Martin was one of the most talented people I've met in New Zealand. He was also one of the nicest people. We both grew up in South Auckland, him one suburbe over from me. Both had violence in the home growing up. And we both wound up being successful in the arts overseas. I've felt sucifical many times myself and I remeber really clearly the day I heard Martin had killed himself. I personally feel Auckland has never been the same without him around. It's all the poorer without him there. I'm sure anyone who knew him would agree. Martin is know for his White Trash comics, which were incredibly detailed and dense. I remember the first night I met Martin, at a villa where one of my best friends was living, Marty and I had one of those drunken mind melds. I recall him saying he almost had a mental breakdown finishing the White Trash series. I said "I know exactly what you mean," because I'd been there myself working on some intense, experimental writing, which related to my stepsister Margery being murdered then raped after death. When I'd gotten back from New York, before I left Auckland to return to New York again, I bumped into Marty on K'Road, and he thanked me for inspiring him to move to LA, which he was just about to do. I was taken aback, as I didn't consider leaving NZ to be any great feat, I'd just reconnected and fallen in love with a woman who happened to living in New York (although she had also come from NZ, the same suburb as Martin). I guess I did OK in New York, artistically, I always found it easier there than in New Zealand. But it was there Martin committed suicide. He was in love and engaged to be married. His film deals with Disney where on and then off and then on again. And from the outside, he seemed to be doing great, at least from most people's points of view. I remember a year or two earlier I was sleepless wander through a deserted Auckland Inner City on a Monday or a Tuesday at 3 or 4 or 5 in the morning when I came across Martin doing the same thing. He asked me what I was doing. I said I was "depressed and just walking around." He said "Me too." We didn't say much more, because we understood, and just wished each other well, and went on out own respective way. I've got a lot of other memories of him. Going on tour with my friend who was doing music with my spoekn word performances, and Martin's band "Flame Job." Holding an avant-garde loft event in the vacant studio above Marty's downtown. But ultimately, I remeber him as a sweet, kind, beautiful person.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7rtDWFQ_c1g