Stwallskull Art Up for Auction at the Schmapples Tribute Tonight

Here are the items I drew for the Alley Cat: A Tribute to Eric Lappegard anthology that will be up for silent auction tonight (along with a lot of other great art by other cartoonists, and many other interesting items) at the Schmapples Tribute. The bidding on the art at the show starts at $20. The 100 page Alley Cat anthologies will be available for $10, the wonderful Schmapples collections will be available for $5. Come and decorate your walls and buy some great comics for a good cause.

Click on the above image to see a larger version.

Click on the above image to see a larger version.

City Pages Comics Issue

The Cartoonist Conspiracy recently collaborated with the City Pages to put together a comics feature on the subject of True Tales of the Twin Cities. That issue is out today in coffee shops, bars and other fine establishments all over the Twin Cities, and online here (with 18 more comics than appear in the printed issue). You can see my comic in the issue here.

700 Things: (Zombies) #369: Hello Gimpy

Here’s my contribution to the 700 Zombies project from the larger 700 Things project.

Zombie #369: Hello Gimpy

Hello Gimpy was killed by zombies in a shopping mall, of all places. Mercifully, his left arm tattoo was left in tact, fueling his inevitable moniker (the tattoo of the Lone Ranger on his right forearm was lost, unfortunately… if it had not been eaten, he would have most likely been called the Bone Ranger). Much like Hello Kitty, he stares forward blankly… his true emotions and thoughts remain inscrutable. Perhaps somewhere in his rotting brain, he longs secretly to have his ghastly visage appear on stickers, lunch pails, folders and other sparkling and shiny plastic geegaws like his iconic inspiration? If so, he sublimates these obscure desires into his anti-social hobby of consuming human flesh.

Note that my good friends at Big Time Attic just added some excellent pirates to the 700 Pirates project!

700 Things: (Robots) #288: Lumberjack 2.0

Here’s my contribution to the 700 Robots project from the larger 700 Things project.

Robot #288: Lumberjack 2.0

Lumberjack 2.0 is the latest in deforestation technology. Far superior to the Lumberjack 1.0 and 1.3, as well as the previous BunyanBot models, Lumberjack 2.0 can whittle a natural acre to lumber, firewood and toothpicks (with the little sculpted lines, like the ones you frequently find in Chinese restaurants) in less than an hour. Best of all, the Lumberjack 2.0 is entirely solar-powered, which works great since shade will soon be in short supply!

700 Things: (Bunnies) #253 Bugsy Siegal

Here’s my contribution to the 700 Bunnies project from the larger 700 Things project.

Bunny #253: Bugsy Siegal.

Getting his start selling fermented carrot juice during prohibition, Bugsy Siegal’s activities soon spread out to other illegal ventures. The garden heists were bad enough, but it was his entry into the lucky rabbit foot trade that got him into serious trouble. With the law closing in on him, he high-tailed it out west, where, using his ill-gotten gains, he opened his casino, the Golden Carrot. It wasn’t long before his history caught up with him, though. He was found dead in his penthutch in 1949, strangled with his own ears.

700 Things: (Pirates) #10: Ol’ Pinkeye

Here’s my contribution to the 700 Pirates project from the larger 700 Things project.

Pirate #10: Ol’ Pinkeye.

As with many pirates, Ol’ Pinkeye was shanghaied at an early age, forced to serve under the infamous Captain Bilgewater as a cabin boy on his decrepit vessel The Syphilitic Sue. An orphan all his life, Ol’ Pinkeye had no home to long for, and circumstance made him a fast home of the seven seas.

His inflamed eye is not the product of conjunctivitis, as his name would imply. He actually is a victim of eye-scurvy… indeed, it could easily be cured with citrus, and Ol’ Pinkeye is well aware of this. However, Ol’ Pinkeye refuses to eat anything but salted pork and that which the sea provides, raw weepy eyeball be damned.

700 Things, and the Vigilant Hound

I previously mentioned the 700 Hobo project I participated in, which had cartoonists from around the world draw interpretations of 700 hobos named by hilarious author John Hodgman.

Since I wrote, the project has expanded in new directions… all the hobos were completed some time ago. Now the group that brought you 700 hobos has conceived of 700 things to draw 700 of… aka the 700 Things Project. These will be tackled gradually, but the first nine are already active.

700 Things
700 Hoboes (give or take 100)
700 Zombies
700 Pirates
700 Underwear Clad Vigilante Mutants
700 Bunnies
700 Unicorns
700 Robots
700 Clowns
700 Knights in Splendiferous Armor

Here’s how it works… at the start of a project people submit names to a list on flickr until it becomes a list of 700 items in the subject. Then they are put into an “official list” and people start drawing. Different peoples’ interpretations of the same character are fine. Once you’ve drawn your illustration, you post it to Flickr and tag it appropriately to be added to the appropriate group. Some of the organizers are also going to do a 700 things website which will eventually suck in the info from Flickr and organize it.

I’m going to try to eventually do at least one drawing for each group as they appear… I’ll post the results here.

Here’s my first drawing for the 700 Underwear Clad Vigilante Mutants (i.e. superheroes) Project… #21 The Vigilant Hound.

THE VIGILANT HOUND

Real Name: Richard Bruce

Identity/Class: Human

Gender: Male

Age: 26

Occupation: Playboy

Group Membership: The Kennel Club

Enemies: The Flea, Bulldog, Hell Hound, The Mail Man, Fire Hydrant

Aliases: The Mutt of Mystery

Base of Operations: New York, NY

First Appearance: Sideshows of Justice #26

Powers/Abilities: Enhanced sense of smell, counter-balancing tail, The Big Bone of Justice.

History: The Vigilant Hound designed his costume with the intent of striking fear into the heart of evildoers… unfortunately his childhood fear of hound dogs proved not to be as universal a fear as he had hoped.

Nevertheless, he had chosen the life of a crime fighter, and fight crime he would. Besides, the tailor who custom designed it for him wouldn’t take returns.

Armed with his big bone of justice, and aided by his 8-year old sidekick Puppy, he mostly strikes laughter into the guts of criminals everywhere. However, in his view, a laughing criminal is almost as vulnerable as a fearful one. At least, that’s what he tells himself.

Also, in my 700 Hobos post I mentioned above showing off my artwork I did for that project, realized I forgot to include one of my hobos… here he is…

Colin that Cheerful Fuck

This cheerful rapscallion is widely hated for his positive attitude in the face of extreme hardship and poverty.

Ezekiel Fishman Versus the Martians Part Two: A Gross Comic Project

EZEKIEL FISHMAN VERSUS THE MARTIANS

The second chapter of my Gross Comic, Ezekiel Fishman Versus the Martians, has been posted… follow the link and go to page 13 for Chapter two, or read from the beginning.

You can read more about the Gross Comic Project here.

You won’t want to miss these wonderful gross comics from Zander Cannon and Kevin Cannon:

Zander Cannon’s Heck and Kevin Cannon’s Oceanis

We had 7 cartoonists joining us in this month in the Gross Comic Project AKA The 144 Hour Graphic Novel Challenge, bringing the total participants up to 10 (and we’ve had others express interest in it as well, so there may be more next month). Here are the current participants, all neatly alphebetized for your convenience:

Kevin Cannon
Zander Cannon
Danno aka Dank!
Eric Lappegard
Maxeem
Shad Petosky
Tim Sievert
Curtis Square-Briggs
Steven Stwalley
Brett VonSchlosser

Hopefully some of the new participants will be posting their comics online as well… I’ll keep you posted.

How to Make Mini-Comics: The Mini-Comic

I recently created a How to Make Mini-Comics Mini-Comic with my collaborators in the Minneapolis cell of The International Cartoonist Conspiracy. It is intended to serve as a downloadable textbook for those seeking to learn how to make a mini-comic. You can read more about it, and download the comic, by clicking the image below.