Thursday, September 27, 2012

News From Earth's End: September Edition



Above: The cover of New Zealand Comics and Graphic Novels, published by Hicksville Press. Cover illustrations going clockwise: Akira Atsushi, Mat Tait (x2), Toby Morris, Greg Broadmore, Ant Sang, Andrew Burdan and Dylan Horrocks.

Hi everyone, sorry for the length of time between posts, it's been a busy year here at Earth's End Central; but there's plenty of exciting NZ comics publishing developments on the way in the next few months, so your patience will be rewarded!

In fact, here's some FREE stuff for you right now: Dylan Horrocks has edited a guide to New Zealand comics and creators for distribution at the various publishing events taking place in the next few weeks, including the Frankfurt Book Fair and the Treviso Comic Book Festival. As it's a promotional publication, you won't find it available at retailers, but the good news is you can download it for FREE HERE.

It highlights over sixty NZ comic creators, as well as a full listing of their available and upcoming projects, and features a brief historical overview of New Zealand Comics by Tim Bollinger.


Above: Wulfpak by Ed Butler aka Czepta Gold. Copyright Chronic Shock Entertainment 2012.

Back in 2009, before he became Czepta Gold, comic creator Ed Butler produced a kids manga hip-hop mash-up, Wulfpuk
A fun combination of Dragonball with a decidedly local street flavour, the complete 40 page comic is now available for FREE on Graphicly HERE.


Above: A preview page from Adventure Time #8, featuring a special story from Frank & Becky. Copyright Cartoon Network 2012.

In other news, Tiny Kitten Teeth creators Frank Gibson & Becky Dreistadt are making big inroads in the US, with a back-up in the latest issue of Adventure Time
, a comic published by Kaboom, based on the hugely popular animated series. You can view an eight page preview of their contribution HERE via Comics Alliance.


Above: Mr. Unpronounceable returns! Copyright Tim Molloy 2012.

Tim Molloy has a forthcoming collection of his Mr. Unpronounceable stories coming out soon, so here's a first look at the cover...


Above: The cover of Snarked! #12, by Roger Langridge. Copyright Roger Langridge 2012.

Sadly, it seems Roger Langridge's Eisner Award-winning comic series Snarked! will be coming to an end with #12. Over on his blog Roger says the book will reach a natural conclusion, but he'd like to revisit the characters again in the future if there's enough interest. The best way for you to show your support is to buy the trade collections: Snarked! Volume 1 is available now, with Volume 2 hitting in late October, and the final volume landing in February next year. Roger will still be keeping busy though, with the ongoing Popeye comic for IDW and he's also working on another more 'action-orientated' title for them in the near future.

Stat tuned for information on several upcoming NZ comic events in the next few weeks!

-AK!

Thursday, September 13, 2012

EVENT: These Glasses and Speculations on Their Owners: Paintings by Toby Morris



If you happen to be in New York City, there's an art exhibition opening by NZ cartoonist Toby Morris, creator of Alledaags and XTOTL! These Glasses and Speculations on Their Owners opens on the 13th September at Manhattan Born Gallery, 336 E5th St NYC, from 7pm-9pm EDT.



Above: The pair of glasses that inspired the exhibition.

I asked Toby to fill me in on the interesting premise behind the show:

'The show is called 'These Glasses and Speculations on Their Owners'. Basically it's this pair of really weird glasses I found and then a collection of 70 or so small paintings of me trying to work out who the hell would have worn them. I've been thinking a lot about character building, and about ways to tell a bigger story through a lot of side details. The little things that aren't supposed to matter but really do. 

The way it's displayed is suposed to be like the walls of clues that detectives build in cop shows, like I'm on the case, trying to build this person up, solve something. And yep, I think even when I try to do an art exhibition it somehow ends up really being a kind of comic.'

For those of us who can't make it to NYC, here's some exclusive preview images:







For more info, you can check out the Manhattan Born Gallery website HERE, and visit Toby's great website, currently featuring his cartoon parenting diary Meeting Max HERE.

-AK!