The biggest and best Comic Book Convention on the East Coast is THIS weekend and I am PROUD to be tabling with some of the most talented and nicest folk in the industry! I'm talking about John Gallagher of Buzzboy, Rich Faber of Roboy Red, Jamar Nicholas of Fist Stick Knife Gun, Thomas Zahler of Love and Capes and the Timony Twins of Night Owls. We will be making up the Comic Book Diner Booth and we'll be located at 2933 near artist alley and small press! I'll have all my usual goodies of family friendly graphic novels, shirts, and music, PLUS the BRAND NEW 24 hour comics day production of ESCAPE INTO COMICS issue 1 and 2 for $1 each!! I'll also have the paperback version of NO SWEETS FOR SANTA, BRAND NEW line of FREE bookmarks, and my personal fav, the FREE CHRIS O>MATIC SHOW postcard playset. These things are super fun! I'm excited for this show, I always had fun as an attendee, now it's time to try the other side of the table! Hope to see you there!!!
I had 24 hours to create 24 pages of comics and I conquered it with help and support from family and friends!! To broadcast the whole day LIVE on O>MaticVision was a last minute idea and a FANTASTIC one. Next year I'll do more promotion for it and maybe have a two camera set up, we'll see. I enjoyed drawing the comics, listening to Esquivel and 60's Lounge Music, but most of all, I enjoyed the company of the viewer chat. My brother Simone joined me for most of the day as well as George, Chuck, and Ken from unwinnable.com. They EVEN had a pizza delivered to my house for lunch as a pizza-powered level up. I had my friends, cousins, and uncle checking in on my progress throughout the day which was great! Dave McDonald of HamsterSam.com and I had a nice conversation about comic production. John Graham, writer of No Sweets for Santa nosweetsforsanta.com, and the Graham fam had me chuckling throughout the day. My brother Chris fired in some awesome suggestions for the comics and of course my wife Meg kept checking in on me, bringing a heating pad and massaging my elbow.
I ended up doing two 12 page comics entitled ESCAPE INTO COMICS. These are anthologies collecting several small stories, all quite humorous. The first issue is a Halloween special that I will be giving out for Halloween this year and YOU can too. More details on that in the coming days. I'm VERY happy with how the comics came out. It felt like I was a kid again making comics. I used to just sit down and draw a comic. I never scripted anything first, and that's what the 24 hour comic is… just sit down and create… for 24 hours straight.
For now, you can view my progress, the entire 24 pages on mypalmark.tumblr.com
As of now, YES. I will be doing this again next year. Hope you can join me.
24 Hour Comic Day is THIS Saturday October 1st! Will YOU be a part of it? Do you have what it takes to make a 24 page comic in 24 hours? Many comic shops and libraries hold events honoring this day, and invite comic creators to come and participate. I'll be hanging home for my first attempt, maybe next year I'll attend one of these events. I've been wanting to participate in 24 Hour Comic Day for years, but something always comes up to prevent me. This year I marked it on my calendar and nothing will stand in my way… I hope. Don't know anything about 24 hour comic day? It's a challenge created by comics master Scott McCloud and you can check out the official rules and regulations at www.24hourcomicsday.com
I'm excited to be on COMICS ARE GREAT, an awesome video webcast that doubles as an audio podcast. It's hosted by Jerzy Drozd a SUPER talented cartoonist and teaching artist. We'll be discussing Flabbergast, Happyloo, all my other projects and creating comics for kids. It's going to be GREAT fun! Tune in LIVE today at 12:30 on comicsaregreat.tv and be a part of the show. You can ask questions from the chat room! Or watch/listen to it when you can. I'll have the links posted here.