Hamilton stars in comic

Dean Ballinger

A new comic about Hamilton by local illustrators has reached the final stage of production, thanks to $3000 of Creative Waikato funding.

The project is the brainchild of Dean Ballinger, who described the comic as an anthology of Hamilton comics, and said the city had a long history of comic artists, who are rarely recognised.

The comic's theme is "Hamiltron - City of the Future", a phrase whose source, Dean says, is not clear.

"It used to be from a radio show years ago, but the true source is lost in history."

He said Hamilton always got a bum rap as a cultural wasteland because it was always compared to Auckland, but project like this which reflected Hamilton's culture silenced critics.

The idea became a reality when Dean took his wife's advice and approached Creative Waikato.

The proposal received a $3000 grant from the Hamilton City Council Arts and Culture 2014 funding round.

Dean said the money would enable the comic to be printed and mastered to a professional standard.

Creative Waikato spokeswoman Adrienne Clothier said comics were not produced as readily as theatre productions or exhibitions.

"Dean has produced some great work in this medium in other projects he has been involved in so we were happy to support him in this endeavour."

Dean found out he had been awarded funding in January, and has been working on the project ever since while also juggling a job and family.

He began by approaching 15 notable comic illustrators with strong ties to Hamilton, and assigned four pages to each.

"The aim was a 60-or-so-page comic. The first print run will be 200 copies, it's still a bit of a niche market," he said.

The launch party, sponsored by Mk1 Comics, will have an entrance charge which will include a copy of the comic.

"A lot of the artists are also musicians so I've asked for some of them to come along and play as well," Dean said.

Dean has been drawing comics since his childhood. One of his most popular works was entitled Shelf Life, which was about all the characters he has come across during his time working at Browsers Bookshop on Victoria St.

He said he was determined to attract a diverse range of styles for the comic.

Each artist was told the theme, and then given free rein - "as long as it's not R-rated," Dean said.

Other contributing artists include comic creators Indira and Stefan Neville, graphic artist Paul and poet Stephanie Christie.

Dean said contributions ranged from cartoon styles to graphic and even pop art strips, and that people shouldn't be put off by the comic book format.

"This isn't some superhero thing," he said.

Promising favourites include the zombie addition from Wairehu Grant and an autobiographical piece of one of the artist's experiences living in the hippy-Hamilton of the 70s.

Dean said he had budgeted so as to be able to pay the artists.

"There's a tendency for creatives to do it for free - that's a bad thing," he said.

The release party will be held on September 26 at Meteor theatre.