24HCD is an annual dare. originally issued by scott mccloud back in 1990, it’s an annual international challenge where individual participants of any level take on the challenge of putting together an entire 24-page comic all by themselves and with zero prep. it sure ain’t easy but, man, what an experience.
24HCD 2006
this event was hosted at comicopia in boston.
the story i was doing was about some guy, ryan, going out on a date with this one amazing girl. the date is going completely fine until the moment the restaurant they’re dining at gets held up by some crazed robbers with superpowers. much to ryan’s surprise, his date beats the ever-loving crap out of them and reveals, rather embarrassingly, that she is a member of some superhero team. despite this being her one night off, work has apparently found her. at one point, her team shows up and gives ryan a really good ribbing as she is the only female member of the team and her teammates get all big brotherly on both him and her. eventually, she’s pulled into a mission and due to being at the wrong place at the wrong time, so does he. i don’t remember how the date ends.
24HCD 2007
this event was hosted at comicopia in boston.
this time, the tale followed the less-than-thrilled-to-be-here sidekick of a superhero. while on a mission, the sidekick doesn’t take anything seriously and is distracted at every opportunity while the superhero tries to save the day. the sidekick does inane shit like wasting time mugging in front of a security camera instead of investigating and, while his boss is off in the neighboring area in the heat of battle with some animated gear-assembled golems, actually whips out his laptop to blog about how bored he is. i forget where i was ultimately going with this and what other hijinks the sidekick gets into.
24HCD 2008
this event was hosted at home.
this story starts off with a guy walking into a job interview completely and utterly disheveled, much to the shock of his potential employer. to his credit, he is at least on time. but he is covered in filth, bits of glass, some blood (not his, actually) and his clothing is torn and in disarray. i forget whether or not he shows up without a shoe. the story from that one point is one big flashback of how is terrible day starts off with his alarm clock failing to go off, missing the bus, getting splashed on the road, taking a cab only to have the cab driver shoot himself in the face, escaping the scene and freaking out only to fall down a manhole, etc. i forget if he gets the job or not.
24HCD 2009 ❖
this event was hosted at home.
for this particular 24 hour comic, i wound up doing half-sheets of the pages i was using. they were larger than 8.5 x 11 but i’m drawing a blank on their exact dimensions. this is important as, through the course of the event, i kept changing the order the story was told in. the art, however, being on physical pages, meant that their numbering wasn’t all that sequential at times. very confusing. the tale that was told here was that of a some young man capturing his somewhat hopeless thoughts on his blog about how lost he is and how he feels like all he’s managed to do is fail. he is reminded of something someone once told him and reminisces about a time when a good friend had given him really encouraging advice and talks him out of giving up on going to college. reinspired in the present, our protagonist deletes his post and makes his way back on to campus where he was originally composing his blog post. (penciled and lettered.) ❖ CHALLENGE COMPLETED.
24HCD 2010 ❖
this event was hosted at home.
“(not here right now)” is about the awesome and exciting adventurous life joel lives within the confines of his skull, a welcome retreat from the crappy actual life he lives. (penciled and lettered and then, much later, inked. marginalia included, even.) ❖ CHALLENGE COMPLETED.
24HCD 2011 ❖
this event was hosted at a friend’s place.
the city of shelton is in trouble! but who can help them? who can come to their rescue? this 24 hour comic, “team green is on the scene”, is a story about super hero turtles up against a giant rampaging robot destroying everything in the city. (penciled and lettered.) ❖ CHALLENGE COMPLETED.
24HCD 2012
this event was hosted at a friend’s place.
part 2 of team green’s dynamic story, picking up right where the cliffhanger left off. sadly, i ran out of steam toward the end of the challenge and killed a lot of time trying to figure out where to take the story.
24HCD 2013 ❖
this event was hosted at home.
patriotic super team, ANTHEM, stars in a children’s book of sorts that explains how penguins are actually not all that considerate of others. (penciled, inked, lettered and colored.) ❖ CHALLENGE COMPLETED.
24HCD 2014 ❖
this event was hosted at home.
cub scout, member of the shell town saints superhero group, is the nicest person you will ever meet. seriously. this 24 hour comics makes some not-so-subtle nods at the last 24 hour comic. (penciled, inked, and lettered. later, colored and supplemental pages added to fix the story’s pacing.) ❖ CHALLENGE COMPLETED.
24HCD 2015 ❖
this event was hosted at home.
in this one quiet forest, a simple competition between two forest critters escalates kind of quickly in an unexpected and dramatic sort of way. (penciled, inked and lettered.) ❖ CHALLENGE COMPLETED.