BRING ON THE WEEKEND >>>
Really, you don't need me this week. The weekend is here, and - more than any weekend in recent memory - the possibilities are beyond plentiful. You could pretty much walk out your front door, pick just about any direction to point yourself, walk, skip or run, and end up on the doorstep of a local event, festival or noteworthy shindig happening somewhere in the South Sound.
Unless you live in Spanaway. Then I'd recommend staying inside and playing Xbox like normal. (Oh snap.)
Anyway, even though you really don't need me, the fact is they pay me to be here. So, just like every week - in the regular feature we like to call The Prefunk - I offer up a weekend primer for you and your liver... with a picture of an alcoholic household pet thrown in for good measure.
24 HOUR COMICS DAY @ COMIC BOOK INK
Saturday - Sunday
What's more fun than taking photos of your pets while they drink beer because you're drunk and because they don't know any better and just want to please you?
Plenty of things. One of those things, for the sake of this column, is the 24 Hour Comics Day.
From 10 a.m. Saturday morning (tomorrow, for those playing at home) to 10 a.m. Sunday morning (a full 24 hours for those still playing at home), "several" member of CLAW (Cartoonists' League of Absurdists Washingtonians) will gather at Comic Book Ink to celebrate 24 Hour Comics Day, challenging themselves to complete a 24 page comic in 24 straight hours.
Believe it or not, this isn't the first time it's happened. In fact, 24 Hour Comics Days, and similar complete-a-comic-in-24-hours competitions, go down all over the country, all over the world, and perhaps even all over the universe...
Even more astounding, this isn't even the first time it's happened in our neck of the woods. Comic Book Ink hosted its first ever 24 Hour Comics Day last year. Apparently they weren't scared off.
According to a release on the official CLAW website:
"This is our 2nd Year issuing the challenge," said store owner, JOHN MUNN, "And our Homegrown Heroes, the Member of C.L.A.W., have returned to the challenge that 2 of them COMPLETED last year...and they are bringing more of their numbers. And when I say, "Returned to the Challenge", it means we have offered them a chance to be on public display again..doing what they do best..Creating Comics while continuing to be Absurd. We are also excited that C.L.A.W. are going to be once again using this event to promote their SCHOLARSHIP FUND!"
CLAW's scholarship fund goes to help students with a passion for cartooning, helping to pay for tuition, books or art supplies. Local superstar cartoonists RR Anderson, James Stowe, Mark Monlux and others are all expected to join in the festivities. You're invited to come see the action firsthand, and even cheer are fearless competitors on if you're so inspired.
It's not the only thing going on this weekend, but it's certainly one of the most unique.
PREFUNK: Like any good editor of any good alt-press rag, faced with an event like the 24 Hour Comics Day/Competition, I did what was natural. I assigned this event to the intern, obviously asking her to show up in the middle of the night for full effect. If all goes as planned we should have a report with pictures of the comic depravity here for you on Spew as soon as our young intern can come to grips with what she's witnessed, and put those observations to paper.
That said, my guess is nothing primes a person for an event like the 24 Hour Comics Day like Mt Dew in mass quantities. Like you're hydrating for a big game or long hike, I say start now, drinking Mt. Dew from a sports bottle up until the 10 a.m. comic kickoff tomorrow morning in an effort to make sure the levels of sugar and caffeine in your system are optimal by the time the true meat of this competition rolls around. From 2 a.m. - 6 a.m. Sunday morning is when the winners will be made and the losers will fade. If you need to (and I suggest this to fans as well as competitors) consider a Mt. Dew IV.
See you next week. And good luck to all 24 Hour Comics Day competitors.