Funtime Comics Collective

The **Funtime Comics Collective** is a collective and publisher based in Ōtautahi and formed by Jason Brice in 1991. They are the collective behind and publishers of, the Funtime Comics Anthology.

## History

### Origins at the University of Canterbury

In 1991 Jason Brice motivated a bunch of role-players, KAOS members, and Sci-Fi fans at the University of Canterbury to form a club to promote the comics medium and New Zealand comics. ComicSoc activities initially centred around screenings of imported anime, which were hard to get in New Zealand at the time. The club was supported by Marty Morteau at Kaleidoscope Comics, whose offer of a 10% discount to all club members resulted in a large membership. On the strength of these numbers the Students' Association provided considerable financial support, some of which was directed to publishing a comic anthology of members' contributions.
As the students moved on, the club transitioned to public monthly workshops taking place on each 2nd Saturday of the month. New people would come and go, with a committed few still part of the regular crew today. With the change of editors over the years, it's the monthly workshops that have been the life-blood for the community to continue.

### Beginning of the "Funtime Ethic"

Darren Schroeder took over as editor for Issue Five, and discovered that the Club has a large file of unused material. Reasoning that the purpose of Funtime was to promote members' work, he instituted a new editorial policy whereby all submitted work would eventually be published, with the editor making deciding selections for each particular issue.
Issue 5 was published in November 1993. Shortly after this, Kaleidoscope Comics withdrew their discount offer, and the membership of ComicSoc dropped dramatically, leading to proportionately reduced income from the Student’s Association. The Funtime anthology continued to be published, however, with increasing numbers of contributors from further afield.

### Rise of the Funtime Collective

With the reduced membership of ComicSoc, and the graduation of key contributors, Funtime began to emerge as a distinct institution.
‍Only Fools and ‘Toonists in Dunedin (1 April 1995) gave us a model to emulate: Workshop with a group of creators sitting around drawing and chatting. This was followed with a workshop (October 1995) in Wyrd Gallery, a shop in Cashel Mall in Christchurch that sold Funky clothes for all sexes, hats, fine jewellery, magazines, comics and fanzines from Aotearoa.
The workshops continued weekly for a while and then changed to the monthly format that still runs today - 2nd Saturday of the month. The anthology shortly became known as "Funtime Comics Presents".

## Publications

### Comics

* *Avatar* (Jason Brice & Jared Lane, 1993)
* *The Sound Of Muzac* (Matthew Powell, Ruth Boyask, Debra Boyask, Isaac Freeman, Saul Blackwell, Bob Gibbons, Darren Schroeder, Jared Lane, Tony Scanlan & Andrew Kepple, 1st of November 2001)
* *The Case Of The Big Pink Lighthouse* (Darren Schroeder, Matthew Powell, Jared Lane, Jason Lennie, Isaac Freeman, Ruth Boyask, Tony Scanlan, Lily Boyask & Bob Gibbons, September 2003)
* *Are We There Yeti* (Not released)
* *Funtime Comics In Bristol* (Debra Boyask, Isaac Freeman, Plainjane, Lisa Cole, Vogon, Janet Deverell & Reiki Man, June 2003)
* *Jam Comics Textbook* (Isaac Freeman, 2005)

### *Funtime Comics Anthology*

* *Funtime Cartoons #1*
* *Funtime Comics Presents Issue 2: Woof Woof*
* *Funtime Comics Presents Issue 3: Cyber-Dump*
* *Funtime Comics Presents Issue 4: Wrap Up!*
* *Funtime Comics Presents Issue 5: Dark Panels*
* *Funtime Comics Presents Issue 6: Serious Tome*
* *Funtime Comics Presents Issue 7: Big Life*
* *Funtime Comics Presents Issue 8: Landfill*
* *Funtime Comics Presents Issue 9: Fontan*
* *Funtime Comics Presents Issue 10: Limbeck*
* *Funtime Comics Presents Issue 11: Legumic Ovis*
* *Funtime Comics Presents Issue 12: Cult-$ure*
* *Funtime Comics Presents Issue 13: Inner Jest*
* *Funtime Comics Presents Issue 14: Edemic Gad*
* *Funtime Comics Presents Issue 15: Pistolgraph*
* *Funtime Comics Presents Issue 16: Decennium*
* *Funtime Comics Presents Issue 17: Stryk Erf*
* *Funtime Comics Presents Issue 18: Lithe Rauk*
* *Funtime Comics Presents Issue 19: Flap-Tastic*
* *Funtime Comics Presents No. 20: Unau Prolepsis*
* *Funtime Comics Presents Issue 21: Jurassic Jam*
* *Funtime Comics Presents... Issue #22: Rare Window*
* *Funtime Comics Anthology Issue #23: The Walls*
* *Funtime Comics Anthology Issue #24*
* *Funtime Comics Anthology Issue #25*
* *Funtime Comics Anthology Issue #26*
* *Funtime Comics Anthology Issue #27*
* *Funtime Comics Anthology Issue #28*
* *Funtime Comics Anthology Issue #29*
* *Funtime Comics Anthology Issue #30*
* *Funtime Comics Anthology Issue #31*
* *Funtime Comics Anthology Issue #32*
* *Funtime Comics Anthology Issue #33: Tales from Pandemia*
* *Funtime Comics Anthology Issue #34*

### Special Issues

* *Darkest Day - Comics for Christchurch*

### Omnibuses

* *Funtime Comics Omnibus Vol. 1*
* *Funtime Comics Omnibus Vol. 2*

## Events

* Funtime Workshops
* Midwinter Comics Retreat

1. ↑ https://web.archive.org/web/20061004063940/http://www.comics.org.nz/wiki/index.php/Avatar
2. ↑ https://web.archive.org/web/20061004072441/http://www.comics.org.nz/wiki/index.php/The\_Sound\_of\_Muzac
3. ↑ https://web.archive.org/web/20061004064409/http://www.comics.org.nz/wiki/index.php/The\_Case\_of\_the\_Big\_Pink\_Lighthouse
4. ↑ https://web.archive.org/web/20061004064114/http://www.comics.org.nz/wiki/index.php/Are\_We\_There\_Yeti
5. ↑ https://web.archive.org/web/20061004065503/http://www.comics.org.nz/wiki/index.php/Funtime\_Comics\_in\_Bristol
6. ↑ https://web.archive.org/web/20061004124348/http://www.comics.org.nz/wiki/index.php/Jam\_Comics\_Textbook