The Home of the Creative Mind

Welcome to PooBahSpiel, the online voice and home of the creative mind of Mark Monlux, Illustrator Extraordinaire. Prepare yourself for an endless regaling of art directly from the hand of this stellar artist. And brace yourself against his mighty wind of pontification. Updates are kinda weekly and show daily sketches, current projects, and other really nifty stuff.

Tuesday, February 21, 2012

The Return of Stickman #1369


There is no story related to this strip. I just thought my friends in Hawaii might get a kick out of it.

Monday, February 20, 2012

The Comic Critic Reviews Trollhunter


Back in the late seventies, I remember seeing lots of kitschy troll dolls in gift and tourist shops. No, I’m not talking about those little, smiling, pasteurized figures with tall, brightly colored hair. I’m talking about those warty, big-featured things with weird donkey tails sticking out of their twisted butts. Tufts of rabbit fur were glued to them. They were so ugly that they were intriguing. Then gnomes with their tall pointy hats became popular, and the trolls got shoved to the back of the shelves. I don’t want you to shove Trollhunter to the back. I want you to see it in its original Norwegian. Trust me, reading the subtitled translations will just add more fun to its found-documentary style. I can understand why the English-speaking film industry wants to cash in on this movie with a remake. Look for it in 2014. But please give the original a try. With the subtitles. You’ll enjoy it a lot more that way.

Special thanks to Saint Bryan and the folks at Evening Magazine for doing this story on The Comic Critic. As a result there has been a jump in subscriptions and sales at my store.

Friday, February 17, 2012

The Return of Stickman #1368



Yes, there is a real new story that inspired this strip, I'm just not posting it. Happy hunting!

Tuesday, February 14, 2012

The Comic Critic was the Lead Story on Seattle Evening Magazine




I first met Saint Bryan during a 24 Hour Comic Challenge. He and I chatted while I sweated over drawing Tips on having a Table at a Comic Convention. Oddly enough the next time I would run into him would be at ZomBcon where I had a table and was selling my stuff. It was then that Saint asked me if he could interview me and if I would be interested in doing some drawings for the interview. I said, "Sure!"

Monday, February 13, 2012

The Comic Critic Reviews Time Bandits



1981 was a very big year for me. I finished high school and began college. The public school system had been a painful purgatory that I had to suffer through before I could finally go to college to fulfill my dream of becoming a commercial artist. The Space Shuttle Columbia launched for the very first time, the Prince of Wales married a girl named Diana, and the first test-tube baby was born. At college, I did more than come out of my shell—I exploded. My mind, fueled by everything I’d wanted to learn for so long, was ablaze with crazy ideas, art and fantasy; I embraced anything that allowed me to explore them. It was the best timing in the world for me to experience the haplessly crazy, wonderful, dark, bizarre movie Time Bandits. And because of that timing, I still can’t see any flaws that I know this film must have. I fell in love with Time Bandits then, and I’m still in love with it now.

Also, I'm going to be featured on Seattle's Evening Magazine on Channel 5 tonight at 7:00 p.m. and I hop you tune in.