
Subscribe by clicking this link, then cutting and pasting the URL into your podcast or feed reading software.
Find out more about RSS feeds & podcasting.
This service automatically delivers the audio files to your computer. These files can then be transferred to another device, such as a portable media player (mp3 player).
To receive the podcast you need a feed reader and must be a subscriber to the Library's Heroes & Villains Podcast. Subscribe using the link on the right-hand side of this page. The podcast will deliver every audio file in the tour.
If you don't wish to subscribe to the podcast, you can access the audio by downloading the files manually:
You can also listen to the audio tour without downloading any files simply by playing the audio through your computer's default mp3 player. Click on a 'Listen to...' link and the audio for that section will automatically begin to play.
Click on a 'Read the transcript of...' link to display the transcript and the audio file link for that section of the audio tour.

Welcome to Heroes & Villains: Australian Comics and their Creators. You’re probably wondering why this kind of exhibition is at the State Library of Victoria.
Listen to Part 1: Introduction [1:31,
630Kb]
Read the transcript of Part 1: Introduction

What’s more Australian than a larrikin? Early Aussie comic strips were all about irreverent humour and fun - if nothing else, we’re always ready to have a laugh at our own expense.
Listen to Part 2: Larrikins, Tearaways and Dags [2:41,
1.1Mb]
Read the transcript of Part 2: Larrikins, Tearaways and Dags

Tales of pirates and tall ships have thrilled readers for generations, but for some reason they never really ‘clicked’ with comic readers anywhere in the world – anywhere, that is, except Australia…
Listen to Part 3: Scourge of the Seven Seas [2:24,
992Kb]
Read the transcript of Part 3: Scourge of the Seven Seas

The superhero is America’s gift to comic books and a really good example of how Australian comics have been influenced by the giant American comic industry.
Listen to Part 4: Caped Crusaders [2:30,
1.1Mb]
Read the transcript of Part 4: Caped Crusaders

Australia gave the world its first modern detective novel in 1886 - The Mystery of the Hansom Cab by Fergus Hume. Set in gas-lit ‘Marvellous Melbourne’, the story became an unexpected world-wide success.
Listen to Part 5: I Hate Crime [2:50,
1.2Mb]
Read the transcript of Part 5: I Hate Crime

Talking animals have long been a popular theme in Australian comics, from cuties like Kokey Koala and his Magic Button, to tough guys like the more recent Hairbutt the Hippo.
Listen to Part 6: Talking Animals to the Rescue [1:42,
700Kb]
Read the transcript of Part 6: Talking Animals to the Rescue

Science fiction comics were never so much about the world of tomorrow as they were about escape from the troubles of today.
Listen to Part 7: To the Stars and Beyond [2:10,
897Kb]
Read the transcript of Part 7: To the Stars and Beyond

Cowboys and Indians, like superheroes, were a hugely popular American innovation and were embraced by Australian comic creators and readers alike.
Listen to Part 8: Cowboys and Indians - and Bushrangers Too! [2:01,
834Kb]
Read the transcript of Part 8: Cowboys and Indians - and Bushrangers Too!

There have been plenty of primitive wild men and jungle women who have swung their way through the pages of Australian comics.
Listen to Part 9: Lords of the Jungle [1:25,
587Kb]
Read the transcript of Part 9: Lords of the Jungle

Australian comic creators are often at their best working on the fringes of popular culture. Horror comics are no exception to this rule.
Listen to Part 10: The Horror! The Horror! [1:52,
768Kb]
Read the transcript of Part 10: The Horror! The Horror!

When compared with cowboys and superheroes, you’d think that ‘sword and sorcery’ comics play a minor role in the history of Australian comics - and you’d be right.
Listen to Part 11: Of Swords and Sorcery [1:36,
659Kb]
Read the transcript of Part 11: Of Swords and Sorcery

Although it may be hard to believe, there never would have been an Australian comic industry without World War II.
Listen to Part 12: War is Hell [2:22,
976Kb]
Read the transcript of Part 12: War is Hell

Long before superheroes took to the skies; there was another kind of crime fighter – just as brave, but with nothing more than a mask to protect them from the powers of evil!
Listen to Part 13: Who Were Those Masked Men? [1:28,
606Kb]
Read the transcript of Part 13: Who Were Those Masked Men?

By the 1970s, every household had a television and comics were much less popular than they were in the boom years after the Second World War.
Listen to Part 14: Comix Go Underground [1:39,
681Kb]
Read the transcript of Part 14: Comix Go Underground

Before we had comic books like the ones we see today, kids in the 1920s could read comic strips along with stories, puzzles and games in magazines like The Boys Weekly.
Listen to Part 15: Kids' Stuff [1:42,
699Kb]
Read the transcript of Part 15: Kids' Stuff