Archive for September, 2010
6 items.
About three weeks ago now, I left for a couple of days in Australia. Of course, upon returning to New Zealand we were greeted with our stuff taken from our house so that sucked. It was a sour end to what was a nice break.
However, though the return was spoiled. The holiday itself was very cool. Having never been to Melbourne, the wife and I were looking forward to having a look around. Sadly it was only a quick trip, so we barely had a chance to scratch the surface. The stuff we did see and do we really did enjoy.
It was difficult to gauge what the city was to everyone. There was evidence of a lot of artistic pursuits around the city. Cool boutiques, galleries, theatre and lots of cool graffiti and street art to gaze upon. Though on top of that it seems to be a city spoilt for choice with sports as well. A taxi driver went to great lengths to discuss with us just how much he (and by his own words two thirds of the city of Melbourne) disliked the AFL team Collingwood. Later that night, walking across the river we noticed the lights from the MCG stadium were ablaze indicating that the locals were watching an AFL game. I guess the best way to sum up the city is “diverse”. Seems like there is something for everyone in Melbourne.
The weather was reasonable. We hit a fine patch amongst the rain the city had been experiencing. We made sure we got out and walked quite a bit of the city, only relying on the well utilised and planned public transport a couple of times when we had to.
Even got a chance to catch up with some friends!
While it was only a short visit. It certainly won’t be our last. Melbourne, thank you for having us. We hope to return one day soon, in the future!
Thanks for reading,
Marc
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Well, I finally got back to making comics. Apologies that this is not up to the usual full colour standard. I am still without my equipment. I went old school on this comic and took the lo-fi approach of drawing it by hand onto paper.
I kept it rough on purpose. It helped me speed it up, and get the page done faster. A lo-fi comic after all, is better than no comic at all, right? There is a light at the end of the tunnel though, and hopefully I should have some gear sorted soon. Which means getting back to my normal routines.
My thanks to Matt Wood, thisisrabbit and Jimmy Misanthrope for contributing some art and helping keep this website going while I have been unable to get anything up.
Thanks for reading,
Marc
Hey everyone,
Today’s guest comic is by Jimmy Misanthrope. Jimmy is a cool guy. He knows art. He knows metal. He knows film and animation. He knows comics. I’m left wondering, what doesn’t he know about? Jimmy has big a huge supporter of ActionMan Adam and has come through in my time of need with a guest comic. How awesome is that? Thank you, Jimmy!
I encourage you all to go and check out Jimmy’s own webcomic, Agents of the Endtimes. The characters are cool. There is great depth to the story, and some of the special effects in the art leave me saying “how the hell did he pull that off?!”
It’s great, go check it.
Unfortunately I’m still without stuff. It’s been rather boring at the house to be honest. I’ve been feeling kind of directionless. I want to make comics, but can’t. I can’t even watch TV properly. The only TV left in the house is a 14 inch. On the upside though. I have had some time to think about some more story ideas! I’m looking forward to getting back into the drawing, hopefully as soon as possible. I have some cool things coming up!
Did everyone have a good weekend?
Thanks for reading
Marc
Hello all,
The guest comics continue until I get set up with my gear again. Today’s gracious contribution was by thisisrabbit. This piece actually wasn’t intended as a guest comic, but rather as a continuation of thisisrabbit’s doodle a day project. I’m just very fortunate it went up last weekend. The timing is uncanny, it’s as though he knew I would be burgled…waitaminute!!
In all seriousness though, it was unexpected, but awesome, and thisisrabbit very kindly let me use it here for the site so you could all enjoy a comic this week.
Thank you, kind sir.
Thanks for reading,
Marc
Christchurch – the day the earth didn’t stand still
September 9th, 2010 |Posted In: Blog, Uncategorized
It was 3am local time in Melbourne. I had forgotten to turn my phone to silent so that any incoming texts or emails to it would not wake me. Instead, that familiar chime came through, waking me. I give myself 2 minutes to decide whether to roll over and go back to sleep – or to clumsily find my way to the phone and check it on the other side of the hotel room.
I’m glad I forgot to turn my silent function on.
A text from my friend Richard was informing me that a huge earthquake had just rocked Christchurch (where he lives). The rest of the morning was spent trying to gather as much information as possible while the city slowly came to terms with just how much damage had been caused. The best information source seemed to be a combination of the talkback radio broadcasting in New Zealand with residents recounting their experience, or Twitter.
An event like this is very surreal. Just hours earlier I had been on the phone to Richard. While we were taking in some late night activities in Melbourne, he was doing some late night gaming – everything was fairly normal.
Christchurch is my home away from home. I’m due to return in November and I’m guaranteed to not like what I find when I get down there. There are two sides to this story though. One is of survival. Miraculously, while there were some serious injuries, no one died. On the other side of the coin, the city will never be the same again.
ActionMan Adam is all based in Christchurch. It’s practically one of the characters in the story. I’m going to keep a close eye on the city as it rebuilds, so I can portray it as accurately as possible. The place won’t look the same, but life will get back to normality, with time.
In the meantime, my thoughts are with everyone who is down there. Let’s hope the city can get back to functioning as fast as it can!
If no one has done it yet, now is probably a good time to stock up on your survival kit!
If you’d like to donate for the people of Canterbury, you can do so by visiting the Red Cross NZ website – which allows you to do it online, or has further instructions for other ways to donate.
Thanks for reading
Marc
Hello all,
So this is the guest comic I promised last week. My friend Matt kindly contributed so I could have a break for a week and get back into the drawing when I came back from Australia.
What a fantastic job he has done! I was stoked when I saw this in my inbox. Thanks so much Matt. Please go visit Matt’s website and check out his artwork there.
Unfortunately, I came home, and my house had been burgled. The computers, TV – all gone. It’s a frustrating and terrible position to find yourself in. I now have no way of drawing or uploading my comics. Thank god for Matt’s comic this week. I’ll try and get a couple more guest comics lined up until I get on my feet, and can start drawing my own comics again. It’s a real pain in the ass. Hopefully I get my stuff replaced soon, and I can get back to doing what I love, which is making comics.
I’ll do a blog post later in the week about Christchurch. The city the comic is set in. I might even have a comic to contribute around the devastating event that happened there.
Hope you enjoy this guest comic by Matt!
Thanks for reading
Marc