Mark Monlux, RR Anderson and James Stowe ready themselves for battle.
When John Munn, owner of Comic Book Ink, opened his fine establishment to the members of The CLAW, we were under the illusion that he would only be able to fit in six illustrators. And with only three CLAW members participating (Mark Monlux, RR Anderson and James Stowe) and the store staff, it was thought we might be several hours of quiet and semi-lonely work. How wrong we were. A pack of teenage girls with endless idea and topics to fill the night took up residence at one table. Lone wolf cartoonists with no affiliation to anyone found tables and chairs. And there was an endless stream of customers came through. Most of those folks were bringing food to Stowe who offered to draw anyone who brought him grub into the strip. There were dozens upon dozens of store, and home prepped baked goods stacking up. I’ve not experienced such a sugar high since Halloween ’73. The place was filled with food, people, chatter, and a lot of potential distractions for are steady competitors.
A Gaggle of Giggles.
Regular participants and fans of the Frost Park Chalk Challenge dropped by, as did other CLAW members, and fans of The CLAW, to cheer on the competitors. All were directed to the Student Scholarship Fund Jar to make a donation. We are happy to report that during the 24 Hour Comic Challenge the fund grew from $100 to $368. Warren Caves, owner of Tacoma Art Supply, provided the largest contribution of $200. Many thanks to all those who stuffed a bill into the jar. All funds donated to the Student Scholarship during 2009 will be awarded to our next scholarship winner in 2010.
James Stowe and RR Anderson hard at work.
While the veteran Mark Monlux was a favorite to finish first with two previous 24 hours under his belt, his page count quickly fell behind early in the competition. And he would not regain ground. Meanwhile Stowe manages to produce each page just under an hour. He even had time to allow Kevin Freitas to establish a video feed from Stowe’s desktop and webcam to www.feedtacoma.com. Who exactly was watching Stowe draw at four in the morning we don’t know, but there were six viewers. And there were additional viewers during the sane hours. Even with the time taken to do computer tinkering Stowe managed to finish first and before the deadline. His victory dance was a thing of beauty. RR Anderson managed a final push in the last hours and completed the challenge as well. Even one of the girls from the gossiping horde at the next table completed her work under the deadline. Sadly, Mr. Monlux disappointed us all by only completing seventeen pages. He will carry his shame until he has a chance to redeem himself at the next competition.
The CLAW was proud to participate in the 24 Hour Comic Challenge. We thank Comic Book Ink for hosting both the event and us. Postings of the various stories created will be posted once we figure out the best was of dealing with file sizes. Meanwhile, here are some links to the story art posted at the artists’ websites.
Link to Stowe’s Comic.
Link to Monlux’s Comic.
Link to RR’s Comic.
