I just got a preview copy of SLEEPLESS, my second 24 Hour Comics collection from Dark Horse, in the mail yesterday. The book itself drops on April 5th, 2016 (not, as I previously reported, in February). It includes six stories:
David Chelsea is reading:
The American Bystander #1
edited by Michael A Gerber
1. SNOW ANGEL: the original 24 hour comic version. I later reworked this story about a little girl who becomes a crime-fighting angel when she makes an angel in the snow, and added color to it for the version which ran in Dark Horse Presents, which later became its own one-shot comic book. I am now at work on a book-length collection of stories about this character.
2. SLEEPLESS: A story told entirely through the eyes of a character who can’t sleep. Comics reviewer Henry Chamberlain called it “the best 24 hour comic I’ve ever read” (I don’t know how many of my OTHER 24 hour comics he has read).
3. ID: A woman has her identity stolen by a mysterious tormentor. Featuring an all-animal cast, until I changed my mind halfway through the story and made them all humans.
4. NOW OPEN THE BOX: A married couple receive a mysterious package, which they must hide from their young son. Drawn entirely on isometric grid paper.
5. THE GIRL WITH THE KEYHOLE EYES: Drawn as a benefit for, and as something of an homage to ZAP cartoonist S. Clay Wilson, this series of reminiscences about various women I’ve known (mostly NOT old girlfriends), mixes real stories with outright fabrications, all centered on the eponymous “girl”, who is variously described as an old roommate, a character in a video game, a cartoonist colleague, my grandmother, and a Courtney Love look-alike. It ends with a real groaner of a pun. This story was also eventually redrawn for Dark Horse Presents.
6. I LIKE TO RIFF: This comic is something of a victory lap, both for myself and for any reader who has made through all the previous 24 hour comics. I constructed the story by putting the names of the eleven previous comics in a sack and drawing one out at random every two hours. See if you can spot all of them!
As I said, you have to wait until April 5th to get your copy, but Amazon is taking preorders: