This week we catch up with the work of two DCP favorites, Chad Bilyeu and David Dye! Chad’s series The Re-up, about his time as a pot dealer 20 years ago, continues and has overcome the skepticism Tim had of the series at the start. David has released three more issues of Amazing Tales and gone in various directions: a Beowulf adaptation, a Burroughs-esque time travel story commenting on Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, and an EC-type horror comic! We review The Re-up issues 4-6 and Amazing Tales issues 6-8!
Brought to you by:
Podcast: Play in new window | Download
Hi Tim,
Thanks for that.
Yes, I saw the episode yesterday.
Thanks for taking the time to read and review the comics. Please pass on my thanks to Kumar as well.
Just as a general note about my storytelling, I always include humour in my stories. The byline under the cover title is “Action, adventure and Humour”. I consider it an important part of telling a story. It’s just a part of my character that comes through in all my stories. I’m a pretty happy mirthful sort of chap. Even in the Beowulf issue, I had to include some sort of humour even though the story, as recounted in the legend, is very dry and humourless. So, I included jokie type of cartoony images, like the ones you mentioned in the podcast.
This is also evident in the Ukraine story. I wasn’t conflicted in any way. It is meant to be humorous and should be taken in that way. I named the members of Putin’s cabinet in a joking way to highlight the absurd characters that they are in real life. “Mad Drunk Medvedev” “Cry Boy Peskov” etc were names given to them to elicit a laugh.
In these issues of Amazing Tales I’ve added something that I don’t normally include. Beowulf has “emotion” notably in the second story where Beowulf recounts his past and later when he dies; and in the Ukraine story there is “romance”. I think both of these features contribute something new and unexpected to the respective stories.
For the record, and I hope Kumar reads this, “Woop Woop” is a name given to a remote inland area. It’s like the term “Outback”. In Australia there are numerous terms for remote areas (I can think of another 3 or 4); all are interchangeable but do not exist as a specific location. A similar American term would be the “Boonies”.
I include a lot of Aussie slang and folklore in my stories as a way of preserving them and introducing them to a wider audience. The old terms and words are slowly slipping into oblivion as Australia’s demographic changes. In 50 years Australia’s population has more than doubled thanks to immigration. When I was a kid it was 12 million; now it is 27 million. Most of the population lives in the cities and they have little interest in Australia’s history or folklore. I try to keep some of what made Australia unique in the world alive through my stories. The details and background stories in Issue 8 about the gold rush and cannibal convicts are true. Pierce the cannibal did exist, although I’ve embellished certain things to suit my story.
Anyway, I’ll stop here as I’m rambling on. If anyone is interested in reading these stories they are available to download as pdf file for a very small price (I make “bugger all” (meaning very little) from my comic sales). Follow this link.
https://ownaindi.com/creator/dave-dye/
Regards
Dave