Tumeyland

This comic, created in one evening on August 19, 2014 at the monthly Seattle comics event, DUNE tells the story of the time the artist  James Gill and I visited a strip club on Bourbon Street in New Orleans. We were both living in Louisiana at the time and had gone to New Orleans for a fun day trip.  Somehow, we found ourselves on the notorious Bourbon Street -- home to strip clubs and hedonistic playgrounds. A barker in front of a strip club pointed to lewd photographs on the door of the club and shouted at us, "It's all TRUE!" Meaning, if we came into the club, and paid handsomely for tiny glasses of watered-down beer, we would witness these shocking, oddly stimulating acts between men and women. Inside, of course, was nothing at all like the photos. A single skinny, unhealthy girl lamely shuffled around a sad, shabby stage. Later, I realized the barker had not lied to us -- the photos were "true," just not what we'd see inside -- that was OUR as...

THE FLITTER FLUTTER OF LITTLE WINGS This two-page comic by me (Paul C. Tumey) was created in about 3 hours on June 17, 2014 at the monthly DUNE comics night at The Cafe Racer in Seattle, WA. This was just one of several comics created that evening and published in DUNE 20. (When I figure out who created this cover, I'll post their name, here) "Buzzed" spawned from a dream I had the night before. It started with an image from the dream and then sorta became about my whole lifetime. I was working on two things with this piece: 1. Tell a story with a few short narrative captions. (I was influenced by sitting next to David Lasky for a couple of DUNE nights) 2. Create interesting looking, loose art. I used a variety of pens, some white out, and a soft lead pencil. All art and text copyright 2014 PAUL TUMEY

THE COMICS OF OLIVIA GIBSON Olivia Gibson is the 13-year old daughter of my partner, Claire Mack and her first husband, Randy Gibson. Olivia may well be the most creative person I have ever known. She is a fearless creator, constantly making. She works in a vast array of mediums, from drawing and painting to sewing, crafts, and digital art. Before she was 10, she had written and drawn about 20 books.  When I started dating her Mom, she honored me by creating special comic books for me as Christmas gifts. Here's the covers to two of them: Here's the first page of OPEN! The book is filled with engaging characters, funny business and puns -- tailor-made for me! And, most astonishing, a new character is introduced, -- and Olivia actually MADE the character as a stuffed creature for me! And here's a spread from GALACTIC STEVE AND HIS ADVENTURES ON HIS ADVENTURE TO PLANET V-027: Love that "Plink!" Go, Olivia!

My Life As a Plant This comic is by my lovely, nature-loving wife-to-be, Claire Mack. For more work by Claire, visit www.clairemack.com

"Terrycloth" is a true story, based on an incident from my life. Growing up outside of a religion in Louisiana during the 1970s, I was fair game. Several of the religions practiced in that area require their members to convert others. It was rare to find a middle class white person in the area who was "undecided." I was invited to numerous churches and bible study groups. I can't tell you how many times I was asked if I accepted Jesus into my life and believed in the Gospels. To me, the fact that people didn't want to be my friend, but wanted to save my soul was madness. "Terrycloth" is about being lonely and awkward, and being pressed on by religious zealots. The terrycloth headband guy told me all about how people were faith healed at his church. They passed snakes around, too, he said -- and even though the snakes bit, the power of the Lord kept people from being poisoned. He sure knew how to sell it. For weeks, that church bus would p...

This one-page comic was created by Paul Tumey on March 18, 2014 at the monthly Cafe Racer DUNE comics jam, and appears in DUNE 17.

Here's a recent two-page comic created at the monthly DUNE night here in Seattle, January 18, 2014. It was published in DUNE 15.

I did something really cool on the night of December 17, 2013. I joined 62 other artists to sit in a Seattle coffeeshop bar and work like crazy to draw pages for what became DUNE 14, a 64-page mini-comic. The only way to get into DUNE is to show up and draw (and contribute two bucks to printing costs). The only way to get a copy of this comic is, you guessed it, to show up and draw and pay your two crickets. DUNE is a monthly comics drawing workshop open to the public and hosted by local Seattle area cartoonist Max Clotfelter. The event starts at 7 pm at the Cafe Racer, a very lived in, super cool coffee shop in Seattle's U-District (a neighborhood near the University of Washington campus). It may have been the tasty porter I was drinking, but I think I spotted hanging over the bar a huge, surreal painting of a frog by legendary Seattle cartoonist Jim Woodring. At 11 sharp, Max gathers the art, money and hightails it to the bus stop. Sometime before the next DUNE, which hap...

You know how it is. You live in a place, you pick up their ways.  From 1988 to 1997, I lived in Massachusetts -- first in Leominster, and then in Boston. Gradually, I became a member of the counter-culture. By "counter-culture," I don't mean a socio-political movement, as much as I mean a gastro-intestinal movement. Namely, diner culture.  Photo courtesy of the Diner Hotline Weblog New England is, among other things, a treasure trove of classic vintage diners. Many of the pre-fabricated railroad car style diners were manufactured in Worcester, Massachusetts -- so it makes sense that a large concentration of diners settled across the state, like so many patty melts falling from the sky. I used to go around the state hunting old diners. It became an idle past-time, and then an obsession. I met some of the owners, and ate many a fine meal while sitting at a gleaming chrome counter. One favorite was the Miss Worcester lunch car, where -- if memory serve...