Let us not begin to cast around idle accusations about who forgot to update whose blog. For, my friends, that path can only lead us unto sorrowful reflection. Let us instead resist the temptation to busy ourselves with dates and numbers, and instead let us join together in a spirit of fellowship and not blame me. Solidarity, comrades!
And I suppose I could also carry on my bright idea of a series of thematic catch-up posts. Today: comics.
Through a process confusing both to me and to those around me, I seem to have become the new Editor for Funtime Comics. I am the third editor. The first appeared sometime back in the early 1990s, although I am inclined to doubt his existence due to never having met him, and the fact that he is referred to by the suspiciously-convenient name “Ed”. It seems more likely to me that he is a sort of Jungian archetype representing the ur-Editor in us all, so that each of us may be said to possess the potentiality to become Ed, should we ever be called upon to do so. Darren Schroeder was one who was so called, and he served as Funtime Editor for many years, developing the counter-intuitive but powerful philosophy of editing-by-not-editing that made Funtime what it is, which is a small-press comics publisher that prints pretty much anything we’re given.
Getting an issue prepared and printed has proven to be a difficult job, but I can now report that our 22nd issue, Funtime Comics Presents: Rare Window, is done. I have a couple of boxes of it beside my desk, and intend shortly to begin the process of distribution.
I’m rather proud of the layout and design. Shifting to an all-digital printing process has saved some money, and also resulted in a more consistent appearance, with all the pages having the same margins.
Back in April, I went to Wellington to attend the New Zealand Comics Weekend. This year it was held at a pub, which worked out rather well. We sat and drew and sold each other comics. Bob Gibbons gave an excellent presentation telling his own life story with particular reference to the comics he encountered at various stages, and revealing much about how he became a punk headmaster, which ought really to be everyone’s life ambition. I hope to see “My Life With Comics” become an annual event at the Comics Weekend.
More recently, Bob and Jared Lane and I spent a very relaxed weekend in a house at Purau Bay, drawing comics and eating roast chicken. I completed a brief piece set in Dylan Horrocks’ Hicksville milieu, and made some progress on Glop, but the main work was a traditional Funtime long-form jam comic. We’ve tried many approaches to collective comics-making in the past, but I think this has been our best effort so far. We began by each producing several pages on our own to introduce the characters and setting we wanted to use, then switched to taking turns pencilling three panels at a time, advancing the story as we went. Said story is set in an alternate future New Zealand in which the civil service bureaucracy of the 1970s still reigns supreme, and star cross’d lovers battle to stop the outbreak of war between the Ministry of Works and the Ministry of Railways. Also, there is a giant robot shaped like a lobster. It remains unfinished at this point, but I’m sure we’ll bring it out again at future Funtime workshops.
I am still, occasionally, working on my Big Hicksville Story, now tentatively named “There is a Light that Never Goes Out”, after the Smiths song of the same name. I’ve been trying to take a very structured approach to this project, dividing the various artistic roles of comics production and performing them strictly in order, completing each before moving to the next. Thus far I have written a full script for the story, running to about forty pages, and am now about halfway through sketching thumbnail layouts for each page. I’m enjoying the change in pace from my normal haphazard methods.