Tonight at The State Library of Victoria: Ledger Awards

The revamped Ledger Awards are on tonight at the State Library of Victoria. The ceremony starts at 7:30pm and features a performance of the Shipwright and the Banshee by cartoonistmuso's Christopher Downes and Joshua Santospirito.

FB event page.

Among the sponsors of this years awards are the wonderful Jeffries Printing in Sydney. Admire their stunning Pat Grant graphics below:

The shortlist for the Bronze, Silver and Gold awards are:

Ambient Yeast. Pat Grant (self published)

The ANZAC Legend. Dave Dye (self published)

Art as Life. MP Fikaris (Silent Army)

At Work Inside Our Detention Centres: A Guard’s Story. Sam Wallman, Pat Grant et al. (The Global Mail)

Awkwood. Jase Harper (Milk Shadow Books)

Brothers. Andrew Fulton (self published)

Blood and Bone. Tom O’Hern (San Kessto)

Bug. Scarlette Baccini (self published)

Burger Force #15-18. Jackie Ryan (self published)

Captain Congo: The Perils of Pug. Ruth Starke, writer. Greg Holfeld, artist. (from The School Magazine)

Dark Hope Legacies. Phil Spinks, Chris James Melkizedek (Dark Hope Comics)

Dies Horny and Afraid. Andrew Fulton (self published)

Fortress of Regrets. Katie Parrish (self published)

Frankie Holliday. Nic Lawson (self published)

Gasoline Eye Drops. Chris Gooch (self published)

Gazer. Carla McRae (self published)

Gente Corriente. Vincent Zabus, writer. Thomas Campi, artist. (Ediciones La Cúpula)

In the Tasmania. Christopher Downes (self published)

Itty Bitty Bunnies in Rainbow Pixie Candy Land Save Xmas. Dean Rankine (Action Lab/Danger Zone)

Kudelka and First Dog’s Spiritual Journey. Jon Kudelka and Andrew Marlton (self published)

Megahex. Simon Hanselmann (Fantagraphics)

Modern Polaxis. Sutu et al. (self published)

Monster Zero. Frank Candiloro (FrankenComics)

Mr Unpronounceable and the Sect of the Bleeding Eye. Tim Molloy (Milk Shadow Books)

Ned Kelly. Monty Wedd (Comicoz)

Neomad #3. Sutu & Love Punks (Gestalt)

OI OI OI #2 .Various (Comicoz)

Onna-bugeisha. Frank Candiloro (FrankenComics)

Pinocchio. David Chauvel, writer. Tim McBurnie, artist. (Editions Delcourt)

Pistoleras. Frank Candiloro (FrankenComics)

Seven #4. Alisha Jade (self published)

The Squidder. Ben Templesmith (44Flood/IDW)

Squishzine Brunstown. Various (Squishface Studio)

Teen Dog #1-3. Jake Lawrence (Boom! Studios)

Thistle. Sarah Howell (self published)

Tristian and the Gaza Strip. David Blumenstein (self published)

Two Posh Old Ladies Who Found Themselves in a Bit of a Zombie Apocalypse. Nic Lawson (self published)

Very Quiet, Very Still. Chris Gooch (Optic Pop)

We’m. Andrew Fulton (self published)

“When is A Door Not a Door?” Jen Breach, Douglas Holgate (from Explorer: The Hidden Doors, Amulet Books)

2014 in Review: Alisha Jade

What have been your personal cartooning/comics highlights of 2014?
There have been quite a few! Experimenting with minicomics (and falling in love with them), the Itty Bitty launch, doing a panel at NYWF and getting Oh My! going. Oh, and Minicomicon, though that will be more of a highlight when it happens in February! I've also been absolutely stunned at the reactions I've gotten to my work this year, both at events and online. Hearing someone describe themselves as my 'fan' will be a surprise and a tear-jerker for a long time I think! Oh, and Fly the Colour Fantastica and being invited to be in Oi Oi Oi!

What are some of the comics you've enjoyed in 2014?
I've really enjoyed a lot of minicomics and comics I've seen come about through Kickstarter. I really liked Awkwood and In the Tasmania, along with Nothing is Forgotten, Nameless and the Scientist and Demeter. And seeing the work by the other contributors to Fly the Colour Fantastica, it was super amazing to see it progress and really kicked my butt to be better. I've been really enjoying a lot of comics and art by some of the incredible women in the community, they're just killing it right now.

What is something non-comics that you have enjoyed in 2014?  
I really enjoyed the announcement that Majora's Mask is coming to 3DS next year...it's a little hard to think of 'outside' comics haha...I've really enjoyed pushing my copic marker work, that's been a real challenge. OH and discovering Daiso, my gosh what an amazing little store for the most surprising art and display tools! I also really enjoyed The Strain...maybe a little too much.

What are you looking forward to in 2015?
Lots more comics! Season 2 of Strain, Japan in March, Majora's Mask. I'm working on a comic called Seeds of Svalbard with Caitlin Major on art and that's due first half of next year, really looking forward to that! I suppose really just forging ahead and continuing to improve, are the main things.

Oh My! Comics

Word Balloons: Oi Oi Oi! #2 (Comicoz, 2014)

Australasian Comic reviews by Philip Bentley

Oi Oi Oi ! #2 (ComicOz, 2014)

As stated previously it is not my intention to run repeat reviews of ongoing series every time a new issue is released. Having explored the work as initially presented my preference is then to allow it to find its own way out of the harsh light of constant critiquing. However Matt has specifically asked me to review this issue so here goes…

The first issue of this newsagent distributed anthology presented a wide variety of strips, that whilst often individually excellent, to my eyes, failed to jell as a whole. This issue delivers a much more cohesive selection, even if I don’t feel they reach the heights that some of the former issue’s strips did in isolation

Some may attribute this greater cohesion to the fact that all contributors are women, but that seems a fairly fatuous proposal – all bar one of the creators in the first issue were men and there was no apparent concord. Instead the cohesion appears to be fostered by there being a more harmonious mix of styles and stories, and also via some thematic and narrative linkages – a number of the strips are wordless, or largely so, and the theme of metamorphosis/rebirth is evident. But that an entire issue is capable of being filled with quality strips by women is still worthy of note. For much of the last century most comic readers and creators, both here and overseas, were men. So this move does indicate a significant and welcome shift.

Madeline Karutz

The two stand out strips for me are Madeleine Karutz’s untitled opening story and Scarlette Baccini’s “Bug”, as it would happen the two wordless contributions. A wordless strip is generally more challenging to produce, but both these creators pull it off effectively presenting some evocative scenes. Alisha Jade’s “Seven” shows promise and demonstrates a pleasing art style, but given it is but chapter one of part one it is hard to be sure on the story. The other strips are by, Caitlin Major, Sarah Firth and Mel Stringer, with the latter’s fairly naïve style being at bit at odds with the rest of the work, and not as well-realised as some other strips I have seen by her. Kudos also to Lesley Vamos for a nicely delineated cover, even if I fear it is too lacking in a dominant feature to fully fulfil its purpose.

But in case all this has been seen as a disincentive to purchasing let me be clear in stating that despite my reservations about some elements, on average I find both issues to be of decent quality and certainly worth picking up. Merely from a monetary point of view $8 for six or seven quality strips is a steal. And a point that I neglected to mention above is that half this issue’s 36pp is in full colour for no extra cost. (It is particularly well-utilised by Baccini; not so sure that Major makes as good use of it.) You may not like every strip but that’s part and parcel of the anthology experience. But you may also find you end up liking work you wouldn’t otherwise have read.

Scarlette Baccini

Oi Oi Oi! #2 is currently available in bookshops and newsagents across Australia as well as from the ComicOz online store.