TACOMA, WA – December  12, 2008 – On Wednesday, December 10th 2008, in the backroom of the Mandolin Café in Tacoma, Washington, four cartoonists wearing burgundy colored fez gathered and signed the charter of The Cartoonist’s League of Absurd Washingtonians, otherwise known as The CLAW.

And so the great book says: exiled by the masses into the bowls of the internet, the lone warrior, Electric Elliot Trotter, approached Tacoma’s own benevolent white knight of cartooning, RR Anderson.  Referencing an existing notion to start such an absurdly ridiculous group, the two blew the horns of shadow, calling upon the greatest cartoonists the South Sound had to offer.  Within moments (days to you mere mortals) two had become four, now joined by the cartoonist from the eighth dimension, Mark Monlux and the ever-present threat to humanity STOWE.  With their unruly powers combined, the band sought to establish themselves so that all marks of disinnovation and anti-creativity (or antivity) were isolated and abused to destruction while harnessing humanity’s last breaths to welcome in our future robot overloads. “More than anything else I think we were all looking for an excuse just to sit down with other artists and have fun doodling,” said Mark Monlux. “Oh, that and wear fez and have a secret handshake.”

This not-so-secret secret society does have at its heart a nobler goal then a bunch of man-apes chanting about zombies and robots in its semi-cryptic rituals. The CLAW Scholarship will be granted to art students of merit who have shown and interest in the mystic study of sequential art and dragon slaying.

The CLAW meets twice a month on the second and fourth Wednesday of the month. To find the current venue details, or information on becoming a member, visit http://www.cartoonistsleague.org or pay the ultimate price!