BLACK MERMAID PRODUCTIONS™

Mermaid Treasures 21

2012-01-23T23:37:00.001+11:00

Received this delightful mermaid Christmas ornament from my sister. Tanya had spotted this green haired beauty in New Orleans during a holiday in the USA last year. This green haired, green tailed mermaid treasure is hanging on the Christmas tree in the photo but now she's permanently installed in my office.

"Women in Comics" Radio Interview

2012-01-23T22:54:00.001+11:00

Producer and presenter Sonja Souter from Radio Joy 94.9 in Melbourne interviewed BMP Director Julie Ditrich for a "Women in Comics" segment on the "Sci Fi and Squeam" show. The show airs tomorrow – Tuesday 24 January 2012 – at 10:00pm. If you want to listen to the podcast, then CLICK HERE. If you want to read more about the program, check out the BLOG here.

Oz Comic-Con Controversy Reigns Supreme

2012-01-16T10:14:00.002+11:00

Big debate raging on the brand confusion over the inaugural Oz Comic-Con to be held in Adelaide in March 2012 and its relationship to the San Diego Comic-Con. There apparently is none and it was never promoted as such but people are making the assumption that the US mob is also organising the local one. The answer is a big fat no. Having said that, we confess to having believed this to be true based on some articles we read until we corrected this misconception after reading a statement to the contrary on the Oz Comic-Con FaceBook page. In the meantime some commentators are not prepared to let this go and are weighing in heavily with their points-of-view in an online exposé. We're not going to quote from it and we have no position on it as we don't know all the facts. But we think it's important enough to flag and leave you to make up your own minds. Check out the full story on the Gizmodo Australia website. The comments are interesting as well.

Downton Abbey Mermaid

2012-01-16T09:47:00.001+11:00

Loved this Downton Abbey parody when I watched it on YouTube last night but didn't expect to encounter a mermaid ... watch carefully and you'll spot her about half to two thirds of the way through during the greeting the "maid" scene. Great cast – Kim Cattrall, Simon Callow, Jennifer Saunders ...

New Birthday Black Mermaid™ Range Launched

2012-01-15T17:03:00.003+11:00

We've answered your call and have just launched the first EVER design in our new Birthday Black Mermaid™ range of clothing and collectibles. Like the other celebration lines, we'll be launching one design in this series a year. We know we're releasing it close after the new Valentine "Ace of Hearts" design, however, we didn't want anybody with a birthday in January to miss out! We've got the same product line as the other ranges but we suspect it will be the greeting cards – which can double up as birthday cards – that will be the most popular. Jozef did an alternate take on the customary birthday cake and presents (that may come next year!) and decided to bring you a big fat orange balloon instead. The design is called "Balloon Day" and she can be found at the Black Mermaid™ Boutique.

Colleen Doran and the Black Mermaids at Comics Masterclass

2012-01-15T16:42:00.002+11:00

Received the full Comics Masterclass pic disk from the Australian Society of Authors (ASA) a couple of days ago and we've been troweling through all the photos to find new ones to put online on the Comics Masterclass FaceBook page and onto the Comics Masterclass Spotlight ezine (you can SUBSCRIBE HERE if you want to start receiving it). We did a Comics Masterclass wrap up post last month but LOVED this pic of Colleen Doran and us (Jozef Szekeres and Julie Ditrich) at a morning tea break on the first day on the balcony which served as the green room. Outside of our official Black Mermaid™ logo character, we are also known as the Black Mermaids in the trade, hence the title of this post. BTW, the morning tea was scrumptious! [Photo credit: Ali Hand]

Valentine Black Mermaid™ (Ace of Hearts) Launched

2012-01-09T21:44:00.000+11:00

You may have noticed our new Valentine Black Mermaid™ design in the right hand column of this blog, as well as on our Black Mermaid FaceBook page profile pic for the last few days. She's not the Queen of Hearts as one would expect but the "Ace of Hearts" – top of the playing card totem pole, top of the hierarchy – and she beats the Queen hands down in the love stakes. If you want to check out our latest offerings with this design then go to the Black Mermaid™ Boutique. On another note, for the collectors out there who regularly buy product from the shop, we're letting you know that we will be deleting the apron range in the next week and adding a new suede cushion, which will feature alongside the twill and canvas throw pillow. We recently bought the new suede cushion with some other branding on it and absolutely LOVED it. Feels great and looks great!

WaveDancers Flashback!

2012-01-09T21:03:00.000+11:00

If you've been reading this blog lately you'd know that Jozef recently had his first solo art exhibition in Sydney. This was also the first time Jozef released his comics art for sale – including his ElfQuest: WaveDancers art – which included several original painted covers from the six part series. US collector, Corey Dalton, scooped up one of the covers prior to the launch of the exhibition. After everything was packed up and sent off, Jozef – being the curious creature that he is – asked Corey why he had chosen that particular piece. This is what Corey had to say:

I chose to buy the original cover art for WaveDancers issue six for a couple of reasons. First off, all of the cover images for the WaveDancers series are burned into my brain because I was an impressionable kid when the series was originally published. I remember snapping up each new issue on the day of its release and then rushing home to read (and re-read) it. Of the covers, I was always particularly fond of the Winnowill one because it was so intriguing—was she being pushed over the cliff or being pulled away from the edge? The cover tells an entire story in one image! People who see the cover on my wall but have no idea what the comic book was about will still get a little narrative on top of the gorgeous art.

Elf~Fin Leaks and Peeks 22

2012-01-03T22:23:00.003+11:00

We previewed two painted pages in progress from the last half of the first issue of Elf~Fin: Hyfus & Tilaweed in Elf~Fin Leaks and Peeks 21 (phew... that's a mouthful!). The first two issues in the series will be released officially later on this year. Jozef's just finished one of the pages so we thought we might show you two of the painted panels sans lettering (no dialogue leaks... you'll have to read the full issue to find out what's happening, although readers in possession of the Limited Edition Preview will have a PRETTY good idea about what's going on. More snapshots coming soon!

Bette Midler's Mermaid Quote of the Year

2012-01-02T06:00:00.000+11:00

Yesterday's Sun Herald Celebrity column ran a story called "Stars who said too much" by Lenny Ann Low. Thought you might want to check out the deconstructed famous 2012 Bette Midler mermaid quote, which gave us a laugh.

"I've been doing singing mermaid in a wheelchair since 1980. You can keep the meat dress and the firecracker tits – mermaid's mine." BETTE MIDLER, on Twitter, telling Lady Gaga that her performance in a Sydney nightclub was not so original.

Translation "I was a loopily dressed, outrageous singing diva way before you, sunshine."

The fallout Gaga said she had no idea Midler had created a mermaid in a wheelchair act previously. "I couldn't hop around in that tail so I just stuck myself in a wheelchair," she said.

Midler added that she wasn't irked by Gaga's performance: "[L]et's drink this over at the Emmys in September," she tweeted. "Fabulous mermaids can coexist!"

We learnt Loopily dressed outrageous singing divas share a spooky artistic synchronicity. We eagerly await Gaga stradding a naval cannon – a la Cher – or balletically flinging herseld around the misty British countryside in homage to Kate Bush's Wuthering Heights video.

Want to check out the original singing landlubber mermaid diva herself, then watch this video (Julie saw The Divine Miss M in concert in Australia many years ago and also has many of her original records in her music collection!) As far as we're concerned, Bette Midler was the original and best singing mermaid stage superstar!

Aussie Comic Convention Circuit 2012 [UPDATED 16/01/12]

2012-01-01T06:00:00.000+11:00

As per our usual New Year's Day practice, our first blog post of the year seeks to help Aussie comikers plan their annual convention circuit. So here's a summary of the 2012 Australian Comics Convention Circuit (including several important international ones) for your diaries:

The Home Cooked Comics Festival (Northcote, Melbourne): 28 January 2012 (Batman Park)

Oz ComicCon (Adelaide): 21 March-1 April 2012 (Goyder Pavillion)

[NOTE: There will also be an Oz ComicCon in Melbourne but the dates still need to be confirmed]

Supanova (Melbourne): 13-15 April 2012 (Melbourne Showgrounds)

Supanova (Gold Coast): 20-22 April 2012 (Gold Coast Convention and Exhibition Centre)

Supanova (Sydney): 15-17 June 2012 (The Dome, Olympic Park)

Supanova (Perth): 22-24 June 2012 (Claremont Showgrounds)

SMASH (Sydney): 14 July 2012 (Sydney Convention and Exhibition Centre)

San Diego ComicCon (USA): 12-15 July 2011 (San Diego Convention Center, California)

New York ComicCon (USA): 11-14 October 2012 (Jacob J Javits Center, New York City)

Armageddon (Melbourne): 13-14 October (Melbourne Exhibition Centre)

Australian Cartoonists' Association (ACA) Stanley Awards and Conference (Newcastle): October 2012 Dates TBA (Venue TBA)

Supanova (Brisbane): 9-11 November 2012 (RNA Showgrounds)

GRAPHIC (Sydney): 9-11 November 2012 (Sydney Opera House)
Supanova (Adelaide): 16-18 November 2012 (Adelaide Showgrounds)

Central Coast POPCON (NSW Central Coast): Dates TBA (Venue TBA)

This post will be updated with new information as it emerges. Please note that some of the website links have yet to post information on their 2012 events.

Merry Xmas One and All!

2011-12-20T17:12:00.000+11:00

BMP is signing off for the year and we want to wish all our blog and Elf~Fin readers (as well as Black Mermaid followers!) a very Merry Xmas and a wonderful New Year celebration. Looking forward to talking to you once again in 2012!
Jozef and Julie
xoxo

Mermaid Treasures 20

2011-12-18T11:22:00.000+11:00

Somebody gave me this lovely smiley little mermaid bookmark a few years ago. I don't use her as such – I actually have her sitting in and peering out of the pen holder on my desk in my office. What a cutie ...

A Recommended Not-So-Christmasy Politically Incorrect Graphic Novel Christmas Present – The Sixsmiths

2011-12-16T11:32:00.003+11:00

Black Mermaid has been very very bad this year ... in the reading department that is. One of the things both Jozef and I like to do is buy new Aussie comic books and graphic novels offerings every time we hit the Supanova circuit. Alas, I got far behind in my reading this year. The result is a thigh-high pile of books by my bedside that I desperately wanted to read but couldn't through lack of time and fatigue. During those nights where I would actually start reading, I would often fall asleep mid-sentence or page only to wake up with a start when the book slipped from my hand and clattered onto the floor.

Now that the major workload is over, I picked up Jason Franks' and J Marc Schmidt's The Sixsmiths published by SLG Publishing (USA), which I had bought back in February / March of this year.

All I can say is I'm glad I did. What a great find.

Now the purpose of this blog is not to review books or comics, and indeed we're not in the business of reviews. However, occasionally we like to share a positive reading experience with our readers so that you may be inclined to try them out...

And I certainly had a positive reading experience with this Aussie graphic novel.

The Sixsmiths is the story about a loving family that goes through many of the same life challenges that we do – unemployment, first day at a new job and a new school, lost dogs in the park, church on Sunday ... it sounds mundane but it's not. The important detail I haven't mentioned yet, is that this is a family that worships at the altar of the Dark Lord. No, not Voldemort... but Lucifer. This is, in fact, a story about a family of Satanists.

Strange as it may sound because I am personally adverse to having anything to do with dark supernatural forces, this is actually a charming story that gently unfolds with a natural rhythm through sixteen digestible and some emotionally charged chapters. If I had to summarise it in a sentence I would say it's like " The Simpsons meeting the Osbournes!"

I started off with trepidation and there were some moments of rising tension where I felt afraid to turn the page – unsure of what I would discover but also aware that I could potentially be projecting my own prejudices on the story. I certainly did not want to be greeted by some unpalatable or traumatising idea or image. In the end I placed my trust in the intention and skill of the comics creators, as well as the black comedy genre. And indeed I was correct. The pay-offs were exceptionally funny – the Virgin Sacrifice (amongst others) for one thing.

Indeed, I laughed in many places at Franks' gentle rollicking humour – his perceptive observations on life and humanity, as well as his intelligent play on words and ideas. For example, the joke in the first names of the children (Cain and Lillith – Biblically significant to both ends of the religious spectrum), as well as the family name where the devil's number ("6") meets the common name ("Smith") that could also be read as the "sicksmiths", made me chuckle.

But is this a sick family? No. It is a family that could worship at any altar. Being Satanists is not the point. Being human is the point.

They are loving and affectionate with a robust sexuality who are also fierce about protecting their children and exposing them to the rights sorts of influences – I love the chapter about the way Mum deals with a missionary message about the corruption of children who play evil video games.

And what is is a Satanistic family to do when one of their children wants to become a Budhist nun?

Schmidt's art is a delight. The artwork is naive but there there is a great deal of sophistication in its visual humour. The tuckshop lady arms on the teacher, the fat vicar's expressive eyebrows, the satanic iconography (seek the pentacles and you will find!)

There are a few dangling plotlines at the end but it's my understanding that they will be answered in the sequel.

This is a great book and the creators should be proud of themselves. I believe it is one of the breakthrough graphic novels coming from a new age of Australian comics.

Thematically it may not be the ideal Christmas fare for obvious religious reasons, but we ask you just to have a little faith...

Check out The Sixsmiths website for more info and a taste-test of the web comic strip.

Mermaid Treasures 19

2011-12-15T17:33:00.001+11:00

Christmas is nearly upon us and I thought I might show you a little stuffed mermaid soft toy I received as a gift a few years ago. She's not terrible sophisticated, but there's something charming about her. She hangs from the door knob in my mermaid room.

The Impact of Graphic Novels in the US Education System

2011-12-15T17:31:00.000+11:00

We were recently sent a great online article from the USA – "15 Awesome Examples of Graphic Novels in Education". The writers have "compiled a list of some of the best, coolest and most successful ways graphic novels are playing a role in education". We certainly understand the value of using comics as teaching tools – Julie's mother emigrated at the age of 12 from post war Europe in the late 1940s. In Australia, she taught herself English by reading comic books.

The only thing we have to pull the writers up on – and this is a very common mistake – is that "comics" is a medium and not a genre. Check with Scott McCloud who is mentioned in the article. He drums that into his readers in his Understanding Comics: The Invisible Art book. He also recently talked on the subject at GRAPHIC at the Sydney Opera House. Colleen Doran also spoke about it at the Comics Masterclass, which was held in Sydney a few weeks ago.

Just so you know – there are many "comics" works published in all kinds of genres including superhero, fantasy, sci-fi, romance, crime and many many more.

"The Art of Jozef Szekeres" Exhibition Report

2011-12-14T17:08:00.002+11:00

I'd never publicly exhibited my original artworks before. I had been in several group exhibitions over the years that showed copies or prints of my artworks, but never the originals. A solo art exhibition was due.

As a prize winner of the Out Loud art exhibition, I won a week of exhibition space in the window gallery at The Tap Gallery in Darlinghurst. But still I was not yet ready to exhibit. I had to find the right time.

I met Charles Heyen mid 2010. He had come to Australia from the USA to do a post graduate course in Sydney as a curator. He had been following my work for several years and met with me one week after he arrived. At that first meeting we discussed the possibility of us working together to put on a showing of my artwork.

My partner Todd Barry urged me to pick a time for the exhibition in order to make it real. I started looking at possible time slots, but I wanted it to mean something special to me.

I knew that our good friend Colleen Doran was visiting this year as the guest speaker at the Australian Society of Authors (ASA) Comics MasterClass and I thought she would be the perfect person to launch it. After asking Colleen if she would be so kind as to be the guest speaker and open my art exhibition, and her heartfelt confirmation, I finally had a date. The day after the MasterClass – Monday 21 November 2011. I then had three months to put the exhibition together.

Charles and I looked over the collection of my original artworks that had been sitting in drawers for storage... some for 15-20 years. He was surprised to see so many originals to choose from. With his help to shape the look of the exhibition, we made our selections.

Stephen Frizza also supported me by helping me decide which digital artworks would best support the originals in the exhibition, then created the amazing collection of digital prints from my artworks on archive quality photo paper.

Three weeks before the show opened, The Tap Gallery informed me with some alarm that the window gallery space had been double-booked. We then relocated the exhibition into the middle gallery space, and the new larger dimensions allowed the numbers of artworks to be put on display to grow.

The Elizabet Bizelle and sister Kotalin Bizelle dolls I had created also had their place set for the exhibition.

Todd helped me by purchasing the frames for the art exhibition. All from IKEA. The many colours available helped group the original and print artworks into period themes.

The day of the opening, Todd's parents – Ken and Rhonda Barry– helped Charles, Todd and myself put up the artworks onto the walls.

It, of course, took longer to accomplish then planned. In total, 40 of my works were displayed at The Tap Gallery.

My sister Elizabeth arrived with food, while I ducked home to shower and get presentable for the opening that evening.

Elizabeth had offered to organise the food for the opening night. With her three friends – Christine, Barbara, and Vicky – the food she created and prepared was amazing. I wanted to grab a mouthful as I had hardly eaten all day, but I was aware that I would be constantly in conversation with my guests who attended the exhibition. Last thing I wanted was salmon breath, or food stuck in my teeth. Rhonda also created lovely slices and rum balls to the delight of the guests.

Todd had purchased white wine to share with the guests, and Ken and Rhonda looked after the wine glasses.

Julie set up the Black Mermaid Shop table where our Elf-Fin: Hyfus & Tilaweed Preview comic and Mermist Seas prints were available for sale.

When Todd, Charles, Colleen and I arrived back to the exhibition at 6pm, I was surprised to see about 20 people already there and milling about looking at my artworks.

Then came a greater swell of people arriving through to about 7:15pm. The room became so crowded, it was almost shoulder to shoulder in the exhibition space. People spilled into the adjoining exhibition spaces to make room. It was so full of people coming to see my artwork and wanting to talk with me about the works, it was overwhelming for me. My knees started to feel weak and shake.

Finally, it was time for the speeches. Charles introduced himself as the curator of the event, and spoke of his experience of my artwork, how it had reached out to him all the way to America, and how when he came to Sydney to study, one of his first few tasks was to meet me. He explained how the artworks were shown right to the edge without matting, to further showcase the art.

Colleen Doran [pictured right with me and Charles] did a wonderful speech about how "... out of shit, good things grow". This was in reference to how we met – when we experienced a common publisher that gave us both grief. She mentioned that the colours of my work speak to her in a unique fashion, and that my work has significance in her home country of USA.

I did a quick speech to thank everyone that had helped to create this event, and to all who came to experience my first solo exhibition opening night. I dedicated this first solo art exhibition to my father, who passed away earlier this year. He had always supported my art, and it was his dream to see me exhibit. I didn't get to realise that while he was alive, but I felt his loving spirit in the room with me on opening night. (I am thankful that the last time I saw him awake he got to see the Elf-Fin comic book preview... it made him so very happy.) I thanked my mum who had always been there with love, supporting me in my artistic journey and through all things beyond that. I thanked my wonderful partner Todd Barry who has been there beside me all the way with great love and without judgement in all things. I thanked Julie Ditrich and Bruce Love, whose partnerships in comics influenced so many of the artworks I had on the walls. I thanked Charles Heyen for his expertise in curating this event. I thanked Colleen Doran for her continued friendship and artistic and professional support in my career. I thanked my sister Elizabeth for constant love and support and with the help with the food, and I thanked my brother-in-law Michael Moor for helping me financially so many years ago with the loan to help me realise the dream of creating my own doll line. I thanked Ken and Rhonda Barry for being there with love and support. There were many more wonderful people to thank, but my mind was too overwhelmed to continue.

Several original artworks sold – one original WaveDancers piece actually sold prior to the event opening to an American collector. Many prints were also sold during the course of the exhibition. Thank you to those people that believed in my work and purchased my art. I'm extremely grateful of the support and interest in my work. As an artist, I earn money from the artwork I create so I can survive. These sales will help me get into the new year and allow me to create new work.

The Tap Gallery announced they wanted to extend the exhibition by an extra week at their expense.

"One week is not enough time to showcase the extraordinary talents and polish of this internationally significant artists' work. Jozef needs to have a two week show" - Leslie Dimmick

Over the entire two week showing, I was present for all but one day, which was covered by Charles.

Several nights after the opening night, I apparently was talking in my sleep. I ended up waking myself up by my own words, "Thank you for coming to my exhibition". It was obviously a dream made a reality and then returned to my dream life.

I loved the experience, I had never seen so many of my own originals on display all at once myself... and all framed. It was surreal and wonderful.

I do intend to exhibit again, it was too good an experience to do it only once in a lifetime.

Thank you to everyone that was involved, some of those of whom I have mentioned in this retelling of the events. I hope to see you all at my next art exhibition.

Best,

Jozef Szekeres

Comics Masterclass Report

2011-12-12T23:10:00.002+11:00

Well it took Black Mermaid Productions (BMP) and the Australian Society of Authors (ASA) over a year to organise the Comics Masterclass, which was held in Sydney on the 19 and 20 November 2011, and we're pleased to say it was an enormous success.

To recount the story...

BMP directors – Jozef Szekeres and Julie Ditrich – are the founders and current portfolio holders of the ASA Comics / Graphic Novels Portfolio, a special interest group that looks after the professional interests of literary creators working in the comics medium. The portfolio was started in mid 2007 and has since gone from strength to strength. We've introduced page rates, the Supanova Professional Development Seminar series, the Comics Biz marketing ezine, which is sent out to portfolio members, and lots of other initiatives. In September last year we applied to the Copyright Agency Limited (CAL) Cultural Fund to help fund a weekend Comics Masterclass, featuring an overseas expert. We were thrilled to receive funding for one year which would go towards paying the speaker's fee. US comics creator Colleen Doran was our first choice for speaker and we were lucky to secure her in January of this year.

Then came all the project management. We had domain names and web hosting to secure, copywriting, web design and branding, the promo process, monthly ezines and all the minutiae in between. Of all the things on our project management checklist, the least of our worries was Colleen's presentation. We knew she'd deliver a powerful, somewhat controversial and content-rich session, which is exactly what came to pass despite one hiccup (and a painful one at that!) on the second day (more on that later).

The Comics Masterclass ended up with 100 participant from NSW, Vic, Qld, ACT, and SA, plus one US visitor and one working in China.

The event was held at the Aerial UTS Function Centre on Broadway in Sydney, which had great wooden doors, lots of natural light, and balconies with splendid views of the cityscape and Anzac Bridge. Participants had a choice of theatre style seating, tables or lounges along the back and side walls. Everyone who attended received a showbag and a raffle ticket for a number of draw prizes, which included three book packs donated by Books Kinokuniya, 50 free 32 page comic books printed to order by Jeffries Printing / Black House Comics, event passes and an artists' circle table at SMASH!, and weekend passes and an artists' alley table at any Supanova in 2012! BMP had also donated a Colleen Doran A Distant Soil book pack which had been given out earlier in the year to one lucky early-bird who had booked into the event by the end of July.

ASA Executive Director, Angelo Loukakis [pictured in the photo on the left with Colleen Doran and Julie and Jozef from BMP. All photo credits except where otherwise stated: Ali Hand], made the opening speech followed by Jozef and Julie who did the house-keeping.

Then Colleen did her "thang"... Over the next two days, she talked about how the comics visual language was developed before film and indeed had a broader range of expression. She challenged the notion of the infinite canvas when we have finite resources. She talked about the fancy gadgets being the distributor but the art being you.

She said that writing comics cannot be separated from drawing comics. She gave advice about working with publishers such as asking editors what their preferred writing / script style is. She distinguished the differences and explained the mechanics of full script, plot with dialogue, Marvel style, Shitagaki, adaptations and the emotional wave. She talked about the mystery of the redundant vase, as well as pacing and the wonders of lettering. She preached on the matter of "how thou shalt make a floor plan and keep it holy!" She spoke about how costumes are visual cues to the readers to identify each character when artists can't keep them on model, and how one builds worlds from the culture out. She recommended creating perennials – the evergreens – to build your backlist and keep those royalties flowing. She discussed the differences between mainstream and independent publishing (as well as their contracts!), and which one is best to keep the pesky stalkers at bay. She strongly advised everyone to be less forthcoming about sharing personal information with fans and publishers on blogs. She listed all the things you want in your contract. She talked about predators and editors. She recommended a US art convention where you and your project will be seen by talent scouts, which beats San Diego hands down (this secret information is reserved for Comics Masterclass participants only ... don't you wish you'd gone now?) and she showed us a Hollywood pitch document. We're only just skimming the surface here.

During both days, the UTS Aerial Function Centre spread out two fabulous morning teas for the participants, which included chocolate coated strawberries, brownies, assorted pastries and cakes, Swiss berliner doughnuts, spicy sausage rolls and cheese and tomato croissants. Despite the fact we over-catered, the food vanished in an instant so it was the quick or the dead around the bar area.

We also arranged for several klosh-covered Aussie Tasting Plates to be brought up to Colleen through the day. She declared that she loved Vegemite! She also liked the lammington and the Tim-Tam. Alas, she never made it to the meat pie and sauce or the passionfruit and cream covered pavlova we had planned on the second day due to the aforementioned hiccup! (Yes, we're about to tell you what it was.)

On the Saturday evening, we announced the "win a private one-hour portfolio / project review with Colleen Doran" shortlist – Paul Mason, Jason Franks, Samuel McNair, Thomas Bonin, Jemima Trappel and the team consisting of Anthony Castle and Chad Ashby. Colleen then did a signing on the Books Kinokuniya table. We opened the bar for an hour and some people held back and "Moved Like Jagger" to the music we had playing.

Colleen then went back to her hotel to work on her and writer Derek McCulloch's upcoming graphic novel Gone to Amerikay, which will be published by DC / Vertigo in early 2012. Professional that she was, she had arrived the Sunday before and except for a quick trip to the city to attend the monthly Sauna Club Sydney Comics Creators Meet Up in the Camperdown Bowling Club, as well as a brief tech run at the venue on the Thursday afternoon before the masterclass, she had pretty much stayed in her room to work 12 to 15 hour days on her pages.

Jozef and Julie joined a group of other comics creators in Chinatown for the evening where we scoffed down lemon chicken and a multitude of other delicious dishes before grabbing a good night's sleep (we're speaking for ourselves not the other creators!).

The next morning, two minute prior to start time, we were wondering where our illustrious speaker was and Julie was frantically calling Colleen's hotel. A few moments later, she staggered in looking pale and clammy and clutching her abdomen. Food poisoning. Butter chicken. She'd been on the loo for most of the night.

Trooper that she was, she pretty much crawled on stage and started her presentation. Jozef ran off to the chemist to get some over the counter medication, and one of the audience members also donated some non-prescription anti-nausea medication to Colleen.

We were given a few practical exercises to do in the Shitagaki method while Colleen dashed off to the bathroom. She somehow managed to make it back and pressed on despite her discomfort.

When the tasting plate came out just prior to lunch, we said it would be highly insensitive of us if we made her eat it so we asked the audience what they thought it was ... the plate was warm. They guessed it was the meat pie. When we asked if anybody wanted it, hands shot up all over the room. The fastest superhero hand in the corner scored it.

We sat on the balcony during lunch while Colleen lay on the warm concrete floor which eased the spasms in her back. A rainbow lorikeet flew in and she was entranced. But the day was warm, and heat and food poisoning are not friendly companions and her condition worsened. To say she was very crook was an understatement.

We asked Tim McEwen to do a break-out session on trends in the Australian comics market – a PP presentation he had done just the week before at the Australian Cartoonists' Association Conference – and he happily agreed and did a fabulous job.

In the interim, some of our lovely audience members began looking after Colleen– bringing her ice packs, supplying her with electrolyte drinks, putting cushions behind her back, and even checking her vitals (one of the participants was a nurse). One function room staff member brought in a milk crate lined with a garbage bag [see photo of Colleen who still managed to retain her sense of humour! Photo credit: Julie Ditrich on her iPhone] and again, Colleen recovered enough to take to the stage again. She ended up covering all the promised content including the Hollywood segment, except for the "Chalk and Talk" live drawing session, which would have demanded she be on her feet for an hour while her stomach was still churning.

Colleen then announced the winner of the portfolio review – Tom Bonin – who was thrilled! He ended up meeting Colleen the next day and she treated him to a sushi lunch while giving him feedback on his work.

She finished the Sunday with another signing, and then went back to her hotel to recover and get a good night's sleep.

On the Monday night she launched Jozef's first solo art exhibition at the Tap Gallery in Darlinghurst (see upcoming blogpost) and on the following Saturday night she visited the Makeup Effects Group studio for a couple of hours.

Except for those two short trips, Colleen saw nothing of Sydney for the next ten days except for ten minutes at Circular Quay on the afternoon she set sail on a cruise liner to New Zealand. For those ten days she sat in her room, drawing her little heart out. A lesson from the ultimate professional to those who want to be just that in the comics world – deadlines before pleasure.

Her emails to us have said: "Must come back and worship Sydney."

Late but Great ACA Nominations News

2011-12-12T22:37:00.000+11:00

BMP Director Jozef Szekeres was nominated for two Australian Cartoonists' Association (ACA) Stanley Awards last month – Best Illustrator 2011 and Best Comic Book Artist 2011. The final winners were Anton Emdin and David Follett respectively, both wonderful artists and friends. Jozef is both thankful and honoured to have been nominated by his artistic and creative peers at the ACA. For a full list of nominees and winners, just go to the ACA website.

Elf~Fin Leaks and Peeks 21

2011-12-12T21:30:00.001+11:00

The first issue of Elf~Fin: Hyfus & Tilaweed is happening (it will be 48 pages in all and Jozef is currently working on finishing the second half that extends beyond the limited edition PREVIEW). This will give readers an insight into Jozef's creation process. We'e posting three pages in all ... two here and one on our FaceBook page.

We're back...

2011-12-12T21:29:00.000+11:00

... from a brief hiatus.

Jozef had his first solo art exhibition a few weeks ago, and the weekend Australian Society of Authors (ASA) Comics Masterclass featuring Colleen Doran, which took us a year to organise, finally happened in mid November as well (blog posts coming up on both events).

We became somewhat mentally zombified from burn-out after that, but a few gym sessions, some decent sleep, and some general time-out restored our energy so please check out our latest updates including MORE ELF~FIN artwork.

Aussie Comikers Become Judges on Beauty and the Geek

2011-10-27T19:30:00.001+11:00

Black House Comics publisher, Baden Kirgan, Aussie comics artist extraordinaire Nicola Scott and Kings Comics stalwart Jim Papagrigoriou switch hats from comikers to television judges on Beauty and the Geek (Australia), which screens tonight on Channel 7. Apparently they were asked to judge a challenge where the Beauties take on a superhero persona with prerequisite superpower while the Geeks make them a costume to suit. It all ends in a spectacular catwalk parade. Wonder who wins. Well, we'll find out soon.

MEDIA RELEASE: Internationally Renowned Comics Artist and Graphic Novelist to Launch Jozef Szekeres Sydney Art Exhibition

2011-10-20T15:35:00.000+11:00

Celebrated US comics creator and graphic novelist Colleen Doran will launch “The Art of Jozef Szekeres: Career and New Works” exhibition at the Tap Gallery in Sydney in November.

Doran, who will be in town to present the inaugural weekend Australian Society of Authors (ASA) Comics Masterclass, has illustrated the likes of Spider-Man, Wonder Woman, Star Wars, Lord of the Rings, Sandman, and who has worked for DC, Marvel, Disney, Lucas Films and many other major studios, is best known for her graphic novels series A Distant Soil which is on the “101 Best Graphic Novels of All Time” list. Doran was delighted to be asked to launch Szekeres’ first solo art exhibition, “Jozef Szekeres is an artist of exceptional ability, able to dance the boundaries of comics, fine art, illustration and animation. Pop, and charming, welcoming and sexy, dazzling colors and enticing, glamorous figure work. Exceptional attention to detail, inviting and lively. I love Jozef Szekeres, and the only thing wrong with him is that more people don't know who he is. Yet.”

Szekeres, who grew up on the Central Coast of New South Wales and now lives in the city, is a Director of Black Mermaid Productions (BMP), a comics team recently turned comics publisher, working in the niche market of mermaid comics. His comic book works have accumulated sales of over 270,000 that have sold all over the world. Szekeres is renowned for his mermaid artwork, which has permeated not only his comics works but also his commercial illustration. Szekeres originally worked as a Walt Disney senior animator but developed into an all round Renaissance man when he turned to painting, sculpting and doll-making.

Indeed, he launched a series of 16” fashion dolls in the Elizabet Bizelle line, while also working as a gaming artist, mascot design consultant for the Sydney 2000 Olympics and conceptual artist on films such as Dark City and Cut. He now works as both a digital and a traditional artist, and his illustrative work has appeared in Blue magazine, the Bruno Gmunder’s Stripped Uncensored anthology, as well as event posters for the Sydney Mardi Gras. He currently teaches animation and graphic novels at the JMC Academy in Sydney and is working on a new comic book series Elf~Fin which will be released in 2012.

The exhibition, which is curated by Charles Heyen, will showcase his original comics and illustrative artworks that have seen print but have never before been exhibited in public or indeed been released for sale. “So many people in Australia and abroad have asked me to sell my artwork in the past, but like my father – ever the collector – I held onto my original art,” says Szekeres, “Now, after 20 years of art creation and my father’s passing earlier this year, I feel it’s time to release my art. I’ve enjoyed these pieces in my private collection for long enough. I’d like them to be shared and enjoyed by others. I see this as the beginning my career as an exhibiting artist.”

The exhibition will run for one week only from Monday 21 to Sunday 27 November 2011 from 12 to 6pm at the Tap Gallery, 278 Palmer St, Darlinghurst NSW 2010. The opening night and artist reception with special guest Colleen Doran is on Monday 21 November 2011 from 6 to 9pm.

For more information on Jozef Szekeres’s artwork go to: www.elf-fin.deviantart.com

For information about the Tap Gallery go to: www.tapgallery.org.au

For further information email Jozef Szekeres on: jozef@blackmermaid.com

Call for Papers: Journal of Graphic Novels and Comics - Boys' Love Manga

2011-10-20T15:30:00.002+11:00

This just came across our desks and the deadline for papers has expired by a few days, but don't let that stop you if you want to submit an academic paper to the Journal of Graphic Novels and Comics – a peer reviewed journal covering all aspects of the graphic novel, comic strip and comic book, with the emphasis on comics in their cultural, institutional and creative contexts. Its scope is international, covering not only English language comics but also worldwide comic culture. The journal reflects interdisciplinary research in comics and aims to establish a dialogue between academics, historians, theoreticians and practitioners of comics. It therefore examines the production and consumption of comics within the contexts of culture: art, cinema, television and new media technologies.

The journal includes all forms of 'sequential imagery' including precursors of the comic but the main emphasis is on twentieth and twenty-first century examples, reflecting the increasing interest in the modern forms of the comic, its production and cultural consumption.

The journal is now looking for essays of between 5000 and 7000 words for the special issue: Boys' Love Manga. Abstracts of 250 to 300 words are now being sought. Deadline: 14 October 2011.

CLICK HERE for submission guidelines.

CLICK HERE to learn about the Journal of Graphic Novels and Comics and to order previous issues.

Mermaids & Mythology Elf~Fin Interview

2011-10-16T20:43:00.000+11:00

We were thrilled that the UK-based Mermaids & Mythology magazine chose to feature Elf~Fin in a double page spread. It included several panels of Jozef's comic book artwork, a big Black Mermaid Productions logo which we're so proud of, and an interview about the comic book project.

Here's a little taste-test of the interview:

Do you intend to tackle environmental issues in the story-lines? Or is it all very light hearted?

Our world of Elf~Threaal is a fantasy world and so it is different to the earth world we all live on. However, we explore human dilemma through mermaid stories. In the past we've examined identity theft, domestic violence and kidnapping of children. In Elf~Fin: Hyfus & Tilaweed we explore soul mate love, affairs, corruption of children, and aging. These themes emerge organically .... the characters expose them to us. In all likelihood, we will deal with environmental themes in the future. However, we prefer to show our characters living in harmony with the environment and having respect for elemental forces because our experience has been that young readers can model and be inspired by fiction to live authentic lives where they honour rather than destroy. Sometimes the simplest panels of artwork can have a powerful effect on the human psyche and we have letters from some of our readers who have said their lives have been touched and changed by seeing some of our comics story panel art.

The magazine is chock full of specialness (we sound like Buffy here!) with a profile on Hannah Mermaid and the famous Mertailor tail-maker Eric Durame, a story on Carolyn Turgeon's novel Mermaid, sumptuous artwork by David Delamare, and much much more. To order your subscription, just log onto the Mermaid Magazine website.

Plagiarism Too Close to Home

2011-10-16T20:08:00.000+11:00

Came across an interesting story in The Sun Herald today – "Artist accused of stealing beauty" – which also appeared in The Canberra Times. It talks about a Melbourne pop artist Dennis Ropar who has "... been criticised for overstepping the line with one image from his Mexico series of portraits."

Apparently, "Ropar's Mexico #9 bears a remarkable resemble to Spring Muertos, a photograph of a make-up artist, Lisa Naeyaert, taken by the American photographer Gayla Partridge in November 2008."

A switched on friend of Ms Partridge alerted her after spotting the work online in what we believe is a blatant breach of copyright. We don't think people would be too hardpressed to see the similarities. The image is essentially the same except that the derivative work has a new background, and the placement of the model is different – she's not positioned from the waist up but rather from the chest up. There also appears to be some diffusion of the colour but these adjustments don't take away from the fact that the image is recognisable from the source material. It looks as if it has just been copied and pasted into the new artwork.

Which brings us to the issue of derivative works. The Australian Society of Authors (ASA) Comics Biz ezine (Volume 1, #5 May 2009) examined this subject in their Legal FAQ column. Here is the piece in question:

What areDerivative Works?

Creators understandthe term “derivative work” to include a literary, musical or artistic work suchas a translation, dramatisation, adaptation, film version, art reproduction,abridgement, condensation or any other work that is based on one or morepre-existing works but has been modified or transformed.

Two issues arise forcreators of derivative works. First, you need to get permission from the ownerof copyright in the original work before making a derivative version, if theoriginal work is still in copyright. That is because the derivative is likelyto be an adaptation or reproduction of the original work and therefore aninfringement of copyright if permission is not obtained. Secondly, there is thequestion of whether the derivative work is itself protected by copyright.

To attract copyrightprotection, the derivative work must contain a sufficient degree of originalityto constitute it as a new work of authorship in its own right. The central“idea” in the derivative work may be based on other source material, but the“expression” and execution of that idea must be markedly different through themechanisms of characterisation, text, symbols, illustrations and sometimes eventhe medium. For example, West Side Story the stage and screenmusical is a derivative work from William Shakespeare’s play Romeo andJuliet. The film Clueless is a derivative work of Jane Austen’snovel Emma. Andy Warhol’s pop art piece Campbell’s Soup Cans is atwo-dimensional derivative work (comprising 32 canvases) based on the threedimensional branded grocery item – the Campbell’s soup can.

There is little caselaw on derivative works. However, Creative Commons (CC) Licences ... which are usedpredominantly in the online community, include a permission known as“NoDerivs”. These licences do not include permission to make derivative works,and doing so might be an infringement of copyright.

In our opinion, this puts this case into perspective.

BTW, despite arguing for the case of plagiarism, we completely disagree with the Associate Professor from the Sydney College of the Arts who has decreed that "the original is so cheesey I'm astounded anyone would want to plagiarise it...". We LOVE LOVE LOVE the original photo!

Magabala Books Releases First Indigenous Graphic Novel

2011-10-15T18:49:00.005+11:00

Australian independent Indigenous publishing house Magabala Books recently released its first Indigenous graphic novel – The Legend of the Phoenix Dragon – the first book in the "Ubby's Underdogs" trilogy. The story is a product of artist / writer Brenton E McKenna's imagination, who lives in Broome in the far north of Western Australia. The story was greatly influenced by Brenton’s childhood in Broome and his Aboriginal and Malay heritage.

The story is about Ubby, a young ruffian who lives in a dusty pearling town in Western Australia who leads a rag-tag gang known as the Underdogs. When Ubby meets Sai Fong, a Chinese girl just off the boat from Shanghai, she is thrown into a mysterious world of ancient legends and never before exposed secrets. The main character, Ubby, was inspired by his grandmother, a strong Aboriginal woman who knew how to look after herself.

Brenton graphic novel was recently nominated for the 2011 Deadly Awards Outstanding Achievement in Literature.

For more information check out the Ubby's Underdogs website.

To order just go to the Magabala Books catalogue and key "Ubby's Underdogs" into the Search button.

Mermaid Treasures 18

2011-10-06T14:43:00.004+11:00

This cute little mermaid bookmark was a gift from a distant Austrian relative. She is, of course, safely ensconced in my mermaid room which is attached to my office.

"I Heart Tintin" Comics Art Exhibition

2011-10-06T11:30:00.002+11:00

This year's Melbourne Fringe Festival comics art exhibition (curated by Jo Waite) and produced by Bernard Caleo) features works by Ive Sorocuk, Mandy Ord, Sarah Howell, Kirrily Schell, Anthony Woodward, Andrew Fulton, Bernard Caleo and Jo Waite.

Dates: Tuesday 4 to Friday 28 October 2011

Location: 'The Castle Window on the Sydney Road-facing outer wall of The Edinburgh Castle Pub, 681 Sydney Road (cnr. Sydney Road and Albion Street). Brunswick Vic 3056

Fringe Festival website here.

Artwork by Jo Waite.

Belief in Other Worlds

2011-10-03T18:46:00.006+11:00

This little exchange from PhotoBucket is cute and funny. It brings a moment of "is it possible?" before you comprehend that to try this spell would mean a certain death sentence. It can look silly, but some people would take this response seriously, and... even try it. Why would they? Because they BELIEVE.

Belief in the imagined better life is something that we as a human race have entertained since we could think for ourselves... and within a community. The Egyptian life-after-death preparations seemed to be a life-long pursuit, no matter your social station. Our Modern world is full of religious afterlife options, a time that is presented as better then the now of living.

Are the imagined "other worlds" in literature, movies, comics, myth and legend much different than those presented in any religion?

The lyrics by Jay Brannan from his song "Goddamned" presents the mythology of religion quite beautifully.

Zeus was afraid of his girlfriend
So he swallowed her in bed
Then he bore forth Athena
When they cracked open his head
Her brother tried to rape her
Athena got away
And when his seed hit the ground
The grass gave birth that day
Now we all freely admit
This story’s clearly bullshit
No one would lay down their life
Or start a war for it
So throw your stones and pray
You’ll be rewarded someday
I hope it all goes your way
But something tells me
No one’s coming to save you
Save yourselves
From turning earth into hell.

Cause virgins don’t have babies
And water isn’t wine
And there’s a holy spirit maybe
But she would never rent a room with walls built by mankind
Mary and Mohammed
Are screaming through the clouds
For you to lay your goddamned arms down
Rip your bigot roots up from the earth and salt the goddamned ground.

In Elf~Fin, Julie and I are exploring a new world, another reality. In the creation of it, it does sometimes seem to take control and write itself, but that is an illusion. These moments are just those times that we are so in tune with our work and each other, that the obvious, and sometimes not so obvious possibilities, present themselves easily for development. Our world is not real, but we want it to feel real for you in the experiencing of it.

We want to take you away from reality, so you can swim with our characters and experience our Elf~Fin world. However, there is nothing more real than the ground beneath your feet.

Mermaid Books 5 - Mermaid

2011-09-13T20:39:00.009+10:00

I have a problem – SO many books and SO little time to read them. At the moment I have about 50 comic books and graphic novels, about the same number of fiction and non-fiction books, and about seven years of Vanity Fair magazines stacked in thigh-high piles beside my bed. I yearn for the time I had during my primary and high school days where I would consume up to three books a day at breakfast, on the bus, hidden behind textbooks during class, during lunchtimes in the library and beyond. Now I have about 15 minutes each night before I go to sleep. So it took a few months for me to read the highly anticipated Mermaid by US author Carolyn Turgeon, which was released in April 2011. Having said that, once I got started, I couldn't stop.

Mermaid is a retelling of the famous Hans Christian Andersen tragic fairy tale – The Little Mermaid – but with a difference. It is told from two points of view— the mermaid Lenia and landlubber Margreth, who are both princesses in their respective realms. Lenia is cold-skinned, born from eggs and has a heart full of love and longing but no soul. Margreth is human, as we know humans to be. She is also intelligent and politically astute in a world where women are traditionally passive. They are both rule-breakers and risk-takers, driven by love, for it is indeed love that inspires their courage and alters the course of their lives. Their bond but also their potential undoing is their love for the prince of a rival kingdom, whom Lenia saves from drowning but who Margreth connects to on land in a case of mistaken identity.

Mermaid is a beautifully told story – delicate, sensuous and occasionally horrific when we find out the torturous lengths Lenia goes through to win her human love when she sacrifices her tongue and her tail. The storm shipwreck scene is particularly evocative, as we feel what it would be like to drown in terror and in pain in a turbulent and seemingly bottomless dark ocean where human corpses become set decorations for the mermaid kingdom. What I also liked was the portrayal of the sad and wise sea-witch who reluctantly helps Lenia. If there were ever to be a sequel, I would hope Carolyn Turgeon would explore her origins and her back story.

This is a moving story, exquisitely told, and highly recommended.

BMP on ACA Stanleys Conference Comics Panel

2011-09-13T20:38:00.004+10:00

BMP Directors, Jozef Szekeres and Julie Ditrich, as well as fabulous Aussie comics creators Tim McEwen and Dave Follett, will be speaking at the Australian Cartoonists' Association (ACA) 27th Annual Stanley Awards on a panel session titled "Comics and the Australian Creator" on Friday 11 November 2011 at 2pm. Conference details and information on the Stanley Awards can be found on the ACA website.

Win a Portfolio / Project Review at the Comics Masterclass with Colleen Doran!

2011-09-13T20:36:00.005+10:00

Participants in the Australian Society of Authors (ASA) Comics Masterclass to be held on Saturday 19 and Sunday 20 November 2011 have a rare opportunity to win a private one-hour portfolio or project review with elite US comics industry professional and masterclass presenter Colleen Doran.

This opportunity is based on merit rather than luck. You must be booked into the event to be able to apply.

There will be two rounds in the process. The submissions are due by the end of October and will be assessed during the first week of November by a three-person panel consisting of ASA Comics / Graphic Novels Portfolio Holders Jozef Szekeres and Julie Ditrich, as well as Comics Masterclass Advisor / Consultant Tim McEwen who will shortlist the six best submissions.

Colleen Doran will decide the winner from the shortlist. The winner’s name will be announced at the event on Sunday afternoon. The review will take place after the Sunday session so if you are applying, please allow time in your schedule (especially if you’re an out-of-towner and have flights to catch) should you be the lucky winner. Also make sure you bring your complete portfolio or the expanded project proposal with you on the Sunday.

Submission Guidelines

(1) If you are presenting a portfolio then:

– Artists should include up to six pieces of published or unpublished comics artwork indicative of current ability and in any genre. This can include covers, concept sketches and the like but must contain interior sequential artwork of one scene (approximately two to four pages) within a larger work or short story.

– Writers should include up to six pages of published or unpublished wordless or lettered sequential art indicative of current ability and in any genre. It should include one scene (approximately two to four pages) within a larger work or short story.

Furthermore, both writers and artists should include a cover page which contains the following information: name, address, phone / fax, email and website details and a short bio that includes publishing credits.

(2) If you are presenting a project then:

– Artists should include a sequential art scene of three to six penciled pages (no lettering required) from an unpublished work. It should reflect your current ability, and reflect the direction of the feedback being sought (ie. what you would like most help with).

– Writers should include a comics script of a three to six page scene from an unpublished work. It should reflect your current ability, and reflect the direction of the feedback being sought (ie. what you would like most help with).

This should be accompanied by a one to two page project summary, which includes a synopsis, project description (page count, comics format, art style, genre, target market, production notes such as your vision on the packaging, as well as what you would specifically like to discuss with Colleen about the project and need most help with).

Teams of up to three people (eg. writer, artist and inker) may also apply for a project review, provided they are all registered for the masterclass and comply with the above submission criteria. If the team project is successful then the team will participate in the review session with Colleen.

Assessment Criteria

The submissions will be assessed on:
– Publishing potential
– Sequential art storytelling ability.

Where to Send Submissions

You can either:

(1) Email your submission to Laurine Croasdale: laurine@asauthors.org
or

(2) Mail your submission to:
Australian Society of Authors
Suite C1.06 22-36 Mountain St Ultimo NSW 2007

Deadline
5pm on Monday 31 October 2011

Further Information

Please direct queries to:

Julie Ditrich on (02) 9606 4728 or julie@blackmermaid.com
Laurine Croasdale on (02) 9211 1004 or laurine@asauthors.org

INKSPOT ELF~FIN Review

2011-09-13T19:12:00.005+10:00

We haven't sent any of the Elf~Fin: Hyfus & Tilaweed Previews away for review simply because we believe it's too early. As mentioned previously on our website, the Preview is the first Act and the first half of the first issue of the first series. Page 24 which is the last page in the issue isn't even a conventional cliff-hanger, as we are actually just entering Act 2 of the story. Therefore, to critique it at this point would be like the Masterchef judges critiquing one element of a dish rather than the complete plated dish – sort of like reviewing the jelly (jello) in an unassembled trifle or the mornay sauce but not the lobster in a lobster mornay.

Having said that, we were delighted that Jules Faber, Deputy President of the A ustralian Cartoonists' Association (ACA) took interest in the opening of our story and published a review in the latest edition of the Inkspot magazine (No. 65, Autumn 2011). Here's a taste:

Beautifully weighing the charming earlier scenes of the cheerful Mers with the encroaching darkness at book's end, the story brings to life a rich and complex universe with an entire culture just waiting to be explored... and is described beautifully in Szekeres' dynamic and broadly colourful palette.

This is truly exquisite comic book artwork of an underwater world in which viewers won't have trouble seeing Szekeres' Disney history, with extraordinary character movement and expression exploding richly from every page...

It's a major flaw in comics when the artwork doesn't suit the story or vice versa, but here the two are in perfect harmony, Ditrich's writing bring us gently into the world (thought not spoon-feeding us) and Szekeres making sure we stay there when we arrive.

Jules gave us four and a half stars, and we are very appreciative and humbled at his faith in us.

We can't wait to bring you the last 24 pages in the full edition of the first issue. Bring on 2012!

Adventures at Mer-Con & the World Mermaid Awards - Part II

2011-09-12T19:00:00.008+10:00

Kathy and I got up early and caught a cab to the convention at 7am to set up for an 8am opening. It was pretty deserted except for some other vendors who had the same idea as we did. We grabbed a table, staked out our space, and quickly unpacked. Once people started ambling in, it turned into a full on meet-and-greet. We were delighted to say hello to many of our previous readers, as well as to connect with new readers and FaceBook friends. Hail to the mermaids in the crowd – Mermaid Malena (middle of second picture), Marla, Shelley, Cate, Sora, Anita and co. We saw them in their human incarnation and later on poolside in their mermaid incarnation.

People embraced Elf~Fin and we loved that (and them!). The story is only at its beginning but some enthusiastic fans read it from cover to cover and then returned immediately to deconstruct it with me and make early proclamations about who their favourite characters were. We also brought some Black Mermaid™ (Las Vegas) stock with us ... The mugs sold out and we sold a little of everything else. I was really happy that the cushions did well because that's my favourite product. Many people enquired about t-shirts but we didn't have the resources to bring in mirrors, and multiple sizes in multiple colours in multiple styles. We directed – and indeed are still directing people – to the Black Mermaid Boutique for clothing. Unfortunately, we had ordered stock for a two-day convention and it was reduced to one-day event, so we had to send our surplus products back home the next day which cost a veritable fortune and had Kathy sitting on top of the boxes and me taping madly to squash them into US Postal Service regulation sizes.

The afternoon brought the Mermaid Pageant. I could only see glimpses from my vantage point but was delighted to hear that Aussie little mermaid – 4-year old Isabella Chidiac from Sh immerbaby Mermaids (that's her mum Renae on the right in the second picture) – won the children's category. This was followed by an author panel session then the Hannah Pool Party where Hannah Mermaid and MeduSirena performed before a huge crowd. There were mermaids galore. Kathy took the plunge but I stayed on shore and chatted away. We didn't stay for the World Mermaid Awards because we had an offer to be delivered to the Mirage doorstop with all our multiple boxes and luggage – an offer too good to refuse. We got in around 10.30 and then I spent the next hour repacking everything into three boxes. Then we just crashed.

The next day we took a taxi to a post office which was near the airport (thank goodness it was open on a Saturday!). We wanted to get all our chores out of the way so we could have a bit of fun during our last couple of days. We had our first real meal at lunch time when we split an enormous mouth-high New York Reuben Sandwich with requisite pickle from the Carnegie Deli. Carolyn Turgeon, Matthea and Merman Chris picked us up and headed to the Star Trek Convention which was on at the Rio. My Australian friend, Trekkie and comics artist extraordinaire Marcelo Baez and his wife Rachael had told me about it before I left and lamented the fact they wouldn't be able to see it so I said I would step in and check it out. We didn't have much time and we got there just as the convention doors burst open and all the delegates streamed out. Didn't see any actors but did get talk to some great Trekkies who were exceptionally friendly and quite centred and sane.

We then hit the Mer-Con VIP Pool Party which was held at Sita Lange (the organiser's) place. Great house and particularly great pool with bridges, waterfalls, a small spa – a perfect location for photo ops. I sat on the side of the pool, dangled my feet in the water and pretty much talked to most of the guests during the next few hours and watched the many beautiful mermaids cavort through the water (that's Diana Godin in the pic below), testing their tails and posing for photos. For the mermaid neophytes amongst you ... tails and hair are everything! We left after about four hours and by the time we got back it was too late to have dinner again.

The next morning we headed to the Parisian for breakfast. Our stomachs had shrunk so much during the last five days from a lack of food that despite the delicious fare we were nearly sick. We must add that the Parisian restrooms are gorgeous – ceramic flower decorated basins and toilets. We took photos. We then talked to a British tourist who said the toilets were equally as gorgeous in the men's room and he had taken pics as well.

We missed meeting up with Renae Chidiac and her girls and went shopping in Caesar's Palace, the New York, the Adidas shop and Sephora at Planet Hollywood. I always buy makeup and running shoes when I'm in the USA. I also stop by Bath and Body Works, this time to stock up on Coconut and Lime Body Butter. Returned to the Mirage and then headed over to Treasure Island to see Cirque du Soleil Mystere. The show was delightful – magical, homo-erotic in parts, innocent and sophisticated at the same time. We were in the front row middle and Kathy got a small walk-on audience participation part which she relished. We paid for our hotel, negotiated and late checkout and then returned to our room. I spent the next three hours watching Reba reruns (as well as half of The Da Vinci Code) while packing and repacking and turfing things I no longer needed to squeeze everything into my suitcase and carry-on luggage so they wouldn't break the scales at the airport. Finally got a few hours sleep.

On our last day we hopped on a bus and headed downtown to visit the shop where Pawn Stars is filmed. Coincidentally it was screening for the first time in Australia that week. Kathy had lugged in a photo album of old WWII fighter pilot photos to see if they could be valued but the guy doing the assessment said the shop didn't handle that kind of memorabilia. The bouncer at the door was downright scary.

We returned to the Mirage, grabbed lunch at the buffet and Kathy departed for Wisconsin again. I want to thank her here for her fabulous support ... she was a great pillar of strength to me during our entire Mer-Con adventure.

I waited around for a couple of hours then headed to the airport. After passing through security I stopped at a small kiosk to buy an OJ then watched a woman in a black track suit walk up beside me. I asked her whether she had enjoyed the Star Trek convention. She said she had, and told me she was on her way to Australia to attend another in Melbourne followed by one in Sydney. We chatted for a few minutes and then I headed towards my gate. She ended up at the same gate but in one row behind where I was sitting. At an opportune moment and so that I wouldn't draw too much attention to her and breach her privacy, I approached her again and told her it would be my honour if she would accept a copy of Elf~Fin. She smiled and held her hand out. I gave her the copy, thanked her and moved away. It turned out I had accidentally sat down at the wrong gate ... lucky I checked my ticket otherwise I could have missed my flight.

By the way, the woman was Kate Mulgrew who played Captain Janeway on Voyager.

I promptly texted Marcelo and Rachael in Australia who just said "Awesome!".

It turned out that Rachael got to meet Kate too at the Sydney event a week later.

Articles:

Mermaids Invade LasVegas: Plenty of tales and colorful tails from annual Convention (DiverWire 12/08/11)

Just Add Water: Mermaids feel right at home at MerCon (Las Vegas Weekly 17/08/11)

Mermaids in Las Vegas: The Mermaid Convention (The Hairpin 24/08/11

Photos: Mermaid convention breaks record(s), returns to L.V. next year (Las Vegas Sun and VegasDeluxe.com 14/08/11)

Adventures at Mer-Con & the World Mermaid Awards - Part I

2011-08-28T13:22:00.038+10:00

I've been holding off writing a Mer-Con and World Mermaid Awards report because I've basically been sleep-walking through life since I returned from Las Vegas two Wednesdays ago ... had to plunge straight into pulling on all my animal husbandry skills on the farm and deal with the death of a gorgeous newborn lamb who didn't make it through the week despite having an utterly devoted mother (sobbed so much my dog Jake started shaking and consoling me!); cleaning up the family home for my parents who were returning from overseas after a near four month stint in Europe sailing through the Norwegian fiords, visiting the restored historical and cultural German city Dresden that had been bombed into oblivion during WWII, scoffing gelato on the Cinque Terre Trail in Italy and climbing the Alps in Austria amongst other activities. Then straight into a weekend of GRAPHIC at the Sydney Opera House followed by a week where I basically decompressed. I only really got my groove back yesterday. It wasn't jetlag, as I can sleep on planes and have no problem with multiple time zones, but more a case of sheer exhaustion after many months of working five jobs and running the farm by myself. Had to deal with broken plumbing, fox raids on the sheep pen, and lots of other things that just sadly and badly went wrong during a miserable Sydney winter.

Anyway ... downloaded pics yesterday and thought you might want to have a quick look at them. Las Vegas was pretty full-on so there was no time for R & R. MerCon and the WMA had shifted from the Mirage to the Silverton Hotel which was located 11 miles off the strip and had changed from a two-day event to a one-day event (see previous blog post). I had decided to keep my booking at the Mirage because I had already despatched two boxes of goods to the Business Centre before the announcement was made that the convention had moved. The other reason was that the special rates we had obtained were considerably cheaper than even the 20-25% off sale prices being advertised through Vegas accommodation websites. I don't get a chance to actually stay in first class accommodation very often and I just thought ... indulge, Julie .... it's your birthright. I indulged all right ... the room was lovely and the bed was the type you just want to snuggle up in all day and order room service. Alas, it was not too be. I kept late hours and had early mornings.

After arriving on the Wednesday, I had a quick shower and then picked up two boxes of merchandise from the Business Centre. I then headed off to the Bellagio to pick up some Cirque tickets for my sister before making a pit stop at the Jean Philippe Patisserie to indulge in some window drooling at the delightful sweet treats. I vowed to have one cake a day but it just didn't happen... we were far too busy so a raspberry tart on the first day just had to do.

Back at the hotel, I was expecting my friend and diva (I say this in the most loving way because she was born to stride down a staircase at a Broadway musical and belt out the signature song to a standing ovation!) Katherine Benoit from Wisconsin who has been my pen pal since we were 13 after we met in a NYC camping ground. There was a loud knock at the door and she swept into the room to give me a big loving bear hug. I bestowed on her some cans of passionfruit pulp which she craves and can't get back home plus a Black Mermaid™ Vegas t-shirt, and she gave me a lovely bottle of an obscure perfume that I love and I can't find back home. We then grabbed some eel sushi and looked for spas that offered manicures / pedicures and hairdressing services at a decent price. It was not too be. The starting price for a shampoo and blow-wave was US$85, which is just plain ridiculous. We didn't have time to go off the strip to look for alternative salons so I accepted the fact that my hair wasn't going to be mermaid-like in any shape or form during our stay. Turned out the budgeted beauty money went on cab fares to and from various venues (the buses were fine on the strip but a bit unpredictable otherwise).

The next day was my birthday but we were in full work-drill mode. Kathy gave me a lovely watch with mermaid trinkets inside the clockface, a gorgeous mermaid pendant and a purple glass slipper to reflect my love of shoes. We then shoved all our Black Mermaid™ Vegas product into a suitcase and caught a cab out to the Silverton which turned out to be partly a mermaid-themed hotel with a mermaid bar, a gallery wall of Will Cormier's gorgeous mermaid artwork; a huge aquarium, which showcased mermaids feeding the marine life at scheduled times; and an indoor waterfall with its own live ducks near a fishing shop.

Checked in our suitcase with the bell-hop and proceeded to look around. The front desk didn't know much about the convention so we just explored. We met Arlene Brooks who was a mermaid at Weeki Wachee in Florida in 1967, who turned out to be sharp, energetic and hilarious in one sprightly mer package. Also found the pool which was to be the venue for the Hannah Pool Party the following night. It wasn't very big so we wondered how all the mers were going to fit in. Sat down at the mermaid lounge in silver scale-like mermaid tail chairs suitably named after mermaid or ocean characters – Arial, Flipper and the like – and watched luminescent jellyfish in the tanks behind the mermaid figurehead sculpture.

We then found the actual space where Mer-Con was being held – a large white room with a stage, chandeliers and what looked like ornamental antlers around the place. The hotel conference manager said we could only set up the next morning at 6.30 so we left and then proceeded to play every mermaid (and sea monkey) slot game we could find at a $1.00 per gaming machine. Lost everything (by that I mean about five bucks)!

We were starving by now so we grabbed a meal at the buffet which I am sorry to say was not that good. We ended up only eating once a day for the first five days because by the time we made it home each night, it was far too late to eat as it would have stressed out our digestive systems. We caught a bus back to the terminal outside the strip and then another bus to our hotel then had a quick nap and got ready for a book signing at Barnes & Noble which was about 15 miles out of town. The cab driver was quite amusing. He offered to take us to a bookstore that was actually in town. We had to explain our rationale to him because he had no concept of a signing.

At the bookstore, guest of honour Hannah Mermaid read a passage from Carolyn Turgeon's Mermaid (a beautiful retelling of A Little Mermaid which I've just started reading), followed by readings from Tera Lynn Childs who writes the Fins series for young adults, Matthea Harvey who writes and recites mermaid poetry that even a philistine like I can understand and appreciate, and the effervescent Mrs Weeki Wachee Kylee Trochee, resplendent in a blue tail as opposed to Hannah Mermaid's shimmering green, yellow and pink tail. And for all you mermaid neophytes ... remember that in the "mer" world, the tail is everything.

Vampire Black Mermaid™ Rises From a Watery Grave

2011-08-28T09:38:00.007+10:00

Jozef has surpassed himself again with his inventiveness. There was no brief or discussion for this year's Halloween Black Mermaid™ design – we knew he'd nail it and he did. Here's his answer ... Twilight and Dracula meet Black Mermaid! This little one is called "Fanged Beauty" and she's now available at the Black Mermaid Boutique in a range of t-shirts, prints, greeting cards, postcards, and other collectibles. Oh ... and she is now on the profile pic of our new Black Mermaid™ – Official Site FaceBook page in case you want to join up.

I Dream of Jeannie Dreams of Mermaids

2011-08-27T16:27:00.007+10:00

"Whenever I hear the blare of a foghorn or see a picture of a mermaid or a young couple madly in love, I feel as if I've been Jeannie-blinked back into my childhood, happy and secure.

The foghorn, you see, reminds me of San Francisco, where I grew up. The mermaid reminds me of Dolfina, the famous "Girl in the Fishbowl" always on display at the Bal Tabarin restaurant in North Beach, where my parents often used to bring me when I was very young ..."

This is the opening to Barbara Eden's autobiography Jeannie Out of the Bottle which we recently picked up and read. It so happens, that after mermaids, genies are our next favourite magical beings. And so, IDoJ became a favourite show of ours while we were growing up. We were enamoured with Jeannie's pony tail, her harem outfit, her gorgeous face and, of course, her spunky "take no prisoners" attitude. And Jeannie had the magical powers we all coveted. Jozef even has a Jeannie Barbie doll and Julie has a Jeannie cookie jar and a television show lunch box in her office.

We're also delighted to say that at a recent Supanova in Sydney and Perth, we were honoured and privileged to have given a copy of the Elf~Fin Preview to the beautiful Barbara Eden, Larry Hagman (who is quite tall and gave Jozef a playful punch in the arm after the latter declared that he loved Larry in several recent episodes of Desperate Housewives!) and the ever funny Bill Daily. It seemed only natural to read Ms Eden's bio because we are such big fans of the show and also of many of her movies – most notably The Seven Faces of Dr Lao with Tony Randall, as well as The Brass Bottle, also with Tony Randall and featuring Burl Ives as the genie.

So it was a surprise when mermaids got a mention in her book, which tells the story of her show business life and delicately lifts the lids on some behind the scenes gossip.

Here are two nice little ABC interviews with Barbara.

Anyway, check if out ....

BMP at Manly Zine Fair

2011-08-03T12:13:00.002+10:00

BMP will have a table at the upcoming Manly Library's 2nd Annual Zine Fair, which is part of the 2011 Manly Arts Festival in Sydney, Australia. Manly is a town on the ocean so it's quite fitting that we bring in some of our mermaid comics.

Here are the details:

Venue: Manly Library, Market Place, Manly

Date: Saturday 3 September 2011

Time: 10am to 1pm

Cost: Free

Contact: +61 2 9976 1747

For further information go to the Manly Arts Festival website.

BMP House Keeping - August 2011

2011-08-03T12:01:00.006+10:00

Just some quick notes for our readers and followers:

(1) We have about 35 copies of the original Elf~Fin: Hyfus & Tilaweed Preview left. Once they are sold, you will have to wait until the official comic book series is released in 2012 to start reading the story. Remaining orders will be processed in the order we receive them until we sell out.

(2) Orders will be processed until Friday 5 August, which is when Jozef will be coming over to sign books. After that we won't be able to send out anything out until the week of Monday 22 August, which is when Julie returns from the USA. If you order any books during that period, we ask you to be patient until we can despatch them.

(3) We have tried valiantly to get our new website up before the WMA but alas, it is not to be. The designer has done a great job with it but it is a finicky site and it will take us a long time to "populate" (a bit of techy jargon here!) with all the information, images and links we'd like to have up on there. The other thing is that although the domain name is lodged with one hosting provider, we still have the old site on another hosting service and we need to do a big switch. Consequently, we could lose up to 48 hours of email contact and this is something we can't afford to do during August as we are in delicate negotiations at the moment in regard to our own activities, as well as some Australian Society of Authors activities we're involved in. So we're asking for your understanding on this matter. We'll start working on it from September so it should be up in the last quarter of this year (plus we're exploring how to add fan forums to it so you can engage with each other on Elf~Fin topics!)

(4) Unless some important information comes up in the next few days, we won't be blogging until the last week of August and then ... watch this space for WMA and Mer-Con pics!

Mer-Con and World Mermaid Awards Change of Venue and Dates

2011-08-03T11:44:00.004+10:00

The World Mermaid Awards and Mer-Con (Mermaid Convention) which is being held in Las Vegas next week will now be running on Friday 12 August as an all day event from 8am to 11pm at the mermaid-themed Silverton Casino.

Mer-Con released the following statement yesterday:

The World Mermaid Awards, featuring the wonderful Hannah Mermaid and MeduSirena pool shows, is changing location to another Las Vegas resort pool!

At the last minute,The Mirage, (our original venue), told us they don't have a permit for people, (*MERMAIDS included), to swim in the pool or be near the pool after dark. In addition, they had assessed hidden fees of about $150,000 for food and drinks, based on our estimated attendance. They were attempting to have me pre-pay for every one's drinks for the pool party, (at about $100 per person), and would not let me do a cash bar for everyone to buy drinks. I could not afford to buy every fish their drinks, and then not even swim. :(

So...we focused our energy and came up with a terrific, positive solution! We are going to have the Awards Ceremony poolside for all the Mermaids and Mermen at the Silverton Mermaid Hotel on Friday, Aug. 12th!

*An exact itinerary will follow shortly and will include the World Mermaid Awards, our Pageant, our FABULOUS performers all day and our amazing vendors! 8am till 11pm.

OF NOTE: Another factor that was of concern to us is the fact that The Mirage has captive dolphins and the World Mermaid Awards and Mer-Con event became a target for a huge protest and negative publicity. So, along with the fact that we could not swim in the pool and the hidden fees, it was impossible to stay at The Mirage and deal with all the controversy and protesters. *It was actually unsafe!

We will make sure all the Mermaids and Merman who come to Las Vegas for the weekend will have an AMAZINGLY enjoyable experience! We are doing the best we can under the extreme circumstances that have come up. The Silverton is a Mermaid-Themed Hotel and is has a 117,000 gallon Mermaid Tank!

ALL TICKETS are still valid!

Also if you purchased all 3 events at FULL PRICE, 1 World Mermaid Awards, 2 Hannah and MeduSirena Pool Party, and 3 Mer-Con Ticket combined, you are eligible for an upgrade to the VIP POOL Party listed below for only $75 - Contact me if you interested. If not we will have have a partial refund for the ticket price difference within 45 days. New ticket prices will posted soon.

The VIP Mermaid Pool Party with Mermaid shows will include Hannah Mermaid and MeduSirena, with many more mermaids! The VIP event will start at 4 p.m., including a buffet with an open bar and we will go on into the wee hours of the night. Everyone will be there! Here are the details:

http://mauimermaidspoolparty.eventbrite.com/

Mer-Con ELF~FIN Cover

2011-08-03T11:29:00.005+10:00

As previously discussed, we are releasing the Elf~Fin: Hyfus & Tilaweed Preview in a special Mer-Con edition. This will only be available at Mer-Con and the World Mermaid Awards on Friday 12 August 2011 at the new venue – the Silverton Casino in Las Vegas. Only 250 have been printed. Although they are numbered, they do not include a Certificate of Authenticity and we will not be keeping a register of sales like we did the original pink-cover edition. The point of difference is that this one has an additional wrap around card cover which includes this new piece of artwork on the front and a Mer-Con specific back cover. The advertising inside has also changed. Hope to see you all at Mer-Con!

Stolen ELF~FIN Booty – DO NOT BUY

2011-08-03T11:20:00.003+10:00

Just letting you know that Elf~Fin: Hyfus & Tilaweed Preview (limited edition) #152 was stolen while we were attending an event earlier in the year. Furthermore, issues #144, 145 and 146 were went missing on route to a customer. If any of these issues appear for sale on the secondary market, please do not buy them as they are ill-gained goods (and please let us know via email on blackmermaid@blackmermaid.com). We have kept a register of all buyers for this edition, as each comic book included a Certificate of Authenticity.

Viva Black Mermaid™ in Las Vegas!

2011-07-22T23:07:00.003+10:00

Fresh from Jozef's computer ... our new Black Mermaid™ hits Las Vegas next month in our new Great Cities of the World range. She'll be up on the Black Mermaid Boutique in the next couple of days if you want to order your tee or your postcards or prints early. And don't forget the cushions .... If you're going to Mer-Con and the World Mermaid Awards, we'll have a selection of merchandise for sale from our Black Mermaid Productions™ booth.

Opening the Elf~Fin™ Conversation

2011-07-06T13:57:00.007+10:00

We received this lovely letter from a reader – Pamela from Tasmania – a few weeks ago, who has given us permission to reprint it online (some identifying private information has been blocked out).

While we're not going to give away any upcoming plotlines, we will say that Pamela is very switched on. We're both of the mind-set that comics need to be explored. We usually have at least two sweeps through a comic when we're reading them—we read the words first and skim over the images and then on the second reading, focus and dissect the images and skim over the words. We can see that Pamela has done the same with the Elf~Fin: Hyfus & Tilaweed PREVIEW. There is lots of information embedded in the images if you care or have the time to look for it. Here are some examples of what Pamela's discovered ...

"I've read it several times, and will quite a few more, I suspect. Each time I catch something I didn't see before. So many little details – from the colour co-originating fin-webbing between the fingers ... [to] the colour changes to Hyfus' tail when his sea-seer power kicks in ... and many others.

The scene of the poor little sea-horses that were simply in the wrong place and the wrong time was quite heart-rending...

I really liked the gradual page by page darkening of the panels as afternoon progressed into evening, the greyed-out pages at night, and the golden quality of the morning light.

I thought it interesting that while Hyfus appeared in the glow of light, the Council members are situated entirely in the shadow (enlightenment against ignorance?) ...

Pamela also posed many questions about the Shuddering, the giant rock faces in the opening pages and questions about Fillayne's partner who "disappeared". Some of these questions will be answered (partly or in full if they don't amount to spoilers) in our first ezine which is going out at the end of this month. If you want to subscribe and learn more insider's information about Elf~Fin, then just CLICK on the SUBSCRIBE image on the right hand side-bar of this blog and then opt into our e-mailing list.

Oh ... and Pam, we love your letterhead with your own version of a merman.

Thank you for delighting us with your letter.

GRAPHIC Animation Competition

2011-07-03T11:43:00.004+10:00

Sydney Opera House invites the worldwide animation community to take part in GRAPHIC: an online animation competition designed to celebrate the innovation, creativity and imagination behind the art form.

Illustrators, animators and storytellers of all levels – from established to up-and-coming and newcomers – are encouraged to enter. The winning entry will score $20,000 prize money and be screened at a major GRAPHIC Festival event at the Sydney Opera House.

A panel of judges headed by Animal Logic CEO and Producer Zareh Nalbandian (producer Academy Award Winning Happy Feet) and members of the public will vote for the most original and creative animations over the course of three consecutive rounds.

Round 1 entries close on Sunday 17 July 2011.

Check out the GRAPHIC YouTube channel for all the relevant competition elements and submission guidelines. Here's the introductory video to get you started.

Mermaid Name Generator

2011-07-02T21:45:00.003+10:00

Found a fun site with lots of pretty pictures: Mermaid Name Generator

Check it out. I turned out to be the following:

Oyster Coastal Swift

(ostrea litus)

Has pearlescent white skin and jet black hair. Oysters form a main supplement of the diet of this subspecies, which is often found hunting rocks and crevices for tasty morsels.

Found along the coastline in many parts of the world, the litus is a gypsy of the oceans, making itself at home in a variety of environments.

Note: Faster than most varieties, with superior physical ability and quick wittedness.

Mermaid Time!

2011-07-02T21:26:00.002+10:00

Found lots of mermaid videos online. Hoax or real? Are you convinced or not ....?

MEDIA RELEASE: Australian Comics Creator to Attend World Mermaid Awards in Las Vegas to Launch Upcoming Comic Book Series

2011-06-27T06:00:00.004+10:00

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

27 June 2011

Australian comic book writer, Julie Ditrich, will be attending the inaugural World Mermaid Awards (WMA) in Las Vegas in August to launch the PREVIEW of an upcoming mermaid-inspired comic book series Elf~Fin: Hyfus & Tilaweed.

Ditrich and her business partner – artist and ex-Disney animator Jozef Szekeres – bonded artistically over their mutual love of mermaids during the 90s and shortly after began working as a comics creative team known as Black Mermaid Productions (BMP). The team works predominantly in the fantasy genre and on mermaid stories. BMP has currently sold over 270,000 copies of two comic book series around the world.

Ditrich, who has a BA Degree in Professional Writing from the University of Canberra and who has worked extensively in publishing throughout her career “happily stumbled upon comics by accident” and found that the medium completely suited her story-telling style. “Of all the series we have worked on, Elf~Fin: Hyfus & Tilaweed is the most personal and the most significant. It’s an underwater love story between two beloved characters. What makes this property different is that our characters are a fusion of elves and mermaids, and the story is set completely underwater unlike many other mermaid stories where the characters usually venture onto land.”

The WMA where the SPECIAL PREVIEW will be launched, will attract people from all over the globe who identify with the “mer” subculture and community (ie. professional mermaids – aquatic performers, amateur mermaids who don and swim in tails), as well as artists, writers and other people fascinated in mermaid mythology or who just want to have some fun at this exciting event.

“We’ve established a great relationship with the WMA because Jozef designed the logo,“ says Ditrich, “We hope that the WMA attendees will love the PREVIEW of our comic which introduces the world of Elf~Threaal and some of its inhabitants and which features 24 pages of hand-painted art and story. It‘s essentially the first Act and the first half of the first issue within the first Elf~Fin series.”

The Elf~Fin: Hyfus & Tilaweed World Mermaid Awards Limited Edition will ONLY be sold at MerCon during the WMA event. However, the team released an original limited edition of 250 copies in May which come with a Certificate of Authenticity and which has nearly sold out. Sales have come predominantly from the USA, Australia, Germany, the Netherlands and Norway. To order a copy go to http://elf-fin.com

To join the Elf~Fin-Official Site FaceBook page go to: https://www.facebook.com/pages/ElfFin-Official-Site/92830851199

To join the conversation on Twitter: @BlackMermaid

CLICK HERE to check out the World Mermaid Awards.

Experimenting with ELF~FIN World Mermaid Awards Edition Covers

2011-06-23T09:49:00.004+10:00

Jozef is in the throes of designing a new cover for the exclusive Elf~Fin: Hyfus & Tilaweed Preview World Mermaid Awards Limited Edition comic book. Neither of the covers you see here are definitive, as he will be playing with the dimensions and spacing under the "Elf~Fin" logo. Having said that, we each have our personal favourites and we'd be interested in your take as well.

As previously mentioned on the Elf~Fin website, this edition will also be limited to 250. It will NOT come with a Certificate of Authenticity. It will ONLY be released at MerCon at the World Mermaid Awards on Friday 12 to Saturday 13 August 2011 which is being held at the Mirage in Las Vegas. This particular cover will wrap around the previous edition of the Preview. The actual comic book will remain the same except for the ISBN and bar code information and the advertisements, as well as the new card cover which will contain a flip around WMA cover. For the collectors amongst you, it's a good reason to get to the WMA. Hope to see you there in August!

Disney Eyes

2011-06-09T22:10:00.006+10:00

Artist Katie Alves has her own little artistic niche – painted Disney-inspired eyes. See if you can guess which movie they're from ... the last one's easy and perfectly thematic for our blog don't you think? You can see more of Katie's artwork on her Deviant Art page. Check out her great outer space lips as well.

How to Make Sure Your Cat Doesn't Touch Your Mermaid

2011-06-09T21:33:00.002+10:00

I don't think we have to say much about this ... except that the mermaid corpse is macabre, albeit well constructed.

Matt Elder How To Do Draw Videos

2011-06-09T20:42:00.006+10:00

Friend of BMP and comic book artist Matt Elder has released a number of How to Draw Tutorial videos on YouTube that that will help comics creators and other artists conquer the basics. Here are the first three in the series:

If you want to see more, check out his video channel Matt ElderDotCom or his website here.

Also check out Matt's Joker painting on Comics Alliance – it was earmarked as the Best Art Ever for the week of 27 May 2011.

Comics & Graphic Novels Masterclass with Colleen Doran in Sydney!

2011-06-01T06:00:00.000+10:00

ARE YOU ...

An aspiring comics creator who doesn't know where to start?

A professional comics creator who wants to increase your chances of getting published locally and overseas?

A novelist or book illustrator who wants to transition to graphic novels?

A screenwriter who wants to turn your story into a graphic novel as a prelude to getting it to film?

A storyboard artist who wants to become a power-player in the comics world but doesn’t know how to write a story?

An academic specialising in pop culture, literature or cultural studies who wants further insight into graphic narrative?

A school teacher or librarian who is exploring graphic novels in the classroom?

A publisher who wants to build a graphic novels list or finesse their visual narrative editing skills? OR

A person who just LOVES comics and graphic novels?

Then you need to book straight away into a weekend Masterclass that teaches you "How to Crack the Comic Book and Graphic Novel Creation Code So You Can Write, Illustrate and Edit Like a Pro." Featuring internationally renowned US comics creator Colleen Doran, you will learn about the craft and business of comics and how to get published.

Here's what the weekend covers:

Storytelling Techniques
Visual Storytelling Styles
Professional Polish
Deconstructing the Process
The Professional Life
Creator Rights
Hollywood Secrets
Chalk and Talk Q & A.

To see the full program, go to the Comics Masterclass website.

So what do you need to know about Colleen?

Colleen is an illustrator with hundreds of credits to her name. She has illustrated the work of Neil Gaiman, Anne Rice, J Michael Straczynski, Tori Amos, Clive Barker, Warren Ellis, and more. She has illustrated superheroes and characters such as Spider-Man, Wonder Woman, Captain America, Sandman, and more. She has worked with companies such as Lucasfilm, The Walt Disney Company, Marvel Comics, Image Comics, DC Comics, Reader's Digest, Scholastic and more. She has created officially licensed illustrations for Indiana Jones, Star Wars and Lord of the Rings. Her graphic novel series A Distant Soil was listed among the "101 Best Graphic Novels of All Time" and has sold over 300,000 print copies and has tens of thousands of readers in its web comic format. Need we say anything else ...

Here are the event details:

Dates: Saturday 19 and Sunday 20 November 2011
Time: 9am to 5pm
Venue: Aerial UTS Function Centre, Broadway, Sydney
Admission: $135 (ASA members); $165 (ACA, AWG and State and regional Writers' Centre members); $195 (Non-members)
Payment plans are available so you can pay off your ticket price in three installments.

Go to the official Comics Masterclass website for all the information you need on this event.

One lucky participant will win a private one-hour project or portfolio review session with Colleen!

For bookings, CLICK HERE.

To download the official Comics Masterclass flyer, CLICK ON THE ASA COMICS / GRAPHIC NOVELS PORTFOLIO page then CLICK on the download button in the box.

To subscribe to the Comics Masterclass Spotlight ezine, CLICK HERE.

Proudly presented by the Australian Society of Authors and Black Mermaid Productions.

The Copyright Agency Limited (CAL) Cultural Fund is a proud support of the Comics Masterclass.

Movie Mermaids – Pirates of the Caribbean

2011-05-31T06:00:00.001+10:00

Okay, we haven't seen it yet and we know this is old news for many of you ... but there's been a lot going on in our personal lives recently. Without being flippant in the least, Jozef's father's died two weeks ago and Jozef's looking after his mum on weekends and teaching during the week, and I'm farm-sitting so can't get away to the movies. But the poster and the trailer say it all ... Pirates of the Caribbean is chock full of mermaids. Aussie model, Gemma Ward, plays one of them. In some ways I'm too scared to see the movie because I don't like the idea of capturing or hurting or sacrificing a mermaid, but my understanding is that they give as good as they get so that's some consolation. And they have sharp man-eating teeth! Anyway, can't wait ... we hope the story isn't as messy as the other two sequels. No matter what, we're seeing it.

Mermaid Ring Holder

2011-05-30T06:00:00.001+10:00

BMP friend and compatriot Cat Kouns Born sent us this pic of a mermaid ring holder, which featured on the cover of the March Female Creations catalogue. It's pewter, made in Canada, and sells for USD$18.00. You can buy it on the Female Creations website. Just search on the word "mermaid" to find it, as well as the cute mermaid umbrella and mirror.

GRAPHIC 2011 at the Sydney Opera House

2011-05-29T11:31:00.005+10:00

GRAPHIC is happening once again at the Sydney Opera House on Saturday 20 and Sunday 21 August 2011. The year's line up includes Robert Crumb, Scott McCloud, Jim Woodring, Peter Kuper, Reg Mombassa and a host of other fabulous overseas and Australian comics and animation talent. The program includes talks, workshops, screenings, performances, a games festival and, of course, the annual comics animation competition where you can win $20,000. I've bought my tickets and Jozef's in the process of buying his – "Understanding Comics with Scott McCloud" is at the top of his list. I'll be going to the the "OzComics Show and Tell" panel, "Altered States" panel, "Scott McCloud" masterclass, "Wordless Storytelling", "Silent Comics: Original Live Scores" and "In Conversation with Robert Crumb". This happens two days after I return from the World Mermaid Awards at Las Vegas so I'll be knackered but in my comics and graphic novels element. For the full program, go to the Sydney Opera House GRAPHIC website. To read our blog report on last year's event CLICK HERE. This is a highly recommended event.

ELF~FIN Facebook Page

2011-05-29T11:16:00.004+10:00

Please "LIKE" our official Elf~Fin Facebook page, and if you're in the old FB group, please migrate across as well as soon be deleting it. The more the merrier to keep this conversation going.

MCA Zine Fair Post Mortem

2011-05-29T10:45:00.005+10:00

Black Mermaid Productions exhibited last weekend at its first event in years. Our first venture out as exhibitors was at the annual MCA (which stands for the Museum of Contemporary Art) Zine Fair in Sydney, which is part of the Sydney Writers' Festival. The Federation Hall served as the convention space – it was a lovely open room with pillars, harbour views and lots of light streaming in. The event attracted around 4000 people and at times was quite squeezy.

The Fair was partly social as well – Marcelo Baez and Tom Bonin were exhibiting, and we met fellow comics professionals Chewie Chan, Jordan Verzar, Tim McEwen and clan, and other friends who popped in to visit and to have a look around. The event was excellently organised and we have Melinda Garcia from the MCA to thank for that.

This was also the first time we marketed the Elf~Fin: Hyfus & Tilaweed Preview to the general public. We're happy to say 60 percent of the 250 limited edition print run has been bought now. We were happy to talk to new readers, and we enjoyed seeing kids pat the plastic turtle and octopus on our table display. They were cute moments. If you're wondering what that is in the photo in front of the table, we had three large canvases of the Elf~Fin covers on display. There was no wall space to hang them on but they did get some admiring glances from passersby. Great day in all!

Mermaid Skeletor

2011-04-27T06:00:00.000+10:00

Our friend Nick sent us this pic of a mermaid skeleton ... not quite sure whether it's art, biology or fantasy. Also not sure if it's sad or inspiring for mermaid lovers such as ourselves. You tell us ... ;)

Mermaid Boot ... er ... "Tail" Camp [UPDATED 07/07/11]

2011-04-26T09:48:00.007+10:00

Picked up this story from FaceBook the other day via Reuters – Weeki Wachee Springs has started a mermaid training course.

The training is actually incredibly gruelling and physically challenging. Trainee mermaids stay underwater for long periods of time ... [DELETED – SEE COMMENT BELOW] and are given a step-by-step instructions about buoyancy and acrobatics before graduating to their tails. No scuba gear and no masks are permitted, and mermaids must learn how to balance the pressure on their ears and sinuses while being tossed around by 12-mile-an-hour currents.

Read the full article: "Coolest Camp Ever: Learn to be a mermaid".

You can also enrol your child in a special Adventures Under the Spring Mermaid Camp, which has entirely different training criteria. Several of the summer camps are already sold out!

BMP at MCA Zine Fair 2011

2011-04-26T06:00:00.000+10:00

Black Mermaid Productions™ will have a stall at the annual Museum of Contemporary (MCA) & Sydney Writers' Festival Zine Fair on Sunday 22 May 2011. Each year the Zine Fair attracts over 4000 people to browse, buy and trade comics and zines. BMP will be introducing Elf~Fin: Hyfus & Tilaweed to a new readership, and hopefully we'll see some familiar faces there from the OzCon days. We'll also be representing the Australian Society of Authors (ASA) Comics / Graphic Novels Portfolio so you'll be able to pick up membership info, Supanova professional development seminar info, as well as a flyer on the upcoming comics masterclass (more information to come on that one!). Come and stop by!

Date: Sunday 22 May 2011

Time: 11am to 5pm

Venue: Level 1, The Foundation Hall. MCA, Circular Quay, Sydney NSW

Entry: FREE.

CLICK HERE for more information.

Graphic Novel Session at Gloucester Writers' Festival

2011-04-25T06:00:00.003+10:00

I (Julie) will be speaking about graphic novels at a session at the inaugural Gloucester Writers' Festival in Gloucester NSW, Australia, which is being held from Saturday 30 April to Sunday 1 May 2011. The weekend features panel sessions, workshops and conversations with writers across various literary genres and, of course, the comics medium. I will talk on the "Graphic Novel Process" on the Sunday at 2.00pm, and discuss how writers / artists create and develop a work from idea to script to art to post production. Word on the street is that I may also be doing a workshop for high school students on the Saturday afternoon but will seek confirmation and update this post later on in the week if it comes to fruition. Copies of Elf~Fin: Hyfus & Tilaweed will be on sale at the event. CLICK HERE for the full festival program.

ELF~FIN™ Going Global [UPDATED 02/05/11]

2011-04-24T10:52:00.008+10:00

We were curious to see where our orders are coming from so here's an international breakdown of where most of our readers live ...

Coming in first place is the USA with orders from New York, Washington, California, Arkansas, Ohio, Florida, Washington, Texas, Alabama, Arizona and Colorado. We can now also add Hawaii, Georgia and Wisconsin to the list. Amazing! Thank you!

The next country to order the most copies is Germany. Danke Schon (can't find any umlauts on my system!).

Then the Netherlands – Dank u.

And then with exactly the same number of orders apiece are Norway – Takk; UK, Australia, and New Zealand (a big fat thank you to all). Plus new orders from Mexico – Muchas gracias!

Australia may take the lead in the upcoming weeks with face-to-face sales at upcoming events but this is an unfair advantage we admit. We'll keep you posted.

ELF~FIN™: HYFUS & TILAWEED PREVIEW Launch!

2011-04-24T09:37:00.004+10:00

Anyone who's been watching our various FaceBook accounts of late and who are members of our official Elf~Fin page will know that a few days ago we announced the launch of the Elf~Fin™: Hyfus & Tilaweed Preview. Some of you may have already been checking out our "Elf~Fin™ Leaks & Peeks" blog posts over the last 12 months so you're probably familiar with some of the panel art in the interior pages. Well ... at the end of this week we will have 250 freshly printed copies sitting in our office. About 20 will be put away for archival purposes and the rest will be sold. We have orders mounting up already, which we will process from 1 May 2011. We will also be taking copies with us to two Australian literary and zine events in the next three weeks – the Gloucester Writers' Festival and the MCA Zine Fair – so we don't expect the copies to be around for long. This will be your only time to obtain the PREVIEW through our internet site or through the Aussie events, unless you will physically be attending the World Mermaid Awards from 12-13 August 2011 in Las Vegas, Nevada, USA, for which we will be printing a special MerCon edition. Just so you know, the Preview contains 24 pages of hand-painted artwork by Jozef Szekeres, which comprises the first Act in the first half of the first issue of the first series of Elf~Fin. The only characters our readers will be familiar with are the beloved Hyfus, Tilaweed, Tentus and No~Fin from the work they originally appeared in – ElfQuest: WaveDancers. Beyond that we have NEW characters, a NEW world, NEW rules and a NEW mythology! If you want to read more about it and place your order then go to our new one page Elf~Fin website. You have no idea how excited we are, and also how grateful we are to our readers' enthusiasm for this new work. It's been a long time but we're finally here. The series will be released in its entirely from early 2012!

Whirlwind or Whirlpool?

2011-04-24T08:48:00.003+10:00

The last two months have been a whirlpool for both of us so we apologise for not being regular contributors to this blog. March was quite overwhelming – Jozef had to do all this prep for his regular jobs and had to get through an extensive BMP TO DO List including lettering all the Elf~Fin pages and getting them print-ready, designing a logo for the World Mermaid Awards, getting web design elements to me for our new Elf~Fin website, preparing lessons for the animation classes he teaches at the JMC Academy in Sydney and, of course, packing. Why? Well he was invited to Vienna, Austria to teach a masterclass to artists for two weeks. Since then he has ventured on to Paris and is currently in London. There were lots of business opportunities, as well as lots of art gallery visits on his itinerary but I have yet to hear the details because communication has been sporadic and restricted to FaceBook and a few emails through somebody else's account because there were lots of operational problems with his mobile phone, with his internet connections and the fact that he completely lost access to his PhotoShop software on his laptop and had to download a German version to try to get things done (BTW, he doesn't read German so that has been a trial all of its own!). The good thing is that he is coming back next week, just prior to the Royal Wedding so his timing was off by a couple of days when it came to making the flight bookings although I'm not sure whether he's disappointed or happy to be out of London during that time. Nevertheless, I'm really looking forward to hearing about his overseas adventures.

I, on the other hand, have been flat out preparing lessons for the Graphic Novels class I've been teaching at the JMC Academy (filling in for Jozef while he was away), although I taught writing rather than art. Hopefully my stick figures got the point across when it came to drawing panel set ups on the white board! I've also been working closely with the designer on the Elf~Fin book (more info in the next blog post), getting the Elf~Fin one page website up, driving to the printer on three separate occasions to get the proofs right (they did a brilliant job – I'm thrilled and can't wait for Jozef to see the finished comic next week when he returns), struggling with WordPress to get the new BMP website up, as well as a hundred other little things. It's been an exhausting two months and I just need a couple of days off.

Anyway, you're going to get flooded with blog posts over the next week or two so PLEASE KEEP READING ...

ASA / Supanova Professional Development Seminar 2011

2011-03-02T21:00:00.004+11:00

Copyright, Resale Royalties and Cultural Funding: What every comics creators needs to know!

Want to know how to create additional income streams so you can spend more time working on your comics and graphic novels?

Want to find out about professional development funding opportunities that can get you overseas for FREE?

In 2010, Copyright Agency Limited (CAL) was appointed the collecting society to manage the artists’ resale royalty scheme. This was an important development in Australia’s Intellectual Property landscape, and meant that artists can now share in the financial benefits when their works accrue in value and are traded on the secondary market. This professional development seminar will explain how the scheme works and how artists (including comics artists) can be paid 5% of the resale value on the second and subsequent sale of artistic works. This seminar will also reveal how CAL’s Cultural Fund allocates around $2 million per year to support professional development of individuals’ projects through the Creative Industries’ Career Fund, as well as projects with a broader industry focus through the Cultural Fund.

About the Copyright Agency Limited (CAL)

CAL was established in 1974 to represent the collective copyright interests of Australia’s authors, artists and publishers. CAL’s initial operations were aimed at providing equitable remuneration for the photocopying of creative works, especially in the educational sector where photocopying was taking away from traditional sales of textbooks. In 2000, the Copyright Act was amended and CAL has since collected remuneration for digital use of its members’ works. In 2010, CAL was appointed the collecting society to manage the artists’ resale royalty scheme. CAL manages its 17,000+ members’ collective copyright interests and artists’ resale royalty—collecting and distributing over $100 million per year to Australia’s authors, artists and publishers. To date, CAL has distributed a total of $780 million to the publishing and visual arts industries.

About the Australian Society of Authors (ASA)

The ASA (which incorporates the Society of Book Illustrators [SOBI]) is the peak professional association for Australian literary creators and has over 3000 members. The Comics/Graphic Novels Portfolio was formed in mid 2007, to provide industry support to Australian artists and writers currently working in the comics medium and, in particular, the graphic novel format.

About the Speaker – Zoë Rodriguez

Zoë Rodriguez is a lawyer who has worked at CAL for nearly eight years. She works in policy—lobbying government to promote laws that will benefit Australia’s visual arts and publishing industries. Zoë also manages CAL’s Cultural Fund and the Creative Industries Career Fund, which provide grants to organisations and individuals in the publishing and visual arts sectors. Cultural Funding is used to support people’s professional development, and in establishing an environment that enables creators to derive an income from their work.

BRISBANE SEMINAR

Date: Saturday 2 April 2011

Time: 6.00pm to 7.00pm

Venue*: Supanova Seminar Room (downstairs), Exhibition Building, RNA Showgrounds, Gregory Terrace, Brisbane.

MELBOURNE SEMINAR

Date: Saturday 9 April 2011

Time: 6.00pm to 7.00pm

Venue*: Supanova Seminar Room, opposite Exhibition Hall (via Main Entrance off Epsom Rd), Melbourne Showgrounds, Melbourne.

SYDNEY SEMINAR

Date: Saturday 18 June 2011

Time: 6.00pm to 7.00pm

Venue*: Supanova Seminar Room, The Dome, Sydney Olympic Park, Sydney.

PERTH SEMINAR

Date: Saturday 25 June 2011

Time: 6.00pm to 7.00pm

Venue*: Supanova Seminar Room, Robinson Pavillion, Claremont Showgrounds, Perth.

Entry fee: There is no charge to attend the seminar. However, attendees must be exhibitors or hold a Supanova One Day Pass ($23.80 through Ticketek or $25.00 at the door) or a Supafan Three Day Weekend Pass ($49. 50 through Ticketek or $60.00 at the door). For bookings go to Ticketek or call 132 849 or

Further Information: Check out the Supanova event guide.

* Please check the venue details in the printed Supanova event program (inserted in your show bag) in case of last minute venue changes.

Sponsored by Supanova and the Australian Society of Authors

Recommended Books for Comics Creators

2011-02-28T17:53:00.004+11:00

We have it on good authority – Australian comics creator Marcelo Baez's authority – that these two how-to books on comics and graphic novels are brilliant. We've put them on our Amazon wishlist and will buy them once we pay off our Mastercard for the month, but we thought you might want the heads up on them too. Let us know what you think.

Shaun Tan Wins Oscar for Best Animated Short

2011-02-28T17:47:00.004+11:00

Congratulations to Australian illustrator / animator Shaun Tan who won an Academy Award today for his 15-minute animated film The Lost Thing. To read more about Shaun, his original book the film was based on, as well as the film please read our previous post or check out The Lost Thing website.

The World Mermaid Awards and MerCon

2011-02-18T10:23:00.005+11:00

Mermaid lovers rejoice! For the first time ever, the world's "mers" are getting their own mermaid convention in the form of the World Mermaid Awards. This inaugural annual event hosted by Sita Lange of Maui Mermaids, is being held in Las Vegas on Saturday 12 and Sunday 13 August 2011 at the Mirage Hotel and will feature the largest Pool Party ever! Guests include the amazing writer Doreen Virtue (whose books and cards sets we collect – in fact, see our previous post on the Magical Mermaids and Dolphins Oracle Cards), Hannah Fraser and Marina, the Fire eating Mermaid – MeduSirena. The event will also feature live mermaids in the water fountain, vintage and new mermaid movie theatre, exhibitions and various other activities. Check out the World Mermaid Awards website for more information, and CONGRATULATIONS to the organisers for such a great idea. We're going to be working hard to get at least one of us to the event.

Kate and Wills Wedding Comic Book

2011-02-16T07:25:00.005+11:00

Just in time for the upcoming Royal Wedding, Prince William and Kate Middleton now have their love story and courtship immortalised in a comic book. The title is Kate and William: A Very Public Love Story. The writer is Rich Johnston and the artists are Mike Collins (who has drawn Kate's story) and Gary Erskine (who has drawn William's story). The comic book goes on sale on 2 April 2011. You can watch a trailer of the artwork on the Sky News website.

More Cloud 9 Comix Commentary

2011-02-09T17:17:00.005+11:00

John Retallick from Melbourne's "The Comic Spot" radio show on 3CR, interviews Praz Hari about Cloud 9 who are digitally publishing comic books. The first titles are coming out via iPad now.

Check out Part 1 and 2 below ...

Cloud 9 Comix – Australian Digital Comics Publishing

2011-02-09T16:48:00.004+11:00

Spectrum Pacific Publishing has just announced the launch of Australia's first digital comic book publisher – Cloud 9 Comix – which will be bringing out the best comics from around the world via iPads and then following up with Android and other platforms.

Spectrum Pacific Publishing – founded by Benjamin Slabak in 1996 in Sydney – has developed and published over 30 computer games and is now venturing into publishing for digital handheld devices under the Cloud 9 umbrella. Mr Slabak says:

"... we will work with and support independent comic book authors and small publishers in making their titles available to an audience that’s wider than ever before. A myriad of digital tablets and e-reader devices are slated for release during 2011 and we expect the digital comic book scene to experience a boom in 2011."

The ever-growing Cloud 9 Comix family, which now features over 150 unique titles from all six continents, makes Cloud 9 Comix the only truly global digital comic book publisher. Additionally, comics will be available in a variety of languages including Italian, Spanish, German, Croatian, and others.

Cloud 9 Comix has currently collected the best of Australian comic book titles under its brand and titles such as Dark Detective: Sherlock Holmes, Vienna, Dark Nebula, Southern Squadron, The Wraith, and others, which are already available for purchase in the Cloud 9 Comix iPad store. Most comics are priced between USD$0.99 and $1.99.

The full catalogue of comics is available on the official Cloud 9 website where you can also download a free iPad app and sample some of the comic book titles.

BMP Website Reconstruction – Notice to Readers

2011-02-09T14:58:00.003+11:00

We're hard at work on designing our new website but it ain't easy. We've just purchased a new web hosting package and will be using WordPress to build it but there are a few technicalities that we have to iron out – we don't want the current site to disappear until the new one is ready to upload but in the meantime all those redirections and DNS's are driving us a bit nuts. We've also been wrangling all our dispersed domain names under one provider so it will be easier in the future to manage our nest of domain name babies (some of whom are yet to be born into adulthood as websites). Anyway, in case there are any drop outs then just pop by here for updates ... we're aiming to get the site up by the end of February.

ACA Cartoon Fundraiser for Queensland Flood Victims

2011-02-04T17:24:00.002+11:00

While the government mucks around with levies and compulsory donation legislation, the Australian Cartoonists’ Association (ACA) is raising funds to help put flood-affected Queenslanders back on their feet in the only way we know how - drawing!

With over 75% of Queensland now flood affected, there has already been massive destruction of property, loss of homes and loss of life. The Queensland flooding is the worst on record, and is set to worsen over the coming weeks. Flood victims and rescue workers need our help and we must support them.

To raise money, the ACA is asking its members to donate an original cartoon (or signed print) preferably on the theme of Weather, but general themed cartoons will also be accepted. If you've already got some cartoons on the topic from this month send them on through!

Please note that since the floods, Cyclone Yasi has smashed into Queensland while most of us sat behind our desks. Now there's even more reason to participate in Floodlines with all money raised going to the Premier's Disaster Relief Appeal. Just a couple of years ago many ACA members helped out in the Victorian bushfire appeal which raised thousands of dollars. Now it's Queensland's turn. So please take a look at the website and send something through. There's only SEVEN days to go. Then the ACA will announce it publicly and it'll be all systems go for a great cause.

The pieces will be auctioned and sold on the floodlines.com.au website, with all proceeds going to the Premier's Disaster Relief Appeal.

Donated cartoons to be posted to:

"Floodlines QLD Fundraiser"

"The Victoria Building"

204v/162 Albert Street

East Melbourne, VIC 3002

Entries should include:

1. Brief artist bio (50 words max) - include website.

2. Where the cartoon was originally published (if published)

3. A recommended reserve price for the piece.

4. Maximum size of A3 (Black & White or Colour.)

5. If cartoon is drawn digitally, please also email a JPG file to president@cartoonists.org.au for use on the website.

DEADLINE: Friday, 11th February.

That gives you all two weeks to get your donated cartoons in. Get scribbling!