Patrick Alexander (cartoonist)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Patrick Alexander (born June 29, 1981) is an Australian cartoonist. He has published minicomics, recorded music, drawn comics, illustrations and written features for numerous Australian publications, and was the deputy editor of videogame magazine Total Gamer, before moving to Japan in 2006. He has a minor web presence.
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[edit] Comics
[edit] Pickleman
(1999-2001) Pickleman is a science fictional farce, drawn in a typically 'cartoony' style (comparable to The Simpsons), starring a big-nosed superhero and a large cast of humourous characters. It features a massively convoluted plot that remains unfinished. It also contains numerous pop culture references. Alexander has expressed great dissatisfaction with the comic.
Pickleman was Alexander's first attempt at creating photocopied minicomics. He produced three A5-sized volumes, the third being available with a colour cover. All three issues are out of print.
[edit] Plink the Stickman and Friends
(2000-01) Plink the Stickman and Friends is a series of four 8-page, A6-sized booklets, featuring single-page stick figure comics. These comics range from the absurd to the very violent, and from the whimsical to the obviously cathartic. All four booklets are out of print. Material for a fifth booklet was produced, but eventually incorporated into Fund Raisin (see below).
[edit] Pink Chickens
(2001-02) Pink Chickens is a comedy, featuring absurd and occasionally dark humour, and frequent bizarre plot twists and non sequiturs. The main characters are Dolly Douglas, a manic, adventurous 12-year-old; her best friend Mustard Custard, who is bookish and slightly more level-headed than Dolly; and Basil, a talking goldfish who is neurotic, egotistical and cowardly. These three friends have unlikely adventures in space.
Pink Chickens was originally serialised in children's magazine Mania, under the editorship of Rikki Lofberg, and ran for fourteen episodes before being dropped, following a complaint from a parent of a reader. Alexander printed a full-colour booklet in 2003 containing the first six episodes, which gained Pink Chickens a new, cult audience via independent sales. In 2005 and 2006, some episodes were reprinted in another children's magazine, Krash, which went out of business owing Alexander money. (This debacle resulted in the song 'Punch Those Niggers (In The Motherfucking Crotch)', available for download on Alexander's personal website.[1])
Pink Chickens is currently unfinished and seems likely to remain that way. However, Alexander has expressed a tentative desire to restart the series from scratch at some future time.[2]
[edit] Tobias & Jube
(2001-06; possibly continuing) Tobias & Jube replaced Pink Chickens in Mania magazine (see above). Written under the pen name 'Dot McSodden', its simple art and succinct dialogue contrasted greatly with its increaingly crowded and verbose predecessor.
Tobias & Jube follows the adventures of best friends Tobias, a creature with large, round teeth and rabbit-like ears; and Jube, a small blob. The series is far more absurd and non sequitur than Pink Chickens, and its atmosphere is overwhelmingly innocent and optimistic, though the first panel of the first episode suggests that this may be satirical.[3]
The characters of Tobias and Jube also appear in Raymondo Person.
[edit] Raymondo Person
(2003-present) Raymondo Person is a mildly popular webcomic (or "webcomic" according to the website), named after its star, an aptly-named 'everyman' character. Many of the situations and events are of an extremely adult nature, but the comic maintains the lighthearted, optimistic tone of Alexander's previous comic, Tobias & Jube. Raymondo Person is drawn in a sparse, clean style, but occasionally features detailed and slightly surreal backgrounds and landscapes. The comic is a comedy, and gags range from the whimsical to the bizarre to the obscene.
Raymondo Person has suffered from an extremely erratic update schedule, and appeared 'dead' for almost the entire year of 2006. However, it is currently updating with some degree of regularity.
Raymondo Person appeared in the Brisbane street press newspaper Rave for some months, beginning in 2004, under the editorship of Chris Harms.
Alexander has produced two photocopied promotional booklets of Raymondo Person strips, for sale at conventions and so on.
[edit] CUNT!
(2005) CUNT! is a 24-hour comic; Alexander's entry in the 2005 Australian 24-Hour Comics Challenge. It is extremely obscene and offensive, and enjoyed an enthusiastic reception from all but a vocal minority.[4] Drawn in a similar style to Raymondo Person, CUNT! follows the trials of a young girl called Sally Crabs, who has been entered into a witchery tournament despite apparently not being a witch.
[edit] Fund Raisin
(2006) Fund Raisin is a limited edition minicomic, produced by Alexander in 2006 to raise funds for his move to Japan (hence the name). It contains various older works not published elsewhere, plus some new material. Fund Raisin features several colour pages, a sealed centrefold, an audio CD, and an original drawing in each copy. Forty-two copies were produced.
[edit] Everybody hates Mario
(2007) Everybody hates Mario is a short comic strip that appered in Nintendo Gamer issue 2 dipicting the comical death of the Nintendo mascot Mario.
It is not known if the comic will continue in future issues of the magazine.
Pink Chickens' Cancellation
Pink Chickens was cancelled after the publisher of Mania magazine receieved a number of parental complaints regarding various elements in the comic. The final straw was apparently a letter in which a parent complained about a character's claim "We need to stay awake all night to prepare the wedding feast, so we've been injecting orange juice directly into our bloodstream!" (Pink Chickens #54).
CUNT! Sale Ban
A print version of CUNT! was banned from sale at the Supanova Pop Culture Convention after a large amount of debate on the OzComics 24-Hour comics forum. Despite Alexander's offer to conceal the magazine from view in paper bags and offer it for sale to those who specifically asked for it, Supanova creator Danny Zachariou threatened to remove Alexander from the artist alley if he made it available for purchase.
The Wraith
After seeing Frank Dirscherl's comic The Wraith at a Supanova convention in Sydney, Alexander parodied it in a Raymondo Person comic [1]. Dirscherl was not amused by the parody and the resulting flame war spread across the (now defunct) OzComics internet forums for over a month. Alexander later sold Wraith t-shirts, featuring his parody character.
[edit] Journalism
Patrick Alexander has been involved in several NEXT Publishing gaming magazines. He was deputy editor of the short lived, by-monthly young person's magazine Gameboy Advance World (2002-2004), as well as deputy editor of the now defunct Total Gamer from 2004-2006. Both these magazines were known for their humorous content, much of which can be attributed to him. He is a semi-regular contributor to both Hyper and Nintendo Gamer magazines
[edit] Film
Alexander has also appeared in a number of short films.
Brisbane-based film-makers attempted to make a short film about Alexander's comics entitled 1,2,3,4 (the title itself an obtuse reference to Alexander's slight OCD habit of counting the fasteners on his bags or jackets before leaving places, that was suggested by his then-girlfriend), however the project is on hold indefinitely.
He also appears as a " record industry wanker" on the 2003 Strawberry*Drop DVD A Very Pink DVD, produced by long-time friend and sometimes creative-collaborator Bill Cooney. Alexander appears in In The Studio With Strawberry*Drop (on YouTube) as well as in DVD special features.
[edit] References
- ^ Chicken Nation -- Patrick Alexander's music (accessed January 21, 2007)
- ^ Pink Chickens by Patrick Alexander (accessed January 21, 2007)
- ^ TOBIAS AND JUBE have an adventure, page 1
- ^ CUNT! thread on the Pulp Faction forums (accessed January 21, 2007)
