Barry Linton


A recently discovered photograph from the early 1980s shows three young pop-culture heroes, each just starting to make their presence felt. Chris Knox leans casually against a brick wall holding a pot plant. Fellow cartoonist Joe Wylie sits sideways on a broken apple box. Both wear jandals and look straight at the camera.

Barry Linton, standing on the right, wears sandshoes and a hand-printed “Pacific Nights” T-shirt. He looks thin, slightly awkward and gazes down at the ground. The three are about to attend the opening of an exhibition of their graphic art. And it’s in a real art gallery; suddenly the Auckland comix scene is cool.

The first Radio Hauraki show, 1976
Photo credit: Design by Barry Linton
Red Mole's 1980 EP, with artwork by Barry Linton. Trudi Green is the guest singer of 'Julie's Song'. 
Coup D'Etat at Auckland University's Maidment Theatre, May 1980
Photo credit: Design by Barry Linton
Barry Linton's generic Coup D'Etat poster
Photo credit: Design by Barry Linton
Herbs' 1983 album Light of the Pacific. Barry Linton's cover art incorporated many of his perennial themes such as Pacific exploration and urban Polynesia.
Barry Linton -Photo by Arthur Baysting
Photo credit: Photo by Arthur Baysting
Red Mole's Slaughter on Cockroach Ave was performed at the Ace of Clubs Auckland, November 1977. Alan Brunton wrote the "scenario"; the music was by Midge Marsden, the Country Flyers, and Jan Preston
Photo credit: Barry Linton
Barry Linton, a portrait by Dylan Horrocks
For the first New Zealand comic convention, Barry Linton was asked by the Listener to cover the event, in pictures and words. This is a detail of the two-page strip, which ran in the 1 October 1994 issue. 
Red Mole's production 'I'll Never Dance Down Bugis St Again' was taken on a nationwide tour for 13 weeks in 1980. Alan Brunton wrote the "scenario"; the music was by Sam Ford, John Davies, and Dave Ironside. 
Photo credit: Barry Linton
Barry Linton - Photo by Arthur Baysting
Photo credit: Photo by Arthur Baysting
Excerpt from The Comics Show, a documentary directed by Shirley Horrocks.
The Furys' 1981 EP Auckland Fun, with a sleeve designed by Barry Linton
Barry Linton, centre, outside Cafe 121, Ponsonby Road, Auckland
Photo credit: Chris Priestley
Chris Knox, Joe Wylie and Barry Linton

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