Everyone knows October is Doc Splatter’s favorite month, and each year he celebrates DOCtoberFest with brand-new Gore Score comics. Subscribers to the weekly Cool Jerk emailer have been kept abreast of The Doc’s weekly shenanigans. But I know many people visit the home page yet don’t (yet) subscribe to the weekly Cool Jerk emailer, so I figure I should pop all the new strips onto the blog. Just click on a strip and it’ll take you to the appropriate page.

Do zombies poop?

The Doc gets schooled! (Actual letter!)

Ode to Adrienne Barbeau and her 1980s perm!

Doc Splatter put it to a vote— who’s the reigning Queen of Darkness?? (Actual letter!)

The votes come in, we have a pair of winners!

And, of course, you can get a signed copy of his book here!

And the clock starts… NOW!

At Darlene’s suggestion, I spent the last day of September and the first day of October creating another 24-Hour Comic.

What is 24-Hour Comics Day, you may be asking yourself? It’s an informal challenge thrown to comics creators — professionals and amateurs alike — to create a 24-page comic in 24 consecutive hours. And it has to be totally inclusive, start-to-finish within that time frame. That means no thumbnail sketches or layouts, no pre-made panels or dialogue, and no helpers! (Well, maybe you can have a helper. I’m not 100% certain about that. Regardless, I didn’t!)

This wasn’t my first 24-Hour Comic. I created one in 2007 (featuring Doc Splatter, .pdf available here) and it was grueling. This year’s was no easier. I went the autobio route and made a comic that discussed at length the myriad of musical influences that have shaped my tastes since childhood.

I think this was at the halfway mark (8:00pm).

Many people who accept the challenge flock to neighborhood comics shops on the designated day (this year it was Saturday, Oct. 1) and participate amongst their peers. Me? I’m a recluse when I create comics. I like the solitude and things like “conversation” and “camaraderie” just get in my way. I’m in it to win it! So like the comic I created in 2007, I worked at home.

I started at 8:00am on Friday and had the final page scanned into the Mac a few minutes before 8:00am Saturday morning.

Click it to get in there!

My process: Similar to how I create Cool Jerk, I would write the dialogue and captions on the Mac first, then print those pages out and rush them over to the lightbox. There, I would quickly pencil the layouts. Once I was happy with the page, I’d make any necessary changes on the Mac and reprint the dialogue and captions and then ink the final artwork.

I used Sharpie markers and Sigma Micron pens for the inks (I did the same in the 2007 24-Hour Comic). If I had used a brush and ink (like I do for Cool Jerk), I’d have surrendered after the third or fourth page. You maybe wouldn’t think so, but it takes A LOT more muscle control to use a brush. Hell, I get hand cramps when I ink Sunday-sized Cool Jerk strips, which usually takes about three hours. I’m happy to say I didn’t need to do any significant white-out corrections, and any major goofs were quickly edited either with Pentel correction fluid or in Photoshop.

How the book looked once all the pages were scanned.

So that’s the artwork. As far as the story, you’ll have to read it yourself. I admit it won’t be nominated for an Eisner Award anytime soon, but I’m pretty happy I wrote a cohesive story and illustrated it in one day. (And Darlene teared up when she got to the end.) As I said, it’s autobiographical, so it features Darlene, my sister, a fair chunk of my friends, many musical performers and chronologically accurate depictions of my hair. Plus two locator maps. And several poorly drawn vehicles. And a tampon.

Available soon! Stay 'tooned!

BONUS! I live-Tweeted the whole day, at the top of each hour. Take a rare glimpse into the creative process!

Prepping to start 24-Hour Comic Day in 30 minutes. Extra coffee made and Sharpies laid out. #24hourcomicday

Click it for detail!

I arrived a bit early (I padded my drive time by an extra hour because it was raining pretty hard between San Diego and L.A.) and hung out with The Bug Crew— Mike, Jun and Greg. By time I got my table set up, justJENN and her youthful entourage (read: kids) arrived with boxes of cupcakes for book-buyers.

And let me tell you about the cupcakes. When I opened a box and peeked in, I burst into laughter. JENN had decorated each of the scrumptious red velvet cupcakes with a little Cool Jerk art element! So people could choose a Yuri Tomato cupcake, a Ghost of Paul Lynde cupcake or a projectile-puking Seashelly Dumpster cupcake (I ate that one). There were a couple bonus cupcakes adorned with images of my face and business card. (I worried if someone would choose those!)

Turnout was pretty good for a dreary* and humid Wednesday, and nearly everyone who stopped by the table and bought something was a new face! Thanks to Felix, Michelle and her family, Greg (and Alex, by proxy), Alan, Liz and Dianne (aka Pirate Space Queen) for adding Cool Jerk books to your Buy Pile this week! Also I got to meet comics writer Tracey Claverie. He was doing a signing for his comic, Scar Unit, right next to me. When there were lulls in patrons we ended up talking about comics influences, inappropriate cosplay and the best cheeseburgers in the tri-county area. Good guy, that Tracey.

Thanks again to The Comic Bug and justJENN, without whom the signing wouldn’t have been possible.

*Steve Jobs, R.I.P.