June 1940 Chicago Tribune insert, put the notebook away for good in January. Created by the late Dale Messick in 1940 and modelled on Rita Hayworth, Brenda Starr had been produced by Chicago Tribune columnist Mary Schmich and artist June Brigman since 1995.

The 2011 Bald Archy Prize exhibition has begun it’s national tour. It kicked off at the Watson Arts Centre in Canberra in February with a frenzy of media attention and spent March/April in Tumut.

ACA members taking part this year include Bob Carter (who immortalised John Laws), Stanley Toohey (Bob Katter, pictured), Steve Panozzo (Julian Assange), last year’s winner Judy Nadin (Paul Hogan) and a rather enthusiastic Mark Tippett who has entered 2 works (Sir Frank Lowy and a rather pointed take on NSW’s March State Election).

Meanwhile, the ToonSeum, Pittsburgh’s museum of cartoon art, has presented Locher with the ToonSeum’s Nemo Award for his outstanding contributions to the cartoon arts.

... And One Less Starr

The Big Baldy on Tour

After opening at Sydney’s TAP Gallery on 19 April, the collection of 46 finalists visits Coffs Harbour in May, West Wyalong in June, Griffith in July, Grenfell in August, Deniliquin during September and, finally, Bowral between 1-30 October.

paint in the American Southwest.”

Well Done, Richo!

No More Dick in Tracy Meanwhile, on the other side of the Pacific, cartoonist Dick Locher retired in March after drawing the Dick Tracy comic strip for 32 years, handing the reins to artist Joe Staton and writer Mike Curtis.

“It’s time to move on to other things,” the 81-year-old Lochner said. “It’s time to do normal things with my family, to travel, to

Finally, it’s congratulations and sincere best wishes to Fairfax’s Geoff Richardson and his new bride, Mariangela, on their 27 March wedding!

There’s Gotta Be an Easier Way to Catch a Taxi There can’t be too many people who aren’t aware that our venerable President, Jason Chatfield, was seriously injured in March after an altercation with a callous Melbourne taxi driver.

In short, Jason booked a taxi after he and his girlfriend Sophie went to see a friend’s show at the Comedy Theatre.

When a taxi duly pulled up at 3:20am, he checked if the booking was his.

“He pulled up and I put my head and my arm in the window, asked if he was looking for the booking “Chatfield” and he sort of grunted and asked where we were going,” he said. “When I said East Melbourne, he threw his hand up, said: ‘No, too close!’, and just floored it.”

Somehow trapped to the speeding cab by his watch strap, Jason was dragged approximately 15 metres along the street before landing on his head - with his his hip, shoulder and drawing arm ground into the road.

“I hit the road really, really hard and just blacked out,” he said. The ambulance and police arrived swiftly, with Chatfield somehow able to make a crack about how “it’s easier to get an ambulance in Melbourne after midnight than a taxi”.

Luckily, a full battery of x-rays and CAT scans showed no serious damage beyond concussion, lacerations on his face, shoulder, hip, elbows and wrist... and excruciating pain.

The more cynical ones among us may be tempted to see the event as a rather over-eager attempt to elicit attention to Ginger Meggs’ 90th birthday this year.

However, apart from the genuine expressions of sympathy and generous offers to take over the strip, the more interesting reactions have been to draw upon the enormous comedy potential the event has presented. This fact isn’t lost on Chatfield, who is finding walking difficult and drawing extremely painful.

“It’s pretty frustrating,” he said, “because I’ve got no shortage of material.”

Among those wishing their best was fellow head injury

Le Curse á la Chatfield It came as no surprise to many who heard that Jason Chatfield was cleaned up by a taxi. Usually his runins with big objects are confined to matters aerial.

ABOVE: Cartoonists are anything if not determined! Swathed in bandages, Jason Chatfield drew this cartoon a mere few days after his accident saying, “this took me four hours to draw with pain-killers and about a dozen breaks, but I bloody drew it!”

aficionado, Bill Leak: Jason,

I can only hope your recovery is as speedy as the cab driver was on Saturday night. What a bastard. I hope they’re able to nail him. On the bright side, at least in your case they’re looking for a human being, most of whom have names and are readily identifiable.

When I bumped my head the culprit was a parrot and it was impossible to ascertain which one he was as he looked so similar to all his mates.

On an even brighter note, my tip is, if you can stake a reasonable claim to being permanently brain-damaged, milk it for all it’s worth. You’ll find it’s the perfect excuse for every conceivable form of bad behaviour.

All the best mate, Bill Good friend, British cartoonist Bill Stott, contributed a cartoon (below) when he heard the news, saying the whole incident has “got to be worth a few gags”.

Get well soon, mate.

A regular jetsetter, Chatfield is on a first name basis with most (if not all) airport staff. Sometimes these are amicable; sometimes (actually, make that more often) they’re not.

He’s called the phenomenon Le Curse – which is defined in the Macquarie Dictionary, as “Chatfield and planes don’t mix”. We suspect that, in a previous life, he bashed Orville Wright in primary school. Either that, or he short-sheeted Amilia Earhart.

Usually Le Curse is manifested by delays and cancelled flights. Inkspot has dug a little deeper: April 21, 1918 – Desperate to get to the Brussels Comedy Festival, Chatfield accepts a lift from Baron Manfred von Richthofen who thinks the scenic route over The Somme is a good idea.

May 6, 1937 – Tries his luck on the Hindenburg and has a celebratory cigar upon reaching New Jersey.

Feb 3, 1959 – Flips a coin and loses his seat to Ritchie Valens, prompting him to sleep overnight in the airport men’s room.

April 13, 1970 – His eyebrow trimmer creates a short circuit on Apollo 13.

Sept 6, 1970 – A mystery tour ends up in the Jordanian desert for a few weeks thanks to his excitable and heavily-armed tour guides from Palestine.

July 2, 1980 – Is thrown into the depths of despair when he watches Flying High and they don’t make any Fokker jokes.

Jan 15, 2009 – Gets his luggage wet when his Airbus A320 ditches in the Hudson River.

www.cartoonists.org.au

2010 WALKLEY AWARDS Crown Ballroom. Black Tie. 100th anniversary of the Australian Journalists’ Association.

The 55th Walkley Awards for Excellence in Journalism had all the trappings of a special night indeed, particularly for the occupants of Table 42, from which JUDY HORACEK assessed the night...

Ah the Walkleys! That wonderful, glittering Night of Media Nights, second only to the Stanleys in glamour, glitz and famous faces.

Okay, the Walkleys stomp all over the Stanleys, in terms of glamour, glitz and famous faces AND television coverage, but they don’t have the Stanley Steamers.

You might have seen it on the telly, the giant room, each table lit individually, so that from the aerial shot it looked like a hundred mushrooms glowing in some strange artificial forest (Crown’s décor is slightly reminiscent of Doncaster Shoppingtown, c. 1971). And yes, the presenter’s jokes were lame, but that’s part of the charm. Who wants journalists to be funny anyway? The occasional witticism in amongst the hard news is all well and good, but actual comedy, no way.

It was a night full of those embarrassing moments when you realise you have just smiled at someone you actually only know from the television or their byline photo. Waved to them even. By the way, journalists are for the most part much smaller and shorter in real life than you would have thought.

I had the great good fortune to be seated at The Random Cartoonists’ Table. There were other cartoonists at the Walkleys who weren’t at our table – Matt Golding was at the Sunday Age table, Ron Tandberg at The Age table, First Dog on the Moon at the Crikey table, Eric Löbbecke at the News Limited table, Fiona Katauskas and the amiable friend-of-cartoonists

The ever-dapper Lindsay Foyle and (right) his table-runner in action

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Mike Bowers were at a presenters’ table, and pity those poor souls. The place to be seated was Table 42, The Cartoonists’ Table – Jason Chatfield, Mark Knight and his wife Sophie, Peter Nicholson, Jeff Hook, Andrew Weldon, Steve Panozzo (one of this year’s judges) with partner Melissa Smith and Lindsay Foyle. Never before has so much talent and congeniality been gathered around a disc of chipboard covered with a tablecloth (there may have been other cartoonists there, too – the room was so big that to find anyone not in the immediate vicinity, the easiest thing to do was to go back into the foyer and look them up on the seating list and then go hang around their table hoping they weren’t hanging round someone else’s table).

Because this 55th Walkley Awards ceremony was also celebrating 100 years of the Australian Journalists’ Association (now part of the Media Entertainment and Arts Alliance), the organisers had Lindsay design special paper table runners, featuring cartoons from the past 100 years, to honour the great contribution cartoonists have made (and perhaps to assuage the guilt they must surely feel for giving us only one measly Walkley category, while they lavish zillions of awards on photographers). True to form, it was only a matter of minutes before Lindsay was on his feet getting all cartoonists present to sign one of these runners, to be auctioned for the ACA at a future date.

The Walkley Award for Best Cartoon was won by The Herald Sun’s Mark Knight (Table 42 rocks!). The other finalists were Golding and Tandberg, with a commen-

ABOVE: Eric Löbbecke’s “masterful” Walkley-winner

dation to Andrew Dyson. The Walkley for Best Artwork went to The Australian’s Eric Löbbecke; Tony Bela and Tom Jellett trailed as finalists with another commendation to Dyson.

And the Gold Walkley was won by Channel Nine’s Laurie Oakes, who completely contradicted the aforementioned trend of journalists looking smaller in real life than on television (also, some private arrangement between First Dog on the Moon and Jason Chatfield, apparently involving nothing more than a lapel pin, meant that Mr Dog was actually the President of the ACA for a while there. But, thankfully, it seems the democratically-elected leader has been restored without the need for protest action by ACA members, and without too much noticeable damage having been sustained).

Forward March to the Retreat Victorian cartoonists met in February at the Retreat Hotel in Abbotsford, where guest speaker was none other than Fran Stephenson from the Bunker Gallery in Coffs Harbour.

Fran gave a short presentation on what’s happening at the Bunker.

Not only was the gallery management team putting the finishing touches to details for the 2011 Rotary Cartoon Awards, they have also been working on developing

a larger presence for the gallery.

Part of this will mean filling a wall at Coffs Harbour Airport with cartoons, which is sure to grab people’s attention right off the bat.

They also hope to continue this idea on boards along the road from the airport, culminating with a remodelled gallery façade to give it more presence from the roadside. Fran also proudly presented the new Gallery logo, designed by our own Dee Texidor. Respect.

Additionally, local stars Rolf Heimann, George Haddon, Chris Kelly and Matt Bissett-Johnson also had some wisdom to impart, culminating in an enjoyable night for all.

CLOCKWISE (from left): Who ordered the fish soup? A good roll-up; Matt Bissett-Johnson holds his Magnum Opus; Bunker briefing from Captain Fran Stephenson and fashionista Chris Kelly takes everyone through this season’s colours

Cruisin’ Kaz is a Friend in Hand, indeed!

Australia and New Zealand were graced with the presence of New York cartoonist Larry Katzman in February.

“Kaz” his wife were on a cruise which stopped in five NZ cities, before visiting seven cities here, including Melbourne, Sydney, Brisbane and Darwin, and wanted to meet as many antipodean cartoonists as he could!

Larry’s Nurse Nellie cartoons have apLarry Katzman with an Aussie ale

peared in newspapers and magazines in 21 countries and were awarded the Palma d’Oro, the highest prize in international cartooning at the 19th International Salon of Humor in Bordighera, Italy.

He is a director and officer of the NCS and its charity arm, The Milt Gross Fund, receiving the Silver T-Square Award for service to the organization. In 2005 he was further honored with the Gold Key/

NCS Hall of Fame Award.

In Melbourne, thinking he had “passed on”, Larry was relieved to find old mate Geoff Hook alive and well! In Sydney, NSW/ACT Vice-President Lindsay Foyle organised dinner at the ACA’s usual haunt, the Byrne family’s Friend in Hand Hotel in Glebe.

The mob in Sydney

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Zulu Dancing, 70 Types of Beer, the Occasional Cartoonist and One Giant Mechanical Elephant PETER BROELMAN was a special guest at the 12th RIDEP (Rencontres Internationales du DEssin de Presse) held in Carquefou, France in January. The cartoonist conference offers a critical, thoughtful and humorous view on international news and major social issues such as freedom of expression, human rights and other social issues through cartoons. This year’s theme was food.

It’s not every day you’re invited to attend a cartoonists’ conference in France. That was some five years ago and I didn’t believe the email. So I ditched it.

Some months later I realized it was dead set and I vowed never to ignore such a request ever again. Well, it took four years before another email turned up and this time I took notice and said, “oui!”. Last year, the Sydney Morning Herald’s Cathy Wilcox attended so I called her and she filled me in on what to expect - fun and hard work.

RIDEP was an amazing experience. I knew the French were keen on cartoons but I didn’t realize how this would translate into a cartoonists’ conference. And translate it did! Situated in a small village called Carquefou on the outskirts of Nantes, a one-hour flight from Paris, RIDEP invited cartoonists from all over the world to engage the public, discuss cartoony issues and do cartoony things.

Visits to local schools, a visit to a winery, visits to bookstores for public sessions, visits to a giant mechanical elephant (?), visits to a bar that had 70 different

types of beer (look out for Demon Beer at 14%), workshops, forums and exhibitions – RIDEP had it all.

Not to mention the cartoonists. With some 15 invited from all corners of the globe, it was amazing to see so many people of different cultural backgrounds get on famously like long lost brothers and sisters. Thailand, the USA, Greece, Iran, Brasil, Japan, Algeria, Chad, Mauritius, South Africa, Australia, Spain, Portugal, and of course France, were all represented. Their artwork was sensational and enlightening. Their ability to speak English, (indeed several languages) left me for dead too.

Daryl Cagle was the lone American who took great interest on working experiences of cartoonists around the world and recorded several interviews now online at http://blog.cagle.com We Australians take cartooning for granted. In fact we have our roles served to us on silver platters compared to some.

Kianoush Ramezani is an Iranian cartoonist. A cartoonist from Iran? How does that work? Well, it doesn’t. Kianoush lives in

exile in Paris at the House Of Journalists, a refuge for those whose safety is threatened. Kianoush, despite his personal predicament, is one helluva lovely guy and funny to boot. He thinks he won’t get back to Iran for around ten years. Last year RIDEP hosted two cartoonists who did live in Iran – I was told me they cried when it was all over and they had to return knowing the freedom they experienced would soon dissipate and they’d be grilled by Iranian authorities upon their return.

Samy and Achou also live in Paris thanks to the constant violent upheavals in their native Chad. By the age of 28, Samy had seen four wars, his friends killed and he’s been shot! Achou has also seen more violence than he’ll care to admit.

Both guys are talented artists in their own right.

Broels under Brat Attack!

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Mesli is an Algerian cartoonist living in Paris who quickly learnt to say “g’day”.

It is unbelievable how these guys have been run out of home for being cartoonists while our biggest problem would be which pencil to sharpen first.

Juame Capdevila (KAP) is an editorial cartoonist from Spain who is funny in four different languages – Catalan, Spanish, French and English. He has a lovely style that would easily equate to Australian editorial cartoons. Amongst his busy

Cristina Sampaio

schedule is a daily sport cartoon based on the Barcelona football team – and he doesn’t even follow Barcelona!

estingly tended to scrawl lots of words all over their cartoons and NOT draw like Tin Tin or Asterix.

Cristina Sampaio is from Portugal and whose graphic work is sensational. A lot of it is imagery that successfully transcends cultural barriers. I loved looking at her work for both it’s simplicity and complexity, if you know what I mean.

The other revelation was how much public interest there was in cartoons! All ages turned up for the three-day public event.

Whole families turned up. People who attended every RIDEP turned up. Busloads of school kids turned up. I don’t know if the same could be organized in Australia.

Would the public care? Are we too precious to do the public thing? Considering Australia’s long history of cartoonists, surely it’s ingrained in Aussie culture somewhere - perhaps it’s something to think about for a future Stanleys.

I had the pleasure of telling Saito Ayako that she was the only Japanese cartoonist I met who didn’t do manga (in fact she

Kianoush Ramezani

was the only Japanese cartoonist I’ve ever met). It was interesting to watch her draw live for the public events – patient, purposeful, neat and calm. Everything was neatly laid out and had a purpose. Dare I say it was so... Japanese. It was a far cry from my mess of felt pens and Coke cans scattered over my table!

Other cartoonists included Wilson Mgobhozi from South Africa who taught us how to dance Zulu and hated the cold weather but loved a cold beer, Kazanevsky from the Ukraine who travels the world attending cartoonist events, Fathy from Marseilles where even the French cartoonists said was another country, Paulo Caruso from Brazil who sang songs about falling in love with France’s First Lady and former model Carla Bruni, Thomdean from Thailand whose artwork and camera work was sensational, and of course the French cartoonists who inter-

The RIDEP team of organizers and translators was sensational. Towards the end it was difficult to differentiate between cartoonists and staff, such was the friendly atmosphere. It was comforting to know that the 12th RIDEP was, by their reckoning, the best ever.

The hardest-drawin’ man in international public relations gives his Artline 210s a real workout

And if you ever get an email out of the blue, don’t doubt it. Go! Juame Capdevila

Wilson Mgobhozi www.cartoonists.org.au

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Ask RON TANDBERG, cartoonist for The Age about his 10 Walkley Awards (eight bronze and two gold) and his coveted 1986 Stanley Award, and he’ll simply say “Yeah, well, I’ve been around for a long time!”

Thirty nine years to be exact. His first cartoon appeared in The Age in 1972. So, where did it all begin?

GEORGE HADDON went in search of some answers...

The Tandberg family discovered little Ron had a talent for drawing when he about eight.

“Saturday nights were spent at my grandparents house,” he recalls.

“They lived near Flemington racecourse and Grandpa was a bit of a punter – never had any money, but he was a punter. We discussed the horses and my brother who was 4 years older than me tried drawing them, then I drew some and the family discovered mine were better than his.

“He never drew another horse!”

Ask the nuns at the primary school for their recollections of little Ronny Tandberg and they’d say: “Good drawer!”. Later at Coburg Technical School, the same response from his teachers and mates: “Good drawer!”

So it was no surprise when he went off to Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology to study art.

When he was heading off to RMIT Ron didn’t know he was destined to become a cartoonist, although, he says, “Being brought up a Catholic taught me to question things, and I always had that lack of respect for authority.”

“My drawing style came from a belief in simplicity which came from my

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four years of art at RMIT and tied in with graphic design” says Ron. “I didn’t believe in advertising particularly, but I thought it was the only area I could get into as a career.

I learned about the impact of the caption in an advertisement, using a simple message with a minimalist approach, not just with words but also with drawing style. I had an obsession with simplicity.”

After RMIT, Ron worked in the art department of the Leader group of Melbourne suburban newspapers where his first cartoon was published… and where he also managed to get sacked for impersonating the boss!

During this time, Ron had been drawing a popular comic strip, Fred & Others, for a few years. It was published in the Melbourne Herald, Adelaide’s The Advertiser, and syndicated internationally to papers like the Washington Post, Los Angeles Times and also in South Africa.

Tandberg’s first contact with The Age? “I had been doing a little popular strip, called Fred and Others and I had a few issues where it had been dropped by several papers and I tried to keep it going.

“Kennett standing up and screaming at me was probably one of my career highlights.

He was a lousy politician, but a great entertainer” “I went in and saw the editor, the great Graham Perkin, who I’ll never forget – one of the greats! I can remember him asking if I was interested in politics and I said no, not particularly.”

Ron had tried a few different things and at the time had just started teach-

ing. “I became political there because of the power battles between the unions and management.”

The Age wasn’t interested in taking on Ron’s comic strip, so he continued teaching and drawing cartoons for the teachers’ magazine. “I think my cartoon style began to evolve there” he says.

“When the magazine stopped using the cartoons, I asked why and they said they didn’t relate to the stories.

So I said show me the stories, then.

I’m not sure, but I have a feeling that might have been a bit of a breakthrough – to actually draw ‘on the stories’.

“I’m not sure if it was a first in Australia, but it just happened by accident.

“After that, my cartoons began appearing with the news items in the magazine. The editor of The Age education section saw them and asked me to draw one for his magazine. I drew a cartoon of Brian Dixon (a state politician and former AFL footballer) kicking a political football. It was no great shakes as a cartoon but it worked with the story.

“Then Graham Perkin, who had been looking for a pocket cartoonist, a bit like (Mel) Calman in England, saw my work in his own paper. He invited me back in to his office, not realizing I was the same bloke he had seen earlier who wasn’t much interested in politics.

“He tried me out for two days a week, then three days, then four and then…”

So here was Ron Tandberg, good drawer, particularly of horses and passionate about simplicity, about to become a bit of a cartooning legend!

I asked Ron if he and his pen had upset many people over the years. I recalled that he told us at The Stanleys last year about the then Victorian Premier, Jeff Kennett, abusing him and storming out of a talk he was giving.

Then there were the many cartoons depicting the tipsy Governor General, Sir John Kerr, and the police…did those controversies bother you, keep you awake at night?

“Sir John Kerr didn’t ever complain directly to me about my drawings of him. I do know he wanted an original of himself by (John) Spooner, but never asked for one of the many drawings I did of him - that told me something!”

The police?

“Yeah, that was pretty immature stuff ” says Ron, “although there were a couple of funny ones I was pretty chuffed about at the time!”

“Mick Miller was the Police Commissioner at the time. He liked my cartoons but didn’t approve of me referring to the police as pigs. As a matter of fact, he wrote a poem about me which was published in The Age, and he ended up giving me an award!”

Ron remembers drawing Miss Piggy once, saying ‘I can’t resist a man in uniform!’. They finished up being good mates though, with Ron drawing cartoons in the police magazine.

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Highlights?

“Kennett standing up and screaming at me was probably one of my career highlights. He was a lousy politician, but great entertainer really!

“I’m able to use that incident whenever I have to give a speech - it always entertains people. We need people like that around, or I do anyway,” adds Ron, laughing.

You must get lots of letters from readers, what pleases you more - letters that criticise you or ones that tell you what a clever bloke you are?

“It depends on the criticism. Often though, if a letter is critical, it means you’ve hit the mark!

“There have been a few nasty letters over the time. I don’t think I offend

people quite as much as I used to,” he says.

“I’ve probably mellowed a bit. I like to think I might stick the knife in more gently than I used to - I was probably a bit heavy-handed at times when I was younger and I’d like to think my stuff is a bit smarter than it used to be.”

Given that, as a cartoonist, you generally have to be critical, are there any politicians that you totally approve of ?

“You don’t want a politician you approve of – that would be very bad for you!”

“What I hate” says Ron, “is politicians getting away with too much, when they’ve had their minders looking after them - the spin doctors - and they’re feeding out all the crap and the slogans, the stuff Abbott got away with like, ‘Stop the Boats’.

“We’ve got these poor people on boats coming from war zones we’ve become involved in and then we don’t want them, screaming ‘how dare they come here - they’ve jumped the queue!’ I just wish the government had the balls to show some morality. They’re not criminals, they’ve just been caught in a war zone!

“The front page of a newspaper can’t afford the space for a big cartoon.

The only way to get on the front page is to have a single column and a pocket cartoon either works or it doesn’t. You can’t disguise it with a good drawing.”

“Anyway,” says Ron, “Even though I do the large ones sometimes, if you have a great idea, it doesn’t have to be big - the power can be in a small space!”

Ron has a few favourite cartoons - one was after a magistrate in Queensland sent an Aboriginal kid to gaol around Christmas: “Had it been a white boy from the eastern suburbs he would have just been told he was a naughty boy - there was discrimination involved obviously,” says Ron. “The argument was that he was a repeat offender and as soon as I read the line about the kid being a repeat

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“I learned about the impact of the caption in an advertisement, using a simple message with a minimalist approach... I had an obsession with simplicity”

offender, that got my brain going. I had the Magistrate saying to the aboriginal boy: ‘YOU ARE A REPEAT OFFENDER – YOUR GRANDFATHER WAS BLACK, YOUR FATHER WAS BLACK AND YOU ARE BLACK’. It was a favourite because of the surprise element and it also had something to say about prejudices, and how people can rationalize behavior.

“I’d like to do one like that every day, but I can’t - nice to try though!”

Now you are a ‘veteran’ cartoonist, have you become more conservative over the years?

“Um... not conservative, but more open to other people’s ideas. Mellowed in the sense that when you’re young, you think you know it all. It annoys me when I see people behaving in the way that perhaps I used to.

I can’t stand arrogance and hate it when people get in to the limelight and think they’re big shots. As you get older you should become more self effacing, or accept you don’t know it all!”

Ron. you’ve won the most Walkley Awards (ten of them!), and hold the record as the only person to have won the Gold Walkley twice. Did that put you under any extra pressure?

“No not really. However, I did get a

few people looking over my shoulder from time to time, making cracks like ‘Yeah, not bad Ron… not a Walkley though!’

Ron’s attic studio has a great view looking out across a park to the entrance to Port Phillip Bay - it’s not difficult to see why he prefers working from home!

“Working in the office was hard,” he says. “You’re more aware of deadlines. Now that I work from home I’ve learned to manage it better, and I think I’m more productive than I was … and disciplined! The whole nature of cartooning means that you have be disciplined; you’ve got deadlines and it all falls back on you.”

Does Glen, your wife, look over your shoulder and criticize your work?

“No, I use her. I like to test a cartoon. You can deceive yourself, thinking you’ve done something wonderful, but find no one else gets it. Initially Glen was reluctant to be critical, afraid she might hurt my feelings.”

Ron’s day begins between 11.30 am and midday: “I start with about eight or ten brief letters from readers that have been emailed to The Age, for the ‘…and another thing’ column. I look through them, and bounce off them to begin with, then have a discussion with the journos at paper, and discuss what stories they are going on.

“Sometimes I get a couple of thoughts from that and other times I don’t get any. Then I work on the

little pocket cartoon for the editorial page.”

have weapons of mass destruction?’

‘We’ve kept their receipts!’.

He he loves the interaction he gets from the brief letters sent in by readers, and says that if he ever gets stuck for an idea, one can often present him with a fresh thought and a another way of approaching a subject.

“I try to make it look simple, done quickly. The trouble is, then you have people say, ‘What else do you do?’.

They haven’t seen me stuck there tortured, and surrounded by scraps of paper. The drawing hasn’t gone right, something’s wrong, characters not quite right, idea’s not working, fiddling, fiddling, walking away, tweak this, and then…EUREKA! They don’t see that.”

“Sometimes you have a germ of an idea that hasn’t quite formalised into a decent idea - like the one I did about the weapons of mass destruction which I was quite chuffed about.

“Here was this powerful country selling all these weapons to these little countries that shouldn’t have them, and they have this great war machine, and then they’re criticising other countries for having weapons - I just found that a massive contradiction and I hadn’t got it into a simple concept until it suddenly hit me: ‘How do you know they

Do you think cartoonists can have an influence on political life?

“I think they can. There is the potential. I like to think it’s for the good of the people though.”

Does he think Australia has changed since he first began his pocket-sized political and social commentaries?

“The big change I think is that it’s a more selfish society than it used to be. There’s such a focus on the Holy Dollar. The stock market reports have become almost more important than the weather report and that’s a shame. The weather is something

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we can all discuss in a happy way without offending each other - or was, before climate change became so controversial! I just think the obsession with money is sad because the bottom line can destroy a lot of creativity.”

Tandberg says that although he was very well treated by the Herald Sun, he knew pretty well straight away that it had been a wrong move. He has been quoted as saying what he did was a protest.

“The decision to leave was out of anger,” he opined, “and the decision to go back was out of reason and logic.”

Ron says he likes to dabble a bit with painting and sketching when on holidays, and carries a sketchbook when having a coffee somewhere, “particularly in a great little coffee shop I’ve discovered in Euroa, when I visit my horses.”

His love of horses has not diminished since he discovered he could draw them.

It was felt some years ago that Ron needed an escape from cartooning, an interest away from the pressure of constant deadlines. He didn’t have to look far; he loved horses and joined a syndicate, owning shares in racehorses. He had some luck too - one of his horses, Skalato, won the prestigious Caulfield Guineas in 2000 with prize money of $487,900.

Unfortunately he also had some bad luck – Skalato was disqualified and stripped of the big win following a stewards’ inquiry 9 hours later! Since then though, he has had some less controversial wins ,and last year one of his horses, Blaze Adrift won the Pakenham Cup in Victoria. Currently he is involved in breeding horses and has 3 ‘in work’.

When do you feel well pleased with something you’ve done?

“When I’ve drawn a cartoon that looks gentle and harmless, yet where the line is far from harmless - that’s

when I get the most satisfaction.

“It’s no good drawing a cartoon where there’s just anger; you have to show up the hypocrisy... and the gentler it can be done, the more the impact!”

The famous line ‘floats like a butterfly, stings like a bee’ comes to mind!

Since then though, he has had some less controversial wins ,and last year one of his horses, Blaze Adrift won the Pakenham Cup in Victoria.

Currently he is involved in breeding horses and has 3 ‘in work’.

When do you feel well pleased with something you’ve done?

“When I’ve drawn a cartoon that looks gentle and harmless, yet where the line is far from harmless - that’s when I get the most satisfaction.

“It’s no good drawing a cartoon where there’s just anger; you have to show up the hypocrisy... and the gentler it can be done, the more the impact!” The famous line ‘floats like a butterfly, stings like a bee’ comes to mind...

Everyone was mightily surprised when you left The Age and moved to the Herald Sun in 1993, not long after a new editor Alan Kohler had been appointed. Do you mind telling us what happened? “ I was disenchanted with the changes happening at The Age at the time, and the revolution there was disturbing me. A former Age executive, Steve Harris, was the Editorin-Chief at the Herald Sun, and he wanted me,” he says, “and I thought he might change the approach of the paper.”

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ABOVE: One of several faxes sent to Ron Tandberg (at 10 minute intervals!) the night of his resignation from The Age in 1993

There were many attempts to get him back to The Age, particularly

by Michael Hoy, a senior Fairfax executive in Sydney who rang him regularly. Eventually, after 17 months he returned ‘home’ with posters outside lolly shops proclaiming ‘Ron is back!’... and an agreement that he would work from home!

What about Steve Harris? Was he, um... pissed off ?

“He wasn’t happy,” says Ron.

Your Chance to Rally Around the Bunker!

Hi everyone!

cartoons. Good excuse to visit Coffs eh?

Greetings for 2011 – and what a start to the year so far! You’ll all be happy to know that the Bunker survived the incessant rain with only a slight leak over a computer. Our thoughts go out to ACA members and everyone in Queensland and Victoria who have been affected by the floods.

That brings me to the important topic of the Rotary Cartoon Awards.

To start the year off, the Bunker Advisory Board elected a new chairman to replace Warren Grimshaw who resigned to take up a position with the North Coast Regional Health Board – a job which is bound to take up every spare minute of his time. Warren has served the Bunker devotedly for many, many years and we all thank him for all he has done and his guidance during that time.

Steve Little takes over the chair from Warren and would already be known to many ACA members as he has been on the Bunker Board for the past 3 years. Steve is also a former Coffs Harbour City Rotarian and his involvement with the cartoons goes back well over 20 years to John Champion’s days and he is very passionate about the Bunker and cartooning.

Steve and his wife Robyn travelled to France and the UK last year visiting cartoon museums/galleries in Angouleme and London where he appropriately waved the Bunker flag. He has since compiled an excellent power point presentation showing displays and ideas and has presented it to Coffs Harbour City Council, Rotary and Bunker volunteers. Steve will also gave another talk to Coffs Harbour City Rotary in January about the history of the Bunker and the collection and also plans to follow up with other Rotary clubs in the area and beyond. The Bunker con-

Please mark in your diary the awards presentation evening which will be held on Saturday, July 23 at the Bunker. We have brought the date forward a little this year to distance it from the Rally and the Stanleys, giving as many cartoonists as possible the opportunity to join us at the Bunker for the special night of nights.

Another good excuse to visit beautiful Coffs!

nection with Rotary continues to be very strong.

You will note our new kookaburra logo, shown for the first time last issue. This appealing little guy was designed by ACA member and Coffs Harbour local (well, almost – Dorrigo) Dee Texidor. Dee also had a small exhibition of her cute works in the foyer of the Bunker at the end of last year which was very well received.

Among the displays we had up in February was“40 years Splash”, featuring works by that wonderful man, Hec Goodall, to celebrate the 40th anniversary of his founding of the famous Pet Porpoise Pool in Coffs.

2011 is going to be a big year for Coffs Harbour as not only is it our city’s ‘sesquicentennial’ - (don’t grab the dictionary – that’s the 150th anniversary), but our city will be hosting Australia’s round of the FIA World Rally Championship in September.

As you can imagine, the place is abuzz with lots of planning going on. At the Bunker we plan to hold a motor sport themed exhibition to coincide with the Rally and to host various motoring groups, etc. at special functions. What great cartoon fodder this event will provide and what great world coverage for Coffs Harbour, the Bunker and your

The entry form is now available. As usual we will have the following themes: Best Cartoon (political, sports), Comic Strip, Caricatures and an Open Section. The special categories are: National (Tying the Knot) and International (Freedom of Information or World Rally Championships). The cut-off date for entries will be 31 May, 2011.

Our website, www.rotarycartoonawards. com.au, is now up and running and information will also be available as usual via the ACA website and Coffs Harbour City Council website, www.coffsharbour.nsw. gov.au (go to “Rotary Cartoon Awards”).

The Bunker Cartoon Gallery is still Australia’s only dedicated cartoon gallery, promoting your profession. The Board, the Rotary Club of Coffs Harbour City and our dedicated team of volunteers are all passionate about cartooning and the Bunker. We all put a lot of time and effort into fundraising, organising and hosting the Rotarys each year and in carrying on the good work of John Champion – we would love to see heaps of cartoonists in Coffs to enjoy this important event with us and of course at any time throughout the year.

We always look forward to welcoming you in Coffs Harbour – phone first for a welcoming committee!

Fran Stephenson

Phone: 02 66 51 7343 Email: bunkergallery@bigpond.com

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Christophe’s Sautée - Serge Perrotin Christophe Granet continues his series of fascinating interviews, examing the people behind Bandes Dessinés and the wonderful world of European comic books and graphic novels.This time around, he chats with Serge Perrotin.

fantasy story drawn by JeanMarc Allais (to be published by éditions Sandawe).

Q: Serge, I believe you have been living in Brisbane for the last year - what made you come to Australia?

Q: Il Pennello, your latest venture with Sandawe, has just raised the required 36,000 Euros from internet fans to start production. Can you please tell us more about the Sandawe publishing approach and what it means now for you and the cartoonist (Allais) that the project has been funded?

This stay came from a desire from our family (both parents and children) to experience the culture of an English-speaking country for a year. We could have chosen to move to England or to the USA, but we had already visited these countries.

We were looking for a new, exotic, experience. We therefore chose Australia, which was, for us, an unknown and fascinating land. We also wanted our children to practice their English with other children. The Australian government allows foreign children to join the Australian school system for a few months, so we requested a visa for a year. As for choosing Brisbane, the choice was based on the Queensland climate, which is ideal for sun and beach lovers like us.

Q: Can you give us a brief biography of your work and which “Bande Dessinees” you have provided scenarios for?

I live

on

the Vendee coast (west of France, on the Atlantic Ocean) where my time is divided between teaching, writing and travelling. I am a science-fiction fan, but it is a police/crime story that has been picked up first by an editor. In 1998, I wrote the scenario for the series Lance Crow Dog (drawn by Gaël Séjourné) which has been published by éditions Soleil (5 books have been published so far).

With Terra Incognita (drawn by Chamy, éditions Théloma, 3 books published), I go back to my love of science-fiction with a new point of view. The story does not revolve around intergalactic battles or massive explosions. The characters, and their doubts, are at the heart of the story.

I am also writing the fourth story of the police-themed book Frank Lincoln, drawn

by Marc Bourgne, published by éditions Glénat.

My latest two publications are L’Autre Terre, a steam punk science fiction story, drawn by Beno (éditions Joker), and Sphères, drawn by Laurent Libessart (éditions Soleil).

Right now, I am working on Il Pennello, a

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Sandawe is a new Belgian Bande Dessinee publishing company.

It is the first company to trial the principle of “crowdfunding” by allowing internet users (socalled Edinautes) to finance a Bande Dessinee project. In January 2010, we’ve pitched the Il Pennello project on the Sandawe website. The pitch contained a synopsis of the story, a presentation of the characters as well as the first few fully-drawn pages of the story. Internet investors were therefore able to make up their minds about the project. Sandawe’s business plan is to publish Bande Dessinee eBooks, but also paper-bound versions to be sold in bookstores. The profits, if any, are then shared between the authors, Sandawe and the internet investors.

For Jean-Marc Allais and myself, it was a great joy that Il Pennello was the first project to be fully funded by this new Sandawe publishing concept. The 260 internet investors, who have raised €36,000 over 5 months, have shown that people other than the usual decision-makers can be involved in deciding what is worth publishing or not. It shows that when enough people involve themselves, even to the order of only a few Euros, they can influence the course of events. The fact that people have chosen Il Pennello is, for us, a huge incentive to further the story and we are working hard to ensure that the investors and future readers are proud of the final result.

Q: Are you working on other projects at present?

I am currently working on au nom du fils

(ciudad perdida), a story with autobiographic connotations. It is a two-volume series about a father looking for his son who has been kidnapped by Columbian guerilleros. It is a kind of road movie, illustrated by Clément Belin (to be published by éditions Futuropolis).

However, once the initial agreement has been reached, it is a given that I take into account the suggestions and graphic narration style of the chosen cartoonist. It is impossible to propose a 12-panel-per-page layout to a cartoonist that has a style relying on large, detailed drawings. I also avoid providing a long, descriptive scenario to somebody who can convey that graphically. I am always open to constructive criticism and ideas from the cartoonist. The creation of a graphic novel has to be a collaboration where you have to leave your ego at home (which is, in itself, a paradox as without ego, there is no creation…).

I am also writing sequels for Terra Incognita, Lance Crow Dog and L’Autre Terre.

My stay in Australia has also given me an idea for a graphic novel based in Queensland. It would feature a French family doing a house-swap with a Brisbane family. When they arrive in Queensland, they learn that for obscure professional reasons, the Australian husband has not left for France. Only his wife and daughter are gone. The man is, in fact, hiding at a neighbour’s place and peeps on the French family through binoculars. Especially the French woman.

It is a psychological story which will turn towards a fantasy-based theme once the French family is confronted with Aboriginal ceremonies... however, I’m still at the synopsis stage...

ABOVE: A finished colour page by Clément Belin from au nom du fils

“The creation of a graphic novel has to be a

collaboration where you have to leave your ego at home - which is, in itself, a paradox as without ego, there is no creation!”

Q: When you write a story, do you have a cartoonist in mind to illustrate the story? If not, how is the choice of cartoonist done to illustrate your stories?

My first Bande Dessinees were drawn by cartoonists from the Vendee region, where I live. Cartoonists that I personally knew and whose work I did appreciate.

We basically honed our skills at Bande Dessinee making together.

But there is no golden rule. The cartoonist for au nom du fils has been proposed by my editor. The one for Sphères by a colleague.

The cartoonist from Frank Lincoln contacted me after he had read Lance Crow Dog. We see each other only on a few occasions throughout the project, as we mainly work by sharing files through the internet.

Q: France and Belgium are full of “Band Dessinee” festivals. Do you attend many every year?

In Europe, there are, I think, two types of graphic novel writers: those that carry in themselves a story, write it and then look for a cartoonist to give it life, and those that meet cartoonists, discuss the idea with them, their aspirations as to how the drawings should be and then tailor the scenario to the ability and drawing style of the cartoonist. I am of the former category. When I work on a story, I do not have a particular cartoonist in mind. Once I have written a scenario, I then look for a cartoonist that can convey with his drawings the required vitality and sensibility of the universe I have imagined. This approach is not an easy one for the cartoonist, but I have a strong belief that it helps to create more powerful graphic novels.

There are indeed a number of Bande Dessinee festivals in France and Belgium. I go to a number of them every year; the International Festival of Angouleme (the biggest Bande Dessinee festival), the Saint Malo festival, the Nantes festival and the Sables d’Olonne festival that I co-created in June 2000.

Thankyou, Serge!

ABOVE: Artwork by Gaël Séjourné for Lance Crow Dog www.cartoonists.org.au

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Vale Norman Hetherington (c.1921 - 2010)

“He did indeed have an interesting life and as an extremely modest man, he didn’t talk about it himself. In fact (as we know) he was most comfortable when expressing himself through an alter ego”

Cartooning and puppetry were his chief passions, but he was equally adept at etching, life drawing and a host of other artistic skills. The creation of Mr. Squiggle, a puppet character watched by children for 40 years on national television, was no less than a stroke of genius. A gestalt of both drawing and puppetry, the little man from the moon inspired generations of kids to pick up a pencil and draw. His long-overdue Jim Russell Award in 2009 was the latest in a long string of accolades, which included two Penguin Awards, an award from the College of Fine Arts and the Order of Australia Medal in 1990.

A detailed overview of Norman’s life was published in Inkspot # 60, so instead we asked his daughter, Rebecca, for permission to publish the eulogy she wrote for her father, which she presented at Norman’s funeral on 13 December.

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Artwork by EARL BUDDEN

There have been few Australian cartoonists more loved and revered than Norman Hetherington.

I apologise for reading this – but, like my father, I understand the value of a script but (and unlike Dad) I haven’t learnt my lines.

I began writing this in the half dark on a camp bed in Dad’s hospital room because I knew that what I had always been dreading, but also hoping was a long way off, was now really only hours or days or weeks away.

privileges and gifts of my life to have had him as my father... and I know that (my husband) John feels that way of him as a father-in-law and Harry and Thomas have been really blessed to have had Normie as a grandfather.

There are so many things to say about Dad.

Over and above that, I have also had the amazing experience of learning from him, working with him and in recent years helping Mum take care of him.

None of these experiences would I have missed for the world and all have given me great insight into what a gracious and gifted man he was.

First of all, I consider it one of the great

I think one of the most important les-

Artwork by PETER BROELMAN

sons that Dad taught me is that the show must go on - of course the show also had to be on time - and when he was disguised behind a puppet, he loved nothing more than to have a big audience at that show; but most importantly, no matter what was going on in your life, no matter

how unwell you were or how you felt, the show must go on.

And I can honestly tell you that I never, ever, saw my father give less than his all in a performance and over my lifetime I have seen hundreds, probably thousands of his performances from the audience and from backstage - always total focus and maximum energy.

The moment the opening music began or the floor manager called for quiet, Dad would summon up from within an amazingly vibrant and energetic performance. For two reasons: he loved doing it and he felt that the audience deserved the best show he could give.

A 1951 Bulletin cartoon by Norman: “Rejected Entries”

Another thing I came to realise about Dad, particularly over the later years of his life, is that whenever someone would ask him a question or get him talking about some aspect of his life, Mr. Squiggle, the early years of television even before Squiggle at The Bulletin, life in the army, his years at art school, etc., I would always hear something new and interesting that I had never heard before.

A dyanmic partnership: Norman and Margaret at an ACA dinner

He did indeed have an interesting life and as an extremely modest man, he didn’t talk about it himself.

In fact (as we know) he was most comfortable when expressing himself through an alter ego - whether it was the young boyish hero or the wicked villains of his Christmas shows ,or through grumpy Blackboard, jovial Bill, cranky Gus or his most beloved Mr

A script conference at the 2004 Stanleys in Bowral

Squiggle.

Dad always carried himself with grace, modesty, kindness and good manners.

Even recently, when he was in great pain and movement hurt, he would always still turn and thank the car that stopped to let us cross the road or drive through the roundabout. He leaves us with an enormous legacy of fun and creativity. I know Mum will miss him, I will miss him.

We’ll all miss him.

For some time now I have been wanting to say to Dad something he always used to say to me when I was a child and would come downstairs to his studio and watch him work - illustrating something, designing a backdrop, working out squiggles, carving a puppet hand, stringing a puppet, dipping his fingers in plastic wood, licking them and moulding a puppet head with it - and after a couple of hours I would say I was going outside or upstairs to do something else, and dad would always look up at me and say “You can’t leave us like this!”

And I would always stay a little longer. So while I feel that, Dad - “you can’t leave us like this” - I know the show must go on and we will do our best to enjoy it even though you are not with us.

Rebecca Hetherington

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Dave Allen (1945 - 2010)

ACA stalwart Dave Allen passed away at the end of 2010 after a long battle against cancer.

On a sunny day last December, two of Dave’s long-time friends, Peter Broelman and Don Hatcher, delivered eulogies at the funeral, which was attended by 120 people.

Today we say goodbye to a funny bugger, Dave Allen the cartoonist: a creative, intelligent, humorous cartoonist who decided long ago that a “real job” wasn’t for him.

Years ago, he worked at The Advertiser’s advertising art department. He said, “They gave me the shits!” so he quit. As a cartoonist, Dave wanted the fame, the fortune, the chicks…and like all cartoonists, he quickly realised that wasn’t going to happen, so he just drew funny pictures instead.

Every Friday morning, a group of cartoonists meet in a café somewhere in Stirling.

As usual, a small number met yesterday morning and we talked about Dave.

Incredibly we all had nice things to say about him: cheerful, positive, helpful, hopeful and of course that dry sense of humour.

“Six Pack” was a unique group effort of six of the regulars to produce a comic strip package and Dave put his hand up to flog it off. World domination! Like all cartoonists we quickly realised that wasn’t going to happen. But it was fun all the same.

Dave would proudly tell us, “Hey boys, we made some money - here’s your $20.45 - don’t spent it all at once!”

His puzzles, his comic strips and his gag cartoons were all well known throughout Australia’s cartooning community and he was respected by his fellow cartoonists.

For a while he served as the South Australian Vice-President of the Australian Cartoonists Association. That meant he had to take part in long telephone conferences. He found sitting on the phone boring and occasionally he would sneak off for a glass of red. He didn’t know but WE knew! We knew he was doing it because after a while he would come back and say “Yesh, I shecond that motion!”

He had the most organised studio I have ever seen. Some time ago, I asked Dave if I could do my cartoons in his studio on a Friday afternoon. My studio was miles away and I was hammered for time before deadline. Dave, ever so helpful, said, “Yep, no worries. I’ll get the bear skin rug out!” I

was speechless. “It’s OK, Judy and I haven’t used it for years!”

He disliked editors. Especially editors who didn’t want to buy his kids’ puzzles or comic strips. To Dave, their typically cold responses were code for “go sit in the corner, roll over and die”. “Bugger them!,” Dave said. He kept plugging away.

However he did buy crap off the internet.

Photoshop from Russia at a bargain $400.

It never arrived. I hazard to guess what he bought off eBay or from Nigeria.

Last night, I went through some emails from Dave. This one caught my eye. It was about something the ACA was doing at the time and it’s typically Dave: “How’s your scrotum? Don’t worry too much about my email re: postcards, maybe just bring the idea up at the next meeting.

I feel we should do something regular besides a poo. Davo” So on behalf of all cartoonists, goodbye and thank you Dave. Say hi to Michael Atchison for us and tell him The Advertiser

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Vale

LEFT: Dave at one of the SA Branch’s regular Friday coffee mornings, November 2009

Here’s a likely fellow to meet up with for coffee I thought, as it turned out that we lived pretty close to each other in Stirling in the Adelaide Hills. Two weeks later, I contacted Dave and together we set about solving the world’s problems, muttering about editors, publishers, art directors and assorted clients over coffee.

is terrible since he left.

Peter Broelman

It was at a BBQ meeting of the Black and White Artists Club in the late eighties that I first met Dave.

The following week, we invited Mike Atchison along in an attempt to raise the conversational tone. From there it developed rapidly, as excuses to meet and drink coffee came thick and fast at seemingly appropriate times of the day.

In an attempt to restore sanity (or dignity?) we finally decided to meet every Friday morning and invite any interested

cartoonists in the area to join us.

These regular get-togethers have been very successful, as many of us working solo need to make contact with fellow misfits and malcontents from time to time.

Dave’s enthusiasm and runaway wit will be sorely missed by his band of coffee mates, and computer retailers and the city’s bicycle stores will miss his open wallet!

Molto espresso to you, my good mate!

Don Hatcher

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Reginald Pitt

Vale

(1929 - 2010)

Reg Pitt is pictured next to Silver Starr (and one of his friends) at the opening of ACE at the Westpac Gallery, Sydney in 1996

with the storylines (written by a journalist) and, a year later, joined forces with his brother once again. The Pitt brothers created Yarmak - The Jungle King for the comic-book publisher Young’s Merchandising. Again the character was highly derived (this time from Tarzan) but was handled with enough flair to make it one of Australia’s most fondly remembered comic books of the time. Again, Reg was both author (co-writing with Frank Ashley) and set designer, providing innovative panel layouts and stylish typography as a backdrop for Stan’s dashing heroes and beautiful women.

Photos courtesy of JOHN CLEMENTS

Reg continued to work as a graphic designer, while Stan moved to America and drew the adventures of his hero, Flash Gordon. They continued working together for comics and pulp magazines (including a full-colour Silver Starr comic, published in 1956 to compete with the introduction of television). But despite their success, perhaps their most celebrated work was a series known to connoisseurs of the medium as one of the great “lost” comics.

A science fiction buff, Reg conceived Gully Foyle, a comic strip based on Alfred Bester’s novel The Stars My Destination.

It is rarely mentioned nowadays but Australia once had a thriving comic book industry.

American publications were banned from these shores in 1939 to preserve local currency reserves, opening the floodgates for Australian titles. Within a decade, 50 million locally published comics (both local creations and reprints of US comics) were being sold in Australia each year.

Reg Pitt was one of the unsung talents of this boom, working in the shadow of his older brother Stan, the first Australian artist to strike it big in America. However, at their best, the Pitt brothers worked as a team.

Pitt was born in Rozelle, on September 16, 1929, one of nine children of a plasterer, George Pitt, and his wife, Ethel. He collaborated from the age of 10 on comic strips with Stan, who was four years his senior. Stan’s artwork was inspired by his idol, Alex Raymond, the Flash Gordon artist. Hence, he was approached in 1946 when Sydney’s Sunday Sun sought a Flash Gordon replacement.

Officially, Reg entered the comics by writing storylines and dialogue for Stan’s strip, Silver Starr in the Flame World, about an Australian serviceman leading an expedition to drill into the centre of the Earth.

Like many heroes of Australian comics, 24

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the character was a clone of a popular US hero - in this case Flash Gordon. An emerging artistic talent, Reg also drew background scenery for the strip.

Despite its enormous popularity, Silver Starr only lasted two years, withdrawn from The Sun in 1948 after a dispute over page size. Though Stan was given another strip by a rival paper, he was unhappy

recalled.

“The book made an indelible impression on me for so many years, even though it would be 10 years before we finally got the chance to do it,” he

The obsession proved contagious, as both brothers devoted several months, beginning in 1963, to the project. After Reg was seriously injured in a car accident, his compensation payout allowed them both to work full-time on the strip.

Continued on Page 26

Reviews Best Australian Political Cartoons 2010

by William Shakespeare; “Staged on the Page” by Nicki Greenberg

ISBN 9781921640759 $29.95

published by Allen & Unwin ISBN 9781741756425 $49.95

Edited by Russ Radclciffe

Behind the Lines: The Year’s Best Cartoons 2010

National Museum of Australia ISBN 9781876944803

$19.95

If anyone is in any doubt about the quality of Australian political cartooning, then all they have to do is look at two books that appeared late last year to cast aside any such thoughts.

Political cartooning is alive and well in Australia, even though it is increasingly becoming homeless. There are now fewer newspapers in Australia running less cartoons than at any time in the past 100 years. While it is popular to blame the internet for the drop in newspapers and circulation, it should be noted the decline stated decades before the internet arrived or had been thought of. Circulations started to drop in the 1960s, around the time newspapers reduced the number of cartoons they published. Probably just a coincidence.

But cartoonists continue to draw and find newspapers and magazines that are enriched by the cartoons. For the last seven years Australians have had two annuals that have reviewed the past year’s best political cartoons. Given they contain

the best snapshot of political events published in Australia, these books will become collector’s items in years to come.

No cartoonist who takes the history of the profession seriously should be without a copy of these books in their book collections. The same rule applies to anyone who studies politics.

Behind the Lines: The Year’s Best Cartoons 2010 is an annual that can trace its origins back to 1997 when it was first published as Bringing the House Down. The publication always runs in conjunction with an exhibition conducted by the National Museum of Australia and doubles as the catalogue. Originally the exhibition was restricted to walls in Canberra, but now it gets out and about and is seen in many cities all over Australia.

The Best Australia Political Cartoons 2010 is also an annual and the first was published in 2003. This year, both books are in colour and are, as always, beautifully printed on good quality white paper. Infinitely better than the newsprint most of the cartoons are usually printed on and the lift in appearance is very noticeable.

It would be hard to say one was better than the other as both have strong points. Interestingly, despite the books being about the same subject there is a very large difference in the contents of the books and neither suffers from a drop in quality because of the variation.

“The play’s the thing”. The staging of a play reveals hidden truths.

Generally, I’m not a fan of the more literal comic retellings of novels and plays prevalent among graphic novels - this book is anything but! Nicki Greenberg’s inspired reimagining of Shakespeare’s Hamlet is so much more than an adaptation of a classic work. Beyond even the “Staged on the Page” cover subtitle, this is a fully fledged existentialist side-order to the play, in a way I can only compare to Tom Stoppard’s play, Rosencrantz and Guildernstern Are Dead. It unfolds a world within a world, and others beyond.

Greenberg has cast her Hamlet with stylised black animal characters who are evidently animated inkblots, capable of removing their faces and melting into the sets and each other. They work in the picture plane almost as silhouettes against the brightly coloured backdrops – an evocative approach at times akin to the children’s book illustrations of Jan Pienkowski. Indeed, the play itself is enacted on a framing comic “stage” with the sets organically painted in acrylics, creating a textured geometric world of ice, clockwork and flowers. This symbolism is contrasted against the photographic collages that tellingly show the inkblot actors in wordless

Cartoonists may like to think it is because of the quality of the work the editors have to choose from. The publishers may prefer to claim it is because of the quality of judgment of the editors of the books. Who could argue, there is every chance both arguments could be right.

Lindsay Foyle

Hamlet

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Reginald Pitt (cont’d)

Published by Dark Oz Productions $8.00

pages between the scenes.

A cursory glance into this volume in no way prepared me for actually reading the text itself. The style is so striking and original, it is something altogether surprising.

This is one of my favourite plays, and I didn’t anticipate being so thoroughly and engagingly drawn into the story in new ways. In the interpretation itself there is enormous wit and subtlety: replete with visual symbolism both tragic and humorous, this is the vision of an accomplished artist made real in comic form. It’s also a testament to the fact that the “graphic novel” is not an hybrid artform consisting of parts, but a complete cohesive whole.

Technically, I’m very impressed by this perfect combination of physical and digital media: Greenberg knows when to draw freely and expressively - the lettering is also by hand – and when to rely on Photoshop to combine images, or add a slight effect.

As it is a mighty hardback tome, I initially had reservations about the hugeness of the format, but I think this book probably needs to be seen and read this way. Set aside time to read it and let it drawn you in! The deceptively simple designs have real power to open up and captivate the reader. We should be proud to have work this good, this genre defining and defying, being made right now in Australia!

See http://www.nickigreenberg.com/hamlet.shtml

Ian C. Thomas

Decay

Anthology (issues 4, 5 and 6) 26

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Several months of the comic strip were completed for syndication but it faced a legal obstacle from the producers of a planned (but never filmed) movie

I arrived at my desk today to find something truly horrifying. Pushing aside the horse’s head and Justin Bieber CD, I found issues of “Australian Horror Sci-Fi Fantasy” magazine, Decay.

Not for the faint-hearted, Decay is an anthology of Australian horror published

by Darren “DK” Koziol and features a host of talented folk, including Alister Lockhart , SCAR, Greg Holfield plus the ACA’s Glenn Lumsden, Dave Heinrich, Jason Paulos and David Follett, to name a few.

Focussing on the gruesome and macabre, these nicely-printed A4-sized magazines showcase some beautifully drawn ghoulish pinups, illustration, and stories, as well as longer comic stories, many written by DK. A nice regular feature is “The Making of…”, where an artist takes you through a simplified process of creating their artwork. I also enjoyed the montage of photographs from various horror/sci-fi/ comic events such as Supanova, AvCon and even The Adelaide Zombie Walk!

DK is a big supporter of the Australian comix scene. It is great to see someone so passionately promoting local talent - not only the established pros, but underground and up-and-coming comic artists and writers, too. Decay is always looking for fresh blood, so get in touch if you’d like to contribute.

For more information, including subscriptions and purchasing info, head on down to http://www.darkoz.com.au… if you dare!

Bwahahahahaaaaa!

Anton Emdin

Yarmak #16 (1951)

adaptation of The Stars My Destination, who held exclusive rights to any adaptation.

No longer able to sell Gully Foyle, the Pitt brothers ended the project, leaving only a few enticing art samples that were circulated in fan magazines. These led to commissions for both brothers by major US publishers DC Comics and Gold Key Comics. Its status as a great unpublished comic finally ended in 2001, when the Sydney publisher Home Grown Media published it as a limited edition, “never-to-be-reprinted” magazine.

Reg Pitt remained a successful graphic artist until his retirement in the early 1990s. After a quadruple heart bypass, he spent his last four years living in Peakhurst Retirement Village.

Pitt’s only marriage ended in divorce but he is survived by his daughter, Jasmine Henderson, his brother Ronald and his sister Mary.

Mark Juddery

(Reproduced by permission)

Kodak Kids: Roy Bisson, Peter Byrne, Jason Chatfield, Jules Faber, Dave Follett, Rolf Heimann, Peter Lewis and Steve Panozzo Layout: Dee Texidor CLOCKWISE (from right): Roy and Janice Bisson pictured after a visit to a witch doctor in Bali in November went horribly wrong; Cathy Wilcox and Bruce Petty are all smiles at Gleebooks in Sydney;

Bryce Courtenay admits it - Jules Faber has The Power; Comedy’s power-couple, Jason Chatfield and Sophie Miller chat with Peter Viska at The Retreat in February, while woolly pair Luke Watson and Rolf Heimann engage in a spot of man-love; Dave Follett signing copies of his new comic book, Uncle Silas,at Pulp Fiction Comics in Adelaide (apparently the wine - courtesy of Lake Breeze - was pretty good!); Mariangela Parisi and Lindsay Foyle with MasterChef champion, Christophe Granet at the NSW meet-up prior to the Stanleys; Jason Poulos and Anton Emdin in Sydney to welcome Larry Katzman; Matt Adams, Peter McAdam and Darwin’s Colin Wicking, who only came to the Friend in Hand to see Bryan Ferry (who stood us up); David “The Hoff” Hasselhoff is now a huge fan of Peter Byrne... as are 45,999 others at the Sydney Cricket Ground - way to go, Byrnsey!

CENTRE: Mark Knight and Walkleys groupies, Melissa Smith and his wife Sophy, after his big win; Peter Lewis with since-ousted NSW Premier, Kristina Kenneally, at the final leaders’ debate before the NSW State Election in March. Held at the Newcastle Civic Theatre, Lewis was perched in the royal box drawing live for TV, saying he felt like either Statler or Waldorf from The Muppet Show... you’ve got to admit, his likeness to either is uncanny!

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Your View On...

Your View On...

Jason Chatfield

Phil Judd

Phil Somerville

Phil Judd

Jules Faber

Summer!

Many thanks to everyone who contributed cartoons. The next issue’s topic is...

Going Green 28

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Please send your cartoons to:

inkspot@cartoonists.org.au