Greetings true believers, special warm thanks to all the new people who showed up tonight at the first CLAW open meeting of transparency!  We got to meet JEFF HAWLEY CREATOR OF LOGJAM! (World’s only comicstrip devoted to sentient trees).  With special guest appearances by ANDREA TRENBEATH LOWEN of UNSTABLE ART, ERIK BJORNSON  aka THE TACOMA URBANIST and Tacoma’s foremost divorce attorney, AMANDA RAYMOND of NEWSPAPER ILLUSTRATION FAME. Last but certainly not least a very special surprise appearance by cosmic talent STAN SHAW of DRAW STANLEY recent cartoonist for CITY ARTS.

We all swapped photoshop secrets, gave folks a small taste of the PRO-FEZ LIFESTYLE and periphery semi-sacred CLAW rituals.  Sadly one of our founding members ELECTRIC ELLIOT had to leave early to attend to his ULTIMATE FRISBEE commitments.

Many of us were able to sketch.  Below is a small sketch of  what my life was like before I joined CLAW.

And now here is a sketch of what my life is like now that I am part of a team.  I certainly know who my true friends are.

Whether left in a stack in your favorite coffee shop or ‘stuffed’ into a library book, these little comic books (or zines) can be super fun.  The No-Staple, method is nice because all you need to do is print, cut and fold.  Avoiding to use a stapler saves lots of time, especially if you’re churning out a crap load of these little suckers!

The Method

In the schematic below, please note location and orientation of FRONT COVER (F), BACK COVER (B), and PAGES 1 – 6.  You’ll need to shrink and orient your pages in photoshop.  It works best if you have a laser printer.  You can just print out one (1) copy and then duplicate the rest in photocopier if you don’t want to waste your own toner.

Assembly Instructions:

Cut along the dotted line between the two marks “X” (pictured above) .  Now Fold the paper the long way (fig A). Next fold the pages taking care to pop out the middle (fig B).

And that’s all there is to it!   If you want to get tricky with it you can print a MINI-POSTER on the REVERSE BLANK SIDE of the paper, giving people the option to unfold the comic and hang up after reading. Excelsior!

JOURNALIST Paul Schrag writes: “It’s a sign of Tacoma’s maturity, and it’s about time. Though the details are necessarily hazy, a small group of locals has created Tacoma’s first secret society. Currently comprising four adepts of the dark visual arts, the Cartoonists League of Absurd Washingtonians, or The CLAW, is coming for your kids.”

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