All posts by STWALLSKULL

About STWALLSKULL

Learn more about Stwallskull here: http://www.stwallskull.com

Let’s Talk… Cartoonist Conspiracy Message Board Restructured

The Cartoonist Conspiracy message board had never been all that active, but in recent years it has become a real ghost town. With other forms of communications being popularized, message boards in general have become less active parts of the conversation on the internet. I think this is unfortunate… more and more conversation on the internet is going into corporate-controlled “gated-communities” like facebook, where one can only see and participate in the conversation if one chooses to be a member.

So, I’m attempting something that hopefully may make our board a little livelier.

Our message board has always suffered from “topic bloat.” When I first put it up, I figured that it made sense to organize the conversation into different conversational buckets… I now think this was an error. While in theory this made sense for browsing what you are interested in, in reality it just fragmented the conversation so you had to dig for what interested you.


The community button on the site now links directly into the new section of the message board for community driven-discussion.
This is the first area people will see when they go to look at the message board. You can post on any topic you wish to there.

You can still access all the old topics and content here… and all of our cells still have their own sections there… but now the conversation on the board will hopefully be driven by users rather than topic buckets.

Soapy the Chicken Book… New and 15% Off

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!

Cartoonist Molly Norris Goes Into Hiding

This is just horrifying. It’s probably the worst thing I have heard of happening to an American cartoonist since Mike Diana was imprisoned for obscenity in Florida.

If a significant number of papers in the world had found the courage to publish the Mohammad cartoons when they were world news, these religious zealots would have a lot harder time making targets out of people. If a significant number of cartoonists had drawn Mohammad when the Mohammad cartoons were world news, Molly Norris would probably not be going into hiding now.

May you all find the courage to draw and write whatever you feel you need to draw and write regardless of the potential menace of all the no-good, simple-minded shits in the world.

Vote in the Lulu Awards

Voting in the Lulu Awards is now open. The Twin Cities own Athena Currier and Diana Nock are among the many talented nominees. Both of them are nominated multiple times, actually… strangely, Athena is simultaneously up for the seemingly contradictory categories of Most Talented Newcomer and Female Cartoonist Hall of Fame. Athena kindly requests you do not vote for her for the Hall of Fame! I’d recommend the late, great Dori Seda for that, personally…

You can see the nominees here and you can vote here. Voting is open to the general public.

Cartoonist needed for 6-10 frames for new blog site

Here is an opportunity that I was emailed…

“Dr. Katz meets the Far Side”
Have you ever wondered what your psychiatrist or psychologist is truly thinking when you are divulging all of your secrets and pouring out your heart? [You may not want to know.] Welcome to a new blog where Pandora’s secrets are divulged as mental health professionals express what they really think about their patients.

We need an amazing cartoonist to generate approximately 6-10 single cartoon frames depicting a therapist/psychiatrist/psychologist in session with a patient (who is seated in a chair or laying on the couch a la Freud). Each individual frame
will depict a different patient, and perhaps a different professional. The cartoonist and a member of the blog team will meet to discuss what the professional and the 6-10 patients should approximately “look” like. The frames should have ample room above the heads/chairs/couches to insert thought/speech bubbles for the professional only or both the professional and the patient. The frames will be used over for the same patient – only the text within the speech/thought bubble will change for each blog post.

Given that this will be a blog post, having a digital form of the frames is a must, and the illustration program should be friendly enough for the literary team to enter the text and post to the website with ease.

Interested parties can contact me via my literary pseudonym:

Drbreezewood (at) gmail.com

AE on the Town: Come Draw at the Como Zoo October 9th

Kristy from Altered Esthetics asked me to pass on the following invite to you all… sounds like fun.

Looking for opportunities to draw animals in less than natural environments? If so come join us at Como Zoo, Saturday October 9th at 1 pm. Bring sketchbooks and a drawing implement of your choice. Our first meeting spot will be outside the south end of the Primate house. Look for the Ae sign. At this time we will be discussing our game plan and dispersing from there. At 3pm we hope you will stick around for show n’ tell outside Zooper Foods. If you need more information please contact Kristy or Cassie at workshops (at) alteredesthetics.org. We will be there rain, shine or snow “hehe”. Hope to see you at the Zoo!

Minnesota Cartoonists on the Radio

Recently, there have been a lot of Minnesota cartoonists on the radio.

Minnesota Conspirators Lance Ward, Athena Currier, Bud Burgy and Ted Anderson recently started a delightful weekly comics-focused pop culture broadcast, The Geek Report:

Subscribe here.

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The excellent comics news and review blog, The Daily Crosshatch, has started podcasting, featuring Minneapolis’ own Sarah Morean with her co-hosts Brian Heater and Alex Cox. You can hear the first episode here.

Subscribe here.

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Finally, Britt Aamodt (author of the upcoming and eagerly awaited book from the Minnesota Historical Society Press, Superheroes, Strip Artists and Talking Animals: Minnesota’s Contemporary Cartoonists) recently put together a two-part documentary on Minnesota cartoonists that you can listen to here:

Minnesota Cartoonists Part 1: Indie Comix

Produced by Britt Aamodt

Producer Britt Aamodt descends into the world of underground comix, and interviews a slew of independent cartoonists in this two-part documentary about Minnesota’s vibrant doodle community.

Part 1 features interviews with:

Will Dinski, illustrator of the graphic novel, “Fingerprints”

Steve Stwalley, creator of “Soapy the Chicken”; founder of the International Cartoonist Conspiracy

Sarah Morean, coordinator of Twin Cities Zinefest and Minneapolis Indie Expo

Kevin Hoffman, City Pages editor-in-chief

Lars Martinson, creator of the four-part graphic novel, “Tonoharu”


Minnesota Cartoonists Part 2: Indie Strips

Produced by Britt Aamodt

Producer Britt Aamodt descends into the world of underground comix, and interviews a slew of independent cartoonists in this two-part documentary about Minnesota’s vibrant doodle community.

Part 2 features interviews with:

Dave Steinlicht, graphic designer for Pioneer Press

Chris Monroe, creator of “Violet Days”

Ken Avidor, creator of “Roadkill Bill”

Kevin Hoffman, City Pages editor-in-chief

Andy Singer, creator of “No Exit”

Kirk Anderson, creator of “Banana Republic”

Roger Lootine, creator of “Residue”

Here is more info on Britt’s book.

First Annual Cartoonist Conspiracy Comic Book Swap this Sunday in Minneapolis

I’m having an old-fashioned comic book swap in my back yard this Sunday from 1-3PM. Bring stuff you want to trade and let’s have some fun.

Please bring these varieties of things for trade:

-Comic books
-Books of comics
-Original comic art
-Cartooning-related art supplies
-Other comics or cartooning-related things

Please do not bring anything to trade that has no relation to comics or cartooning.

No money allowed… we are operating strictly on barter, as it is more fun.

I’ll also have a good fairly large CRT computer monitor for free to the first person who can haul it away.

If you don’t know where I live and want to participate, please email me for more info:

Also, don’t forget about the Arty Garage Sale at Altered Esthetics on Saturday from 8-2PM.