What About Laughing Gravy?

* Quick, get Phil Baruth and Dan Barlow together!

Why?

Well, Dan is moving.

Up.

In the world.


Trees & Hills comic group co-founder

Dan Barlow (here's the man's blog)

just informed me and the world he's moving -- to Montpelier. "After four years of working as a reporter in southern Vermont - covering great things like a 34-year-old nuclear reactor, nude teenagers and pirate radio stations - I'm hitting the big time," Dan sez. "Well, big time for Vermont. Starting Feb. 19th I will be one of the Rutland Herald's two reporters covering the Vermont government. Yeah, the government that Howard Dean used to run before he started doing whatever he's doing now. This means I'll be in charge of writing about things like the Vermont House and Senate, our swell old Republican governor and ... nude teenagers (if they decide to follow me to Montpelier). I may even write things about our wide-eyed freshman Congressman or our socialist Senator. We'll see."

We shall indeed. Congrats, Dan!

But in the meantime -- whither Trees & Hills? What will happen to this adventurous band of New England cartoonists once Dan moves (choke) North?

Will this move mean the group is growing, spreading its roots further over the Green Mountain and Granite State landscapes?

Will the roots be deep and sound, or shallow and spread, like those damned conifers that blow over in wind storms?

Or will Dan still nurture and support the collective, or will he cast it adrift, leaving it shy of one activist co-founder?

Can Colin keep it afloat with his compatriots sans Dan?

And -- What about Laughing Gravy?

Only time -- and Dan -- will tell. Stay tuned.

[Trees & Hills group photos by Mark Martin, from his glorious Jabberous blog, circa May 2006: http://jabberous.blogspot.com/2006/05/comics-club.html -- see that link for ID of those pictured, save ---- Bjork -- who is he, anyway? And is he still drawing? Does he have a site? Did DC Comics approve of one of you wearing a Batman t-shirt? Did you have to pay royalty fees, or was that included in the price of the shirt, and First Sale Doctrine rules uber alle? Colin?]

* Speaking of which -- Damn, I let the Trees & Hills group down yesterday.

Amid all my catch-up posts, I neglected to mention that

the monthly Trees & Hills drawing party is happening, like, today, and I forgot to post the info & link about it yesterday!

Colin writes, "drawing party (always the 3rd Sat. of each month except under extenuating circumstances) will be happening this Saturday 2/17 at Tim Hulsizer's house in Keene, NH; email Tim (escapevelocity at hotmail.com) for directions and other info." BTW, here's the link to

Tim Hulsizer's site,

________________

* Don't know if you read the comments posted to this blog, but my short review of the documentary Jesus Camp prompted a strangely familiar hit-and-run swipe from an outraged Christian fundamentalist, in this case the right Rev. Don Spitz of Hampton Roads, Virginia. The link from his comment yielded this

little one-post blog,

a rant in the wilderness.

In his comment on my review, Rev. Don Spitz said:

"Sounds like you have some real serious hatred issues directed towards Christians. Suffice it to say, most, if not all problems on the planet earth are from people like you who reject Jesus Christ. Our prisons are filled with people, like you, who reject Jesus Christ. Most if not all rapes, murders, robberies and thefts are committed by people, like you, who reject Jesus Christ. AIDS is mainly spread by people, like you, who reject Jesus Christ and have sex outside of marriage or else like children with AIDS get it from people, like you, who reject Jesus Christ. I hope you will turn from your sins and receive Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior and escape the fires of eternal hell. Turning from your sins and giving your life to Jesus Christ is the only way you can escape the fires of hell and receive everlasting life. If you persist in your sins and continue to turn your back on Jesus Christ, you will be lost forever."

Now, I love this shit. Of course, as we all saw during the election season of 2000, we sinners embracing the Lord as our Savior doesn't necessary win the respect of fellow Christians, as then-not-yet-President Bush amply demonstrated by jeering and openly mocking a Born-Again woman on death row the very week of her execution. We're all to take his conversion on faith, but -- well, you get the idea. "By their works ye shall know them."

Rev. Spitz's post is a pip. I'm not mocking the man, whom I don't know any more than he knows me, but I am assessing his words. The wording resonates oddly with past brushes with other angry zealots.

Keeping the context of mere movie reviews and/or articles, I recall how, way back in 1989, I interviewed Alejandro Jodorowsky about his then-new movie Sante Sangre and placed that interview, in different forms, in a number of zines and papers, including our local 'activist' newspaper The Valley Advocate (out of Northampton, MA). My interview/article prompted a short published letter from two area feminists who attacked me for writing about the film -- which was Alejandro's delirious fictionalized account of a serial killer's career and eventual redemption, as only Alejandro could tell it -- who accused me of being a misogynist and of hating women, concluding, "We know who you are and we know what you are doing to women."

My first wife Marlene, to whom I was married still at the time, was absolutely outraged by the letter. She wrote a response, as did I. But the Advocate refused to allow either her and me to respond. The screed stood, and thereafter I made it a point to instantly respond to any such bile when it was directed my way.

Fact: In 99 cases out of 100, the accusers never, ever respond or reply.

Thus was established a pattern that became familiar to me over time, during the Taboo years and especially the Tyrant years. Foolish me -- I thought after the endless customs battles, censorship rows and difficulties finding printers, binders or venues for the calculated confrontational agenda of Taboo, doing a nice little all-ages dinosaur comic would be a piece of cake by comparison. Oh contraire!

No sooner had Tyrant #1 arrived in comic shops than a steady flow of angry letters from Creationists began to trickle into the ol' SpiderBaby Comix mailbox. By comparison with the Taboo era, the Tyrant letters were far more angry and contemptuous: I was judged a sinner for my dinosaur comic, and was a greater threat to humanity than I had been publishing horror comics. I find it hard to believe the publishers or creators of Turok, Son of Stone, Kona, Monarch of Monster Isle, Gorgo or Star-Spangled War Stories (with "The War That Time Forgot!") ever received this kind of hate mail, but those halycon days of the '50s and '60s many evangelicals cling to as "the good old days" of Christian America rule were perhaps more tolerant of that most malignant of all comics genres, the dinosaur comic book.

Of all those who wrote, sometimes vehemently judging me and my family in rhetoric fully of a piece with the good Rev. Spitz's comment, only one -- one! -- responded to my reply letters, striking up an exchange of letters (and comics) that was fun and lively and at the very least a conversation of sorts.

What I found, in all but that one case, was the letter-writers weren't interested in conversation, they were interested only in venting, in blasting me (and my family): an odd, vindictive form of 'witnessing,' to my world view.

I engage, they refuse. A sure path to communication and possible conversion, my friends!

In any case, I replied directly to Rev. Spitz's post on 2/14, which follows in the spirit of possible conversation:

"Wow, Rev. Spitz, you sure pretend to know a lot about me you don't know. Having not caused most of the problems on planet earth (though I think I can honestly say a few of those can now be chalked up to our President, who claims to be a true believer in Christ), having not been in prison, raped, murdered, robbed, or have/had/or spread AIDs, and as I do indeed believe in Jesus Christ (though not as you do), I reckon you just struck out on every single count in your rant against me and my modest post -- which is, after all, a movie review (in that it's the comments on Jesus Camp that seems to have brought you here), nothing more. What sins, precisely, am I persisting in? Not practicing my Christian beliefs in perfect accord with your own? Using the good brain God gave me at birth? Practicing my own faith as I see fit, rather than as you or others demand I do? Isn't this America? I thank God it isn't your fiefdom, yet. Making vile accusations and posting personalized bile and fear isn't in accord with the New Testament Christ I was raised with, or believe in -- nor, for that matter, is much else I can divine from your accusatory screed."

Any word from the Rev, I'll let you know.

I'm not feeling the love, though, as yet.

We used to have this old 45 RPM record in my family's modest collection, and I'll go out with that tune:

"Praise the Lord, and Pass the Ammunition, Praise the Lord, and Pass the Ammunition, Praise the Lord, and Pass the Ammunition And We'll Allllll Beeeeeee Freeeeeeeeeeee!"

Odds But No Ends: Shameless Hucksterism, Part One

I'm scrambling this morning to pull together a wide variety of crumbling archival comics and comics material for today's CCS class, so today will be a quickie. But I do want to alert those of you interested in corraling some vintage Bissette and Gaiman collectibles that my amigo James Rochefort is placing on the auction block; check 'em out, please.

The Bissette items are direct from the SpiderBaby archives, and these are fully authorized auctions of these signed items. While I will be setting up my own site to handle some sales (specifically the rarest Taboo back issues and other rarities), for the time being James is my online dealer of choice, so if it's Bissette items you're looking for, read on. (In the coming weeks, I will also be making special arrangements with my friend and veteran Comics Route proprietor John Rovnak to offer other Bissette and SpiderBaby comics and comix items online; more info on that once all our ducks are in a row. I am not, however, selling original art as yet.)

Note, however, that the Neil Gaiman collectibles are being handled by James to benefit the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund. When the CBLDF made the momentous move this summer from their long-standing Northampton, MA base of operations to their new digs in Manhattan, CBLDF director Charles Brownstein contacted me, asking if I knew anyone interested in handling some of the CBLDF stock, if only to minimize the scope and cost of their move. Charles and James worked out the necessary details; 50% of every Gaiman/CBLDF related sale from James will be going to the CBLDF, so don't be shy about your support.

James is currently active and listing items on Ioffer.com, Amazon.com, Bookavenue.com and Ebay.com -- check 'em out, and often!

On all these sites, you can access James's auction items by checking his user id, which is gimlisloot. The rotation of stock and rarities will be frequent, so you might want to reference James's efforts on a regular basis.

James is up and running, and there's some primo packages and items already within your reach. Here's some of the Ebay listings:

S.R. Bissette’s TYRANT: THE PRIMO PALEO PACK

Primo Paleo Pack

THE BISSETTE-SET, one-of-a-kind collection (Signed)

Biss-Set

XL vintage SR Bissette Chiller Theatre Expo T-shirt, Spring '95

ChillerCon T

ALAN MOORE ‘1963’ T-SHIRT

’63 T

S.R. Bissette and G. Michael Dobbs' THE YEAR IN FEAR CALENDER (1992) Signed

YEAR in FEAR

Neil Gaiman Comic & More Collection

Gaiman Goodies

____

OK, off to finish prep for today's CCS session.

Hmmm, all these historic discrepancies about when exactly The Yellow Kid first saw print... I have to sort this out. Anyhow, I've some real treats in store for the CCS folks. It should be a real hoot; will tell you more tomorrow!

Taboo art, 24 Hour news, dinosaurs, and dreams...

First off, a timely announcement for Taboo fans and art collectors:

I received an email this week from the cover artist of TABOO 6, Cruz Montoya (then signing as Cru Zen), who writes:

"I am selling a few paintings. One happens to be the painting titled "DEPRIVATION". I painted this oil on canvas in 1990. You chose the work for the cover of TABOO #6 [in] 1992.... The painting is up on ebay at the moment. Yea, I am still painting."

That was an astonishing cover painting, and one well worth picking up. The auction on ebay still has a few days left, but you should go and take a peek regardless, just to savor the imagery. Check it out at

Cru Montoya's site

or go right to ebay and place your bid:

TABOO 6 cover Deprivation

The particulars: "Original OIL on CANVAS - Painted by CRUZ 1990 - TABOO COVER Issue #6 1992 - PAINTING IS AUTHENTIC -Canvas measures 24 X 36 inches w/frame 25 1/2 x 27 1/2 inches - SIGNED ON BACK - NOTE: Cruz continued to work on this painting after the transparency was sent to SpiderBaby Grafix for reproduction (long before publication) - Minor changes appear in finished work(study images) - ...email with questions before bidding - Painting is in EXCELLENT CONDITION with Original Frame - Selling AS IS - LARGE FILE PLEASE WAIT -" ...and yes, it can take some time to load, unless you have DSL.

This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, go for it!
__

On a more personal note, I've been having vivid dreams of late. I don't keep a record of 'em, the way my amigo Rick Veitch (Rarebit Fiends) does, but sometimes they stick. I had an amusing one this morning I thought I'd share. Tucked betwixt two winter dreams -- one involving traveling on a narrow, icy road that became a pleasurable sliding fest, and the other culminating in a spectacular, too-close-for-comfort view of a gigantic fallen oak caught in a span of power wires shuddering and splintering into pieces until it was clear of the unbroken lines (Hurricane Katrina ripping through the dream pool?)-- I had a hilarious dream early this AM involving Eddie Campbell coming to Vermont to film a Pepsi commercial he had been assigned to direct. I talked him into doing a ‘nunsploitation’ commercial that began, Ken Russell-like, with an attractive young imprisoned nun facing an unorthodox exorcism, and ended with a shot of a happy-Jesus statue clutching a can of Pepsi after the nun’s escape (thanks, somehow, to Pepsi).

It was great to see Eddie again, even if it was in the Jungian realm; it’ll be a loooong time before Marj and I are able to visit Australia.
___

I've just added an active link to Dr. Michael Ryan's marvelous Paleoblog on the menu at right, and highly recommend you visit long and often. Michael was among the most energetic paleontologists who helped me through the arduous Tyrant research efforts, as he has Mark Schultz (Xenozoic Tales, aka Cadillacs and Dinosaurs) for years. Michael is now curator of paleontology at the Cleveland Museum of Natural History, posting ongoing illustrated blogs detailing his own fossil digs (lots of photos!), travels, and all things saurian, including past entries by yours truly (a history of dinosaur comics that will soon be archived on my own site, now under construction) and a link to a very engaging history of dinosaur movies. Check it out!
___

And hey, speaking of dinosaurs, the Chinese dinosaurs are coming to Vermont! I can't believe it! I saw a few of these fossils close-up back in my Tyrant days, when I was an active member of the Society for Vertebrate Paleontology (an adventure I'd love to re-engage with soon). But now we can all have a look at 'em, when the traveling exhibition of Chinese dinosaur fossils visits the Montshire Museum of Science starting on October 15th, 2005.

Here's the scoop: "Chinasaurs: The Great Dinosaurs of China" will be at the Montshire from October 15 through December 18. The exhibit features six full-sized skeletons originally excavated from the Gobi Desert their home, along with ossified remains of some of the creatures that lived alongside and underfoot. The exhibit includes the ever-popular Velociraptor, displays of the unusual feathered dinosaurs that have captured the imagination of us all since their discovery, and many other fossils from China's prehistoric past (including dinosaur eggs and footprints). It looks like a fantastic exhibition -- see you there, I hope! Free with Museum admission.

The Montshire Museum of Science is waiting for you mid-state at One Montshire Road, Norwich, VT 05055 (phone: 802 649-2200, Fax 802 649-3637, E-mail montshire@montshire.org), and they're open from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. every day. For online info and pix, go to:

Montshire Musuem site

Heartfelt thanks to writer and dear friend Diane E. Foulds for bringing this to my attention.
____

You know, I'm told that Diane once said: "If God is supposed to be so loving, why did he create all those awful dinosaurs?"

Diane, the short answer is, He may not have. All hail the True Creator, The Flying Spaghetti Monster!

Since the ongoing struggle by devout Christians against Darwinian theory and evolution continues unabated, and since the latest offensive front spin-doctoring Creationism into “Intelligent Design” has now opened a fresh can of worms, it only seems appropriate that

The Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster

should rear its fettucini-like head. As my cartooning bro' Tim Truman exclaimed, "At last! I have found a religion with which I am completely comfortable" (and Tim was a preacher's son, y'all, so say amen!).

There's clear scientific evidence (well, as clear as anything Creationist and "Intelligent Design" acolytes have provided) that the Church might be on to something here. I mean, look at other cultural myths: the snake-headed Medusa might have emerged from a visitation of the Flying Spaghetti Monster settling on a female worshipper's head in ancient times, and more contemporary manifestations like Toho monsters Dogora and Hedorah were clearly inspired by the Flying Spaghetti Monster's fossil record. Besides, we all know there are indeed midgets in this world.

Given the recent words of wisdom from none other than our own President, I implore you all -- really, we need to leave no child left behind in exposure to the many alternative theories and myths of creation. There are some lovely Creation stories from around the world, but few are as awe-inspiring and utterly convincing as the Flying Spaghetti Monster.

Why do they think they call it "Angel Hair"?

I'll leave the final word to Tim:

"May His Words and His Wisdom be taught to all young Kansas school children who are not yet of drinking age."
___

A few more odds and ends:

There's an ongoing online discussion about the Creator Bill of Rights (another Scott McCloud invention!) that I've been participating in for a few months. Cartoonist Al Nickerson is the brave soul who re-opened discussion and is providing a one-stop venue for the debate, which is

here

and now among the permanent links on this blog (see right).

There's also some more 24-Hour Comic news to report:

* First, a reminder: 24-Hour Comics Day is October 7, 2006 -- not 2005. Sorry for the confusion in my last post. Thanks for the correction, Nat, who adds, "I'd prefer people not think it's sooner. We've moved the date of 24 Hour Comics Day from April (where it was this year and last) to the fall for next year, due to various logistical reasons."

* Ryan Estrada (see yesterday's post, below) writes, "The two 168 hour comics have indeed started something. Why, Bez, the individual who was to be 'going down,' has since started his 24 pages a day, every day for the rest of the year effort, and is going strong. Sure, a lot of them are quick doodles and stick figures, but it's still an incredibly awesome thing to do. But none of it would have happened if you two crazy kids hadn't started it off to begin with. And for that, I salute you." Ah, garsh, Ryan, nice of ya to say so.

* Vermont Public Radio broadcast an interview with yours truly and curator Gabriel Greenberg the week before the Brattleboro Museum event, and you can check it out

here.

* Alan David Doane has also just posted a follow-up interview with the guest curator of the Brattleboro Museum 24 Hour Comic Marathon that's worth a read, and that's over

here.

* One more permutation of the 24-Hour Comic deserves mention. This event coincidentally fell on the very weekend of the Brattleboro Museum and Art Center’s 24-Hour Challenge: actor Will Keenan’s Go-Kart Films (distributed on video & DVD by Koch;

click here for more info)

and Hoverground Studios had a major hand in Cinemasports. I held on to the press release I was emailed on Friday, August 26th, and here it is:

"Shoot your own movie in less than a day! Cinemasports is the Iron Chef of Filmmaking, where teams work feverishly to complete a movie in less than a day, that must contain a specific list of ingredients. Finished movies screen that very night. Concurrent global events often exchange movies in time for the evening screening. This is a community based, one-day filmmaking event open to all levels of filmmakers . Participation is free and open to anyone wanting to make a movie. This Saturday there will be two events happening on each side of the country - San Jose, CA & Manhattan, NY.

Here is how it works: Teams of filmmakers will get together and will be given ingredients that must be included in a 3 minute film. Each group has 10 hours to write, film, edit and complete their project...at 8pm participants and an audience will get a chance to watch each of the finished masterpieces. Whether you put together a team of your own, or want to come by yourself and be a part of the magic - this event is ready for you to participate: actors, directors, editors, writers, technicians, and anyone with an idea that really need to be turned into reality. To register for the event go

here!

If you are looking for a team or just want to touch base with other filmmakers, please visit our forum and feel free to ask for help (or just join the community)

here!

The whole thing starts the morning of Saturday, August 27th:
09:00 AM Filmmakers' Kickoff / Ingredients Announced Plaza de Cesar Chavez Park - Southern Corner at the Statue of Quezalcoatl - The Plumed Serpent Market and San Carlos Street, (near San Fernando Street)(VTA Light Rail access), San Jose, CA, 95113 USA
The films will be screened later that same evening:
08:00 PM Public screening of finished movies
MACLA - Black Box Theater
510 South First Street, San Jose, CA, 95113 USA
Tickets: $5 Participant / $10 Audience
For more details, examples of past submissions and specifics on the NYC event,
please visit:

Cinemasports

See you there!"

Did you catch the reference to "concurrent global events"??? Why, Quezalcoatl must be writhing in his ages-old sleep. I wonder if Scott McCloud knows about all this. This is astounding!
___

Speaking of indy actor Will Keenan (star of Tromeo and Juliet, Operation Midnight Climax, Love God, Waiting, etc.), there’s a bit of a controversy brewing over the overt similarities between Patrick Hasson’s Waiting (2000), a feisty independent film Will starred (and ate shaving cream) in, and the trailers for an upcoming comedy entitled (ahem) Waiting..., from writer/director Rob McKittrick.

At the time of this writing, online promotion or sources (including imdb.com postings by McKittrick) deny any association with Hasson and Stefanic’s film: on August 27, 2005, McKittrick wrote, “I can assure you, it's not a ripoff of the Will Keenan film. I wrote it back in '97 (and have the writer's guild registration and copyright to prove it), a couple years before the Hasson film came out” (see

McKittrick's comments,

and check the related threads).

I never judge a creative work before I see/read/hear/experience it, but I must say the trailer immediately rang bells and had me assuming Waiting... was a remake of Waiting, until I saw not one name associated with the 2000 film in the credits. It’ll be interesting to see how this develops and plays out.

Thanks for joining me here... more later!

OK, here's the scoop:

From Noon to Noon, Saturday August 27 to Sunday August 28, the Brattleboro Museum & Art Center in downtown Brattleboro, Vermont hosted the 24-Hour Comics Challenge. By my current count, 49 adventurous individuals actively participated; all completed comics (though not all needed the full 24 hours, or made it to the ideal of 24 pages completed -- though most did); I will verify that count later today, after I touch base again with the good folks at the Museum (hello, Margeret!).

The participants were women and men of all ages, from all walks of life. It was an amazing, electic mix of people, from avid comics and manga readers age 16 and up to non-cartoonists their 50s -- artists, writers, poets, students, teachers, musicians, radio djs, reporters, etc. -- and the energy was unlike anything I've ever experienced. They came from the Brattleboro community and beyond: some drove up from Connecticut, Massachusetts, or in from New Hampshire (including a die-hard group from Keene who had already done their own 24-Hour Comics earlier in the summer), or came in-state from as far north as Milton and St. Johnsbury (and those are up thar). Some took the bus, some drove, some sauntered in.

There was a writer who'd never really drawn who had almost talked himself out of coming, but was glad he was there. One women told me she hadn't drawn since her 6th Grade art class (and was quite satisfied that she "still drew the way I did then!", showing me her beguiling completed pages), another was one of my son Dan's high school science teachers (hello, Mike!) who was taking the Challenge as a window of opportunity to finally put down on paper a character he'd had in his head for years. Others were clearly experienced hands, including at least three hackers using laptops to produce pages using technology that simply didn't exist when Scott McCloud invented the form -- the challenge -- fifteen years ago.

That's where I come in: I wasn't participating in the challenge, really, but I was there with the opening remarks a little before noon on Saturday and for the closing remarks at noon on Sunday. See, I had a hand in the 24-hour comic's invention: it was the gauntlet thrown down by my good friend Scott McCloud back in the summer of 1990. Scott (who was then best-known for his series ZOT and the one-shot DESTROY!; UNDERSTANDING COMICS was still a gleam in his eye and notes in his sketchbooks).

Scott and I both had bad reps for being s-l-o-w cartoonists, challenged by even the most expansive of deadlines. But Scott had seen me doing sketches, and recognized that the furious energy of my freehand sketches was somehow disconnected from the laborious glacial movement of pages across my drawing board.

So Scott, being a bit of an inventor like his father, invented the 24 Hour Comic as a challenge for he and I, a way of breaking logjams and freeing constrained energy by completing, sans preparation, an entire 24-page comic in a mere 24 hours, start to finish. Whatever we did during that 24 hour stretch -- including distractions like eating, using the bathroom, napping, walking, whatever (in my case, it included making my two kids lunch and picking them up from school) -- the clock was still ticking. We had ONE DAY, 24 consecutive hours, in which to do the deed.

Now, Scott issued the challenge as one we would both complete that August (1990). Scott also knew I wouldn't do it if HE didn't do it, so he had to go first. We were also both procrastinators by nature. Thus, Scott completed his -- the first 24-Hour comic in history -- on the last day of August 1990, between 6 AM and 11:30 PM. Unlike Scott, I had kids, so my session took a bit more strategic family planning: I sat down at 10 AM on (ahem) August 36th and worked through to 1:30 AM the next day, completing "A Life in Black and White." My own ground rules were: I would complete pages in their narrative order, only moving forward; no looking back; no corrections, no insert pages.

Scott and I were pretty pleased with the results, and happily mailed photocopies of our bastard offspring to friends and peers near and far. By the time I published Scott's "A Day's Work" in TABOO ESPECIAL and my sordid tale in TABOO 7 (both 1991, though I hasten to add Dave Sim published a preview of my story in CEREBUS), the bug had already bitten others. If memory serves, the first to jump into the breach was Dave Sim (with his fifteen-hour opus "Bigger Blacker Kiss" (October 26-27, 1990, 11:30 AM to 2:45 AM), with Rick Veitch immediately introducing a fresh permutation (drawing 24 dream comics -- transcribing his dreams from the night before -- in timed one-hour sessions, 24 days in a row), which soon spawned his RAREBIT FIENDS comics series and graphic novels. Neil Gaiman soon offered another approach, a non-artist laboring over a 24-hour period (FAXing pages to Scott and I as they were completed) to produce his marvelous 13-page "Being an Account of the Life and Death of the Emperor Heliogabolus." As Scott McCloud later wrote, "Neil was unable to finish the full 24 pages, but created as much as possible within a full 24 hour session... Having gone the distance, at least where time and physical endurance were concerned, we christened it Noble Failure Variant #1 -- The Gaiman Variation."

Before long, Scott was hearing from many, many creators who had taken the challenge. It's amazing how quickly it spun into other hands, other venues, other media: The 24-Hour Play emerged by 1995; in theater circles, Tina Fallon (co-founder of Crux Productions of NYC) is credited with creating the theatrical form, and by 1997 the event had expanded into the New York Fringe Festival's mind-boggling "240 hours of plays" -- 10 days of successive 24-hour-play challenges (creating a performance from scratch to performance in a 24-hour stretch, including performance). My daughter Maia Rose participated in one of the 24-Hour Play events when that whirlwind blew into Brattleboro (April 14-15 of 2000), at the Brattleboro Flat Street Boys & Girls Club, produced by Adrienne DeGuevara as a fund-raiser for the club (anyone interested, see The Brattleboro Reformer A&E section for Thursday, April 13, 2000, page 22). By that time, Scott told me of a 48-Hour Movie challenge that was zipping through digital filmmaking/video circles. When I taught/tutored an alternative home schooled group of Vermont and Massachusetts teenagers (2003-2004) in storytelling and cinema, I had a single assigment for them at the end of our studies: the students had to create something in one 24-hour period, a single sitting, either separately or together (they each had their own skills and expertise: writing, music, drawing, etc.). They rose to the challenge and surprised me during our final week with a completed short film, which they conceived, scripted/improvised, filmed, edited, and scored in one 24-hour session.

Scott had created something amazing and ever-adaptable.

I cannot tell you how blown away I was Saturday morning when I walked into the Brattleboro Museum to see almost fifty people spread on every table, in every corner of the galleries, eager and ready to take on the challenge... just about ten miles from where I'd drawn my 24-hour comic, in the lone little 1940s trailer-studio I had parked behind my garage at our rented Lower Dover Road home in the late summer of 1990. I was even more blown away when my wife Marjory and I bopped into the Museum 11:30 PM on Saturday evening to see the beehive still buzzing: people savoring the hospitable warm summer night working outside, with improvised lighting and drawing spaces; people inside busy at every table, in every nook and cranny, while others stretched, walked the galleries, drank inspiration from the art hanging from the walls, or took a break for a chat or a smoke outside. Come Sunday morning at 11:30 AM, I knew the twelve hours since my last visit was going to have taken a toll, but I was overjoyed to see almost the entire group still there. A few had completed their comics and gone elsewhere to eat or crash, but only a few -- at least forty folks were hanging in for the 'end gong' and final celebration. They'd DONE it! There were a couple of "Neil Gaiman Variants," but only a couple.

I can't wait to sit down and read the comics themselves -- a few eager participants made sure I left the Museum Sunday with a photocopy of their accomplishments in my hot little hands.

I'll post the names of the participants here once I confirm the final lineup with Margaret, Konstantin, and the Museum later today or early tomorrow. In the meantime --

There's an online story from the Brattleboro Reformer (it made the front page of the print edition this morning!); please note one immediately evident error, I did NOT draw the FIRST 24-Hour comic (that was Scott McCloud, natch) -- anyhoot, it's waiting for you

here!

For those interested, the Museum's website on the 24-Hour Challenge is at:

24-Hour Comic Challenge!

Konstantin von Krusenstiern is the director of the Brattleboro Museum and Art Center; Gabriel Greenberg curated the Green Mountain Cartooning exhibition (which is up through February -- check it out!) and worked with the Museum to coordinate the 24-Hour Comics event (while participating as a creator, and completing his comic in the timeframe WHILE handling much of the 'host' chores). I also worked with Teta Hilsdon, who is the Museum Office Manager, along with Margaret Shipman (who is the smiling face most often greeting visitors at the front desk) and summer intern Eliza Thomson. Also involved, one way or another, with the exhibit, sponsorship, and/or the 24-Hour Comics event were Lynn Barrett, Susan Calabria, LaVonne Betts, and Roger Wilken.

The museum's website is

here!

For info on the current exhibit "Comic Art in the Green Mountains," featuring work by yours truly (SWAMP THING and TYRANT original art), Rick Veitch, Frank Miller, James Kochalka, and James Sturm, go to

Green Mt Cartoonists

For more info on this event and 24 Hour Comics in general:

The 24 Hour Comic blog is at

24 Hour Comics

For more info and another perspective on the Brat Museum event, check out Alan David Doane's article on his visit to the Brattleboro Museum on Saturday, as the event launched -- it's at

Alan David Doane tells it as he saw it!

Nat Gertler of About Comics has become the publisher/archivist of the 24-Hour Comics scene, with the full participation of 24-Hour Comic inventor/founder Scott McCloud.

If you're interested, the main book to pick up is 24 HOUR COMICS, edited by Scott McCloud, which features my "A Life in Black and White" story, Neil Gaiman's (still among the best reads of 'em all), and seven others for a mere $11.95.

About Comics also has 24 HOUR COMICS ALL-STARS (with Scott McCloud's first-ever-24-Hour-Comics-in-history, plus 24 Hour comics by Paul Smith, Sean McKeever, Tone Rodriguez, and five others; $12.95) and 24 HOUR COMICS DAY HIGHLIGHTS 2004 (24 stories including Josh Howard and Christian Gossett, about 500 pages, $24.95). There's a new volume coming out in October: 24 HOUR COMICS DAY HIGHLIGHTS 2005 (same format and price as 2004).

Go to

About Comics

Of course, you can still purchase my own 24-hour comic in its original publication in TABOO #7, or its initial reprint in SPIDERBABY COMIX #2, from my standing website:

SR Bissette Comicon site

(Check the menu bar on the left of that site's homepage, and you'll find 'em there.) It's old, creaky, and sorely in need of a revamp -- which will be up SOON!

More later!