Handmade Histories: An Analysis of Australian Comics Procured from Zine Fairs, Comics Fairs and Market Days and Published in 2022

What kinds of comics were sold and procured from Australia's zine fairs, comics fairs and market days in 2022? The research team for Folio, a comics oral history project, visited Australian zine fairs, comics fairs and market days between February and October 2022 at a time when many such marketplaces had resumed trade for the first time after 2 years of COVID lockdowns. The research team identified 144 comics that were clearly identifiable as being published in 2022, and then investigated this cross-section of Australia's comics life in 2022, finding a frequent focus on COVID; mental health, disability and chronic illness; online life; place; and climate disaster. Beyond the documentation of these comics and themes from an important but easily-missed quadrant of Australian comics publishing, the research team considers this comics environment – with its links to other publishing cultures, its incorporation of anomalies – for its research potential.