Scott McCloud, comic creator (Zot) and author of Understanding Comics and Reinventing Comics, came up with the idea of the 24 hour comic - a comic strip written and drawn all within a 24 hour period. (Visit his website, click on 'Inventions' for the 24 hour comic section.)

Raising money...

'The Stone' is my attempt at a 24 hour comic, drawn from 11.30 am April 14th - 11.30 am April 15th 2001. Thinking that I may as well raise some money for charity at the same time (an added incentive to complete the task!) I was sponsored by 32 generous souls - they promised a certain amount per page, plus a bonus amount if I finished a cover too. On top of that they got to contribute an element that would have to be included in the story. The charity was the Imperial Cancer Research Fund, and we raised over £700.

Plot elements

Five of these contributed plot elements were drawn out of a hat and were used to construct the plot. So I didn't come up with a plot before the 24 hour period started, these were picked in minute 1. The remaining items I worked in as I could throughout the story.

The five elements chosen were: a saxophonist, a noisy new-born baby, giant paper-clip killers, a newspaper report on zombies on the rampage in Ruislip, and... me (this was contributed by my wife, Elyssa... and I kind of failed on this one...)

32 generous souls

* indicates one of the 5 main items picked. Names are listed merely in order of sponsorship (the order I have them in my notebook!)