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Well, the Stanleys are over for another year. The

huge contingent of attendees in Melbourne this year is testament to just how popular and valuable this event has become to Aussie cartoonists, who are now largely out of the art-room and into the home studio.

You’ll read much about the Stanleys in this

issue, so I won’t harp on- however I do want

to thank the army of volunteers who put

their hand up each year to help co-ordinate

this mammoth event.

You can’t co-ordinate an event like the

Stanleys on your own, and the very reason

the ACA thrives is due to their generosity.

The Stanleys themselves wouldn’t exist

without the contribution of our Sponsors,

The Herald Sun, CAL and the welcome

return of our friends at Wacom Australia.

As always our thanks go to our category

sponsors at The Australian, Viscopy, The

Sydney Morning Herald, The Courier Mail

and the MEAA.

The Stanleys weekend also involved the

Annual General Meeting, which this year

included the election of a new board for the

ACA. As you will see over the page, we have

a few new board members and some long-

standing members in new roles- myself in a

particularly different one to previous years.

I’d very much like to thank our out-going

President, Jules Faber for all his hard

work in the last two years. He had a

particularly busy term, which not only

included navigating the ACA through its

most successful Stanleys in the midst of

a financial crisis and introducing a brand

new Stanleys Category, but getting married

right, smack in the middle of it!

Needless to say, Jules’ efforts have been

genuinely appreciated by all members.

I have some big Converse All-Stars to fill.

I’m told by Lindsay Foyle I’m the

youngest President of the ACA, and by

Peter Broelman that I’m the first

president in the world to have bigger ears

than Barrack Obama, so it’s a rather proud

moment on both counts.

Issue #63 Summer 2010www.cartoonists.org.au( 1300 658 581

ACA BoardPatron

Vane Lindesay(03) 9523 8635

PresidentJason Chatfield

president@cartoonists.org.au

Deputy PresidentPeter Broelman

deputy@cartoonists.org.au

SecretaryKerry Anne Brown

secretary@cartoonists.org.au

TreasurerGrant Brown

treasurer@cartoonists.org.au

Membership Secretary Dee Texidor

membership@cartoonists.org.au

Vice Presidents:

Lindsay Foyle (NSW/ACT)nsw@cartoonists.org.au

Luke Watson(Vic/Tas)vic@cartoonists.org.au

Gary Clark (Qld)qld@cartoonists.org.au

Simon Kneebone (SA/NT)sa@cartoonists.org.au

Mick Horne (WA)wa@cartoonists.org.au

ABN 19 140 290 841Inkspot is produced four times a year by the

Australian Cartoonists’ Association.PO Box 318 Strawberry Hills NSW 2012

ACA AFFILIATED ORGANISATIONS

National Cartoonists SocietyPresident: Jeff Keane

Secretary: Rick Kirkmanwww.reuben.org

Cartoonists’ Club of Great BritainPresident: Terry ChristienSecretary: Richard Tomes

www.ccgb.org.uk

FECOPresident-General: Marlene Pohle

Secretary-General: Peter Nieuwendijkwww.fecoweb.org

Australia Post Registration PP 533798/0015

Inkspot Editorial TeamEditor: Steve Panozzo

Designer: Jason ChatfieldMany thanks to all Inkspot contributors,

including Dee Texidor, Anton Emdin, Chris Kelly, Lindsay Foyle, Judy Horacek

and all other contributors to Parz.Cover illustration by David Rowe

President’s Parlay

I’m very passionate about cartooning,

and I’ve always enjoyed simply drawing

cartoons in every possible form. I’m very

honoured to have the opportunity to

represent the ACA in this new capacity.

Navigating the Association through

the trepidatious territory in which we

cartoonists find ourselves is something

I’m very excited about. In truth, I am as

terrified as I am excited. The opportunity

for this massive shift in how our readers

view our work has the potention to

become something of a renaissance for our

craft, rather than some kind of ruinous

unwelcome intrusion.

We’re very privileged in the ACA to have

not only great artists, but equally as deft

and creative thinkers. Personally, I have

always thought of cartoonists as not just

artists, but individuals of great intellect and

influence. We have some wonderful minds

in our ranks, and I believe that is what will

keep our craft afloat in these uncertain

waters (pardon the awful pun).

At time of press, we had just learned of the

passing of two of Australia’s cartooning

family, Norman Hetherington and

Dave Allen. His loss is deeply felt

amongst the ACA. We will be printing

a tribute to Norm in the next issue of

Inkspot. But for now, enjoy this fine issue

edited by our 2010 Jim Russell Award-

Winner, Steve Panozzo.

Jason Chatfield by Anton Emdin • www.antonemdin.com

Jason Chatfield

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Deputy PresidentPeter BroelmanPeter is a freelance cartoonist with a penchant for editorial cartoons, caricatures and the occasional stick man. He has served on the ACA for longer than he can remember and has now been punished for it by being made Deputy President. His term expires at the end of 2012 where, hopefully, if the world hasn’t ended, alzheimers would have kicked in and everything will be reduced to a blur.

PresidentJason ChatfieldJason is a freelance cartoonist and stand-up comedian based in airport departure lounges across Australia. Originally from Perth, he now writes, draws and syndicates Ginger Meggs across 34 countries when he’s not scribbling editorial cartoons for a swag of newspapers and online. Despite the evidence on the previous page, he does not smoke pencils.

SecretaryKerry-Anne Brown

Kerry-Anne lives with her cartoonist husband, Grant in Bendigo and runs her own book-keeping business. With a strong background in Administration, particularly at Board level she has predominately worked within the State and local Government Sectors for the past 17 years. She likes men who play with crayons.

Membership-SecretaryDee TexidorAfter 22 years in art direction/graphic design & illustration including publications, photo shoots, merchandise, corporate imaging, promotional events, websites, toys, calendars, packaging & t-shirts Dee is proud to be taking on the role of ACA Membership Secretary. She’s looking forward welcoming new members as well as getting to know the existing members more.

VIC/TAS Vice-PresidentLuke WatsonWith the unwaivering support (and regular paycheque) of his wife, Luke has been freelance cartooning and illustrating since 2006. After joining the the ACA in 2007 he’s had work published and exhibited around the world and has been nominated for and won some awards and stuff. Luke is looking forward to supporting the industry that will hopefully (along with his wife) support him financially for the next 50 years.

NSW/ACT Vice-PresidentLindsay FoyleLindsay Foyle started work as a copyboy on the Daily Telegraph 1959, since then he has worked in the UK and Australia on various publications. He joined the ACA (ABWAC) in 1970 when working on Woman’s Day and was at The Bulletin in 1973 in 1985 where he helped in establishing the Stanleys. He Joined The Australian in 1996 as a layout sub and has contributed pocket cartoons to this day.

TreasurerGrant BrownGrant is a freelance cartoonist from Bendigo and has been a member of the ACA since the early 1990s. He has his own cartooning business and is a keen cricketer. He regularly holds workshops at schools. As a gadget collector, you will catch him sitting at his computer searching out the latest electronics during his downtime. He never grew out of playing with crayons.

WA Vice-PresidentMick HorneMick is currently the Editorial Cartoonist for a local newspaper, his 3rd such position in WA. In an earlier life he was a licensed aircraft maintenance engineer, but has since swapped stress for humour. A stalwart of the ACA for many years, Mick was a legendary Treasurer before taking on the role of Membership Secretary, and now WA VP. He doesn’t mind the odd can of Carlton Mid-Strength...

QLD Vice-PresidentGary ClarkGary has been a member of the ACA for many years, and has served as Treasurer and QLD VP in previous terms. His internationally syndicated comic strip Swamp has earned him a staggering nine Stanley Awards for Best Comic Strip, including the very first in1985. If he’s not drawing his comic strip, you’ll find Gary flying light aircraft around Queensland.

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Crowing with LaughterPeter Broelman’s work is now literally on people’s lips. Carlton and United Brewer-ies recently approached him to produce a caricature of Adelaide Crows player Mark Ricciuto for a range of beer cans.“The can now looks good on the outside and the inside,” said Broels. “I’ve done stacks of things, but always in print – never on cans. It’s always been 2D, as apposed to 375ml.”

Not Such Good GuysAs many of us know all too well, James Kemsley was a cricket tragic. So it was quite fitting that the third annual Kems-ley Cup was held at Chevalier College in Bowral during November in honour of the former Ginger Meggs cartoonist, who died from Motor Neurone Disease in December, 2007. The Ginger Meggs XI, led by James’ son Hywel, showed no

mercy towards their older opponents in the Greenwich Good Guys, recording a 72-run win.Helen Kemsley said the weekend marked the couple’s wedding anniver-sary, as well as both of their birthdays.“It was fabulous to see old mates having a hit and giggle,” she said.

Zeroes for Point ZeroManly Sea Eagles backer Max Delmege thought Steve Panozzo’s painting of Federal Opposition Leader Tony Ab-bott was so hilarious that he forked out $2,000 to make it his own at a charity night for Point Zero Youth Services, held at Sydney’s Star City in November. Not bad for a Bald Archy Prize reject!

Not Such a Bad Night!South Australian cartoonists, unable to make the trek to Melbourne for this year’s Stanleys bash, got together any-way for a “Not the Stanleys” celebration at John Martin’s Glandore home. They were kept up-to-date with regular text messages from their man-on-the-spot, Peter Broelman.

IP, hooray!Intellectual Property, or “IP”, has been described by the Financial Times as one of the key drivers of business competi-tiveness in the 21st century. Lawyer, cartoonist and Stanleys auctioneer Paul Brennan has written a book which will enable you to say “that’s my IP” and at

least sound as if you know what you’re talking about. It’s called Easy IP and can be ordered online at www.lawanddisor-der.com.au

Maternity StreakTony, Lori & Isaac Lopes are delighted to announce that the reason they couldn’t attend the Stanleys has finally arrived!Thomas Lewis Lopes was born on Wednesday, 1 December, weighing in at 3.5kg. Mum & bub are reportedly both healthy and doing beautifully, and Isaac has already taken to his new playmate, saying, “he’s beautiful.” Aww.

Sakai Sees Sydney

Anthropomorphic art legend, Stan Sakai jetted in Australia in November and took time-out to meet ACA members in both Sydney and Melbourne. Sakai has been drawing Usagi Yojimbo, a comic book series about a rabbit samurai in feudal Japan, for more than 25 years. He was in Australia for the 12th MiDFur convention in early December.‘’I wanted to draw a series based on the life of a real 17th-century samurai named Miyamoto Musashi, but one day while drawing in my sketchbook, I drew a rabbit with his ears tied up into a samurai topknot,” Stan explained. “I loved the design, it was simple and unique. So I made my character a samu-rai rabbit.’’Stan was made welcome to Sydney by a coterie of locals led by newly-installed NSW/ACT Vice-President, Lindsay Foyle.

PARZ!

LEFT: Sydney real-estate identity Max Delmege with Panozzo’s take on Tony Abbott;BELOW: Dave Allen raises a glass to Stanleys at-tendees as he reclines amongst similarly-stranded colleagues at John Martin’s Adelaide home

ABOVE: Stan Sakai hard at it between courses at the James Squire Brewhouse in Sydney

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IF the 2010 Stanley Awards are anything to go by, the

future of Australian cartooning is brightly inked in.

Headlined by international guests,

Stan Goldberg of Archie fame

and Chicago-based caricaturist,

cap-wearer and all around good guy

Jason Seiler, the 26th Stanley

Awards in Melbourne was a hit

and lived up to expectations by the

funniest group in the country.

Cartoonists and friends had the

chance to catch up, share a few - well,

several dozen - laughs, some beers,

and reflect on the year in cartooning

in the heart of Australia’s cultural

capital.

Stories of past Stanley Awards

and cartooning escapades flowed

throughout the Friday and weekend,

and the seminars and workshops

proved popular as ever.

Friday’s conference saw Copyright

Agency Ltd open the weekend’s

proceedings, informing delegates of

the new state of affairs in copyright

after the introduction of the Resale

Royalties Scheme.

They then introduced the

legendary Stan Goldberg, of

Archie fame, who spoke at length

on his carreer, passing around

original artworks in pencil, as well

as showing an array of his work with

Marvel and Archie Comics over the

his enormous career.

No sooner was everyone fed,

and well-versed on the Wacom

tablets set up in the adjacent room,

than they were treated to one of the

most mesmerizing master-classes

the Stanleys has seen.

Illustrator Jason Seiler had a

brand new Wacom Cintiq 21” hooked

up to the big screen behind him as

he explained, and showed in detail,

the process of creating his incredible

caricatures. He invited John Allison,

Dave Gray and Alan Rose to stand

at the front as he picked the features

he would be exaggerating were he

to caricature them, to the great

amusement of all in attendance.

The Friday night saw the launch

of the ACA’s “Drawtism Exhibition”

at the iconic Old Treasury Building

in the Melbourne CBD.

After the television and print

media had swept the dignitaries off

to their various duties, the Awards

A Stanleys regular

since he was a baby,

Jed Kemsley writes

about the Stanleys

weekend.

5th and 6th November, 2010

Continued, Page 6

...And the Nominees are...Cartoonist of the YearPeter BroelmanMark KnightTony LopesDavid PopeDavid Rowe

Editorial CartoonistPeter BroelmanMark Knight Bill LeakAlan MoirDavid Pope

Single Gag CartoonistDean AlstonMatt GoldingWill GoodwinAndrew WeldonCathy Wilcox

Comic Strip ArtistJason ChatfieldGary ClarkAlex HallattGlen Le LievreTony Lopes

Graphic Media ArtistDave AllenAnton EmdinDavid HeinrichChris KellyGeoff Richardson

IllustratorMatt AdamsPat CampbellAnton EmdinJohn TiedemannLuke Watson

CaricaturistMatt AdamsJoanne BrookerJudy NadinDavid RoweLuke Watson

Comic Book ArtistRoger FletcherDave GaskillDavid HeinrichJason PaulosPeter Sheehan

*Recipients in white.

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were prefaced with a rousing talk by

Asbergers sufferer, Michael Rudov

who was introduced by Herald Sun

cartoonist Mark Knight.

The exhibition was officially

opened by the Victorian Minister for

Community Development, The Hon.

Lily D’Ambrosio, before members

went downstairs to see the array of

cartoon work that had been donated

to raise money and awareness for

Alpha Autism- A great success!

Saturday was off to a flying start

with the very popular animators panel,

featuring Lee Sheppard, Peter Viska

and the USA’s Michael Jantze.

After delegates had their fill

of lunch and caught their breath,

they were entranced by the very

charismatic and fascinating stories

of childrens’ book illustrator, Leigh

Hobbs. This was closely followed

by a very special guest who made

the trip from his home in country

Victoria. Multi-Walkley Award-

winning Ron Tandberg had a full

house of delegates enthralled as he

took them on a walk through his

career, and some of the incredible

stories therein.

After a short break for

afternoon tea where delegates were

able to snap up the last of the Book

and Volume collection of French

graphic novels and comics, Stan

Goldberg and Jason Seiler

returned for one last Q&A session to

cap off the day in style.

As always, the highlight of the

weekend was Saturday night, where

the 26th set of Stanley Awards were

handed out to the top artists in each

field of the craft.

Comedian Rod Quantock

provided the backdrop for a

terrific night, which also featured

Nickelodeon funnymen Luke &

Wyatt, injecting their own brand of

musical humour into the night.

Award-winners for each

category were judged by their fellow

cartoonists, and none could be more

deserving of being named top of their

field for 2010.

Anton Emdin took out the

Stanley award for Illustrator,

sponsored by Viscopy while Graphic

Media Artist sponsored by Wacom

went to a very appreciative Geoff

Richardson.

Tony Lopes - proud new

dad of baby Thomas -earned the

Stanley for Comic Strip Cartoonist

sponsored by the Herald Sun-

accepting his award via a video

message on the AV. Yes, even a

Stanley Award takes a back seat

to the birth of a possible future

cartooning great.

The Stanley for Single Gag

Cartoonist sponsored by the Courier

Mail went to Matt Golding,

while David Rowe added to his

collection of Stanley Awards, another

for Caricaturist sponsored by the

Australian for 2010.

In a year with plenty of fodder

for editorial and political cartoonists

Winners in attendance L-R: Steve Panozzo, Anton Emdin, Stan Goldberg, Geoff Richardson above David Pope, Jason Seiler, Matt Golding next to David Rowe and Lindsay Foyle playing Tony Lopes’ Stanley Award like a trumpet.

_____________________

“...even a Stanley award takes a back seat to the

birth of a possible future cartooning great.”

_____________________

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- an election, hung parliament and

the country’s first red-headed female

PM, local cartoonist Mark Knight

did it just that bit better than most,

taking out the Stanley award for

that category, sponsored the Sydney

Morning Herald.

The very exciting result of the

brand new Stanley for Comic Book

Artist sponsored by CAL, was won

by former Aussie resident, Dave

Gaskill. Dave, now based in Lincoln,

UK had to pull out of his trip at the

last minute due to some emergency

dental work!

In what was certainly one of the

most emotional moments in Stanleys

history, caricaturist and ACA stalwart

Steve Panozzo was awarded the

Jim Russell Award for Contribution

to Australian Cartooning.

The Award was announced

as Lindsay Foyle and Roger

Fletcher handed over to a pre-

recorded video of his parents, who

have attended the Stanleys almost as

often as Panozzo himself!

Clearly emotional and

dumbfounded, ‘Noz’ said he couldn’t

remember a word he’d said when

accepting the prestigious honour on

the night - and that the Award was

“a bigger honour than most people

realise.”

Panozzo named his highlight of

the weekend being able to meet Ron

Tandberg.

“It was really cool to meet Ron,”

Panozzo said. “He and [Jason]

Seiler were just incredible. They

were the two stand-outs for me.”

This year there were three

new inductees to the Australian

Cartoonists’ Hall of Fame.

Cartooning greats Phil May,

David Low and the legendary

Norman Lindsay had their names

etched onto the elite list, which now

has a total of nine artists including

Stanley Awards namesake, the

immortal, Stan Cross.

But undoubtedly the most

eagerly-anticipated moment of the

night was for Cartoonist of the Year.

It was a close race in the vote

count, but in the end there could

only be one - and the honour for

2010 went to Canberra-based

cartoonist David Pope.

Pope said it was an honour to

be selected by his peers as the cream

of the Australian cartooning crop

this year.

“The Gold Stanley is a funny

category - it’s very encouraging

to be chosen by your peers, who

know what the job is like. It’s very

gratifying,” Pope said.

“I have to say I’m also amazed

at the response in my home town,

and in the media after receiving the

award.

“Even now, weeks after the

Stanleys, I’ve had people coming up

to me and congratulating me. It’s

very encouraging.”

Pope enjoyed the whole weekend and

said it was a good chance to see some

of the Melbourne-based cartoonists.

“I had a great time and wish

I could have been there earlier to

spend more time catching up with

people,” he said.

“As for a memorable moment,

I think seeing Steve [Panozzo’s]

face when he was named as the

Jim Russell Award-winner was

priceless.

“As always, I thought the [Jason

Seiller] masterclass was great, and

being able to see Ron Tandberg,

someone who doesn’t speak in

public very often, was very special.

“Seeing the brevity and

sharpness in his work - it just makes

you weep inside.”

Following the awards, cartoonists

and friends rocked the night away

to the unmistakable tunes of the

Stanley Steamers, who played

blues and rock & roll to the delight of

a slightly tipsy dance floor.

Caricaturist Judy Nadin thought

being able to get together with all

of the cartoonists was an incredible

experience.

“Getting together with all

cartoonists who are so giving and

have such high energy - it great to be

around everybody,” Nadin said.

“But not everything that was

funny can be published!

“From a professional level it

was great to meet Jason Seiler- a

master of his art, and I also enjoyed

seeing Leigh Hobbs.

“And I thought the awards night

itself was great. Everything about the

weekend just flowed.”

Newly-elected Deputy President

of the Australian Cartoonists’

Association, and former President,

Peter Broelman, was as a reliable

presence as ever at the Stanley

Awards.

He said the weekend was “one of

the better Stanleys” he’d been to in

recent years.

“Certainly the attendance at the

conference was one of the largest I

can think of, and the guest speakers

impressed me.

“But the funniest thing I’d have

to say was seeing Jason [Seiler] and

Stan [Goldberg] struggling with the

Australian accents.”

On reflection, it can be said

that from its early conception of a

few quick sketches and rough ideas

pencilled in, the 2010 Organising

Committee, under the direction

of Stanleys Chairman Jason

Chatfield accomplished a successful

and memorable Stanleys Weekend.

_____________________

“Seeing the brevity and sharpness in his work

- it just makes you weep inside.”

~ David Pope on Ron Tandberg

_____________________

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By Judy Horacek

The Inkspot powers-that-be asked me to write a profile piece on David Pope because they thought, to quote ‘despite winning the crown, he’s a bit of a mystery.’

THE crown is of course the Gold Stanley for

2010, which joins his many silver Stanleys

and Rotary Awards. But being David, he will

endeavour to keep his Stanleys shelf non-

hierarchical I am sure.

David also wears the crown of editorial

cartoonist on the Canberra Times, taking over

when Geoff Pryor retired in 2008. Given the

way newspapers are going, he may also one

day have the dubious honour of being the last

editorial cartoonist ever to be appointed to a

full time in-house job - or is that me being too

pessimistic about our profession?

But the mystery? Perhaps it’s that for

most of David’s cartooning life he’s signed

himself as Heinrich Hinze. The name came

from his days in a punk band many years

ago where everyone had made-up names.

He cartooned as ‘Heinrich Hinze’ for a long

time, working freelance for drawing pictures

for the labour movement, the environment

movement, political causes, running his

Scratch! media website and, for a while

publishing Scratch! Magazine*, his own

magazine about radical cartooning.

That was how we met, when he

asked to interview me about a community

environment cartooning project I’d been

working on. His cartooning comes from

a deeply held set of beliefs about what

matters in the world, and the importance

of fighting for what is right. It just isn’t

a political rally if David Pope isn’t there

(luckily he isn’t hard to spot).

As Heinrich Hinze, David had worked

as a freelancer at the Canberra Times

for years, but it was when he got the

permanent job on the Canberra Times

that he decided to sign his own name. He

went from being ‘the cartoonist David

Pope who signs himself H.Hinze’ to ‘the

cartoonist formerly known as Heinrich

Hinze’ to ‘David Pope is on fire!’. (That last

courtesy of the Talking Pictures segment

on Insiders. They don’t say things like that

about Pope on Insiders every single week,

but pretty close.)

You have to have lived in Canberra

to know the sheer enormity of taking over

from the wonderful Geoff Pryor, who had

been on the paper for 30 years. It was the

ACT equivalent of taking over from Oprah.

At a giant goodbye celebratory dinner

for Geoff, a constant stream of people

came up to David saying ‘You’re the new

cartoonist eh? You’re never going to be able

to live up to Geoff’.’

I wanted to bust in and say ‘He will

too, you just shut your face’ David of

course, being more mature and generous

of spirit than me, simply smiled at everyone

and answered them modestly and with

charm.

But David didn’t in fact live up to being

the ‘new Geoff’, because he stayed absolutely

himself, bringing his own style and wisdom

and wit to the job. And the stream of Letters

to the Editor changed their tune almost

instantly from ‘the-world-will-end-without-

Pryor’ to ‘That new cartoonist is doing pretty

damn well’. And the black bunting was

taken down from the streets, and people

began to walk their dogs again and go to the

shops (but they didn’t go back to washing

their cars with a hose, they had to face the

fact that the water restrictions had nothing

to do with Geoff Pryor’s decision to retire.)

David’s cartoons are small theatres,

drawing their stories from wide and varied

sources. The players are of course a gallery

of public figures, who he caricatures

with a rapier wit, but also a collection

of Everypersons – wide-eyed ordinary

people who are battling and baffled. His

cartoons fight for the small and weak

against the powerful and corrupt, or the

plain misguided, and his work always has a

strong sense of integrity. I don’t think you

can do cartoons better than that.

Judy Horacek is a freelance cartoonist

and illustrator now based in Melbourne.

*Not to be confused with the hip hop magazine called Scratch, or Scratch the UK magazine about all things fingernail. David’s Scratch has the exclamation mark.

_____________________

“You have to have lived in Canberra to know the sheer enormity of taking over from the wonderful

Geoff Pryor...”_____________________

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By Lindsay Foyle

At the 2010 Stanleys Awards held in Melbourne, Steve Panozzo - the ACA resident shrinking violet – was presented with the Jim Russell Award for contributions to Australian cartooning.

IT was an award a long time coming. For

much of the past two decades Steve has

been active on the ACA committee in one

office or another, so bestowing an award

on him always seemed a little difficult.

Especially as he had always been on the

committee that chooses who gets the Jim

Russell Award.

But with the election of office-

holders this year Steve stepped down

from all involvement, except doing bits

on Inkspot, ringing ACA office-holders

with special advice, complaining nobody

has organized a coffee morning for ACA

members, picking up visiting firemen

from Sydney Airport and a few other tasks

that he has not thought of yet.

Steve was born 1964 and grew up in

Sydney’s northern beaches area where

he attended the St Augustine College. In

his second year there he had a caricature

confiscated, but recovered from the

loss and complete his Higher School

Certificate in 1982.

His continued interest in

cartooning led to a job on The Manly

Daily in 1985. The following year he was

offered a job at Weekly Neighbourhood

Newspapers followed by Community

Newspapers in Perth; he also joined the

ACA that year.

It was a big 18 months, but

unfortunately the job disappeared

when the newspaper disappeared. He

returned to Sydney and soon after

joined News Limited.

He had only been there a month

when the 1987 stock market crash

happened. So he was more than happy

to give advice to a fellow News Limited

worker on the state of the economy and

the speed of the News Limited elevators,

which may not have been going as fast as

some people might have liked. However

after travelling three floors Steve left

Rupert Murdoch in the lift to make his

own way to the next floor.

Steve and Rupert survived the

meeting and both continued on doing

their best for News Limited. Steve also

did his best for the ACA and served as

President in 1992-93.

However, all good things eventually

come to an end and after ten years

with News Limited, Steve decided to

concentrate on his freelance career.

Once Noz became established as a

freelancer he specialised in caricature

and cartooning and like all freelancers

he is also skilled in waiting for the phone

to ring. He also found time in 1998-99 to

have a second stint as ACA president.

One of Steve’s favourite quotes

comes from Winston Churchill, which

is “A lie gets halfway around the world

before the truth has a chance to get its

pants on.”

Given that truth and speed are not

traveling companions probably explains

why Steve is well known for being late.

Noz once told a client - who he had

keep waiting for 40 minutes - “this is

the earliest I’ve been late.” So he might

forgive the ACA in being a little late in

giving him the Jim Russell Award.

Lindsay Foyle is a freelance editorial

cartoonist and writer, and the ACA’s

new NSW/ACT Vice-President.

_____________________

“bestowing an award on him always seemed a

little difficult. Especially as he had always been on the committee that chooses who gets the Jim Russell Award.”

_____________________

14

15

‘Moving Forward’ The Mark Knight Annual 2010

The Slattery Media GroupISBN 978-1-921778-03-2

$30.00 from all major book stores

As the author writes in the first few pages of his latest collection, ‘2010 may have been one of the most dysfunctional years in Australian political history, but it has been anything but for cartoonists. Every day, another moment of cartooning inspiration dropped into our in-basket ...In an environment like this, I will always wonder when people ask me, “Where do you get your ideas from?”

This prefaces yet another consistently impressive collections of 2006’s Cartoonist of the Year, and thrice Editorial Cartoonist of the Year, Mark Knight.

Anyone who follows Knight’s work in the Herald Sun will be familiar with his ability to perfectly capture the day’s event in the most thoroughly entertaining way possible. His wit has sharpened to a point where he knows precisely how to execute his ideas with just the right amount of detail to punctuate his gag.

In the fine tradition and influence of such doyens of political cartooning as Paul Rigby and Pat Oliphant, Knight has developed a style all of his own which suits his readers so perfectly, he has also become an institution.

For anyone who bought his last book, and enjoyed the behind-the-scenes look at his sketching and idea development, they will be happy to know that this book has much of the same. His development of portrayals of Malcolm Turnbull, Tony Abbott and of course the girl from his adopted home state, Julia Gillard are a fascinating insight into the way Knight’s devious and creative brain works. The study of Collingwood supporters is particularly amusing.

Easily one of the best political cartoonist’s collections I’ve seen this year, Mark Knight’s Moving Forward epitomises the bizarre year that was 2010 in the most thoroughly enjoyable way possible.

Jason Chatfield

Uncle Silas: Genetis By David FollettDark Horse BooksISBN 9781595825667US$9.99 through: www.darkhorse.com.au

Technicolour mushrooms, carnivorous plants, holographic apparitions and a giant rotting fish carcass. No, it’s not the contents of the Inkspot bar fridge, but a new graphic novel by David Follett.

Uncle Silas: Genetis hits the ground running as two kids (Selena and Tommy) visit their uncle (scientist and “ecologi-cal supergenius”, Silas Mortimer Mulch) only to discover him missing, with some bizarre plant activity occurring in his laboratory. They prove themselves to be pretty smart, tough kids. Instead of soiling their pants (as I would have done) when an overgrown cauliflower explains the situation, they take up the adventure with gusto - and set out to save Silas!

Tommy and Selena’s search for their uncle introduces them to an ever-changing, endless greenhouse of super-organ-isms; shrubs that spring up in seconds, fungal hard drives, frog cameras, smart pod suits with organic weaponry and a network of plants that make the your new Mac seem pretty dull. It’s environment meets technology, and watch out! The action comes thick and fast - almost giddying at times - in this book for kids of all ages.

Follett’s mastery of linework and form bring the artwork to life with a ton of energy and movement. The forest and its inhabitants are dense and intricately rendered, in stark comparison to the main characters, which are simpler and stylised. This contrast allows the reader to not only focus on the characters quickly, but to relate more easily to them. As the characters bounce around the page, one can sense deep roots of comic tradition in Follett’s flowering style - from the Manga-inspired action to European Bandes Dessinés, and a healthy dose of classic American adventure strips. Unfor-tunately, Dark Horse has printed the book fairly small (A5 sized), making the detail harder to appreciate in this edition.

Dave has been working on Uncle Silas: Genetis for around eight years. In its original incarnation, Silas was a weekly interactive half-page Sunday strip for News Ltd, but the project kicked into gear after winning US comic publisher Dark Horse’s New Recruits competition in 2008. Since then Mr. Follett has written, pencilled, inked and coloured the book in-between his busy freelance career, with publication by Dark Horse in October of this year.

And if his wife, Christie, thought she was getting Dave back on nights and weekends, she might be mistaken! There are five more sequels planned, all to be set in and around South Australia, and according to Follett, leading to “a massive earth-shattering climax!” I need a Bex and a lie-down already!

Anton Emdin

Your View On: “The National Broadband Network.”

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