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Frankly
I don't spend enough time on the Net for this list to be much of
a revelation to you more experienced users...but who knows?
The
more people who know about Weebl & Bob the better, in my
opinion.
Web cartoons:
ascii by
Roy Cunningham. Vile, frequently pornographic, and discontinued,
but a New Zealander, so allowances must be made.
Bruno by
Christopher Baldwin. An eloquent, wordy, obscure strip which has
developed over years on the Net in a manner impossible in any other
medium. If it ever becomes famous, it will be destroyed.
Cute Wendy by Josh L. Gleefully
demented and extremely well drawn -although being on Keenspot he
doesn't need any more publicity, does he? The current sequel Girly
isn't quite as charming.
The
Dr Pepper Show by
Rachel Smythe. Evil Aubrey Beardsleyesque cartoon, suitable for fetishists.
And she's a New Zealander. And she's not even 20...
Dungeon Damage by
Benjamin D. Richards. Another New Zealander, though not listed as so on the Keenspace guide.
A detailed visualisation of the kind of rule-filled fantasy world I would never be able to construct.
Dykes
To Watch Out For by Alison Bechdel. This cartoon is always
marginalised because of its title (!) and focus, but it's
important on so many levels. It should be studied by any
cartoonist interested
in effective characterisation and plot development. Okay,
people criticise it for its soap-opera elements, but if Bechdel
was
a straight male (like the overwhelming majority of people
on this list) it would be a Terry Zwigoff film now. This
site is
a useful archive of recent strips.
E-Motel by
Rob Cruickshank. Rob's been doing this for a couple of years,
and is very nice to meet in person. E-Motel, ascii, Dungeon Damage,
Toolshed and Dr Pepper represent New Zealand on ComicGenesis.
Eulogy by
Angus Deacon. Created entirely in Flash.
Unchanged for several years.
HantaMouse's
Playground: A 'vapor comic' which doesn't actually exist.
Visit here to learn the principles of Feng
Shqueak.
Housd by
Ali Graham. Retro gaming and urban stagnation from the UK.
Indavo by
Nathan Bonner. Ships, guns, robots, woo hoo!
Infinite
Stupidity by Richard White. Richard looks like a Goth although
he denies being one, which means he is very brave to live in
Hamilton.
Liberty
Meadows by Frank Cho. The man who had it all
and gave it away. No, that's not fair. You have
to wonder, though
-how could
he not realise what he was getting into
when he signed up? There are hundreds of thousands
of people out
there aching
to be given the opportunity to face the limitations
and restrictions of being a syndicated cartoonist.
That's why
they call it
a discipline. Anyway, Liberty Meadows has the best
art and cutest animals and...crikey,
the female characters look a bit dodgy, don't they?
NeonDragonArt by
Jessica Peffer
Netherworld -the
new vision by J.A. Elamparo.
Newtown
Ghetto Anger by Jarrod Baker, Wellington comedian and stage
performer.
Opus by
Berkeley Breathed: the creator of 'Bloom County' is back, and while
his graphic innovation has noticeably tailed off since the
re-launch, Opus is still one of the best Sunday strips
around. Which frankly isn't saying much.
Pearls
Before Swine by Stephan Pastis. Certainly
not brilliant, and nearly as listlessly rendered
as 'Dilbert', but quite winsome and one of
the best daily syndicated strips. Again, not
saying much.
Soul-D by
Mary Bowman. She's sick of people asking her how she
draws this, so don't bother.
Spades by
Diana Cameron McQueen. Noir fantasy, part of Girlamatic.com.
Toolshed by
Jem Yoshioka. Steampunk manga with a charming earth-tone palette.
Another New Zealander!
Zap! by Chris L. & Pascalle.
Not just another space comic. Lovely rendering, and an attention to detail you don't often see.
Start reading it now so you can say you read it when...
New Zealand cartoons:
The
ComicBook Factory by Karl Wills. Karl must be one of the
most mentally healthy people in NZ comics, because he channels
every ounce
of twisted
perversity he possesses into his work. In fact there's so much
twistedness there, he could probably represent our country at
the Perversity Olympics. The animations on this site are
particularly unpleasant.
Ant Sang is
the character designer for 'Bro Town', but is famous in comic
circles for 'Dharma Punks', a multi-part
graphic novel. This may
not sound
a big deal,
but
it's hard to
describe
how
difficult
this is to successfully achieve in New Zealand.
Hicksville by
Dylan Horrocks is possibly the best New Zealand graphic novel ever
produced. Dylan is a role model to most younger NZ cartoonists
because this original and personal work has
led to the sort of international career most of us would kill for. We
would hate him
for it if
he
wasn't
so incredibly
nice.
Hotel
Fred by Roger Landridge. Mr Landridge (I would call him 'Roger'
but I've never met him and he has no idea who I am, unlike everyone
else on this list) has achieved success by the time-honoured method
of getting the hell out of the country at the earliest opportunity
and working in Britain instead. His site presents many other interesting
NZ comics links.
Chris
Slane is NZ's best political cartoonist and has a wonderful
watercolour-tinted style. He has also produced a graphic novel
of the legends of Maui which clogs up the cartoon section of
every public library in the country. Seriously, at least six
copies per branch.
The
New
Zealand Cartoon Gallery represents the mainstream NZ cartoonists.
Featuring mostly political cartoonists -the only sort our papers
really recognise, it is dominated by old white men.
Only about three names here are really talented and relevant.
The rest should have retired some time in the 1980s.
Interesting stuff:
About A Girl: From a recent art exhibition I was
involved with. You can buy prints, paintings and photgraphs here.
The
Guardian: Once known as the Grauniad for its typos, now the
Anti-Fox.
Overheard
In New York: Candid dialogue from NYC.
Jump The Shark: Oh, why not.
Weebl & Bob:
Don't check this out at work, you'll be quoting it all afternoon.
I recommend going through the archive in chronological
order. Funny in a way only the
British can manage.
Rotten
Tomatoes: A useful resource, albeit a slow-loading and
self-important one. In fact, the only reason I've included it
here is because it's very useful when trying to work out if a movie
on TV is going to be any good.
The
Oldie: Intelligent writing, not bad cartoons...I hope this
is still around in twenty years when I'm old enough to be allowed
to read it.
Interview
with Neil Innes: Neil Innes was involved with Monty Python
and this interview was a lot of fun.
Wellington
City Council:
Everything you've ever wanted to know about the seamy
underbelly of New Zealand's capital. No detail is too
sordid, no vice left unexposed, no unspeakable activity glossed
over in their quest to present Wellington in a stark, honest
light.
The
New Zealand Herald: What we have here instead of The Times
or Herald Tribune. New Zealand's biggest newspaper. This, my friend,
is as good as it gets.
Here
are lovely banners you can use for links. Please don't try hotlinking
them
-it doesn't work with Comic Genesis because they are well crafty.
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