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<\/p>\nA LOCAL comics illustrator and writer has been recognised among Australia’s best in the industry with a spot on the Comic Arts Awards of Australia’s Ledger of Honour.<\/p>\n
Though he wasn’t present to receive the award during a ceremony at Canberra’s Old Parliament House in November, Dillon Naylor said he was surprised to be given the accolade.<\/p>\n
“I haven’t really been awarded that many things in the years I’ve been active,” he said.<\/p>\n
“I didn’t know this was coming until the last minute and there was talk I should get to Canberra, but there wasn’t time.<\/p>\n
“But to receive that kind of recognition, not for any one thing but for 30-plus years of toil in that field, it’s nice to be acknowledged.”<\/p>\n
Established in 2005 and revived in 2014 after a five-year hiatus, the Ledger Awards are named after Australian artist Peter Ledger and are aimed at spotlighting creatives’ contributions to the national comics scene.<\/p>\n
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Naylor got his start in the industry submitting short stories to Melbourne-based anthology magazine Fox Comics in the mid-1980s.<\/p>\n
From there, he spent about a decade creating two comics a year to go into showbags, which were delivered throughout the country, and through which he developed a small following.<\/p>\n
Many of the characters from Naylor’s showbag comics reappeared in children’s magazine K-Zone, where he introduced arguably his best-known creation, Batrisha the Vampire Girl.<\/p>\n
“I already had some characters that were male and they asked did I have anything for a female audience,” Naylor said.<\/p>\n
“So I created Batrisha the Vampire Girl which had mostly a female cast. They loved it that much they dumped the comic before that and just wanted Batrisha.<\/p>\n
“That was a big thing right through the 2000s. K-Zone itself was a huge phenomenon then so it was a great platform to reach a mass audience at that time.”<\/p>\n
Naylor was also recognised in last year’s Comic Arts Awards of Australia’s Ledger of Honour for his hardcover book, Batrisha and the Creepy Caretaker.<\/p>\n
He was one of two Ledger awardees this year alongside deceased cartoonist James Bancks, creator of Ginger Meggs.<\/p>\n
Naylor said it is humbling to be placed in the same company as many of his influences.<\/p>\n
“It was a great honour to be awarded even for something in parallel with [James Bancks] because I was a big fan of Ginger Meggs growing up,” he said.<\/p>\n
“Some of the previous winners of this award are people I’ve worked alongside with and learnt from.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
A LOCAL comics illustrator and writer has been recognised among Australia’s best in the industry with a spot on the Comic Arts Awards of Australia’s Ledger of Honour. Though he wasn’t present to receive the award during a ceremony at Canberra’s Old Parliament House in November, Dillon Naylor said he was surprised to be given […]<\/p>\n