I wrote and drew this new issue of the Pickle mini-comic in November and it was first distributed at the New Zealand Arts Foundation Art Awards (on account of they made me an Arts Laureate!!!). Now I’m making it available for public purchase. It’s a very personal response to earthquakes (geological and political), health dramas, moving to Wellington, and the faultlines in which we all live.
Anyway, if you want to buy it, or just to see a little more, go here.
Victoria University Press and Heroes For Sale invite you to join us for the celebratory launch of the New Zealand edition of Sam Zabel and the Magic Pen.
There’ll be drinks, snacks, live entertainment – and, of course, an opportunity to purchase your very own copy of the book and to have me deface it with a drawing and a signature.
All welcome – spread the word!
Here’s the Facebook Events page (if Facebook is your thing).
Today is the official release date for the French edition of Magic Pen! Published by Casterman in a gorgeous hardcover edition in full colour, with a translation by the remarkable Jean-Paul Jennequin (who spotted every single obscure comics reference and even translated the barely readable bits written in medieval English). It’s hard to express how delighted I am with this edition!
So instead, I’ll just show it to you:
Announcing my new book, coming soon from various publishers and in various languages. Those of you who’ve been reading the Magic Pen online will already be familiar with it; if not, go take a look. Or you can just read about it here.
I’m a little overwhelmed by the lovely comments we received from some of my cartooning heroes: Alison Bechdel, Scott McCloud and Craig Thompson (see below), and by the publishers lining up to release it in so many countries all at once (full credit for that goes to my fabulous agent Nicolas Grivel).
First release will be in France, from Casterman (October 29). And then, in rapid succession, it comes out in New Zealand (Victoria University Press), North America (Fantagraphics), the UK (Knockabout), Germany (Egmont), Spain (Astiberri), Italy (Bao), Denmark (Fahrenheit) and – actually, I’ve lost count. Nicolas seems to negotiate a new translation every few days.
Anyway, here it is. If you want more information, go here, or contact myself, Nicolas Grivel Agency or the various publishers.
After a fabulous launch at the NZ Festival Writer’s Week in Wellington, it’s time to bring Incomplete Works home to Auckland! And so here it is: the Auckland Launch Party! I’ll be talking to Sarah Laing about the book and reading a couple of the stories (complete with pictures). There will also be free refreshments (*koff* booze *koff*). ALL WELCOME!
Victoria University Press and Auckland Central City Library warmly invite you to a conversation between Dylan Horrocks and Sarah Laing about Dylan’s new book Incomplete Works.
Free event, all welcome. Refreshments will be served.
Unity Books will be selling copies of Incomplete Works, pb $35. Dylan will be available to sign.
With today’s New Zealand release of Incomplete Works, I have some events coming up:
Writer’s Week
I’ll be at the New Zealand Festival Writer’s Week this weekend in Wellington, as will a bunch of amazing writers and cartoonists from New Zealand and around the world, including Alison Bechdel, who will be speaking on Sunday afternoon.
Incomplete Works book launch: Saturday 8th March, 7.30pm at the Exchange Atrium (24 Blair Street), as part of the Victoria University Press Publisher’s Party. Also launching is Gathering Evidence by Caoilinn Hughes, and plenty of VUP authors will be joining the party. It’s a free event and everyone’s welcome.
Comicsville panel discussion: Monday 10th March, 10.45am at the Hannah Playhouse (formerly Downstage Theatre), in which I’ll be chatting about New Zealand comics with Robyn Kenealy, Jonathan King and Adrian Kinnaird (whose book From Earth’s End: The Best of New Zealand Comics was launched last year and tells the story of New Zealand comics over the past 100 years). Tickets are $18.
Other things happening:
I’ll be chatting with Kim Hill on Radio New Zealand National’s Saturday Morning tomorrow (8th March) at around 9.30am (be sure to tune in for Alison Bechdel at 9am).
I’m interviewed by Charlie Gates in this Saturday’s (8th March) Your Weekend magazine (inserted into the Dominion Post, The Press and the Waikato Times). It was a fairly substantial interview, about Incomplete Works, Sam Zabel and the Magic Pen and working for DC Comics.
The NZ Listener published a 4-page excerpt from Incomplete Works (Captain Cook’s Comic Cuts) in the March 1st issue. It was nice appearing in the Listener again, 17 years since I last drew Milo’s Week for them.
We’ll be having an event for Incomplete Works on Tuesday 1st April at 6pm at Auckland Library (Lorne St). This will be kind of a late Auckland launch party, and I’ll be talking with Sarah Laing and reading a few of the comics (with pictures!).
Incomplete Works is a selection of short comics drawn between 1986 and 2012. It’s published by Victoria University Press here in New Zealand.
This hand-picked selection of Dylan Horrocks’ short comics from 1986-2012 introduces a lively menagerie of melancholy cartoonists, mysterious men in top hats, levitating women and even a superhero or two.
Painstakingly unearthed from crumbling photocopied periodicals, obscure tomes in foreign tongues and the products of long-abandoned publishing enterprises, Incomplete Works journeys from Auckland cafes to imaginary worlds, documenting nearly three decades of daydreams, obsessions and fears.
Plus there’s at least one joke about willies.
Incomplete Works will be launched in Wellington at the New Zealand Festival Writers Week on Saturday 8 March at 7.30pm, alongside Caoilinn Hughes‘ book of poems, Gathering Evidence. The launch is free and open to all, so come along and join the party!
There will be an Auckland launch later in March – details to come soon.
(unpublished sketch)
It’s high time I mentioned this: ‘Steam Girl’ is my first published prose story (i.e. without pictures), which came out late last year in Steampunk! An Anthology of Fantastically Rich and Strange Stories, edited by the wonderful Kelly Link and Gavin J. Grant, and published by Candlewick Press in the US and Walker Books in the UK. I’ve written prose fiction all my life (in between the comics), but never felt brave enough to publish any until now.
Steampunk! also includes prose stories by M. T. Anderson, Holly Black, Libba Bray, Cassandra Clare, Cory Doctorow, Elizabeth Knox, Garth Nix, Christopher Rowe, Delia Sherman, Ysabeau S. Wilce and Kelly Link herself and comics by Shawn Cheng and Kathleen Jennings. It’s a fantastic anthology and I’m thrilled to be included.
The cherry on the cake is that ‘Steam Girl’ has just been reprinted in The Best Science Fiction and Fantasy of the Year, volume 6, edited by Jonathan Strahan (published by Night Shade Books), which is very humbling. Guess I’d better finish that damn novel now, eh?
Ways to buy it and a couple of reviews after the jump:
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When the earthquake hit Christchurch on February 22nd, around 180 people were killed, many more were injured, and buildings around the city were damaged and destroyed. Everyone in New Zealand knows people affected by this disaster, and Christchurch will be reeling for years to come. Aftershocks continue, basic services like drinking water, sewerage outflow and electricity are still disrupted, businesses are closing and jobs are being lost. For many families and friends, of course, there is mourning and grief.
Christchurch is New Zealand’s second largest city and home to many writers, artists, and – of course – cartoonists. Within days of the quake, the city’s (and New Zealand’s) longest running comics anthology Funtime Comics started putting together a special issue, inviting contributions from around the country and beyond. 
Assembled at lightning speed, Darkest Day is now ready and will be launched this weekend at Armageddon Expo in Wellington. It includes a three-page comic by me, Sometimes You Feel (see sample page to the right).
All proceeds from Darkest Day will go to the Red Cross, to help with disaster relief.
You can buy Darkest Day online, here.
And if you’re at Armageddon Expo this weekend, make sure you visit the New Zealand Comics Creators table, where you’ll find a cornucopia of fine New Zealand comics and graphic novels (including Chris Slane & Matt Elliott’s Nice Day for a War, Ant Sang’s Shaolin Burning, the latest Bristle, and many more!), and meet some lovely talented cartoonists.
Spare a thought, too, for the organisers of Armageddon Expo, who are based in Christchurch and suffered extensive damage to their home and office. The annual expo in Christchurch was supposed to take place last weekend, but had to be postponed due to the earthquake (they hope to hold a special event later this year, if things have settled down enough). So amid all the hustle and bustle, the crowds and the cosplay, remember to be nice to everyone you meet. It’s been a tough year – here in New Zealand, over in Japan, and, come to think of it, all around the world.
As Kurt Vonnegut wrote, “There’s only one rule that I know of… ‘God damn it, you’ve got to be kind.'”
The mighty Chris Slane, one of New Zealand’s greatest cartoonists, is launching his new graphic novel tonight in Auckland. Nice Day for a War – Adventures of A Kiwi Soldier In World War 1 by Chris Slane and Matt Elliott recreates the experiences of Matt’s grandfather Corporal Cyril Elliott, who enlisted as a teenager and soon found himself struggling to survive in the trenches of the Western Front. The book is part graphic novel, part illustrated history book – and 100% pure Chris Slane greatness.
Those of you who remember Chris’ earlier graphic novel, Maui: Legends of the Outcast (written by Robert Sullivan), or his many other great comics, will know that this is an event worth celebrating.
So come along to the Grey Lynn RSA tonight, pick up a signed copy and toast Chris and Matt (you can even buy an ANZAC Day poppy).
6.00-8.00pm Thursday 7 April
Grey Lynn (RSA) Returned services Social Club upstairs.
(Kids allowed upstairs)
1 Francis Street, West Lynn shops, Grey Lynn/Westmere, Auckland.
(50 steps from Moa, and Harvest Wholefoods)
Click here for map
Enter main door, turn left and follow the chair lift rail up the stairs to the cosy lounge bar.
Even if you can’t make it tonight, you can buy Nice Day for a War from good NZ booksellers everywhere, or online.
All comics are by Dylan Horrocks and are licensed under a Creative Commons License.
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