Numerous Recent Stwalley Comix Updates

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Here are the updates from the last couple of weeks:

Soapy the Chicken is now updating every Monday. (you can subscribe to Soapy the Chicken here. You can read most of the previous Soapy strips here… or you can buy the collected Soapy in book form here).

Monkey’s Paw, my collaborative comic with my good friend Ben Zmith, updates every Friday. You can subscribe to the feed for Monkey’s Paw here.

Before Ben and I started Monkey’s Paw, we collaborated on some mini-comics. You can now see them all online… click on the images below to read them.

Here is I SCREAM:

Here is Jetboots Johnson and Sinkhead Smith:

Here is Cousin of Frankenstein Vs. Jessica the Bog Witch. In addition to Ben and myself, this one also includes some panels by my talented friend Maxeem.

Recent Soapy the Chicken and Monkey’s Paw Updates

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Here is the last two weeks of comics… click the images to go to the strips.

Soapy the Chicken is now updating every Monday. (you can subscribe to Soapy the Chicken here. You can read most of the previous Soapy strips here… or you can buy the collected Soapy in book form here).

Monkey’s Paw, my collaborative comic with my good friend Ben Zmith, updates every Friday. You can subscribe to the feed for Monkey’s Paw here.

The New Schedule for the Stwallskull Media Empire

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Testing… testing… anyone out there reading this blog of mine anymore?

Well, if so, hi there. I’ve decided to start posting things on the internet regularly again… on a schedule, even.

On Mondays, I will be posting a new Soapy the Chicken strip on the Soapy the Chicken site. (you can subscribe to Soapy the Chicken here… you can read the previous Soapy strips here… or you can buy the collected Soapy in book form here). Click the image below for the first one…

On Fridays, my new collaborative comic with my good friend Ben Zmith, Monkey’s Paw, will be updated. The first four weeks have already been posted, actually. You can see them by clicking on the below images.

You can subscribe to the feed for Monkey’s Paw here.

I’ll also be posting whatever I feel like here on the Stwallskull blog, whenever I feel like it. The posts moving forward will mostly be focusing on my personal comic work, rather than stuff relating to the history of comics and animation.

I hope you enjoy the comics if you decide to follow them. Thanks for “stopping by,” regardless!

RIP Bill Blackbeard

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I was greatly dismayed to hear earlier this week that Bill Blackbeard passed away recently. If you like old comics, well, you owe Mr. Blackbeard your gratitude. Without him, the history of comics would be immeasurably diminished.

When virtually the entire culture (including libraries!) saw newspaper comics as disposable, Blackbeard recognized their value and preserved them. Without this preservation, it is likely that most of the books reprinting early comics coming out today would be terribly incomplete… or, more likely, not exist at all.

He personally edited many of the greatest books reprinting comics, including the monumental Smithsonian Guide to Newspaper Comics… I am one of the many cartoonists whose lives were changed by that amazing book… that magic window into a seemingly lost past.

Much of that past IS lost… but it is truly remarkable the immense amount Blackbeard and his few fellow travelers were able to save. The Sundays of the greatest comic strip of all time (the greatest work of art of all time, in my view), Krazy Kat, has now been entirely reprinted in books! That NONE of Herriman’s Sunday Kat strips ended up in the dustbin seems incredible. Blackbeard not only collected the strips, but he edited the books. I doubt there are any many reprint books of pre-1940 comics that have not benefited directly from Blackbeard’s collection (now housed at Ohio State University).

Thank you so much, Mr. Blackbeard, for saving the history of my favorite art form.

Here is the obit at the Comics Journal by RC Harvey.

Here is a page of Blackbeard tributes at The Comics Journal.

Here is the obit at the Comics Reporter by Tom Spurgeon.

Here is a round up of writings on Blackbeard at the Comics Reporter.

Psychic Cartoons at AE’s 7th Anniversary Party This Friday, April 28th!

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I will be drawing cartoons this Friday with the Cartoonist Conspiracy to raise funds for Altered Esthetics, the wonderful non-profit community gallery we collaborate with, at their 7th anniversary party next Friday. For a suggested donation of $5, we’ll peer into your soul and give you a drawing of one of the following:

Psychic Readings
Dream Interpretations
Fortunes
Spirit Animals
Inner Demons

Read more about the event here.

Mini-Comics Day is Tomorrow! (Saturday, April 9th)

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I haven’t updated in a long time, I know. One thing I have been up to is organizing an event called Mini-Comics Day, which is happening tomorrow.

On Mini-Comics Day, participating cartoonists from around the world will write, draw, and print copies of a mini-comic, completing the entire process from start to finish in a day or less. Anyone in the world can participate.

We currently have sixteen sites listed around the world planning events for Mini-Comics Day. If you are interested in hosting an event, let me know… email me at webmaster(at)cartoonistconspiracy.com.

Here is the scoop about the Minneapolis event which I will be participating in:

As with all our events, it is free and open to anyone who wants to participate. Table space is provided on a first-come, first-served basis. We hope to be getting started at 10:00AM sharp.

The copier on site, provided by our generous hosts at The Minnesota Center for Book Arts, will be available for use for a $5 donation… however, Big Brain Comics is giving us $50 to put towards this fee, so the first 10 people to use the copier will have their fee covered. Obviously, there will be a lot of demand for the copier at certain times of the day, so please be courteous of others and don’t bogart the machine. You’ll want to bring a $5 bill if you plan on using the on-site copier.

Wet Paint will be providing some free supplies, and will have useful items for sale for part of the event.

Big Time Attic will be donating some paper.

The Cartoonist Conspiracy will be providing some copies of our How to Make Mini-Comics mini-comic for folks to assemble and refer to.

We’ll be having an after party, where we will be giving out the prize for the Best Local Mini-Comic of the Day. This will be a block away from Book Arts in the side room at Grumpy’s Downtown (1111 Washington Ave. S.) from 5:30 to 9:00PM. We’ll clear out of the side room at 9:00 (a band will be taking over the space), and the fun will continue until whenever in the main room of the bar.

There will be a prize given out for the Best Local Mini-Comic of the Day. The prize will include a copy of the book Newave! The Underground Mini Comix of the 1980s, courtesy of Big Brain Comics, a Lutefisk Sushi box set and a copy of BIG FUNNY courtesy of Altered Esthetics, and probably some other goodies.

Obviously, only comics made entirely on the day of the event will be eligible for the prize. To enter your mini-comic, drop 4 copies of it in the box we will have at the Book Arts event, or bring it before 6:30 to the side room of Grumpy’s Downtown. Make sure to include your name, address, email address and other contact information you think is pertinent with your submission. All submitted comics will also be included in a reading rack at the upcoming Art? show at Altered Esthetics in May.

The submitted comics will be read and a winner will be determined by three local non-cartoonists; author of Superheroes, Strip Artists & Talking Animals: Minnesota’s Contemporary Cartoonists Britt Aamodt, Big Brain Comics proprietor Michael Drivas, and Altered Esthetics founder Jamie Schumacher.

Please do spread the word to everyone you know who likes to make comics! If you use facebook, you may want to check out the Mini-Comics Day facebook page.

The Minnesota Center For Book Arts
1011 Washington Ave S
Minneapolis, MN
April 9, 10:00 AM – 5:00 PM
(in the Flexispace and Gallery Space)
Copier will be available on site.
Table space will be provided on a first come, first served basis.
We’ll also be having an after party, where we will be giving out a prize for the Best Local Mini-Comic of the Day. This will be a block away in the side room at Grumpy’s Downtown (1111 Washington Ave. S.) from 5:30 to 9:00PM. We’ll clear out of the side room at 9:00 (a band will be taking over the space), and the fun will continue until whenever in the main room of the bar.
Contact: Steven Stwalley
webmaster(at)cartoonistconspiracy.com

The Soapy the Chicken Book… New and 15% Off

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Collecting the webcomic Soapy the Chicken (soapythechicken.com). If you prefer packing peanuts to bubble wrap, work in the rodeo clown industry, or are simply a fan of the whole mentally-deficient chicken genre, it is conceivable this could possibly be the comic for you.

I recently put together a book collecting all of the Soapy the Chicken strips to date in a convenient, old-fashioned paper edition (you can also download it as a pdf for a considerably lower price… or just read them for free on the website here, as always). It has a brand-new introduction by my friend, fellow cartoonist David Steinlicht.

You can order it here.

Until September 30th, you can get a 15% discount by using the ordering code FALLREAD305.

In the unlikely event you want to do Soapy a good turn, here is a chicklet advertising the book that you can post on your social networking profile, blog, website, a tattoo on your bicep, or what have you.

Please link it up to the book at: http://www.lulu.com/product/12663702

Thanks much to those of you foolhardy enough to promote or endorse such a dubious cause.

Also note: Love her or hate her, you can now rate her (and review her)… be the first to review Soapy the Chicken!