Magic Beans and Son

That's me with my son, Dylan helping me on 24 Hour Comics Day. He's the main reason I wasn't at the glorious event with you all, but I literally couldn't help myself getting involved, so I decided to work from home...

This was my third attempt at 24 Hour Comics Day. The first one was a disaster best not mentioned, but also a valuable lesson in how not to do it! The second attempt was in 2008, which produced a comic amidst the desolation of spending a whole day in the house on my own, drawing comics.

I really fancied trying the group effort this time, but my family comes first, even *GASP!* before comics :)

But you know, it worked out rather well in the end. I wasn't alone all day for a start, just in the bleak hours of night, but Paul and the gang were just a text or phonecall away, which gave me a great boost. Jo and the boys were there for me and supported me all the way, and I couldn't have done it without them. I even did a special 2 page story for six year old Alex to help with, he inked it and lettered it himself and it's brilliant! I'll be including it in the printed version, so I guess I kind of managed a 26 page comic...

As for my comic itself, I did cheat slightly by deciding beforehand to use an established character, crime fighting local news TV presenter Mike Neville, but beyond that I went completely unprepared and made it all up on the day. Unlike last time though I spent a lot of time working on the story early on, and this really helped later on in the day when I was drawing on autopilot, having lost the ability to think in any useful way :)

Dylan does have a habit of getting up at 5AM and thinking it's playtime, which no doubt contributed to me falling asleep after midnight, and waking up at about 7AM with a bit of a mountain to climb. So the last quarter of my comic existed in a pretty sketchy form when the deadline loomed, but exist it did. So I'm calling it a modest success!

Keep watching the pies,

Ben

Breaking News : Ben Clark is IN

Having spoken to the B.F.C. himself, I can confirm that the author of Spine Chillers, Mike Neville versus the Monkey God, Grief Bringer, The House on Murder Street, Tab Monkey, Space Dracula and other Shabby Tales, will be making a 24 Hour Comic tomorrow.

Ben will not be on site, as he's quite frankly got more important stuff in his life to attend to (see mid left of above picture, on table), but once that fella is asleep, Ben will be on side and keeping in touch via the magic of the internet.

Previously on 24 Hour Comics Day : October 2008

My first 24 Hour Comic was in 2008 when myself and Ben Clark made comics in our respective homes, staying in touch with 24 Hour Comics community via the internet and phone.

It was a bleak and lonely experience in many ways, as reflected in the lighting in these pictures, but I was amazed to find that by 9am on Sunday I had a small selection of characters and a really nice story, but had completely ran out of felt tips, markers and every other means of producing marks on paper.

I'd originally intended it to end fairly badly for my cast, but the actual ending turned out to be quite romantic. Sleep deprivation I tells you. Ben has completed and published "The House on Murder Street", but my comic remains unfinished - mostly needing tidying up and lettering. I'd like to finish it some day. It was quite cute.