Recently, as I was walking along Dorset Square one Saturday morning on the my way to the cinema, I passed an innocuous sandwich board sign.
It sat on the path along with a couple of other similar signs and was there to promote a shop down one of the arcades that lead onto Dorset road.
It wasn’t until I had a closer look and read it that I thought “That looks interesting”. Peering down into the arcade, the bright sunlight playing
tricks on the eyes made it seem a lot darker than normal and all I could make out was a figure about half way down.
As I ventured down and as my eyes adjusted , closer inspection revealed a mannequin dressed as a zombie nurse reaching out with one flesh less
skeletal arm and a mouth dripping with blood, around her neck was a sign stating: COME IN, WE’RE DEAD.
How could I resist.
I walked into a small shop space whose décor could only be described as early dungeon and the walls were adorned with all kinds of oddities: severed body parts,
mounted heads and some recognizable icons from famous horror movies.
Danny Wale
Welcome to GORE FX. A shop full of all things macabre whether it be masks, statues or something to freak out unwanted visitors for your mantelpiece.
Proprietor and local resident Danny Wale opened Gore Fx just before Christmas 2015 after the demand of making and selling his creations from home became
too much of a strain on his space and privacy and it has proven to be a successful decision.
A massive fan of the horror genre Danny has always had the passion and skills to create his models and about nine years ago decided to explore doing
it as something more than a hobby and six years ago started selling and hiring out pieces through a website. Totally self-taught Danny is a creator of
some skill and produces all items himself. This includes design, sculpture, mold making for latex masks and statues as well as painting and finishing
techniques. He will often be seen working on one of his creations behind the counter.
Most of Danny’s work begins with a sculpture either out of a special modelling clay called Clayette or the more common Wed Clay which very popular with
all the major special effects houses in Hollywood. A piece may take Danny anywhere between three and twelve hours and each piece is as individual as a
snowflake due to the variations in the handmade process and painting.
A look around his shop will find it is filled with oddities that pay tribute to some of the more popular horror franchisee as well as collectable items
such as body parts in jars, heads on plates or simply necklaces adorned with severed fingers.
Sample of some of the works hanging in the shop.
Danny also promotes his unique products at the popular culture conventions and has had his pieces used in movies as well as music videos and album covers. He also is often asked to commissions from private clients.
Many older readers might think who would be interested in this sort of morbidity, but horror has always been big business with directors like
Lord of the Rings’ Peter Jackson and Spiderman’s Sam Raimi both getting their start in low budget “slasher” films. Zombies are big business with
TVs the Walking Dead and movies like Shaun of the Dead, Zombieland and WWZ doing huge business. Did you know that nearly every major city in Australia
has at least one Zombie walk where on a certain weekend up to five thousand fans dress up rather extravagant make up and clothes and stagger through the
streets for fun? There is quite a subculture of horror fans that you’d be quite surprised how popular the genre and its related areas really are and
have been for many years.
Having a unique shop like Gore Fx gives a break to the same old stores we expect to see around Boronia and brings people from outside the area to shop.
It’s exciting to see something a little bit different and I dare you to have a look for yourself. You can visit Gore Fx most Saturdays at this point in
time at Shop 10 AEC Arcade in Boronia or visit the Facebook page at www.facebook.com/gorefx for updates. I double dare ya.
Life like hearts
Danny and Model
Mini zombie busts
Mini skulls
Sculpture in the works
Mounted horror
originally published in the BBCN issue 244 May 2016
RETRO SCI-FI Vol. 3
This week end at the Adelaide OZ ComicCon Dark Oz is releasing 2 titles: DECAY No.21 and Retro Sci-Fi Volume 3. Carlos Angeli and I team up again to have a bit of fun in the Space Opera spoof Foe Killer Jones And The Vortex OF Discovery (a more pretentious title I could never ever think of again) Darren Koziol will be selling copies at the Dark Oz stall and also the following weekend in Melbourne at the Supanova convention which is being held at the Exhibition Centre.
If you can't make the cons and you want to buy a copy, you can go on line and purchase them at www.darkoz.com.au
Here is a sample of my story and the covers (including DECAY variant) of the new releases.
Ryan K Lindsay is an Australian comic book writer essayist and teacher with a passion for the craft of comic book creation. His works include FATHERHOOD, DEER EDITOR AND NEGATIVE SPACE – the latter, published by Dark Horse is currently approaching its final issue of a four comic arc.
Ryan is so passionate about his craft that he is an invaluable source of information for the new comer to the game who is looking for the basic where to and what for in comic book creating , especially when it comes to writing. Whether it be scripting, pitching or even dairy keeping for your future ideas you can bet RKL has written on the topic.
A great place to start is by subscribing to his weekly newsletter- THE TWO FISTED HOMEOPAPE-where he gives updates of his own works in progress, other projects of note and links to fun or free stuff as well as information related to writing and creating comics.
Negative Space art by Owen Gieni
Ryan currently has a KICKSTARTER in progress and for a mere AU$3 you can help fund Part Two of the DEER EDITOR series but also receive a plethora of free stuff. Unlike most U,S or other overseas fund raisers this KICKSTARTER is a digital download only and with the OZ dollar where it is at the moment negates the massive delivery costs that make most crowd funding very unattractive at the moment.
Check it out the links below and enjoy the knowledge of someone who has made it and like the teacher that he is in real life willing to share his experience.
Comics in the works.
2016 is shaping up to be a good one with two of my stories ear marked for release this year.
FoeKiller Jones a swashbuckling tale drawn by talented Argentinian artist Carlos Angeli is due for release next month (April 2016) in Retro SciFi No.3 from Dark Oz publishing.
Two sneaky samples from FoeKiller Jones a Flash Gordon type hero and his long suffering technical assistant.
Back in the early 1970s my brother and I were always drawing and doodling. We were both huge DC fans thanks to our father and the black and white licensed K G Murray reprints readily available from nearby Gordon and Gotch. This love affair took a turn for the dark side when we discovered US underground titles such as the Furry Freak Brothers, Zap, Harold Hedd and Dopin' Dan comix. The more we read the more we wanted to produce our own comic like our heroes Gilbert Shelton, Rand Holmes, Paul Mavrides, Ted Richards and Robert Crumb- to name a few.So, in the early 1980s thanks to the influence and proliferation of 'zines both of the musical and graphic type we decided to start on our own self published title WOMCAT COMICZ. The more punky spelling due to our musical influences of the time. Joe was a far better cartoonist than I and was quite prolific. Below is one of the few pieces we collaborated on.
We had great ambitions of selling truckloads at the Monash University Small Cafe and the Notting Hill pub, but after all the hassle of finally getting it printed we lost interest for a number of reasons and boxes of the comic were stacked in Mum's garage. Since that was also the venue of our weekly darts night for a few years we slowly gave them away to anyone who showed an interest. That interest waned (quite quickly) and we all literally moved on. Sometime in 2006 Mum sold the house and the remaining boxes were taken to the tip with all the other crap in the now disused and rubbish filled garage.
The contents are a product of the times and most of the stories these days would have us crucified on social media by the jackbooted sook parade. But all these years later as a father and more enlightened soul I cringe when I reread some of the stories.
Note: The comic was 32 pages with one main story the LEGENDS OF THE DREAM TIME running 17 pages with a 3 panel RAT TALES running along the bottom of most pages . This was a direct influence from Gilbert Shelton's Furry Freak Brothers and his Fat Freddie's' Cat stories. The balance of the content were several single and two page parody pieces influenced by MAD magazine. The cover was a parody of the Life Be In It campaign ran at the time.The silly fishes were put in by the printer for no reason we could think of and without permission. The inside contents were black and white on newsprint.
When I think of Bowie, I think of my childhood growing up in
outer suburban Melbourne. It was a
wasteland for potential and violence in equal measure. Skinheads (or sharpies depending
on your era) ruled. A unique Australian cultural and fashion trend that
appealed to the baby boomers sense of tribal wellbeing. There was safety in
numbers when you didn’t know what your future would be. There was war, there
was pollution and overpopulation being whispered into every teenager’s ear as
the media was beginning to realise the potential of the spending power and the
use of manipulation of this new generation who were clearly a world apart from
their elders.
Music was loud basic and had stagnated. Australia at the
time was Boogie, Thorpy “suck more piss” and radio bans.
Then there was Bowie.
Beautiful Bowie, the one the girls all loved and wanted to
make love to and all the boys wanted to be him because of…well… the former.
The one thing I realised many years later, these fans who
are all now nearing their sixties were being manipulated by the master. Back in
the feral mid 1970s anyone who dressed like Bowie Ziggy/Aladdin Sane era with
tight body suits, make up and effeminate poses was an obvious “poofta” Gay was
a word seldom used those days, queer maybe because it sounded harsher and there
was always the ubiquitous “faggot”. But Bowie –bless him- could do anything.
The girls loved him, the boys wanted to be him so excuses had to be made.
Choices and opinions had to be formed. If Bowie is a poof then poofta’s must be
OK.
Right?
Here was a pop star that changed music, popular culture and opinion
because he could read the kids. The fact that those kids were half a world away
in a country he had yet to visit but would go on to record , temporarily live in
and tour seven times endeared him to us.
David Bowie helped change popular conceptions and take on
sacred cows, he made the kids think.
Change was good.
Ironically fans don’t always want change and want their
heroes to create the same music that they associate a certain period of their
lives with. Thus Bowie’s wide fan base stretching over so many years and
identities, he had so many disappointed fans that hated him but forgave him,
hoping he’d turn around and come back to them musically one day.
Bowie’s appeal goes on and on; he was around when the
Beatles were still together and still made music literally till his last dying breath.
His longevity made him more relevant than the touring joke that are (and his
great friends) the Rolling Stones. He changed so that he didn’t become a parody
of himself. Making new music and trying to connect.
Bowie will always be cool, beautiful and relevant and most
importantly teaching us something about ourselves. No matter how old we are or
think we are.
Another year another Christmas.
The two links are some memories of Redbubble - the art site- when it was more interactive and before it was destroyed by Facebook and fucking morons who shouldn't be allowed near computers or sharp objects.
Once upon a time I was a member of a flourishing group called FLASH FICTION. it was full of happy people sharing their stories that were never allowed more than 150 words.
Occasionally the group set a challenge and more often than not attracted some great works and a lot of fun interaction.
I picked two of my all time favourites.
You'll need to scroll and click a bit but you'll find some great stories and comments.
As a foot note, this year the Museum of Words, a Spanish literary society held it's annual Flash Fiction (Micro Story) contest. After nearly nine months the winners were announced and most people who write Flash Fiction were quite disappointed. Mainly because they believe the discipline of the art is that a piece of Flash must be a self contained story with a beginning a middle and an end. All the winners of this years main prizes were vignettes at best. The works included in these links are the real deal.
Merry Christmas.
