Trails started in Melbourne by Lachlan Conn and Michael Fikaris at Forepaw, Northcote in 2006.
The idea came from wanting regular meetings of like minded people and was simply about people working on small pages together. Drawing. Writing. Talking. Thinking. Leaving a mark. The collected pages were then scanned and printed up. Ideally someone would lay out the works and print them up in a small press edition. At the next Trails get together you could pick up a copy, creating more people each time and more of a 'scene' for comics and the act of drawing.
When Forepaw closed in 2009, TRAILS continued at Seed Factory Studios, Clifton Hill with Fikaris and Tim Molloy, then in Melbourne city at Blender studios with Fikaris and Claire. From 2013 Trails was at a different location each time, for events, international studios and galleries. Not so regular but always leaving a mark and always with others, it ran until 2016.
There was 16 small press collections printed. There is also an old blog here
Trails in 2016 in a gallery on Brunswick street
One of the last collections, edited by DC Mailer in 2015
A great place to meet with people on the fringes of comics, illustration, writing, poetry, zines and all things personal.
Vale Karl Von BamBerger and Aaron O'Donnell at Trails in 2009