Round Nine Awards: Jo Waite

Rehab Exit Interview: Jo Waite

1. What were you hoping to get out of rehab? Did you get it?

I had no thought, no plans, no hope. This is how I live my life.

2. What was the most unexpected thing about this round?

The terrible demon of competitiveness that grew in me when I saw how good Tim Molloy’s work was.

3. What – about your own comics – made you happiest during this round?

Well, I am a bit procrastinatory, and a bit of a perfectionist, so having to do a comic every 4 days had an impact on my health and wellbeing, but they are still pages I am happy with… well, maybe not the slapstick on about the corpse in the cement mixer; anyone could have drawn that…

4. What – about your fellow rehabbers’ comics – made you happiest during this round?

I was happy to see Tim Molloy loosen up and start to tell us things about himself, he’s an enigmatic fellow. John Weeks and Michael Fikaris were like little engines, consistent and good.

5. Are you rehabilitated now?

No. I know I will suffer a relapse and go back to procrastinating and ‘research’ and wandering about.

6. Where can people see your comics in the future?

If I can find a way to put *Lucky pages online without the people who the comic is about seeing them… stay tuned.

Round 9, day 27

This follows on from the last one I posted where Luce walks through a forest of lightning trees and finds a library…

Round 9, day lucky 23

….please forgive the terrible scans: I am uploading this in an internet cafe in the city; pop-ups keep appearing in Korean, cars crunch and girls scream, Elizabeth St on a Sunday night, I have a coldsore and a cold and my legs are sore. Why in the name of Beelzebub did I agree to do comic rehab?

Round 9, day 19

Round 9, day 15

Round 9, day 11

Round 9 day 7

OK, so I can’t draw cars…. but you get the idea. I am practising drawing buildings &  streetscapes for my Book… sorry, Graphic Novel!

Round 9, day 3

What else can I do with 4 panels? An Aunty Frank gag strip.

…with apologies to Nicole Hollander (http://www.nicolehollander.com/)

Artist Introduction: Jo Waite

My name is Jo Waite. I draw comics. I have been drawing comics ever since I got roped in to draw Revolutionary Art for my Anarchist Comrades that had to go on an early version of  what used to be called a ‘ photocopier’; so I had to learn to draw in black & white, and trim back some of the surrealist elements of my work and make it more directly narrative and understandable by normal people…. that was in 1984. I have been getting better at drawing but I think I am still interested in the same things. Only now I am 45 I think I might have had enough life to start drawing some autobiographical comics… or what passes for auto bio. I wear various masks, but I think those who know me will say that my most popular characters, One Sock The Lovesick Devil and Aunty Frank the Melbourne misanthrope are merely versions of me.