When Understanding Comics
creator Scott McCloud convinced a fellow artist to complete a 24-page comic in a single day, "24 hour comics" were born. That was 15 years ago. Since then, McCloud's challenge has resulted in three published books and the designation of a 24 Hour Comics Day. On April 23, 2005, more than 800 cartoonists, including Svetlana Chmakova, Zander Cannon and Stan Yan gathered at about 70 locations throughout the world to create 24-hour comics. The highlights of this collective effort have been winnowed down to 24 full-length selections for this book. If the result seems at times more like a well-meaning yearbook than a worthwhile anthology, it is also strangely compelling—what better way to see the creative process at work than to see what it can come up with under duress? There's something for everyone here. Drawings range from heavily inked black-line drawings to pencilled sketches to childlike scrawls, and the stories range from flights of whimsy to suspense to autobiographical rant. Each selection is given a brief introduction by editor Gertler. This is a book that rewards fans and fellow artists: what it lacks in sophistication or polish, it makes up for by reminding us how much people care about comics and what they'll go through to make them. (Feb.)
