Four classic comic books now in print

For the first time, I have printed versions of four of my most enduring comics available for sale through my online store. The new comics are:

• Energy Slaves
• Peak Oil
• Supernormal Stimuli
• War on Drugs

These four titles join the two self-published comic books that I was already selling:

• Rat Park
• St Matthew Island

The comic books look and feel awesome in the hand, and I am glad to be finally offering them as attractive little books.

Full details of all of these titles are below. Or you can jump straight across to my online store to buy copies.

Energy Slaves

Energy Slaves: publication information, book specifications

General information:

Title: Energy Slaves
Author: Stuart McMillen
ISBN: 978-0-6455060-2-0
Publisher: self-published by Stuart McMillen, Canberra, Australia
Publication date: 1 November 2023 (originally published online on 31 May 2017)
Sales channel: sold through Stuart’s online store
Book format: A5-size perfect-bound comic book
Number of pages: 44 pages

Physical dimensions:

Length: 148 mm
Width: 210 mm
Thickness: 5 mm
Weight: 120 grams

Energy Slaves: description / blurb:

How many invisible “energy slave” workers does it take to fuel our modern lifestyles?

Australian comics artist Stuart McMillen profiles American futurist Buckminster Fuller and his imaginative way of picturing the work that fossil fuels perform for humanity. Going one step beyond ‘horsepower’, Bucky Fuller saw that all work could be measured by the number of imaginary humans that it would take to do a physical task. He coined the unit ‘energy slave’ representing the yearly effort of a single human, and set about showing how many invisible workers are needed to power the everyday tasks that we take for granted.

Originally published to the web in 2017, this thought-provoking comic explores humanity’s heavy reliance on energy, and wonders how our supersized lifestyles will be powered in a post-fossil fuel world. Energy Slaves is best read in conjunction with Stuart McMillen’s ‘sister’ comic Peak Oil, about geologist M. King Hubbert’s 1956 forecast of the looming peak and decline of the U.S. oil industry.

Energy Slaves: cover artwork:

(Higher-resolution versions available as either JPEG or PNG image formats).

Peak Oil

Peak Oil: publication information, book specifications

General information:

Title: Peak Oil
Author: Stuart McMillen
ISBN: 978-0-6455060-1-3
Publisher: self-published by Stuart McMillen, Canberra, Australia
Publication date: 1 November 2023 (originally published online on 13 May 2015)
Sales channel: sold through Stuart’s online store
Book format: A5-size perfect-bound comic book
Number of pages: 64 pages

Physical dimensions:

Length: 148 mm
Width: 210 mm
Thickness: 5.5 mm
Weight: 165 grams

Peak Oil: description / blurb:

Roughly half of the world’s entire oil supply is gone; half is left. How will our society choose to use the oil that remains?

Australian comics artist Stuart McMillen profiles American geologist M. King Hubbert and his ‘peak oil‘ theory of fossil fuel depletion. In 1956, Hubbert was invited to give a keynote talk at an American Petroleum Institute conference. In his talk, Hubbert presented his evidence that the U.S. oil industry was set to peak and decline within the next 15 years. This prediction was contrary to the industry’s prevailing optimistic attitude. However, Hubbert’s forecast proved correct when the U.S. oil industry peaked in the 1970s.

Originally published to the web in 2015, this thought-provoking comic explores the logic behind Hubbert’s peak oil theory, and gives context to the transformational power of petroleum on human society. Peak Oil is best read in conjunction with Stuart McMillen’s ‘sister’ comic Energy Slaves, about futurist Buckminster Fuller’s observations on the fossil fuel ‘slaves’ that perform humanity’s work.

Peak Oil: cover artwork:

(Higher-resolution versions available as either JPEG or PNG image formats).

Supernormal Stimuli

Supernormal Stimuli: publication information, book specifications

General information:

Title: Supernormal Stimuli
Author: Stuart McMillen
ISBN: 978-0-6455060-3-7
Publisher: self-published by Stuart McMillen, Canberra, Australia
Publication date: 1 November 2023 (originally published online on 1 December 2011)
Sales channel: sold through Stuart’s online store
Book format: A6-size saddle-stitched comic booklet
Number of pages: 20 pages

Physical dimensions:

Length: 148 mm
Width: 105 mm
Thickness: 2 mm
Weight: 30 grams

Supernormal Stimuli: description / blurb:

A reptile brain sits deep within us. How much of our behaviour comes from primal instinct?

Why are we drawn to excessively sweet and fatty foods? Why do we find it hard to pull our eyes away from the flicker of TV sets in waiting rooms and cafés? Why are we compelled to check and re-check our inboxes and social media throughout the day?

Australian comics artist Stuart McMillen explores the work of Nobel Prizewinning Dutch biologist Niko Tinbergen, who sought to understand the root of animal instincts. Tinbergen’s experiments into supernormal stimuli showed that instinctual behaviour could be triggered by specific sensations, even if the stimuli was exaggerated beyond realistic limits. In fact, supernormal stimuli can be used to explain many of the problems that humans face in our amplified modern world. But unlike other animals, we possess the skills to control our instincts and silence our ‘inner reptile’.

Supernormal Stimuli: cover artwork:

(Higher-resolution versions available as either JPEG or PNG image formats).

War on Drugs

War on Drugs: publication information, book specifications

General information:

Title: War on Drugs
Author: Stuart McMillen
ISBN: 978-0-6455060-4-4
Publisher: self-published by Stuart McMillen, Canberra, Australia
Publication date: 1 November 2023 (originally published online on 3 October 2012)
Sales channel: sold through Stuart’s online store
Book format: A6-size saddle-stitched comic booklet
Number of pages: 28 pages

Physical dimensions:

Length: 148 mm
Width: 105 mm
Thickness: 2.5 mm
Weight: 36 grams

War on Drugs: description / blurb:

The uncanny parallels between alcohol prohibition and the ‘war on drugs’.

Australian comics artist Stuart McMillen enters the discussion on drug policy, with this thought-provoking comic. McMillen explores U.S. president Richard Nixon’s 1971 decision to escalate the country’s drug laws, and the criticisms of this so-called “war on drugs” policy made by economist Milton Friedman.

War on Drugs looks at the laws that we use to try and stop people from taking drugs. By drawing parallels with alcohol prohibition, it shows the futility of criminalising drugs, and how well-intentioned laws can counter-intuitively make problems worse. War on Drugs is best read in conjunction with Stuart McMillen’s ‘sister’ comic Rat Park, about psychologist Bruce Alexander’s late 1970s series of drug addiction experiments using laboratory rats.

War on Drugs: cover artwork:

(Higher-resolution versions available as either JPEG or PNG image formats).

Discounts for bulk purchases

As I mentioned in my article about the Rat Park tenth anniversary comics, my online store offers deepening discounts for purchases of 5, 10, and 20 comic books.

The reason is because there are people and groups who use my comics as educational resources to explain social issues. e.g. Rat Park and drug rehab groups, Peak Oil and environmental groups. I want to help make it affordable for these groups to buy larger quantities of my books.

Use the shopping cart to take advantage of these bulk purchase discounts.

The mega value bundle: all six books at a discounted price

For those who want ’em all, I am offering the mega value bundle, which gives all six comic books, plus bonus postcards featuring the artwork of two comics of your choice.

The beauty of this package is that the total weight is 498 grams, which is below the 500 gram cut-off where Australia Post’s international postage fees jumps from $13.00 to $35.00(!) (This weight requirement is the reason why I can only include two postcards of your choice, rather than the whole set of six.)

Buy the mega value pack via my online store, and be sure to note which two postcards you want with your order! (Use the ‘add a note to the seller’ space in the checkout to add this postcard preference.)