Local Comic Creator Day April 2021

 

Local Comic Creator Day April 2021

You know when things are getting back to pre-COVID normal when people can come together to celebrate their hobbies and interests that are not related to a church or a sporting event.

Before the pandemic, Melbourne was awash with exhibitions, conventions and “swap meets”. There wasn’t a weekend that went by that didn’t have some event scheduled. Antiques, quilting, cars, toys, records, cards, many bundled together as collectables fairs. Some of the biggest of these events (along with the quilting and home shows) were the pop culture conventions. Events like Supanova, Pax and Oz ComiCon are annual shows that ran the whole weekend including Friday and attracted 20000 people a day. Ironically, the venues where these shows are usually held -The Exhibition building and Centre-are now the venues for the mass COVID vaccinations.

As well as these 3 massive pop culture conventions were several smaller lowkey versions, but as the big ones became larger and more expensive to be part of, or enter, the smaller ones became dominated by Identity Politics and became somewhat exclusive.

So, after everything shut down Alternate Worlds co-owner Joe Italiano entertained the idea of running his own comic convention when things began to return to some

Joe (Left) & Peter Hughes- owners of AW

semblance of normal. Joe had had experiences with such a task as he and a group of friends were responsible for one of the first comic conventions in Australia in the late 1970s. His idea was simple, a small comic creator convention where local artist and publishers could present to the public, similar to his original concept. The larger conventions like those mentioned earlier had become bloated circus’ full of merchandise, cosplay (where fans dress as their favourite characters) and last chance arenas for near-forgotten actors from once popular shows that were cancelled decades ago. It had got to the point where comic creators were allocated an area in the corner, sometimes in a separate building from the main event. Joe wanted to get back to basics. COVID set the scene for this to happen.

 On April 17, Melbourne had its first comic convention in nearly 18 months at Alternate Worlds in Bayswater. Under the more accurate title Local Comic Creator Day.

So, like the fanboy I am, I strolled down the road to pay it a visit.

Gerald Carr

It goes a lot towards a show’s credibility when the calibre of the talent attending is bordering on legendary.  Foremost was veteran cartoonist Gerald Carr, winner of The Jim Russell Award, given by the Australian Cartoonists' Association for significant contribution to Australian Cartooning and the 2019  Ledger of Honour recipient. (the Ledgers being the OZ Comic Industry’s equivalent of the Oscars). With him, he had samples of his work that spanned nearly 60 years.

 

Gary Dellar of Reverie

Coming all the way from Sunbury was Gary Dellar publisher of Reverie comics whose first publications came out in the early 1980s, Gary had recently revived the publishing house after a long hiatus and is now producing a high volume of titles that include some of Australia’s greatest and newest talent. Some which he shared the table with artist and writers like Rob Lisle, Peter Lawson, Haydn Spurrel and George Hall. Also among the older crew were bona fide underground comic royalty Steve Carter and Antoinette Ryder, collectively known as SCAR who appeared in just about every major publication in Australia, as well as several international titles and have the dubious honour of being banned by the Bjelke -Petersen Government in the 1980s. Amongst this lot was Darren Close, whose creation Killer Roo is one of the more popular and best-selling titles in Australian comics for the last 10 years. These and many other up and coming creators were more than generous with their time.

As the show was being held in the warehouse adjacent to the Alternative Worlds shop, space was at a premium, but it added to the cosy atmosphere and the shop still managed to set up a display of classic Australian comics and magazines, some worth several hundred dollars and important parts of this country’s publishing history. I will admit it was a nice change not being surrounded by 50 stalls selling Pop Vinyl figures and dodging people dressed up as the Hulk, Thor and Spiderman or 25 different girls dressed as Sailor Moon in every aisle.

It was pleasant to go back to the roots of the comic convention scene, to meet the creators and check out their work. Because I know in a year or two it will be back to full bore circus mode.