[fig. 1: comic critic by Mark Monlux - Book of Movie Reviews in Cartoon Format]

From his announcement on FeedTacoma.com:

I would like to announce that I, the grand and glorious Mark Monlux, will be sponsoring next week Chalk Challenge.

FIRST PRIZE will be a signed and personalized copy of my first book (fig. 1).

SECOND PRIZE will be the sloppy seconds Princess Leia Bobblehead.

It’s true I coveted the Princess Leia Bobblehead and, after beating Adam the Alien in a game of Rock, Paper, Scissors to break our tie, I enjoyed taking her home. But it just hasn’t worked out between us. Rather than enjoying her on the shelf, I’ve been keeping her in a bag behind the fireplace. In all honesty, she is just a wee bit creepy. So she will be up on the block next week as second place.

FROST PARK CHALK OFF!

12 – 1 PM, 9th and Commerce St. Downtown Tacoma!
FREE CHALK, COMMUNITY EVENT

The CLAW attached itself to the fleshy underbelly of the old Tacoma war horse named Waysgoose–a celebration of crusty letter press professionals and hobbyists.  Mark Monlux was on hand to sell heaps of his latest book “The Comic Critic” which is a collection of his most favorite erotic foreign films.   Mark Brill (Mark 9) was also on hand selling his illustrated Magic Cards. Butt-loads of people also picked up back issues of the CLAW newsletter: CLAW-Tu Morraddiaa Neepitu.  RR Anderson also made an appearance selling spirit-gum capture portraits, but mostly ate $1 ice cream.

Beautiful Angle was there also Anagram Press… but the vast majority or bulk of the travellers where there to see CLAW.  You could just see the disappointment and intense jealousy in the faces of our table/booth floor show competitors.

“Mommy look FEZ!” or “Wow they have FEZ!” is pretty much what everyone was saying the whole time. Right before they fell over in disbelief of our amazing illustration skills.

Thanks to everyone who came down to Kings Books in Tacoma!

the benevolent order of CLAW cartoonists new
CLAW-TU Barada Nikto Issue no. 6
“BEST OF TACOMA” ZINE
is available at these select locations:

- Smooth and Juicy / Satellite Coffee Embellish Annex
- Satellite Coffee (6th Ave Annex)
- Red Hot
- Embellish Multi-Salon Space
- Mat Hat T.E.A. Party Company
- Puget Sound Pizza (PSP)
- Kings Books
- Comic Book Ink.

(to request a distribution point, reply to this email)

coming soon:
- Tacoma Art Supply

ALSO look for us at the Emerald City Comic Convention!

Stowe's Birthday Blowout...maybe that's not a good title.

Hey James–I can’t make it tonight, but here’s wishing you the best of luck and all the Pepto you need!

Mark 9

The highly experimental, outdoor adventure comic strips below were developed and ultimately abandoned for a more traditional marketing campaign. Click the strips below to read!

So much for that idea…

They were $ fun $ to draw nevertheless.

“Since City Arts went monthly in July 2008, we’ve showcased one of our best Tacoma discoveries, artist Jeremy Gregory, in his own monthly alternative comic, now titled True Grit. It explores the infamously gritty side of Tacoma’s identity in Gregory’s unique color pencil style, which takes him hours to complete by hand.”

True Grit Parody using MS Paint by RR Anderson

Read the full story with slideshow. You can’t afford to miss!

A little Brill-Toon for the Holidays

Just a little toon so everyone will remember what the holidays are REALLY all about.  PRESENTS!  ^0^

The CLAW Open Swim is open to anyone who likes to draw cartoons, and hang out with the CLAW. In short membership is not a requirement for attendance. However, December’s Open Swim will require anyone attending to bring a gift for a White elephant gift exchange. If you do not bring a gift, you will be scornfully kicked out with much derisive laughter and catcalls.

Rules for the White Elephant Gift Exchange:

1. The gift must be “absurd”.
2. If you buy the gift, you must not spend more than $20.

Upon arrival your thoughtfully wrapped gift will act as your ticket of admission. All gifts will then be placed on the gift table. Numbers will then be drawn. Participation will be in order of number drawn. The first up will have free choice from the table. They have the option of leaving their chosen gift wrapped. The following participants can choose to steal a gift from those before them, or take a gift from the table. Those who have a gift stolen from them can steal a different gift, or take a gift from the table. A gift can only be stolen three times. A gift cannot be stolen back from a previous owner. Once the exchange is completed all gifts that are still wrapped must be unwrapped. The Trading, purchasing, bartering or auctioning of gifts after the exchange is allowed.

Location: The Mandolin Café in Tacoma
Date: Wednesday, December 30th 2009
Time: 7:30 p.m.

John Layman and Mark Rahner sign comics for Mark Monlux

The signing team was intrigued, bemused and pleased to receive the latest copy of CLAW-tu Barada Nikto.

Issue No. 005, Courtesy of the…
CARTOONISTS LEAGUE OF ABSURD WASHINGTONIANS!

Available at these “REAL AMERICA” Tacoma business establishments:

• What Shope? (seems to have a real connection with our target audience)
• KING’s Books
• Mad Hat Tea Co.
• Tacoma Art Supply
• Urban Xchange
• Puget Sound Pizza
• Crescent Moon Gifts

coming soon….

• Red Hot
• Origins 21
• Comic Book Ink?

yet, AVAILABLE TO DOWNLOAD ON CLAW ZINE ARCHIVE!

Back issues of our “Terror of the CLAW” Halloween Zine Edition have been stuffed into the City Arts bin at the University Washington bookstore.
* Issue NO. 5 is carefully designed to offend everyone!

Any serious fantasy book needs a Tolkien-style map lurking somewhere round the table of contents. Click to enlarge the rough draft sketch of my Tacoma map (above).

Other items my book will include:

1. Table of Contents – COMPLETE
2. FOREWORD by John Hathaway, aka THE NEW TAKHOMAN – COMPLETE
3. Map – IN PROGRESS
4. Intentionally left blank pages – COMPLETE
5. “Fun Facts” – NOT STARTED
6. 100 of the best TACOMICS from 2007 – 2009 – NOT STARTED
7. 1 page dedicated to the WORST TACOMICS – NOT STARTED
8. Sampling of the best TACOMIC COMMENTS – NOT STARTED
9. A behind the scene cartoonist statements – IN PROGRESS
10. SPELLING + GRAMMAR corrections by Todd Mathews – IN PROGRESS
11. Tide Tables + Venn Diagrams
12. A complete set of Tacoma Action Figures – COMPLETE
13. TBA, etc.

MEANWHILE, please enjoy the TACOMIC™ Political Cartoons every Tuesday Morning! Did you know you can get instant TACOMIC CARTOON updates via TWITTER?

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.

SATURDAY, OCTOBER 3RD 10 am – SUNDAY, OCTOBER 4H 10 am
STOWE has challenged MARK MONLUX to a CARTOONIST’S DUEL TO THE DEATH.
Who will complete their 24 page comic book first? What will RR ANDERSON draw?
YOU HAVE NEVER SEEN A MORE THRILLING DISPLAY OF CARTOON STAMINA!

Comic book Ink has agreed to stay open for business 24 hours in solidarity with CLAW.

SPECTATORS will also have the opportunity to contribute
to CLAW’s YOUNG CARTOONIST OF THE FUTURE SCHOLARSHIP.

Comic Book Ink
1625 East 72nd and Portland ave. Suite 800
Tacoma, WA, 98404

UPDATE: TONIGHT! 5-8PM 1552 Commerce Ste 101 across from the Tacoma Art Museum and next to Twokoi Japanese Restaurant

See this wireframe diagram scrawled on a spiral bound cocktail napin? This drawing is going to change the world. And by world I mean Tacoma World and by drawing I mean the idea it represents: A FULL ON FEED TACOMA SUNDAY COMICS PAGE by your friendly neighborhood cartoonists. A line up of strips including but not limited to:

• MARK MONLUX with The Comic Critic and The Return of Stick Man
• RR Anderson with THE TACOMIC (political cartoon)
• ELECTRIC ELLIOT with Bob the Dog
• STOWE with DADDY’S NUT SHOT OF THE DAY
• Jeff Hawley with LOG JAM!
• MIKE SHAUDIS with Ocryx and Joe
• And MORE YET TO BE ANNOUNCED!

Why is this any different than other local collective comic sites like ALASKA ROBOTICS?  Because we are wedding LOCAL COMICS to a LOCAL NEWS/CLASSIFIED/BLOGGING site feedtacoma.com. At long last there will be absolutely no reason to purchase a newspaper like the TNT.  What is more you’ll have a strong personal connection to every comic strip illustrator.  For example say you’re sitting in a favorite dining establishment. You look over and see one of us at another table eating a sixth avenue dog or something.  You can say “hey man I like your cartoon strip!” or “Hey I thought your last strip was a real stinker! Why don’t you draw something funny like you used to do”  We’ll say Yes! You’re right! and BLAMO! A personal connection has been formed.  Next week you can tell your lover “Look, I told him to be funny again and heck if he didn’t do it! HAR HAR HAR!”  You just can’t do that with national syndicated strips.  You think the creator of GARFIELD gives two halibut craps about your and your problems?  NO SKIPPY!

Not only will our strips collectively be awesome, but you’ll be able to buy the strips.  You’ll be able to interact with the cartoonist instantly through comments. You’ll be able to sponsor a strip through cartoon product placement AND OR banner advertising.  YOU’LL BE ABLE TO DRAW IN THE FRIGGIN COMMENT BOXES!!!!!!!  HOLY CRAP I JUST BLEW MY OWN MIND!!!!!

Firstly special thanks to Comic Book Ink owner John Munn for the use of his fine establishment whom all CLAW members have concluded is the ultimate NERD MECCA in Tacoma, WA.  Surrounded by buxom, scantily clad, super heroine statuettes and boxes of minty fresh comic books elite members of the Cartoonists League of Absurd Washingtonians High Council held congress to vote on imperative matters all things cartooned.

1. ART ON THE AVE. – members asked about status of this event. Took roll on who is available to attend. RR Anderson lives within walking distance so he was assigned first shift. Mark Monlux can do afternoon if a table is available for poster sales and zine presentation.  If no table is available members will stage a walk out. We will see.
2. URBAN ART FESTIVAL – STOWE is our point man on this, need to confirm dates, who is available. He’ll follow up on this.
3. CLAW ART SHOW AT TACOMA ART SUPPLY – Warren needs art from us ASAP for opening in AUG 1.  He has offered to mount on foam core board for us. Frost Park art work is ideal for this event.
4. 24 hr COMIC BOOK DAY – coming up in October. Comic Book Ink has offered to host up to 6 or so CLAW members to participate. Comic book Ink is a union operation so strict 24 hr comic book day rules apply (so not like those spawns of insomnia Cartoonists Northwest clowns  north I-5).
5. Iron Artist Competition at Tacoma Art Museum – RR is team leader. Why? Nobody seems to know; however, this event is happening at end of the month and we will dominate. Construction of a ’super fez’ was mentioned as a thought experiment; members are intrigued. Happening July 31st.  Lots of silly questions were mailed to us in a form letter. Will add to wiki for TEAM CLAW to ponder. Need to remember to bring tools. AND ask for a spot with POWER outlets.
6. STANLEY SHAW – talked about how much of a weenie this cartoonist is for refusing to join THE CLAW. The man has inside info to working for CityArts… Mark was assigned to pump him for more info.
7. CLAW ZINE ISSUE NO. 003 DRAFTING STAGE – with issue no. 002 hitting news stands in your friendly neighborhood participating Tacoma businesses now is the time to get issue no. 003 cooking.  RR was assigned editor and the theme we decided on is “THE CITY OF DENSITY” a parody of Tacoma’s famous tagline “The City of Destiny” made famous by George McFly in that Back to the Future film when he says to his future wife: “You’re my density!” We will apply this to comics; trying to fit in as many different vignettes on one page for each member inspired by Electric Elliots tiny strips from Zine ISSUE  NO. 1.
8. OTHER BUSINESS – sadly new member Jeff was the only member unable to attend. We managed to fold many more bundles of zines thanks to help from Member Mike’s wife (who escaped the fate of wearing the fez of shame). Did we mention how incredible Comic Book Ink is? Man that place is SERIOUS AWESOMENESS! Also apparently there is an all you can eat sushi place over on 38th that is rad.

this concludes the secret meeting notes. Please burn this monitor after reading.

1. agreed that this Friday will be best to attend Buddy Holly play at TLT. some will be gathering to eat before the show, others will be meeting up at TLT right before the show.  Agreed that we will all wear fez.
2. New pledge Michael ( http://jinxmedicstudios.us/ )  has paid his $70 dollar membership fee. We have assigned him a size 7 fez from the box of props for him to attend the TLT show.  Be prepared for official initiation ceremony next OPEN SWIM. In the meantime please check out his website… the dude is like Leonardo da Vinci. Amazing.
3. Elliot reaffirmed his idea of tacoma needing a CARTOONIST LAUREATE to compliment the POET LAUREATE program. Idea still needs development. How will Cartoonist Laureate interact with the community?
4. talked of taking over all COMICS on feedtacoma.com creating tacoma’s first online-bottom up-anarchy-newspaper comics page in Tacoma as most of us already produce (semi)weekly strips.  RR will follow up with Kevin to see the best way to go about this…  could be as easy as collecting a bunch of RSS feeds together and the cartoonist adding a keyword tag like ‘tacoma’ to their respective blog/webcomic whathaveyou.  Need to check with Mark Monlux though to get his thoughts how he feels about this. My personal thoughts are in an age when traditional newspapers are shrinking their comics pages, this could be a big F.U. to the universe–which makes me happy.
5. [ANONYMOUS TACOMA ACTIVIST] stopped in to share feelings that Tacoma is really hurting for an alternative/underground publication zine that young people would be interested in. Something with lots of comics and a place where alternative music venues can share events.  Perhaps side 2 of CLAW zine?  [ANONYMOUS] expressed that local biz get zip in return for expensive ads in [TITLE(s) REDACTED]…   shared a flier that Sean Alexander (previously of helm gallery) put together where he illustrated all advertising.  Maybe biz could pay cartoonists to illustrate ad in zine…?  Who knows exact details..  But  [ANONYMOUS] wanted to bring to our attention as creative creator types developing a publication that there is a niche market right here in Tacoma that is dying to be tapped into.  to recap:  young people with money aren’t reading local publications because all lame.  Biz owners don’t want to buy ads in publications that young people with money aren’t going to read.  ???
6. report on back room of Urban Xchange as meeting place for CLAW:  owner is super nice, back  room sexy but hot, fez gets sweaty. unsatisfactory table space for drawing.   Next steps?  Check status of Mandolin?  Stowe: Check with Comic Book Ink,  tables in back might be good for open swim.  Anyone check comments here? http://www.cartoonistsleague.org/an-open-swim-teaser/
   looks like a member of the pythian knights lodge invited us to have meetings at pythian temple downtown.  Maybe somebody can follow up with him?
7. Talk of end of the year CLAW awards dinner. Naturally we would need to consume food that had claws..the lobster for example.  We all painted visuals of such an evening with the wacom stylus of the imagination.

Electric Elliot

• http://www.gocomics.com/tomthedancingbug
• http://www.smbc-comics.com/

RR Anderson

• Dr. McNinja
• Saturday Morning Breakfast Cereal
• The Pain: When Will it End?
• Red Planet
• David Horsey
• MS Paint Adventures, (was really into Problem Sleuth – like obsessed)
• the TACOMIC
• The Comic Critic
• Log Jam
• Bob the Dog
• Return of Stickman
• Space Moose

Mark Monlux

• http://www.unshelved.com
• http://www.littledee.net
• http://www.overcompensating.com
• http://thehorrorsofitall.blogspot.com
• http://www.jump-leads.com
• http://www.theaterhopper.com
• http://www.questionablecontent.net
• http://www.ellieconnelly.com
• http://www.octopuspie.com
• http://www.mylifeinacube.com
• http://blog.wpmorse.com
• http://hijinksensue.com
• http://cad-comic.com
• http://blog.krisstraub.com
• http://www.bobwhitecomics.com
• http://riphaywire.com
• http://www.erichobbsonline.com/awakenings
• http://www.pvponline.com
• http://www.evil-comic.com
• http://logjamcomic.blogspot.com Jeff Hawley’s Comic!
  
• http://www.girlgeniusonline.com
• http://lifeofronnie.com
• http://www.jeffschuetze.com

Stowe

• DAR: A Super Girly Top Secret Comic Diary — http://darcomic.org
• Diesel Sweeties — dieselsweeties.com
• Girls With Slingshots — daniellecorsetto.com/gws.html
• Good Ship Chronicles — goodshipchronicles.com/
• Misery Loves Sherman — miserylovessherman.com/
• Penny Arcade — penny-arcade.com
• Pvp — pvponline.com
• Questionable Content — questionablecontent.net
• The System — notquitewrong.com/rosscottinc/
• Saturday Morning Breakfast Cereal (thanks RXR) — smbc-comics,com
• Sheldon — sheldoncomics.com
• Shortpacked! — shortpacked.com
• Starslip (previously Starslip Crisis) — starslip.com
• xkcd — xkcd.com

Jeff Hawley (neo-member!)

• I like receiving comics automatically via email, e.g., I get the weekly Tom the Dancing Bug, by Ruben Bolling, and receive daily comics from Comics.com.   Pretty cool site, that.   They will email you a daily bunch of comics of your choice.

Stanley Shaw (false-member)

• Man! You guys have TIME to read online comics? Hey, remember how in the Olden Tymes the sunday pages featured  huge pages of comixs? CLAW could do an online comic like that and charge for small ads. A nominal fee of course. Set up as an additional page to the website, static. Content could change weekly with set sizes to make said changes easy. Is that easy, or I could be wrong.Stan ”He Who Has Not Joined” or ” Notonavus”By the way, I’m still a a fan of Stowe’s bio comic from a few weeks ago!

Adam Botsford (cadet)

• Hmm. The only daily cartoon I read is Mutts.
  I’m more of an artblog follower myself.

We came across the works of Derek M Ballard on a flickr stream an age ago. Possibly some of the most provocative erotic/underground zine work we’ve ever seen.  According to his myspace page his heroes are listed ” SHE-RA, HE-MAN, THUNDARR, JAYCE AND THE WHEELED WARRIORS…y’know, motherf**kers who don’t put up with bullshit.” The CLAW was lucky enough to catch up with Mr. Ballard for this brief and haunting interview.  Enjoy!

CLAW: Describe your methods of art production?  Do you use a wacom tablet directly in Photoshop? Or do you sketch then pen+ink first?

DMB: Usually, I have no idea what I’m trying to do. I start out by just drawing lots of random shapes with pencil. From there I can assemble the shapes into different things on my light table, and trace them onto vellum for inking. Once I’m done, I scan the images into Photoshop, clean up, and color.
I’ve never actually used a wacom before. It’s funny, a lot of people think I do. I wouldn’t even know how to begin.

CLAW: One of the striking things about your work is your I would describe as cubist-exaggerated characters & environments… is this style tied to any philosophical agenda?  Is there a better way to describe your signature cartooning style? (I think your art is ultra-awesome)

DMB: As a teenager I was a big fan of Thomas Hart Benton, Egon Schiele, and Max Beckmann. I was really into German expressionism in film, too. So, that stuff probably shows up a lot in my work.

As far as a philosophical agenda, I would rather not go into it too much and sound pretentious. I like to leave things open for each person’s own interpretation. I will say there’s a lot sub-level of stuff going on, lots of layers, and an intentional calculated placement of subjects, but I’m sure doesn’t come through for anyone but myself.

CLAW: A colleague once told me that the worst clients were church groups and tv stations. Tell our readers about your experiences with the adult entertainment publications…  Is this a niche market worth pursuing?

DMB: Working with adult publications was just about the best job ever. SCREW in particular was an amazing mag. I’m always surprised you don’t hear it mentioned more often. Fantagraphic’s EROS line paid well, too.  Unfortunately, the internet killed the demand for printed masturbation material and ads for hookers.

It’s good work if you can get it. I think Hustler Humor might still publish, and they have decent page rates.
I was fortunate enough to catch the last bit of the cartoonist’s gravy train for the better part of the last century that was porno mags. Life goes on I guess.

CLAW: Tell us about your zine projects.  Do you find zines to be the best choice to communicate with cult followers?

DMB: The dirty, DIY small press stuff is way more fulfilling to me. Plus, it’s really satisfying to put out work on a regular basis. Mini-comics and zines are the best option I have right now to serialize my work.
I enjoy everything about zines and mini-comics anyway. That’s where my interests lie. They just feel more real, more exciting, and more fun.

You can find all the coolest drawing in zines, and I LOVE drawing. If you look at all the zines I’ve been in you can see that they’re full of people who really enjoy it as well.
Nobody’s paying anyway, so why not do the cool stuff?
I’m just sayin’.

CLAW: Any other advice you’d like to share with our members and other aspiring cartoonists?

DMB:
Be happy.
Work a lot.
Do your own thing.
Make good decisions.
Use your time wisely.
Use your time wisely.
Use your time wisely.
Use your time wisely.
Be radical always.

CLAW: Citizens! The adventure doesn’t have to stop here. Keep up to speed with Mr. Ballard’s adventures via Myspace and Flickr