Category Archives: hype

Squirmish: The Beast Battling Card Game

crowdfunding, hype, Steve Stwalley

Hello, fellow conspirators!

A card game called Squirmish that I’ve been working on for the last year and a half is currently on Kickstarter (ending June 12th). Please check it out! I’d love to hear what you think about it. It is a 2-4 player beast-battling card game for ages 7+, and it takes about 30 minutes to play.

Here is the video for the kickstarter:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wAYRv7jswLs

Here is what the reviewers are saying about it:

“Overall, I’ve had fun with Squirmish both with my kids and with adult players. I think it’s a lot of fun for families. The dice-based abilities mean that there’s still a good amount of chance involved, which gives less-experienced players a chance to take on more-experienced players, so gamers who want something with pure strategy may not like it quite as much. And don’t forget to shout your battle cries as you enter the fray!” – Jonathan H. Liu on Geekdad.

“I get several requests for Kickstarter previews every week. Recently, I was sent a request for coverage for a game called Squirmish that was designed by a gentleman named Steven Stwalley. My heart sunk a little bit when I saw the words “card” and “combat” in his elevator pitch, but that all went away when I looked over the art assets he gave me. Squirmish’s art is juvenile, obnoxious, and maybe even a little gross. In other words? I loved it.” – Stephen Duetzmann at Engaged Family Gaming.

“It’s a really good game! I like the fighting.” – Ty (age 9) of Board Gaming at Home.

“Ty’s age, absolutely brilliant game. If there’s one downside, it’s the sheer variety.” – Russell of Board Gaming at Home.

“I like all the little characters that have been made up… they’re great fun.” – Kelly of Board Gaming at Home.

“Want battling beasties that you don’t have to find in blind packs? Want the world’s best collection of creature designs, names, and battle cries (that provide +1 damage if shouted aloud during your turn) that I have ever seen? Want a kid’s card game you’ll actually want to play with your kid? Back this very modest Kickstarter and get the whole 108-card pack (plus stretch goals)! Highly recommended.” -Zander Cannon (Eisner-award-winning cartoonist behind Kaijumax, Heck, and Top 10)

The initial deck is 54 cards… it goes up to 108 cards if we hit $15,000.

Thanks for listening! Please tell your friends!

Lor’Avvu — New ongoing series by local artist Maxeem

animation, artists, comics, hype, webcomics

Hello fellow cartoonists! I am finally tip-toeing into the world of web comics.

I am not abandoning The Civil Four (Casey and I are actually working on issues 5 and 6 right now, and those will be paper printed because it fits the book) but I am starting something else — I did my take on epic space opera (Ex Novo Libris) and this will be a less tongue-in-cheek epic fantasy comic. It’s a web comic with interspersed animations and collaborations from musicians: www.loravvu.com

Meet Avvu!

external Avvu PNG image clickable space age hyperlink

Avvu is an intersexed hero on a large Earth-like planet undergoing a vast war between its three main genders (female, lale, male), and naturally the main character wants to stop the gender war but has to spend a lifetime of adventures learning the lessons on just how to do so … or whether ze can do it at all! We begin the story outside the story, on Earth, listening to a couple of old creative grandparents begin the tale for their village kids.

Grandma and Grandpa are promising magic, adventure, unique races (the main race is basically a fairy people) and unique languages particular to the world. I am putting a lot of effort into making it rewarding for people who spend time exploring it, but quality enough to just entertain the eyes. So please feel free to read it casually or in-depth. (It is at www.loravvu.com and also accessible from www.maxeem.com) Current chapter is updated every Tuesday. And you have my word on that. I have no idea how long it will take me to finish it but I estimate about 10 to 20 years.

The Big Book of Space Sheriff (Graphic Novel)

hype, MCBA, self-publishing, Springcon, , ,

Hey All!

The “Big Book of Space Sheriff & Happy Space Boy” Graphic Novel is complete! I’ll be debuting this HUGE book at the upcoming @MNCBA SpringCon (May 18th – 19th). Advanced digital and print copies and  are available through my website, www.spacesheriff.com

Twitter: @dataredcomics

Space Sheriff and Happy Space Boy Big Book Graphic Novel
Space Sheriff and Happy Space Boy Big Book Graphic Novel

Rain Taxi is launching a new Lit Art Magazine and wants YOU!

anthologies, artists, blog, cartoonist conspiracy, Conspirators, Contest, deadlines, event, Good Causes, hype, jam, Jam Comics, Minneapolis, mn, , , , , ,

 

Okay so recently Rain Taxi decided to launch a literary journal and is including COMICS! The deal is that on Aug 25th at the Cedar the event will launch with art making and local bands, and all the content for the issue will be made between noon and midnight, which is old hat for you comic jammers. They asked me to be the comics editor and I thought of you guys immediately. Who better to do this than 24 hour comics day veterans?

The deal is though, that Rain Taxi is crowd funding the project in the style of Kickstarter. And the funding seems to be creeping so it is going to need all the help it can get to become a reality.

The main reason that I am campaigning so much for this project among many other equally worthy projects is that I think it is a VERY IMPORTANT step in Minneapolis art/print scene that Rain Taxi from the get go decided to give COMICS an equal billing along with the more familiar short stories, poetry and non fiction. I think if this project makes it it will be another step towards comics being seen as an integral part of such anthologies and not an afterthought or oddity.

So that all said, if this sounds like something you’d want to participate in or help support here is where you do it. (Also read more about the details)

 

Firecracker Art magazine Seeder Page

 

Also if your work is selected this is gonna be a really nice book on the resume 😉

The New Schedule for the Stwallskull Media Empire

hype

After a long break from not posting much on the web, I’ve decided to start posting with appalling regularity. I figured I should start here with some shameless self-promotion.

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 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. You can subscribe to Stwallskull here, if you’re inclined.

Thanks for checking my comics out, if you decide to.

Soapy the Chicken Book… New and 15% Off

hype

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!

“Cornered!” signing Sat. Dec. 12, 4-6 p.m.

Conspirators, hype

[Cornered signing Dec. 12]

Now available: “Cornered!” A collection of comics from the Pioneer Press newspaper by David Steinlicht — published by Nodin Press.

This Saturday, from 4 to 6 p.m., you can buy the book and get it signed by the author, at Big Brain Comics in downtown Minneapolis.

Great Christmas gift. Excellent Chanukah gift. Perfect Kwanzaa gift. Super solstice gift. Nice stocking stuffer. Use ’em for holiday party favors. Just the thing for grads. Mom will love it — Dad, Sis and Junior will, too.

And at $19.95 per copy, it’s budget friendly. Color cover, 274-page B&W interior.

(Note to those of you who purchased the self-published edition of “Cornered!”: Don’t get all worked up. It’s the same book, mostly. There are 11 additional comics, one more intro page, another index page, a Library of Congress number, a ISBN number, a bar code, an author picture and a snappy new cover design.)

Please Help Promote BIG FUNNY (Premiering This Friday, August 7th!)

anthologies, BIG FUNNY, event, Events, gallery show, hype, Minneapolis, mn, press, show, St. Paul

We’ve been doing really well on getting the word out about BIG FUNNY so far… for a list of places that have mentioned the show or the publication, check out the ongoing list on our Facebook page.

That said, the BEST promotion is word of mouth. Please help us to make the opening a huge success! Some suggestions:

1) Please do tell your friends, family, co-workers, associates and potential love interests, you sly dog. In person, via email, via a social network invite, using two tin cans and one taut string, or by serenading outside their windows at three AM. Here is the Facebook event to invite friends to.

2) Please do tell your readers. If you have a blog or website, please post about the event this week. Here is a “chicklet” for your site, if you want it:

BIG FUNNY

3) Please consider distributing some of the postcards and newsprint posters that can be picked up at the gallery.

4) If you know members of the press, please consider directing them to our press release.

5) Please consider hassling strangers on street corners, wearing sandwich boards promoting the event, floating over the city in a BIG FUNNY painted dirigible, or using other means of guerrilla promotion as your fancy dictates. Due to their lack of implements of modern communication, we anticipate an unfortunate shortage of hillbillies… so if you wish to hike the Appalachian Trail with a bullhorn, please contact Jamie.

Please don’t forget to direct folks to our website.

Thanks for your help, and thanks much to those of you who have already done some or all of these things (although it was taking it a little too far shaving the logo in your chest hair, Kevin).