The 2022 Shortlist was recently announced for the CAAA ( Comic Arts Awards Australia, formerly the Ledger Awards), and I was surprised and humbled to be among the list of great comic book, graphic novel and web comic stories featuring Australian comic makers.
The story nominated "It Ain't Me, It Ain't Me", from The Phantom #1886 (2021), is an 8 page story I wrote and drew for Frew Publications, and features Lee Falk's the Phantom in Saigon during the Vietnam War on the eve of the infamous Tet Offensive of 1968. This event kicked off one of the major events of the War, and turned American public perception. The comic story also touched on the events of 'The Battle Of Long Tan', one of the more well-known conflicts that Australia was part of, and a small nod to a classic Phantom newspaper serialised story by Lee Falk and Wilson McCoy 'The Jungle Patrol' (1952). This short Vietnam story is part of an ongoing collection of stories featuring the Phantom in-country during the height of the war: https://www.masoncomics.com.au/phantomvietnam
I have previously won an award in 2020 (Bronze Ledger Award) for the first story in the Phantom: Vietnam series of stories, for the 22 page story It Tolls for Thee, which was published in The Phantom #1830 (2019). This story is the first full-length Phantom story both written and drawn by an Australian cartoonist.
I wish to also congratulate my friends Andrew Constant, and Nicola Scott for their respective nominations (and that also makes two for Frew Publications, and three for Andrew), as well as Jess Walton, whom I shared a Brisbane Writers Festival stage with recently (nominated for her book "With Stars in Their Eyes" a lovely story), and everyone who had a nice nod for their respective work. Cheers CAAA committee for their kind acknowledgement of a little of my work, and best wishes to the other nominees.
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