008: I won a trophy!

lot

                August 1, 2025

            008: I won a trophy!

            Sorry this one’s a little late, everyone. I had one heck of a July. Me and my sweetie spent the first week of the month vacationing in Vermont, and we then celebrated our three-year anniversary with a day trip to Chautauqua and the National Comedy Center (which I can’t recommend enough). But less than a week later, I was flying to San Diego to undertake a Major Life Event™.
I won an Eisner Award.

This was my fifth nomination and first win. Despite my feelings about Academy-esque awards, I have to admit…this feels really good. After Hassan Otsmane-Elhaou won Best Lettering last year, I felt like a turning point had finally been reached—when career letterers would finally be recognized for their talents and efforts after being chronically passed over for self-lettering cartoonists. Here’s hoping it sticks. There are a lot of letterers who I want to win a Best Lettering trophy.
I’m pretty bad at taking photos during major life events, or thinking to get photos taken of me. I found this one of me giving my acceptance speech that was taken by the fine folks of the Comic Book Couple’s Counseling podcast:
If I had to describe my look, it would be “Daily Show Correspondent.” Thanks, Dad, for loaning me the cat tie you designed.
But I did think to take this picture:
I’m saluting the Star Trek ad, not the popsicle truck.
The next morning, I was back on a plane headed home. I have no regrets, but I still don’t recommend flying across North America twice in 37 hours.
Anyway, here are some life photos:
The Von Trapp Family Lodge & Resort at dusk, one of our favorite places in the world. This was our third visit. That’s the dining room on the left, which serves the world’s best yogurt.
Sunrise from our room.
One of the resident Highland cows at the lodge. We saw a lot of these gals this year. I got to call the front desk when some of them grazed their way through a disabled electric fence. Much excite.
A shot of the valley from the Lodge property.
I friggin’ love this The Sound of Music poster and I want one of my own real bad.
The Sketch & Improv section at the National Comedy Center.
Hail to the Glue, baby.
Cliff and Carla outfits from Cheers.
Prelim drawing of Homer Simpson from And Maggie Makes Three. If the “Knight Boat” tag is anything to go by, this is Homer saying “But Marge, Knight Boat! The crime-solving boat!”
Look, it’s Strong Bad! And Homestar!
Carl Reiner’s hairpiece from The Dick Van Dyke Show.
The set of The Larry Sanders Show. The desk is a lot smaller than I thought it would be, but as Artie said about Hank Kingsley’s whatsit, “The camera adds ten pounds.”
Here’s a Don Rickles neon light that I loved. I’d take this over a Joker neon light any day.
Apparently this is my sense of humor in a nutshell. Katie’s profile included “Sophisticated” and I was immediately jealous.
As fun as all of this was, it left me with next to no free time throughout the month, and now I’m sleep deprived and sore in the throat. So this newsletter is a little lighter than I wanted it to be. Maybe the month of August will show me mercy.
Sound Effect of the Month:
This was cut from Absolute Batman #10. Turns out Croc wasn’t screaming—he was just opening his great big mouth real wide. Rendered with Eurocomic BB.
BONUS: Eisner-pressured Lettering Experiment of the Month:
This is me trying to convey salivation. Do they want some cake, or do they want some Cake?
Recommendations:
Comic: The UnChosen. I’ve lettered many books drawn by David Marquez, and it’s nice to enjoy his work as a reader for a change. As expected, it’s beautifully drawn, with facial expressions you might not see in a Big-2 comic, and it’s good to see that the man can also write. The first issue came out last month, and it looks like the rest will be a fun, adventurous time (despite the Last of Us-evoking logline). Shoutout to colorist Marissa Louise and letterer DC Hopkins—they do good work.
Non-comic: You Can’t Win by Jack Black. Who doesn’t love a recovering dirtbag? Written by a much older man who isn’t a beloved actor/musician, this particular Jack Black was a hobo/burglar/repeat convict who was blessed/cursed with a lot of time to think about systemic injustice and human nature. Lucky for us, he wrote a memoir after he cleaned up his act. An apparent favorite of William S. Burroughs and other Beat writers, I have to imagine this was also an influence on Martin Scorsese, the Coen Brothers, and every Golden-Era writer of The Simpsons. And yes, it does contain a lot of outdated slurs!
Stuff With My Name In It (August 2025):
8/4:
Astonishing X-Men Infinity #31
8/6:
Absolute Batman vol. 1: The Zoo HC/TPB
All-New Venom #9
Birds of Prey #24
Daredevil: Cold Day In Hell #3
Fall of the House of X/Rise of the Powers of X Omnibus HC
Uncanny X-Men #19
Uncanny X-Men by Gail Simone vol. 2: The Dark Artery TPB
8/11:
Astonishing X-Men Infinity #32
8/13:
Alien: Paradiso TPB
Batman by Tom King: Book Two TPB
Daredevil #24
FML #6
Giant-Size X-Men #2
The Power Fantasy #11
Predator Kills The Marvel Universe #1
Star Trek: Lower Decks #10
Star Wars: Jedi Knights #6
Superman’s Pal, Jimmy Olsen: The Deluxe Edition HC
Trinity: Daughter of Wonder Woman #3
X-Men #20
8/18:
Astonishing X-Men Infinity #33
8/20:
Absolute Batman #11
Batman by Tom King Omnibus Vol. 1 HC
Batman and Robin: Year One #10
Daredevil by Saladin Ahmed vol. 4: Last Rites TPB
Star Wars #4
Venom: Black, White & Blood #1
Wonder Woman #24
X-Men by Jed MacKay vol. 2: Hostile Takeover TPB
8/25:
Astonishing X-Men Infinity #34
8/27:
Predator: Black, White & Blood #2
X-Men #21
X-Men: Tooth and Claw #1
And, finally, the cat photo:
They saw a mouse.
And now to rest my weary bones. See you in September.
If you have a question you’d like me to answer in a future edition, ask away in the comments section!
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            Lyndon Radchenka

                Aug. 1, 2025, evening

    Was so happy for you when I saw you won. Congrats Clayton!

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            Lodro Rinzler

                Aug. 2, 2025, morning

    A warm congratulations Clayton! This is incredible news and - to state the least - very well deserved. 

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