I’ve never really been one to pull “all-nighters.” I would always hear guys talk about it in college and just assumed that they were spending too much time hittin’ the sauce and chasin’ the ladies, which then put them in an impossible time crunch. I tended to pride myself on good time-management, and while there were many late nights, there were never any all-nighters. Yeah, I know, I’m boring.
Then, a few years ago, I heard about 24 Hour Comics Day. The event in which you have 24 hours to create an entire comic. Holy crap. You stay up all night drawing comics? Sounds awesome on one hand, but kind of like a nightmare on the other. I decided to give it a try.
First of all, the event isn’t any easier than it sounds. I remember lots of guys showing up, getting burned out after several hours, and heading home with a partially completed book. But for those of us who stayed, it was awesome.
I was lucky in the fact that the store that hosted the event had a big-screen TV and a healthy pile of DVD’s to serve as background noise. Do you know how many DVD’s you can burn through in 24 hours? I lost count, but I can remember Serenity, the Back to the Future Trilogy, several Justice League episodes, some old Wonder Woman episodes and ALL FOUR of the old Superman movies. Ever watch Superman III at 4 a.m. while sleep deprived? It makes for one of the crown jewels of cinematic comedy.
So the hours passed, and we worked … and worked … and worked. Gallons of coffee were consumed, and hands became cramped. But the next day eventually came, and we were all alive. And we all had a book that we were really, really proud of.
My book was about dinosaurs. I’ll always remember my wife, Meghan (actually girlfriend at the time) coming to pick me up at the store. I flopped into her car like a pile of cooked linguine and closed my eyes. All I could see for the entire drive to my house was the dinosaurs I’d been drawing for 24 hours.
But I still have that dinosaur book. And I still think of that viewing of Superman III and how hysterically funny it was.
I guess what I’m saying is that if you’re thinking of giving 24 Hour Comics Day a shot this Saturday, I really think you should. It won’t be easy, but it’s not an experience you’re going to forget any time soon. And if you can pull through to the end, you’ll have an entire comic book with your friggin' name on it! That's AT LEAST as cool as all the Superman movies put together.
