My small part in Pop Culture

My small part in Pop Culture 

In October 2015 the last of the big three pop culture conventions rolled into town, the Australian Movie and Comic (AMC) Expo was being held over the weekend of the 17th-18th and I popped into the Melbourne Show Grounds to lend support to the publisher of a comic that was featuring two of my stories: Darren Koziol of Dark Oz publishing.

Darren Koziol’s mother Gillian says that anyone else with his initials would probably never utilize them or be scarred for life. She made this joke as we were going over the logos of Dark Oz’s DECAY comic the bi-annual horror anthology that has just reached its milestone 20th edition. Gillian was referring how Darren’s name and love of the horror genre has been used in a rather imaginative way in his publications branding. Decay of course comes from his initials why Dark Oz is made up from the first three letters of his name.

Darren began DECAY as a labour of love back in March 2010 writing stories, compiling other talent and editing in his own time. That he now has released twenty issues and become the longest running Australian horror anthology with over 150 creators contributing is a grand accomplishment considering he is still self-publishing. Along the way he has made friendships that has resulted in some of Australia’s top artists contributing as well as others as far flung as the UK, USA and Argentina.

Darren’s belief in his comic has taken him all over Australia attending the various pop culture conventions promoting and bringing his product to the market place. Based in South Australia Darren has since an early age been fascinated by horror, fantasy and science fiction, with a genuine affection for the earlier styles as opposed to the more modern high tech. effect laden movies of the last decades. This has been carried through with DECAY’s sister publication RETRO SCI-FI which comes out once a year, usually in tandem with one of the twice yearly DECAY comics.

While talking to Darren it is evident he is very proud of his achievements, more so with issue twenty because this comic he has designed and the lay out himself as well as contributed lettering (a new skill he taught himself) because of necessity due to the unavailability of others who he had relied on in the past. Another milestone was the republishing of the CUTHULU (stories based on the popular H.P Lovecraft monster) issue as an US comic standard size. The CUTHULU issue was one of the more popular comics with an original commanding a price tag of $150. Needless to say they were a popular item and good seller at the convention.

Darren’s enthusiasm is still high with each issue getting that little bit more notice and sleeker in quality, one of Darren’s stories was picked up by International SciFi/Fantasy magazine Heavy Metal last year, so the rewards can be measured.

 In these days of Kickstarter, short lived anthologies that run out of steam by the second issue and Aussie publishers that only release a four arc comic series one issue a year at a time it is great to have Darren and DECAY helping putting new creators and exciting stories out at a regular schedule and giving Aussie comics the shot in the arm it constantly needs.

For more information on the comic: www.darkoz.com.au

originally published in the BBCN issue 239 Nov 2015

DAVE DYE - The ANZAC Legend Graphic Book

Dave Dye’s The ANZAC Legend


Recently at the AMC Expo – a convention that caters for all things Geeky, such as comics, movies, collectibles and lots of normally sane people dressing up in rather elaborate and crazy outfits- It is also a great place to meet other Australian artists and writers. I was fortunate to catch up with author/artist Dave Dye. Dave is responsible for the ridiculously well researched history book told in graphic novel form: The ANZAC Legend. Dave’s passion for the project comes from his 28 years served in the Australian Regular Army where he obtained his Diploma of Visual Arts and where he worked amongst other areas in the Intelligence Battalion. Dave’s work as an illustrator was varied including signage, education and propaganda. This work even led him to a stint in Iraq before he retired to concentrate on his Magnum Opus. The ANZAC Legend is novel as it is told in sequential form (as in comic book) and makes it more accessible as the reader follows the events that led up to, include and go beyond the Gallipoli landing. On his retirement Dave spent three years and over 5,000 hours preparing the book which includes detailed maps drawn from Dave’s first-hand view of the area after taking countless photos on his trips to the peninsula. In writing the book Dave has tried to keep it historically accurate and clearing up certain myths that grow over time due to conjecture and short cuts in storytelling. While not a complete history of Australia and New Zealand’s involvement in the Great War, the ANZAC Legend as Dave puts it: ”The book was created to act as a record of the events from the declaration of war, through those leading up to an including the landing on the 25th of April 1915 at Ari Burnu by the ANZAC’s. It also records the events of the first week and a half after the landing….The story is presented in a manner which makes it easier for the layman to understand why, who, where and what took place.” I believe he has done a sterling job in presenting a comprehensive and easy to read history that is compelling and suits all ages.

Over 200 pages of finely detailed work.

From students to history and war buffs. Dave hasn’t ruled out going beyond this book and continues to tell more of the involvement of the ANZAC’s in World War One, but at this stage it’s one book at a time. The book itself produced by Dave’s own publishing house Wotsleft Books was originally released in 2014 and contains over 200 pages detailed pages. It has been well received winning ComicOz “Best Australian Original Comic Book of 2014” as well as being short listed in the 2014 Ledger Awards – the Oscars of Australian comics. Dave works as a freelance illustrator these days operating out of Mildura. You can find out more about Dave and purchase the ANZAC Legend at www.wotsleftbooks.weebly.com

Dave Dye (Left)