When is the next 24-Hour Comics Day?

As hosts plan their 24HCD event for the upcoming year, this is the first question they ask us! Here's how it works:

ComicsPRO is a trade association for comic book retailers. The organization focuses on providing member benefits which help lower the operating costs of comic book stores as well as providing services to raise the profile of comic books around the world. ComicsPRO provides administration and promotion for the 24-Hour Comics Day event each year.

The next official 24HCD date is announced at the ComicsPRO Annual Membership Meeting which is usually held near the beginning of each calendar year. The next ComicsPRO AMM will be held February 10-13, 2011 in Dallas, Texas.

When the new date is announced by the 24HCD Committee at the Annual Membership Meeting, we will post it here at the blog and on the main 24HCD website.

Registration for the event usually goes live in June or July, and for the past few years the event has been held in the late 3rd quarter or the early 4th quarther of the year.

Thank you for participating in 24-Hour Comics Day or hosting an event. We'll be back in a few months with more information about 24HCD 2011!

Photos from 24 Hour Comics Day in New Mexico

Created with flickrSLiDR.

And you can read about it all at the 24 Hour Comics Day from 7000 BC blog, where the whole day was documented.

All participants — and all those who want to see what was produced that day, or are interested in producing comics — are invited to the 24 Hour Comics Day Follow-Up Meeting.

One week later - 24HCD reports Newcastle upon Tyne

It's almost exactly one week since we staggered out of 24 hour comics day and onto the trains to find our way to what each of us laughingly calls civilization.

Ten members of the Newcastle based Paper Jam Comics Collective, plus friends, took part in the event, mostly at our venue (a methodist church, complete with a choir rehersal to keep us company for a few hours), and a couple of folks working on their comics and keeping in touch during the dark hours.

You can read about how we did, our suffering, despair, elation and epiphanies on our newcastle 24 hour comics blog, which we'll be updating as we do more of these. We will.

I think everyone really appreciates the creative benefits of an event like this, success or fail, you always learn something, and we had a fantastic time.

This is what it looked like to us:

Congratulations on another successful 24HCD!

Congratulations to all of the venues around the world who hosted a 24-Hour Comics Day event! And congratulations to all of the creators who took the 24-Hour Comics Day challenge--even if you didn't finish your comic this year. Great work!

24HCD Venues: if you HOSTED a 24HCD event this year, don't forget to email your total participation count. Just send the number of people who tried the challenge; you don't need to send individual names and you can count them even if they didn't finish their comics.

24HCD Participants: if you COMPLETED all 24 pages in 24 hours and your venue isn't sending in a copy of your comic to the main 24-Hour Comics Day collection (not all venues do), please send in a copy of your completed comic!

You can use the form on this web page marked "Cover Letter to Submit Your Comics to the Official 24-Hour Comics Day Collection." Mail that cover letter, along with a copy of your completed 24-page comic to the address on the form.

Thank you!

24 Hours Later in Seattle

There is nothing quite like a 24 Hour Comics Day. We did it right, here in Seattle, at the Phinney Neighborhood Center. I coordinated this event from the ground up and made every effort to bring together as many cartoonists as I felt would make a great mix and not exceed too big a number. I even left some wiggle room for the unexpected. We ended up having some last minute additions to our crew and it all worked out great. Now, the next step will be to put together a book. I want to edit a book that captures the spirit of what we experienced. We may excerpt here and there and see where our page count takes us.

Our gang of cartoonists: Henry Chamberlain, Jennifer Daydreamer, David Lasky, Sean Robinson, Chyna Frey, Xochitl Briones, Marc Palm, Eroyn Franklin, Tiphoni, Stefan Gruber, Tom Doughery, Breanne Boland, Randy Wood, Andrew Davis and Sean Poppe.

I want to thank Comics Dungeon, Peaks Frozen Custard and the Seattle Folklore Society for their friendly support. We have certainly made a lot of friends along the way. As you'll see in the photos, we had quite a nice spot of our event. I mean this is a schoolhouse with a real old school feel, dating back to 1904. We cartoonists, with a soft spot for retro, really digged our location.

And, yes, we did start to feel the chill of sleep deprivation and people did worry if they would be able to complete the challenge. But we had a great time and created some very interesting results. Out of our group, Sean Robinson carried away the honors of completing every last bit of his comic down to the last ink stroke.

I had a great time allowing my story to take on a life of its own. I highly recommend coming into this with at least an idea of what you want to do. Better yet, create something tangible you can hook into: set up a premise, prepare a layout. You could even go much further and come in with a script. For me, I set up a premise about a week or so before the event and let that roll around in my head. As the days past, I'd notice this or that, something in the news or something that happened to me, and I'd see if I could add to my emerging story. I kept that up all the way into the event. I also had a layout of where I wanted the story to go. Maybe I should have had a preliminary set of thumbnails. I like to keep something to chance so I went with a rough Plan A and the option for a Plan B. It worked out, at least this time!

For more info and to keep up with details on our upcoming book, visit http://comicsgrinder.com/

DONE!!

Well.. the final lines have been inked... out of 15 starting artist 9 survived to finish their creations...

It has been an extremely long 24 hours with a gambit of emotions running throughout the course of the day... anticipation to get it going.... determination to finish the job... agony of defeat for some... and the thrill of accomplishment for others!!

They came ready to go.. full of energy...the laughs kept going until the wee hours of the morning and then the silence hit.. when everyone decided it was time to work hard on getting the books done... when the sun started to rise, the atmosphere in the shop became fun and light due to the fact that they knew they would be going home soon. One by one the projects completed and weary artist after weary artist bid farewell as they carefully drove to their beds putting this years 24 Hour Comics Day Challenge behind them.

Here is a small sample of this years books, but check our web site at www.4colorfantasies.com on Monday October 11, 2010 to see the complete books!!!

This is Chris Brady from 4 Color Fantasies saying thanks to everyone that watched on our Ustream and read the blogs.. stop by and say hi sometime!!!

1st one done!!

Ok.. only 4 hours past his self imposed deadline, Julian Aguilera just finished here at 4am. His Vampire & Werewolf comic called Tooth & Nail will be posted on our website later this week. Congrats to Julian and Alan for participating for the third year in a row!!

And with the late hours setting in the wackiness starts

COMICPANEL, CEO HAPPY ABOUT SUCCESS OF EVENT

Ayodele Elegba, CEO of COMICPANEL and organiser of the 24 Hour Comics Day is so happy at the success of the 24 Hour event that began almost 4 months ago. "The turn out was very encouraging. Next Year is going to be BIGGER and BETTER" he says. Watch out for more about the Nigerian Comic Industry on www.comicpanel.net.

COMICPANEL HOST SUCCESSFUL 24 HOURS COMIC BOOK DAY IN NIGERIA

Its a time for bonding among comic lovers in Lagos, Nigeria as COMICPANEL hosts the 24 Hour Comic Book Day for the first time in Nigeria. Particpants that decided to stay and finish up at the close of the event (24 Hours later) came together to take a group picture. Those that survived the 24 Hours with Ayodele Elegba include Alade Olatunji, Ehon Joseph, Segun Oluwayomi, Imuse Osaze, Muhammed Mustafa, Olusanya Babajide, Obende Stanley, Ibrahim Ganiyu and Veta Salubi who helped out in the planning and organisation of the event.
They mentioned that they enjoyed themselves and arealready getting ready for next years edition. till next year. See ya all. For more information about the Nigerian Comic Industry please visit www.comicpanel.net.

THE STANCH BEATS SLEEP

Just after Midnight!!!

And only 10 hours left. Everyone is still going strong..although some are behind. They still think they can catch up... Oh wait...is that Julian I still see there.. I guess he didn't make his Midnight deadline....

And then there was John

Three years ago a small publishing company approached me about doing our 24 Hour Comics Challenge and had their two artists come on down. This is where I met John Narcomey who at the time was the Creative Director. He and I hit it off from the moment we met, but he is a person that you have to meet to understand. The book he did the first year at our store was Cholo Libre and this year he decide to follow it up with the sequel Cholo Libre in To Hell and Back. No matter what I say about this book it can't be enough so here is John!!

First Timer

This year we are seeing a few new participants here at 4 Color. Most of them are recruits from previous year participants, which is how Chris Baird found out about us and decided to get it a try.

His book he is working on is about a prisoner who is a witness to nothing. The main character is a prisoner who sees a his new neighbor being brought in. Sometime in the night the new guy breaks out and murders his guards and the main character is questioned by the warden, but when he doesn't have the answers they want....

The thing that is making this book most ambisious is the fact that he is watercoloring his book too!!

Hope he has time to finish it.....

it's 4.30am here. 7 hours to go

With the night moving along.. the artists and others are enjoying the best part of the night....FOOD!!

Pizza, hot dogs, chips and sodas...everything that you need to keep the energy up for 24 hours

We are up on Ustream!!!

Come join us via the interwebs!!

Past the half-way point in VT....

Henry's work says it all...

Bridget finished her 24 pages an hour ago!

Rick isn't sure if he's going to finish at all, but he's having a great time...

Brittany is plugging away (little distracts her!)

Kira hard at work before she had to call it a night

here are more pix

24 Hours Comic Book Day: NIGERIA

The 24 Hours Comic Book Day is on here in Lagos and we've done 13 hours already. COMICPANEL is hosting this years event at the African Artist Foundation premises. So far 8 artist are left standing. some cool art are showing up in here

Just Starting In Seattle

I am the coordinator for the 24HCD taking place at the Phinney Center. I had prior commitment but now I am ready to go to it. Here is a rough of what I plan to base my comic on. I believe it has everything I need to jump in. I will post group photos as soon as I can.

WOOT!! First page done for First Timer!!

Congrats to one of first timers who completely finished her first page!!!

Trisha Cameron

We asked Trisha where she got the inspiration for her 24 Hour Comic from, "Its about getting revenge against a teacher", she said. I asked "Is this from a real life experience?" Her answer, "Oh Yeah!" When asked if she had the book more or less planned out she said that she was winging it as she goes. She's been drawing since she was 6 years old but this is her first attempt at a comic book and her first 24 Hour Comics Book!! Good luck to her and we'll keep everyone posted!

The Pro

Whew!! we've been working away here in Rancho Cucamonga with our artists!!!

Julian Aguilera

We asked Julian what he was working on this year. He explained that he was working off one of the pages in his book from last year, Winging It. In the page it was a story of the odd couple of a vampire and a werewolf. This year he and his brother Alan have expanded upon the story and are feverishly working it all out! He brags that he plans on being done by Midnight!!! We'll see... we'll see....

4 hours down....20 to go

After 4 hours of hard work, we are starting to see some early results. Here are a few sample images.

Heroic Adventures Kicks of 24 Hour Comics Day

We're of to a great start today! For our first event we have 9 participants and boy are they working hard. Everyone is in the zone and really focused on getting as much done as possible. You can see the determination on each of their faces. I'm not sure what to expect from these creative minds. I know one participant asked if exploding puppies are ok....I can't wait to see what that's all about.

The VERMONT 24 Hour Comic event is BEGUN!

We're here at: Artists' Mediums Inc. In Williston Vermont USA.

Artists' Mediums Inc. http://www.artistsmediums.com/

The artists have begun,
Everyone has coffe, snacks and Chocolate!
With a flurry of paper and pens they begin drawing.

Many Thanks already to our sponsors:
Sweet Clover Market
Rocky's N.Y Pizza
Phoenix Books

We are finished!

In Rovaniemi the 24hcd -event has finished. Over 20 ready 24-pages comics has been drawn, participants are tired but extremely happy. Now we are just waiting the next year...

The 24 Hour Comic Event

The 24 Hour Comic Event is about to start here at Artists' Mediums Inc. in Williston Vermont (USA)!

If you're in the nieghborhood anytime between 9 a.m. this morning, and 9:00 a.m. Sunday, stop by and show support for your local comic artists, and watch them draw.

After 21 hours there are 16 drawers who have finished their slog: each of them have drawed 24 comicpages! The staff has busy time to scan all works - within one week they will be published in this website http://24tuntiasarjakuvaa.info/main.php
Of course we'll have also an exhibition in the library where all the works can be seen.

Still here are some enthusiastic drawers left - the athmosphere is warm and concentrated.

Liminka School of Arts in Finland started

This is Impivaara, the house of comics students. The house looks silent but inside there are 52 artistis drawing, talking, cooking, laughing, eating, cutting each others hair and making noise.

4.30 a.m. in Rovaniemi, Lapland

Participants are still awake and drawing and drawing... Lots of coffee and juices are needed. Participants are stretching (and some yawning). These are the hard hours, how to stay awake and be perky.

Wow!! The excitement is building here at 4 Color... Cleaning and scrubbing, planning the food orders and picking up the MONSTER!!!

Lots of people calling to see if we have space.. YES!!! we will make room.. 15 people signed up already...

Trying to set up a Ustream for tomorrow so we can broadcast all day and night..(gotta watch what I say hahaha)

Come on down and check out all the artists tomorrow from 10am on into Sunday!!!

We are here still very much awake and drawing diligently. The weather is fine, at the moment
4 degrees above zero.

The event has started in Rovaniemi, Lapland (Finland)!

Hi, here we are again after one year. The long-awaited 24HCD has begun in our library. We have 42 eager drawers - many of them have participated in this event every year. But naturally we have also fresh forces among drawers!

In Rovaniemi is today a sunny autumnal day. The temperature has been roughly 10 degrees. It is friday evening and townspeople are preparing to spend weekend.

24HCD event covered LIVE for 24-hours in Long Beach, CA!

24HCD received this message from WeVolt.com:

We love three things.

Comics, comic creators, and staying UP ALL NIGHT!

So, check out WeVolt.com's around the clock LIVE coverage of 24 Hour Comics Day at Pulp Fiction Comics in Long Beach, Ca.

www.ustream.com/wowio

Coverage starts @ 12pm (PST) on Saturday ending @ 12pm (PST) Sunday.

Swing by for LIVE updates from participating comic shops all around the country as well as plenty of comic goodness, comedy, nerdness, and random super hero drop ins.

This is going to be a truly interactive event, so please hang out!

Check out Wevolt.com, DrunkDuck.com, and Wowio.com for exclusive content and updates.

Big thanks to ComicsPRO.org for powering this wonderful event!

---

Thanks to WeVolt.com for the live coverage and good luck to all the creators who will be taking part in the 24-Hour Comics challenge at Pulp Fiction in Long Beach, CA!

24HCD venue registration deadline 9/26

We are currently processing all registrations received on or after 9/22. If you have registered your venue on or after 9/22, you should receive a confirmation email soon and you will be added to the site shortly afterward.

To be listed in the participating sites section of the 24-Hour Comics Day website before the 24-Hour Comics Day event, venues must register by 9/26.

Thank you!

24 Hour Comics Day 2010 in Albuquerque

24 Hour Comics Day 2010 in Albuquerque | Sat. Oct. 2-Sun. Oct. 3 | 10:00 am-10:00 am (note new times this year) | Harwood Art Center | 1114 7th Street NW, Albuquerque, NM

Once again, 7000 BC and the Harwood Art Center present New Mexico's only 24 Hour Comics Day event. As he does every year, Chuck will be blogging as it happens at 24 Hours in Q-Town 24 Hour Comics Day from 7000 BC.

To register, send Jeff an email or call him at 505-262-2952.

Thanks to our sponsors: Harwood Art Center, Winning Coffee Company, and Comic Warehouse

24 Hour Comics Day in Brazil

Check out our 24hcd flyer!
Here in Salvador, Brazil, the event starts at 9 a.m. and everybody that takes part in the challenge can vote for the best finished 24 hour-comic. The most voted gets free comics from Devir, Conrad and JBC, three of the most prestigeous publishing houses around here.
We still have some room left for those who wish to inroll in our website.

24 Hour comics day Muhos, Finland

Starting time 11.00 am local time at Muhos County Library with forty participants. So we have full house here in Northern Finland. Our website.

Good luck for every 24 artist in their work.

Hello all

The Comicworld Team would like to wish everyone good luck with their events.

This year we asked our friend-collaborator Manos Lagouvardos to make a homage poster based on fantastic art we all remember... i thought the concept is a perfect fit to the general idea.

24 Hour Comics: Alaska

Fairbanks Alaska is on-board again for the fourth year in a row! 

Press releases are out, fliers and posters up, and reserved a display area at the university to put up pages afterwards. Lots of folks are checking in to the Facebook event page already, so turnout looks to the best yet. 

Once again The Comic Shop is hosting our gig locally, and we are looking forward to another awesome event with many new and returning cartoonists.

Here's linkage to a couple blog posts (here and here) about the 2009 event.

New resources for 24HCD host venues

If you're hosting a 24-Hour Comics Day event, check out the new 2010 host resources page on the main site!

Materials include:

-tips for running your event
-a liability release form
-a basic press release for you to customize
-the cover letter for 2010 submissions to the Official 24HCD Collection.

U.S. venues who registered to host a 24-Hour Comics Day event by August 1 received all of these materials in the mail along with a few alternate cover comics from BOOM! Studios to use for promotions.

We are sending out the national press releases for 24HCD next week and advertising the main site as a place to find participating venues.

ComicsPRO members: don't forget to send in your media contacts to have your venue information included in the press releases sent to your area!

Artists' Mediums Year #4

Rick Evans came up with this fantastic design for our 2010 event. We are hoping to raffle off the hand painted version off during 24HCD, to support the local food shelf here in Williston VT.

Looking forward to October with excitement and a bit of trepidation (this year, I'm finally going to sit and draw, not just help with organizing.)
--Kristin
Artists' Mediums Inc.
Williston, VT

24HCD panel at Comic-Con International: San Diego

Will you be in San Diego this year for Comic-Con? Stop by the 24-Hour Comics Day panel in Room 12 on Friday, July 23rd hosted by ComicsPRO.

Here's the panel description:

2:30 - 3:30 The 24-Hour Comics Day Challenge -- Can you create a full 24-page comic from scratch in 24 hours? Join us at the panel as Ryan Claytor (Elephant Eater Comics) and Trevor Mersch (Vendetta Comics) give out tips and tricks to help you complete the challenge this year and have your comic included in the international 24-Hour Comics collection. Or are you interested in hosting a 24-Hour Comics Day event in your area? Nat Gertler (Publisher of About Comics and founder of 24-Hour Comics Day) and Portlyn Polston (Brave New World Comics, Newhall, CA) can tell you how to create and advertise a successful event at your comic book store, school or library. Room 12

For more details about ComicsPRO retailer programming at Comic-Con, visit the ComicsPRO Blog.

24HCD Poster Contest

We are looking for the best 24-Hour Comics Day flyer this year to use as our official flyer and we know you have the right design!

We will take submissions of flyer designs between now and July 31st and the winner will become our official 24HCD flyer. The designer will be credited on the flyer and on 24hourcomicsday.com.

All submissions to the contest will be considered art donations to ComicsPRO. You retain the rights to your artwork but you are donating the design for ComicsPRO's unlimited use (and the use of event hosts around the world!) for promotional purposes. We will not sell copies of your artwork.

The contest does not have a paid prize but ComicsPRO will send a thank-you package to the winner filled with comics and other goodies! Your artwork will also be used around the world!

Details for the flyer:

-It needs to print on an 8.5" by 11" sheet of paper (you should leave some border space)

-We need a color version and a black & white version

-"24-Hour Comics Day" should be prominent and readable, and you can use the logo if you want to include it. It must also promote the event date: October 2, 2010

-This flyer will be used by event hosts to advertise the 24HCD event to artists in their local areas, so your flyer should have some text describing what artists do during the event. An example would be:

"Take the 24-Hour Comics Day challenge: create a 24-page comic, start to finish, in 24 consecutive hours!"

(You can use your own text for the flyer as long as it describes the event.)

-The flyer must have blank space at the bottom for the event host to include their location information and other details. We recommend leaving a box at least 2" tall that runs the width of the flyer but the exact dimensions are up to you.

Please send your flyer to 24hcd@comicspro.org. Please do not send files that are larger than 1MB. Since many high-resolution, printable designs will be larger than that, please consider sending a thumbnail of your design and link to the actual file.

Thank you for creating the best 24-Hour Comics Day flyer!

About donating to ComicsPRO:

ComicsPRO is a non-profit organization (501c6) but not a charity (which is a 501c3). So donations to ComicsPRO aren't itemized as charitable donations. However, if you work in comics or design and you itemize your business expenses, a donation to ComicsPRO can be considered a business expense--please check with your accountant for the correct way to record your donation!

Host Registration now open!

24-HOUR COMICS DAY SET FOR OCTOBER 2

Host Registration opens June 2

ComicsPRO once again invites artists around the world to try the 24-hour Comics Day challenge! Can you make a 24-page comic in 24 hours?

October 2, 2010 will mark the 7th annual 24-Hour Comics Day (24HCD) event, where professionals and amateurs alike will meet at their local comic book store and try to produce a complete comic book in one day. Thousands of artists at hundreds of sites in the U.S. and around the world take part in 24-Hour Comics Day every year.

Are you interested in hosting a 24-Hour Comics Day event? Registration is now open.

Registration is for event hosts only; individual participants will register at their local participating venue.

24HCD 2010 is sponsored in part by comic book publisher BOOM! Studios. U.S. venues who register to host a 24HCD event by August 1st will receive a sketch cover and an art -negative cover of BOOM! Studios comics to giveaway as prizes or promotions! Registered venues will also receive a kit from ComicsPRO to help set up, advertise and run their events and will be listed on the national 24HCD directory at www.24hourcomicsday.com.

"BOOM! Studios is proud to sponsor this year's 24 Hour Comics Day! This is a great way for artists everywhere to celebrate the art of comics all in one day!" said BOOM! Studios Marketing Director Chip Mosher. "Every year, I love seeing what my artist friends come up with. There is no cooler thing in comics than reading someone's 24 Hour Comics day work."

BOOM! Studios has also created a special gallery to showcase the comics created on 24-Hour Comics Day. Artists who participate in the 24-Hour Comics Day event will be invited to showcase their comics in a dedicated forum at www.boom-studios.com. "We've had an Artists Gallery on our forum since the very beginning of BOOM!'s existence and have hired a ton of people through this gallery. So, you never know!"

Artists who complete the 24-Hour Comics Day challenge are also invited to include copies of their comics in the national 24-Hour Comics Day collection hosted by The Ohio State University Cartoon Library & Museum. Submission details will be provided at the event on October 2nd.

ABOUT 24HCD: The 24-Hour Comic challenge was first issued by internationally renowned author and artist Scott McCloud in 1990. The 24-Hour Comics Day Event was created by Nat Gertler, publisher of About Comics. More information on 24-Hour Comics Day is available at www.24hourcomicsday.com.

ABOUT COMICSPRO: ComicsPRO is a 501(c)6 non-profit trade organization uniting independent comic book storefront retailers to share resources and to promote comics as an important part of popular culture and literature.
Further information may be found about ComicsPRO at www.ComicsPRO.org.

ABOUT BOOM! Studios: BOOM! Studios (www.boom-studios.com) is a unique publishing house specializing in high-profile projects across a wide variety of different genres from some of the industry’s biggest talents, including Eisner nominated Philip K. Dick’s DO ANDROIDS DREAM OF ELECTRIC SHEEP?, The Henson Company’s FARSCAPE, and the Eisner nominated original Mark Waid series IRREDEEMABLE. BOOM!’s children publishing imprint BOOM Kids! publishes titles such as Pixar’s THE INCREDIBLES, CARS, and TOY STORY, as well as Disney’s Eisner nominated THE MUPPETS, DONALD DUCK, UNCLE SCROOGE and WALT DISNEY’S COMICS AND STORIES.


###

2010 24HCD event will be held on October 2nd

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Contact: Amanda Emmert

Oct. 2, 2010 will be the date of the 7th annual 24-Hour Comics Day! The date was announced by the 24HCD Committee at the ComicsPRO Annual Membership Meeting in Memphis, Tenn.

24-Hour Comics Day is an annual challenge for cartoonists to produce a 24-page comic book written, drawn, and completed in 24 consecutive hours. ComicsPRO, the comic book specialty retailer trade group organizes the day with the enthusiastic endorsement of the event's founder, Nat Gertler, publisher of About Comics.

In 2009, more than 2,000 professional and amateur cartoonists participated in more than 100 venues.

Over the years, the 24-Hour comic book challenge has thwarted and rewarded such comics luminaries as Scott McCloud, Dave Sim, Neil Gaiman, Kevin Eastman and many others. On 24 Hour Comics Day, creators of all ages and levels of skill and experience gather at one of the participating sites to encourage each other in completing this creative comics marathon.

Venue registration for this year’s event will begin in June.

###

[A note to participants: please don't email your venue information! Registration will open in June and we will only be able to process venues who register at the 24-Hour Comics Day website. Thank you--we look forward to working with you this year!]