Back in 1990, Scott McCloud (author of Understanding Comics, etc.) came up with the idea of a 24-hour comic. This comic would be a complete 24-page comic created in only 24 consecutive hours by a single artist. A comic usually develops to completion over the course of weeks, so you can see how this is quite the challenge. Since then, thousands of 24-hour comics have been created, most notably “the original six”: Scott McCloud, Steve Bissette, Dave Sim, Rick Veitch, Neil Gaiman, and Kevin Eastman).

April 24th, 2004 saw the creation of 24 Hour Comics Day, a worldwide event version of McCloud’s idea. Over 500 cartoonists met in 57 locations for the 2004 event, and the numbers have increased dramatically over the years. This year, 93 events are scheduled in 18 countries. 31 different US states are covered, so definitely check out the locations page to see if there is one in your area.

Interestingly, the demographics closely follow the indie comic world. I say interestingly only because mainstream comics is all superheroes all the time, so I was surprised to see creators naturally gravitating toward humor and autobiography. Also (pleasantly!) surprising: the event draws “a real mix of male and female participants”. Whether this is evidence that women have been historically underrepresented in the comics industry, or if this is showing a recent surge in interest among women, I don’t know. Either way, it is nice to see clear evidence that the stereotypical view of comic lovers as geeky males is increasingly losing accuracy.

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