The Guyra Ghost remains one of the most famous paranormal events to happen in Australia. In early April 1921, a series of strange, unexplained events began to happen in the small town of Guyra, New South Wales. Stones were thrown at a house, seemingly from nowhere, the walls rocked with bangs and thuds and a young woman claimed to speak to her dead sister.  But was it a ghost?  What did haunt the Bowen family?  This book also covers the reaction of a country, the media, the stage plays and parodies, the attacks and the now lost movie that was made about the haunting, in the Bowen house, while the haunting was actually happening. More importantly, this book names, for the first time, the most likely suspect for the source of the stone throwing, the failed attacks on Minnie Bowen and the reasons why.  Read about a mad rapist who lived in the Guyra area at the time, and where he fits into the story.The Guyra Ghost Mystery might never be solved, but this book, Hunting The Guyra Ghost, shed

Who Killed Peter Mitris? On April 17 1991, Peter Mitris, comic store retailer, comic book collector and dealer, and drug importer, armed robber, and drug dealer, vanished into thin air. Despite an extensive search, he was never seen again. The great Jack Kirby once famously said to a fan, “Comics books will break your heart.” If he had said that comic books would eventually kill you, he’d still have been right. In the case of Peter Mitris, it wasn’t the comic books that killed him though, it was a combination of brass knuckles and the ocean. For close to three decades now the mystery of Peter Mitris has both titillated and puzzled the Australian comic book world. The rumours, the myths and speculation of what happened to the man who helped organise the first real international comic book convention the country had seen, and, through his store, bought and sold comic books, including a near perfect Action Comics #1 have been spoken in hushed tones by those who claim to know. In

The Taki Soma situation has reared his head once more, with people questioning the suitability  of Charles Brownstein to be heading up the Comic Book Legal Defence Fund. I wrote the words below back in 2006, and I feel that they're still valid now. Nothing of note happened back in 2006, but the world has changed in the fourteen years since, some for the better and some for the worse. What is a constant is that powerful men still appear to be able to get away with whatever they want to. Perhaps now people will read this and take some action, unlike 2006. -------------------------------------------------------------- When I first saw both of these images on  Michael Netzer's  site I was fascinated. I've never been a fan of censorship in any way, shape or form, and for a while I thought that Mike had been told that his initial image - the one on the bottom - was far too offensive for many, and probably borderline slander, which is why he changed it and added the extr

For those following the Frank Miller/Lynn Varley court case, be aware that it's pretty much done and dusted now. While the exact details haven't been released, and they might well never be released, a recent letter that was filed in the case gives hope that Frank and Lynn have managed to sit down with their respective legal teams and hashed out a solution. Would that all court cases of this kind be solved so quickly? But then, in a perfect world, cases like this wouldn't come to the courts as the parties involved would be able to work their issues out beforehand. So, unless we hear otherwise, call this, case (almost) closed!

The Unknown Story of Kiss II “We just wanted to play somewhere.” – Tim Reynolds In 1978, how would you have known that the rock band Kiss was on stage before you? Sure, the bombastic stage show was in place, with flashpots, explosions, flames, loud music and four guys in over the top costumes with make-up on. But would you have known it was really Kiss under all of that make-up and leather? More to the point, would anyone have cared? At the time, people were handing their money over to the band like it was on fire. Could anyone have gone on stage and pretended to be Kiss and gotten away with it? That is the scenario that two budding promoters, Kenneth Cundiff and David Hagnseiker wanted to find out.   They approached the Mt Vernon State Fair with the idea of a Kiss concert at the fair in May 1978. For the organisers of the State Fair it was an easy yes. Kiss playing the State Fair would ensure a large turn out, so they agreed, bring the band in. Put them on. More mon

John Richard Flanagan, November 1947 The Australian Born America Comic Book Pioneer   Ask almost anyone in Australia who was the first Australian to work in the American comic book industry and they will invariably answer, “Stan Pitt”. It has been that way since Pitt did his first job for an American publisher, DC Comics The Witching Hour (issue 5), which was published in October 1969. But was Stan Pitt really the first or was he the second? What is now known is that there was another Australian who came before Pitt. A man who produced cover art for DC Comics thirty years earlier than Pitt in 1939. His name was John Richard Flanagan. And this is his story. Flanagan was born in Sydney in 1895 and attended St Joseph’s College in Hunter’s Hill. His father passed away when Flanagan was only 12, leaving his mother to make a difficult choice. As Flanagan was the oldest male in the house, the burden of providing for the family would fall upon him. She duly enrolled him in an