Zine and Independent Comic Symposium

THE BEDROOM PHILOSOPHER, CREATIVE WORKSHOPS, ZINES, INDIE COMICS AND INTERSTATE GUESTS KICK OFF ZICS - A SYMPOSIUM LIKE BRISBANE HAS NEVER SEEN BEFORE! The Zine and Independent Comic Symposium, or ZICS, ignites Brisbane with a 3 day celebration of Independent Comics and Zines at The Edge, located on Stanley Place in the Cultural Centre at South Bank. The Bedroom Philosopher, Mystery School, The Golden Stapler awards, competitions and a range of social games are just some of the highlights of the Symposium which will be held from Friday the 30th of August until Sunday the 1st of September. The event kicks off on Friday night with a ticketed launch event including a special ZICS bout of Lost Movement’s Scribble Slam, followed by a Comic and Zine fair, workshops and panels which will have free entry on the Saturday and Sunday. ZICS, a collaboration between Queensland’s best Zine and Indie Comic creatives, is designed to provide a rich and community driven experience for local artists and writers and the public alike. For those who are unfamiliar, Zines are self-published, independently created works usually produced in small amounts, made for passion over profit and are about a diverse range of topics from music to politics and everything in-between. ZICS co-founder Jeremy Staples said he’s proud to see how well Zines and Indie Comics are fitting together as he puts on this event with other members of this Brisbane underground community. “It’s a great way to bring together Queensland and nationwide underground creative communities to showcase the talents of people working here in Brisbane and across the country - The Edge is an amazing venue in Southbank which proudly supports ZICS as a hub for community collaboration and participation. ZICS is run by volunteers and not for profit. We’re really doing this for the love of it and hopefully Brisbane falls in love with zines and indie comics too. This community focus also means that we need people’s help in fundraising to cover the event. We’re using a crowd-sourced fundraising campaign via Pozible.com where people can help us out by pledging some money towards the event and they will be rewarded with a great range of prizes. The whole process is exciting as it means we can retain our independent spirit. “ You can make a pledge to help fund the symposium by visiting the ZICS Pozible campaign at: www.pozible.com/zics ZICS has attracted a great range of interstate talent with members of Melbourne’s Sticky Institute and the Format Collective from Adelaide who are coordinating the Golden Stapler awards. Vanessa Berry, a Sydney based zine maker and independent publisher who is launching her new book Ninety 9 at the event. The Bedroom Philosopher himself, Justin Heazlewood will be a guest panellist during the weekend and preforming at the launch. Along with interstate talents like comic creator Douglas Holgate, ZICS will be showcasing local artists and writers. Brisbane based comic artist Paul Mason will be a guest panelist during the weekend festivities. Ryan Vella, illustrator of the comic adaptation of cult Australian book ‘He Died with a Felafel in His Hand’, will be joining Paul as a panellist at ZICS. Local music act Mystery School will also be launching a new 7inch release at the Friday night celebrations. The call out is still open for creators from the independent comic and zine communities to participate by having a stall at the fair. Zac Smith-Cameron, founder of independent comic publishing label, Ashcan, is excited to see the talent that will spring forth from the Brisbane underground comic scene at ZICS. “There are so many comic artists and writers in Brisbane which seem to operate independently of each other, hanging out and collaborating in small pockets without an event that understands their needs. ZICS is exactly that - an event designed for indie comic creators to learn about their craft. ZICS will be a great way to expose comics to a wider audience, meet other creators and maybe learn a thing or two while we’re at it.” Local Zine creator and ZICS collaborator Justin George says that the community-based focus and origins of ZICS make it unique, “ZICS is great because the community of creators here in Brisbane decided to take the lead and create an event the community wants to see. It was very proactive and independent in spirit. We’ve relied upon a great number of volunteers and this Do-It Yourself attitude really shapes the focus of the event as an opportunity to reach out more broadly to people in Brisbane, along with Queensland and the rest of the nation to make ZICS a celebration that everyone can participate and be involved in.” Sarah Keating, a local zine writer and one of the volunteers for ZICS says about the comic and zine fair, “A focal point of the 3-day ZICS event is the zine and comics fair where you can find local, interstate and international comics and zines on sale and for trade all weekend. The great thing about these communities is that we’ll have such a diverse range of creators showcasing their wares in the one space- very exciting!” More information about the Zine and Independent symposium can be found on the website www.zicsaus.com