24-hour comic
Encyclopedia
A 24-hour comic is a 24-page comic book
written, drawn, and completed in 24 hours. Scott McCloud
originally came up with the challenge for himself and Steve Bissette as a creative exercise. McCloud drew the first 24-hour comic to prove it could be done on August 31, 1990, and Bissette did his on September 5.
Word of the challenge slowly spread, especially as Dave Sim
started publishing his own 24-hour comics in the back of his popular Cerebus the Aardvark
. Eventually Scott McCloud had collected six 24-hour comics on his website from different, well-known comic-creators. Creators Erik Larsen
and Chris Eliopoulos
published their 24-hour stories together in the one-shot comic
Image-Two-In-One featuring The Herculean and Duncan ("The Herculean" being Larsen's creation, and "Duncan" being Eliopoulos').
format webcomic is being made) 100 panels.
The creator may gather research materials and drawing tools beforehand, but cannot plan the comic's plot ahead of time or put anything on paper (such as designs and character sketches) until he is ready for the 24 hours to begin. Any breaks (for food, sleep, or any other purpose) are counted as part of the 24 hours.
If the cartoonist fails to finish the comic in 24 hours, there are two courses of action suggested: Stop the comic at the 24-hour mark, or continue working until all 24 pages are done. The former is known as "the Gaiman variation" after Neil Gaiman
's unsuccessful attempt, and the latter is called "the Eastman variation" after Kevin Eastman
's unsuccessful attempt. Scott McCloud calls both of these "noble failures", which he will still list on his site as long as he believes that the creator intended to finish the project within the specified amount of time.
organized 24 Hour Comics Day on April 24, 2004. On this day, comics creators around the world were invited to spend the day making a 24-hour comic. All participants were requested to send their completed comic to McCloud, who keeps an archive of all completed 24-hour comics on his webpage. Many comic book stores supported this event by setting up space for participating artists to work on their comic. It attracted many writers and artists, working both in print and web media.
In 2005, the second annual 24 Hour Comics Day began on Saturday April 23, such that the 24 hours ended on the 24th, with over 800 cartoonists taking part at organized events with other folks taking the challenge at home. 2006's 24 Hour Comics Day fell on October 7 of that year, and had over 1200 participants at official event locations in 17 countries around the globe.
Leadership of 24 Hour Comics Day has been passed over to ComicsPRO, a U.S.-based comic book retailer organization. They held the 2008 event on October 18.
Lo Spazio Bianco organized 24 Hour Italy Comics Day, a similar event for creators in Italy, beginning on October 1, 2005, with authorization from McCloud and Gertler. Information can be found on the event's web site: http://www.24hic.it
The School of Visual Arts
hosts a 24-hour Comic Day every year, but due to classes, the date isn't set.
Pulp Faction organise an Australian event known as the Comikaze 24 Hour Challenge over the Queen's Birthday weekend every year since 2005.
Since 2006 Comicworld (www.comicworld.gr) is responsible for organizing the event in the Greek cities of Athens & Thessaloniki. In 2006 they gathered more than 50 participants in the same place. Every year they publish a graphic novel with the best three stories created in the event.
. The International 3-Day Novel Contest started in Vancouver in 1977 and now happens all over the world every Labour Day Weekend. The 24 Hour RPG project, started in 2003, asks designers to produce a playable role-playing game
in 24 hours, and does frequent 'Grand Events' which assign a theme and a time window for designers to compete.
Comic book
A comic book or comicbook is a magazine made up of comics, narrative artwork in the form of separate panels that represent individual scenes, often accompanied by dialog as well as including...
written, drawn, and completed in 24 hours. Scott McCloud
Scott McCloud
Scott McCloud is an American cartoonist and theorist on comics as a distinct literary and artistic medium...
originally came up with the challenge for himself and Steve Bissette as a creative exercise. McCloud drew the first 24-hour comic to prove it could be done on August 31, 1990, and Bissette did his on September 5.
Word of the challenge slowly spread, especially as Dave Sim
Dave Sim
David Victor Sim is an award-winning Canadian comic book writer and artist.A pioneer of self-published comics and creators' rights, Sim is best known as the creator of Cerebus the Aardvark, a comic book published from 1977 to 2004, which chronicles its main character in a 6,000-page self-contained...
started publishing his own 24-hour comics in the back of his popular Cerebus the Aardvark
Cerebus the Aardvark
Cerebus the Aardvark, or simply Cerebus , is an independent comic book, written and illustrated by Canadian artist Dave Sim, with backgrounds by fellow Canadian Gerhard. Cerebus ran for 300 issues from December 1977 to 2004, and was over 6000 pages long, the longest-running original...
. Eventually Scott McCloud had collected six 24-hour comics on his website from different, well-known comic-creators. Creators Erik Larsen
Erik Larsen
Erik J. Larsen is an American comic book writer, artist and publisher. He is best known for his work on Savage Dragon, as one of the founders of Image Comics, and for his work on Spider-Man for Marvel Comics.-Early life:...
and Chris Eliopoulos
Chris Eliopoulos
Chris Eliopoulos is an American cartoonist and letterer of comic books.-Early life:Eliopolous attended the Fashion Institute of Technology, in New York City, from 1985–1989. He majored in graphic design and minored in illustration...
published their 24-hour stories together in the one-shot comic
One shot (comic)
A one-shot is a comic book that is a pilot or a stand-alone story created as a single issue, rather than the more typical series format.-United States:...
Image-Two-In-One featuring The Herculean and Duncan ("The Herculean" being Larsen's creation, and "Duncan" being Eliopoulos').
Rules
As originator of the challenge, Scott McCloud has established rules for a comic to qualify: It must be begun and completed within 24 consecutive hours. Only one person may be directly involved in its creation, and it must span 24 pages, or (if an infinite canvasInfinite canvas
The infinite canvas is the idea that the size of a digital comics page is theoretically infinite, and that online comics are therefore not limited by conventional page sizes. An artist could conceivably display a complete comics story of indefinite length on a single "page"...
format webcomic is being made) 100 panels.
The creator may gather research materials and drawing tools beforehand, but cannot plan the comic's plot ahead of time or put anything on paper (such as designs and character sketches) until he is ready for the 24 hours to begin. Any breaks (for food, sleep, or any other purpose) are counted as part of the 24 hours.
If the cartoonist fails to finish the comic in 24 hours, there are two courses of action suggested: Stop the comic at the 24-hour mark, or continue working until all 24 pages are done. The former is known as "the Gaiman variation" after Neil Gaiman
Neil Gaiman
Neil Richard Gaiman born 10 November 1960)is an English author of short fiction, novels, comic books, graphic novels, audio theatre and films. His notable works include the comic book series The Sandman and novels Stardust, American Gods, Coraline, and The Graveyard Book...
's unsuccessful attempt, and the latter is called "the Eastman variation" after Kevin Eastman
Kevin Eastman
Kevin Brooks Eastman is an American comic book artist and writer, best known as the creator of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. Eastman is also the current owner, editor and publisher of the magazine Heavy Metal.-Early life:Eastman was born on May 30, 1962 in Springvale, Maine...
's unsuccessful attempt. Scott McCloud calls both of these "noble failures", which he will still list on his site as long as he believes that the creator intended to finish the project within the specified amount of time.
Events
Nat GertlerNat Gertler
Nat Gertler is a writer who has written books about computers and comics, including The Complete Idiot's Guide to Creating a Graphic Novel...
organized 24 Hour Comics Day on April 24, 2004. On this day, comics creators around the world were invited to spend the day making a 24-hour comic. All participants were requested to send their completed comic to McCloud, who keeps an archive of all completed 24-hour comics on his webpage. Many comic book stores supported this event by setting up space for participating artists to work on their comic. It attracted many writers and artists, working both in print and web media.
| Year | | Date | | Number of participants |
|---|---|---|
| 2004 | April 24 | |
| 2005 | April 23 | Approximately 800 |
| 2006 | October 7 | Approximately 1200 |
| 2007 | October 20 | - |
| 2008 | October 18 | TBD |
| 2009 | October 3 | |
| 2010 | October 2 |
In 2005, the second annual 24 Hour Comics Day began on Saturday April 23, such that the 24 hours ended on the 24th, with over 800 cartoonists taking part at organized events with other folks taking the challenge at home. 2006's 24 Hour Comics Day fell on October 7 of that year, and had over 1200 participants at official event locations in 17 countries around the globe.
Leadership of 24 Hour Comics Day has been passed over to ComicsPRO, a U.S.-based comic book retailer organization. They held the 2008 event on October 18.
Lo Spazio Bianco organized 24 Hour Italy Comics Day, a similar event for creators in Italy, beginning on October 1, 2005, with authorization from McCloud and Gertler. Information can be found on the event's web site: http://www.24hic.it
The School of Visual Arts
School of Visual Arts
The School of Visual Arts , is a proprietary art school located in Manhattan, New York City, and is widely considered to be one of the leading art schools in the United States. It was established in 1947 by co-founders Silas H. Rhodes and Burne Hogarth as the Cartoonists and Illustrators School and...
hosts a 24-hour Comic Day every year, but due to classes, the date isn't set.
Pulp Faction organise an Australian event known as the Comikaze 24 Hour Challenge over the Queen's Birthday weekend every year since 2005.
Since 2006 Comicworld (www.comicworld.gr) is responsible for organizing the event in the Greek cities of Athens & Thessaloniki. In 2006 they gathered more than 50 participants in the same place. Every year they publish a graphic novel with the best three stories created in the event.
Similar challenges
The 24-hour comics idea has inspired similar challenges in other art forms. There is also the 24 Hour Plays, in which a group of playwrights/actors script and perform a full play by the end of 24 hours. This, in turn, gave birth to the 48 Hour Film Project48 Hour Film Project
The 48 Hour Film Project is a contest in which teams of filmmakers are assigned a genre, a character, a prop, and a line of dialogue, and have 48 hours to create a short film containing those elements. Shortly after the 48 hours of filmmaking, the films from each city are then screened at a theater...
. The International 3-Day Novel Contest started in Vancouver in 1977 and now happens all over the world every Labour Day Weekend. The 24 Hour RPG project, started in 2003, asks designers to produce a playable role-playing game
Role-playing game
A role-playing game is a game in which players assume the roles of characters in a fictional setting. Players take responsibility for acting out these roles within a narrative, either through literal acting, or through a process of structured decision-making or character development...
in 24 hours, and does frequent 'Grand Events' which assign a theme and a time window for designers to compete.
Books
Five books of 24-hour comics have been published:- 24 Hour Comics (ISBN 0-9716338-4-3) presents nine comics selected by Scott McCloud.
- 24 Hour Comics Day Highlights 2004 (ISBN 0-9753958-0-7) presents selections from the 2004 event, edited by Nat GertlerNat GertlerNat Gertler is a writer who has written books about computers and comics, including The Complete Idiot's Guide to Creating a Graphic Novel...
. - 24 Hour Comics All-Stars (ISBN 0-9753958-4-X) presents comics by several professional cartoonists, edited by Nat Gertler.
- 24 Hour Comics Day Highlights 2005 (ISBN 0-9753958-6-6) presents selections from the 2005 event, edited by Nat Gertler.
- 24 Hour Comics Day Highlights 2006 (ISBN 0-9790750-0-9) presents selections from the 2006 event, edited by Nat Gertler.
External links
- The 24-hour Comics - Original homepage.
- 24-hour Comics Index - List of 24-hour comics. (incomplete and no longer updated)
- 24HourComicsDay.com - Information about the annual event.
- 24 hours Comic Vienna
- Variants:
- The Workday Comic - 8-page stories/8 hours
- 24-hour Plays
- 48 Hour Film Project
- Italian 24-hour day - Link to the Italian event
- 24 Hour RPG - Info and links to the resulting games