24 Hour Comics

This isn't bad. After being impressed with "Understanding Comics" and "Comics Re-invented", I wasn't real thrilled with this. Granted, McCloud merely edited this and it IS an interesting genre, but not likely to read any more in this area. Definitely something different.

So here's the challenge (read more about it at 24hourcomics dot com): you have blank pages and nothing prepared; the clock starts; 24 hours later, the clock stops and you have a 24-page comic - scripted, laid out, penciled, inked, and lettered. That's it. Considering that the average professional comic team takes 320+ hours an average to get that far, it's a hell of challenge. To put in other terms - the challenge is to do 320 hours of work in 7.5% of the time normally needed. It should be no surprise that the 24 Hour Comics Challenge is the brainchild of Scott McCloud, the author of "Understanding Comics" and "Reinventing Comics." McCloud is clearly a man of ideas, but don't let that fool ya - he is no dusty academic. McCloud has a love for comics, a passion for the stories and the way they're told, and this collection shows it. McCloud did the first 24 Hour Comic in 1990. In the fourteen years since, he's received thousands upon thousands of pages from others who have taken the challenge. In this collection, McCloud has brought together his nine favorite stories. The anthology's breadth and variety is phenomenal - from established artists like Steve Bissette to respected author Neil Gaiman to unknown amateur Paul Winkler, the stories here show just what the human imagination is capable of. There's a comic about Zen; the day in the life of a cat; meditations on a Roman emporer; and tragic life which is also bizarrely comical. Remember - these stories were conceived at the start of each 24 hour period. None of these were outlined and planned before the clock started ticking. These are not "polished" in any sense - these stories were written and drawn in an intense white heat of creativity that had to be sustained through exhaustion, sleep deprivation, and the like. What's amazing is that anything coherent - much less comprehensible and visually appealing and communicative - could be constructed in such a short amount of time. This is the free jazz of comics, and it's way cool stuff. The 24 Hour Comic has spawned some intersting variants: the 24 Hour Play, the 48 Hour Movie, and the 24 Hour Dot Com. It's also the subject of at least two documentaries (to my knowledge) and become an annual event. Nat Gertler, the publisher of the About Comics line and organizer of the first 24 Hour Comics Day (2004), has just announced the dates for 24 Hour Comics Day 2005. You can find out more details at 24hourcomics dot com. In the meantime, read the anthologies (there's also a 2004 highlights book) and consider trying the challenge yourself. The only con is that you'll lose a night's sleep. The pros: you'll end up with a comic (or part of one) at the end of the period, and you'll learn something about comics, art, writing, and perhaps yourself in the end. Give it, and the stories, a try. It's worth the effort.