A Small sample of my work published in books, journals and comics
The Beating of Wings
In collaboration with Jeferson Sadzinski and Thomas Mauer.
Includes a gallery of pieces inspired by the world of this story by three Australian artists – Laura Renfrew, Aisling King Macklin and Sarah Winifred Searle. Cover by Tim Molloy.
Ownaindi for print and digital copies.
Retail copies available from:
Kings Comics
All Star Comics
Alternate Worlds
Readings Books Carlton
Stoneman’s Bookroom, Castlemaine
Dee’s Comics
The Beating of Wings - cover art by Tim Molloy
Demons stalk the citizens of Emmanuel, Brother December investigates. In his quest to save the city, will he risk losing his soul?
The Beating of Wings is set in a world where the supernatural and religion are interwoven. For centuries mankind has known there are other worlds - and magick is the only defence against predators from these worlds.
This is the second book from the team behind Faraway (2019), with Emmet O'Cuana (script), Jeferson Sadzinski (art) and Thomas Mauer (lettering).
And here are some nice words on the book from Peadar Ó Guilín and Con Chrisoulis.
Also a lovely note from J.H. Williams III ‘The Beating of Wings was darkly dramatic, with an interesting set-up that begs there must be more tales one day’.
“I’m sorry I didn’t discover the writing of Michael Shea (1946–2014) until after he passed away. Shea was a prolific writer of horror and fantasy fiction, a number of whose Cthulhu Mythos tales were collected in the anthology Demiurge (Dark Regions Press 2017, edited by S T Joshi). Shea exchanges the New England setting of H P Lovecraft’s stories of Cthulhu, shoggoths …”
FARAWAY
In collaboration with Jeferson Sadzinski and Thomas Mauer.
Featuring a gallery of images from Scarlette Baccini, Paul Caggegi, Dean Rankine and cover by Ele Jenkins.
In the vein of Jeff Smith's Bone and Terry Pratchett's Discworld series, Faraway is a fantasy one-shot. This edition features an accompanying essay On pay and panelology and gallery of specially commissioned Australian comic art.
Did you ever dream of travelling to a world of fantasy you could only read about in books? Adventure alongside noble kings, or battle evil dark lords? Well this is the story of a boy who did just that - but not in the way you might expect.
**Dear parents, please do not read this comic to your children! It will be very awkward indeed.**
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Faraway is available from select comic book stores across Australia and on Ownaindi. Learn more here.
Abrek
24 Panels
Image Comics
In collaboration with Jeferson Sadzinski and Cardinal Rae.
Abrek, illustrated by Jeferson Sadzinski and lettered by Cardinal Rae, is one of a series of comic shorts featured in 24 Panels. Curated by Kieron Gillen, the collection is raising funds for the survivors of the Grenfell Tower fire on June 2017. Each creative team had no more than 24 panels to tell a story with an emphasis on positivity and community. In the spirit of the collection, Abrek is a tribute to the joys of daydreaming and imagination.
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Buy the comic here.
VIDDY WELL, BROTHER: An Australian comic’s tribute to Stanley Kubrick
Film International Volume 11, issue 6
In the documentary Graphic Novels! Melbourne! co-directed by Daniel Hayward (This Is Roller Derby) and Bernard Caleo, the argument is made that the trendy Australian coastal city has become a mecca for Antipodean comic creators in the past five years. This sudden surge of interest is also notable for the creators looking to distinguish themselves by producing varied work, frequently auto-biographical or surrealist in nature, as well as wildly experimental. During this same period former film-maker Frank Candiloro began to produce his own books, which in turn are distinct in their obvious debt to cinema.
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Read more here.
'Morrison Inc' and Themes of Benevolent Capitalism
Grant Morrison and the Superhero Renaissance: Critical Essays
Edited by Darragh Greene and Kate Roddy
About the book: Superheroes are enjoying a cultural resurgence, dominating the box office and breaking out of specialty comics stores onto the shelves of mainstream retailers.
A leading figure behind the superhero Renaissance is Grant Morrison, long-time architect of the DC Comics’ universe and author of many of the most successful comic books in recent years. Renowned for his anarchic original creations - Zenith, The Invisibles, The Filth, We3—as well as for his acclaimed serialised comics - JLA, Superman, Batman, New X-Men—Grant Morrison has radically redefined the superhero archetype. Known for his eccentric lifestyle and as a practitioner of 'pop magic', Morrison sees the superhero as not merely fantasy but a medium for imagining a better humanity.
Drawing on a variety of analytical approaches, this first-ever collection of critical essays on his work explores his rejuvenation of the figure of the superhero as a means to address the challenges of modern life.
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Buy the book here.
The Hurlyburly's Done
100% Biodegradable Collection #3
In collaboration with artist Dave Dye
Emmet O’Cuana and Dave Dye’s The Hurlyburly’s Done manages to balance a tragic love story with the end of the world!
Buy the comic here.
Syrup and Sawdust
Panelalia Volume 1
In collaboration with artist Dan Gilmore
Published in Dave Crane's Panelalia, launched at the Lakes Comics Festival and available through the Electricomics platform.
Tiresias: A Blood-Punk Fantasy
Aurealis: Australian Fantasy and Science Fiction
#59
Eddie Rialto is the self-declared ‘last man in Dublin’, with the city itself populated entirely by V’s, former humans who have transformed themselves with what are called ‘Vulcanist devices’. This technology is fuelled by blood and has led to a resurgent British Empire, which controls this new industrial revolution. Rialto is himself the son of the main producer of Vulcanist devices and chosen to exile himself in Dublin.
The story tells of what happens to him on the last day of his life and is intended as an off-hand mash up of Bram Stoker’s Dracula and James Joyce’s Ulysses.
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Buy Aurealis here.
samples of my work available online
generation matel
In collaboration with artist Garth Jones
“The hardest thing to understand is why we can understand anything at all” – Michio Kaku, Visions: How Science Will Revolutionize The 21st Century
HBO’s latest show Westworld, an adaptation by Jonathan Nolan and Lisa Joy of the Yul Brynner 1973 film, has a lot to prove.
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Read more here.
Artificial intelligence and the soul in Westworld
Playing god
a review of dragon age: Inquisition
I did not expect to find myself reflecting on the nature of religion while playing a horned giant ‘Qunari’ using magic spells to fend off attacks from a demon horde. But then Dragon Age: Inquisition is a game full of surprises.
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Read more here.
Phantom Logic
The Phantom is not only one of the longest running comics in Australia, first landing on these shores shortly after its American debut as a feature in Australian Woman’s Mirror in 1936, it is also one of the longest running print magazines in this country. Russell Marks, for Overland, points out that the Ghost Who Walks runs a close fourth to Women’s Weekly, Meanjin and Southerly.
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Read more here.
Australia's Favourite Boy gets the Chop
Hey gang! If you could click this link and vote the second strip (Ginger Meggs) to keep me alive I’d be grateful.
Yes that is just a fictional character’s plea on a promotional Facebook page but there is something…bleak about it. A comic strip boy-hero, in fact one of the most iconic Australian comic characters of the last century, begging for their life as the result of an online voting competition held by APN (Australian Provincial Newspapers )News and Media. To wit.
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Read more here.
Marriage equality and the ‘Not Alone’ Catholic Vote video’s crocodile tears
This is the introduction on the Catholic Vote website to their viral video ‘Not Alone’.
The six young people interviewed are presented in a confessional setting, sitting against a white background. They discuss how excluded they feel by the world. The terms used in the video are familiar from personalised accounts of discrimination and bullying.
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Read more here.
Wowser: of mad monks and culture warriors
Originally published in Home Brew Vampire Bullets Vol. 2
Illustrations by Garth Jones
The first 'wowsers' were moralist preachers, common to the vice-ridden streets of Melbourne in the late nineteenth century. The word has since become synonymous with a prude, someone who insists on shouting society down until it agrees to conform to their way of seeing the world. It is also a profitable vocation, a career with distinct professional gains. Present-day culture wars are notable for the number of preacher-men and moral guardians on the airwaves or behind a pulpit making a living from having opinions. Loud ones, in particular, are a must.
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Read more here.
Instinctively he crushed the moth against the fine material of his suit. A thin yellow dust stained the fabric. For the briefest of moments Keith Hannon forgot the girl's scream.
To distract himself he lit another cigarette. He was standing outside London City airport, enjoying the pleasantly mild afternoon air. The men entering and exiting alongside him all looked alike. His tribe — close-cropped hair, clothing tailored and easily appraised at a glance, hands smooth and unblemished. Masters of Christendom all.
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Read more here.
Faith of our fathers
Originally published in The Del Sol Review #21