OZ Comics Newsletter

CD COMIC ANTHOLOGY BENEFIT GIG:
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Featuring Askii, Sqair, Cut Luse, Nat and VJ's, Simon Toobee and Space Angel plus many more. Thrusday the 20th April at the Planet Cafe, 386 Brunswick Street, Fitzroy. $3 VB/Carlton Colds between 7.30 and 8.30pm. Starts 8.30pm, $5/4.

Digital Media Collective
      The Digital Media Collective seeks to bring together diverse groups of young artists dedicated to the further development of multimedia and digital art within the community. Multimedia. Our aim is to produce a regularly published anthology of Multimedia comics, distributed annually via CD-rom.
     CDROM allow for a more complex marriage of animation and soundscapes that add another dimension to the traditional format of the graphic novel. It is the vision of the Digital Media Collective to foster creative talent within the digital arts and act as a launch pad for artists seeking to gain
exposure for their work.
      One of the primary objectives of the Digital Media Collective is to provide a necessary outlet for the work of emerging digital artists. The anthology will ideally function as a forum in which comic producers can develop and expand their ideas while gaining vital exposure to a mass audience. It is the vision of the Digital Media Collective to foster creative talent within the digital arts by creating a supportive atmosphere for artists with use of facilities and resources and also regular ideas, art and narrative workshops.
     The Digital Media Collective seeks to publish regular multimedia comic collections to be distributed both nationally and internationally and to also be shown as part of multimedia festival and art installations. The Digital Media Collective aims to expand the its comic network, globally, by including international artists within the anthology and international exchanges with comic collectives overseas, thus helping to put Melbourne on the map as a thriving centre for digital culture.
     The Media Arts Collective will be a bringing together of a variety of diverse artists; local, national and international, in a context where they can feel free to experiment with the largely untapped potential of this growing medium.

For more info email octapod@hotmail.com.
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K THOR JENSEN (Posthumous Warnings) is the new comics editor for UGO.com and he means business:

Pardon the new ID, I lost my password and changed my email address all at once. But that's not why I'm posting. I'm posting because I just started as Comics & Animation Editor for UGO Networks. And I'm trying to bring new comics affiliates into my network. I don't want to turn this into a big UGO-is-so-great schpiel but prior to joining the company, I ran a UGO network site (Portal of Evil) for six months and they have always paid me on time and been very good to me. So I'm looking for regularily updated comics
review and discussion sites interested in joining an advertising and promotion network, and I realize this makes me sound like some sort of business shill (and it feels weird to even be typing this) but here it is.

Heh.

Email: Thor@ugo.com

INDY ONLINE REVAMP: as opposed to the usual vamp. From our Rick Bradford:

Just a friendly note to let you know that the indy Magazine site has just been revamped. What this means is that the site looks better than ever and is much easier to navigate within. Also revamped was the message boards section, which is now powered by UltraBoard, message board software quite similar to the UBB software used by Comicon.com and The Comics Journal site.
It now looks better and is much easier to use, so it's a perfect time to come by and check it out.
Come share your thoughts, ask your questions, whatever, in forums designed specifically for readers of alternative comics of all styles and formats (heck, there's even a mini-comics forum moderated by yours truly).

NEW DISTRIBUTOR: MOIRA of MOON ROCKET writes:

um. hey everyone. i'm new.
i do a comic called 'life sucks', some zines and a zine/comic/music/d.i.y. distro called moon rocket which is currently looking for more comics.

Moira
wyrdass@ihug.co.nz
http://nutmeg.gen.nz/zines - zines
http://rocket.samizda.co.nz - moon rocket distribution
P.O. Box 7754, wellesley street, auckland, new zealand.

SANTA BARBARA ZINE FEST:

Hello,
      The third annual Santa Barbara Zine Fest is on its way! Come celebrate the wonderful world of independent, underground, small press and alternative publishing!
     Saturday, June 3, 2000 from 11am-6pm Goleta Community Center 5679 Hollister Avenue, Goleta, CA (10 minutes north of downtown SB) Free Admission!
Last year's fest included the creators of the comics Sweet, Exit at the Axis, Empty Life, Numb Skull, Time's Up, The Assassin and the Whiner and El Muerto.
Also on hand were representatives of the zines Wishbone, Force Yourself, Lummox Journal, Angerbox, Ooze Magazine, Cyanide, Seal Magazine, Have You Seen the Dog Lately?, Java Turtle, and Angry Thoreauan. Space is limited! Table rental is $13.00 (half table only)
     Last year we were able to give every single person that walked through the door a huge grab bag of zines, comics, and CD's. Send your zines, comics, flyers, stickers, etc. and get some free advertising for your publication!
For further info contact me at javat@silcom.com or visit http://www.javaturtle.com about reserving a table space or to have your stuff included in the grab bags.
Lynne Lowe
Java Turtle zine
blackgirl zine
PO Box 20028 Santa Barbara CA 93120

CALLS FOR SUBMISSIONS:
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VIRIDIAN GREENHOUSE DISASTER SYMBOL CONTEST
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     The effects of the Greenhouse are subtle and manifold. You may, for instance, find yourself drowning or losing your roof. Your streets are full of gushing smoke from distant forests. Dams break. Glaciers vanish. Wildlife mysteriously disappears. Your ghetto has a multi-day electrical blackout as summer heat spikes fill the emergency rooms. You might even go broke from rising insurance rates.
There's no easy and immediate way for a passer-by to connect these many disasters to their coherent source: the Greenhouse Effect. Imagine that you were puking and losing your hair. A handy Nuclear Radiation symbol would make causation quite clear. An outbreak of cultured anthrax downwind from a BioHazard symbol would be no big mystery, either. But a Greenhouse Disaster lacks a simple, striking logo.
     Since the health authorities are a little remiss in this matter, it's up to eager amateurs to make the invisible visible. This situation requires some very simple stencil, a wordless survival warning like a hobo's sign, that can be quickly chalked or sprayed onto a typical wrecked bridge or drowned beachhouse. This symbol should convey the useful message that this mishap is, in fact, no mishap. It is part-and-parcel of an ongoing Greenhouse crisis.
     This simple, multinational symbol should be especially suited for use in the Third World, where literacy rates are low, communication is spotty, infrastructure is limited and disasters are especially spectacular.
     Put your entry on the Web and send me the address. I will post it to the list. People who enter contests get a nice star <*> for their login name. The winner receives a 249-page, full-color copy of "ART AND SURVIVAL: The Illustrator and the Environment," sponsored by the United Nations Environmental Programme (in cooperation with Earth Island Institute and the Society of Illustrators). Foreword by Ray Bradbury, 1992.

This contest expires on May 31, 2000. More at http://www.viridiandesign.org . Or contact yours truly.

OXYGEN COMICS:
Recently KEN GROBE did a comic for the 'Oxygen' women's network website. (It's a big media push to set up a combination website/TV channel.) http://trackers.net/guyspy/lines/2000/feb_wk2_1.html
And he's gotten word that they're looking for more estrogen-enhanced cartoonists that are net-savvy. If that sounds like your sort of thing, drop 'em a line. Polite inquiries to Ken Grobe
Oxygen Cartoon archives: http://www.oxygen.com/read/archive/index.html

NOTABLES IN THE NEWS:

DILLON NAYLOR is moving to his mountain dream home and has finished an animated website game. Stay tuned for Pop Culture #4 this summer...

Word has it a new PLATINUM GRIT will be on the way soon.

RICK BRADFORD of POOPSHEET has his own message board. Good lord, everyone's got one now. http://pub8.ezboard.com/blancelotlinksloveshack.html.

LYNDA BARRY has some comics in SALON at http://www.salon.com/mwt/comics/barry/2000/04/07/demons1/index.html

WEEKSY UPDATE:
I'm gonna be leaving May 2 for Southeast Asia. If all goes as planned I won't be back for two years. First up is a stint in Jakarta with convivial comicist Athonk.
I should caution folks that the only email address I'll be using will be . Anything else will not reach me.
More adventures soon. I'm busy selling my car.

QUICKDRAW SUB-LICENSING: I've got a rep in Melbourne who is making copies of QuickDraw to help keep the Australian market satisfied. I've made a few extra sets of copy originals, and if you'd like to sell some issues of #4 in your own area, (and keep all the profits) get in touch with platypus26@hotmail.com. (Not a pyramid/multi-level marketing scheme.)

QUICKDRAW: THE BAND
     In the wake of such successful virtual projects such as the Viridian Movement and RTMARK, I'm assembling a similar vaporware project of my own.
It's "QuickDraw, The Band". Everyone respects musos. So I'll just steal their thunder a bit, and promote my comic to boot.
     There's a band, 'Ashtray Boy', which has both a Stateside and a Down Under lineup. I aim to better that. Sidney's Kylie Purr has already signed on.
Musical ability is not a prerequisite. But be warned that if I actually do make it to your city, we're gonna play. (Nothing too involved here, street busking is ok.) I'll be curious to see how many virtual lineups I can get.
     This is not to be confused with "Music From and Inspired by QuickDraw", which is a wholly different project. Thanks to the ubiquity of CD-Rom burners, things are looking up for that one.

Wondering what the new crop of Xeric fundees looks like? Check out Leela Corman's stuff at:
http://www.glittercannon.com
http://www.thecomicstore.com/merchant/leelacorman.htm
http://www.tcj.com/messboard/ubb/Forum3/HTML/000215.html

COMICS WEBSITES
     Okay, so I'll be traveling and won't have the convenience of a mind-numbing office job to compose the Weeksy Newsletter. Which means if you want news and gossip you'll have to search it out yourself.
     But it's not that hard. I've got a few web thingers 'bookmarked' that I check out when I'm bored. Let's see what's on the list:

The Comics Journal
Message Boards are "like crack", says Kim Thompson.

Comics Australia Message Boards
Surprisingly civil & sporadic discussion.

aus.arts.comics
Pitiable, low volume, occasionally informative newsgroup.

rec.arts.comics.alternative
Occasionally informative largely Stateside newsgroup.

alt.zines
Information laden flame laden small press newsgroup.

Comics As Fine Art
Happening low volume alt.comics group.

Zines List
Most of the Oz zinesters are here.

National Young Writers' Festival Discussion Group
Pretty much the same folks as the zines group.

Black River Digital
New Zealand Comics.

READING:
Lonely Planet: Java
English Teaching Abroad
Tales from the Great Unspoken - Aaron Augenblick.
Fawn Gehwiler's stuff.
http://home.earthlink.net/%7Ebombpopusa/index.html

DATES TO REMEMBER:

Events

San Diego Comic-Con July 20-23
Small Press Expo Sept 15-17
National Young Writers' Festival (Newcastle) October 6-9
Electrofringe October 6-9
SPLAT! Sydney Comix Exhibition Late October

Submission Deadlines:
Satan Lives with Me April 28
ISEA submissions April 30
Ignatz Awards July 8th
Untold.net Ongoing

Newsletter archived at:
http://pub3.ezboard.com/fcomicsaustraliaannounce.showMessage?topicID=7.topic
and http://www.silverbulletcomicbooks.com