#24HCD

It's only hours away and I'm still not sure I'm solid on my decision.

For the last 4 years I have celebrated 24 Hour Comic Day by either buying a new Graphic Novel and reading it that day, or by revisiting one, or a few of my old favorite comics. This year I decided it wasn't going to kill me if I actually tried an official participation.

I thought Jim Hanley's Universe was hosting this year. I did a Google search to find out where the New York event was being held and Hanley's was listed as a host. Turns out that was not true. I guess I should have used Bing.  The only one I see in New York on the 24 Hour Comic's Day site is the one at The October Country in New Paltz, NY. I'm sure that's pretty far from Manhattan. I had been considering just sucking it up and going down there, but even if it was being held at Hanley's, I don't think I'm ready this year to go and hang with the Big Dogs for 24 hours. Since The October Country are starting at 12noon, I'm going to start with them, but I would like to try my first true participation from the comfort and serenity of my own home.

My plan is to start at 12:00pm as though I were down there in the trenches in New Paltz with the others. I'll post my first photo on Twitter and probably Instagram, maybe even Face Book. But I will definitely post on Twitter with the hashtag #24HCD all my activity for each hour. There is also a blog for this event. I will probably post there as well, if I can. And of course, I will post here.

When the 24 hours is up, I will post my resulting comic here. Before the end of tonight I will figure out how I'm actually going to do that. I know there will be a lot of scanning or photo taking involved. I'll probably design the book in Word.... I know... Totally unconventional LOL!  I may just post a link to a pdf file of the complete 24 pages, and post photos of each of the pages as well.

I'm nervous, but it's not like Scott McCloud is going to come to my house and say you're doing it all wrong. I'm not a graphic artist and I'm not technically savvy when it comes to drawing anything, so I'll have to use the only resources I know. The digital world. But I have always loved comics and I love to write, so why not just do it. So what if I end up with a stick figure comic. At least I can say I finally participated in something I've always enjoyed watching, instead of just continuing to cheer from the sidelines.

I'm not starting off on the right foot because I signed up on Facebook to see the 3121 Band tonight at The Bitter End, but I need to start doing more exciting and adventurous things, so I'm going to go hang with the Purple People for a while and then I'll go home and get some limited rest before staring my first official participation in 24 Hour Comic Day.