GP TV. Ep03.

And so we come to the first time the Greener Pastures' creators themselves were ever on television. The funny thing is, it wasn't on Australian TV! 

Michael and I thought we'd go to New Zealand, just for the heck of it, to visit their annual comic convention at the time: IcoNZ. It was July 1995 and this was their second of three IcoNZs. We weren't the only Aussies there either, Stuart Hale also made the trip representing Issue One Comics . 

One of my favourite sales techniques when interested punters asked if we were New Zealanders was to say "Yep! We're from the West Island!" which would usually take a moment, and a double-take, for the penny to drop. At one point I looked up to see Neil (Split Enz, Crowded House) Finn browsing through our work. He bought a copy of Greener Pastures and as he walked away I sheepishly said "You can write a song about it if you like…" I don't think he ever did. 

We had a great time and met some lovely people. 

I don't know exactly what television show this report appeared on, I assume it's the news or a magazine style show. Neither do I know exactly what night, but I assume it would be 1st or 2nd of July 1995, as that was the date of IcoNZ 2. After the inane chatter about trading cards, sporting memorabilia, and the fake Baywatch girl, they talk to some local NZ comic creators and Michael and me. 

Cartoonists interviewed: 
Craig Petersen 
Wade Shotter
Cornelius Stone
Tim McEwen
Stuart Hale
Michael Michalandos

Cartoonists work also shown: 
Matt Hatton
Ant Larcombe
Ant Sang
Sam Young
Paul Newell
Jason Paulos
There are also a few incidences where there is work that I'm not able to easily identify. My apologies. I am pretty sure there's a flash of Roger Langridge though.

Aired July 1995. 

ACE in Sydney, opening night

Following on from the post I made recently about ACE: the Australian Comic book Exhibition, (GP TV. Ep02.) which toured the country from 1994 to 1997, I thought I'd share some photos from the opening night of the Sydney leg. The exhibition was hosted by the Westpac Museum at The Rocks (now gone), and the opening the night of 11th July, 1996.

The welcoming panels of ACE as one entered the exhibition. With the help of the Australian Cartoonists' Association (then called the Australian Black & White Artists' Club), as well as many Sydney-based comic creators, this particular leg of the exhibition's tour was greatly enhanced with numerous extra pieces of both reproduced and original artwork, some of which can be seen in the background here. I'm pretty sure that's Arthur Mather's Captain Atom and Stanley Pitt's Silver Starr over on the right.

Part of the additional exhibit items. Work in this cabinet includes Greener Pastures posters and comics, Jason Paulos' Hairbutt the Hippo comics, Issue One's CyberSwine and Zero Assassin comics (with art by Ant Larcombe), some Glenn Ford Phantom art, and other bits and pieces too. The big blank space was actually filled by another large print, like the Greener Pastures one on the left, of Zero Assassin #1, but it had been taken down by the time I got these photos.

An amazing group photo of many most of the cartoonists present on the night. I still feel honoured to have been able to jump into this snap.

1: Reginald Pitt. Co-creator of Yarmak, The Jungle King.

2: Ken Emerson. Cartoonist on The Warrumbunglers.

3: Eric Jolliffe. Cartoonist on Saltbush Bill.

4: Tony Rafty. Creator of Jimmy Rodney of the Secret Service.

5: Stewart McCrae. Cartoonist known as 'Pep'.

6: Stanley Pitt. Creator of Silver Starr.

7: Les Dixon. Cartoonist on Bluey and Curley.

8: Peter Chapman. Creator of The Phantom Ranger.

9: Monty Wedd. Artist/writer, Ned Kelly.

10: Yaroslav Horak. James Bond strip artist.

11: Jim Russell. Cartoonist on The Potts.

12: Norman Hetherington. For all intents and purposes, Mr Squiggle.

13: Lindsay Foyle. Cartoonist and historian.

14: Tim McEwen. Greener Pastures co-creator.

15: Chesty Bond. Australian advertising icon, created by Syd Miller.

16: John Clements. Australian comics enthusiast and historian.

17: Stan Clements. Creator of Tom Dunne, Scientific Detective (no relation to John at #16).

John Clements – Australian comics enthusiastic enthusiast and historian. Les Dixon – cartoonist on Bluey and Curley for nearly 20 years! Eric Jolliffe – cartoonist on Saltbush Bill and so much more. Jim Russell – Cartoonist on The Potts for a world-record-making 62 years! And me, Tim McEwen.

An unknown lady, possibly the daughter of one of the cartoonists in attendance on the night, and Monty Wedd, cartoonist on Ned Kelly, myself and my beautiful wife Bongo.

Les Dixon, standing at the panel that showcased the strip he was most famous for, Bluey and Curley, as well as the cover of Greener Pastures #1 (first printing). This group of panels was titled and themed 'Strictly Australian'.

Me, posing with one of the pages of Greener Pastures original art that toured with the exhibition.

Massive thanks to Steve Panozzo of the ACA for helping me identify all the cartoonists in the photos, and to Matt Emery too. Feel free to let me know of any corrections to any attributions I've made here. I'm not an expert and there's many more knowledgable people on this subject than me on this subject.

GP TV. Ep02.

This is the second in a series of videos that in some way feature Greener Pastures. Broadcast on February 2nd 1995, I think this is the second time Greener Pastures was seen on TV, once again on Bert Newton's Good Morning Australia. Bert must have loved comics at the time!

The wonderful Annette Shiel is interviewed for her role as curator of ACE: the Australian Comic book Exhibition, which toured the country in two mostly identical travelling exhibitions from 1994 to 1997. It was a very good exhibition from an historical point of view and even spawned a book on the subject called Bonzer: Australian comics 1900s-1990s.

Greener Pastures #1 gets a great look-in at the 5 minute 30 second mark, featuring the cover for quite a while and being used as a prop in one of Bert's jokes.

Big apologies for the wavering sound – this has been digitised from a 17 year old VHS tape.

Cartoonists work shown:

Jimmy Banks

Jim Russell

Norm Rice

Eric Jolliffe

Ant Larcombe

Keith Chatto

Sam Young

Will Donald

Tim McEwen

Glenn Lumsden

Cartoonists and/or their work I can't recognise or can't remember also appear. My apologies for any omissions. I'm not an expert on most of the really historical stuff, so off the top of my head I can't name a lot of the creators there.

Hosted by Bert Newton

Aired February 1995

On Channel 10