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HISTORY

At first Australian comics copied British comic papers until its first comic book ''The Kookaburra'' appeared in 1931.

Several early uniquely Australian comics had wide circulation and enjoyed long runs. Probably the most famous is the Comic Strip '' Ginger Meggs '', created in 1921 by Jimmy Bancks which still runs in syndication to this day (with new artists, of course). Bancks published the first of the Ginger Meggs Annuals in 1924, and they were to continue for the next 35 years. For a more recent example, Dillon Naylor 's '' Da 'n Dill '' has been running in one form or another since 1993.

Because of its contribution to winning the Second World War, Australia incurred a huge national debt: local publishers found they had a captive market as import restrictions were enforced, at the same time the modern American style comic book (mostly sans color) was adopted. In its Golden Age Australian talent produced exciting creations such as '' Captain Atom '', '' The Panther '', '' The Scorpion '', ''The Raven'', '' The Mask '' and many others. Later, in the Seventies, '' Vixen '' became Australia's first comic book super heroine. However, the longest best-selling and longest running Comic Book in Australia is a local Fortnight ly publication of '' The Phantom '' by Frew Publications . First published in 1948 more than 1500 issues have been released in the series. Although mostly reprints, the comic does occasionally include original work by local creators.

Since the 1940s, and particularly in the 1970s, many local reprints and translations of English, European and both North and South American comics were published in Australia. Since the 1980s there have been fewer local reprints and more direct importing of foreign comics.

Alongside the reprints and imports there has been a long tradition of Australian made comics, though many of these were clones of, or occasionally parodies of, foreign, mostly US, comic books. After the arrival of television in 1956 the market began to dry up causing many publishers to fold, by the early Sixties the comic industry faded. Gerald Carr revived the Australian adventure style comic book in 1974 with the best selling ''Vampire!'' during the horror comic boom, followed by ''Brainmaster and Vixen'' (1977} and ''Fire Fang'' {1982).

In the mid 1980s many anthology comics titles appeared, forming the basis for the modern Australian self-publishing community. Three notable ones were ''Fox Comics'', which began in Melbourne in 1985 and lasted for 5 years and 26 issues. ''Phantastique'' from Sydney in 1986 lasted only 4 issues, as it was in the style of Underground Comix but with mainstream distribution - it generated national publicity from opponents Fred Nile and John Laws . '' Cyclone! '' also from Sydney in 1985 was a more traditional Superhero comic with an Australian flavour, it ran for 8 issues as an anthology and then another 8 as ''Southern Squadron'' focusing on its most popular feature (plus other spin offs and a 1990s revival - over 30 related comics were published in the series).

Other long running popular Australian comic books include '' Hairbutt The Hippo '' (1989) and '' Platinum Grit '' (1993), which are still being published by their creators today.


AUSTRALIAN COMIC BOOK PUBLISHERS


The current comic scene in Australia is driven by self publishers who create, print and distribute their own books, there are a few publishers who will publish the work of others



AUSTRALIAN EDITORIAL CARTOONISTS



AWARDS


  • The ''OzCon Awards'' were also an important recognition of Australian comic creators from their inception in 1991, until the OzCons ceased.




24 HOUR COMICS CHALLENGE

Each year on the . The challenge moved there when OzComics closed shop in 2004. The event gathers some of the best Australian comic talent in a frenzy of art (past winners have included Nate Soehardi , Doug Holgate , Jase Harper , and Michael Li ), and has categories for 8, 16 and 24 page comics, both general and mature.


FORUMS

With the advent of online forums, the Australian community has found the way to join its disparate areas. The and have become the dominant online forum for Australian creators and fans.
Recently, with the emerging popularity of the Manga genre of comics in Australia, OzTAKU created a forum for Australian artists and fans of the Manga genre, regardless of whether or not they are printed with OzTAKU in its publishing capacity.


CONVENTIONS


  • The first true Australian Comic Convention was ''Comicon I'' (1979) held at RMIT in Melbourne . ''Comicon II'' (1980) followed at the Sheraton Hotel in Melbourne and ''Comicon III'' (1981) was held in Sydney.


  • The much larger ''Australian Comic-Book Convention'', was held on 16th-18th January 1986, at the Sydney Opera House , featuring international guests for the first time including Will Eisner and Jim Steranko . It was the forerunner of the many later ''OzCon'' conventions held from 1992 to 1998 in Sydney, with an additional event in Melbourne in 1997, and the ''comicfest!'' events, again in Sydney from 2000 to 2002, before the concept was expanded into...


  • Supanova , Australia's largest con. Held in Sydney and Brisbane each year since 2002 and 2003 respectively. It features a mix, in addition to Comic-Books, of current TV Pop Cultures, from Science Fiction & Fantasy to Anime & Manga. It features special guest comic-book writers and artists and actors from currently in vogue series, movies and anime as well as special effects workers.


  • DoujiCon (pronounced 'dodgy con') Self-publishing comic/art/manga/animation convention held in Melbourne. First held in 2006.



CREATORS

Australian comic book, strip and cartoon artists and writers:



REFERENCES


  • Patrick, Kevin. ''Heroes & villains: Australian comics and their creators''. Melbourne: State Library of Victoria, 2006. ISBN 0-9775064-4-4


  • ''Bonzer : Australian comics 1900-1990s,'' edited by Annette Shiell; checklist compiled by Mick Stone. Redhill South, Vic. : Elgua Media, 1998. ISBN 1-876677-00-7 / 1876677066


  • Ryan, John. ''Panel by panel: a history of Australian comics''. Stanmore, N.S.W.: Cassell Australia, 1979. ISBN 0-7269-7376-9



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