A 24-page comic in 24 hours: that’s the goal of 24-hour Comic Book Day which takes place all over the world on October 2 in comic book stores and other cartoon-friendly venues.
In Berkeley, that place is Comic Relief at 2026 Shattuck Avenue. Staffer Sophie Yanow is organizing the event which will host 12 cartoonists creating their oeuvres live in front of customers and those who care to drop by to observe.
Berkeley cartoonist Vincent Kukua will be there. Kukua is a production artist at Image Comics. Also signed up are web comic artist Kane Lynch and interaction designer Karl Dotter.
“You never know what they’re going to do,” Yanow says of the artists at work, “because one of the rules is there should be no planning beforehand.”
Comic Book Day was the brainchild of cartoonist Scott McCloud, author of the seminal Understanding Comics. McCloud launched the event in 2004. “I imagine every one of the participants on October 2 will have read that book,” says Yanow.
Previous events have concluded with the publication of a book of the 24-24 creations. This is unlikely to happen this year, Yanow says, but Comic Relief, which has been in business in Berkeley since 1987, will scan all the cartoon works with a view to exhibiting them in some way.
The event is open to the public and runs from 11am on Saturday October 2nd though the night until 11am on Sunday October 3rd. (Artists should note that all places have already been snapped up.)
