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Footrot Flats #2
Footrot Flats 2
paperback
72 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1979
60 people want to read
About the author
Murray Ball
141 books17 followersBall grew up in New Zealand before spending some years in Australia and South Africa. As a young man he worked for the Dominion newspaper in Wellington and the Manawatu Times before becoming a freelance cartoonist and moving to England, where he found work with publishers DC Thomson, of Dundee.
He developed his character Stanley and had it published in the influential English humour-magazine Punch. Stanley the Palaeolithic Hero featured a caveman who wore glasses and struggled with the Neolithic environment. It became the longest-running strip in Punch's history, and other English and non-English speaking countries syndicated it. Ball continued to contribute to Punch after returning with his family to New Zealand.
Ball's early cartoons often had political overtones (his mid-70s UK strips included All the King's Comrades, and he described himself in the introduction to The Sisterhood (1993) as a socialist. Stanley often expresses left-wing attitudes).
After 1975 Ball wrote several comics in New Zealand (for instance Nature Calls), but it was in 1976 that he first published the strip Footrot Flats in Wellington's afternoon newspaper, The Evening Post. It rapidly led to the demise of his other strips (including 'Stanley' which he was still writing for Punch.
The strip follows the adventures of a working sheep-dog called (if anything) "Dog" or "The Dog" or "@*!, his owner Wal Footrot and the other characters, human and animal, that they encounter or associate with. Ball expresses Dog's thoughts in thought-bubbles, though he clearly remains "just a dog" (rather than the heavily anthropomorphised creatures sometimes found in other comics or animation).
Ball's Footrot Flats has appeared in syndication in international newspapers, and in over 40 published books.
Ball has said he has always wanted his cartooning to have an impact. "The heart of a cartoon is the idea, an artist can create a painting, hang it on the wall and be satisfied with what he has achieved even if no-one else sees it. In cartooning you must get a human reaction to the idea. The task of the cartoonist is to translate his idea into a drawing that will have impact".
Ball lived with his wife Pam on a rural property in Gisborne, New Zealand.
He developed his character Stanley and had it published in the influential English humour-magazine Punch. Stanley the Palaeolithic Hero featured a caveman who wore glasses and struggled with the Neolithic environment. It became the longest-running strip in Punch's history, and other English and non-English speaking countries syndicated it. Ball continued to contribute to Punch after returning with his family to New Zealand.
Ball's early cartoons often had political overtones (his mid-70s UK strips included All the King's Comrades, and he described himself in the introduction to The Sisterhood (1993) as a socialist. Stanley often expresses left-wing attitudes).
After 1975 Ball wrote several comics in New Zealand (for instance Nature Calls), but it was in 1976 that he first published the strip Footrot Flats in Wellington's afternoon newspaper, The Evening Post. It rapidly led to the demise of his other strips (including 'Stanley' which he was still writing for Punch.
The strip follows the adventures of a working sheep-dog called (if anything) "Dog" or "The Dog" or "@*!, his owner Wal Footrot and the other characters, human and animal, that they encounter or associate with. Ball expresses Dog's thoughts in thought-bubbles, though he clearly remains "just a dog" (rather than the heavily anthropomorphised creatures sometimes found in other comics or animation).
Ball's Footrot Flats has appeared in syndication in international newspapers, and in over 40 published books.
Ball has said he has always wanted his cartooning to have an impact. "The heart of a cartoon is the idea, an artist can create a painting, hang it on the wall and be satisfied with what he has achieved even if no-one else sees it. In cartooning you must get a human reaction to the idea. The task of the cartoonist is to translate his idea into a drawing that will have impact".
Ball lived with his wife Pam on a rural property in Gisborne, New Zealand.
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Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
February 2, 2008
Anyone who likes strip-comics and sheep and/or farm humor should read these books. Hard to find (I ordered my set shipped from Australia by boat for Christssake). But they are truly great.
July 19, 2018
Found some ebooks of these available, so I am revisiting my childhood. Great books!
March 25, 2021
I'd forgotten how much fun these are!
April 19, 2009
Murray Ball continues to deliver great Footrot Flats comics. Looking out on a parched farm it would be great to see just a little of the rain experienced in the Footrot Flats world!
November 17, 2017
Murray Ball is a suburb cartoonist. Footrot Flats # 2 has many of the earlier works that I feel are his best. The subject matter is still relevant and the jokes are funny. I wish he was still creating and i often reference his jokes.
September 29, 2015
A great Aussie humour comic - this is where it all begins. Loveable characters and funny situations
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews