Gerald Carr (cartoonist)
Encyclopedia
Gerald Carr is an Australian comic book writer, artist and illustrator, best known for his creations, Vampire! and Vixen.
in 1944 and studied art at the Bendigo Institute of Technology. He later moved to Sydney
, where he entered into the comic book industry, working for W.G. Grainger Publications, which were the Australian distributors of the Disney
line of comics, as a letterist (the imported comics were using Italian artwork but required English text).
In 1967 he returned to Melbourne, where he worked for a printing company and an advertising agency. He had his first comic strip
, Bridgette, published in Go-Set
magazine, between October 1968 and May 1969. Brigette was a contemporary Australian heroine, who was coming of age, in a time of changing social and sexual attitudes. Carr's agent, Sol Shifrin, sold Brigette as a newspaper strip to Perth's Sunday Independent
and Brisbane's Sunday Mail
, commencing in both papers on 5 July 1969. The strip's frank discussion of sexual freedoms and the occasional drug reference ran afoul of both readers and editors' conservative tastes, which led to both papers dropping Brigette by August - September 1969.
The strip reappeared in the Melbourne Newsday paper in October 1969, running for five months before it was dropped as a cost-cutting measure. In 2002, the Italian comics' publisher, Fumetto, published some Brigette strips in a collection titled Eroine Di China, or Heroines of the Newspaper Strip.
During this period, Carr also created the satirical science fiction strip Fabula for Broadside, a left-leaning literary magazine published by the owners of the Melbourne Age
newspaper. Similar in style to the sexy French
science fiction
strip Barbarella, Fabula was a thinly veiled commentary on contemporary Australian politics set in a futuristic world.
Carr had his first comic book
published in 1970, a one shot title, Wart's Epic, which was distributed in Melbourne and by mail order
to the US. In 1971 he began drawing Devil Done, a James Bond
-styled action strip, for the K. G. Murray Publishing Company.
In the absence of locally produced comics Carr became interested in producing his own, as there was a shortage of comic artists, he undertook all the writing and illustrating himself. His first attempt in 1974, at self-printing was modest, with the comic only being distributed in Victoria. In 1975 Carr added more material and had his comic, Vampire!, professionally printed for national distribution. Vampire! which ran for six issues between 1975 and 1979, was a black and white horror comic which capitalised on the popularity of similar American adult horror titles, such as Creepy
, Eerie
and Vampirella
.
In 1980 Carr was producing Bridgette for the Sun-Herald
and also published three one-shot comic books, Brain Master and Vixen, Fire-Fang, about a Chinese vampire exiled to Australia's gold fields in the 1800's, and Stock Raider, a post-apocalyptic science fiction story that was published in full colour. Carr also worked on advertising and book illustrations. In 1992 he published Vixen, a superheroine Carr created for Wart's Epic, which was distributed in Australia and America and in the same year won the 'Cartoon of the Year' Award.
Carr has also produced The Dirty Digger which first appeared in Southern Aurora's Australian War Stories in 1994, a World War Two adventure series featuring an australian commando
, Major Lex Mainwaring. Re-entering the comic book field in 1995, Carr launched several new titles under his Meteor Comics imprint. This included a short-lived second series of Vampire!, which only ran for two issues, which reprinted the original Fire Fang stores from the 1970s, together with the reintroduction of Vixen (single issue). With the new Vixen comic, Carr shifted his heroine to the fictional American location of Pacific City. Vixen was also significant for featuring new stories by Carr starring Captain Atom (renamed 'Atomic Warrior') and The Panther, two Australian comic book heroes from the 1950s, which Carr produced under licence from their respective creators, Arthur Mather and Paul Wheelahan
. This was followed by a one-shot issue of The Dirty Digger in 1996. Vixen nearly spelt the end of Meteor Comics, when Australian Consolidated Press
launched legal proceedings against Carr in order to acquire the rights to the 'Vixen' trademark. Carr eventually defeated the court action, but only at considerable financial cost to himself.
Whilst Carr has not released any new comic titles since 1995, he continues to publish comic art in a variety of formats, including downloadable 'eBooks', and markets a range of merchandise featuring his comic book characters.
Biography
Gerald Carr was born in Bendigo, VictoriaBendigo, Victoria
Bendigo is a major regional city in the state of Victoria, Australia, located very close to the geographical centre of the state and approximately north west of the state capital Melbourne. It is the second largest inland city and fourth most populous city in the state. The estimated urban...
in 1944 and studied art at the Bendigo Institute of Technology. He later moved to Sydney
Sydney
Sydney is the most populous city in Australia and the state capital of New South Wales. Sydney is located on Australia's south-east coast of the Tasman Sea. As of June 2010, the greater metropolitan area had an approximate population of 4.6 million people...
, where he entered into the comic book industry, working for W.G. Grainger Publications, which were the Australian distributors of the Disney
Disney comics
Disney comics are comic books and comic strips featuring Walt Disney characters.The first Disney comics were newspaper strips appearing from 1930 on . In 1940, Western Publishing began producing Disney comic books in the United States...
line of comics, as a letterist (the imported comics were using Italian artwork but required English text).
In 1967 he returned to Melbourne, where he worked for a printing company and an advertising agency. He had his first comic strip
Comic strip
A comic strip is a sequence of drawings arranged in interrelated panels to display brief humor or form a narrative, often serialized, with text in balloons and captions....
, Bridgette, published in Go-Set
Go-Set
Go-Set was the first Australian pop music newspaper, published weekly from 2 February 1966 to 24 August 1974, and was founded in Melbourne by Phillip Frazer, Peter Raphael and Tony Schauble...
magazine, between October 1968 and May 1969. Brigette was a contemporary Australian heroine, who was coming of age, in a time of changing social and sexual attitudes. Carr's agent, Sol Shifrin, sold Brigette as a newspaper strip to Perth's Sunday Independent
The Independent (Perth)
The Independent was a Perth, Western Australian based weekly newspaper owned by mining entrepreneurs Lang Hancock and Peter Wright....
and Brisbane's Sunday Mail
The Sunday Mail (Brisbane)
The Sunday Mail is Brisbane's only Sunday newspaper. The Sunday Mail is published in tabloid format, comprising several sections that can be extracted and read separately.-Publishing:...
, commencing in both papers on 5 July 1969. The strip's frank discussion of sexual freedoms and the occasional drug reference ran afoul of both readers and editors' conservative tastes, which led to both papers dropping Brigette by August - September 1969.
The strip reappeared in the Melbourne Newsday paper in October 1969, running for five months before it was dropped as a cost-cutting measure. In 2002, the Italian comics' publisher, Fumetto, published some Brigette strips in a collection titled Eroine Di China, or Heroines of the Newspaper Strip.
During this period, Carr also created the satirical science fiction strip Fabula for Broadside, a left-leaning literary magazine published by the owners of the Melbourne Age
The Age
The Age is a daily broadsheet newspaper, which has been published in Melbourne, Australia since 1854. Owned and published by Fairfax Media, The Age primarily serves Victoria, but is also available for purchase in Tasmania, the Australian Capital Territory and border regions of South Australia and...
newspaper. Similar in style to the sexy French
French
French is the adjective form of France and usually refers to:* Something of, from, or related to the nation of France** French culture** French cuisine** French people, inhabitants of France or people having family origins in France...
science fiction
Science fiction
Science fiction is a genre of fiction dealing with imaginary but more or less plausible content such as future settings, futuristic science and technology, space travel, aliens, and paranormal abilities...
strip Barbarella, Fabula was a thinly veiled commentary on contemporary Australian politics set in a futuristic world.
Carr had his first comic book
Comic book
A comic book or comicbook is a magazine made up of comics, narrative artwork in the form of separate panels that represent individual scenes, often accompanied by dialog as well as including...
published in 1970, a one shot title, Wart's Epic, which was distributed in Melbourne and by mail order
Mail order
Mail order is a term which describes the buying of goods or services by mail delivery. The buyer places an order for the desired products with the merchant through some remote method such as through a telephone call or web site. Then, the products are delivered to the customer...
to the US. In 1971 he began drawing Devil Done, a James Bond
James Bond
James Bond, code name 007, is a fictional character created in 1953 by writer Ian Fleming, who featured him in twelve novels and two short story collections. There have been a six other authors who wrote authorised Bond novels or novelizations after Fleming's death in 1964: Kingsley Amis,...
-styled action strip, for the K. G. Murray Publishing Company.
In the absence of locally produced comics Carr became interested in producing his own, as there was a shortage of comic artists, he undertook all the writing and illustrating himself. His first attempt in 1974, at self-printing was modest, with the comic only being distributed in Victoria. In 1975 Carr added more material and had his comic, Vampire!, professionally printed for national distribution. Vampire! which ran for six issues between 1975 and 1979, was a black and white horror comic which capitalised on the popularity of similar American adult horror titles, such as Creepy
Creepy
Creepy was an American horror-comics magazine launched by Warren Publishing in 1964. Like Mad, it was a black-and-white newsstand publication in a magazine format and thus did not require the approval or seal of the Comics Code Authority. The anthology magazine was initially published quarterly but...
, Eerie
Eerie
Eerie was an American magazine of horror comics introduced in 1966 by Warren Publishing. Like Mad, it was a black-and-white newsstand publication in a magazine format and thus did not require the approval or seal of the Comics Code Authority. Each issue's stories were introduced by the host...
and Vampirella
Vampirella
Vampirella is a fictional character, a comic book vampire heroine created by Forrest J Ackerman and costume designer Trina Robbins in Warren Publishing's black-and-white horror comics magazine Vampirella #1 . Writer-editor Archie Goodwin later developed the character from horror-story hostess, in...
.
In 1980 Carr was producing Bridgette for the Sun-Herald
Sun-Herald
Sun-Herald could refer to:* The Sun-Herald, the Sunday edition of The Sydney Morning Herald, a newspaper based in Sydney, Australia* The Sun Herald, a newspaper based in Biloxi, Mississippi...
and also published three one-shot comic books, Brain Master and Vixen, Fire-Fang, about a Chinese vampire exiled to Australia's gold fields in the 1800's, and Stock Raider, a post-apocalyptic science fiction story that was published in full colour. Carr also worked on advertising and book illustrations. In 1992 he published Vixen, a superheroine Carr created for Wart's Epic, which was distributed in Australia and America and in the same year won the 'Cartoon of the Year' Award.
Carr has also produced The Dirty Digger which first appeared in Southern Aurora's Australian War Stories in 1994, a World War Two adventure series featuring an australian commando
Commando
In English, the term commando means a specific kind of individual soldier or military unit. In contemporary usage, commando usually means elite light infantry and/or special operations forces units, specializing in amphibious landings, parachuting, rappelling and similar techniques, to conduct and...
, Major Lex Mainwaring. Re-entering the comic book field in 1995, Carr launched several new titles under his Meteor Comics imprint. This included a short-lived second series of Vampire!, which only ran for two issues, which reprinted the original Fire Fang stores from the 1970s, together with the reintroduction of Vixen (single issue). With the new Vixen comic, Carr shifted his heroine to the fictional American location of Pacific City. Vixen was also significant for featuring new stories by Carr starring Captain Atom (renamed 'Atomic Warrior') and The Panther, two Australian comic book heroes from the 1950s, which Carr produced under licence from their respective creators, Arthur Mather and Paul Wheelahan
Paul Wheelahan
Paul Wheelahan is an Australian comic book writer, artist and illustrator, best known for his creations, The Panther and The Raven.-Biography:...
. This was followed by a one-shot issue of The Dirty Digger in 1996. Vixen nearly spelt the end of Meteor Comics, when Australian Consolidated Press
Australian Consolidated Press
ACP Magazines , a subsidiary of the Nine Entertainment Co., is an Australian media company. It publishes the Australian Women's Weekly and the Australian edition of Woman's Day....
launched legal proceedings against Carr in order to acquire the rights to the 'Vixen' trademark. Carr eventually defeated the court action, but only at considerable financial cost to himself.
Whilst Carr has not released any new comic titles since 1995, he continues to publish comic art in a variety of formats, including downloadable 'eBooks', and markets a range of merchandise featuring his comic book characters.