Curator's Essay: Heroes & Villains: Australian Comics and Their Creatorsby Kevin PatrickAsk anyone in the street to name an Australian comic-book character, and chances are you'll be met with blank stares. Yet Australia once boasted a thriving comic-book industry and continues to enjoy a lively, albeit overlooked, comics culture.
As the Heroes & Villains exhibition demonstrates, the history of Australian comic books spans nearly a century, shaped by an array of technological, economic and cultural forces that continue to influence the medium's development to this day. BeginningsLike its British and American counterparts, the Australian comic book owes its existence to the popularity of
The first major Australian 'comics' of the interwar decades were reprints of successful newspaper comic strips, such as The Sunbeams Book (starring Ginger Meggs) and The Fatty Finn Book. As their titles suggest, these collections, printed in colour on glossy paper and bound between stiff cardboard covers, were promoted as 'children's books', not 'comic books'.
Australian children's magazines began appearing around this time. They copied the British 'children's paper' formula of combining comic strips with fiction serials, activity pages and feature articles. While the comics featured in such magazines as The Boys Weekly depicted recognisably Australian settings and used colloquial language, they cannot be regarded as 'true' comic books.
The modern comic book was born in America when New York printer Eastern Color pioneered the practice of reprinting Sunday colour newspaper comics onto tabloid pages, which could be folded down into a small magazine. The birth of the modern comicEastern Color produced the first ongoing comic-book series, Famous Funnies, for Dell Publishing Company in 1934. It boasted glossy colour covers and featured an ad hoc selection of reprinted newspaper strips. The growing popularity of this new type of magazine (or 'comic book', as they became known) wasn't lost on Australian publishers. In 1936, Melbourne's Herald & Weekly Times newspaper group commissioned an American company, Editors Press Service, to package a new comic book for local resale.
The new magazine was called Wags and featured new material like Will Eisner's Hawks of the Seas and Sheena Queen of the Jungle, as well as reprints of such masterful adventure strips as Tarzan, Flash Gordon and Prince Valiant.
Wags had a profound impact on the forthcoming generation of Australian artists, whose work revealed the influence of such great American comic-strip illustrators as Burne Hogarth, Alex Raymond and Hal Foster. Yet at the time, Wags symbolised the threat posed by foreign comics that stymied the efforts of Australian writers and artists. Local producers could not compete with cheaply syndicated American material. Wartime effortsThis situation changed dramatically with the outbreak of World War II. Soon after Australia joined Britain in declaring war on Germany in 1939, the Commonwealth Government imposed a ban on imported American comics, in order to preserve local currency reserves needed for the war effort. By 1940–41, supplies of imported American comic books had dried up, but wartime regulations prevented Australian publishers from launching any new, ongoing periodicals.
The NSW Bookstall Company, which pioneered mass-market paperback publishing in Australia during the 1920s and 1930s, overcame the ban by simply producing a series of 'one-shot' comics, featuring self-contained stories. By doing so, it established the publishing model adopted by its competitors throughout the war. Unlike in America, where comic books were packaged by commercial art studios using an 'assembly line' team of writers and artists, Australian publishers expected their artists to produce the entire comic – including scripts, interior artwork and cover illustrations.
Many of Australia's early wartime comic books seemed crude, but readers happily overlooked their shortcomings, as Australian comics historian John Ryan recalls: 'The covers were only two or three colours and the inside art was probably the worst I had ever seen ... [but with] newsprint being scarce, the public devoured any printed matter they could find'.(1)
Wartime constraints, such as newsprint rationing and ink shortages, forced publishers to experiment with different formats. Frank Johnson Publications launched its digest-sized Star Pocket Comics (printed on greaseproof paper), while the Offset Printing Company resorted to unusual two-tone colouring on pocket-sized comics such as The Cobra Woman.
Denied exposure to the costumed superheroes that dominated America's wartime comics, Australian writers and artists experimented with various genres, from science fiction to the Western, searching for the elusive character or concept that would 'click' with Australian audiences. The postwar boom
The end of the war in 1945 marked the beginning of the boom years for Australian comics. The relaxation of the ban on new continuing titles, easier access to newsprint and pent-up consumer demand led to an explosive output of new Australian comics.
Publishers were prepared to recruit new, untried talents as they rushed to exploit this surging market. Moira Bertram was just 14 years old when she took sample pages of her comic, Jo and Her Magic Cape, to Frank Johnson Publications in 1945. 'Right,' said the editor, 'give me the rest by the end of next month.'(2) John Dixon, slightly older at 18 years, was working as a freelance commercial artist for Sydney department stores when he broke in to the industry. 'A friend urged me to try a comic story, mainly just for fun', recalls Dixon. 'It took me six months working in my spare time to complete the 18-page story.'(3) Dixon sold his sample story, The Sky Pirates, to publisher H John Edwards in 1947, and received a full-time contract to produce two new comics, Tim Valour and The Crimson Comet.
Flushed with national pride at their country's war effort, Australians briefly shrugged off their cultural cringe and responded to popular entertainments that reflected their own history and experiences. Comic books were no exception. Some, like Kokey Koala, adopted our national fauna as starring characters, while others, such as Ben Barbary – Bushranger, evoked our colonial past. The American 'invasion'
By the late 1940s, American comics began to reappear in Australia – even though they were still 'officially' banned from sale. Australian publishers circumvented the embargo on direct imports of American magazines by receiving printers' proofs, photographs or newspaper 'tear sheets' that featured the artwork they required to print the American titles locally.
The first major American comic to be reprinted in this manner was Superman, published in full colour by Sydney's KG Murray Publishing Company. The Man of Steel's Australian debut in 1947 not only broke Australian sales records, but also opened the floodgates to a torrent of American comics which could be legally reprinted in Australia.
Sometimes Australian publishers altered the contents of their reprinted American comics, to give the impression that they were, in fact, home-grown products. Covers depicting Captain Marvel playing baseball were redrawn to show him playing cricket, while references to dollars and cents were replaced with pounds and shillings. Companies such as KG Murray Publishing maintained this practice for decades, but it's unlikely that readers were ever fooled.
Other enterprising publishers capitalised on the imported superhero craze. Jack Bellew, former editor-in-chief of the Daily Telegraph, established Atlas Publications in Melbourne. He recruited a young cartoonist, Arthur Mather, to help him launch a new comic book.
'We'd like to do something about the atomic age, which is all the thing now,' Bellew told Mather, who quickly produced a few sample pages for a new character called Captain Atom. 'I took them in to him and he said “This is exactly what we're looking for,”' says Arthur. 'I'd say they were influenced by the popularity of Superman and Batman.'(4) Captain Atom was the superstar of his day, selling over a million copies in 1948 alone, and inspiring such spin-off merchandise as the Captain Atom power ring and film-projector gun.
Other comic-book heroes became our first 'multimedia' stars. The Phantom Ranger, a Western cowboy character, earned his own radio serial in 1952. 'Frew Publications sold The Phantom Ranger overseas,' explains Peter Chapman, one of the strip's former artists. 'It was printed in England and South America and I was really pleased ... but a bit disappointed I got no extra money for it.'(5)
It's difficult now to appreciate just how massively popular comic books were in Australia, in the decades before TV and the internet. One study claimed that, in 1951, 50 million comic books were sold in Australia. It added that readers could choose from over 200 titles, with popular series selling 70,000 copies per month.(6)
By the mid-1950s, Australian writers and artists had to adapt in order to compete with American comics. Monty Wedd had sold a new series of his popular Australian gold rush–era comic, Captain Justice, to New Century Press – but the publisher insisted the setting of the series be changed to the American West. 'There was a flood of American Western comics in Australia ... so if Captain Justice was to survive with the brainwashed Australian reader of those days, then Justice would just have to go Western.'(7) Censorship and TVOther creators tried to expand the audience for comic books beyond children. In 1954, Keith Chatto created an adventure comic, Steve Carlisle, aimed at a mature readership – but the idea of an 'adult comic' was too far ahead of its time.
'From the very start, it was to run into censor troubles because of its sophisticated theme and drawings,' Chatto later recalled. 'After having my original artwork returned from the censor to be redrawn for the second time ... we decided that it was ridiculous to continue with the magazine under such demands.'(8)
By the mid-1950s, American outcries against violence in crime and horror comics were being widely reported in the Australian media, prompting debate among local community and religious groups about the effects of comic books on Australian children.
Censorship of comics in Australia became more frequent, but censorship laws varied from state to state. The Queensland Board of Literature Review, established in 1954, banned 45 comic book titles in that state during its first nine months of operation.(9) Victoria's censorship laws held distributors liable for the sale of 'obscene' publications. As one author remarked, this made Australia's largest distributor, Gordon & Gotch, 'the State censors and they, not wanting to lose their licence in Victoria, became the toughest censors ever'.(10)
The Australian Journalists' Association opposed American comics because they threatened the livelihood of local writers and artists, and it didn't hesitate to fuel the 'moral panic' about comic books to advance its cause. It described American comics as 'foreign in sentiment and outlook, couched in the jargon of the Bowery, based to a big extent on the exploits of criminals, often horrifying, frequently sadistic'.(11)
The anti-comics campaigners' cause was no doubt bolstered by the sensational trial of Len Lawson, creator of The Lone Avenger comic book, who was sentenced to 14 years' imprisonment for the rape of two women in Sydney's Terrey Hills in 1954.
The arrival of TV in Australia in 1956 sent shockwaves through the publishing industry. Just as Hollywood resorted to such gimmicks as Technicolor and 3-D movies to survive, Australian comic publishers changed tactics to compete with this new medium. Cleveland Publishing, for instance, released full-colour versions of such Australian comics as Silver Starr and The Twilight Ranger, but this costly experiment failed to lure readers away from their TV screens.
By 1959, the popularity of television, combined with the reintroduction of imported, full-colour American comics, signalled the decline of Australia's comic-book industry. Comix and the comic cultureThe 1960s were a dormant decade for Australian comic books, but the debut of Oz, a satirical, alternative news magazine, in 1963, helped foster the acceptance of 'adult', or 'underground comix', in Australia. As one critic noted, however, 'these ... comix were popular with readers, but always took second place to [Oz magazine's] written material'.(12)
The first Australian underground comix, such as Cobber Comix and Rats, appeared in the early 1970s, celebrating and lampooning the 'counterculture' revolution sweeping Australian youth. Former 'underground' artist Phil Pinder argued that, although local comix drew inspiration from their American counterparts, they 'developed qualities [that were] uniquely Australian'.(13)
As underground comix faded from view by the late 1970s, Australian comic fandom became more organised. Melbourne fans John and Stephen Corneille launched The Australian Comic Collector, Australia's first major comic fanzine (fan magazine), in 1976. After assuming the editorship of the fanzine in 1979, Joe Italiano formed The Australian Comic Collector Association which, together with RMIT's Science Fiction and Comic Club, organised Australia's first comic-book convention, ComiCon, held in Melbourne in June 1979.
Specialty comic shops began opening in Sydney and Melbourne, bypassing local magazine distributors and importing comics from America, Britain and Europe that were previously unavailable in Australia. More importantly, these outlets became focal points for aspiring comic creators and, in some cases, published their own comics. Melbourne's Minotaur Imports launched Inkspots magazine in 1980 to showcase new Australian comics because, as Minotaur co-founder Greg Gates stated, 'in Australia ... [we] don't have an original comic book market at all. The only way to do it is to print it yourself'.(14) A new generationThe 1980s were, in many ways, a turning point in the development of Australian comics. The proliferation of specialty comic shops, fanzines and conventions had a galvanising effect on aspiring Australian comic creators. Unlike their postwar predecessors, for whom drawing comics was just a job, this new generation of Australian comic writer-artists were unabashed fans of the medium.
Tad Pietrzykowski, creator of The Dynamic Dark Nebula in 1982, typified many fans who wanted to create their own interpretations of the superhero formula: 'This time the hero is fallible ... I think a bit of human frailty makes the character more three-dimensional'.(15)
The decade saw a resurgence of national pride, sparked off by Australia's victory in the America's Cup yacht race in 1983 and fuelled by the international popularity of Australian popular music and films.
This self-confidence spilled over into the pages of Cyclone Australia, home to arguably the most popular characters of the 1980s. These included The Jackaroo, a country boy turned big-city crimefighter, created by Gary Chaloner; and the Southern Squadron, a quarrelsome superhero team, created by David de Vries and Glenn Lumsden. Chaloner compared The Jackaroo's sense of adventure and humour with those of Crocodile Dundee, explaining how his hero 'inevitably wins in the end, but it's usually the hard way around'.(16) David de Vries freely admits that the Southern Squadron was modelled on 'classic' American superhero teams like the Fantastic Four, but infused with a distinctly Australian flavour. 'I wanted to create a series that was very Australian,' he explains, 'without getting into dingoes, kookaburras and stuff.'(17)
Other comic anthologies, such as Reverie, Eureka! and Southern Aurora Comics Present ran the gamut of superhero, war, science-fiction and crime stories. What they sometimes lacked in professionalism, they more than made up for in variety, and they offered readers a genuine alternative to American superhero comics. Unlike the underground comix of the 1970s, Australia's 'alternative' comics of the 1980s largely eschewed any sustained form of political comment or social satire. Instead, magazines such as Fox Comics, Pounding Tales and Groovy Gravy offered a mixture of introspective 'slice of life' stories and experimental works. Philip Bentley, one-time editor of Fox Comics, maintains that magazines such as his did 'reach an audience of receptive readers who weren't traditional comic fans, [but] were open to cutting-edge media'.(18) While few of them saw out the decade, these modest experiments were ahead of their time and anticipated the present-day critical acceptance of graphic novels as a legitimate form of literature. 1990s upheavalIssue One was the first significant Australian comic of the 1990s. Inspired by such films as Bladerunner and Akira, this hard-edged sci-fi comic signalled the changing direction of Australian comics. The magazine's publisher, Sam Young, also created its most popular characters: Zero Assassin, an enigmatic contract killer who roamed the streets of Zero City in 2035 AD; and the comparatively light-hearted Cyberswine, a cyborg pig employed by the police force. Fast-paced and relentlessly violent, Issue One played down its Australian origins, as Young explained: 'We're all proud of being Australian, but that's not why you should buy our comics. That's why [the slogan] “Australia's Most Explosive Comic” doesn't feature on the covers of our books any more.'(19)
The apparent willingness of magazine distributors to handle new titles, coupled with the growing popularity of Sydney's Ozcon event (organised by King's Comics), led to a minor 'boom' in new Australian comics during the early 1990s. Many of these new titles favoured knockabout humour and slapstick action over melodramatic superheroics, which struck a chord with Australian readers. Classic examples included Bug & Stump, featuring a pair of fugitive aliens stranded on Earth, and Hairbutt the Hippo, which starred an antisocial and unhygienic hippopotamus-turned-private eye, who later appeared in the Australian edition of Mad Magazine.
One comic which defied easy categorisation was Platinum Grit, which charted the fortunes of weedy, bespectacled Jeremy, and his seductively aloof companion, Nilson ('Nils'). Displaying a sly wit and sexy charm rarely seen in comics, Platinum Grit became a cult hit, spawning several unofficial fan websites – an unheard-of accolade for most Australian comics.
Yet just as TV had a devastating effect on the industry during the 1950s, the computer revolution of the mid-1990s dealt a similar blow to Australian comics. Comic books now had to compete with computer games and the internet for their readers' attention – and spending money.
Specialty comic shops cut back their orders for overseas comics, and were increasingly reluctant to carry Australian titles. With newsagency distribution now all but closed to them, Australian comics had even fewer outlets to reach their audience.
Some creators discovered new distribution channels for their comics. Dillon Naylor produced children's comics for the Showbag Factory, which sold them in showbags across Australia from 1992 to 1999. No one was more surprised by the response than Naylor himself: 'I get a flood of mail all through the year and [receive] hundreds of drawings ... and orders for back issues, sent in from wherever the show passes through'.(20) Few Australian publishers have successfully established a presence in America's 'direct sales' market, where comics are sold through specialty comic shops. A notable exception is Sydney-based Phosphorescent Comics, which, since 1999, has produced a range of superhero, horror and science-fiction comics for the North American market, and has repackaged some of its titles as 'graphic novels'.
Ironically, just as Australian comics disappeared from magazine racks in the late 1990s, the internet provided new opportunities for Australia's comics community. Websites such as OzComics.com and Comicsaustralia.com replaced fanzines and comics' letters columns as 'virtual' meeting places for fans and collectors. Creators also began using the internet to publish and promote their work online. As Melbourne comic artist Doug Holgate puts it: 'The web has offered [artists] an opportunity like no other … the majority of my work as a freelancer came from my online presence, both locally and internationally'.(21)
In a neat historical twist, violent computer games and sexually explicit websites began attracting the ire of moral guardians that was once reserved for comic books. One Australian academic even urged children to reject computer games in favour of comics, 'which encouraged children to read and discuss the stories'.(22) Beyond 2000The evolution of Australian comics came full circle in 2000, with the launch of K-Zone magazine, aimed at children aged 7 to 13 years. Magazines such as K-Zone became a showcase for yet another generation of Australian comic artists, such as Rich Warwick and Dean Rankine, and picked up where the 'children's papers' of the 1920s left off.
While the market for Australian comic books has changed, so too have the cultural forces that influence their artistic development. Since the early 2000s, Japanese animation (anime) and comic books (manga) have become increasingly popular among Australian children. Huge crowds turn out for the twice-yearly Supanova convention (held in Sydney and Brisbane) to meet anime voice actors and manga artists. But the Japanese influence on Australian comic books can be traced back to the late 1980s, most notably in Steve Stamatiadis' sci-fi serial, Hedrax (published in Eureka! ), and through to recent titles like Gary Lau's modern-day samurai thriller, Knight-Edge. The Melbourne-based manga artists' collective, OzTaku, now publishes a self-titled anthology featuring works by Australian manga artists.
The globalisation of Australian comics is by no means a one-way street. Some local creators, faced with limited opportunities at home, take their skills abroad – such as Perth writer Shane McCarthy, who currently writes Batman for DC Comics. And Sydney manga artist Queenie Chan, whose graphic novel The Dreaming was published by TokyoPop, brings a distinctly Australian perspective to a uniquely Asian comic-storytelling idiom. If the history of Australian comic books can be characterised by 'boom and bust' cycles, then it would appear that the industry (such as it is) has not yet recovered from the slump of the 1990s. Yet such a gloomy prognosis overlooks the work of myriad writers and artists whose passion for the medium remains undimmed and who are prepared to explore new ways of reaching their audience through this universally popular art form. Notes1 Ryan, John T, 'With the Comics – Down Under', Comics in Australia and New Zealand: The Collections, the Collectors, the Creators, Toby Burrows & Grant Stone, eds (New York, The Haworth Press, 1994). |
