My contributor copy of the latest OzTAKU - issue 1.1 - arrived today! It's not generally released just yet, but look out for it soon in your local Borders, etc. The cover features Mark Withington's Rocksalt.

This issue reprints the second Moth & Tanuki episode ("Trouble in the Pizza Shop"), which originally appeared in OzTAKU #3 (first series).

While it's only a short 4 pager, this episode fills in a lot of what I wanted to say about Moth & Tanuki at this stage - the way they relate to each other, and the way their stories work. Although the M&Ts are basically standalone stories, there is an overall narrative underpinning the episodes, so they need to be read in order.

That said, I thought I'd put up a page from the current episode. It's probably a bit darker in tone than some of the M&T material, but the baddies (in all the episodes I've written and drawn thus far) are non-superheroey - just average small-time criminals. The crime-fighting is only ever intended to be one level of the story, but it's important to this particular episode. I doubt Mothy's up to fighting superbaddies in any case.

By the way, the word "superhero" may no longer be public domain or freely available for use in our language, with Marvel and DC comics having trademarked it! Oh well, I'm not planning to use it in any case :).

Labels: Moth and Tanuki, OzTAKU