THE MUSTARD (UK) ALAN MOORE INTERVIEW

THE MUSTARD (UK) ALAN MOORE INTERVIEW

A great read.
The Mustard humour magazine did this a few years ago and Alan Moore goes into great detail about writing, drugs and movies made of his comics.
A good read for a lazy day for the tablet or PC.
ENJOY

Ben Michael Byrne Kranburn and Friends Launch Extravaganza.

Ben Michael Byrne Kranburn and friends Launch Extravaganza. 

17th November 2018 Saturday ALL STAR COMICS Queens St. Melbourne.

BMB - Ben Michael Byrne

As a rule, I never go to book launches or related things but the chance opening in my pre-Christmas schedule meant I could make this one. I've been a fan of BMB’s work for quite some time, especially his fan favourite KRANBURN and chance to meet up was chance not to be missed.

Ben hadn’t been at any of the recent conventions I’d been to in the past as he had stopped doing them just as I started going to them. Now we both don’t do them. So at last our paths were to cross.

I caught an earlier enough train hoping to make it just on opening thinking no one goes all the way into the city that early for a comic and maybe have a nice chat. As I walked up a near-deserted Queen Street, with lots of empty parking spots, I noticed the line stretching up the hill.
“Fuck me!” I thought “Is Ben Michael Byrne the secret Aussie comic rock star?”
As I walked the 50-70 metres to the end of the queue, I saw it was your average comic book shop crowd. Neckbeards, shoulder bags, the odd female, older gents looking uncomfortable, lots of long shorts and runners. It was only a few minutes to the shops opening so I patiently waited, noticing no one else was lining up behind me. Maybe everyone had the same idea, and I was the last to think it. Then the line started to move, and move very quickly.
I’d never been to All-Star Comics before and I will admit, it’s a fine establishment with lots of interesting setups for displays and ephemera. As I walked through the doors some people were checking out the shelves on the ground floor but the majority were making a steady stream up the stairwell to the second floor.
 Since a quick scan couldn't see any table with a BMB behind it I kept moving with the throng upwards.
Wow! Were people that big on BMB?
It was then that I realised that this was where the sale was. I failed to see the large “20% off storewide” signs on the front window due to the crowd. It was to celebrate Local Comic Bookshop Day.
I saw Ben sitting at a table from the top of the stairs, new comics neatly placed in rows. The Throng breezed past him on their mad rush to check out the shelves, bargain bin boxes and tables full of old toys and collectables. I should have known better. Give a nerd a big enough discount on anything and they’ll see it as an event and queue for hours.
Ben Michael Byrne, alas, is not a comic rock star, but he is a nice fellow. Very articulate, polite and a damn fine writer and artist. I’ve wanted to meet Ben for some time. We had worked together recently on a short tale to come out in Reverie and contributed to the Game of Kings, that I help write the Librato for. Ben being recruited by project founder Simon Sherry, where Ben contributed some stunning and emotional black and white art.
Ben has three publication currently on sale. Ektype. A new Sci-Fi work, that was written and drawn by Ben in its first edition. NSEW. A massive undertaking up to its eighth edition, written by Ben and starring a cast of dozens of handpicked artists from around the world. The third being KRANBURN. Ben’s incredibly popular dystopic tale sent it n the future and based on the area in which he now lives. Ben had stopped work on this tale a few years ago and now has released several new editions carrying on the story and a fantastic trade containing the first six editions at a great low price.
 I introduced myself to the table and he, to my surprise recognised me from bad Facebook photos. Ben is a larger than life personality both figuratively and literally, no mistake this man is big. He’d make a great UFC fighter, what do you expect from a guy who builds tanks in his spare time. Not water tanks, battle tanks.
As we chatted, people started to look in on the table, and it was becoming obvious Ben was well known to the comic-loving public as comics started to move rather quickly off the table. Then I noticed people hanging around. People I recognised, other artists. Who like me took this appearance by Ben to say hello whilst he was in town.
Maybe Ben Michael Byrne is a comic rock star (in waiting).

you can purchase Ben's titles at AllStar Comics in Melbourne & Dee's Comics in Canberra.
You can also order direct from Bem by direct Messaging him at his Facebook pages here:

Ben Michael Byrne

NSEW

The Author with BMB.

The Virgin ,the Gypsy , coincidence, Karma, Chaos theory , poor building practices and the Racial bias and corruption of the 19th Century judicial system

A parody of 19th Century romance novels


Part one 
Where things begin….. a short history ……..who’s who

Amanda Upright-Standing had lived a sheltered privileged existence but always knew she would never live her own life, she would forever be under the rule of others no matter how comfortable.
Freedom would always elude her.
Amanda’s father Lord William Upright- Standing owned all the land from the coast to the borders of the outer city and by default owned most of the people who lived in the area.
He was a powerful man.

Lord William had big plans for Amanda and since her birth had been on the search for suitable husband prospects to increase his holdings and influence.
Amanda resigned herself to this fact but it didn’t stop her from dreaming.
Lately she had noticed the new Gamekeeper Mr Hitler with his dark eyes , powerful build and dominating presence and found herself thinking of him and constantly seeking out his whereabouts (from afar of course).

Piezo Un’prouncable was a Gypsy by birth who was deeply proud of his heritage. The only reason he chose his current alias- Fritz Hitler –was because prior to seeking the position of Head Gamekeeper with the Upright-Standing estate he overheard how the English rich were so stupid they couldn’t recognize one European accent from another and that German s were currently in favour with the aristocracy since the Royal Family thought it was ok to breed with them then  it was ok to hire them.

This on top of the fact that no one in their right mind would hire a Gypsy .

This was reinforced during his interview with Lord Upright-Standing when the Lord went into an unsolicited diatribe about how Gypsy couldn’t be trusted , that they would steal the pennies off a dead man’s eyes and that putting one in charge of his estate would be akin to opening up the whole area to free game for all their family and friends.

This of course was exactly what Piezo did.

Part Two
 Piezio notices………Amanda is no spy ………. An interlude

Since starting his employ, Piezo couldn’t help but notice that the Boss’ daughter had a weird way about her, sure she was alright looking but the way she was always around was a bit worrying. At first Piezo thought she was spying for the old man but it didn’t take long to figure out she was infatuated with him.
Amanda was a virgin and sort of understood what that meant and realised it was something she had to give up when her father had found the right man for her to marry. Giving up her virginity was something that women did when they got married and from what she could ascertain was that it was not a very pleasurable thing. This information was assumed by conversations with her mother which always ended with either: “Grin and bear it dear” or “Lie back and think of England my child”

Amada had seen the sheep herders son helping the sheep lose their virginity, he seemed to like it but the ewes showed little to no interest. Oh how she envied men. Not only did women have to cook, clean and give them children they had to be receptacles for their pleasure.

It was so unfair. But on the other hand why did Mr Hitler make her feel the way she does.

It was early Saturday night and Piezo had been drinking in his little Gamekeeper cottage, he often was given free grog by the men who were at that present moment plundering the estate of fish, fowl and deer.

He was halfway to drunk when he caught sight of Amanda spying through the cottage window. He sneaked around the back and surprised her.
“Aye Miss Amanda, may I help you?” Amanda nearly jumped out of her skin.
“Goodness me, I’m sorry Mr Hitler I had no idea you were in” she replied

“Aye, not to worry, come inside this rain is starting to get a bit heavy” with this Piezo led her inside.

OK now we all know what happened next….. well you think you know but the details are a bit sketchy… right? Well it had something to do with lots more liquor, poetry, surprise questions like: “Do you want to see my Benjamin Franklin Doll?” and they got down to doing it.
Much to Amanda’s surprise, it wasn’t half bad.

Part Three 
A butterfly effect ….Dam breakages….up the creek without a paddle

Now, while this was happening the rain got heavier and heavier. On the other side of the Upright-Standing estate was a reservoir,, this reservoir was made to stop spring flooding downstream, the only problem was that the Lord had skimped on the money for decent materials and wagers and the workers who hated the Lord more than he hated them took whatever was half decent for their homes. So in actual fact the dam wall was rubbish and was an accident waiting to happen.

Coincidentally a large African Purple Spotted Swallow Butterfly was separated from its migrating flock and was beating it’s fragile wings furiously to keep warm, this increased wind pressure and scientific theory that would not be understood (and then only by a handful) at this period of time caused disruptions in the atmosphere that proven to be the straw that broke the camel’s back and in a barrage of mixed metaphors led to the dam wall to burst raining destruction on all in its path like a mad dogs breakfast that was scattered from here to wherever…. you get the point.

Meanwhile Peizo and Amanda were at it like two rabbits acting like humans and just as Amanda was climaxing the water burst through the windows of the cottage slamming them off the couch onto the floor. Peizo who was only a couple of seconds behind Amanda hung on for grim death until he had finished then looked for a means of escape.

Grabbing Amanda’s hand Piezo managed to climb out the window and make it safely to roof where they stayed in each other’s arms until they were rescued in the morning.

Unfortunately they were rescued by Lord William who had been out all night first chasing down poachers then after the dam wall collapse worrying about his daughter, he wasn’t a happy man when he found her semi naked and in the arms of what was obviously a Gypsy due to Piezo’s many tattoos that were visible due to his nakedness.
Lord William had Piezo arrested.

Part 4
 the death of Piezo……..the banishment of Amanda……… the end
Piezo was sentenced for rape, theft, fraud , being an undesirable and impersonating a German. The total of these five convictions added to death by hanging an arrangement that was worked out with Lord William and the local Magistrate (who was Lord William’s cousin)
Amanda was sent away to a convent on the basis that she was no longer a virgin therefore useless in the marriage bargaining stakes. Amanda lived the rest of her life in celibacy harbouring unrealistic notions believing that sex would always end in a climax that made the earth shake and dam bursts.
Lord William was pointed out that he also had another daughter to replace his eldest; it was that he never really took much notice because…after all… she was just a girl.
So things carried on as before. What are you going to about it?

More interesting articles from the magazines found under the lino

Mary discovered if she pushed this button food kept coming out. If she pressed the one on the left a small dead animal would appear in the back yard pond.

When Jane’s husband realised she had a “hobby” he kicked down the closet door and threatened to shoot the refrigerator in protest.

Silly Joan thought she was popular at the masquerade party because of her stunning hat not because she forgot her top.

Katherine refused to come down to the party because her new dress clashed with the carpet.

Margaret remembered just in time that she didn’t have clean underwear on in case she was in an accident.

These three ladies demonstrate the latest in pre marital sex accessories: The Gloves.

This young lass just enjoying the whole new exciting world that had opened up to her on the discovery of the “blow job”

*originally posted on redbubble.com Nov 4 2009

Something I found in the kitchen while replacing the lino.

The Ladies Home Journal September 1949 edition.
New and exciting kitchen accessories and meals to serve for the latest “Cannibal” craze.


With the onset of the cold war and the threat of mass nuclear annihilation the everyday housewife has turned her thoughts and attention to the possible scenarios that may present themselves if such an event occurs,

Feeding the family is always the most important thing these modern day marvels are contemplating and the latest appliances to do these tasty treats isn’t far behind in personal priority.

With the threat of a nuclear winter blocking out the sun and poisoning the ground, cannibalism has taken a strong hold as firm favourite thus creating this wacky but popular new fad.

A dual freezer and cook top for basement use which can be fired using offal and calcium deposits (bones for you slow learners) If you feel lonely you can keep yourself some company with the glass doors.

Lending a hand in the kitchen takes on a whole new meaning with these new designer serving dishes.

Anyone for chinese?

Next week:
Bleeding apparatus and boning implements.

*originally posted on redbubble.com Oct 22 2009

Comix Collection Part 2

This is part two of my "underground" comix" collection.
The first part can be found here.

As i said earlier I hope to catalogue them one day.
I'm doing this series because there is a a shortage of good information on the net at the moment regarding 70s underground comix so maybe someone will get these in a google search and get the information they are looking for.
For some more history and/or visuals check these links.

COMICLOPEDIA

UNDERGROUND COLLECTIBLES

UNDERGROUND COMIC INFO HUB

WIKIPEDIA

SNOID	Zap 9	Zap 11
Zap 3 A side	ap 3 B side	Zap 5
Weirdo #3	Fantagoro	Cootchy Cooty Comix
Leather Nun	Dutch Treat	American Flyer Funnies
Sleazy Scandals	ThunderDogs	MOD
Barn Of Fear	Ditko WHA.	Forbidden Knowledge
Mondo Snarfo	Red Raider	Spirit 3D

Comix collection Part 1

I've been meaning to this for ages.
This is a sample of some of my "underground comix" collection that dates from the late 60s to early 70s and reprints from the late 70s and early 80s.
I haven't bothered listing who's in what or dates, at this stage I just show the wonderful cover artwork.
I hope to put up several more as time passes.
cheers
D

Dopin Dan	Dopin Dan 2	Dopin' Dan Today's Army
Flamed Out Funnies	Furry Freak Brothers #1	Furry Freak Brothers # 3
Furry Freak Brothers # 4	Furry Freak Brothers # 6	Furry Freak Brothers # 7
Furry Freak Brothers # 12	Wonder WartHog	Fat Freddy's Cat
FFB Idiots Aboard #1	FFB Idiots Aboard #2	ROP Comix #4
ROP Comix #6	ROP Comix #8	ROP Comix #10
ROP Comix #11	ROP Comix #12	ROP Underground Classics
Give Me Liberty	Harold Hedd Hitlers Cocaine #1	Harold Hedd Hitlers Cocaine #2
Cocaine Comix #1	Cocaine Comix #2	Cocaine Comix #4
Fog City Comics #2	Fog City Comics #3