Supanova Melbourne April 9-10 2011 + The List Volume III Launch

Last weekend's Supanova in Melbourne was the best Con I've been to yet. Well attended with Saturday's crowd about equal to both day's last year. I had a plum spot opposite the Auditorium where regular streams of folk would spill towards me after each panel. Met a lot of lovely folk that had read my work previously and I sold out of the 25 posters I had brought by early Sunday. I wish I had finished a new book as there were certain folk that had everything I've done. From the sounds of things everyone in artist alley were happy with the weekend's proceedings. The new larger shed was great for the size of the crowd that turned up. Still three or four more conventions this year I hope the rest are as good as this one. Special thanks to Trev Wood and Greg Gates for minding my table when I had to duck out.

Bruce Mutard, Greg Gates and Philip Bentley

Henry Pop, artist of the List, and some crazy homeless guy

The List Volume III Launch at Loop Bar followed Supanova on Saturday. Me and Bren rocked in as the speeches started. Mc'ed by Trev Wood, it was a tight affair with brief speeches from creators Writer - Paul Bedford, Penciler - Henry Pop and Inker - Tom Bonin and then an excellent audio visual presentation of key moments form the new book from Trev Wood. Culminating five years of work the fellas have pulled out all the stops in creating the final volume weighing in at just over 100 pages. The List team had a remastered version of Volume one at Supanova over the weekend and further down the track they'll be offering a collected version of all three volumes. 

 The first time Henry Pop has smiled since starting The List five years ago

Mighty congrats to the guys for seeing this labour of love through to the finish line. Anyone stupid enough to be making comics in a serious fashion knows the amount of work that goes into making a complete book, If you worked out an hourly rate it would be a pittance with the amount of time involved. I think it is very rare that an entire story is completed like this, so many creators burn out and give up after an issue or two. There are a lot of unfinished to be continued's in the comic book world. Check out The List here.

Buy The List online at Paul's Secret Sack

Gentleman Greg Gates and Boisterous Brendan Halyday

Handsome Trev Wood the Illustrative half of Sawbones

A few Sydney comikers were in town including Jan Scherpenhuizen of The Twilight Age

  

Animator and Cartoonist double threat Frank Candiloro and Brendan 'Bi' Halyday

 Bobby N, Darren Close and Tom Bonin. I won't give them nicknames cause each one of them could smash me with deadly force.

 Chris Sequeira tells Paul Bedford the Secrets of the Universe

Paul Abtruse in repose

Camberwell & Box Hill Haul #4

After a Saturday spent fine-tuning my pushbike I stumbled out of bed last Sunday to get out to the Camberwell market and the formerly Camberwell now in Box Hill Record/Comic Fair. Got to Camberwell, had a quick nose around and picked up 3 annuals Lion 1966, Lion 1967, and The Big Battle Annual for $4 a pop. Old adventure comics from the glory days of English comics. Also an Ayn Rand book I hadn't read, The Virtue of Selfishness, for $4. Then I jumped a train for a few stops to Box Hill.

Box Hill Record/Comic fair was quickly filling up when I got there. I slipped into the Comics room and picked up a few neat things. A couple Johnny Ryan books for $10 each from Mr Daniel Best and I took a punt of an English translation of a European album, Roxanna, for $5 from Mr Philip Bentley.

A bunch of other books I picked up for 40 cents to $2 each.

I'm probably the only person in the world that wants it but if someone started publishing everything Sergio Aragones has done in his prolific career I'd be in for the haul.

I picked up a Hanna Barbera Aussie reprint of Korg: 70,000 B.C in the back of a second hand book shop on Phillip Island last year and found another issue this weekend. These books are great, i think there are two of the original Charlton issues reprinted in each issue beautiful Pat Boyette work and garish recolouring. I'm a sucker for cavemen stories with Sci-Fi elements.

A few random Charlton comics and some funny animal and big foot cartooning books. I've been picking up the odd book of these here and there to pick up some flourishes for my own work.

An X-men annual that I really dug when I was a kid and could actually follow what was going on in these comics.

I liked Howard Chaykin's character Dominic Fortune from the few appearances he made when I was a kid and glad to pick up an issue of his precursor character The Scorpion for a $1.

I probably have a bunch of these already but for $1.50 they'll be good bedside reading/ birthday presents for my Nephews when they are a bit older.

A couple original cartoons by Neil Mcbeath at the Camberwell markets

A french man was selling half a dozen of these colour strips on thick card for about $500 the lot. Not sure of the artist but one of them was signed 'Peter'.

Record and Comic Aficionados at Box Hill

Camberwell Train Station